Thursday 21th March 2024
REST DAY
Twilight Beach Camp
0km walked today
13km to Cape Reinga
I hear wild dogs howling in the hills through the night. They’re not far away but they don’t come into camp. It’s cool early. I have a relaxing morning and manage to have a quick call to Kim from the top of a nearly hill despite poor phone reception. After lunch I decide to go onto the beach, reached by a set of timber steps. When I get to the bottom there’re two walkers coming from the north, a mother and her daughter (I assume, anyway). We talk briefly. They say they’re doing the North Island section of TA, and ask if there’s water at the campsite. I say yes, but it’s pumped creek water and needs filtering. My filter is at the camp which I say they can use but they have their own. They intend to push on toward Maunganui Bluff and camp in the sandhills tonight. It’s a big first day for them. I spend a few hours on the beach painting in the shade of a pohutukawa tree, and when I return I half expect they’ve changed their minds and decided to stay, but there’s nobody around. Then I notice a large amount of food on the bench. A loaf of bread, peanut butter, honey, almonds, udon noodles and a pack of vegetarian sausages. Surely they’ve left all this here by mistake? I’ve got no way of contacting them and they’ll probably be more than an hour down the track by now. Maybe they’ll realise later, but probably not until tonight. I hope they manage to have enough food because there’s no shops until Ahipara. It’s a dilemma because I don’t want to leave the food out on the bench and be taken by animals. I’ll leave it out until dusk, then put it away in my tent with my food I guess? I don’t really want any of it except perhaps the honey.
I manage to talk again with Kim by climbing higher up the track. She’s near Kerikeri and we arrange a meeting place tomorrow at Cape Reinga. The two walkers don’t return so I put their food away in my pack. They may return tomorrow morning but I doubt it. They’ll be in Ahipara in 3 more days if they move quickly and can resupply there.
I’m now thinking I won’t rush down and complete the 200km section I skipped last year. We’ll have a campervan and there’s plenty to see up here where the weather is warmer. It’s getting cold at night and I’m probably not equipped for the Central Plateau which is higher and further south. I’d need a warmer sleeping bag and clothes.
Nobody else arrives so I have dinner and get into the tent soon after the sun goes down because there are mosquitos.
SAUNTER101 