.We kicked of about 0800 and ended up doing about 31km, including a couple of short side trips, taking about 10 hours in all, including breaks, to reach Middy Hut, arriving just before 1800. The day's GPS is here. The day started by crossing back over the bridge to rejoin the trail at Maungatapu Rd. It was a 14.5 km road walk, on asphalt then gravel, to reach the start of the Pelorus River Track trailhead (despite TA saying 13km, letterbox numbers and my Suunto confirm it's longer!). This part was through a mix of farmland, exotic and native trees. Then it was onto the track. About an hour in we reached emerald pool, which is just off track, where we decided to stop for some lunch. Turns out Jack and Alisa were there ahead of us so we stopped for some lunch together before they headed off. Another half hour saw us reach Captain Creek Hut. We stopped for a quick nosy and filled in the hut book. I checked out the longdrop but it had a dozen or more wasps in it so that was a no go!! It was here I also discovered I had lost one tungsten tip on a pole and the other was loose, with the internal thread stripped - so I took that one out and proceeded with no tips. The route from there to Middy Hut was through beech forest (with plenty of wasps in evidence), going up and down mainly following the Pelorus River - including several swingbridges to negotiate (I think three from memory?). We arrived at Middy about 1800 to find Jack and Alisa had stopped there as well. There was also a young German nobo, Henrick. J & A kindly offered to take the top bunks so we oldies didn't have to climb - very nice of them :-)
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AuthorBelinda and Anthony (aka Tony) Hadfield made a decision, in their late 50's, to do something a "bit different" and walk New Zealand's 3000km Te Araroa Trail over summer 2015/16 - although updates will now tell you that this plan will take longer now!!. As the old saying goes - "don't leave home 'til you've seen the country"!! Archives
January 2018
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