Day 18 - The day started with iced coffee instead of milk with CEREAL! taste! feeling good, and its a baking hot day. So we started walking again. In anticipation of making it to Russell, the place we left 18 days ago, the place that took around 3 hours to drive to Cape Reinga from. We decided to take a little shortcut along a side road to get back to the official trail and as we were walking along a car pulled up with the Argentinians that we met on 90 Mile Beach! epic! and the funny thing is, they took a wrong turn too! how awesome is that. Hopefully we will see them again. Just before Paihia we stopped at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the site where the Waitangi Treaty was signed between the Maori and British peoples on February 6th 1840. Unfortunately we had a ferry to catch so we pushed on into town, beautiful place though. Some Speights and some fish and chips go a long way after a full day of hiking, and although it didn't feel that far we were actually pretty tired, as per usual. Nice to have a roof over our heads again (Thanks Geoff and Jane), slept well not surprisingly.
Day 19 - We aimed to walk 18 miles today, the furthest yet. It transpired though that no one took the initiative to motivate everyone to leave and we took another rest day. We did a lot though, spent most of the time uploading blogs and adding bits to the website etc. Landey also spent some time on excel making a budget table which will help us keep track of our money to make sure we dont spend too much, and the same thing goes for the miles walked - We've walked 8.43 miles per day since we left and we need to walk 11.25 so we are a little behind but dont worry about that... we arent!
For dinner we treated ourselves, and Geoff and Jane, to dinner at the Duke or Marlborough. As Jane mentioned this really is a place that needs to be visited if you are in Russell. Not just because it is the oldest pub in New Zealand or that it's under new management and has been totally refurbished but because the food is delicious and it offers amazing beach front views. It's also a hotel if you need somewhere to stay. Needless to say it was a totally awesome night.
Day 20 - After saying our goodbyes to Jane and Geoff we left Russell swiftly. We had a slow walking start, probably due to our two days of rest, but we had no aches or pains. As we came from Russell we skipped the Paihia-Opua coastal walkway and met the trail again over the further up from Okiato. The road walk was pretty mundane, passing mangroves and oyster farms along the way but we finally started making good speed. In fact Landey was so in the zone (listening to some In Flames on his Ipod no doubt) he blazed right past the gravel road turn off of the Russell-Whakapara Rd. We even managed to walk 13 miles before 1pm which in our books so far is awesome! Damn we're good! haha.
The forest however is more difficult and it killed our pace and our stamina upon reaching the summit of Te Ranga sooo steep and soooo humid. The triangulation point was cool though, huge views (you could see Russell!) until the clouds moved in and, AND, Anders spotted a Geocache (the treasure hunt game played by GPS users worldwide). Unfortunately, the kids who found it last didn't leave us any presents. But we aren't ones to spoil the fun (and we are all having fun, a lot) so we left Landey's harmonica. Hopefully someone will be overjoyed to find a musical instrument for them in the Russell Forest! (it should be in working order too - we double bagged it to make sure!). Anyway, the still air in the forest and the 100% humidity meant that we were getting really hot and I (Landey) couldn't see. So we stopped whilst I dug around for my contacts and put away my glasses (such a pain in the forest). Got to our stop for the night though (the hut at the Papakauri stream) 18 miles YEEEHAA. Then it started raining again.
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Day 21 - We tried something different for breakfast this time, Porridge with cinnamon and sugar - WAY WAY BETTER! We will be using this from now on. It was raining again so after a quick look at the maps (the next section is really steep and Nicky, Cookie and the girls mentioned that there were landslides (we think)) we decided to turn around and take the road - better safe than sorry. The road to Oakura was fast, made good time but we were getting sore. The dairy were we were meant to be eating lunch turned out to be a little further than the turn off which angered us, but after eating a bit more couscous on the side of the road we were ok again. Anders and DM napped and Landey did some more doodleing. Started raining hard after lunch on our way into Helena Bay (our scheduled stop) so our Eagle Creek raincovers went on for the first time (pretty quick and snazzy - they pull out from the bottom in a hidden pouch) and we were waterproof!
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NO CAMPING - what is this?! apparently you can't camp at these coastal scenic reserves... we aren't used to this - it seemed that in NZ you can camp anywhere. After a group meeting - "should we ask someone or carry on." "carry on." "I think we should carry on." "Ok lets carry on." "Just to the next bay." "Cool beans." we carried on to Teal Bay which offered amazing views of the turquoise water next to the scenic reserve which had NO CAMPING. Dammit. Landey asked some people who said that it should be ok considering it was raining and there are 8 full-time residents! Set up our tent under a Pohutukawa tree and went for a swim. Awesome. Everything is wet though.
