15 November

Hi there from Huntly.
On 10 November we got a boat ride at full tide from Huia to Wattle Bay actually was just round from Wattle  Bay.  We then had to wait for about an hour and a half for the tide to go out so we could start the walk from Wattle Bay to Hamiltons Gap.  While we were lying on the beach we were watching a seal hunt stingray. There were a lot of rays hugging the shore. We had done this walk about 2 years ago the other way and it was amazing to find it totally changed with some huge rock falls covering a lot of the beach so rock hopping was the order of the day and very tiring. We made Hamiltons Gap about 7pm and our friend Rex picked us up and took us back to his house where we spent 3 nights.
The next day 11th November we had a rest day.  We had visit to podiatrist for my feet thanks to my great friends Pam an Rex who gave this to me as a treat. We both managed a visit to the hairdresser and had a lovely catch up with our son Sam.
Next day we picked up our dogs and attempted to walk Hamiltons Gap to Karioitahi but again the beach has changed with a lot of rock fall which was time consuming to clambor over so we made the decision to pull out halfway as we felt the tide was coming in too fast and we didn't want to get stuck half way. It was lovely to see our dogs.
On Thursday our friend Rex took us and kayaks to Hoods  Landing where we left and were hoping to kayak to Mercer. We had a tail wind which got stronger and scary  as we paddled along. One of the local river boaties said the wind was going to get to 35 knots with a Metre swell so we made the call to pull out at Tuakau Bridge as I was stuffed and Wayno was feeling pretty unstable in his boat. Our friend Rex dropped us at Meremere and we trekked on for a further 8km and set up camp for the night on farmland next to the Waikato River. We had rain on and off over night.
The next day Friday we had a long day walked 28 km to Huntly along the river banks. We have stayed two nights at the camp ground here in Huntly. What a great place to stay. Carol and Dave here are great ambassadors of the TA Trail and look after you well.
Today we did the Mt Hakarimata trail from Huntly to Ngarawhahia. Great walk 9km.
Tomorrow we are on the road again.