Legs and Borders

One week on the trail! Day was sunny and hot. It took me four hours to get to Kerikeri, path was going mainly through farmlands with lots of annoying fences, it felt like walking through an outdoor museum sometimes. I took a detour in Kerikeri to resupply and get something to eat, I went shopping to New World the last of 'big three' supermarkets in New Zealand, this one being the most expensive. Then I got the tiniest pizza in Pizza Hut, which they advertised as 'regular size', except there wasn't small size at all. As I was walking back to the trail, old lady pruning her garden stopped me and asked why there are so many backpackers walking down her road, I said that it's because it is a good way to reconnect back to the trail. Then she asked where I'm from, I said that I'm from Poland. "Dzień dobry" she answered and smiled. I've carried on walking to Paihaia, I've met four oth...

This day didn't work out the way it should have, but that's the joys of hiking! I woke up just before 6am with cows still crying in pain in the field across the campsite. When I was walking next to it, it became obvious that all of them decided to give birth that night and they were still carrying on (it was a large herd). It was cute to see all those newborn calves barely standing on their feet so I had to forgive their mother's my sleepless night. I didn't check the GPS for half an hour and that was my first crucial mistake, instead of turning I went straight ahead (TA is not great with markers sometimes) I looked at the map and noticed that the road I was walking on rejoins the alternative trail in few kilometers so I made a decision to push on even though I will miss one of the "highlights of the entire trail" as someone called walking along the Waipaia river. Hiking can be like this sometimes, you make one wrong decision and it cha...

"Ultralight, cold at night" Didi, a hikers proverb (apparently) A crazy day of hiking! The trail was going through a rain forrest and the path was extremely muddy, sometimes up to a knee high, it took me 8 hours to go through 16 kilometres of it but it was well worth it, I've never walked through such a terrain, forest was extremely dense and surprisingly quiet, it rained for few hours but it didn't really influence the condition of the trail. At the end I couldn't even take my shoes off to wash them in the stream, I had to untie them and force it off my feet. I managed to reach Mangamuka just before the local convenience shop (or dairy as it's called by locals) has been shut at 5pm, bought a coke, peanut butter ice-cream and portion of chips and paid 10$ for a night at the local campground by the radio station. I've been joined by Miriam from Switzerland and not long after Didi and To...

"To me the outdoors is what you must pass through in order to get from your apartment into a taxicab" Fran Lebowitz My day started early with a hitchhike from Ahipara to Kaitaia, nice Maori gentleman I forgot the name of, was going to work on the other side of the coast (it only takes half and hour to get there) we talked about how the coastline is slowly being taken by the sea, at a rate of about half a metre per year and how he also went across the Western coast of USA but by car and really enjoyed it. He dropped me off by Pak'nSave second of the large supermarkets in New Zealand and the cheapest one. I resupplied for another 3 days, probably a bit too much but I couldn't say no to 1$ snickers! So I got 10 of them! I also had a filthy Maccas (it's what Kiwis call McDonalds), it wasnt as good as European ones, especially the fries were lackluster (says McD connoisseur, haha). After that I was trying to c...

Fairly uneventful day with good milage on the clock. I decided to wild camp in unassigned area (it's technically illegal on Te Araroa to do this but there was no official campsite for the next 8 miles, they are mostly paid as well). Towards the end of the day I was getting so bored with the constant sand, water and wind to the face experience that I started to look what items has been washed ashore, here's a couple of better finds: + a bottle of Suntory Whisky from Japan (but I doubt it actually swam form there) + a carcass of a dolphin (or small shark) + tub of Saxa iodised salt from Australia + tub of silicon sealant from Australia + a log of wood with hundreds of mating clams attached to it + several cans of lager made in Auckland I also found barely breathing bird with broken wing washed ashore, there was no way it would survive, I just moved it inland so it would have a peaceful last moments. Several Camino style shells has a...

Maori tradition identifies Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) as the departure point of the spirits as they begin their final trek back to their ancient homeland of Hawiiki. The famous landmark sits on the tip of Te Paki Recreational Reserves and overlooks the meeting point of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. I've spend today mostly on the bus from Auckland to Kaitaia, I've asked the driver if she could drop me off at Awanui few miles before Kaitaia (but closer to Cape Reinga) and she agreed. Had to wait no more than five minutes here until my first ride, drivers name was Chris, a Maori retired truck driver who lives with his small community of 200 people in one of the villages on the way to Cape Reinga, he gave me a lift half way through to Pukenui. From here getting another hitch took a bit longer but after about 20 minutes Joe, a crayfish fisherman, called me from the parking lot while loading two crates of beer into his truck and said that he can give me a rid...

"Auckland is a shithole" Jonathan After 24 hours spent at the Guangzhou airport I finally managed to board the flight to Auckland which involved changing details on my New Zealand's Nzeta visa as apparently I put in wrong point of entry (I never been asked about that while filling in the form but hey). During the flight I sat next to New Zealander Jonathan living with his Dutch girlfriend Anna in Netherlands and coming back for his brother's wedding on one of the islands surrounding Auckland, when asked what food he would recommend me he said that NZ being a young nation doesn't have that much of a culinary tradition and I should probably stick with having barbeques whenever possible. First challenge after we landed wasn't as I was expecting finalizing the visa, that took only few minutes and a nice chat with the border control officer followed by a simple stamp in the passport. The problem was a baggage check as you are not allowed to bring certain fruits, ve...