Deborah's Pilgrims

Aka heartbreak ridge. The sign says 2-3 hours. We started at 1.15 and straggled out the end at 7.30. Yes, we started out going the wrong  way and wasted over and hour and a lot of energy, but still. This was a stunning track, with the most amazing trees. Recommended to everyone with a spare 6 hours. About 5 hours in Christine discovered her prescription glasses were missing! We had lunch at the Helena Bay Gallery. Some gorgeous Kauri pieces there.  Staying the night at Whananaki. When you don't follow directions you end up in the wrong place. Tired and grumpy at the top of a hill you were never supposed to go up. 

Total steps : 28,776, 20.43 km for the day.   We knew rain was coming so we left early. It was a short drive to a really beautiful walk past five waterfalls. The pine-needle strewn path wound around massive totara trees and gorgeous kauri's. It was obvious that it was a favourite path as we were passed by a flurry of joggers in both directions. The weather was ideal at the time, and the 10 km track was over rather quickly.  We stopped for a coffee at McCafe and then went to the next track which would take us almost to Waitangi via Mt Bledisloe. This was through a pine forest so followed a gravel road that was completely unmarked on any online map, including the Te Araroa one.  Having dismissed Ross we turned to read the Do Not Enter sign, Logging in progress. A hurried call to Ross was not answered (of course, he was driving), so Bruce rang the forestry help line and sweet talked the lady into letting us through. We had to hit the ditch almost immediately for a loggi...

Today was a rest day.  First we attended the St James anglican church at Kerikeri, at the Stone store Kemphouse mission enclave. The ships came into this bay from Australia with supplies back in the 19th century. Both places had interesting histories and we enjoyed our relaxing morning.  After lunch we took the ferry to Russell and the visited the oldest church in NZ and admired the pew cushions.  We went to a printing press - Pompalier house - where they set up a printing press to print Catholic books in Te Reo.  There was also a tanning industry in the same complex so we had a very informative tour. We bought indian takeways for dinner, and caught up on the laundry. Total steps for the day: 8820. Total steps for last week: 148703, or 104 km

 Saturday saw us up bright and early and taking a 45 minute drive to our first walk. There was scant information about this online, including the length of the walk, but Jenny was sure she had seen that it was about 2 hours, before this information was deleted from the site. Undeterred we set off up the track to go over the saddle. We briefly encountered an eccentric man who lives nearby but managed to extricate ourselves before getting too involved in any conversations and skipped over the first stream of many on this track.  The path was mostly excellent. It is a 4wd track, so we were ususally able to walk side by side. There was plenty of evidence of the late cyclone, but also evidence of the clearing up that has been done. One large slip was cleared off the track, and another we clambered over. There was a pretty little waterfall on one side and our sensed were delighted by the wild ginger and honeysuckle alongside the track. We didn't see or hear many birds though Jenny s...

 24 February An early start saw us enjoying sunrise on the beach. Walking in the cool of the morning sure beat the midday sun and also the midday tide. We had the place to ourselves other than a keen biker who must do a circuit up the beach and back, I can not think of a more idyllic track with today's weather.  We finished in record time - just 3.25 hours to do 14 km. Then 1 km up into Ahipara where it was great to find Ross inadvertantly. It turned out his phone was out of credit and he did not realise it would still accept calls so had turned it off.  We had no idea where he would be! Coffee all round before heading to our motel in Kaitaia. It's tidy and the manager was very helpful. After cooking up leftovers for lunch and catching up on phone jobs we hit the town.  Sadly the info centre knew less than us about the track we plan to walk tomorrow  and asked us to update them if we make it through! Their building was amazing, some fabulous art work, a museum a...

23 February After a leisurely start we cleared our accommodation and headed out for the day.  We stopped in at the Ka Uri museum, which wasn't opening officially until 3rd March, unfortunately.  We looked in through the doors and saw an awesome looking waka, as well as having a lovely morning tea. A hungi filled spring roll, smoked kahawhai and kumara pie, kumara cake, a passionfruit muffin and a pork and puha roll. Very appropriately named. We continued on to explore the Karikari Peninsular. This used to be the back of beyond but is now heavily salted with holiday communities for Aucklanders, or commuters from around the north.  However it had beautiful beaches and we took the oppurtunity for a refreshing swim. It was fun to drive along the roads for the views and just to see what was at the other end, (even the roads that Bruce insisted were not a road according to google). To the north was Rangaunu Harbour, a huge expanse with the tide in, and to the south Doubtless Ba...

 We had decided to do this portion early to get down the stretch before high tide at 11.30am. However, as that meant leaving 4-5 hours before hand we decided to lounge around for the morning - out on the bay in kayaks for some of us, and leave mid afternoon. This was an excellent plan as it turned out. The sun was past it's peak, there was a gentle breeze from the sea, and all was flat and calm. We staggered into the car park - remember we'd walked 29 km the previous day so we were already a little haggard - just before 9, and about 10 minutes after that night crashed down. Normally night falls, but up here night comes with rather more alacrity.  Here's some pics.  Notice how few people are around. In fact in the last two days we've encountered one hiker and one biker. Quite a few 4wd vehicles, and two doc workers on a quad bike. Also, zoom in on the picture of sand. It has the most exquisite patterns. Our God is an artist.