Our group of 13 met at Paeroa at 10am, where a car was left to take the drivers back to their cars afterwards. We went on to the start of our tramp, at Waitawheta Rd just across the river from the main highway to Waihi, and began our walk at 10:30am. This was along the old formation of the Paeroa-Tauranga railway line that had closed down after the Kaimai Tunnel was opened in 1978. Today the old railway line is a walking and cycle track, and we needed to keep to the left of the path to allow many cyclists going both ways to pass us. We had a short stop at the old railway bridge across the Ohinemuri River before going through the old railwy tunnel, about 1km long. This tunnel is now lit up, allowing walkers to go through without using a torch, but cyclists need to turn their light on. We came out to Karangahake shortly before midday, and we found a nice possy beside the river to have our lunch. John shared a devotions about our daily vaccination. A Facebook friend said that he had got vaccinated as he does every day. He feels cleaned and pure, his strength and immunity boosted by the powerful blood of Jesus. This is a special vaccine one can take each day - to grow spiritually it is important to have a personal devotion and prayer with God each day. First thing each morning John would prayerfully read his devotion from a devotional such as Word For Today, and have a Bible reading. He would go through the events of the past day, thanking God for all the blessings and praying for any needs. John would then pray ahead into the forthcoming day, identifying any needs. He would then go through his emails and other communications, this would make sure he reads such things as prayer newsletters instead of just ignore them when in a hurry. This daily injection can be done anywhere anytime, devotionals and readings come in phone apps along with daily diaries such as Google Maps timeline or the covid scanner app, allowing one to easily take this vaccine while away from home. We carried on following the old railway formation through open farmland, and the final stretch was beside a country road, and we finished back in Paeroa at about 2pm.

Distance 12.4km, maximum speed 7km/h, average speed including breaks 3.3km/h.