It started with a three wire bridge and then beautiful forest. A windy section on Smokey beach saw the rain cover blown off my backpack and away without either of us noticing - we were busy concentrating on the rain blowing into our faces and the sand whipping our legs.

Back in the forest we stumbled upon our first kiwi at midday, right in the middle of the track and coming towards us. We watched it peacefully doing it's thing and looking for bugs in the soil with it's long beak, completely unfazed by it's audience.

The hut at Long Harry is beautiful with a great view over another beach (at low tide) and the rugged coastline so we decided a short day of hiking sounded perfect.

The other couple arrived a little while after us and reunited me with my rain cover which had blown straight into their path!