Day 7: Herekino Forest (20 km; 121km total)

Turns out I wasn't lucky enough to have the dorm room all to myself.  A Taiwanese couple also checked in, along with a Canadian mother and daughter duo who are touring the North Island together. They were headed to Coromandel today, but as for me, after a shower and pack up, I was bound for the Herekino Forest.

The Taiwanese couple were still asleep so I moved all my gear out into the common room to pack. Phil, a Malaysian guy travelling round NZ with friends shared his baked kumara breakfast with me while quizzing me about the trail. He was in awe of anyone who would attempt to take on such a long hike (he said he found just doing the one-day Tongariro Crossing hard enough, without a pack). I laughed when his final words were "I salute you!" as he and his mates headed out for the day. I guess now that I'm actually doing this I don't actually see it as that extreme; you just take each day as it comes, and as long as you keep walking you eventually get somewhere.

One of the subtropical trees I'm not familiar with. There's quite a few dotted around the hedgerows in Northland.

Finally packed up with a fully refreshed and restocked kit (if not quite refreshed body...), I traipsed off down the driveway to begin the 9 km road-walk to the start of the Herekino Track. The route takes you through Ahipara and out past more remote properties and farmland up to a saddle where the track starts. I set off a lot of peoples' dogs barking as I passed.  One man came out to quiet his dog and said hello. Always second guessing myself I took the opportunity to ask if I was on the right road. He assured me I was, at least, "that's where all the others go".

Just shy of the saddle is an old quarry where I stopped for a short rest.  I couldn't help checking out the rocks; a cursory glance had me guessing it was a serpentinite quarry (I must remember to check up on things like this). Not much farther and I was at the saddle, Te Arai, the place the spirits pause before continuing their journey to Cape Reinga. This spirit paused as well and fueled up on muesli bars for the steep uphill slog that is the start of the track.

The track passes up through variable bush.  It's a shock for me, being from the South Island and having done
most of my prior bush experience in Tasmania, to see palm trees mixed in with the more familiar NZ/Australasian native ferns, manuka and assortment of broad leafed trees.  Some patches are dominated by rimu and more than a few lancewood.  Scrubby patches with few tall trees and lots of clumpy not-quite-cutty grasses I first took to be to do with altitude, but the track doesn't climb that high, so I hazarded a guess at an underlying geological cause (more than once geo-botany has come in handy when mapping for work; in Tassy the scrubby stuff always grew on the ultramafics, such as serpentinite, as nothing much else could handle growing there).  Of course what Northland is famous for however is the kauri trees, and there are some lovely big specimens on the way up the Herekino Track. Fortunately these are not yet succumbing to the Kauri Die Back disease that is killing off trees elsewhere.

One of the mighty Kauri trees.

I stopped for lunch and to refill water at Rangiheke stream. Carrying on I crashed at 2:30 pm, but managed to get a second wind around 4:30 that saw me push on past the old logging huts and along the 3 km or so of old forestry road. It felt so familiar I half expected one of my old Tasmanian colleagues come riding round the corner on a quadbike.

Back on bush track there's the long slow climb up to the summit of Taumatamahoe (557m) and the end of my day. It was 6 pm and there's a small cleared space just big enough for a tent at the top (what makes you think people have done this before?). Also mobile reception so I checked in with Mum to let here know not to panic if I am a day or two late getting to Kerikeri. I've not managed to make the desired kilometres for the day (only 20 out of 24) and I figure this trend is likely to continue.

My knee was twingy today but other than that I didn't have any issues.  If nothing else I can feel my body saying "this is more like it!".  In comparison to the beach, the variable terrain of the bush utilises more muscles with more variety of movement, and constantly having to watch where you put your feet so you don't trip on a rock or a root also gives you something to do with your mind.  So all in all a good day and a happy camp for the night.