Te Araroa (day 56) - Manuka Hut to Two Thumb Track [Rangitata Crossing] / mile 1458
Big and important day, no huge miles or difficult terrain but crossing Rangitata sorted many logistic problems and felt quite special. First thing in the morning, about 6am I got chased up by Paul from Australia. He wasn't joking about getting up and starting to hike early! We confirmed our intentions to cross the braided river most of people were taking shuttle around. Personally I thought that taking the bypass here was expensive and boring as the river was definitely walkable. It wasn't incorporating sense of adventure and taking calculated risks into TA experience. Trail leading to the crossing was easy enough so we reached Mt Potts Car Park at 1pm. We met here "Noodles for Breakfast" family. Apparently they were featured in a prominent YouTubers video about hiking Te Araroa. Noodles were waiting for a shuttle back to Geraldine. We had a lunch break here and discussed the crossing again, as it started to rain on top ...