Tātou Araroa — Episode 3: Life’s a beach
Day 1 on Te Araroa starts at Cape Reinga. The Cape is a hugely important place for Māori, it is the place that all spirits go before they leave this world for the next.
Our walk on the first day was a varied and picturesque 12.5km trek across beaches, streams and a fantastically Martian landscape, before finishing up at the perfectly situated Twilight Beach Camp. Fuelled by gusto and fresh legs, we stormed this in 2.5 hours!
Day 2 provided us with our first steps onto (the very inaccurately named) 90 Mile Beach. A short 4km jaunt over Scott’s Point before we descended onto the beach for our first 24km of sandy eternity. Matapia Island, off the coast provided us with a feature to track our progress along the sand. Passing this around lunchtime, Maunganui Bluff, our home for Night Two comes into view. The excitement for the beach boosts us to a rapid 5km/hour pace. An 11:31km indicating our naive eagerness.
Day 3 was, for us, our only beach to beach day. Start on the beach – finish on the beach 30km later. A few washed up Hammerhead Sharks and some cheery tour bus drivers provided some respite from the monotony. Seven hours of hard yukka later we arrived at the tremendous Hukatere Lodge and Campground. We slept in a bed, had a hot shower and left this morning feeling almost human. The heat rash on my ankles and Sarah’s alarming blisters, the two pressing issues as we drifted into an interrupted sleep on a bed softer than talcum power flavoured marshmallows on a babies’ backside.
Today, Day 4, OFF BEACH DAY. Another tough day! Our third consecutive day of our “longest day walk ever” – 32.9km total. The difference today being, from step one you can see the end of the beach – Ahipara and it’s Maunga sat far in the distance at the end of the bay. It was hard, it pushed us beyond where we both thought was possible. There were tears, paddys, strops, grumps and everything in between. But we made it. Games kept us busy today, our multidimensional game of 20 questions “Where is Heihei?” (named in honor of Heihei our mascot) was a favourite!
As we approached the end of the beach we passed a significant landmark – 100km. A great feeling but an eye opener too as it represents 3.3% of Te Araroa completed.
Next stop for us is either a well earned rest day or a transit day to the next trailhead at the imposing and notoriously muddy Ratea Forest.
Trail Angels
The list of trail angels continues to grow. Chelle and Gareth. Thank you thank you! Thank you for driving us to the top of Aotearoa, for the company, the excitement and the pounamu.
To Ollie and Mia – thanks for the warm welcome and the bed for the night (Northbound) – see you guys in a week hopefully.
To the unnamed man who brought us bacon and eggs pie at Monganui Bluff Campground on Night Two. You sir are a gentleman and a scholar!
To Gabriel at Hukatere Lodge last night. For the oranges, cherimoya (Google it!) and the wine :)
The Well
Richie McCaw, revered All Blacks Captain began to reference “the well” when talking about All Black’s performances. A good performance or training session adds water to the well. Sometimes after a tough game he would reference “going to the well” meaning to take these positive experiences as a unit and to apply the “water” when needed.
Our walk thus far has been about the water level in our well. A beautiful view – water in. A friendly wave from a passing tour bus – water in. A new blister – “go to the well” A section of featureless beach – “go to well”.
I’m happy to say we’ve got water in the well from the amazing accomplishment we’ve achieved. To walk 102.3km in 3 1/2 days is a real feat to be proud of.
We got down to the dregs a few times but seeing the boat ramp off the beach and the hot shower we just had in the nirvana that is Ahipara YHA Campground is the equivalent of buckets of water in the well!
Check out the next installment of our journey HERE