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Map

Here is the map for this section:

https://onthegomap.com/s/b4ohtnli

Short Summary

Monday 14th November

Having finished snacking on all our food by the Whananaki footbridge, we creakingly put our bags back on and then made our way across the bridge. Super cool by the way. It was rickety, all the posts at different heights and some boards were soft, others firm, and it wasn’t quite straight. I loved it, I crossed it with a firm grin!

We made our way onto Whananaki South Beach where we sat under a Norfolk pine and ate our lunch. It was windy, mother nature tossing fistfuls of warm air at us as we chowed down on our food. I got some sand in my tortillas. Sadness.

We then pushed on, walking along a path parallel to the beach towards the low hills at the end. I was kinda dreading climbing them since we had had a long day. However! The path wibble and wobbled between the hills and we never did any serious climbing. But also, oh my lands, this was a breath-taking stretch of coastline. There were houses tucked away under hills, emerald fields and small beaches washed in turquoise waters. Stunning. The warm air whipped up to us, the smell of salt ever so faint but most definitely there. Just splendid.

We emerged onto Matapōuri road and walked past Sandy Bay and Woolleys Bay under a searing sun. Oh yeah, my calves were feeling the sun and when I had a look at them, they were red. Whoops. We were heading into Matapōuri where Reid’s mother’s cousin had a bach (not the composer, just a “humble beach house”) and where we were gonna be staying for the night. We were told to visit Whale Bay whilst we were heading in and once again, paradise.

We got to the bach and striped off, hopping in the shower. We had beds! Wendy (Reid’s mother’s cousin) showed up and fed us. Oh, that was such a good evening. We got her and her husband two bottles of wine as a thank you. It was so incredibly kind of them! Wendy left before long and we collapsed into bed soon after.

Tuesday 15th November

The weather forecast had predicted sunshine all day. We woke up to rain. Yeah, whoops. It meant we didn’t do any washing either though since there was no dryer, either manmade or in the form of the sun. What a shame, we definitely needed our clothes washed. It was embarrassing approaching anyone in society!

We spent the morning chilling. We only had a measly 12km to cover to Ngunguru (good luck pronouncing that. I had to practice oh so very much). Therefore, after finishing all of the food Wendy brought along and getting some fish and chips and a veggie burger from the local Dairy, we headed out once the rain had let up a little (and we had cleaned, taken the rubbish out, left a thank you note). This was also where one of Reid’s sandles went missing, much to his distress. Must have disappeared in the night…

We walked along the road towards Tūtūkākā, stopping along the way to get some coffee (yeah we really weren’t in a rush) and then onto Ngunguru. At Ngunguru, we went to the general store to grab some more food and cash, and then headed to a small jetty where James Johnston, the owner of Nikau Bay camp, picked us up in his little motor boat, zipping us across the Ngunguru River.

When we got to Nikau Bay camp, we helped James pull his boat up onto land and then pitched our tents. There were so many people there! Easily like twenty TA hikers! And most of them we had met before. Niv, Melissa, Luuk, Spencer and Jayden, Mel and Aub, Jesse and Emily… So many!

James works with the TA organisation and so he briefed us on the double river crossing we had coming up the next day, needing to cross both rivers at low tide which was an additional pressure. Fun times. Whilst he did this briefing, I think I managed to happily eat all of my food and then some of everyone else’s. I think I now have a reputation of eating the largest amount of food. Reid and Rob constantly stare at me in amazement…. We had a fire in the evening and went bouncing on the trampoline James had… Yeah, what a great evening! And the best campsite yet!

Wednesday 16th November

Big day today. Due to the timings of the tides, we could do the double river crossing at either 06:30 – 09:30 or at 17:30 – 20:30 according to James. Choosing the first option, I got up at 04:30 and we were off at 05:30, all sleepy eyed and puffy faced.

We sped through 5km of Māori land, dipping up and down in gentle hills as the sun rose pink in the grey sky, before we arrived at the Horahora River, the first crossing. We walked around on that boggy, sandy surface until we got to the post by some exposed mangroves, pointing to the opposite side of the river. It was low tide, thank goodness, but even still the river easily came up to my mid thigh. I was glad I was tall at this moment in time.

But that was the easy part! We had just walked through a river, cold and freshing, meaning we were clean. But on the other side, we had to walk through a bunch of mangroves and it was the worst. Black mud came up over our ankles and our shiny washed shoes were coated in this stinking, rotting fish, fermenting mud smell… Joys… Didn’t help that I also slipped and splashed some all over my legs and shirt, making Reid, Rob and Niv all laugh at me mercilessly!

We emerged onto Pātaua North Road and hustled south to get to the next river in time and avoid the 7km walk around alternative route. As we did, we saw a Ute going past, a backpack in the trailer and Nas waving at us as she passed us. That’s one way to do it I guess!

