Day 23: Mangawhai to Pakiri (23km, 6 hours)

I was up at 5am, and had a go taping my left leg (Monique even sent pics, with her daughter Nova as leg model). It seemed to feel a bit more stable - thanks again Monique!

I left a thank you note for Mark and Kerry, and was off at about 5:30am with a lump in my throat. So many goodbyes on this walk. Goodbye Mark and Kerry, you’ve been amazing!

According to my TA notes, I’ve officially finished the Northland part, and am now starting on the Auckland section. Today was going to be another big beach day. I walked for about 90 minutes down farm and then forestry roads, to get back to the beach. The leg seemed to be holding up reasonably well, but I was favouring the good leg a lot and walking with a semi-hobble.

A misty morning. The sign says I’m now crossing into Rodney. On the homeward stretch!

It was already hot when I arrived at Te Arai Beach a little after 7am. A lovely sandy beach, but I was on it for only one kilometre. There’s a steep detour over a point at the bottom of the beach, to get to Pakiri Beach - the shin didn’t like it much, but it was only for half an hour.

Looking back up Te Arai Beach...

...and down Pakiri Beach. I’m heading for the other end, 13km away.

I’m getting used to beach walking by now. Pakiri Beach is about 13km long, and so I got into my stride (well, my semi-limp) down on the wet sand. It was lovely to see large numbers of oystercatchers and dotterels, done with chicks. Not so good to see a dog running madly up and down, chasing the birds and barking like mad. There were one or two other people on the beach, but no sign of any owner. Grrrr.

It was getting searingly hot by now, just like when arriving in Mangawhai - but still earlier in the day. And no shade, although I did spot a likely looking bush around 10am.

10am pic: I found a shady bush in the sand dunes, time for a brunch stop

Getting closer to the south end of Pakiri Beach, there started to be signs of holidaymakers.

It’s a stampede!

It’s busy at the beach today.

I finally reached the end of the beach, and Pakiri Beach Holiday Camp, in the early afternoon. There was a fairly deep tidal inlet to wade across, and I was there. I was limping quite a lot, but that was as much stiffness in both my heels and achilles as it was from my sore shin, which has actually coped pretty well.

The camp was jam packed with caravans, big tents, and noisy families. And, strangely, a lot of Russians! I spent most of the afternoon setting up my tent, cooling my leg in the sea, and hobbling around camp trying to find cellphone reception so I could text Paul and post a draft blog.

Safe at Pakiri Holiday Camp. But feeling a bit undersized, as usual.

 

Dinner was pot noodles and baked beans from the camp store - I’m saving my food supplies for the next few days. Tomorrow will be hard going - I’ll be crossing Mt Tamahunga, not a huge distance but it will be steep, and maybe hard on the shin. We’ll see!

I spent an hour in the camp games room trying to charge my phone, before I was driven out by shrieking kids and retired to my tent. Sadly, shrieking kids were still everywhere - as well as all the other holidaymaker noises you might expect. I definitely prefer campsites where it is only me. I went to bed feeling grumpy.