Today is the day, we have 3 days worth of food. 4 if we count all the extra snacks, soups etc. The aim is 8km, if we can get that far we may be able to get to the Makahika Outdoor Pursuit Centre in two days rather than 3. Either way we are not worried there are lots of walkers about now and all are more than happy to help in anyway that they can.

We set off and I get 500m down the road and it really starts to hurt. I walk a bit longer before deciding it would be dumb to not tell Rowan. I talk him into walking a bit further and seeing if we can see anyone at the carpark, the weather isn’t great but it is Saturday. We may need to turn around and go back to the hut. 2km from the hut we get to a road that leads up to the reservoirs and back down to Shannon. We can see there are some tracks and make the choice to go to the reservoir. 1, there could be cars parked. 2, there may be some shelter from the weather. 10min later a ute is coming in. I stay on the road and make them stop. There are 3 guys coming in checking something to do with biodiversity. They say it will take them 45min or so but are happy to squeeze us in on the way back. We thank them and tell them if we are not at the carpark we have been lucky enough to find someone else to pick us up. Not even 5 minutes later a car is coming down the hill towards us. We stop them and they say the ute stopped and told them about us. Very kindly they said they would take us in.

Gram and Lynn have 40 hectares here overlooking the ranges, reservoir. They take us up to the top of their property to have a look. Unfortunately the day isn’t clear enough, but on a good day you can see out to Mt Taranaki, Ruapehu, Levin and even the South Island. At the top Lynn gets a phone call, I think great I will turn my phone on there is signal. All of a sudden I have text messages and WhatsApp messages wondering if we are okay. I didn’t realise it but my family had started worrying this morning about us. They had started to contact people who could help, DOC, police, tramping societies and such. It was a bit of a shock and felt like an overkill but of course they don’t have any hiking experience or know what to expect. Rowan’s family weren’t the least bit worried being hikers themselves. A very important point for me, and I will need to have a good think about what steps they should take if it happens again (which I am sure it will).

Gram & Lynn had gone down to the lower part of their property near the reservoir and were on their way back when they picked us up. They took us all the way to the Levin Holiday Park. Extremely thankful for their kindness I tried to pay them but they wouldn’t accept it. At the Levin Holiday Park we get a site and pitch the tent. Now to work out what on earth we do next. I contact all the physios in the area to get an appointment. Luckily I get a reply from one and an appointment for Monday morning. Next, do we stay here or try a trail angel? Angel Geoff replies to my message pretty fast and is happy to take us the following day. Showered and sitting down in the TV room, I have my foot elevated, we are debating dinner. Rowan will need to walk somewhere as I really can’t handle it. Then a message comes through from Geoff, he has two NOBO (North bound) hikers cooking dinner tonight would we like to come? Why not! It feels strange to be going on a dinner date, it has been so long since we had one. Geoff, Marine & Antione pick us up and we go to the supermarket. Vege tacos are on the menu. Rowan and I pick up a bunch of the ingredients to make sure we are helping. We get back to Geoff’s home and have a wonderful meal. Marine & Antione are completely gorgeous, they met here 10 years ago. They are French and are currently residents in Quebec. We all get along like a house on fire, past my bedtime Geoff drops us off at 10pm. Marine and Antione are hiking tomorrow, hopefully we haven’t kept them up too late.