We crossed over the bridge between Pātaua North and South and then arrived at the Taiharuru Estuary where we walked 3km over boggy, sandy and across sand bars and eventually through the river itself. This time it came up to my waist easily, the bottom of my pack getting a little damp. Poor Rob crossed at maybe the deepest part… Again, the black mud was waiting for us and we emerged filthy.

We pushed on up and over Kauri Mountain (ahem, *hill) where we got some spectacular views, and then down onto the northern end of Ocean Beach. We found the closest convenient log to sit down, strip down and wash and rinse our shoes and clothes in the ocean. I even went for a swim. Shocking I know. Five years at St Andrews and I went in the sea maybe, like, four times? And now that’s twice in two and a half weeks… What’s happening here!? Helps that it’s a lot warmer than St Andrews though.

Lunch, and then we set off along Ocean Beach. It was high tide now, meaning we were walking along the soft part of the beach ugh. Ugh! For, like, 6km, but they were the longest 6km ever. Every step sank in and it was just energy sapping! We did see a lot of debris on the beach, and saw a lot of birds. Excitedly, we even saw some Northern Dotterels! These were endangered and only something like 2500 of them were left in the wild!

We made it to the end of Ocean Beach and found our camp. People react differently when they’re dead knackered. Me? I danced around in my sleeping bag eating my dinner. Don’t ask. I went to bed very shortly afterwards, falling asleep pretty instantly.

Thursday 17th November

Refreshed, re-energised, feeling good, we got up and got going and immediately felt knackered again. Haha, well, not quite. The trail immediately led up Bream Head and it was just an uphill first thing in the morning. Cam and I always tried to avoid that on the CWT! I now appreciate why. A 500m climb at 08:00, woo!

The good weather had turned though and the top was covered in cloud and it was threatening to rain at any moment it felt. It was an amazing climb though, through a Kauri forest, roots and mud covering the trail, battling through the occasional bush. Breathless, but brilliant. We enjoyed every moment pretty much! I also fell for the first time, a proper slip, ending on my backpack like a beached turtle. Turtle in German is literally a transliteration of “Shield Toad” by the way.

We descended into Urquhart Bay and bombed along to Taurikura and Reotahi Beach where we had arranged a water taxi to take us across Whangārei Harbour with a guy called Blair. This was when the heavens, which had been threatening us with a little of rain for a while, opened. Buckets and troughs and cauldrons of water poured down on us as the powerboat water taxi whipped across to Marsden Point. Very wet.

Apparently Marsden Point is a contentious topic in New Zealand. It is an oil refinery and is the main pipeline for Auckland and as such, a target for green and environmental campaigners. Reid was saying that it was weird to be there after reading and hearing so much about it over the years.

We walked down the road into Ruakākā, me chatting to Reid about what a Ceilidh is, who Robert Burns is and then becoming determined to see if there was a Burns Night to go to come 25/01/2023 somewhere close to where I will be. There is a lot of Scottish influence in New Zealand after all! We got to Ruakākā, grabbing some pizza and doing some shopping, before pushing on to the end of town where our campground for the evening was. We finally, finally, managed to laundry. I think the smell of that black mud is never leaving my socks or shoes ever though… I also phoned Flora which was a lovely catch up!

Friday 18th November

Small day, but meant to be wet. When the rain briefly stopped at 06:15, I jumped to and packed all my stuff up in the relative dry, and then ran to the kitchen and sat there as the rain came on again.

I left ahead of Reid and Rob today, walking down Uretiti Beach by myself, trying to beat the rain. And indeed, I managed. I was walking along the beach with huge storm clouds over the ocean to my left, stormy and dark but they didn’t break as I walked down the beach, along some roads and into Waipu. I had a funny encounter with a runner on the beach by the way. He approached me and asked “Who’s the person behind you, and where are they from?” to which I replied “Niv, from Tel Aviv”. The runner grinned in a cheeky way and said “Cool, I’ll see him and shout ‘Niv! From Tel Aviv! How you doing man? Haven’t seen you in ages!’ ” and then he just set off running in a straight line for Niv, a kilometre behind me. Prankster! (Apparently the same happened with Rob and Reid behind us!)

I got into Waipu unscathed by the weather and headed to Logan MacLeans where they gave free hot drinks to TA hikers and then I got up to head off again. As I was walking past another café, Daphné (who I hadn’t seen since the Waitangi Forest Track) ran out and I ended up sitting for a couple hours chatting with her as the rain turned on and other hikers walked past, head bowed against the torrential downpour. The joys of being dry!

After lunch, the sun came out and weather forecast suggested we had a couple hours to get to Waipu Cove and our campground before the rain returned and so I set off on a sugar and caffeine high and pretty much covered 7km in a touch over an hour. No Ragrets, not even one letter. I set up my tent at the campground as other hikers slowly trickled in, sodden or dry depending on their luck. A chilled afternoon and evening.

