3km down the road and I am regretting leaving the whare.

Woke to rain, more and more rain. It was a pleasant start with only 8km to our destination, possibly 11km if I can handle it. My ankle is sore but I think I will be fine it feels better than yesterday. We set off on the forest road Rowan shows me a sleeping possum in a tree

The track is mostly uphill and the last 50m is steep but you can see a picnic table to motivate you to the top. By now my ankle is pretty sore. We head into Burtons Track a bush walk which is mostly downhill (my ankle is in pain). We stop for a rest and two hikers in their 60s catch up to us. They’re heading to the further spot we were hoping for and they started back at the carpark. We chatted for a while then we carried on, there was no way we would keep up with them.

Further along again we stop and a French hiker passes us. We have a stream crossing which gets our boots wet. A bit further and we are at Tokomaru Stream it is 1pm. Now there is a detour ahead which takes you 2km off the original track but it is steep and much like what we have been doing. Rowan leaves me sitting to see if we could make it the 1km along the river on the original track. Turns out it is private land so definitely need to do the detour. I can’t bring myself to puff and struggle 1.5hr up the hill and struggle back down. I want to stay right here! Rowan is fine with that only 6km done but now we are days to get out, there is no way I am going back so the only way if forward. We relax in the shade right on the river. It is really beautiful and relaxing. Down stream is a deep swimming spot, Rowan helps me across the river and we have a wash, it feels good to shampoo my hair. We relax the rest of the afternoon, pull the solar panel out and read our books.