Te Araroa

More Beach, Rain and Some Local History

We saw this huge hive, it’s impressive!

It didn’t feel like we were meant to be walking through here.

And back on the beach again .

we were forced up the beach to walk on the soft sand by the incoming tide. The waves got closer and closer. I was starting to think we would run out of beach.

As soon as we came off the beach we stopped for lunch under a big tree which happened to be next to the holiday Park.

Lunch was good but as soon as we lay down to digest a bit a storm hit. We were soon huddled against the tree trunk. It only offered a little shelter against the lashing rain.

We decided to stay at the holiday park and even got a cabin! We dryed our clothes and cooked a hot meal.

The next day we didn’t leave until 9.30am! Normally we leave before 6.30am.

We got a few easy kilometres of road before starting to climb steeply through farmland.

We gained a lot of elevation very quickly. My thighs we fine, they must be getting stronger. My calves, on the other hand, were screaming in protest.

The farmland soon turned to a narrow forest track.

I keep hearing that it’s a very dry year. As trampers, this seems to be a really good thing. The track was mostly cracked, dry mud. It would have been awful in wet weather!

I could have gotten angry at how steep and rough the track was but I was just incredibly grateful it was dry!

No idea why they decided to put this sign here in the absolute middle of nowhere but it was funny to come across. I guess we don’t get pizza for a while!

Our first swing bridge! It wobbled lots, especially when we ran.

Someone is building a log cabin. It was made very well. There weren’t even the tiniest gaps between the logs.

The letter boxes here look very different from Australian letter boxes.

Puhoi

We had lunch in Puhoi, out the front of the library. Forrest and Holli went in to read for a bit and were soon chatting with the librarian. She was really excited that we were all doing the trail. She told us a story about the founding of Puhoi.

Apparently, they were giving away forty acres of land per adult and twenty per child. A group of Czech settlers came up the river in the middle of winter, arriving in the middle of the night. Thick, almost impenetrable, rainforest greeted them. NOT the tame farmland they were expecting. They sat on the banks of the river and cried.

After telling us this story she got us to sign the library logbook so she could show the other volunteer librarians. After giving us information about the trail ahead and introducing us to her grandchildren we were on our way.

There are two options from Puhoi. You can kayak a few kilometers down the river or roadwalk. We choose to roadwalk.

We didn’t know that some of it was down a freeway. A few kilometres were quite scary.

We’re staying the night at Waiwera. It’s raining now but I hope it will be fine tomorrow!

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