Caught the early morning "hospital bus" linking Taumarunui to Hamilton hospital and then a bus to Huntly through a thunderstorm and hail. The rain has stopped by the time I got started walking at Huntly. On day 32 (Dec. 6th) I had skipped forward from Papakura to Huntly so I could be back in time for my son Ben's birthday on the 23rd. I'd made up time by biking the Timber Trail so had enough time to do the skipped sections northbound on the way back up to Auckland. It felt weird to be back in Huntly. It seemed so long ago when I was last there. But it was only 2 weeks and the river was still a little flooded. The afternoon was hot and thundery but easy walking along flood bank and farmland. Stayed at trail angel Cathy's place in Rangiriri.
