Something like a late start today. Mike dropped me back at the Longwoods on Merryvale Road. Not quite where I got to but their car is in for a service and the one he had was a loaner. With the detour on the 13th I figured it wouldn't matter too much.
Mike also covered a PDB for a fortnight. The lady that hired it to us had no idea of the purpose behind the "Panic Date" and consequently the date listed is now the day after it's due back. It should be back well before then but that's not the point...
On the way out we passed Charles near the end of Merryvale Road. He's also doing the Te Araroa and was heading to Otautau for resupply. Mike offered him a lift after dropping me off.
So, at the moment, there's 3 of us pretty close together. I'm expecting Charles and Ray to overtake me (if Ray isn't already ahead of me.)
I made surprisingly good km's today. Nineteen kilometers covered with a mix of road, farm trail and tramping track. Either the road sections were longer than they seemed or I'm getting better at this all round.
The sections coming up look pretty clear from the track notes and the v.29 of the trail PDF. This is good because this section is the other one I don't have a topo map for.
Island Bush and Woodlaw Forest covered today.
Tomorrow will be a short day. The run from the start to the Telford Campsite is another 19km walk. I'd rather start that fresh than after the 13 km from here to the start.