Start – TA km 504 (Dome forest)
Finish – Puhoi
Daily Distance – 26km
TA Distance – 530km
Today was just what I needed after the hard walking of yesterday. A nice and easy ramble through
unusually friendly bush, quiet rural roads and wide open grassland. All quick walking, which saw me
arriving into Puhoi at 16:00 for a leisurely litre of milk in the park before ambling off to my
accommodation for the night. In fairness it would have been an even earlier finish if I hadn’t gotten
talking to a farmer while passing through his land and invited in for tea. With ever decreasing surprise I
was informed that Dave and his wife, Sue, also hail from England,but moved over back in the 80’s. After
somewhat losing track of time, (the biscuits and second cup of tea didn’t help,) I continued on laden down
with extra fruit stuffed in my rucksack and the number of their daughter in Wellington who would be
happy to put me up for a night. I seem to be saying this a lot, but people really are so generous here.
Puhoi, where I am sleeping tonight is a tiny village with a distinctly old West kind of feel. With its
general store, hotel and stables, tiny library and church I expected a gunfight to break out at any moment.
At one moment there was quite a commotion and I got a little excited. Unfortunately it was only the
school bus, rather than bandits, arriving, which was rather an anticlimax.
After 2 days of sleeping in the woods I decided to treat myself to a bunk in a rural 4 bed bunkhouse
tonight. Accommodation pricing seems to vary a lot (and not always in sensible ways) in NZ as it was
only $10 (£5) more than a lot of camping pitches I have paid for and I also got 3 fresh eggs, fresh salad
and goat’s milk thrown in. Best of all, I seem to be traveling in a bubble at the moment, so I had the whole
place to myself. Truly deluxe and a wonderfully relaxing place to spend the evening.
