Saturday 9th March 2024
“The Farm” to Paihia
10km walked today (20km hitched)
244km to Cape Reinga
Another great day! I get away from the Farm just after dawn, walk the 2 or 3km of sealed road and then I’m onto a gravel road that winds up a long hill through native forest. As predicted by the Farm people, this road is quiet, and no cars pass me either way for half an hour or more. Then a car comes up the hill behind me. It slows to a stop and the window comes down. A Māori woman asks if I want a ride to Russell. I say yes and jump in. She’s a support worker for people with disabilities and is in her way to visit people in Russell. We start talking. I say I had a ride with Whero, the father of the man whose funeral is today, and also a ride with his son. She knows them both. We talk of our families. Soon we’re over the mountain and down again to sea level and into Russell where she drops me off near the main Street. Russell is very “manicured” and touristed. There are plenty of foreign accents. The ferry goes across the bay to Paihia every half hour so. I work out if it’s better to stay on this side or Paihia. Finally I book a room with shared bathroom at a backpackers hostel in Paihia ($95) and catch the ferry over ($7). Paihia is buzzing. It’s Saturday but also there’s some sort of vintage and veteran car rally going on. The backpackers has vintage cars in the parking area. I’m lucky to get a room in town. I spend the next several hours doing my washing, drying my tent, shopping and studying the route ahead. It’s complicated. Tomorrow is a long day to Kerikeri (28km), but the supermarket there is off trail. That’s the last town for 5days/107km of trail thorough the Northland Forests to Kaitaia. There are diversions and multiple routes between Kerikeri and Kaitaia. I finally get it worked out both on paper and on my phone map with waypoints I can follow. The weather looks settled for the next week so I should avoid the misery of heavy rain and knee deep mud these forests are known for.
Now there’s the accommodation to sort out. There are no holiday parks and the two backpackers are full with seasonal workers. I consider “stealth camping” on either side of Kerikeri and study the maps for a place. More in hope than anything I put a message on the TA Facebook page asking if there are any other options for me. I head downtown for a huge buffet dinner (an “all you can eat” deal). When I get back there’s a message from Julie and Peter who run a Llama farm near the trail. I ring and they offer a bed and shower for tomorrow night! It’s good to have a place to stay. I set the alarm for 5:30am and try to get to sleep with the sounds of a large group of excited German teenagers who seem to be occupying the rest of the hostel.
SAUNTER101 