Te Araroa, Day 20

I start walking at dawn, 5:50 am, from Waipu Cove Camp. There is a road winding up for a couple of kilometers with beautiful views.

Later, the road becomes a gravel road and then a trail—a 6.5 km trail in a patch of rainforest.

The trail goes up and down, with a lot of mud—a typical trail as I got to know it.

Road follows, leading to a walk through very hilly private pastures, reminiscent of the Swiss Alps. Walking through those pastures always involves a lot of fence climbing to move from one fenced pasture into the next.

Following this part, there is a beautiful walk high up along the coast. It is quite strenuous with rain showers on and off, but the many beautiful views make it worth it.

The variations of today continue with a 1.5 km beach walk.

At the beach, a woman inquires about my thoughts on the feasibility of letting hikers stay at her cottage for 2 days and for 2 hours of work in exchange. We make a business plan in the drizzling rain, before I continue through a residential area, then back to the beach.

Just before today’s accommodation, I find a fish and chips shop and a Four Square supermarket. I take away a veggie burger and chips, some groceries at the supermarket, and carry it to the “bed and no breakfast,” arriving at 13:15.

The owners have their own avocado trees, and I get to taste a freshly picked avocado on arrival. I am very hungry and very tired when I arrive, as usual. But before I can sleep, there is a lot to do besides eating. Tomorrow will be an early start again, as right in front of the next accommodation, there is a river to cross that can only be crossed at low tide, which should be around midday tomorrow.