28km Day : 453km Total

The day started with a 7km walk on gravel roads.  And then trails through forests and over grassy ridge lines that gave great views in all directions.

Then I came to a point in the trail with a tape across it that said, “Danger, Do Not Cross”.  My first thought was that I had taken a wrong turn.  I backtracked up the trail and found official trail makers, then took closer looks at the map and compared with gps readings.  Everything agreed that the “Danger” path was the right one.  So I went under the tape and 30m beyond it were track markers again.  Someone had also put a wooden barricade across the path here.  Apparently a local landowner is not happy that the trail passes adjacent to his property.  The tape cost me about 30 minutes of mucking around trying to figure out the right path.

After this was several kilometres of walking through hilly pastures.

And then a clifftop path along the coast.

This path led to Mangawhai Heads where I stopped at a cafe for a burger and fries.  And then continued on a well-developed path along the road to Mangawhai where I stopped at a Holiday Park for the night.