They travelled north via a tributary of the Arahura River which eventually met the Buller River, which they reached in March. In April, while making his way up the Buller Gorge, Brunner suffered paralysis of his leg. The party had to lay up for a week for Brunner to recover some use of his body. With the aid of Kehu (Pitewate and his wife abandoned the party when Brunner became ill), he was able to reach Nelson in June 1848, thus ending after 550 days what he described as his 'Great Journey'.