Day 7 From Herenkino Camp to Raetea Summit (TA 143.5) about 20km

Woke to a beautiful morning - one thing that I have been lucky with so far is the weather. I remember telling people before I left that I just needed a little patch of blue to follow me and so far that has run true. Anyway my first priority was water as I had used most of mine on the crossing. Didn't take long to find a stream so refilled and was on my way. It was actually really lovely walking along the road, pretty views across the country side - a nice change to the forest. Just as I started on the road that ascends to the Raetea Forest, Alex and Hariett caught me and passed me. They stopped a bit further up, so I passed them - playing tag again. It was a steep road climb to the start of the trail and it was hot so I was stopping frequently in the shade to cool down. I got to the final stream before the true track start to the ascent to the summit of the ridge. I had two litres, so didn't refill as I thought it would be plenty to get me up and for dinner and breakfast.  What I didn't think about of course was my walk out in the morning.

I started up. In the beginning it seemed like the track was in a little better condition than Herenkino- drier, but it was steep and hard work and I was drinking a lot of water. I was having a rest when my tag team caught me again. Alex echoed my thoughts that so far it didn't seem as hard as Herenkino, 'Knock on wood'. At that point it was 3kms to the summit and when I started off again I didn't think that it would take me 3 hours to do those three kilometres, but it did. The track deteriorated to where each step became a struggle - more mud, especially carnivore mud; thick overgrown trail with lots of fallen trees that you had to go over or under or through, and of course a relentless up, with some bits so steep that I had to crawl up them. It was around one of these difficult climbs that I realised I was in a pickle with water. I could hear Alex and Hariett coming up behind me and I asked them what their plans were. They were likely to push on to see how far they could get so I asked them if they could spare me 500ml. This was a big ask as there wasn't likely to be any water on the ridge line, but they gave me some anyway and I am forever grateful. I honestly don't know how I got to the summit but I did. At one point I was just sitting wanting to cry but knowing I couldn't as I couldn't spare the tears. I stumbled to the high point and relieved, found a place where I could set up my tent in the trees and went to have a look around the summit. The views went on forever, I was so glad I could have cried again! I had a look for where the trail went for the morning but couldn't find it. Slightly panicked I realised that I hadn't seen an orange marker for a while, but I knew people had camped at the summit before so it couldn't be far away. I backtracked a little and found where the trail went around to the left and the top of the saddle to the right. In my leg weary, mind weary state I could have gone left and missed the camp site entirely. Thank you to whoever sent me the right way. Dry dinner of a wrap and cheese then rest.

Pigeon xx

This is the view from the Summit - no photos of trail today, couldn't spare my hands to take a photo !,

Of Forests, Mud, Thirst, Synchronicity & International Violinists - Day 6 Ahipara to end of Herenkino (24.5km)

Got up early on the 7th - it was around 6 km to the start of the first forest- along some back roads easy enough walking, but still took me two hours. Full pack is really slowing me down. It was a lovely day but it was quite warm on the bitumen, throw in a good road climb to the real start of the Herinkino trail and I felt like I'd done a decent walk before I started. Herinkino was basically an up hill climb for most of the day, lots of roots, lots of water so didn't have to carry much. Even though you could see the forest was drier than it could be there was still mud everywhere which added another dimension to the toughness. There was the dry, sticky mud that you could still walk through but which caked around the edges of your shoe so that you ended up carrying an extra kilo on each foot (Type 1); then there was the clayey, slippery mud that could take you out even on a flat bit (Type 2); Type 3 (my favourite) was the one where you sank half way up your calves and then had to use all your effort to get your leg out while still retaining your shoe. I have named this one Carnivore Mud because it sure wanted a piece of me and used to sneak up on me unexpected. Mud was an energy sapper and made a tough trail even more challenging. I was doing pretty well until lunch where I'd stopped by the creek which was our last water fill before finishing climbing over the saddle and out (mind you not half way yet). Stefan, Harriet (formerly known as Henrietta) and Alex (formerly known as Alex/Aleck?) caught up with me at the creek and we talked about the trail so far, number of falls each etc. Stefan headed out just before me. We crossed the creek and headed up what was essentially a vertical, muddy wall with no foot pads or trees close enough together to use to help you up. I could feel myself sliding backwards and with a full pack that wasn't going to be pretty. Some how I managed to get myself on my knees, I think or may be I was lying on the wall, but I stopped sliding. I don't know how I did it but I followed a grunting Stefan up and by the time I got to where I could stand up, Stefan had gone. I played tag with Harriet and Alex for the rest of the day in conditions that seemed to be deteriorating. It seemed to take forever to get to the halfway mark and then twice as long to get out. The descent out was a nightmare for me, because I was tired my concentration and coordination went out the window, so I was falling a lot more and yelling at myself and the forest for falling! The descent was steep and the end was never coming, it was getting dark and that was freaking me out that I might get stuck in the forest with nowhere to camp if I didn't get out soon. Just when you didn't think there were any more surprises, I got to a point in the trail where the trail marker pointed down. It was literally a 2-3m drop, no foot pads, straight down. I couldn't fly and I knew jumping may not end well, so I looked around and there was a bit of Supple Jack hanging down. It wasn't long enough to to get me to the bottom, but there was a bit of a stump just after. The plan was to  use the vine to slow my decent and the with my amazing agility transfer my handhold to the stump to lower myself to the track below. Vine bit worked pretty well, agile transfer not so well but I got to the bottom relatively unscathed, and before much longer, finally made it out of the forest. There was still a day going on out of the woods and I was so happy to be out. The track was now a grassy farm track and as I headed down to the road I came across Hariett and Alex and joined them for the night. 

