Start – Kerikeri
Finish – Paihia
Daily Distance – 26km
TA Distance – 247km
After visiting the supermarket upon arrival into Kerikeri yesterday my rucksack feels like someone has
been sneaking bricks into it. This will be the last resupply from a full sized supermarket until (I think)
Auckland in some 300km, so I have tried to stock up on items that may be hard to buy along the way. My
mission for the next few weeks is to improve my resupply planning as I keep ending up with days worth
of food left over when I arrive in town, which should help with the weight issue. Having said that, my
first act on the trail today was to pop into Donut King while passing and grabbing a truly excellent
cookies and cream iced donut.
There really wasn’t much to say about the walking today. It was a pleasant, if heavily laden, stroll through
a pine forest with some road sections thrown in, but thoughts were turned more towards tomorrow’s rest
day. My body and mind are both craving some downtime, although I am not so tired that I’m not looking
forward to seeing what the next weeks have in store.
The notable part of the walk today was passing the site where the first link of The Araroa was opened
some 22 years ago. It was commemorated only by a small plaque next to a dusty logging road, but was a
reminder of the debt of gratitude that I, and all other, TA Trampers owe to all the people who worked for
so long to make this trail a reality.
To finish this post as I started, with thoughts of food, tonight’s dinner was takeaway pizza and red wine
with the sun setting on Paihia beach. A finer way to round off this second leg I couldn’t imagine.
