Te Araroa (day 1) - Cape Reinga to Twilight Beach / mile 7

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 ride another quarter of a way towards my destination, and so I jumped in to his truck, we delivered one of the massive crayfish he caught to his friends house along the way and he let me take a picture with another one as well!
My last ride was with a couple from Netherlands who were exploring New Zealand by car, heading to South Island next week and planning to spend there a couple of weeks, they were really interested in the whole thru hiking business, so I talked to them about it.

Once in Cape Reinga I took few quick shots of the lighthouse and the signpost, the begining of Te Araroa (unfortunately they are really bad quality) had a chat with a couple of van-lifers from Canada and jumped straight on the trail as I wanted to get to the Twilight Beach campsite before it got dark.
It was windy and sand blew into my face, trail was the mixture of beach and overgrown dune walking with surprisingly little wildlife along the way. I reached my destination just before 8pm with enough light to set the tent and refill the water from a provided tank, the spigot wasn't working so I had to unscrew the top of it to get the water. Campsite had a gazebo and a portable toilet with the toilet paper inside, what a treat! Overall day went as planned, I was hoping to meet other hikers at the campsite but unfortunately there was no one here, even Far Out famous Archibald the possum didn't pay me a visit at night to check out the food. Nonetheless it was a good first day on Te Araroa.

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