Kerikeri to Waipu Cove

• Start: 7:15 @ km 221
• End: 17:20 (incl. shopping) @ 249.5
• Hiked: 2.5 km from camp + 28.5 km

We set the alarm to 6:00 to get an earlier start and even woke up before that. After getting ready and eating leftovers for breakfast it was already 7:15 when we left. 

First we had to go through town to get back on the trail. We went by a waterfall into the Kerikeri Basin and to a cute old missionary station from 1821. Then the trail led up through a fancy part of Kerikeri with beautiful gardens into Waitangi Forest, which we walked through for the majority of the day. The forest was quite beautiful but also monotonous, because it was a commercial forest with all the same trees of all similar age. We had our afternoon snack: wraps with peanut butter, chocolate-coconut peanut butter, and trail mix (for that extra crunch). Shout out to Kathleen who gifted us some awesome jars of peanut butter!

On the other end we passed by a sculpture and plaque commemorating the opening of the first link of the Te Araroa trail in 1995. 

Afterwards we hiked down into the Bay of Islands with what could probably have been beautiful views if it wasn’t for our first mention worthy rain of the journey. It even felt a little like hail at times. But fortunately it didn’t last too long... Down in Paihia we restocked at Countdown for the next 4ish days and there met our little hiker family again, we would all camp at the same spot for the next two nights again. In Countdown (a grocery chain in NZ), Leah again realized too late that she was hungry and almost had a meltdown: wanted to eat everything, couldn’t decide on anything. 

After a nice fish and chips / veggie burger stop (it was delicious), we went the last 5 km to our campground. The trek was a combination of rocks and sand right alongside the ocean. The view of the water and anchored sailboats (now much clearer than earlier today) was lovely.

Swimming in the ocean was not really an option as it was low tide and we would have had to walk forever to get more than our feet wet. So we only took  showers and hung out a little and called it an early day. 

• Start: 7:24 @ km 249.5
• End: 14:45 @ km 266.5
• Hiked: ~24.5 km (via the longer road alternative)

Today we've been the last of our crew to leave the camp. The first bit was a 4 km walk along the coast with nice views out to the Bay of Islands. From Opua to Okiato we took a short and $1 cheap ferry ride and the rest of the hiking today was just road walking... Boo! Road walking sucks for a variety of reasons: 1. Safety (or lack there of) - Sometimes there is only a narrow shoulder on the side of the road so we have to walk very close to the road and watch the traffic carefully. 2. It hurts your joints and feet! 3. It's monotonous.

Today we saw a car that had driven off the road and was almost vertical, stopped by a tree on the steep slope just off the road.

The trail notes and signs along the road led us to the house below. We came to a mailbox that matched the notes, which then led us down a path where roaming wild horses and cows were all around. We had to walk through a small river and then past a few houses, finally arriving at our final destination. But was this it?

Luckily, we saw Pepe and Angelina who had arrived a bit earlier and they were also a bit confused as to whether or not this was the place for the night (and whether or not we would be murdered and eaten...). At this moment, Mathias noticed a cat in the distance. He called for it, and of course it came over (Mathias is a bit of a cat whisperer). So while we pondered the location, we enjoyed the cat. We then met another cat and a dog called Digger. The Germans all had a lot of fun, calling his name as it sounds like a German slang equivalent to "Dude". And Digger had a lot of fun playing with sticks that he would "offer" and then when you try to grab it, last second, pull away. He seemed to have a lot of practice with it.

As it turns out, this was indeed the place and our host Sheryl was absolutely lovely! When she arrived, she led us in a yoga/Tai Chi couples session and then gave us some of her salve, (which she made from Manuka, Kanuka and Kawakawa leaves she gathered from the bush) to try on our aches and pains.

