Northland: Kerikeri to Ahipara

Day 15: Kerikeri to Puketi Recreation Reserve (30km / 7hrs)

We got up reasonably early and had breakfast in our cabin before heading back on to the trail. Fortunately (or so Roger told me!) to get back on to the trail we HAD to walk past the cafe where Roger had got a coffee two days ago so…the rest goes without saying.

Once back on the trail, we followed a lovely track along the river. A few friendly Saturday morning runners passed us as we strolled along and it certainly would be a nice track to run on. After a few kilometers we reached Rainbow Falls which are fantastic! Much higher and wider than Hururu Falls and a great little gem hidden away on this track.

We crossed over the river for a while and then, after about 8km, we came out on to a quiet road. It was then road walking until the hut (another 22km) as the track was closed to prevent Kauri Dieback.

The road was pretty easy going, gently undulating with open pasture for as far as the eye could see.

When we got to the Puketi hut it was all hustle and bustle! It is a fully serviced hut that sleeps 18 and has kettle, toaster, microwave and even a shower (albeit a cold shower). There is also a campsite outside which was also pretty busy.

As well as over 20 TA walkers (some camping, some in the hut), there was a Meet Up group of eight day-walkers from Auckland who had driven right to the campsite. This meant they could bring in all sorts of luxuries, for example wine, cans of Coke, steak and fresh vegetables! The leader of the group, Sanjay, very kindly gave us a can of Coke to share and one of the ladies, Mika (?) had cooked up a massive stir-fry and very generously insisted we had some for our dinner.

When it got dark, Roger went out with Sanjay and his group to see if they could find kiwi. They looked for about 30 minutes but with no success so all came back and quietly went to bed.

It is great to be in a DOC hut again. You always meet really interesting like-minded people and hear really cool stories.

Walking under the road as we re-joined the track

Rainbow Falls

Puketi hut at night

Day 16: Puketi Reserve to Blackbridge Road Campsite (22km / 7hrs)

After a night listening to a “symphony of snoring” (I had forgotten that side of staying in a DOC hut!) we got up pretty early and were “on the road” by about 7:40am.

This was a day we were both looking forward to as it we knew it was going to be the most technical day of our Auckland to Cape Reinga leg. A big part of it was walking in the Puketi Forest, followed by walking up a stream. These are both things we did a lot of in our Auckland to Bluff section so we were keen to do some more.

All of the SOBOs we chatted with told us how gnarly/muddy/slippery the forest would be so we were all prepared for a challenging day.

It started with nearly 9km on a 4WD track which we were not expecting but soon enough we turned on to the forest track. We were welcomed by some magnificent Kauri trees. Some of them were huge and had an almost majestic presence.

After a while we descended down a lot of steps and came out by the Waipapa River. Here we met our first (and as it turns out, only) SOBO walker of the day, a young Scottish lad from Perth. He re-iterated how gnarly the next section was going to be for us and with that we bade him farewell and headed onward to find out for ourselves.

And so it was all the things people had told us! Quite gnarly, a bit muddy, very slippery in places and had a tricky camber in sections. It was no worse than anything we had seen before though and, despite it being slow going, fortunately it was not for too long and it was beautiful overlooking the Lower Waipapa River

That said, it was still a relief to see the sign directing us down to said river which we crossed fairly easily and soon joined the Mangapukahukahu stream which we would be walking up for the next 4km.

This was also beautiful with crystal clear water and it made for a lovely, easy walk upstream. It was great to be able to wash our legs and shoes after all the mud and it reminded us of previous stream walking in the South Island.

We came out of the stream, knowing our campsite was very close by. What we did not know was that to get to it we had to climb one mother of a hill for what felt like forever! Not only that, but to add insult to injury, it had a few pretty muddy patches so our lovely clean legs and shoes were no more!

We got to the campsite at around 2:30pm which gave us most of the afternoon to sit in the sun, update the blog and generally relax.

Late afternoon we were joined by two TA section walkers from Nelson. Their names are Joy and Serene! No, I am not making that up! Perfect names for people walking the TA.

A fantastic day!

On the 4WD having left Puketi hut

Not long before we turned in to the Kauri Sanctuary

In the Kauri Sanctuary

Looking down on the Waipapa River

Crossing the Lower Waipapa River

Walking up Mangapukahukahu stream

Day 17: Blackbridge Road Campsite - Broadwood (40km, of which we walked 18km)

It was a wild night! The morepork (owls) were in full chorus and at least one possum was determined to get in to Joy’s tent and/or our packs to get to food. This felt like it went on for hours but in reality it was not too long and when Joy woke us at 6:45am it was pretty quiet all around.

After breakfast we packed up camp and headed on to the 4WD track for about 10km. This was pretty undulating and at one point we reached the brow of a hill and were met by a stunning view of the Maungataniwha range in the distance.

We then joined a “proper” road (it is all relative in these parts) and walked through to Mangamuka Township and Dairy. At the dairy we bought some lunch (and of course a coffee for Roger and ice creams for both of us) and sat and chatted to a couple of SOBO walkers.

