By Elliot

Distance: 32km

This morning we set off after enjoying the luxury of toast and peanut butter. None of the forecast were calling for rain today, so I had a pair of underwear that I had washed in the sink hanging on the outside of my pack. Within 30 minutes, it started raining, and it proceeded to rain for the next two hours. But luckily it wasn’t too cold of a day and the rain wasn’t too heavy for our rain gear. I did have to move my underwear to the inside of my pack though.

Maybe it’s because we haven’t been hiking consistently since before we started canoeing down the Whanganui over a week ago, but we felt sluggish and moved slowly. It’s demoralizing: we’ve walked half the trail, and yet a day like today, which had a well-maintained track and no major elevation gain was a big struggle. I thought we would cruise through a day like today.

And yes, today marks the day that we are halfway done the trail! Though the sign we posed with was about 5-10km short of the actual halfway point. The TA route keeps changing slightly, and that sign was put there in the 2016/17 season.

Tonight we have a hut that can sleep 6 to ourselves. I guess there are fewer people walking at the moment due to Christmas . So we spread all our stuff out and are taking full advantage. Hopefully having our own hut helps us sleep well and wake up refreshed tomorrow morning.