It was an 11km road walk to the next Forest and given how much time it had taken me to get through Herenkino, I didn't think I'd be able to do the 11km plus the 18km through the Forest in one day. So change of plan decided I would just get to the Raetea Summit and stay there which would be around the 20km for the day.

Pigeon xx

Day 5 Ninety Mile Holiday Park to Ahipara Holiday Park (TA 103km) - 16km

Woke up early and was keen to get going to work the short distance into Ahipara. The day was sunny but there was a definate headwind today which made it a bit chilly. It was awesome to see Ahipara in the distance and know that I would make it and be able to say I walked the Ninety Mile Beach.

I could see Gareth up ahead and eventually caught him - we walked together for a good while before I stopped to take my pack off and have a snack. He was a good walking buddy - similar pace and interesting to talk to. Gareth is walking to raise money for Foster Kids New Zealand and he was off to talk to some kids about what he was doing when he got into Ahipara.

The anti-inflammatories did their job and my shin held up for the distance. I think I will be able to start the Northern Forests tomorrow as planned but I will ask my shin tomorrow first.  It's funny I had been really nervous about the forests but now am keen to start. I actually quiet enjoyed Ninety Mile Beach but will be happy not to walk on sand for a bit. Slippery, muddy, steep tracks will be a nice change!

Ahipara Backpackers is super. Clean with good facilities. Did my washing and then went down to the new cafe (bad blogger can't remember the name) and had a great lunch of zucchini and corn fritters with a banana smoothie. Met up with Henrietta and Alex again and also met Stefan (from Australia) who was having a rest day due to bad feet (infected blister).

At 1:45 I had a job interview sitting on the grass in the lawn daisies by the side of the road.  Really. I'd put in for a different job at work and received an email saying that I had progressed to interview. I was on my way back to the YHA when the phone call came through. It was funny though, the panel asked the first question and my mind was blank, I could feel my brain fishing around inside my head in the dark for the work switch. Brain found it, switched it on and I made it through the interview.

Food sorted. Washing dry. Dinner done. Northern Forests tomorrow (perhaps)

Pigeon xx

PS Cafe is called North Drift

Day 4 Hukatere Lodge to Ninety Mile Beach Holiday Camp (TA 87 km)

Only a short one today to try and keep my shin happy. It was a battle between my head which wanted to push through to Ahipara and my body which was telling me it needed some more down time. My shin was still hurting although not consistently - for a good stretch it would be fine then for no particular reason it would hurt like crazy - if you were following me it might have sounded something like this 'step, step, step, OW! Owey! Ouch! step, step, step, OUCHEY!' for kilometres.

It was a lot cooler today with a bit of rain around and very windy. Not so much of a head wind but more of a sideways one that would blow me off course for a step or two. Other than my shin, it was actually pleasant walking. The wind also bought out some new species - then kite surfer and the Blow Carter. The latter are suprisingly manoeuvrable and were able to turn at the last minute to avoid running over limping TA hiker!

Made it to the Holiday Park and dosed up on Voltaren. The guy next door, Gareth,  is also a TA walker. He limped up to me (blisters), introduced himself and we chatted about the trail so far. He has come across more hikers than me - I haven't seen any since the first day. Lots of blister stories. Beach is taking its toll.  Into Ahipara and past the 100km mark tomorrow.

Pigeon xx

Day 3 TA 48.5 to Hukatere Lodge (around the 70km mark) 21.5 km

 Very thankful that I hadn't been trampled I packed up, had a snack, deciding I would have breakfast later on. Following the wild horse tracks back out to the dunes, and then along the back of the dunes until I could find a way down. The dunes are quite massive and have crumbly cliff-like faces so it took me a little while to find somewhere I could bum slide down to the beach. It was another beautiful day and my legs felt good for the first 10kms where I stopped near a little creek and made some porridge. The next 10kms weren't so great - my right foot was sore (it had been swollen in the morning and it had been hard to get my shoe on) and now my left shin was hurting. That wasn't good - I've had shin splints before and I wanted to stop this one from getting worse. I had contemplated going further than Hukatere but my body was saying 'No way' - the hard surface of the beach was having an impact. Made it to Hukatere after a slight detour through the paddocks to avoid the electric fences and woke Jonah who was looking after reception. Camp? No thanks - this leg needed a bed. Jonah took me up to a cute little hut and helpfully cleaned up the sleeping bag and open packet of biscuits that were on the bed to make it ready for me. He did forget to sweep the crumbs off though! The shower was hot and made me feel so much better. Had a Nurofen and caught up on my journal. Feet are feeling happy.


