Te Araroa Trail – Day 81

Saturday January 27, 2024
Distance/ Total: 21.0 km / 13.0 mi

It started raining about 5:00am this morning. I knew it was supposed to rain which is why I wanted to be in a hostel. According to the forecast the rain should stop around noon and get “fine” in the afternoon.

I hung around the hostel as long as I could and finally walked down to Mills Bay Eatery to try some more mussels before I headed out of town. They opened at 10:30 and I got there about 12:15 so I waited under their awning until they opened. The rain had slowed down and it was now just a mist blowing in occasionally.

At 10:30 I ordered a pot of steamed mussels and waited for them to be prepared. They were very delicious and I devoured the whole pot.

After eating I started down the trail. It was about 3 km of paved roadwalk before turning off onto a gravel road. Another 10km of gravel road walk in the hot sun and I was tired already. I reached the turn off into some farmlands and climbed over the stile yo start across. This was the first of probably 20 stiles to cross today.

The farmland was along the side of the Pelorus River so I was able to get a little breeze off the water. Otherwise it was just a hot sunny walk. With only 1.5 km to go the trail crossed the final stile and entered DOC forest. It felt cool in the forest as I made my way to the Pelorus Bridge Campground.

I arrived at camp about 4:30 and had some difficulty finding my campsite #16. The campsites were numbered around a circle and the numbers skipped from 14-17. ZI asked around and finally found site #16 hidden behind site #18. It was close to the river, but had absolutely no shade.

I setup my tent and headed up to the common kitchen area where I could find a picnic table in the shade. After cooling off I wandered down to the river and took some pictures.

As the sun dipped in the sky, I took a shower and turned in early. I’ve got several long days ahead of me.