Seb on TA

Leaving Auckland. 20km later: Do I shurely have all my gear? Yes. But I also have the hostel key. I call my friends. Half an hour later: key is going north, I am going south. With me Tobias from Canada. We stumble into another German hiker. He started straight from the airport, jetlag and untanned. Hiker party with delivered pizza, then sleep behind a public toilet in the park. Clevedon and Hunua Ranges. Early start, easy roadwalk. Soft rain keeps everything wet. A car looses control and slips into the fence 5 meter before us. Tyres smoking! Wow! Young Asian driver is happy to be unharmed. Own route to the Sunday farmers market in Clevedon. Whitebait toast. Google it! More rain and finally a muddy forest. Pleasant soft mud, then unpleasant, then boring. Finally the hut we pushed forwards to. No mats, but rainwater! Muesli and nuts. Have to focus not to devour the plastic bag as well. Towards Mercer. Rain non stop, but less mud. This path hasn't seen many footprints yet. Steep...

Road, beach, road, cute girl with a bike, camp in the forest. Fantails as neighbours. Towards Mangwhai Heads: Clouds of sandflies in the grass, yet peacefully. Eroded cliff walk or busy, winding car road? Hello asphalt my old friend, I've come to walk on you again... Beside the road the scum of mankind thrown away by the scum of mankind. Not caring about nature seems to come along with not caring about health: alcohol bottles, cigarettes, junk food and soda cans. Anyhow it's much less trash than what I'm used to from Europe. Pine forests behind the dunes make a good camp. Broken branches are the better tent pegs in the sandy ground. Along the beach until Pakiri. I introduce another German fellow to the taste of potato flakes and conserved salmon. Then school kids stop me and I end up giving a lesson in class about Te Araroa. So much fun! I feel proud about what I'm doing. Kids give me their home made lip balm - as if they would have know, that it was the thing I was...

Towards Kerikeri, across meadows and farmland. Sheep's and Turkey and bulls. Shoes off I feel like Frodo in Lord of the rings, when I walk barefoot through a landscape that looks like the shire. Paihia. Finally back at the sea. Sun is strong. My umbrella helps to prevent me getting  sunburned. I dig some Tua Tua shellfish from the beach for dinner. Peanut butter into zip locks. Ready to leave town. The next 13 km are leading along the bay. The car-ferry is transferring us to the other side onto a peninsula for just one dollar. Some locals offer to stay in their caravan. Russel forest. River's are the highway in the jungle. However 3km walking upstream take time. Moreport track. Lot's of work going on to bring the trail in good condition. Occasionally there's even gravel put into the mud pits. Paradoxically everything humans do to the ground to build better roads makes it worse to somebody, who is walking barefoot. The mud feels alright. Feet keep getting wet a...

Herekiri forest. I walk with a guy from Netherlands and a guy from Italy. No rain from the side anymore! Nice, lovely trees. Palms and ferns and a little fantail bird following us. Little streams in the valley. Kauri trees. Too big for three people to hug. And mud. It's slippery wet. Like clay piled up and soaked in water. Up and down we hike. Feet deep in the pits. We're soaked wet when we find a hut with bunk beds! So happy! Raetea forest. No chance to keep feet dry. Shells of snails as big as an apple. A colourful parrot. All the things you imagine about a jungle: plants growing on plants growing on plants. We camp on the windy summit. More rain, more mud. Pushing through dense vegetation. Finally a meadow, bones and skull of a cow, a road, few houses. We stay at Mangamuka dairy farm in an abandoned store equipped with beds. Another day passes by, while we wait for river levels to drop. If you hate Raetea, you are not strong enough. Puketi forest. Lovely beautiful nature...