Day 24: Pakiri to the Dome Carpark

Distance Covered: 26 km

Today was a sort of test of all the things we’ve covered so far. We started on the beach and did 3 km or so of road walking.

Then we climbed up to 445 meters in less than 4 km with most of it in the first 2. Then we spent hours tramping through overgrown trail, contorting our ankles on tangles of roots, and navigating mud pits.

Each trial on its own was not as bad as what we had seen of each type. The mud was bad in parts and, if we had not slogged through the (damn) Raetea, then we would have been surprised by the trail quality. Or if we hadn’t climbed just a little more steeply on the ridge walk to McKenzie Bay, the steepness here without switchbacks would have been curious. 

So the trail has prepared us for right conditions and we think our strength and experience are growing. Doing 26 km of it still has us tired, but it’s not quite the same level of fatigue we would have felt (if we even finished) a couple of weeks ago.

One highlight was pushing through lots of gorse. This is a tall, spiky plant that has needles that are firm, but not rigid. This means you get poked and needled, but nothing that punctures the skin unless you try. It was quite a bit of this, though, as the trail in two parts was overgrown with them. We would be needled dozens of times at once in our arms and legs as we pushed through.

Another highlight was meeting new hikers. Our rest day lined us up with a new crowd. We met two guys from Sweden, two Germans, a Canadian, and 4 Americans. They seem like a tight knit bunch as they were actively planning how to all camp together again. Several of them have deadlines where they have to go home and are trying to hike as much as they can before they leave.

A big highlight was we passed the 500 km mark! This is a big number for us! It’s hard to remember things already as it all blurs together in one big adventure.

The day ended with uncertainty about where we would camp. As we get closer to Auckland, the options are few. This is the one thing we find the most consistently problematic. We get funneled to and through places which expressly prohibits camping. The notes will say things like “No official camping in the area”.  So it’s up to you to try to hide away somewhere and hope people don’t harass you (it’s happened to other hikers here.)

We are camped tonight in a little park, 20 meters from the major highway. It’s just grass and a few picnic tables meant for motorists to quickly pull over. Semis are powering by as they charge up and down the hill. Cars are pulling in every 5 minutes shining their headlights through the tent. Three teenagers, who sounded drunk, were laughing about the tent and saying things like “Don’t let them see what you’re doing”. So we are making the best of it we can. Likely going to be a rough night.

But we are right next to a cafe that opens at 7 AM for breakfast. Delicious things!