TA Day 112

TA Day 112: Wednesday 9 April 2025

Waipu - Whangarei Heads

It felt sad to have to leave this nice place, but that's life when hiking. Today we had a lot of things to figure out, because we needed to cross over to Whangarei Heads, but the guy who drives the boat wasn't available for today or tomorrow which sucked for us. So we needed some other solution...

Once we were back on the road, the AirBnB host drove past us and offered us a ride. When we gently declined he said: "Walking, that's your thing right!?" Yup.

We passed Waipu and continued out to the beach. The weather was good, so we were excited to be back on the beach again.

We were right on time with the low tide for a crossing, which we hadn't really planned for, but that saved us some time and let us continue on the beach which was nice.

After the long and nice beach walk we left the beach and went back up on the road. Te Araroa continues along the beach and around Marsden Point to Northport, beside the oil refinery. We decided instead to go to Marsden Cove Marina, and walk to the water's edge there and pretend we were getting a boat from there instead. And then we started hitching (and slowly walking back towards the highway).

It went well. Just before the highway we got the first ride, to the roundabout where Port Marsden Highway meets State Highway 1. Once again, it didn't take too long until we got another hitch, this time all the way to Whangarei!

Here we visited the pharmacy and went to Woolworths to resupply.

We also bought some rubber tips for 13 NZD that broke later the same evening. Utterly useless.

We've had Leki before and they've held up pretty much the entire hike, while these ones from Fizan broke straight away. How even?

The day before we had managed to get in touch with a previous hiker who lived and worked in the area, so at 17 they could pick us up in Whangarei and actually drive us to Reotahi Bay where we could then continue walking. So very appreciated, and we had some nice conversations going meanwhile.

We started walking again during the sunset, and it all just looked magical with the evening light and the contours of Bream Head.

Today we would be staying with a trail angel in Whangarei Heads, and actually when we were road walking the last bit, they came up beside us in a mini truck and asked if we wanted a ride to their place (where we were going). Once again we had to decline.

It was really nice when we got there though, and we slept in a cabin a bit separated from their house. After talking a bit with them, eating our wraps and then taking a shower, we got into bed.

Today's:

Distance: 27.55 km

Ascent: 208 m

Descent: 238 m

Tent nights: 53/112

Weather: Mostly sunny