Leg 5 Oruanui Pony Club to Helistar

Distance 6.9km
Height Gained 20m, Height Lost -150m

We were a lot later starting this leg than planned. I had only intended a 15 minute stop at Checkpoint 4 but the team was both physically & mentally weary when we arrived. This was not surprising as we had been on the go for nearly 13 hours when we arrived. Thank goodness Leg 5 was both the shortest leg on the trail (only 6.9km) and virtually all downhill (only 20m going up on this leg, but 150m going down).

The trail led out of the Oruanui Pony Club, along Farm Rd and past a enormous drilling rig. I assume they were drilling a steam bore - Taupo being full of geothermal activity with much of it harnessed for electricity generation. We were asked to keep quiet past the buildings next to the rig as there were rig workers sleeping. The trail then led along service roads into the Wairaki Forest, down Rogue Bore Rd, onto Karapiti Rd, back through the Tunnel Track to the SH1 Underpass and across Karetoto Rd to Checkpoint 5 at Helistar.

Our team was beginning to tire now. The initial planning had us doing this leg in 1:23, however despite being both a short leg and downhill, the time was stretched out to 1:30. At this point we had completed 2/3rd's of the trailwalk and the whole western circuit.

Pacific Direct Line had two teams in the Taupo Trailwalker. The other team was called PDL Panthers and consisted of Olivier Ravel (General Manager of PDL), his wife Phillippa Ravel, Tammy Hamawi (Australia Manager of PDL) and Michelle Brunt (Sales Executive for PDL). Through the entire trailwalk they were 15 to 20 minutes in front of the PDL Pumas. As we arrived at each checkpoint they were just leaving to start the next leg.

The Trailwalk rules allowed teams arriving before 10pm to leave the course for an overnight sleep , but they must resume by 7:30am on Sunday. We had arrived at 9:45pm and we all discussed this option and elected to keep on walking. We figured that if we lay down and had a sleep we would too stiff in the morning to continue, and that it was better to just keep on going and instead have a good rest between each leg at the checkpoints to come.