Down the home stretch to the Sky Tower

Rejuvenated and invigorated after our relaxing interlude with Lee and Barry, we powered up Moir Hill, over paddocks, through Dunn Reserve and along the road to the delightful Puhoi village. We made short work of a cold beer at the fantastic pub, walls festooned with interesting relics, and scoffed fish and chips sitting in the sun outside the classic General Store. No campground, so we snuck into the park and hid our tiny tent near the river. No one seemed to mind, even the Park Director who came and had a friendly chat next morning; word gets around in small villages.

We had to wait for an outgoing tide, so headed back up the road to a café that claimed to have been serving Devonshire teas for longer than any other place in New Zealand. True or not, we can verify that the scones were the size of a small loaf of bread, and were served with lashings of homemade raspberry jam and cream. Yum. The east coast provides plenty of opportunity to participate in the cafe culture and it’s difficult to walk past the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

Into a double kayak we hopped and off we paddled down the mangrove-lined Puhoi River to Wenderholm. It was a pleasant run, particularly as Debby could just pretend to be paddling hard and let Rob do most of the hard work - especially into the teeth of the strong easterly wind.

From Wenderholm we walked to Orewa, and next day did a monstrous 37km day through Whangaparoa where a Te Araroa Trail supporter, Gunter Haferkamp, boated us for free across the Weiti River to the start of the Okura Bush walkway. High tides meant a long diversion inland before getting back on the coast.

We made it to the Takapuna motor camp, with its million dollar views of Rangitoto, at 7.00pm and went all soft and hired a caravan- what comfort and spaciousness after our little wee tarptent.

From there it was just a short stretch to Devonport and the ferry. We turned a corner, saw the Sky City Tower like a great beacon, and high-fived as it dawned on us that we had actually made it: over 600 kms, 27 days. Mind you it nearly turned a bit sour when halfway across the harbour on the ferry a certain person realised the GPS with our entire trip record was sitting on the ticket counter back in Devonport. Thank goodness we managed to get it back on the next ferry, and many thanks to Tom and Heather who had to patiently wait for us to drive us back to our car.

We are home, we have both lost a kilogram or so and Debby’s feet have changed shape! But we have a great feeling of satisfaction and will soon be planning the next stage – Auckland to Ohakune. We hope to do it early next year, so watch this space. A heartfelt thanks to our wonderful helpers and supporters, we really appreciate all you have done for us.

Notes

Day 23: Rest day, yay.

Day 24: Dome tearooms to Puhoi - stealth camp in the sports ground. 27.9 km

Day 25: Kayak 8 km to Wenderholm, walk to South Orewa Beach camp. 11.3 km

Day 26: Boat across Weiti River, walk to Takapuna. 38.3 km

Day 27: Walk to Devonport, Ferry to Auckland CBD and the finish line! 12.9 km

Through the forest and down the beaches

Bet you thought we'd given up. But no, we've been in the wilds or when we were in civilisation we were too busy hunting down enormous plates of food, cold beers and soft beds to bother writing stuff.

But here we are in Warkworth with Lee and Barry looking after us. They think Rob in particular is looking a bit skeletal and are trying to fatten him up. You have no idea how wonderful it is to have a soft bed and real food. And people to talk to. We've been incredibly alone out there on the trails, but we are never lonely. There's always each other and the birds and the cows and the sheep. We talk to them, the cows follow us with great curiosity, the birds fly away and the sheep run for it. These are the little details we amuse ourselves with as we trudge along...over soft grass, hard mud, soft mud, bog, dirt track, gravel road, tarmac. Did you know there are thousands of variations in road surfaces?

So, since Paihia..... there have been lowlights and highlights. In the middle of nowhere – well, somewhere in the Ngaitonga Reserve - water a problem, Rob nobly climbed down a bank to a stream, the bank collapsed, he plunged sidelong into the water with a yell. I thought he'd broken his leg, but he came out with just a scratch, pockets full of mud, and I promise I didn't laugh – much.

Next day, on the 9 hour Russell Walkway Bypass track, we had to climb around slips and bash our way through head-high gorse and thick cutty grass. We were scratched and bleeding at the end of it, and thank goodness for the GPS as all trail markers had vanished. The track turned into 10 hours, then we got to the Oakura camp to find it closed. So we pitched the tent under the shelter of a verandah on someone's holiday home. If anyone had asked us to move I think I would have started crying.

The following day a badly signposted track off Kakanui Road meant we went many kms in the wrong direction. Back on the right track we missed a tiny, felt pen-written marker – and arrrrggghhhh we went the wrong way again, heading for Mimiwhangata instead of Whananaki on the Morepork-Onekainga track. Unbelievable. It was a long slog back up the steep track. Lost half a day, had to camp in the forest again, and had to make a meal out of not much.

But then we had a couple of great days to Whananaki, and on to Ngunguru. Beautiful forests and the most amazing thing happened on my birthday. We were looking for a place to stay, a complete stranger stopped and asked us if we needed help. Next thing we are in Sally's car whizzing up the road to her cabin high up on a hill with panoramic views. She insisted we stay for free and eat anything from her fridge we fancied, as she was about to go away! How's that for human kindness? She's one of our “Angels” (see below).

We have a number of categories for people, the top and bottom categories start with A. You can figure out the bottom one – those are the drivers on the roads who try to kill us. We have Angels (provide sanctuary and wheels into town when needed), Saints (offer rides which we of course decline), Cheerful Charlies (wave and leave us road room), Swingers (leave us room), Zombies (don't see us) and the A's. Luckily not too many of them, although the closer we get to Auckland the more of them there are.

