Day 15
Sep 15 day 15 Pataua South to McLeod Bay 29 km 7:15-4:00 A day of different surfaces and perspectives. Was supposed to start out by traversing a mud flat, but would have had to wait until noon, so I took the long way around the estuary on a road. Then up and over Kauri Mountain […]
Day 14
Sep 14 day 14 Ngunguru Village to Pataua South 32 km 8:45-4:00 Not a particularly eventful day, though the weather was perfect, nearly cloudless. First half was a long road walk out of Ngunguru past the Hugh Crawford Reserve– about 15 km. not a lot of traffic and the countryside was pretty, but also boring. […]
Day 13
Sep 13 day 13 free camp on Morepork Trail to Ngunguru Village 35 km 7:00-4:30 A day of big vistas. The morning hike out the Morepork trail was uneventful, but full of twists and turns, quick changing environment and had to concentrate hard on following path and finding the orange plastic triangles that serve as […]
Day 12
Sep 12 day 12 free camp near Waikare to free camp on Morepork Trail 32 km 6:30-4:30 Although I thought I pitched my tent past the last house, there was one more just across the stream and, as it was Friday night, they had a small party, with cars coming and going until after midnight. […]
Day 11
Sep 11 day 11 Opua to Waikare 16 km (12 by boat) 5:00 pm-6:15 Today was the first true rest day. Slept in at the Opua Motel, a really wonderful place, read, wrote, relaxed, and rested some strained knees. Resupplied at the Opua Store, a classic place which also had […]
Day 10
Sep 10 day 10 KeriKeri to Opua 27 km 7:30-1:30 Wandered up the streets of KeriKeri before 7:00 and found a bake shop open, so started the morning with a sausage roll. It would be hard to be a vegetarian on this trail, as the quick, cheap, convenient food nearly always includes some sort of […]
Day 9
Sep 9 day 9 Puketi Camp to KeriKeri 25 km 7:15-1:00 Hiked hard and fast, but was short, fairly easy day. The highlight was crossing a large set of pastures toward the end of lambing season. Most of the ewes had already lambed (most with twins) though some were about to. A lot of afterbirth […]
Day 8
Sep 8 day 8 Apple Dam Camp to Puketi Camp 25 km 7:30 – 3:00 Finally a really beautiful day. Early part on a forest track past many Kauri Trees, and by mid-morning descended down an old atv track through the high rushes to the Mangapukuhukuhu Stream which I then hiked straight down the middle […]
Day 7
Sep 7 day 7 free camp on ridge to Apple Dam Camp 25 km 7:30-3:00 Woke to rain and cold, packed up quickly, put on wet clothes and headed out fast. The trail down to valley (5km) was ridiculous– standing water, looked like ponds in the middle of the trail. Soon I was completely soaked […]
Day 6
Sep 6 day 6 Digger Valley Road to free camp on ridge 24 km 7:30-5:30 The second worst trail I have ever hiked.