Te Araroa (day 44) - Mid Wairoa Hut to Porters Creek Hut [Richmond Ranges] / mile 1203
"Work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It's the best part of the day." George Allen Sr. Last full day of the Richmond Ranges section, tomorrow if everything goes well I should stay in town for the night. First portion of the day was a long climb along the Wairoa river with many crossings throughout the way. Water was freezing cold. The sun didn't show up in the valley until late morning so my feet got quite numb. Eventually I've reached Top Wairoa Hut where the trail departed from the river and started to climb towards Mount Ellis. Once there the steep rocky descent begun. I slid two times on the wobbly rock and landed on my butt. I was low on food, my energy levels weren't great and my body needed those calories to keep up the pace. At 3pm I've reached Hunters Hut and decided to push to the next one as that would put me in reach of St Arnaud, the town where I could get my next r...