Te Araroa Day 7, Omahuta and Puketi Forests

Starting km: 174
Finishing km: 199
km walked today: 25

The final two Northland forests, Omahuta and Puketi are really combined as you walk straight through them both at once.  They were nowhere near as difficult as Raetea (or even Herekino!)

While it is important to help prevent the spread of Kauri dieback, there's really only so much boot cleaning one can do without running water.  This morning I stopped to give myself the rare treat of a cooked breakfast and to clean off my shoes from the previous day's mudbath

My feet got plenty wet this day, but in a welcome relief after Raetea and Herekino, there was almost no mud!  The day began with a walk down through a pine forest to a stream.  Upon reaching the stream, walkers spent a few km walking downstream through the water, popping out on to the banks to avoid deep pools.  This walking, splashing, etc. was genuinely FUN!

Following the stream walk, there was a tough, slippery sidle along a riverbank, followed by a long climb up a ridge (which happened to be covered in the largest collection of medium-large kauri I'd ever seen in one place.)  In between the two I stopped for a swim in a deep pool near the river's headwaters.  Unlike a lot of the snow/glacier fed rivers elsewhere in NZ, this one was pleasantly cool rather than bloody freezing!

After the big climb, the day finished with 9km along a (not accessible to vehicles) gravel road.  I spent the night at a DOC campsite that was accessible to vehicles and full of overnight campers (as opposed to the previous few days, where I'd camped with either no one, or a small collection of fellow TA walkers.)