Te Araroa (day 8) - Paihaia to Helena Bay / mile 186
"Those damn gypsies selling drugs on the side of the road, but at least we know where they are" Mike (or Tim) "The ones that don't do what they are told, that's the good guys" Dave Long, productive day on the road, Kerouac would be proud. I started walking from Paihaia just after sunrise, got 6$ latte at mobile "Coffee 2 Go" parked on the side of the road, it was delicious. Then I've walked all the way up to Opua which took me about an hour and caught 2$ ferry to Okiato. The driver was quite talkative and explained to me few queries I had about the trail ahead. After ferry crossing which took 15 minutes, I kept on walking until I reached the intersection. Here I decided to hitch quite dangerous, windy section of it, managed to get a quick hitchhike with Mike and his dog Tim (or Tim and his dog Mike, I got it completely mixed up). He was a local farmer who apparently picked up hundreds of TA hikers...