25 February
Terrible weather in the night! The rain poured and the tent shook in gusty winds.
As if yesterday hadn’t been big enough, today produced a 38k monster hike. Initially we were considering just to Ōtaki. However, the campsite would have made a sideways extra of 10k.
From The Levin campground we farewelled Kathy and Ivet once again. The weather had deteriorated and it wouldn’t be wise to enter the Tararua Range until it had passed. This was their intention. We decided to tally-ho onwards and aimed to hike to Waikanae.
This involved walking segments of State Highway 1. To be fair there were a couple of difficult components due to lack of space on overbridges, but we got through by showing perseverance and patience.
Our Waikanae arrival was in darkness. A quick feed from Countdown before it closed and then through the streets to a freedom camping reserve.
We didn’t expect to be approached by a lost and somewhat disorientated lady along a dimly lit street. After trying to problem solve things for her it was decided that we would get help from the police. Karl did a great job of the 111 call while I kept the lady chatting and reassured things we get sorted for her. All ended well. The police had 2 cars and 4 officers. We stayed on chatting with a couple of officers about our Te Araroa journey so far.
By 11pm the tent was pitched at the reserve and our big day had concluded. A memorable one for sure.
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