Northland: Pakiri to Whananaki
Day Six: Pakiri to Mangawhai ( 24km/ 5.5 hrs)
We had our breakfast over looking the estuary then packed up and headed down to Pakiri Beach to start our walk.
As soon as we got there (which really was not very far) we realised that we had messed up - again - as we had not checked the tides and it was close to high tide! Doh!
We were contemplating our next move when a local shouted out that there was no alternative but to get out feet wet. So…off came the shoes and we headed across the first “channel” to a dry bit of beach. This all went pretty well with only my feet and ankles getting wet. However, Roger then pointed to where we were going and I realised we had a lot more to come!
It was not going too badly but then I was suddenly hit by a tidal surge up over my waist! I could do nothing but stand still and try to lift my bumbag and pack up out of the water!
Once the surge had passed, we managed to make our way on to Pakiri beach and walked along there for 12km.
I walked in bare feet for the first hour or so but then put my shoes back on to protect my shins (from shin splints) but very soon after they got wet anyway so the whole thing had been a fairly pointless exercise!
We came off Pakiri Beach and found a good spot for some lunch. We then went over Te Arai Point and on to Te Arai Beach for another 3km of beach walking. All good training for 90 Mile Beach in a couple of weeks’ time.
When we came off the beach we turned on to Pacific Road which took us through a pine forest and past Tara Iti Golf Club. Roger explained that it is a VERY exclusive golf club and it certainly looked that way from the posh gates we walked past.
Our final leg was a road walk in to Mangawhai. Once there, we had celebratory ice-creams (and Roger a coffee) and made our way to the local Trail Angels’ orchard where they have built a cabin for TA walkers.
Alongside the cabin, they had also built a smaller hut with a flushable toilet, an outdoor table with benches under shelter and even a shower cubicle for a solar shower.
It was a fantastic setup and we quickly made friends with the two chickens and rabbit that shared this great space. I text to say we had arrived and soon Mark and Kerry (the said Trail Angels) came over from their house next door with two cold beers for Roger and me! How about that for service! It was lovely chatting with them both about their TA experience and hearing about how their “Trail Angel” offering had developed over the years.
Later, Roger and I walked down the road and had dinner at Dune. It was delicious and we felt almost normal (although we probably were still a bit smelly (despite our solar showers) and looked a bit weird in our semi-tramping-camping gear.
When we got back to the orchard, we thought we still had the place to ourselves but then two SOBO walkers arrived around 7:30pm. All good though, Jacob and Carina (both from Germany) were lovely and it was great to hear about their trip so far.
Bare foot on Pakiri Beach
Definitely getting our feet wet!
Day Seven: Mangawhai to Ruakaka (30km / 7hrs)
We packed up and headed off in the rain, walking along the road with a slight (planned) detour on a boardwalk through the mangroves.
At Mangawhai Heads we did a food shop and bought coffee for Roger. We then made our way back down to the beach to join the Mangawhai Cliff Walkway. Yet again it was high tide so we had to rock scramble to the start of the walkway but managed to keep our shoes and socks dry today.
We had run the Cliff Walkway before but it was still amazing with stunning views out to the islands on one side and the huge houses scattered around the coast. Although it was not raining, the weather was pretty moody and the wind made the waves and the trees all the more dramatic.
We came off the Cliff Walkway and after a brief lunch stop at the bottom of a big hill, started making our way up the Laingsview Track through Laingsview Estate. To start with it was more of a road than a track, which was just as well as it meant that vehicles could drive up there! It was incredibly steep so when a friend of the landowner (who also worked on the land) stopped for a chat and then offered us a lift (no, we did not proactively hitch this time!) then we felt it would be rude to say no!
It was incredibly interesting hearing him talk about their plans for the land. His friend had bought it to stop a developer building on it. They are working to make it predator - free and already have some kiwi living there. They hope in the future to be certified as a place where more kiwi will be released.
He also talked about all the different walking tracks they are putting in, some of which will be for TA walkers. The passion with which he talked about all their plans was really contagious.
Meanwhile, as he was talking, I could not help but notice just how steep the hill was that he was driving us up! Another great result to not have to walk the approximate 2km up that one!
That said, there was still plenty of up for us to walk up once he had dropped us off so we still got to experience it in all its glory. We left the road and went up a track. Then down a bit. Then up a bit. And so it continued. It was still a very cool track though.
The track popped out on to Cullen Road. As we started our descent, we walked past a number of sections for sale on new Highlands Estate. Each one had phenomenal views. One even had a spec house being built on it and the picture showed an amazing house with windows everywhere and a pool. I dread to think how much that house and section would cost!
