Paihia today. We are currently waiting at Beachside Holiday Park for our boat ride up the Waikare Inlet. Yesterday we walked from Kerikeri to Paihia 25 km. Before that we had two days staying with Wayne's brother Matthew and sister in law Lynette as my blisters flared up again after we had to do a 12 hour day through the Raetea Forest mainly because we could not find water along the way then once we got out to the road it was another 7 km on State Highway 1 to Mungamuka. By the time we finished my feet were on fire and the blisters were back. It is very humbling thing to be so slow with our trek. But we are still determined to keep on all be it slowly till my feet harden up. We have missed one section through the Puketi Forest as after Mathews it was raining heavy and advised that with the rain the river would be high and the trail took us 2km up the river bed so we are planning to come back in March to do this track. We have had variable weather some rain some sun. We have already sent home two parcels to lighten our load. It is amazing what you really need. My pack now weighs 8.5kg. Wayne's weighs about 11.5kg. He is carrying most of the food! But I am desperate to heal these blisters. We are looking forward to next few days as we can do smaller days. We will do 10 km today.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Oct 23
Well we made it down 90mile beach what a spectacular walk - raw untouched coast line. The weather the first day was raining then we had mostly fine weather. We even got sunburned. Along the way we have met some amazing friendly generous people. The first night we camped at Twilight Beach south end. We were surprised to have toilets water and a cooking shelter. We met with an Irish couple doing the Trail as well and two Canadian girls just doing a hike north to the Cape and back for few days. The next night we camped in the sand dunes which was an exercise in getting use to our tent! The wind won! We could not make our pegs hold well enough so tent ended half up and half down. The next night my feet started suffering with blisters - that hard sand is unforgiving. At the end of the day we saw a NZ flag above the dunes and limped up to find an oasis in the middle of nowhere well that is what it felt like! It is a place called Utea Park (hope I spelt it right ) where you can stay for just a donation. There was cabins shower toilets kitchen friendly people an we even got offered a beer. It was at a place called Hukatere. The next day we stupidly went all the way to Ahipara. The day was extremely hot. We both got tired sunburnt blistered and exhausted. We stayed the night there in the camp ground. Wayne was so exhausted he fainted when he got up. I thought he was having a heart attack! Our phone was out of service all down 90mile beach so was thinking I would have to use our PLB! What a great start to our adventure. Basically we just pushed ourselves too hard too soon. Old people thinking we can still do what we use to lol. As consequence we have taken couple of days rest and have stayed in Kaitaia. Trying to heal my blisters which are pretty bad and sending home some of our not necessary things from our packs. We have visited our good friend Jean Spanhake in Kaitaia. We have been humbled into accepting that we cannot push ourselves as much as we thought and have adjusted our expectations so tomorrow are back on the Trail and looking forward to continuing our adventure.
