“You can’t stop the waves. But you can learn to surf”
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Day 8 – 12
- Day 8 – Whangaruru to Helena Bay ; 18 km
- Day 9 – Helena Bay to Whananaki North ; 28 km
- Day 10 – Whananaki North to Ngunguru ; 27 km
- Day 11 – Ngunguru to Ocean Beach ; 32 km
- Day 12 – Ocean Beach to Whāngārei Heads ; 15 km
Total hiked: 300 km
Starting the next few days walk towards Whāngārei I was apprehensively excited.
A lot of firsts for me in terms of hiking were going to take place and the anticipation was …. well you’ll find out in this blog post.
Following a day of scorching sun and road walking to Whangaruru, I rose, packed away my tent and set off from The Farm bright and early to start my road walking adventure again. The road walk today involved less busy roads and less distance, which after yesterday I was very appreciative of.
Along the way I took multiple stops, aimlessly sitting on the side of the road, waving at every truck that drove past me, chatting to locals as I trotted through their (very small) towns, kindly declining every offer of a ride (this was hard) and eating a lot of dry noodles which may have resulted in a trail of noodle seasoning in my wake.
Early afternoon I made my way into the beautiful Helena Bay and decided to stay with the lovely trail angels Dave and Alex and their adorable animals Kōwhai, Toto and Jack. They provided a caravan for me to sleep in overnight, cooked a delicious roast chicken dinner and told me wonderful stories of how they met, the multitude places they’ve lived in NZ and the many TA hikers they have housed over the years. Alex is a painter and has an art studio in Helena Bay which Dave is in the process of expanding an outside gallery for her to display her work in. They are two caring and incredible people and I highly recommend anyone who walks TA to stay with them!
The next day proved long and then even longer. After getting up early once again to start the Helena Ridge Track (I am not a morning person), I found the great intentions I had of beating the afternoon sun fail as I got lost several times on this ridge-line. What is probably a very well marked track if you can stay on it turned into total bush whacking; attempting to jump over fallen tree trunks, slipping down the hill, fighting every spiderweb in the forest and hidden 30 cm holes as I struggled through.
To make matters worse, part way through the track you pass through farm land which involved walking THROUGH the cow paddock. Up until now I have only walked alongside the cows never in the field with them. This was and who am I kidding still is a fear.
As I approached the fence line of the cow paddock they as usual all began walking towards the barrier, mooing to their hearts content. Not comforting. After walking up and down the fence line confirming the only passable route was through their paddock I did what any normal person would do and made a few upset phone calls to family/friends expressing my cow concerns, praying for a miracle and finally as a very 21st century solution fixer, I googled “how to walk through a paddock of cows” (this really should be in the trail notes). Following none of this advice I set about my master plan! I lured all the cows to the top of the hill along their fence line, waited until they ALL made it to the top (this took a while) then hastily ran back down the hill, across the electric fence, through the paddock and jumped over the stile. All with my hiking poles facing outwards to provide a 120cm buffer zone should a cow catch me in my sprint. Only when across the stile did I turn back to see a few cows a couple of metres behind me.
Alex 1 : Cows 0. I may need a better cow paddock crossing strategy before I get to Waikato.
When I finally made it out the other end of the track I was greeted with the sad reality of bypasses (a common theme this TA season). Unfortunately due to further Kauri die back concerns and private land sales, what used to be the bush route of Morepork-Onekainga track leading into Whananaki North was now a dirt and asphalt road bypass of 18km, yup 18km! This felt like deja vu from two days ago. Nonetheless I set about turning right towards the bypass route, started a new audiobook and began my trot.
The following morning I awoke with Britney Spears/Spice Girls level excitement (or maybe childhood Christmas excitement is more relatable) for the bridge ahead.
In the North Island there are two things I am really looking forward to ; the 141m tall Maramataha suspension bridge (lets be honest all 35 of the Timber Trail bridges sound pretty awesome) and what I would be crossing today, the Whananaki footbridge.
This is the longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere, constructed in 1947 it connects Whananaki North to South and provides access for primary school students in the south to attend school in the north. Prior to this teachers used to row students across the river.
And to make matters even better, Nate joined me for this exciting morning crossing (well half of it at least).
After the bridge crossing I joined the Whananaki Costal track and happily frolicked my way around the stunning costal line to Sandy Bay.
Having completed the coastal track previously, I spent most the time reminiscing about the footbridge crossing and managed to smash it out in 90 minutes. TA trail from Sandy Bay has changed from previous seasons and now due to further private land sales there is of course another road bypass, though this one wasn’t nearly as bad as yesterdays. After an initial slog up a hill, the route meanders to the start of the Old Coach Trail and then down to Ngunguru. Maybe it was the earlier bridge crossing, my audiobook choice or the rum n raisin ice cream I had at lunch but I actually really enjoyed this road walk.
In Ngunguru I stayed with my former boss Mike, his lovely wife Erin and their very friendly and chatty sons Cuchulainn, Seamus and Fionn. Not only did they feed, shower and house me for the evening which was brilliant but Erin gave me great book recommendations and life advice that I’m always in need of!!! Mike, Cuchulainn and I also strategised the following days river crossings and raft adventure.