It was a long, long walk down Cullens Road but with some good views as we headed down. Once on the main road, we hitched a ride to Ruakaka with a young female building apprentice who lived in Whangarei but worked in Mangawhai.
We stayed in a Cabin at Ruakaka Beach Holiday Park and had a delicious dinner at Bach Cafe.
A really good day.
Heading up the cliff walkway
Day Eight: Ruakaka to Ocean Beach (over Bream Head) (30km / 9 hrs ish)
When we woke it was raining! That was not in our plan! We decided to get going anyway and walked in to Ruakaka township to buy supplies for next three days (and of course get Roger a coffee - you will soon see a pattern emerging here!)
As we headed towards the beach we stumbled across the Ruakaka Pipeline Track and decided to walk along that instead of the beach as it was easier going. Fortunately whilst on this track the rain stopped and the sky started to clear.
We then dropped down on to the beach a couple of kilometers south of our water taxi pick up at Marsden Point.
Blair (the water taxi owner) took us across the Whangarei Harbour to Manaia. There we met a couple of southbound walkers who were waiting for him to take them the other way. When I asked how it was going, one of them said they were “sick of the roads”. That is the problem with being a “purist” and wanting to walk the whole way (and not a problem we have, that is for sure!)
We walked along the Reotahi Coastal track which was a short but very pretty track over the headland and then came out on to a road at Munroe Bay.
We were contemplating (not with much enthusiasm, to be fair) the hill and road walking ahead of us when a car slowed down to pass us and - with a little bit of encouragement - kindly agreed to drop us off at Urquharts Bay on their way to Ocean Beach. This saved us about 4.5km of road walking on a windy undulating narrow road.
Very pleased with ourselves we then walked the last 1km on the road at Urquharts Bay on to the start of the Te Whara (Bream Head) Track.
Knowing we had a 395m climb up at least 1000 steps to the top of Mt Lion ahead of us, we decided to stop and have lunch at this perfectly situated picnic table which gave us views of Urquharts Bay on the northern side and Smugglers Bay on the southern side.
It was hard to leave such a great spot but fully fed we then hit the steps with gusto. We decided to count the steps as we made our way up and there were actually over 1200! And that was just the first bit - not taking in to consideration the ones dropping down and then up again and then down again….and so on.
From Mt Lion we continued along the ridge line, crossed the Peach Cove track and then climbed again, this time to the pinnacle at 476m. We took the slight detour to the big rock and wow wow wow!! What amazing 360 views! Absolutely stunning. I know we had been there before but I had not remembered how incredible it was. Just awesome! Not only had the rain cleared but we now had great blue skies to allow us to see all around us. We could not have asked for a better day.
With big smiles on our faces, we started our final descent to Ocean Beach - again with magnificent views of said beach all the way down.
We camped just near the Ocean Beach car park on the land of a Trail Angel. It was a great set up with a long table and benches under a shelter, a long drop toilet and even a hot water shower! It was a great spot and the sun shone well in to the evening giving us a great way to end the day.
The trail notes said 4 - 5 hours to walk the 7km along the Te Whara track. It did not take us quite that long but was still pretty challenging.
That said, all in all this was probably our best day so far this season.
Our campsite for the night close to Ocean Beach car park
Day Nine: Ocean Beach to Taiharuru (14km / 4hrs)
Our camping buddy, Oscar, got up at 5am as he had a big day ahead of him. I must admit it was quite nice to be able to go back to sleep knowing we were only going to do a short day today so we could do some admin (like washing and writing this!)
We had breakfast, packed up camp and headed down to Ocean Beach. This is a beautiful beach (officially Roger’s second favourite after Mt Maunganui) and I can see why. Beautiful golden sand for miles (well 7km to be precise). A strong easterly wind created heavy surf with waves in excess of 3m crashing on to the beach. It was really dramatic and great to watch.
What was not so great was getting caught in a tidal surge that went from ankle deep to mid thigh in a matter of seconds with the surge travelling at about 5 - 6km per hour up the estuary! Roger managed to outrun it but I could not so just stood still and let the water lap around me!
We then left the beach at the north end, went up a short road and turned in to the Kauri Mountain track. We had walked part of this before but from the other end so it was great to walk all the way through. The trig had been replaced by a circular platform and bench which provided the perfect spot to stop for lunch. The views were amazing!