We've loved the coastal walks through Pataua, Whangarei Heads, Waipu, Mangawhai, Pakiri and to here. We managed to wade safely across most rivers although we also had to make some long detours. We’ve been enjoying beautiful weather for days now.

At Pakiri we saw NZ's rarest bird, the fairy tern, so beautiful in flight but now down to just a few pairs.

We are on the road by 8.00am most days, and often don't stop until 5.00pm. Our longest day was 36km, way too long, and we do around 25 km average. We start off with vim but as the afternoon wears on, end up with little vigour......we're not sure whether we are getting fitter or just more and more tired. We're on the home stretch but a couple of days late on our plan.

Notes

Day 12: Paihia to Ngaitonga Forest - made a camp. 27.5 km

Day 13: Ngaitonga to Oakuracamp under a verandah. 24.7 km

Day 14: Oakura to Onekainga forest - made a camp. 32 km

Day 15: Onekainga to Whananaki Motor Camp cabin. 8.4 km

Day 16: Whananaki to Ngunguru, Sally's cabin. 21.8 km

Day 17: Ngunguru to Pataua South Treasure Island Camp. 29.4 km

Day 18: Pataua South to Taurikura Bay (hitch to Whangarei Top 10 cabin). 32.2 km

Day 19: Hitch to Mair Rd. carpark, walked to Waipu Cottages and campground cabin. 34.8 km

Day 20: Waipu to Mangawhai camp on Moir Road. 22.7 km

Day 21: Mangawhai to Pakiri Beach camp. 22.5 km

Day 22: Pakiri Beach to Lee & Barry's, Sandspit Road, Warkworth. 25.5 km

Coast to Coast - Ahipara to Paihia

The weather Gods deserted us at Ahipara. They unleashed torrential rain, hail and fierce gales as we battled our way up steep cattle damaged tracks, stumbling over fallen trees and bashing our way through overgrown vegetation. Finding a place to pitch the tent each night was difficult - the old loggers' huts in the Herekino Forest were defnitely not appealing, so we made ourselves a campsite in the forest. Water was hard to find as we were travelling along ridges; we've been carrying around 4 litres per day.

The Herekino ridge took us all day and we camped that night at the start of the Raetea Track in gale force winds. The hailstones kept getting bigger and it was a hard 8 hour slog next day to Mangamuka Saddle.

A fine night and a riverside camp restored our spirits for the Puketi Forest - a 32 km day in steadily increasing rain. We were saved by having a DOC cabin to stay and dry out in.

The sun came out as we walked to Kerikeri along beautiful riverside tracks past Rainbow Falls and we saw our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean - we have done the Coast to Coast - Northland style.

Today we walked to Paihia through Te Puke forest. Beautiful sunshine helped us along and we enjoyed wandering through the Treaty Grounds.

We are still talking to each other and keen to continue.

Notes
Day 6: Ahipara to Herekino Forest - makeshift camp up past the loggers hut. 20 km
Day 7: Herekino to makeshift roadside camp near Ratea Forest. 19.5 km
Day 8: Ratea Forest to campsite beside Makene River. 19 km
Day 9: Makene River to DOC Puketi Recreation Centre cabin. 34.8 km
Day 10: Puketi to Kerikeri Pagoda Lodge. 25.8 km
Day 11: KeriKeri to Paihia YHA. 21.7 km

Cape Reinga to Ahipara down 90 Mile Beach

Unbelievable. Three full days and two half days down the exposed and stunningly beautiful 90 Mile Beach and perfect weather all the way. Someone up there was looking after us. As was our bus driver, Spike, who took us up to the Cape. He came by the next day and gave us bottles of much needed water and 2 huge date scones. I think he was totally amazed that two old codgers like us were even attempting this.

The top half to Te Paki Stream is stunning, gorgeous beaches and wild headlands with unique vegetation, and some very interesting geological features - one of these was a huge rocky cliff face that looked like a mini Ayers Rock. The rest of the beach we learnt about different patterns on the sand and could by the third day tell from the sound of the waves when the tide had turned. We were lucky with the tides, but even so we had to scurry up the beach a couple of times to avoid the incoming waves.

We saw one seal who lumbered off into the surf, several dead seals and 2 dead dolphins, lots of seagulls and terns, gannets, a few skinny Godwits recently arrived from Alaska and a scattering of dotterels. We found pieces of paper nautilus and some giant shells, and watched truckloads of seaweed being carted away and crazy drivers dodging the surf. In the afternoon were the buses, all the drivers and passengers waving to the crazy old codgers. And one of the drivers told us there was another madman a few kilometres behind us doing the whole trail. We eventually met Roger at Waipapakauri.

Mind you, we had our struggles. We both got blisters from walking walking walking, Rob's back was sore when he started but has slowly improved, and I've given in to the pain in my hip and finally taken a voltaren. Two nights in comfortable beds after camping in the sandhills has been very refreshing.

We are heading out of Ahipara for the next leg today, wondering what new challenges we will have to face as we cross the island.

Many thanks to Bob and Ann for putting us up for the night en route and a wonderful 3course gourmet dinner including a superb toblerone cheesecake, and Tom and Heather for a delicious lunch and taking us across Auckland to the bus, and looking after our car. And thanks Spike!

Notes
Day 1: Cape Reinga to south end Twilight Beach campsite - 11.6 km
Day 2: Twlight Beach to grassy platform, The Bluff - 28.6 km
Day 3: The Bluff to sandy wild camp 9 km north of Hukatere - 22.6 km
Day 4: Wild camp to Waipapakauri Beach motor camp cabin - 27.3 km
Day 5: Waipapakauri to Ahipara YHA/motor camp cabin - 14.1 km