By Elliot

Distance: 14km

Breakfast of eggs, toast and tea was provided by the farmstay this morning. It was all lovely until we got a ten minute warning that the hosts were going to work in 10 minutes, which was 7am. This meant no further access to the toilet beyond that point.

Panic ensued and a queue immediately formed for the toilet. I managed to go before we left, but Ruth wasn’t so lucky. She had to wait until an hour into our walk to use a public toilet. It definitely coloured our stay at Karamu.

From the toilet, we started walking on a gravel path for an hour, before the track turned steeper and muddy and we started climbing up Mount Pirongia. Something about the forest made it look particularly beautiful today. Maybe it was the moss or that the forest looked prehistoric.

As we kept going up, we started to get glimpses of the farmland below.

And eventually we reached the summit.

We didn’t find the uphill too strenuous today. The biggest challenge of the day was trying not to get our feet wet by stepping in mud. And while I didn’t totally succeed, my feet stayed mostly dry and Ruth’s new waterproof shoes kept her feet dry.

The hut we are staying at tonight was a half hour walk beyond the summit. We got here around 2pm, so we had plenty of time to eat, read and while away the time while gazing upon the farmland below.