Tātou Araroa — Episode 7: The 56,925 Step Day
Progress: 552.3km — 18.36%
Mangawhai Heads to Stillwater — Heading back to Auckland for rest and recuperation.
Setting off on a drizzly morning from the well-equipped Mangawhai Heads campground, with freshly cleaned clothes and well rested bodies, our journey headed inland toward the town of Mangawhai. Initially we rued our decision to not walk the additional 6km into Mangawhai last night, then quickly forgave ourselves as it had meant a pint of our favourite 8 Wired Tropidelic Pale Ale and DOUBLE chips at the Heads last night.
Passing Mangawhai we reached a significant milestone, the Northland/Auckland border. Stepping across this meant we had walked an entire region of New Zealand and buoyed our spirits for the push eastwards toward Pakiri Beach. (Note for all non-NZers: the WH in Māori is pronounced as an F, Mangawhai would in fact be Ma — Nah — Fie)
Upon reaching Pakiri Beach, we met a couple of walkers we’d crossed paths with on our way south, Lisa and Colin. Lisa and Colin are unique amongst hikers it seems, they don’t like carrying their bags, or camping. They were again bagless and informed us they had paid a taxi ($100/£50) to the drive their bags from Mangawhai to their chalet at Pakiri Beach Campsite.
We made quick progress in the firm sand of Pakiri Beach and arrived at camp mid afternoon. An ice cream, a can of Coke and a bag of crisps followed, proceeded by a sleep on the soft grass at the campground. Our bliss was soon broken however when we researched the following day’s challenge and boy was she a doozy.
Taking up the offer of our previous trail mate Paul to jump in a cabin with him, we slept well and woke early for a 6.30am start. The day began easily enough with a three kilometer road walk. Our great progress however was short lived as we entered the Mt Tamahunga (Te Hīkoi O Te Kiri) Track. An abrupt and relentless 450m climb drained our early morning vim (especially when passed by Lisa and Colin, again sans bags). This trail takes us very close to where we got married, any chance of seeing the venue were scuppered however by the 10 metre visibility we were afforded in the low morning cloud.
Finally we reached our first junction, 6km down. The new undulating and irritatingly gorse filled narrow muddy “track” followed, led us eventually onto the saddle of Mt Tamahunga and then along and up the ridge to the summit. 9.30am, already boiling hot and already knackered, the view of the summit towards the beach town of Omaha provided only the scantest of joy.
The usual saying of “what goes up, must come down” doesn’t apply for Te Araroa, a more fitting maxim would be “what goes up, must go further up, then down, strangely up again, down aggressively, flattening briefly and then undulating infinitely”. It certainly applied here as we continued at less than 2km/hour pace for the next 6km before eventually reaching Govan Wilson Road and the relative reprieve of 4km of road walking.
Turning off from the road the trail map suggested “Dome Valley 15km 6–7 hours”, confidently, naively it turned out, we though we’d do this in four. As it was 12.30pm already, we really hoped it wouldn’t be 6–7.
It was 6 hours 15 minutes of beautiful, rugged, rooty and diverse old bush. We descended steeply into the Waiwhiu Valley and crisscrossed the Waiwhiu Stream a number of times. Then we entered the incorrectly named Fishers Road, not sure what vehicles exactly would venture on this tangled path of gorse, roots and rock. We climbed steadily out of the valley and towards “The Dome”. It was slow going though, Bill’s watch beeping for each kilometer passed showing our splits; 38:23, 41:22, 38:51. It was glacial pace and draining. As the sun began to drop in the sky, we began our final ascent towards the trig point and a view point we’d been to previously that we knew would offer us great views towards Auckland itself.
After a few false summits and some random boardwalk ( “maybe it’ll be like this the rest of way now?” No, it was not) we reached the top at 6.30pm. A tough descent down towards the State Highway 1, which passes through this section, was a minefield of roots and slippery rocks, asking for trouble with tired legs.
