A Dangerous Business

Date: 4th November 2023

Start: Beachcomber Lodge, Kaitaia (km 115.6)

End: Broadwood (~km 138.5)

Distance Walked: 5.1 km hitchhike + 16.8 km on trail + 9 km bypass (30.9 km total)

Total Distance Completed: 133.1 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Slice of Heaven by Dave Dobbyn

Time Taken to get a Lift out of Kaitaia: 30 minutes

I’m finally leaving the far north. Look, Kaitaia is alright I have nothing against it, but I’m hiking a trail that traverses the length of the country, so it’ll be good to finally see some other bits of it. Before I go any further, I should probably explain what today’s route is. Between Kaitaia and Kerikeri there are two forests we have to traverse. The first of these is the Raetea Forest which has become quite infamous with Te Araroa hikers for one reason: mud. Mud that is often knee deep in places where even the strongest walkers can only manage 1 km/h. Mud also makes the track very slippery, making the descent out of the forest very treacherous. At the beginning of October a walker had a pretty bad fall on this track and had to call in search and rescue to get her. Since then, the local police and SAR teams have recommended that the track be avoided for the foreseeable future. As such, the TA Trust recommended hikers take a detour to a down called Broadwood. This route was put in place when Cyclone Gabrielle smashed into the country earlier in 2023 and although it isn’t an official bypass, many hikers I’ve spoken do have opted to take it. I will be doing the same.

First things first, there’s a 5km section along SH1 that needs to be hitchhiked. It took us a while, but we eventually got to the turnoff onto the gravel road that would take us towards Raetea Forest.

It was a pleasant walk in pleasant weather, although with that comes the need to protect oneself from the sun. Even though it’s only 20ish degrees, the UV index was quite high (thanks to a skinny ozone layer). For my northern hemisphere brethren, this meant some rather creative clothing choices.

This was the first time on trail where I spent the ebtire day walking with other people. Vadem and Marlon made for good company and kept a decent pace throughout the day. We passed by several farms containing all sorts of livestock; sheep, chickens, horses, and plenty of cows.

After 4 flat days on the beach, I was almost wishing for a good climb. Alas, the road was dead flat for the most part, although we did get a preview of what was to come later in the day.

Before reaching the small town of Takahue – town in this case referring to a small number of broadly spaced homes with a community hall – we caught up with Vicki and Melly, the latter of whom was struggling with what sounded like a minor case of tendinitis. Like good EFI hikers, they were planning on taking the actual trail up to Raetea Peak, spacing it out over 3 days so as not to aggravate Melly’s injury.

Getting ever closer to the mountains, the road began to narrow, and we caught the first glimpses of what will be a common sight for every TA walker: the triangular orange marker.

After passing a couple more hikers at Takahue Hall, the road turned into a single lane 4WD track, winding through a valley, and after a couple more kilometres we arrived an Abhay and Jaya’s house for lunch. For this season, they have opened up their house for hikers to stop and share a meal at. They bought their place during Covid and it’s completely off-grid, not knowing at the time that the trail existed and went right past their house. As Hare Krishnas, serving people and sharing food is a big part of their religion, which showed greatly through the hospitality they showed us, sharing their own stories and listening closely to our own.

We sadly couldn’t stay forever, so the three of us bid a fond farewell to them, feeling very energised after an incredible meal; Melly and Vicki would only be going to a campsite 1 km further on. We were now in the foothills of the mountains that make up Raetea Forest and began climbing them, leaving a wonderful view of the valley behind us.

I was honestly expecting a lot worse from the trail. I suppose the worse bits of this track are on the upper slopes of the mountains. Alas, I would never get to know for sure, as in no time at all we arrive at the junction with the bypass track that would take us down to Broadwood. This trail was also in pretty good nick, maintaining a gradual descent all the way down. There were some sizeable mud puddles but they were easily traversed by me and my boots, slightly less so by Marlon and Vadem with their trail runners.

Then we hit a river. An actual river. There was no way any of us could get across with dry feet. So, off the boots came and on went the reef shoes (in hindsight, I could’ve gone across barefoot). We mentally drew straws and I had the shortest. Ok, that was a lie, I just went across first without any group decision being made. At its deepest it only got up to my knees, and as soon as I got across, the other two guys suddenly became a lot more confident.

From there, it was a quick jaunt on a back road to the small town of Broadwood. Because it’s technically not on the TA route, a makeshift campsite has been set up in a picnic area near the general store. We arrived there around 6pm where four hikers had already set up their tents in the very long grass. We did the same and set about making dinner… and then I got a call from my Kiwi family. We ended up talking for an hour, during which I (hopefully stealthily) finished my dinner, made a chai latte, washed up my dishes, and filtered some water. By the time I was done, the sun was well below the horizon and it was getting a bit chilly. I tucked myself into bed and tried to get some sleep, which wasn’t helped by a post-viral cough that’s started to plague me. Really hope that it improves soon, because in the past I’ve had a cough like this for weeks at a time.