TA day 52 National Park to Whakahoro

52km total 1203km

12.5 hours

Okay. So this day wasn’t planned to be that long. After a slow breakfast I packed my things from the backpackers and finally started after 10 in the morning. It was so cold that I for once had to wear my rain jacket to start. Then with the sun it got warmer. The track goes through the Erua forest 400 meters of elevation down on a bicycle path so it was easy. The forest then makes place for some farmland and a luxury cottage on a huge estate. I made a lunch break with a nice view up in the forest. After some more gravel road I got midway to Whakahoro (27km) and decided to start searching for a nice place to camp. The problem I’d that there wasn’t much possibilities. As it was already five in the afternoon a strange idea began to make its way in my mind: why not just hike all the way to the river ? A short calculation later showed me that I will be very late to the camp. But the weather was so nice that I decided to give it a try. Soon the sun set and it went dark. I took my headlight out and went on. Soon the stars started to shine and it was amazing. I spent quite some time gazing at the sky. I even saw a communication sattelite flying by. After another hour I saw the Whakahoro sign and was very happy. I just had to find the campsite and it was not that easy by night. At least the GPS app was accurate. I pitched my tent, ate a few things and soon I was sleeping.

This was my first 50km in a day. The trail was easy but still I will probably not do a lot of them. But still it is good to know that I am able to do it.