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0km Day : 308km Total
I took a Zero day today for several reasons.  First of all my legs and especially my right knee were complaining from walking a hilly 73km over the previous 2 days.  Also, I needed to get a better handle on my daily hike planning.  Racing the setting sun makes for a good story, but it’s not the way I want the rest of the hike to go.  Also, it was raining this morning, which made the decision that much easier.
I spent half of the day sleeping and a lot of time looking at maps and track notes to get a good idea of what the next week will bring.  I also stopped at the small grocery next door, which is very well supplied with hikers in mind.  The day of rest did my legs a lot of good and my knee is no longer bothering me.
Tomorrow morning I set off for Ngunguru.

Below is a photo of Matthew with one of his carvings. His intent was to use the last 4 letters of the town name (Whananaki) and indicate that the hikers that stay there arrive “knackered”. But the hikers that he shows it to tend to read it in a different way.

Matthew and Tracy take photos of every TA hiker that stay at their park. They told me I was #60 so far this year.