27km total 1097km
7.5 hours
Sunny! After a nice sleep and good breakfast I started the second part of the 42 traverse. A few quads and river crossings later the Te Araroa leaves the quad track into the Waione track.
It is much muddy and less used than the traverse. At some point there is water everywhere and you have to choose wisely where to go. I choose to follow my instinct over the trace of previous hikers and I was right. Like a part of the river decided to use the trail to go through. I was again happy to have sandals so I didn’t needed to loose time to remove and put my shoes on again and again. The path goes then up some muddy old quad track. I think no one would be crazy enough to get again with a vehicle on these tracks. After getting on the top the trail transform itself into a series of puddles. Finally I got out of the forest. My sandals hurts a little because there use a new binding system and I still need to figure out how to avoid the friction between my foot and the sandal. Right before hitting the state highway 47 I get hit by some heavy storm. I hurry up and get my rain jacket and pack cover out just in time. Finally I arrived at the Tongariro holiday park and choose to treat myself and got a nice little cabin for the night.
The weather for tomorrow should be fine so I will try to get up early for the Tongariro crossing. I am feeling better now that I eat more food than before.
