We met Marryanna 🇦🇹 at the hut, she was finishing the South Island TA (she had to skip it and was just coming back to complete the trail), so Pierre, Flow and I hiked with her, she also arranged a shuttle at 5 PM at the parking lot, which I arranged for the day after with Katie, Gerben, Sanne and Georgia, but I knew if he was coming out and had space we could jump in.
It was a 32k hike to the parking lot and flat, mostly going through similar stuff grassland to the day before, but it was really hot 🥵.
We took a lot of breaks and soaked our shirts and hats in many of the streams to cool off, but every time we were overheated again after 20 minutes of hiking. The trail was beautiful in spite of the heat and was definitely a pleasure to walk.
We arrived at the parking lot at 4 and were happy to find a place in the shade to sit, relax and snack while waiting. It turns out the shuttle was over 30 minutes late, but they had space!
We went to Geraldine, stayed at a backpackers, grabbed a couple things before the grocery store closed, then grabbed a beer and dinner.