About the Hike

14km Day : 101km Total
-36.160779, 173.162356
It was 3 hours of walking today to complete 90-Mile Beach and the first section of the TA Trail.  Another thru-hiker named Mack caught up with me and we walked the final hour and a half into Ahipara together.  Mack is a true ultralight hiker with a pack weight half that of mine.  He just finished the Pacific Crest Trail in the US in August and has come back to New Zealand to do the TA.  He expects to finish it in 3 months.  He only stopped in Ahipara for a few hours for resupply and has already moved on up the trail.
I’ve resupplied, showered, shaved, laundered, and ate an awesome serving of fish & chips and I’m ready to take on the Herenko Forest Track tomorrow. 

34km Day : 87km Total
-35.037182, 173.173132
I got a good early start this morning at 7am.  At first I was feeling twinges and aches in various parts of my legs and feet.  But once I got into a walking rhythm my legs must have realized they couldn’t bluff me out of this walk, because the aches and pains quickly disappeared.
Around 8:15 the rain came in but only lasted about 30 minutes. Walking in the rain is not as bad as it sounds as long as you are wearing rain gear.  As I was walking through the rain I asked myself whether I would rather be here now or at my desk doing preliminary engineering reviews.  The choice was clear and made the wet walk downright enjoyable.
At 12:45 I met Rubin on the beach at Huketere.  He is on holiday from the UK and is traveling throughout New Zealand in a camper van.  This is a very popular way of touring New Zealand and there are a large number of campsites throughout the country that cater to them. 
Walking the beach can become monotonous, and different hikers deal with it in different ways.  Some play the driftwood game.  You see something in the distance and start making guesses about it.  Is it living or a piece of driftwood? How big is it?  How is it shaped?  And when you get closer, what does it remind you of?  I saw a log that looked like a Kimono Dragon on Day 2.  Others listen to music or play songs in their heads.  The trick is being able to choose the song your head is playing.  Sometimes I can even turn off a song and turn on one I’d prefer.  But some songs just get stuck on replay.
Staying at the campground in Waipapakauri tonight.

33km Today : 53km Total
-34.77888, 172.982675
It was all beach walk today.  And except for a “Morning”  from a stoic fisherman and barks from his dogs, I had no opportunity to converse with anyone until about 3:30pm.  A section hiker named Kim was walking from the other direction.  Kim is doing the Te Araroa trail a piece at a time and estimates that he’s hiked 2/3 of the trails on the North Island. He gave me warning about a long stretch ahead where there is no water to be easily found and recommended topping off with water at Hukatere Coal Creek when I get there. 
I’m Camping in the dunes again tonight.  Other than the need to clean away the extra sand in the morning I really enjoy sleeping in the dunes.  You just need to be choosy where you place your tent and take extra care not to get sand in the tent or sleeping bag.

20km Day :  20km Total
-34.549546, 172.758667
I caught the tour bus to Cape Reinga (approximately pronounced re-inga) at 8:30 a.m.  It took us up 90 Mile Beach in the pouring rain, which thankfully stopped before we reached the end of the beach.  At Te Paki stream it turned upstream and followed it between the dunes stopping at the largest dune to allow anyone who wished, to go sand surfing.  I declined because I didn’t want to get covered in wet sand and risk injury only 30min before I officially started the hike.
I had the obligatory photo of myself taken at the lighthouse and then went down to the start of the trail.   It was almost exactly noon when I started.  After 5km I met Tony and Chris who had stopped for lunch and are also thru hiking Te Araroa.  This was right after the first stream crossing which was swollen from the morning rains.  So we managed to soak our feet only one hour into the hike. 
Soon after stopping for a brief chat with Tony and Chris I ran into a section that required care to avoid losing the trail.  At this point I was glad that this morning I read Kirstine’s blog post for the first 3days of her hike.  In this section she recommended looking for and finding the next marker before leaving the one you are at.  They are not always in the direction you expect.  Kirstine started the hike 6 days before me and she is keeping a great blog. 
I arrived at Twilight Camp at 3pm and decided to push on because I was feeling good and it was turning out to be a beautiful afternoon for hiking.  So after topping off my water, a change of socks, an OSM bar, and two bites of a Snickers bar I was off again.  I’m camping in the dunes just south of Te Paki stream for the night.

Cape Reinga

Tomorrow morning I will catch a ride with the Sand Safaris tour bus to Cape Reinga and the start of the Te Araroa trail.  I really thought that a this point I would be a little nervous about it.  But all I feel is excitement about finally getting started!
Tonight I’m staying at Ahipara Holiday Park.  Yesterday was spent in Auckland making last minute preparations: bought a six month backcountry hut pass at the DOC, went grocery shopping for hiking food, and bought a few last minute gear items (gas cylinder for my stove and a stocking cap {i.e. beanie} which I forgot to pack in Sydney}. A note about Auckland. In some ways it reminds me of Anchorage Alaska.  The Alaskans say, “Yeah, Anchorage is great.  Because it’s only 30 minutes away from Alaska.”  My initial impressions are that Auckland has a similar relationship to the rest of New Zealand. In the sense that it is a staging point for tourists moving on to bigger and better things throughout the country.
Today was spent traveling including a bus ride to Kaitaia.  And then a walk to Ahipara.  At about half way into this walk a family on their porch stopped me to talk and gave me an icicle pop.  And about 10km into the 14km walk a very kind passing motorist stopped to give me a ride the rest of the way. Since this was not part of the Te Araroa walk I accepted his offer.  Of the official trail I plan to walk every step of the way. 

There are only 5 days left until I leave Sydney for the Te Araroa Trail.  My last day at work was yesterday, and my friends all gave me a wonderful send-off for the journey.  I was a little choked up by the number of people that were at my Bon Voyage lunch and by all of their good wishes for my hike.

I have allowed for 6 months away from work for the journey, although my estimates are that it will only last a little over 5 months.  But this will allow me to take extra time in the places I find most enjoyable, and allow me the potential opportunity to take an unplanned side trip or two along the way.

The next few days will be a rush of activities.  Sunday will be spent completing the packing of my apartment.  For the last two weeks I’ve hardly had time to give thought to the hike because I’ve been so busy making arrangements to move out and packing up everything to put it into storage.  Monday morning the movers will come to take it all away, leaving me pretty much with just my hiking gear. So I will basically be camping in my living room for the rest of the week.

I will spend most of the day Tuesday cleaning the apartment in an attempt to get my entire bond back.  Wednesday I will give my gear a final practice run with a hike out to Lane Cove Park.  While there, I’ll set up my new tent another time or two to make sure I’ll be comfortable enough with it to set it up in the dark in a rain storm if necessary.

Thursday morning I have the move-out inspection for the apartment and turn in the keys.  Then it’s off to the airport for the flight to Auckland.  I’ll spend two days in Auckland getting final supplies and making other preparations for the hike. It will also give me a chance to transition from the frenzied last minute preparations in Sydney to a more relaxed frame of mind.

Rather than fly up to Kataia on Sunday, I’ve decided to take a 6-hour bus ride to get my first good look at the Northland of New Zealand before I start walking the trail.  Then on Monday morning I’ll take a tour bus from Ahipara up the length of 90-mile beach to Cape Reinga and the start of the Te Araroa Trail.