Northland: 90 Mile Beach to Cape Reinga
Day 20: Ahipara to Hukatere (33km / 6hrs 45 mins)
So this is it! We are now on THE beach! The beach of sorrow for many (have you seen the photos of their blisters?). The beach to start and finish the TA for a few (we have heard of people who hate it so much they just stop and go home once off the beach). And the beach to officially finish our traverse of the length of New Zealand on the Te Araroa trail!!
OK, OK I am getting slightly ahead of myself here.
I will start today again.
We decided we would start walking about 30 minutes after high tide which was due at around 11am. This gave us another very leisurely start to the day and an opportunity to go back to the cafe where we had had lunch yesterday for breakfast. It was a beautiful morning, slightly overcast but not windy which bode well for good walking conditions.
After breakfast we sat in the holiday park reception area/games room until it was time to go. We were both incredibly excited to start this big leg of our trip.
At 11:15am we set off! Just before hitting the sand we remembered to put our gaiters on. This was only the second time mine got used on the whole TA (Roger’s perhaps third or fourth) but we were convinced they were going to help prevent getting sand in our shoes (and hence blisters) so we decided to give them a go.
About 40 minutes in to our walk along the beach we were treated by a pod of dolphins who decided to entertain us by jumping out the water, surfing the waves and generally swimming along parallel to us. It was absolutely fantastic to see and we both walked along with massive smiles on our faces watching them.
Sadly we could not keep up with them and after about 30 minutes they were no longer in view but it was a great start.
The rest of the day all went pretty well. We saw lots of jellyfish which were a gorgeous raspberry colour. That and their jelly mould shape made some of them look good enough to eat!!
We met a number of SOBO walkers, four or five days in to their big adventure. Many congratulated us on our impending finish but a huge part of me wanted to turn around and walk south with them and do it all over again.
After about three hours or so I started listening to an audio book. This was the first time on this Auckland north leg but I knew it would help break up the monotony of the next three days and I wanted to see how much juice it would take out of my phone (with limited options to re-charge on days two and three). Roger insisted he did not mind as he is happy looking for great photo opportunities (big and small).
Listening to James Corden’s autobiography meant the next three or so hours flew by for me and before I knew it we had reached our accommodation for the night - the Hukatere Lodge.
Holy moly! This place was amazing! We could have stayed in a cabin or even camped (!!!) but Roger convinced me that we should treat ourselves and I am really glad he did.
The owner, Gabrielle, is lovely and also an artist. The view out the window was stunning but all the interior design was beautifully done and very comfortable which meant that once it was dark we were still in luxury.
We both showered and changed then sat with our beers and crisps watching the sun set. Beautiful.
After dinner I treated myself to my ultimate luxury….. a BATH!! We don’t have one at home and so it is a real treat for me - especially after a hard day walking.
It was a good day with an incredible evening. The longest of our 3.5 days on the beach is over.
Day 21: Hukatere Lodge to Maunganui Bluff Campsite (31km / 6hrs 45 mins)
Our Lodge was so comfortable that we decided we would hang around there and wait for high tide before we started walking. As high tide was at midday this gave us a very leisurely morning of blog writing, reading and drinking coffees (yes, the Lodge had its own coffee machine!)
Eventually we had to pull ourselves away so we said our goodbyes and thank you to Gabrielle (the owner) and headed back on to 90 Mile Beach.
We had only been walking about 20 minutes when suddenly, out of nowhere, we were joined on the beach by a pack of wild horses! There were about 15 of them, including four foals. I am slightly nervous around horses but they were so graceful and seemed so content to be down on the beach - it was a real treat to see.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We walked along the beach, saying hello to the SOBOs as we passed. We stopped for a late lunch (as we only started walking at 12pm) and finally got to the campsite at around 6:45pm.
We quickly set up the tent and got dinner sorted before it got dark.
An OK day. Bit tough on the feet but good to know we are now more than half way.
Day 22: Maunganui Bluff Campsite to Twilight Micro - Camp (29km / 7hrs)
We got going early today as we wanted to beat the rain that was forecast for the late afternoon. This meant leaving soon after low tide instead of high tide but with 90 Mile Beach being so wide it did not really make any difference.
No dolphins or wild horses to entertain us today but we did see a stingray in the shallow of the waves. We also saw a rock out at sea which had a hole in it - a veritable “hole in a rock”.
I had not checked the notes or the map and so did not realise that we would come off 90 Mile Beach after only about 24km. We did a quick selfie at the end and I said a quiet goodbye to the beach as we climbed up some steep steps to Scott Point.
At Scott Point we looked back and had the most magnificent view of where we had just walked but also of the sand dunes behind the beach. They are huge! Beautiful, clean, golden sand. They looked untouched.
From Scott Point it was a pretty cruisy descent to our camp for the night: Twilight Micro - Camp.
