We heard that the trail from the hut to the road was really muddy and slippery, to make matters worse we woke to rain and wind making the trail even more slick.
Nobody wanted to leave the hut, but we were already geared up, so I went for it. The conditions weren’t great but once I got moving I heated up. The bad section was only supposed to be the last couple km of the trail and the trail is only 6 km.
It was muddy and slick, but honestly not as bad as we expected. My feet were caked with mud when I got to the road, luckily there’s a stream right there and even better the sun was breaking through. I cleaned up in the stream, had lunch and started the road walk.
There are very few camping spots along the way, the app mentioned staying at Jo and Tony’s farm. For $15 pp we camped, got a hot shower, a beer, dinner which included homemade sausages and ice cream, and breakfast!
821 km, 17 difficult km hiked today.
Sounds like quite the adventure so far Pete! Hope you have a wonderful New Zealand Thanksgiving!