(100-200km) Welcome to the jungle

Herekiri forest. I walk with a guy from Netherlands and a guy from Italy. No rain from the side anymore! Nice, lovely trees. Palms and ferns and a little fantail bird following us. Little streams in the valley. Kauri trees. Too big for three people to hug. And mud. It's slippery wet. Like clay piled up and soaked in water. Up and down we hike. Feet deep in the pits. We're soaked wet when we find a hut with bunk beds! So happy!

Raetea forest. No chance to keep feet dry. Shells of snails as big as an apple. A colourful parrot. All the things you imagine about a jungle: plants growing on plants growing on plants. We camp on the windy summit. More rain, more mud. Pushing through dense vegetation. Finally a meadow, bones and skull of a cow, a road, few houses. We stay at Mangamuka dairy farm in an abandoned store equipped with beds. Another day passes by, while we wait for river levels to drop. If you hate Raetea, you are not strong enough.

Puketi forest. Lovely beautiful nature. Broad track, then 3 km walking through the stream. Camp at Waipapa river under palms and ferntrees. Kiwis calling in the night. Dead possums hanging with their heads stucked in the traps. A wild goat followed by a goat hunter with dog, then back in civilization.

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