TA day 101

TA Day 101: Saturday 29 March 2025

Te Kowhai - Parker Road / Hakarimata Road

Kim's parents (Patrik and Elisabeth) stayed in bed this morning when we got up and prepared for another day walking through New Zealand.

This morning, Kim started walking about 15 minutes before Lukas (!!!), but it didn't take too long before he caught up, and the circa 10 km road walk passed quickly.

Once we reached Ngaruawahia we stopped at New World and got some more things to drink and a carrot cake to celebrate with once we got to the top - we knew there would be a lot of stairs ahead...

We walked to the start of the hill, and started the ascent. We met an endless amount of people going down when we were going up, and were also passed by plenty of people. It was so crowded, that we were a bit annoyed by it all.

More than 1300 steps later, we reached the top. And this is also where we became alone, completely alone, save one single walker, who turned around quite early on. Now started an endless ridgewalk on an overgrown trail full of roots. Or that's what it felt like at least. In fact, it was more like four hours or so. We had our carrot cake very early on, but it only fuelled us for so long.

Finally two friendly faces met us - Patrik and Elisabeth, and we were happy because it meant we would soon reach the car and then return to our AirBnB for the night.

Lukas drew a line in the sand by the side of the road, this is where we would continue the next day.

On the way back, we stopped by town to buy takeaway, and back home we played some board games. Which Lukas, at least at first, seemed to be a professional at.

Today's:

Distance: 23.81 km

Ascent: 880 m

Descent: 896 m

Tent nights: 51/101

Weather: Sunny