22 km total 2795km
7 hours
After getting a lift from two nice American hiking women and a three kilometers walk on the state highway it was time to walk back on Te Araroa.
The first bit of the day was a boring gravel road through farmland but at list the view of the mountains was nice. The tramping then really begins after Lower Princhester hut. The track goes up through the forest and then alternates between open and swampy fields and usual forest with no view. The clouds are covering the skies and make the forest looking really dark. I slowly but surely getting bored of the forest. After so much of it I need to have views. In addition the track is not straight forward so I am very slow on it. But today won’t be my lucky day. After falling in a few tussock covered mudholes I climb the last hill before arriving at the Aripama hut. It is getting cold so I was delighted to see the smoke getting out of the hut chimney. I had then my mandatory swim in the neighboring river before having food in the nice warmed up hut.