Pigeon xx

Day 2 TA 22 to around TA 48.5 (26.5km)

Feeling a little shell shocked by the emotions of day one, lack of sleep and sand getting into absolutely everything, I was keen to get moving.  We had actually made a water drop for me so I didn't have to carry all the water for two days when I started - it was 9km away and so I planned to have a break in the trees and de-sand everything then. It was another stunner of a day and I really enjoyed the walk to the water drop. I found it easy enough thanks to my GPS app and Pete's stick! Had a cuppa and re-packed everything.

Next leg was to the Bluff (no not that Bluff!) - a place on the Ninety Mile Beach where the coast line bends a little. Having said that I wasn't finding the beach walking monotonous and featureless- there were definite markers that you could gauge your progress by. The first had been Matipia Island which has a hole in it, the second was the Bluff, even the dunes themselves were varied and  gave you points of difference along the way. My feet were feeling it by the time I got to the Bluff. The camp site there is run down and the toilets have been vandalised, but there was grass so I was keen to get my shoes off! As I was walking in I spooked a herd of wild horses. The stallion was pretty keen to sus out what I was up to, but once he decided I was going to leave them alone they all relaxed and went about their business. It was pretty awesome just to witness how they interacted and the herd dynamics.
I had intended to wait for the turn of the tide before staring again but got fidgety. Went about 8 more km and promised my feet we'd find a place out of the sand for the night. This took a bit of doing as the forest was now about 800m beyond the dunes and bordered by a thick scrub of lupine, pig face and rushes. I ended up following horse tracks and set up camp in a spot where they crossed into the forest. The horse poo was dry and old, but as I'd seen the herd earlier, I was a bit concerned that they might come that way during the night, so I hung up a rubbish bag on a tree at the front of the tent and a dry bag at the back so they would see the scary shoo-horse bags first.

The time between walking and the sun setting is tough. I was very tired and  had gotten too much sun, my legs were sore, dinner was yucky, the horses were going to trample me during the night, I was lonely and wanted to go home. There was no way I was going to get any sleep.

Next thing it was 5:20 am.

Pigeon xx

Ninety Mile Beach - Sand, Sunshine, Seagulls and Sore Feet! Day 1 Cape Reinga to TA km 22

It took us about 3hrs to get to the Cape. We got delayed by cows and then sheep, but that was pretty cool really and I enjoyed seeing the dogs work the stock.  Maybe though That was because I was happy to delay the start a bit longer.

My pack felt like a tonne of bricks when I put it on. We strolled down to the light house to take the obligatory start photo (which took a little while because Pete couldn't work my camera properly so I ended up taking a selfie!).  With the cows, sheep and shutter issues we were later getting away than we hoped and were pushing to make the tide so we didn't have to take the headland route. The walk was really stunning with views across the ocean and the dunes beyond. When we got to the section where the rocks were passable during low tide, the tide was well in so, Murphy's Law, we had to take the alternate route. Well we would if we could find it... It was apparently marked sporadically with blue tape. The headland was criss-crossed with goat tracks that kind of, maybe could be trails if you squinted and stuck your tongue out. They were narrow, through dense stands of flax and lupin and more often than not petered out to nothing. We found some tape on one of these and sort of followed our nose around the edge (read very edge) and more by luck than good management made it down to the next beach.

Pete had originally planned to walk the first 12km with me, but as it had taken so long already, realised that it would take too long and so he said he'd just walk to the end of the beach. That turned into the top of the dunes and then to the top of the next headland. 'You really have to go you know, it's a long drive and you still have to get back over the headland. I'll be Ok. No long goodbyes'. So we gave each other a hug and with one last 'Don't forget you can always quit whenever you want' Pete was gone. I kept moving so I didn't dwell on saying goodbye too much. The track was good and the terrain was varied enough to keep my mind on the job.

I made it into Twilight Camp right on high tide and was happy to take my shoes off for a bit. I ate my heaviest dinner for lunch to try and get some weight out of my pack (we figured with full water load I was carrying 15-16kg which is pushing the limits of my ultralight pack).  I met Judith H there, who is a regular on the TA Facebook pages. She laughed when I said 'The Judith!?'

 After lunch I continued over the headland and about an hour later, I caught my first glimpse of Ninety Mile Beach. It looked really pretty from up where I was standing. On the way down the stairs I was passed by another couple of hikers (Henrietta and Aleck (Alex?) I think, who had come across Pete on the way out. 'Was he crying?' I asked. 'No' Aleck replied. 'Cheering then' I said.

I walked down onto the beach and managed another 8 or so km before I found a place to pitch my tent. It was really windy even at the back of the dunes so I had to use my pack to hold the pole rope down as the wind kept pulling the stake out. It was actually quite scary and I slept only fitfully until the wind finally dropped out.

Pigeon xx

Can you see the track? Can you see the blue tape?