Later, she showed us her own personal water hole for swimming in the river next to the plot. She said that so far no TA hikers have taken her invitation to use it. That was motivation enough to do exactly that. The way down to the water was steep and a little difficult to master, but we made it and everyone but Pepe and Sarah went for a swim. While in the water, Sheryl told Sarah, that she purposly didn't mention the eels that were in the water, because she knew that would have stopped us. Fortunately we didn't notice any of them ... at least not today...

• Start: 6:45 @ km 266.5
• End: 16:45 @ km 290.5
• Hiked: 24 km

After a night with a lot of animal sounds (the wild horses over the river at times sounded like they were grassing right next to the tent), we awoke to Digger laying just outside of our tent. Mathias thought he was protecting us in the night. Once we opened the gate, we were on our own again without Digger the protector. To Leah's excitement (or terror), the river we had to cross was busy with cows and horses trying to do the same (with their little ones beside them). Leah probably would have waited there all day (not wanting to stir up any trouble), but luckily Mathias pushed ahead and the animals didn't seem to mind.

Then it was back to road walking for a bit and then onto a trail. The trail was dense with vegetation and after a short while turned into walking along and through a little stream again, which we really enjoyed, but which is also fairly slow walking. Most of that track our little crew of six was pretty close together and we all had a nice break at a DOC (Department of Conservation) Shelter where we also dried our tent.

When getting to our goal at km 279.3 of the trail, we still felt like we could do some more and only Angelina and Pepe stayed at this really cute place of trail angels Sue and Al. We moved on for another 10k ending up at Dave's place* which was very special once again. It was almost directly at the ocean, just having a little sand bank in between. We arrived first and were immediately offered two ice cold beers from the guys, a (more or) less cleaned cabin, a tour to some big fat eels in the river, which we fed, along the beach watching one of his friends fish with a rope that he would bring out into the ocean with a drone (never seen that before) and ended up with a lot of chit chat and joking with the host and his friends, all of whom probably had more than a healthy amount of beer... Overall really fun and lovely hosts that let us stay just for a Koha (Māori for donation, so for whatever we felt like giving).

• Start: 6:15 @ km 290.5
• End: 16:35 @ km 313.5
• Hiked: 23 km

We left Dave's place* early in the morning and after a short bit on the road got onto the Helena Ridge Track which led us up the mountain and gave us beautiful views. After the first accent we used the perfect cellular reception up there to call Mathias' brother and mom and Bernadette, which was really fun and gave us a nice - almost 45 minute - break. After that Leah lead for a lot of the way and was kindly removing the spiderwebs with her face for everyone else hiking behind her.

There was a second track for us on that day - Morepork Track - that finally led us to Whananaki and the ocean. We stayed at a normal campground which was a nice change after the last two - more adventurous - places (that we had no regrets about). At the campground we got treated with a free cold Sprite and free wifi, because we're hiking the TA. It's really lovely how welcoming everyone is to us hikers. We enjoyed burgers and fries and bought some groceries for the next days at the little store. Leah is still super stoked that beetroot is a regular topping on burgers/veggie burgers here. Try it!

Mathias tried to clean out our empty peanut butter container so we could use it for overnight oats ... and learned that hot water is good to get the remaining peanut butter out, but if it is too hot, the plastic container won't be happy...

After some planing for the next days - Pepe was so nice to share their plans with us that they made on the day before - we went to bed and had a good night of sleep despite crying baby, car beeping, birds chirping and music bumping next door :).

• Start: 7:15 @ km 313.5
• End: ~15:15 (at cafe) @ km 340
• Hiked: 26.5 km on trail + 1.5 km detour at Matapouri

This morning we began our hike by crossing over the Whananaki footbridge (the longest footbridge in the southern hemisphere). From there the path took us past beautiful private beaches, ones we would be more than happy to call home! We missed a few turns and had to backtrack a bit, but our detours didn't take too much time. Speaking of detours, we did a second one this day; but this one was intentional. Mathias motivated us to tack on an additional kilometer to go to a look out point. Had we known that the trail would be so hilly, we might have opted out, but we're glad we didn't know at the time. The lookout was beautiful and the perfect place for an afternoon snack.

We had heard from a local a few days back that Matapouri (a town we walked through) was not a great place to stay, as there were gangs there that might steal our stuff... We - okay: Leah - played this up in her mind and was shocked to find that Matapouri seemed like a very chill beach town. We stopped at the local shop and had ourselves some cold drinks and peanut butter cups.

We were delighted to make it to Ngunguru with more than enough time to chill before meeting James, who would take us across the river in his boat. Pepe had arranged a 6pm pick up the day before in order to allow us all enough time to get there (Thank you Pepe!). We were hungry (this tends to be the case most of the time) and so we set up shop at Salt Air Cafe. We had a meal, coffee and sweets, and then bought delicious looking muffins and scones for the next day's breakfast (Good call Leah, good call!). While eating our first course, a guy came over to us and asked us if we were TA hikers and also where we were staying the night. Leah explained that we were going to meet 'some guy' who was going to take us to 'some place'. Turns out, this was the guy! As it was only about 3-ish, he was heading out to meet family and friends and would be back later to meet us at 6pm. We told the others and everyone hung out in the cafe enjoying treats and chats. Oh, and we stopped by the store to grab a bottle of wine for the night. :)

James met us at the small dock and took us across the river to his Eco Camp. We really didn't have any expectations, and boy were we delighted with the place. It was absolutely delightful! Mostly built by him, the structures incorporate tons of wood with accents of pipes and iron to give a nature meets industrial feel. We couldn't hold back the smiles; we were so happy to have this as our 'home' for the night. We had planned to camp, but we ended up staying in one of the cabins intead (it was supposed to rain and James offered us a cabin for the same price as a site to pitch our tent). The cabins, like the rest of the spaces were incredible; as were the outdoor showers. Oh, and there was a dart board (which we utlized) and a fire pit!

We knew that the next day involved a river crossing or two, but we weren't exactly clear about the tide times. We figured we'd ask James and he would be able to help us sort this out. What we did not expect was that James would have an impressive information board that would basically spell it out for us as to how we needed to plan for the next day. He was awesome (as were his two dogs)! We were pleased to hear that it would be a later start the following day, as we could only cross the rivers during low tide (which happed to be around noon in our case).

We all embraced the night, the beautiful space, the chill vibes, the wine and the campfire. Such a lovely night with truly lovely people.

• Start: 9:40 @ km 340
• End: 18:20 @ km 370.5
• Hiked: 30.5 km

Today we had a later start because of the briefing we got from James the day before. There were two river crossings to be done today and a later start would give us a window, in which it would be possible to do both (and not have to walk on roads for a long time to get around crossing them).

Just before we started James told us, that he would pick up a German with his boat that had slept on the other side last night. We were puzzled who this would be and were hoping to see Hans again (that we last saw on day 4). It wasn't him, but a new guy we hadn't seen before: Ole, really nice and really tall. With his long steps, he caught up with us, even though he started the trail ~ 4 days later.

The double river crossing worked out pretty good. The first one was simple, the second one was a little deeper and at times the water was above our knees, but still not touching the backpack, which was the only worry. James had warned us a little of the mud in the last bit of that second river, but we had no idea what was in store for us: Oily sludge, lots of it. James had recommended to bring some water, but that was - by far - not enough to really get the feet clean, luckily Ole and the girls had some garbage bags for us to store our sandals for the next bit.

We had aimed for a nice TA hiker camp, run by a 17-year-old high school student, but when we got there we decided that we could do some more hiking before calling it quits. The following 10km of beachwalking in suboptimal tide conditions turned out to be hard, though. The sand was too soft.

In Ocean Beach we stayed at a simple camp for TA hikers and were pleased to find hot showers, especially after everyting was still smelling like oil.