Finally we reached the Dome Cafe where the trail intersects the highway. A quick shuffle across the road, a 1.7km walk up the gravel road and, in the dying embers of daylight, saw a thing of beauty, a simple green sign with a upended V — indicating our camp for the night. A quick dinner, tent up and instant sleep. Our final stats for the day: 12 hours 31 minutes walking time, 31.32km covered, 1,412 meters of ascent and a staggering 56,925 steps.
28km was all that stood between us and the tremendous Puhoi Pub as we awoke the following morning. 28km between beer, chips and, glorious glorious bag free walking as we’d arranged transport of our bags for the next section with a friend. Sarah’s initial inability to walk was concerning, but a few bow legged stumbles later and her muscles remembered the process once more. Unfortunately, the first 700m of the aforementioned 28km was spent heading the wrong way as we followed the road as it dropped away, inevitably this was followed by the 700m having to recover by heading back up. We soon found our stride however and, aided by the soft but well formed 4WD track, we made great progress heading up the ridge of Moirs Hill. Occasional steeper sections reminding us of yesterday’s endeavors, but the regular beeps on Bill’s watch indicating rapidly passing kilometers.
Sensing the proximity of the Pub, a 12 minute lunch break and hasty stomp back to sea level further cemented our early strong progress. This middle third of our day included a very special waypoint, the 500km — Half of One Thousand Kilometers. A final road walk into Puhoi, painstakingly passing the Puhoi Valley Cheese Factory, who double as tremendous purveyors of ice cream, we arrived at the Puhoi Pub. Met with hugs from the fresh looking Lisa and Colin who were full of admiration of our monster efforts the previous day, we ate chips, drank beer and Coke in the sun.
Mike, Bill’s successor at work and his partner Nynke met us at the pub and drove us the short distance to Wenderholm Regional Park, our camping spot for the night. Having run a number of complex and, at times stressful, school camps at Wenderholm in the past, it was a great feeling for Bill to lie in the sun with a beer and not a care in the world.
A delightful evening, punctuated with actual fresh vegetables with our tuna and rice followed and, after some utopian bacon, egg and avocado butties in the morning, we set off. Joining us today was our support crew of Chelle and Gareth (our original Trail Angels who dropped us at the Cape) and our good friend Ronnie. To add 3 friends, together with losing two nemeses, in the form of our bags, was a huge motivator.
A 20km jaunt across a rocky headland, the beautiful Orewa beach and estuary and a short and safe-ish road walk we were done. Cape Reinga to Auckland completed.
“Walk your own walk”
A common mantra for Te Araroa walkers, “Walk your own walk” is an assertion that each individual must do what is right for them. Want to taxi your bags ahead of you? Awesome! Want to skip the roadwalking sections? Good for you! Want to walk every centimeter of the trail? Go for it. We’ve said it ourselves many time when we’ve heard of people walking huge distances, or people’s dietary plans or people’s trail rules they impose on themselves.
In “Walking our own walk” we have an emphasis on fun, we want to enjoy ourselves experiencing new things, we also want to be safe, if there is a section, such as the 3km section we skipped yesterday that is described by the guide as “the most dangerous road walking section of the TA”, you better believe we’re going to consider giving that a miss.
Whilst no justification is needed, we will justify these missed kilometers by informing you all that, in addition to walking Te Araroa this summer, it is our intention to walk the 60km Kepler Track, the 32km Routeburn Track and to spend an additional 10 days walking on Stewart Island’s rugged trails. Southland’s Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track’s 60km are winking suggestively at us too!
Join in on the Fun!
Keep an eye on our Facebook page HERE — we’re walking Long Bay to Devonport on Auckland’s North Shore on Saturday, and from Britomart to Ambury Farm in the city on Sunday. We’d love to have company — so come join us for a few Ks!
Trail Angels
Mike and Nynke for picking us up at the pub, adding veggies to our dinner, car transfer and the amazing bacon sarnies!
Finally, but importantly.
The further we walk, the more grateful we are becoming for our own robust mental health and the benefits this walk is having on it too. Unfortunately, not everyone can up and leave like we have, it’s so important we can support them in providing anything we can to help.
Please do jump onto our fundraising page HERE and give what you can :)