"Walk along Whakaipo Bay towards the foot of the peninsula to join the newly created track around the Kinloch peninsula enjoying sweeping views of the lake. You will emerge from the bush through a dry gully and onto the lake front for a final stretch through the marina and into Kinloch for a warm welcome at the community centre. It'll be about time for a BBQ on the beach, watching the sun set over Lake Taupo before tackling the next stretch."
We set off after our lunch break well fed and well rested. This stretch we knew was new to everyone! It started off with a gentle climb upwards... that just seemed to go on and on and on... It was a good climb up... along a fantastic track.... or so we thought until we hit the unformed bit!! Freshly graded the ground was still not fully compacted below our feet... making it feel soft and springy as we walked along.
The whole way up and along the peninsula we kept getting clearings through which we got some amazing views out initially over the last Checkpoint near the lake, and then later on out over the Lake and Taupo in the distance. 
The walking pace was initially set by Gina~ incredible speed after having had her breakfast cereal for lunch she kept the rest of the team on their toes trying to keep up! But little did we know that this cracking speed would soon come to a grinding halt when we hit a 600m section of unformed track. With blue tape strung to trees to guide us along a track we soon found ourselves hanging onto trees and sliding on our bums, as we tried clambering along the narrow steep 'ups and downs' we suddenly encountered. 
It was an interesting but challenging change. Once we had survived this we were sure we would be just about at our next stop... but were soon told otherwise~ another 4km to go!! It seems this route was longer than originally advertised! All feeling a little despondent at this sudden and unexpected increase in distance we set off down the track. 
Fortunately a fantastic text message from Gayle one of our fantastic support crew came through shortly thereafter... would anyone like ice cream at the next stop?! Suddenly spirits were revived and the pace increased again... the promised ice creams were waiting and we just had to get to them!!Once again we were greeted by our fantastic support crew on entry to the next stop... they kindly showed us where some flushing toilets were... despite breaking the rules we have to say... it was good to be able to sit on level ground for the toilet luxury
(Have you ever tried to sit in a Portaloo on sloping hills- it was something we seemed to know all about after the first 2 stops!)
And then it was time for the ice creams... how amazing they were... we were all thrilled with this! Thank you Support Crew! And what of the Checkpoint area in Kinloch?? Well from our support crew reports it was one of the most organised... and from Andres experience it was the best as you can see above... what more could you want? He was given a chair and newspaper by one of the volunteers whilst he waited for the girls to go toilet, and together with the ice cream from his support crew, he was set! (... if he could have given up his walking shoes here the girls rekon he would have!!) 
Some time was spent at this stop with the help of the full support crew team helping with changing shoes, repairing feet, filling up water supplies, munching on chocolate biscuits (made by Finnuala and Gayle) and getting torches out... the next stretch was going to be a long one and would take us into the dark.
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