Start – Parawai Lodge
Finish – Waikanae
Daily Distance – 25 km
TA Distance – 1642 km
Today I bade a fond, but relieved, farewell to the Tararuas and returned to civilization. Incredibly only
100km of beach and park walking now separates me from Wellington and the half way point of this
journey!
After 2 shorter days my legs are feeling somewhat recovered, which was a relief as my final obstacle
before reaching town was the 812m elevation of Pukeatua. Reaching the summit at the early time of
11:00 I was very happy with my progress. Perhaps a little too happy. I spent quite a lot of time on the way
down faffing and taking photos so consequently found the last 12km road walk to town a real slog in the
punishing afternoon heat. It was a lovely trail though. Commencing with grassland it passed into well
formed bush track before finishing with a lovely meander through pine forest. With the TotT and his
objection to pine forests still fresh in mind, I made sure to really enjoy the experience. Lego Ben also
wanted to help, which accounted for a considerable amount of the photography faffing.
This evening has mainly been spent eating the baguette topped with generous chunks of smoked fish that
I have been craving for days and beginning the food resupply planning for the South island. So really just
obsessing about food, both present and future like usual.
