Start – Tide Song B&B/Campground, Pataua
Finish – Jagger’s Camp, Ocean Beach
Daily Distance – 10km
TA Distance – 381km
Today was a short and fairly leisurely walking day. Yesterday’s road walk has taken its toll as my left calf
is now pretty painful. Sometimes thru hiking seems like an exercise in plate spinning. There’s always at
least one part of your body that is niggling and it’s just a question of managing it as well as possible to
avoid injury lay offs. In all honesty I’m not faring too badly, but am still looking forward to the luxury of
2 rest days in Whangarei while the rain passes. Just a short 20km around Bream Head first, which is
reputedly a stunning walk. I’m slightly worried about my ability to cope with 4km of walking on a sandy
beach to reach the track and 700m of vertical ascent on the track, so tomorrow will be a tough 06:00 start
to walking to allow plenty of time.
It has at least felt nice to only walk for only a few hours today. The morning was mainly spent drinking
coffee, eating apricot loaf and looking at old TA pictures with Ros while the morning rain passed. It was
a sad parting as we kayaked away from their boat dock in the mangroves headed for the far side of the
Taiharuru river and the continuation of our journey. Once again I have been blown away by the
hospitality of people here. New Zealand is undoubtedly a beautiful country, but to think that its charms
start and end with the scenery would be doing a very great disservice to the people who live here.