Then it was down a couple of roads and across a farmer’s field to where we met Ros, one of our hosts for the night. She very kindly had rowed over the estuary to get us as the tide was wrong for us to wade across.
Roger rowed us back over and Ros showed us around their beautiful garden before we joined her and her husband, Hugh, for a cup of tea and a lovely chat at their home and B&B (Tidesong).
They very kindly let us do some washing and fed us very well with home baked cookies, Pavlova, wine and then an amazing full English breakfast the next day. All delicious!
All this gave us some time to chill for a bit, do some washing and rest the legs whilst trying to plan the next few days!
Walking along Ocean Beach
Day Ten: Taiharuru to Whananaki (46km (of which we walked approximately 24km) / 7hrs)
Ros made us a delicious breakfast and Hugh very kindly drove us to the Pataua South to Pataua North footbridge so that we would not have to walk 3km along the estuary.
We walked over the bridge and up the road towards the “detour” junction. We were going to take the road detour because the water taxi that goes across the Ngunguru river was going to be out of the water today.
However, before we even got there, a car pulled over (OK, we may have encouraged it to do so) and offered us a lift. Once in the car, Anne and Derek quickly invited us to go to their house for a coffee and that they would then take us up to the track junction (after coffee). Apparently they were Trail Angels who lived on the “detour” road and so longer had the foot traffic passing their house as they had done of old. Everything about them was amazing! They had a beautiful house on the hill with a fantastic outside seating area overlooking the bush, estuary and sea. They were both musicians and artists and this was very much reflected in what they had in their house. Along with the barista coffees they made us, they also offered us home-baked custard slices and home-made Southland cheese rolls! Apparently, when they can see TA walkers crossing the river they know they have enough time to make some scones and drive them down to where the walkers emerge back on to land! Just incredible!
I was very comfortable sitting there chatting with Anne and Derek, admiring the view, watching the Tui in their garden, and eating their delicious goodies but sadly after a while we realised we had to move on. Derek kindly drove us up the road to where the “detour” went off the road on to Mackerel Forest Track.
This was a very pleasant surprise to both of us as we thought that we were going to be on road for the whole of the detour! This unexpected delight was a very cool track with a fairly easy undulating path and two small stream crossings.
Sadly it was not long enough (only about 4km) and before we knew it we were back on the road. At this point we made the classic school-boy error of following a TA sign right at the road junction whereas we actually should have gone left. Fortunately Roger checked the map about 1km down the road otherwise we would have walked all the way back down to the south side of the Ngunguru river with still no way of crossing it! Doh!
Not only that but at that point we realized that it was not actually 3km to Ngunguru but more like 13km! Double doh!
So, with a minor 2km addition to our walk and a rather long road walk ahead of us, we then headed in the correct direction, determined to hitch. And hitch we did. Our first ride (young guy) took us up to the road junction and our next ride (mother and daughter) then took us in to Ngunguru.
At Ngunguru we did a food shop and had lunch in the local cafe. There we chatted to a couple from Hawkes Bay who were on holiday.
Rather than walk on road all the way to Sandy Bay, we found another good spot to hitch. By then it had started to rain so we were hoping the sympathy vote might work! It definitely seemed to as we fairly quickly got a ride to Tutakaka by a young couple, a ride from there to Matapouri by two guys who mowed lawns and had finished work for the day because of the rain and then a final ride from Matapouri to Daisy Bay (even better than just Sandy Bay but a detour for him off the main road) from a local who lived in his van.
Result. Result. Result! Well actually six results in total for the day!
Despite the rain we were keen to then walk the next off road section along the Whananaki Coastal Walkway through to Whananaki (about 8km). Just before our accommodation we crossed the Whananaki bridge, which is reputed to be the longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere. The rain did not dampen our spirits as it is a lovely track with great views over idyllic small beaches and the “undulations” meant that we never really got cold. We also knew that by pushing through to Whananaki we could stay in a cabin at the holiday park rather than camping at Sandy Bay - always a good motivator (for me, anyway!)
It was such an interesting day! We met so many lovely people who were all very kind and welcoming. It reminded me that Te Araroa is not just about how far you walk but it is as importantly about the people you meet along the way and the experiences each of these encounters bring.
The footbridge from Pataua South to Pataua North
Our impromptu coffee stop at Anne and Derek’s house
Just one example of Anne and Derek’s creations
Crossing one of the two streams on the Mackerel Forest track
Houses At Whananaki South
Whananaki South Beach
Whananaki Bridge: the longest in the Southern Hemisphere
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