After lunch we hitched the final 22km to Broadwood. Tony, who picked us up, was a really interesting guy, a farmer in his 70s who is big in to racing outrigger canoes.

Broadwood is a very cute little village and the locals have very kindly created two temporary campsites for TA walkers as the diverted route (due to Raetea Forest closure) is now going through their village. There is a shelter, flushing toilets and running water - “luxury”!

However, what has made it even better is the Broadwood store which sells beer and crisps (and of course….for you-know-who for tomorrow morning….coffee)!

As we walked from our campsite to the shop to buy the beer, six mountain bikers rode past. Roger asked one of them where they had been, how far they had ridden etc. and it turned out it was the runner we had been chatting to for ages on the Rainbow Falls track two days ago! What a small world!

Another good day!

Early morning at the campsite

Trying to dry out our tent at Blackbridge Rd campsite

On the 4WD track with great view in the distance

Standing on a giant Kauri stump

We are nearly there!

The famous Mangamuka Dairy

The Broadwood Store

Our camp at Broadwood

In the field next to our temporary campsite at Broadwood

Roger’s second sketch: part of tonight’s campsite

Day 18: Broadwood to Kaitaia (32km, of which walked 16km)

We packed up camp, had breakfast, Roger walked to the Broadwood store to buy his takeaway coffee (of course!) and we were away.

Almost immediately we were on Takahue Saddle Road which we were to follow all the way up on to the track to the saddle. It was a beautiful road with a friendly goat at the first house, a pretty church and lots of birds. The walk up was very enjoyable. It was a gradual climb but with lots of interesting things to see on the way up. There were a couple of stream crossings but we were able to rock hop them and keep our feet dry (yes, we are getting soft in our old age!)

Once on the saddle we saw the track that we would have come out from if we had been able to walk the Raetea Forest (closed due to slips and storm damage, not Kauri Dieback). We are both quite keen to come back and do all these forests once they open up again.

As we started our descent, we soon moved from track back to gravel road again and we were treated to our first glimpse of 90 Mile Beach in the distance. It was incredibly exciting. It reminded us of when we could see the Southern Coast line from the Takatimu Range seven months or so ago.

The descent was as pleasant as the ascent and we passed a pretty cool campsite which had been set up especially for TA walkers. It had a great view from the shelter where you could eat your meals and even had a shower! Very smart.

We carried on down the road to Takahue which had a few houses, a hall and a school but not much else. From here we decided we would hitch (whilst still walking) as it was about 10km to SH1 and then about 6km along SH1 to Kaitaia.

It did not take long for us to get a ride. Connor, who lives in Takahue, kindly picked us up and drove us all the way to Kaitaia. A fellow mountain biker, trail biker and fisherman, he and Roger had lots to chat about as we drove along.

We arrived in Kaitaia around 12:30pm - just in time for lunch! We went in to the first cafe we found and it was superb! So good we decided we would return here for breakfast tomorrow.

Then it was a casual meander to our accommodation where we were able to do some washing and chill out for the rest of the afternoon. We met a few TA walkers - two of whom are casualties of 90 Mile Beach with horrendous blisters/heat rash/swollen feet or tendinitis - and others about to start their adventure. Very jealous!

Dinner was at the restaurant opposite. It had a salad bar! Not sure if it is just a British thing but that reminded me of family restaurants of old where the trick was to build up the sides of your bowl with cucumber slices to make it bigger so you could fit in more salad. Please tell me, dear reader, that at least some of you know what I am talking about!!

I was ravenous for some reason so it was a good opportunity for me to revisit this special skill to maximise the amount of fresh vegetables I could add to my fish.

A really good day. The walk over the saddle was really enjoyable and sadly our last big hill on this adventure.

Friendly goat

Pretty church

Twin Peaks….need I say more?

View across the Hokianga harbour to Waipoua Forest, home of Tane Mahuta

Next door to our accommodation

Did I mention I was hungry?

Day 19: Kaitaia to Ahipara (15km, of which we walked about 3km)

As our lunch was so good yesterday we went back to the same cafe for breakfast. I even had the same meal (a bird of little imagination, that’s me).

A quick food shop and we were on to our main task of the day - hitching to Ahipara!

It took about 30 minutes or so but then a young lad who lives in Ahipara kindly stopped and picked us up.

Neither of us had been to Ahipara before and we both thought it was a lovely spot. There is not that much there really…a cafe, a liquor store, a superette, a takeaway place, a school and a fire station. However there is an awesome playground for kids and a lot of lovely beach houses. And of course the beach. Being at the southern end of 90 Mile Beach it has one of the most beautiful beaches right there.

The holiday park where we stayed is in the most beautiful setting and the cabin was very comfortable. We were way too early for check-in but the owner kindly gave us the key anyway as the room had already been cleaned.

We had a very easy-going day. We went down to see how the beach was at mid-tide then walked the kilometre or so back to the cafe for lunch.

After lunch we did a quick top-up shop then headed back to the holiday park and chilled out, knowing we have a few tough days ahead.