Day 22 - Northland Finished! AND 10 days to Christmas. sweet. Rained all night though so everything was wet making it very hard to get out of our tents. The sun came out and burnt off the clouds though so we could walk in comfort to the top of the hill before heading back down to the beach. Pretty uneventful dirt roads, maybe a few cows wandering around on the road but mostly boring until we got to the Mimiwhangata Coastal Walk. Getting onto the beach was uplifting, thankfully it is completely different to 90 Mile Beach - it's more like a stereotypical Caribbean beach. A pleasure to walk on needless to say. So nice in fact that we took an extra long lunch break - 1.5 hrs. We climbed around onto a rock headland and then swam back to our base through a sheltered inlet. After lunch we got back to walking following Cookie's alternate route along the beach until we came to a small track up a hill. A small, old woman was sitting on her porch. As we approached Landey said Hi to which she replied "you know you aren't on DOC land." We weren't too prepared for this kind of response but we eventually turned back to the beach which anyone can be on. From the beach we decided what to do. If we were forced to walk back it would make for a really long day - a 16 miles detour. So we werent about to do that and we didnt want to chance running past the lady in case she had a gun or something. So we walked around the headland, but with the tide coming in it was becoming more and more dangerous. No problem though. On the other side we met an awesome guy who let us walk up his drive to the road. Moods lifted again as we had beaten the mean lady we made good time uneventfully to Motutara Farm Campsite. This campsite is incredible. Helen Barron was really nice and even gifted us a block of cheese since the Whananaki store was shut. We had loads of space to pitch our tents and an amazing view of the sea. In fact we were essentially right on the beach but with nice green grass without sand flies or spiky things! Anyway this was probably the best campsite we've been to so far. Relaxed and recharged we were ready for day 23!
Day 23 - Super happy to get up early knowing we were going to see an awesome sunrise. No dice Jim Rice. It was overcast but we were up and ready to go in record time. We figured we could get loads of miles behind us before lunch so we started at pace. But then the rain started and we were soaked through. Due to the rain we couldn't wade the estuary and we had to cross the longest footbridge in the southern hemisphere - the Whananaki footbridge. Oh joy! can't wait. Seriously though we want to do it but just as we got there it started pouring and well it's just a long wooden bridge, I guess it's a lot cooler in the sun. Anyway the disappointment continued as we got lost. The markers just disappeared as we walked through long grass in the rain after the turn off from the road. Climbing up and down through the soaking wet grass got our boots filled with water but eventually we found the track. Happy to be going the right way again but pissed that we are soaking wet again we actually made good time to Sandy Bay and on to Matapouri where we finally stopped for lunch outside the town store. Best lunch yet - sat in the parking lot under the concrete shade and ate chilli beans with bread and cheese! with afgan cookies for desert. More damn road. All the way through Tutukaka and on to Ngunguru. We dried out a little on our way down with the break in the clouds and found our selves in this awesome little town searching for the kayak guy Cookie had mentioned in his map. Then our story got awesome! I won't tell the whole story but basically there aren't any campsites in Ngunguru any more and we were at a loss to find a place we could pitch our tent when Roger Jones came to the rescue. One of the most generous people we've met so far Roger went out of his way to help us find a place to sleep, and then, invited us to dinner! and he is a well decorated chef from the UK! AMAZING. Thanks so much Roger and Amanda, and thank you to Miela and Ross for letting us camp in their field.
Day 24 - We cheated again, a little. Roger said that the road around the estuary is boring and dangerous and he offered us a lift to the start of the next track. Thanks again! So we started at the Mackerel Forest track which began with so much promise. There was a wide track which started quickly until we got lost again! Dammit. When you cross the river don't follow the track. Turn left instead of right along the unkemptPatua where we stayed at Treasure Island Campsite. Arrived early and we set up in their TV room to dry out our stuff. Then the rain got heavy - thankfully we were inside so not getting soaked tonight! although our tents are keeping us dry most of the time. On top of that we had bacon! YES!
Day 25 - When we woke up it was pouring with rain. There was thunder and lightning, in fact so much thunder that the roof was shaking. We had another group meeting and mutually decided that it was too dangerous to start walking at least until it cleared up! hurray! Luckily though it cleared up and we could start walking. We also rerouted our path along roads to Parua Bay skipping out the coastline which wouldn't be that exciting with all the rain. Walking to Parua Bay would mean that we could meet up with Robyn and Judith East - Anders and Damien's second cousins. The road again was boring but quick and we made good time even in the rain. Easily into Parua but Parua is NOT the same as Parua Bay! ARGH 3 more miles over a hill when you think that you've reached your destination is hard. At Parua Bay we ate some chips from the Springtides Cafe Whangarei - awesome! and then beer! what a great day. Robyn drove us into Whangarei so Anders could get new boots! DM and I bought gaiters as well so now we have more gear to carry! Back in Onerahi we finished out 3rd section of the walk with a home cooked roast dinner! thank you so much Robyn and Judith!
This section is pretty populated and full of little townships so you needn't carry too much food, as for water, it is bountiful so don't stress too much about it
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