I had a great sleep in this morning after sleeping really well and comfy last night. Got up at 9am and had breakfast before renting one of the tree bikes the hostel has on offer. I took the bike to go around town to get some OSM bars to replace my crackers and cheese lunch that I am getting sick of. I also stopped by the warehouse to get small travel containers for soap etc. to fill my sunblock and after sincere stuff in. I also needed some shampoo that isn’t outdoor soap so I can really clean my hair while I am in town.

While driving around town I stumbled upon the Dutch family whose daughter is also going back to the trail with the kiwi lady the next day. Then I checked at the DOC office for the weather forecast of the next few days. It is still looking good. Though the lady there also told me that due to the continued dry season there is now a complete fire ban. This does not include camping gas stoves so I am fine. As I am cooking inside the huts it wouldn’t be a problem anyways.

Back at the hostel i went through another heat shakedown dropping further things. I removed my second long sleeve, the bikini bottom, my towel, the majority of the outdoor soap, 1/4 of my foam mattress, the package of the tent and ground sheet, my cup as well as the brain of my backpack. While the pocket at the top of my pack is quite handy I don’t necessarily need it and it is only additional weight.

In the late afternoon I went to the pharmacy again to buy some gel insoles for my shoes and loom at the bandages/braces again. I still couldn’t decide on one of them and didn’t want to spend the money on an impulse buy. Then I continued on to mail the dropped things away, shedding another 1kg of my pack. At the hostel i also took some of the food out that I do not need. I packed way too much milk powder. I am also dropping the crackers and 1 dinner. The salt also went as I never use it with eh flavoured dinners that I have with me.

I then made dinner at the hostel of a butter chicken pie. pies in New Zealand are just so tasty:) Then I once again spent the evening talking to the other guests and getting the free pudding once again. Arranged to be picked up the next morning at 7:20am to get back to the trail. Finally went to bed after blogging and chatting with others at around 2am.