Dec 2 Warkworth-Puhoi-Orewa

Having to go to the medical clinic in Warkworth I missed 1 day of hiking. The Dome cafe to puhoi was around 30km. Anyways, I bussed in the morning to Puhoi to rejoin the Te Araroa. Today will be a 8km kayak paddle down to Wenderholm Park on the outskirts of Auckland. 

Kayaking across te estuary was simple to set up and cost 50$. The day was calm when I first started out. When the estuary opened up there was going to be a crosswind going NE or SE. The owner told me to paddle to the calm side here there should be flat water. The fastest time was 1hr 10m to Wenderholm park. The first 40m was quite nice, water was flat and no wind. I stopped twice for some good photo ops. When I entered the wide bit the wind howled and there was no crossind, only headwind. There were baby rapids but water still got into the kayak. Not much, but enough to freak me out. I started paddling hard now as I knew where the end was. I made it to the beach in 1hr 15m which was enough time for me to be in the water. 

As I was exiting the kayak I slipped and landed on my hand. That was painful so I popped 2 ibuprofen and continued on. The Kayak was picked up by the owner and I was on my way. 

I had a cold shower to wash all the sand off then had a forest/road walk to Waiwera? I think that's the name. I stopped for ice cream. 

My hand was in some serious pain so I found a bus to the Orewa holiday park. Got a cabin and cleaned out and redressed my hand. 

Richard came later in the day after hitching to Whangarei to get his bounce box. 

Takapuna Holiday park tomorrow

Dec 1 Omaha Forest- well, not Dome Cafe

As Ice Cube once said, "Today was a good day", it sure wasn't for me. Today was quite an eventful day. 

It all started out like any other day. Leaving Pakiri Holiday Park around 730am with a lofty goal of making it to the Dome Cafe by 5pm to eat a burger for dinner. 

The walk up to the start of the trail was steep, really steep. At the top we were passed by a couple from Germany I think. They were quick and hiking with no poles, which was the first time I've seen yet. At the top the trail entered into a nice track following a truly magnificent old forest. We kept hiking along the outside fence but never entered the forest. The track ten led steeply down a terrible muddy slippery section through gorse of course. Right near the bottom, the last 1% I slipped and fell on my ass, right onto gorse plants. Fantastic, great way to start the day. Getting up from my fall I had to push up on gorse that was now on the ground beneath me, thus causing many thorns to puncture my skin. Luckily being so close to the bottom I found a flat spot, put down the pack and got the clean wipes out. Cleaned the mud off and pulled about 30 thorns out of my arms, hands and legs. Instant itching occurred and drove me nuts. 

The rest of the track was quite uneventful, just forest and more bloody itchy forests. 

That was until a muddy cliff that dropped straight down. I threw my poles to the bottom and my initial idea was to Tarzan my way down using vines and or branches to a set of trees half way down. The branch snapped and I was flung down to the trees, I lost my balance and tried to grab onto the trees. Unluckily there was a TA sign with two nails sticking out of it. My right palm found one of the nails. So yeah, adrenaline kicked in, I ran back up found a flat spot,dropped my pack and got my med kit out while bleeding everywhere. There was a lot of blood, more than I thought there could ever be coming from a hand. My initial thought "IM GOING TO  DIE, in this stupid ass jungle all alone and in the mud". That's when a truly bizarre came to mind, you know in Ace Ventura When nature Calls? Probably not, but there's a scene here Jim Carrey gets speared by well, spears on each leg. And throws his two arms over his thigh and then th other...I did that, once, while blood flew onto my pack. I got a patch onto the cut and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. I then screamed because I knew the two Germans were behind me so they could help. I could get the tape right enough and then cut it by myself. 

Two minutes later they were there and I felt instantly better, " I'm not going to de alone"!! They helped wash it out and tape the gauze patch tightly around my had. I then used my scarf to tie it around my hand to try and keep my hand clean to stop infection infused mud. 

I knew I would need stitches, I took off the gauze at one point and the cut was pretty nasty. Really damn nasty. 

2km walk out of te forest, then 7km walk to Matakana where the Medical clinic was obviously closed...at 100!!! On a bus to Warkworth. 

Got it stitched and cleaned by 5pm. Fantastic. 

Puhoi paddle tomorrow? Sure why not, how bad could that go. It's only a hand. Still have my arms. 

Nov 26- Nov 30

I am now in Hamilton trying to catch up on the blog, but it's quite hard to remember everything that happened so long ago. I will therefore sum up everything that I did and where I walked. 

Tidesong BB to Whangarei Heads over Bream Head walk. Really steep and very hot and humid. Made it to the bottom and 5km later reached a spot to stop. Got a hitch into the nearest spot to eat. Slept in a DOC area 

Next morning we got a ride across to Marsden Point. Walked to Ruakaka for resupply. Beach walk to Waipu. State at the BBH backpackers where the owner wasn't there. Left the money in the mailbox. 

Waipu to Mangawhai Heads. Rest day. Was going to golf, but too tired. 

Mangawhai Heads to Pakiri holiday park

Nov 23 Morepork Track to Whananaki

Ironically enough...A farmer living near the Morepork track has infact given us pork! 

I awoke this morning ahead of everyone else to find a whole bunch of ham and bread wrapped under a coat. What a fantastic farmer. That is a lot of ham, each one of us had 3 big peices. 

we were all quite slow packing up because one hand always seemed to have a ham sandwich in it. Everyone day set off at the same time. The Morepork track was a nice forest area with real walking trails. The first couple hours were on fairly flat terrain. The trail notes mentioned a very steep drop followed by a very steep climb. We all dropped down all the way to a creek and then climbed all the way back up. I thought that was too bad, I sure hope that is the part mentioned in the notes. Walking on top of a spur I could sometimes have views out of the forest..looking at just more forests. But anytime I come to an opening I always feel a tad bit better. 

