We started off today with a nice sunny morning, unfortunately by the time we got to the trailhead it was pouring with rain so we didn’t get any pictures of the trail. We had to shuttle around the Lake to get to our track on the other side (the TA again has an official end and start point, similar to the rivers). Unfortunately the only shuttle we could get didn’t leave until 1130 and wouldn’t get us to the trail until 2pm. This wasn’t unfortunate for breakfast as we were able to enjoy a long breakfast that included avocado on toast and pancakes and a scone and a muffin. We shopped for our resupply and then got donuts and coffee. We opted for the knock-off Ferg bakery instead of Ferg burger nextdoor.

The drive up was in a packed van and the rain started immediately as we got in. It was a bit of a rough ride up and halfway through at one of our stops Heather and I switched to the front seats. We were one of the last to be dropped off (they dropped off all the people heading to the Great Walk first) and stayed under the shelter for a late lunch. The track was super easy but very wet. It was still pouring down and we were getting plenty of mud patches by this point. We finally had a river crossing and committed to getting our feet completely soaked. We saw a number of cool waterfalls and crossed over a large gorge. All the rivers and streams were up quite high so we’ll have to watch that in the next few days. We’re on the greenstone trail today so there’s a great serviced hut that we’re staying in tonight. It’s a little busy but big enough and plenty of space to dry out.