We arrived not long after 3pm and no one else was there. Rather optimistically I speculated that perhaps the weather forecast for tomorrow (which is for heavy rain) had deterred anyone from starting at Cape Reinga today but sadly I was wrong! Within about 45
minutes there were about 10 SOBOs at the camp. For them, this is their first night on the trail. For some it may be the first time they have used their tents or other gear. That certainly brought back memories!
Today flew by for me. It was a lovely (unexpected) finish to gain height and look down on 90 Mile Beach behind us and Twilight Beach ahead. We had briefly talked about pushing on through to Cape Reinga today as the forecast for tomorrow is so bad. However, neither of us want to rush the final walk and I know from my side I am just not yet ready for it to be over.
Day 23: Twilight Micro - Camp to Cape Reinga (13km / 3 hrs) then home (430km by car)
This is it! The final day!
We both had a shocker of a sleep. What with thunder, lightening, heavy rain and the world’s supply of mosquitoes in our tent, it was not the most restful! It was the first time we had camped in really heavy rain though and it was good to see that the tent held up to the challenge!
Fortunately it had stopped raining by the time we got up so we were able to pack everything away in the dry.
Fed, watered and all packed, we wished good luck to all the SOBOs about to start their second day and we were off.
The first 3km or so were walking on Twilight Beach which is almost as wide as 90 Mile Beach but obviously not as long! We then headed off the beach and started to climb. At this point it started to rain again! At first it was a bit of a light shower so we both ignored it but then as it started to get heavier we realised it might be worth putting out rain jackets on. At one point it felt almost like hail, pounding painfully on my face.
We climbed up on to a very cool, moonscape type terrain. There was this incredibly slippery, red clay which we had to negotiate our way over and the rain was creating little “streams” of pink water. It was quite hard to see the markers through the heavy rain and low cloud but we slowly made our way across this clay masse, down towards another beach.
On our descent we saw our first SOBO of the day! What a day to start TA! I did not think we would see anyone today. I assumed most (sane??!!!) walkers would delay starting by one day so they could start in fine weather. But there he was - a young lad (Kiwi? Australian?) and on asking, he reassured us that the stream crossing ahead would be easy.
To reach the second beach, walkers have to cross a stream. Apparently at high tide it can be waist-deep. We had deliberately left not long after low tide because of this but I was a bit worried that the heavy rain would increase the level, irrespective of the tide. However, I need not have been concerned. It was about ankle-deep as we quickly and easily made our way across.
We were then on our second, and final, beach of the day. The rain continued to pour but it did not dampen our spirits. Apart from not being able to get as many good photos as we would have liked, we were both incredibly excited to be so close to the end.
From the end of this beach it was then just a climb up to Cape Reinga. Luckily for us the rain eased off a bit as we started our climb and before we got in to the low cloud we could see the swirl of currents where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean collide.
We then climbed up more steps and there, out of the cloud, we could see a bright red and white umbrella! Under the umbrella was the one and only Chris Hirst, looking perfectly at ease in his jumper and Crocs in this wild (or not quite so wild now) weather. Alongside Chris was his wife, Anne (who had gone with the more traditional raincoat and trainers option).
I was so happy to see them both! They had very kindly braved the weather to join us for the last few hundred metres of our walk. We were chatting away excitedly and Anne stopped us every now and then to take photos of us as we approached our end point. It took quite a while to see the lighthouse in the cloud and rain and sadly the chances of seeing any spectacular views were a big fat zero. However, this did not suppress our joy and excitement at touching the famous sign post where so many Te Araroa walkers start (and a few, like us, finish).
Lots of photos and hugs then it was a brief walk to the car where there were towels and clean, dry clothes waiting for us! Luxury!!
Warm, dry and in clean clothes (albeit probably still not smelling the best!!) we then piled in to Chris’ car, with the suggestion of “pies and Piper” tempting us away. Apparently a takeaway pie van had been spotted about an hour’s drive away and, in respect of the Maori request for no eating or drinking at Cape Reinga, the Piper-Heidseck champagne would not be opened until we got there.
First stop though was the nearest dairy where Chris and Roger both got an ice cream (and Anne and I some chocolate). Not long after, we saw the pie van….
And so it was that the four of us stood in the “car park” of this mobile pie shop, eating our hot pies and drinking champagne! We must have looked a tad strange but I would not have changed it for the world. It was such a unique way to celebrate and a really special moment which will stay with me forever.
Our road trip south continued with another stop in Mangōnui to look at the art gallery and have lunch in the “World
famous in NZ” fish and chip shop. Whoever came up with that slogan is the most brilliant marketer as it really is incredibly well known just for that reason.
Back on the road it was great to drive past places we had walked only a week or so earlier. As Chris pointed out, it is all “a lot easier in a car!”.
We got home at around 7pm. We thanked Anne and Chris for everything and opened the front door. It felt weird to be home again after such an epic adventure but neither of us felt sad. We were still on a real high from what we had achieved. Auckland to Bluff then Auckland to Cape Reinga! OK, so it was a little bit zigzag but we had still completed the 3000km of Te Araroa trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
We have done it!
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