Unfortunately, what we realised a little too late when I awoke at 0600 the following morning for a 0700 start was that we were an hour off on the tide times in Ngunguru, meaning a plan of crossing the first river before the tide was at its lowest was actually going to be after the fact and make the next crossing a little sketchy. Regardless, first thing Thursday morning Mike, Cuchulainn and I set off from Ngunguru around the sand-spit and into Wharewa Bay on his raft for my first ever river crossing. Either my apprehension was palpable or I looked utterly incompetent but when we beached the raft in the bay without a trail in sight, Mike ever so kindly offered to walk to the river with me which entailed fighting through gorse bush up and over a hill to Horahora River. With a few more scratches and scrapes Mike and Cuchulainn bid me farewell as they left the bay just in time for my river crossing.
Horahora River, usually the first river crossing for SOBO hikers is known as being the more sedate or gentler crossing in comparison to Taiharuru River located 13.7km further down the trail. Taiharuru River with its surrounding sand banks, rocky point and copious mangrove beds is supposed to be the crossing where walkers get wet, muddy and covered in mangrove sludge. This wasn’t the case for me.
I approached Horahora River in my sandals (always have to protect the soles of my feet from goodness knows what’s beneath) with an “I can do this” attitude and knowing this river was supposed to be the easier of the two. Well thats where the positivity stopped. With a wide stance, waddling gait and standing perpendicular to the current I crossed the river pretty uneventfully. At its highest the water level got to my knees (I am a long-limbed human) and I made it safely across. My elation was short lived when I realised the trail to follow alongside the fence line was packed with mangrove mud, roots and cutty grass (or carex geminata if you would like a specific name for the plant I hate). Every step through the mangrove mud my sandals would sink deeper and deeper below, the velcro would tear as I took every step, at some points loosing a sandal to only go through this process again 4-5 steps later. The mud continued to advance higher and higher up my legs, eventually making its way mid-shins and flicking dollops up my thighs and pants. At one point, concerned I was sinking too deep into the mangrove mud I leant sideways and lost balance, falling onto the fence line and ALL THE CUTTY GRASS. Trying to correct my stance and stand upright again I cut my fingers, palms, face and legs on the plant and began bleeding through the mud stains. By the time I made it out and onto the road side, I had lost over a hour in what should have been a 10-15 minute crossing, stunk of mangrove mud and had dirty cuts everywhere. When I updated Mike of my progress he reassured me I had at least 3-5 days until sepsis kicked in 🙂 After licking my wounds I promptly hit the road as I still had 13.7km to the next river to do this all over again.
By the time I made it Pātaua North and crossed the bridge to Pātaua South, the tide was definitely flowing inland and my hopes of making the next river in time had all but vanished. Instead of feeling too disappointed I felt proud that I had crossed my first ever river. I cleaned myself up in Pātaua and ate one of the freshly baked cookies that Erin and Fionn had made the night before (thanks again, they really boosted my mood and tasted delicious).
From here on it was another road detour to Kauri Mountain where I enjoyed a lunch time summit and perfect views across Ocean Beach gazing across to Bream Head. On the road again there were many opportunities to stop in the shade to dance to Taylor Swift ahead of her re-release Red album. I also got to ride on the back of a cone road worker vehicle for 500metres as they were resealing the road and didn’t want me to be injured. The days walk finished down the southern end of Ocean Beach at the base of Bream Head, ready for the Te Whara Track in the morning. Overall it was the best day on trail yet!
The next morning I awoke with the excitement of my last day on trail for a bit while I plan my further thru hiking journey. What I was really excited for was sleeping in my own bed, getting to wear clean clothes and go at least a day without eating a muesli bar or dry noodles (I definitely need to mix up my trail diet more).
The trail from the southern end of Ocean Beach starts on the Te Whara/Bream Head Track with a steep grassy climb up to the WWII naval radar station and then onto Te Whara Summit. Here you have the option of climbing a boulder for a better lookout across Bream Bay and Whāngārei Harbour, a vantage point that in previous solo walks of this track I have never taken given my fear of heights. As I was walking with Nate on this occasion I very timidly scaled the boulder, but not without first getting covered in dirt from hugging the tree trunk on the way up.
From here the track continues along the ridge-line and offers those wanting to walk 785 steps down and then back up again a route to Peach Cove (I’ve done this before and I was not going to be doing this again) or straight onto Matariki/Lion Summit. Nate left prior to the second summit ascend and warned me about the hundreds of steps to encounter on my descent. He wasn’t wrong. From Mt Lion/Matariki the stairs seem to be endless as you plummet straight down to Urquharts Bay. Glimpses of sandy beaches can be seen through the tree lines as you descend but I was more concerned about tripping and catapulting myself into a roly-poly to really appreciate any of this. A short walk through Busy Head track and onto Reotahi Track around Mt Aubrey completes the Whāngārei Heads section. While most people catch a water taxi across Little Munroe Bay at this point, I have the luxury of still living in Whāngārei with a man and a van who kindly picked me up and we went and ate pizza 😛
Due to on-going lockdown restrictions for the Auckland and Waikato sections of the TA trail, I plan on completing the Northland Forests section this week now that Northern Northland has re-opened and then who knows where to?
Happy trotting everyone 🙂
GC Chronicles 