Saturday & Sunday, November 18 -19, 2023Distance/ Total: 14.5 km / 9.0 mi A light rain moved in over night with just enough rain to make things damp. Jamie and I packed up slowly and got on trail about 8:20am. The trail started on a single track but was only about 0.5 km before turning out onto a gravel road. […]
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Friday, November 17, 2023Distance/ Total: 26.4 km / 16.4 mi Today started out a little slow. I fell asleep last night before updating my blog and wrote it this morning in my tent. I noticed my battery pack was down to 25% or less and plugged it in the kitchen receptacle to charge. While it was charging I slowly packed […]
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Thursday, November 16, 2023Distance/ Total: 25.2 km / 15.7 mi Today was another split day due to the availability of our water taxi. I woke up about 6:00am, but didn’t get started on the trail until about 7:30. The trail started out with a long steep climb up bream head, a mountain at the end of the beach we hiked […]
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023Distance/ Total: 23.6 km / 14.7 mi Due to the tide schedule today we will be unable to cross Taihariru Estuary until about 1:00 pm so it was a sleep in day and leisurely morning. I got out of my tent about 6:45 and fixed some hot coffee in the trail Angel’s studio they allowed us to […]
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Tuesday, November 14, 2023Distance/ Total: 32.5 km / 20.2 mi Today is going to be a long day so we were up early to get a 6:00 am start on the trail. I headed down to the walking bridge over the Whananaki River and captured the most beautiful sunrise on my camera. The trail went over the walking bridge and […]
Read moreMonday, November 13, 2023Distance/ Total: 22.9 km / 14.2 mi My tentsite under a tree really paid off this morning when my tent was dry. It was only the second day on this trail that I’ve woken up to a dry tent. I packed up and left the group as they were boiling eggs for breakfast. The eggs were left […]
Read moreSunday, November 12, 2023Distance/ Total: 24.9 km / 15.5 mi The dew settled in on everything again last night and the freshly mowed grass we had camped on was now sticking to everything. I packed up and hit the trail about 7:00 am. Today started out with an 18 km paved roadwalk to Helena Bay. The road was pretty narrow […]
Read moreSaturday, November 11, 2023Distance/ Total: 37.2 km / 23.1 mi * * includes 10.9 km (6.8 mi) skipped due to tides not being sufficient to kayak from Opua to Waikare Several of us traveled together today in order to get a taxi to take us around the inlet that we were unable to kayak due to the tides being too […]
Read moreFriday, November 10, 2023Distance/ Total: 0 km / 0 mi Today was a zero day for me in Paihia. I had bought a ticket for a 5 hour Bay of Islands cruise that started at 9:00 am. I packed all my things including the bounce box to Auckland this morning and I could leave them in the office at the […]
Read moreThursday, November 9, 2023Distance/ Total: 20.4 km / 12.7 mi I was one of the first ones up at the hostel this morning. Most of the other hikers were planning on taking a zero day in Kerikeri. I was going inward and taking a zero day in Paihia tomorrow. To get back to the trail required a 2 kilometer walk […]
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