Distance today: 44km (incl. 1.5km boat ride)
Distance total: 389.8km
Time hiked: 13h 33min
Time total: 113h 25min
Looong day today. Three trails, three towns and a little bit of road walk.
Track 1 is the one I pitched my tent on yesterday.
It's an early start today and soon after setting off, I meet the German couple I saw 2 days earlier in Paihia. They had the same idea and pitched the tent on the trail as well. As they are busy
getting ready, I just say hello and continue on the trail. Its motto: steep down, cross a few rivers, steep up again only to lead steep down again to meet with the road. It's hard work on the
slippery, muddy, poorly maintained track. Some parts hardly walkable as it is so slippery. I guess even with proper hiking boots I'd be struggling.
Then, already in the last descent, walking barefoot through the pastures, something stings or cuts my toe. Hurts as hell and I have to sit down a for a few moments. Not possible to continue. I
check my feet but there's nothing to see and as the pain luckily eases as well, I carry on to the main road, through town nr 1, Whanakaki, and over the longest footbridge on the southern
hemisphere.
Track 2 is a beautiful coastal walk on grassy trails and ends way to soon. It's another two hours road walking until I reach Matapouri shortly after 3.
After a well needed, extra large Ice Cream, I set off towards the last trail which takes me to Ngunguru. Hard work again, climbing in and out of all this muddy little valleys.
It's shortly before 7 when I want to cross the last stile leading to the road. These crossings are usually wooden, with metal wrapped around to make it grippier. And somehow this metal was
connected to the electric fence, which I couldn't know of course. So when I, walking barefoot at this time, set my food on the stile I get a really painful electric shock. Again unable to move on
I have to wait a little before being able to cross the fence. This with Lunas on ;)
Before entering Ngunguru I call James, who will take me across Ngunguru river to his cabins. On the way to the pier, I drop by a Takeaway and order 4-Dollar-Chips. And here in NZ that's a LOT of chips. They don't survive long however.
It's already dark when James picks me up and takes me over to his cool cabins.
With James and the two other hikers from Paihia I spend a nice evening together at this cozy place, making plans for the next few days.
A long day comes to an end and despite some painful moments hiking went surprisingly smooth.
Tomorrow will be an easy hike though, mostly on roads to Pataua.
Write a comment
Silverhikers (Friday, 07 October 2016 02:33)
Wow. You are making good progress. Nearly 10% the way down to Bluff. How do you feel after such a long day. Have you problems regenerate.
Sandro Koster (Friday, 07 October 2016 05:18)
Hey Silverhikers!
Yeah, slow but steady progress :)
I actually felt quite good when I arrived in Ngunguru yesterday.
This morning however, my legs and feet were quite tired. The shoulder was a little stiff as well. Usually, my body is good in regenerating overnight but somehow last night was not enough. So I took it easier today to let the body get some rest. Mostly road walking anyway ;)
Your adventure starts soon as well, isn't it?
Silverhikers (Monday, 10 October 2016 13:00)
Hey Sandro!
No, we are still in training and prepare all sort of gear we need. Our turn will came the next season. Back in the year 2013 we heard first from Te Araroa Trail and made the decission to walk this epic Trail. But first we had to organize some staff at home. Next near after the apple picking season will be our turn, hopefully.
In the meantime we follow you and some of the ofter hikers to get impressions and informations about the trail.
We wish you furthermore good progress. Stay safe.
Stripe Vs Paypal (Sunday, 03 November 2019 13:55)
WHY IS BUSINESS ANALYTICS IMPORTANT? The foremost goal of any organization is profitability, and customer satisfaction is a huge component of the success of a business. When an organization innovates and stays ahead of its competition, it fulfills and goes beyond customer expectations.
Operating Income Formula (Sunday, 03 November 2019 13:57)
The world is full of businesses but do you know how important they are? You know there are very big ones like Apple, BP and Amazon and very small ones like your local shop or window-cleaner. Grandad explains how all these businesses contribute to our daily life as importantly as the air we breathe and the food we eat. Without businesses he believes we would still be living in caves or mud huts, we would spend all our time searching for food and water. There would be no schools, no doctors, no police, no government,no cars, no television, nearly nothing, This is one of a series of articles aimed by Grandad at grandchildren everywhere. Grandad has learned many things over his lifetime in business. These articles can give you a flying start in life.