Te Araroa, Day 25

Today, we are forced to start late. There is a 45-minute walk along the coast before we have to cross a wide river flowing into the sea. The river can only be crossed at low tide, which is around 3 pm.

The owner of the Motor camp tells me that we can cross earliest half an hour before the peak of low tide. She adds, "But you have long legs; maybe you could manage an hour before low tide."

At 12, we cannot wait any longer and walk those first 45 minutes along the coast. Also, that section can only be walked at low tide, but we manage.

When we get to the river where it joins the sea, it is clear that a crossing is not yet possible. We find a nice spot at a rocky area, eat, and wait.

There is also "the flog": a group of nice people that started around the same time as us. They were all there alone but decided to walk together. We have been meeting them on and off, and it is always nice to exchange the latest news from the trails. "The flog," as we call this group, consists of one British guy and all the others are women: one German, a New Zealander, one from Alaska, one from Canada—I am sure I forgot one or two 🙄.

There are also three more people that ended up walking together, and that we met on and off too.

Quietly we all are waiting for the water to subside. At 2:30, two girls start walking into the water, and one after the other, we follow. The first section is about knee-deep. Then there is a sandbank, and the second part starts. The water is very cold, and with every step, I am deeper and deeper in. It reaches my hip bones before it drops again.

It is late now when we reach the other side and everyone starts walking to get the kilometers of today done. There are small stretches of beach and a lot of walking through residential areas. We are in suburbs of Auckland, and it is today when we get the first glimpse of the city while walking in the hilly area.

At one of the beach sections, we get stopped by a very kind guy. He asks if we are walking the country, and when we confirm, his eyes light up. He introduces himself as Jim, 73 years old. He proudly tells us that he intends to do the beach walk starting from Cape Reinga. He plans to start this coming weekend and then in February walk more, starting at the end of the South Island to walk up North. He asks advice about gear and is very excited. He gets me excited. 73 years! I love that he wants to try this. I hope we will meet him again. 

It is getting dark when we arrive at our accommodation. Very hungry as usual, we find a KFC close by, and for the first time in my life, I eat food from there. I have two large fries and a veggie hamburger. Tomorrow we will walk into Auckland city...

Orientation sign post to get to the right spot for the river crossing. There are 3 more posts helping to cross at the right spots to avoid too deep waters.

Walking along the coast line to get to the river crossing:

Waiting to cross to the end of the coast you see in the back of the picture:

On the other side... walking on beautiful rock formations:

Beach and then first glimpse of Auckland. the sky tower far in the back, to the right:

Stairs to help managing the suburban hills, Residential area, a Harbour and two more glimpses of Auckland city:

I love this piece of art we came across, with its ever changing perspectives: