Not a breath of wind came all night it was oppressive. Rain finally came at 4.20am and cooled the temperature down. When we woke in the morning the rain was still pounding on the tent but there was promise of it clearing soon so I sat and read my book. Once the weather cleared we packed up, said our goodbyes and headed towards the ocean. We could see two hikers just ahead of us and one coming up behind. The two in front were walking pretty fast and there is no way we would catch them. The one behind us caught up after a couple of kilometres when I needed to attend to a blister. We had a quick chat and for a while we kept pace with each other. When we got onto state highway 3 we stopped at a rest stop and she kept going. The couple who were ahead of us were there. We had done about 7km before we stopped which is great for us. The weather kept raining off and on and we got walking again. We knew we wouldn’t make it 20km to get the tide for the river crossing and planned to stop before the beach.

Relieved to be off the main highway we started walking down the long road past farms towards the beach. The rain started to really bucket down, we got absolutely soaked! A couple stopped to tell us we wouldn’t be able to cross the river and that is was really flooded. Unsure what to do we kept heading in the direction of the beach. I said to Rowan the hikers ahead of us will head back if they can’t cross and we can always hitch out if that is the case. Continuing on and Rowan asks if my feet are wet yet? Not yet but also not long after I had a good squelch happening. A lovely lady pulled over to tell us we look like drowned rats and that we should come to her place, dry off and have a shower. We said we were okay and she said well I am just over in those trees please come in of you want. We said we may just do that. A kilometre later we struck her house, we both felt like we could go further but a quick cuppa and some relief from the rain will be nice. The house is surrounded by native plants making it a little oasis. The driveway was really flooded. We must have looked sad she gave us towels and told us to come in. We introduce ourselves Lisa and Shane quickly make us feel at home. Lisa makes me a coffee and we relax at the dining table and get chatting. I no sooner finished my coffee and Lisa insisted I get in the shower and we put our clothes in the wash. Rowan and I do as we are told and I feel great after a shower. Then Lisa says “you should just stay the night, we have a spare bed.” We take her up on her offer and relax. Lisa and Shane are incredibly warm and welcoming. Proper Māori welcoming with food and all. Shane insists on getting us all Thai food for dinner as he has to head into to town. We have some great kai and I feel like we are part of the whanau.