Distance travelled today: 20 km

Total TA distance covered: 1767 km

QCT day 3

It pissed down with rain overnight and I had issues again with drops slashing up under the awning and heavy dropslets causing condensation to be bounced down from inside the roof. While not saturated, my bag was a bit damp on the outside. Like most times it rains though, it eased off and stopped by 7am as I went about packing up. No chance to dry the tent and had to carry it saturated the whole day to dry out later.

We all left around 8:30 or so and it looked to be a promising day as the sun came out and the rain had cleared the low lying cloud. So there were actually some views from the top of the first climb for the day but too short lived. The low cloud returned and later a fine mist and then drizzle for much of the day.

With the first and only real climb out of the way early the trail levelled off and followed either ridgeline or contour just about all the way to Anakiwa. The trail was busy with heaps of slackpackers and day walkers out and about. I played leap frog with quite a few during the day.

With the cloud returned, the views disappeared and it was back into walking along a green corridor of vegetation. There were a couple of steep drop offs on some sections where if you were flying down hill on a mountain bike you would want to be paying attention.

I was surprised to walk through several sections that had previously been burnt and were regenerating quite well. The lush green on black was a picture.  I thought fire was meant to be devastating to beech forests but it looked to be healthy.

Around 6 km out from town I rounded a corner to a view across Grove Arm and down towards Anakiwa. This looked like a good spot for lunch and I was joined by a British couple walking the QCT, while Silva & Martin came past passed as well.

After lunch it was a quick walk into town on awesome track through beech forest. The forest was abuzz with european wasps as they covered some of the beech trees feeding off the sap. Along the way Davis Bay was passed. This looked like a really nice place to camp. But no camping tonight. A warm bed and chance to dry out at Anakiwa YHA.

Finishng the trail the Swiss couple were there next to the Green Caravan Cafe. Perfect way to end the trail. Coffee, chocolate and final goodbyes to the Swiss. Happy trails.