• Start: 7:40 @ km 370.5
• End: ?? @ km 395.5
• Hiked: ~ 25 km

Day 17 started hot and steep! We traversed two peaks with almost 400m elevation, which does not sound that imopressive, but the steapness took our breath away at times. The view was amazing though. After an even steeper descent - stairs, stairs, stairs - we soon arrived at Reotahi Bay, where Peter - another trail angel - took us across the bay to the next beach. On the ride he showed us around the bay and we had some unplanned dolphin watching as there were many of them in the bay getting their lunch.

The other side of the river did not start very beautiful. We walked past an oil refinery for a while and then a track along a underground oil pipeline saved us from having to walk too much on the beach. This was also a detour because of high tides, that led us past a cafe (unfortunately closed) and a Kebab & Pizza place (fortunately a good alternative) to Ruakaka.

• Start: 9:20 @ km 395.5
• End: 95.5@ km 412
• Hiked: 16.5 km on trail + 1 km to camp

We knew that today would be a shorter day, so we got a later start. The first part went South along the beach, which today had a nice consistency and was fun to walk. Also we were excited about crossing the 400 km mark.

Then we passed Waipu, a cute little town with some Scottish flair. Logan MacLean cafe treated us well. After ordering they told us, that the coffee would be free, because we are TA walkers and the owner came out to chat with us. Also food and coffee were yummy. ✭ Trail magic! ✭

We also stocked up on groceries and even bought some beer and wine, that we had to carry for another 8k to our camp. But tomorrow would be a Zero Day and that has to be celebrated.

Arriving early, we did laundry and were able to catch up with Hans who had arrived the day before and took a day off today. We already knew that this would happen, because by now we have a TA Family Whatsapp Group where we keep everyone updated, but it was a really lovely and fun night with Sarah, Julia and him. Thanks guys. We started with drinks and appetizers at Waipu Cove Cafe and ended up with wine, beer, and dinner back at the camp. We made a nice fresh Greek salad which we had with tasty sourdough bread (we ate the whole loaf!). Fresh fruits and veggies are very much celebrated on the TA! (Mathias: So are Snickers, Fish & Chips, burgers and pizza)

• Hiked: 0 km

Waiking up, Mathias realized that there was a flow in his careful consideration on where to put the tent. We wanted shade in the morning to be able to sleep in. But it turned out he didn’t consider that on the Southern Hemisphere the sun turns counterclockwise and not clockwise. We ended up in the first corner of our patch to get the sun ☀️. Check the picture.

What to do on a Zero Day? Sleep in. Eat. Relax. Think. Sleep. Eat. Plan for the upcoming days. Write blog posts. Eat. Think.

Time is such a funny thing. Zero Days seem to both fly by and give us time to be quite productive. This morning we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Waipu Cove Cafe, our second visit to this place.

The rest of the day was a bit divided. Mathias was a rockstar, getting blog post pictures uploaded, writing posts and planning the upcoming days. Leah on the other hand had a bit of a rough day. A super highlight for Leah was Skyping with her brother Jeremy and Annie (the first time since the trip began) and a call with her dad the night before. Although, this also led to a bit of an emotional time. It's almost been 2 months since Leah's mom passed away and being away from her family is hard. The grieving process is... a process, and today had lots of big feels, which the Zero Day allowed for.

It may seem that hiking most of the day gives you nothing but time to think, but that is not always the case. You might have time to think, but sometimes your thinking consists of 'Don't trip over the roots,' or 'Is that a car I hear coming around the corner?'. On Zero days, you can reflect a bit more. Leah is noticing that she wants to incorporate more stretching into her daily routine. How can we not have time for this?? We're exhausted. Also, a lot of today was spent on our blog (which we hope you are enjoying), but Leah would like to write more regularly, so that this does not seem too big of a task. Again, seems doable, but exhaustion can take over. We'll let ya know how these little goals go over the next week.

Oh, we finally made it into the Pacific Ocean (Leah, to her knees and Mathias, over his head).

The grand finale of the day was a third visit to the local cafe (there is not a lot of choice here, and it is really cute) where we had dinner and tried the cocktail of the week.