Today – 25.4km From Dome to Puhoi

Total 521.9km

Woohoo! Cracked the 500km mark today. Celebrated with an Oreo and high fives. Just 5/6 of the trail to go!

It’s been epic so far. Met some awesome people I have been lucky to share experiences with. Also learnt a lot about my walking style and how I want to walk the trail going ahead.

Last nights camp was in a cute little grass patch and it was nice waking up to dry tents from the wind this morning. My deep heat is getting good use from passing it around the group , few sore bodies from the last few days!

Today’s trail was mellow and gave the legs some relief from the ups and downs of yesterdays hike. Everyone was feeling a little rough so was nice to be able to stretch the legs on farm roads and short sections of track to break it up.

Lots of sheep and cows today just living their best lives, and lots of snacks for us.

We rolled down into Puhoi through a beautiful bush river walk to the historic pub for a well earned pint or so.

Looking at heading to Stillwater tommorrow then rolling into Auckland the following day. Caught a glimpse of Rangitoto Island today and it hit home that I’m really walking into Auckland in a few days – milestone!