Day 8: Makene Rd to Apple Dam campsite (18km, 6.5hrs)

I woke up surrounded by the lingering pong of wild pigs.

Today was a fairly straightforward road walking day. It was 6km along SH1 to Mangamuka - the highway has been closed since mid year because of a slip in Mangamuka Gorge and has only been opened for light traffic during the Christmas/New Year period, so there was very little traffic. 

I’m making progress!

I stopped off at the Mangamuka Bridge dairy, and treated myself to an egg muffin, a moccacino, and a milkshake. I ended up staying there 2 hours, charging my phone and battery and chatting to lovely store manager Eliza. A nice break!

My 10am pic: enjoying a raspberry and lime milkshake. I like to live dangerously. 

Turning off the highway, I carried on steadily uphill along another 12km of gravel road, through farmland and eventually into forest. I passed another tramper going the other way, he was coming from my destination tonight. 

At 1:30pm I was at the campsite - another tiny grassy patch, like the last few, with a small stream nearby for water.

Only me at the campsite again tonight.

The Apple Dam camp water supply. The water was a bit brown, but I think that’s tannins from the beech leaves. I hope.

There were rumours of a hidden long drop - eventually I found it.

The elusive longdrop. Just don’t look inside... 😱

I set up camp and settled in to rest up for a quiet afternoon. It’s a big day tomorrow - an arduous 25km hike upriver - so I want to make an early start. The shin handled today’s road walk just fine, but tomorrow will be a different story.

Today’s been cloudy and as Eliza predicted there was a brief spot of rain later in the afternoon. They say to avoid tomorrow’s route if the weather is wet (the river gets too deep, and there is a danger of flash floods). So I hope the weather holds 🤞.

Thai chicken curry for dinner - the best one yet! Listening to moreporks as I fell asleep.