Saturday 19th November

We were up and gone by 07:30, walking out of the holiday park and onto the road. The “official” trail was actually back north and headed inland but we had had a tip off letting us know that the Waipu Coastal trail, which was officially closed, was actually very walkable and no one minded if TA hikers headed along it.

Therefore, we started out along the muddy track, and we were spoilt. Just, beautiful! There were these amazing striated rocks which we were clamouring along and trees stuck out over the cliffside and hung over the crashing ocean below. We were walking along a track and there were occasions where we came upon half built steps. This was the reason the track was closed – they were upgrading it to allow it to be more accessible, and hence why they were happy to allow trampers through since nothing was actually wrong with it… If you get what I mean.

We (Rob, Reid and I) caught up with Niv and then eventually Daphné as well since they had both started out before us, and we had a lovely walk along to Langs Beach. There was a section where Reid climbed up and then we all heard a quiet “Uh oh” before his feet slowly ever so slowly gave way beneath him and he slid back down on hands and knees! It was just one of those hilarious, slow motion calamitous moments. No scrapes, no injuries, just muddy!

When we got to Langs Beach, we emerged onto a road with a bunch of MAMILs zooming past on their bikes and rich, flashy beachfront houses overlooking the beautiful beach. We got ourselves some coffee from a wonderfully, colourful ice cream van which I forget the name of. Zippy’s maybe? This fuelled us to allow us to crash on along the road and along the Bream Trail, leading us through fields and over hills and through Kauri forests to the Mangawhai Cliff walk.

We started along these cliffs and once again, the views did not disappoint. So wonderful! But also, there were absolute bucket loads of large houses with glass walls seemingly. Rich! The cliff track lead us down onto the beach and then round to Mangawhai Heads where we sat on a picnic bench and had lunch. We ran and sheltered in the bathrooms when the weather turned on it’s head and hail and heavy rain fell for a ten minute spell before the heavy sun came out again.

We had collected Melissa at this point and we headed down and through Managawhat Heads towards Mangawhai proper. She told us all about her job she had had before this (working on super yachts) which was a fascinating insight to a different world before we got a New World where we resupplied.

Whilst I was waiting outside of the New World, this was when we heard from Daphné that Johanna had fallen and broken her arm! Ahhh, not so great! Not so sure what is going to happen there, but I hope that the break wasn’t too bad. I believe Johanna went to Auckland to get it in a cast. It was kind of a sobering thought for sure. We trooped along, having collected our food and headed into a riverside holiday park for the night where we played ping pong, met a bunch of other hikers and Reid got his hair French plaited. I pitched my tent that night on a piece of grass that looked like it was a small sprinkling of rain from flooding… Eek!

New People

  • Case: Japanese guy from Osaka who has the exact same shoes to me, including the colour!
  • Steve: Guy who has section hiked all of the TA except the Ngunguru – Marsden Point bit, and so he was just completing it! Had a 34L Osprey, small bag.
  • Peter: An American-turned-Kiwi who was rapid and had barefoot shoes. Zooming.
  • Misha: German guy from Cologne (I’ve been there) who got COVID whoops…
  • Kaja: German guy who complimented my tent, yay!
  • Karen: A lady also section hiking from Waipu – Orewa.
  • Jack: A guy from Vermont who was hiking this for the second time. He is a brewer in back home in Vermont
  • Oz: A 21 year old guy from Israel who very much likes noodles
  • Arwin: Guy from the Netherlands and is a rapid walker!
  • Ross: Australian guy with a large Osprey. I actually met him on Ninety Mile but didn’t really interact with him. Burnt calves and big blisters

Status

  • Physical: 10/10, yeah OK, I’m doing completely fine.
  • Mental: 10/10, winning mentality
  • Distance covered: 450km
  • Most memorable moment: Whananaki – Matapōuri coastal walk
  • Toughest moment: Ocean Beach. It was high tide, we were walking on the soft bit
  • Burnt-o-meter: 6/10 – crispy calves
  • Random thoughts: I should write a book. Also, rainbows are very cool, double rainbows are inverted!
  • Number of times I have fallen over: 1
  • Jars of peanut butter eaten: 2
  • Song suggestion: Northern Attitude, Noah Kahan

What’s Next?

Next is down into Auckland! We will be walking along the coast to Pakiri and then in land a little, going across some hills and through some forests, looping back to the coast at Puhoi. From there it’s a straight shot down the coast and into Auckland!

  1. Northland
  2. Auckland
    • Mangawhai to Auckland (150km)
    • Auckland to Pōkeno (85km)
  3. Waikato-King Country
  4. Manawatū-Whanganui
  5. Wellington

Comments (2)

  1. .

    Reply

    You should send the photo of the tent to the company so they will put it on their site.
    2 posts in 5 days is the best thing that happend to me since finding out your blog.
    Great post as always.
    Stay safe.
    Kind regards.
    Niv.

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