Day 34. Dec 8. Ngāruawāhia to Hamilton. 22km.

Took the early morning bus to Ngāruawāhia again to start the section from Ngāruawāhia to Hamilton. A long walk along a paved cycle track, mostly following the grand Waikato river. Was very hot by the time I finished at the Hamilton backpackers. Started chatting with Talulah and later with Justin, Sam, and Rioden who were also staying there. We all had to evacuate the backpackers at around 1am as someone had set off a fire alarm. The firemen didn't look too impressed at what probably was a frequent occurrence. Bumped into Joe as we waited outside. He was trying to catch up with the Jai bubble and had just done Huntly to Hamilton, a very big day indeed.