Finishing km: 136
km walked today: 35
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| After taking Sarah to get her bus to Pahia, Brian dropped me off in Ahipara where we'd finished walking the day before. It was a bit further to the start of the forest walking than I'd figured, but it was at least a pleasant 5km |
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| The walk through the Herekino forest brought my first big kauri tree of northland (as well as my first boot cleaning station, placed there by the NZ Department of Conservation [DOC] in order to help prevent the spread of kauri dieback disease). |
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| While the kauris were cool, the thing that the Herekino Forest is best known for is mud on the trails. It hadn't rained for four days, but I still spent a good chunk of the day walking through ankle deep mud (though there was also some nice easy walking on old forestry roads.) The Northland forests have a reputation as being the first big test on Te Araroa, and possibly the hardest part of the north island. I actually didn't find Herekino that bad, getting through it in 5.5 hours as compared to the 8 listed on the sign at the entrance. |
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| There was a nice looking privately constructed hut and camp just at the exit to the forest, and the offer from a local to camp out behind the hall in the town of Takahue, I ended up picking a nice grassy spot by the river (also suggested by a local, who stopped his car to offer me the recommendation) a full 15km of roadwalking past the end of the Herekino |
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