An hour or so later I again started to drop down a very steep muddy path and I thought this is the bit the trail notes mentioned. Yup. On the way back up the trail was wide enough for 2 feet side by side with hard clay on the outsides, with fantastic views out. This was a spur, walking on the top of it. It was very steep and I started to slow down and wanting very much not to get passed by others I finished strong and got to the top. 

The spur then followed down a fence line and out into the open. On top of a farmers cleared plot offering a great view. 

Whananaki was now only 2 hours away. The climb again was very steep but instead of mud it was grass. But you can't go too quickly because there are deep hoof depressions that can easily break or injure you. 

At the bottom we followed the outside fence line to te end of the plot and didn't know where to go, the orange markets were gone. It wasn't too bad, we could see the road we have to get to. We had to get under an electric fence which meant we had to get on all fours and army crawl under, on rocks which hurt. 

Road walking and an estuary walk and finally made it to Whananaki, the place of the 'longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere'. 

Made our way to the holiday park, found a room, found a grocer and took a snooze. 

Tonight I bought many burgers and ate that. Protein is lacking while hiking, so I took my chance to load up. 

Nov 22 Russell Forest hut - Morepork track

You're not gong to believe this, I can hardly even writing this. I waited before packing up so I would have a dry tent. At about 7 I saw the sun trying to get through the clouds so I made a run for it. Every morning I always have a towel to wipe the condensation from the inside walls. That was done. As Soon as my tent pole was out it started pouring rain. Just a complete downfall. My perfectly dry tent is now all wet. Just laying on my groundsheet getting soaked I had to roll it up and put it in the bag.

5 minutes later, sun came out and no more rain. The early bird sure didn't get the worm today. Anyways.

It was a nice walk out of the forest on an ATV track. 4 km until we got to a road which I had to follow for 15km. Today is my first real test of road walking.

It's quite dull but the highway was very quite with about 10 cars passing over 3 hours. Road walking makes for good time as well. 

My knee...again was in pain and this road walking didn't help so when I saw there was a holiday park just off the highway I was really really pursuaded to go there. It was Whangaruru Beachfront motel and camp. I started walking down the steep hill for probably 100m then decided 'hell coming up this is really going to do damage to my knee, let's keep going'. So I did, I kept on track and met up with Richard at km mark 288. 

We both went the wrong way and I didn't figure this out until 3 km in. Luckily there was a turnoff spot where we were so we waited and tried to hitch back down. Two minutes later a father and so. Pulled over and have us a 3km lift back to the right road. (We kept going up Russell road and didn't turn off onto Webb road. Sharp left turn)

Walking another 13 km we came to the start of the Morepork Track. Pitched the tent and had a good rest. The rest of the crew arrived a couple hours later. 

A farmer came around quite late and said he would bring us apples and meat tomorrow for breakfast. Let's see what he brings us. 

Nov 19. We out. Takahue to Kaitiaia

After yesterday I think everyone has had enough rain forests for a while. Before starting this hike I wanted to enjoy it, and walking through a green tunnel for 8 hours was not very fun. The plan was to hitch to Kerikeri and continue on from there cutting out 75km from our journey. (I'll most likely go back when I reach Auckland). 

Road walking into this little village of Takahue was uneventful and boring, nothing like walking through a jungle, but it was a good change. 

We walked out to SH-1 in hopes to catch a ride. 2km in a farmer asked us to come in for tea or water. It was the first person to offer a drink so we took it. He had a fantastic property and a nice patio area in the back. After a quick chat, back onto the trail. 

Once we made it to SH-1 my proposition was to both try and hitch hike one direction. He would for Kerikeri and I would for Kaitiaia. Because Kerikeri is 80 or so km away and off the main highway I thought it would be nearly impossible to make it with only 5 hours of daylight left. After 30 minutes a man in an SUV stopped and offered us a lift to Kaitiaia. He parked in the lane and just waited for us to pile in, didn't pull over on the side or anything. And strangely enough the cars behind him didn't honk, they just waited patiently until they could pass. That would never happen I'm Alberta. Or anywhere else for that matter. 

Made it and booked bus tickets for 9am the next morning to LeriKeri. We stopped at the local backpackers holiday park and got a nice room with two beds. 

I was hungry. So hungry. There was a KFC 2'mimutes away. I went in and ordered the two of the biggest burgers they had, and a big glass of water. 

There were other people at the backpackers who were ready to start their TAT and some wanting t start Herekino forest...for fun! I talked with them all and shared my views of the trail and what to expect. Soon after I crashed on the bed and read about half of my book 'The Martian'. Great book. 

Tomorrow off to KeriKeri. 

Nov 20. Zero day in KeriKeri

According to Richard this isn't a Zero day. It's a half zero day because we are busing for 2 hours. Anyways made it to KeriKeri and just hung out. Stayed at the holiday park there and got a basic cabin with two singles. Went to Countdown, the same as Safeway or Sobeys and stocked up on food. I bought lots of fruit and fruit juices and also ate lots of protein rich foods. 

There was a half marathon tomorrow so the place was very busy which was good to see. I went downtown and bought some more Clarityn for allergies and 50spf sunscreen. Then on my way to subway I stopped at vodaphone and found a 29$ iPhone 4 case which was great. I had to fix my last one and the superglue welds were coming off and dirt was getting inside. This one seems ok. And it was only 20$. 

Back to the cabin and read more. Had a mango and canteloupe for dinner. 

Paihia tomorrow, maybe do a zero day and golf there at the amazing ocean front course.