Saturday, December 9, 2023Distance/ Total: 27.3 km / 17.0 mi My first nights sleep in a Department of Conservation (DOC) hut was not as good as I’d hoped for. The mattress was too soft and I sank through it and was laying on the plywood floor of the bunk. It was nice being indoors, but the beds could be better. […]

Friday, December 8, 2023Distance/ Total: 13.8 km / 8.6 mi I enjoyed the motel room last night. It was one of the better beds I’ve slept in on this trip. I wasn’t in a hurry this morning and took some time to download a couple of audiobooks before starting down the trail. The first 3 km was more roadwalk until […]

Thursday, December 7, 2023Distance/ Total: 33.9 km / 21.1 mi After one more rest day yesterday (December 6) I’m anxious to get back on the trail. On my last rest day I returned the car back to Hamilton checked into the Hostel and spent the afternoon just relaxing. I was up early this morning and on the trail about 6:45. […]

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 I arrived in Rotorua about 6:00 pm last night and, after checking into my room, headed to the Polynesian Spa to soak in the hot baths. They had several pools with temperatures varying from 100 to 104 degrees F and both acidic (sulphuric) pools and alkaline pools. I spent a couple of hours there unwinding from […]

Monday, December 4, 2023 For Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit fans I don’t think any explanation is required. For all others – Hobbiton is a fictional town created by JRR Tolkien in his books as named above. It is a village where hobbits live and the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins begin. The Movie set located […]

Sunday, December 3, 2023 Today is the first of my vacation days based out of Hamilton. It’s a combination rest / vacation period where I’ll be enjoying some of the tourist attractions in the area, but at a fairly leisurely pace. Hamilton Gardens was on my list for today and I caught a 9:35 bus from Hamilton transit center out […]

Saturday, December 2, 2023Distance/ Total: 21.4 km / 13.3 mi There were some very loud frogs croaking through the night and I eventually broke out my earplugs so I could get some sleep. I woke this morning to the sound of a sprinkling rain on the tent. I hurried and packed up just in case it started to really rain, […]

Friday, December 1, 2023Distance/ Total: 34.0 km / 21.1 mi I didn’t rush around this morning. It was going to be a long day – 34 km – but the first 21 km was going to be all roadwalk. I didn’t get started down the trail until about 8:00am. The first 21 km went pretty fast and I reached the […]