Day 17 ~ Kerikeri to Paihia
7th December 2020 ~ 27kms, our new record
Yesterday’s rest day was a gentle 8kms, back down past Rainbow Falls, to the supermarket for another dirtbag feast in the park and onto Hone Heke Backpackers where we made pizza and soaked up the Irish girls playing Christmas music and baking festive treats. Trying to get to Mangawhai to spend Christmas with family is a sizeable motivation, so the festive vibes feel good.
It takes a bunch of hand washing plus two runs through the washing machine to get all the filth out of our fancy hiker socks. A re-supply and pack up takes us way past bedtime.
We fall out of bed the next day wishing for just one more day here.
Great news though, Chahlia are meeting us at the Stone Store so we can walk to Paihia together. Yes! A real coffee by the river is bliss. So bourgeoisie. Yes kids, that’s the full word for bougy.
Road walking winds us up as logging trucks scream past and we squeeze those little hands tight. A one lane bridge motivates us to run for our lives - as fast as heavily packed bodies can. Not fast. It's embarrassing really.
Hours through forestry tracks listening out for big trucks and singing xmas songs to the smell of pine trees.
Joppy and Goldie make up a game where they are Elves, Xmas trees tucked in their bags.
Finally we tramp down toward Waitangi in late afternoon. Over the phone, Cherry from the Pickled Parrot Backpackers sorts us a real bed at a sweet price, aaaaaah, bed.
It’s a long walk into the Bay of Islands, clocking 27kms, we stumble and fall in around 7pm. Cherry lets us borrow her car to grab groceries (beer & chips). The guy who lives next door heard we were coming and hands us a snapper he caught earlier. We pick salad from the garden and our happiness is complete.
Bay of Islands baby.
