A Dangerous Business

Date: 7th November 2023

Start: Puketi Campsite (km 197)

End: Hone Heke Lodge, Kerikeri (km 221.7)

Distance Travelled: 24.7 km

Total Distance Completed: 215.1 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: random scenes from Cars

Cough Status: making its presence known

I’m getting really sick of having my tent fly socked in dew every morning.

I’m also physically getting sicker. This cough is messing with my sleep in a big way. It’s so frustrating considering I feel perfectly fine during the day but knowing that once the sun goes down and the temperature drops I’m gonna have a bad time. My plan is I’m going to see a doctor either in Kerikeri or Paihia when and if I get mobile signal just to confirm that it’s nothing serious and if I can get anything to mitigate my symptoms.

Today’s walk is further than yesterday’s but contains 100% less muddy forest, so I should be going quite a bit quicker. The reason I like moving fairly quickly and taking less breaks is it means I get to spend more time in town or at each campsite to relax. I don’t like arriving and having to frantically rush around completing any jobs I have to do before sleeping. This is particularly relevant as Kerikeri is a resupply point for me so I need time to do all my shopping, laundry, and other sundry tasks, and have time to actually relax.

With all that said I still didn’t leave camp until 9:15, although this time I left by myself; didn’t feel like waiting for Marlon and Vadem to finish packing. A few km of road walking welcomed in the day’s walk before crossing into the first of two farm tracks. They (perhaps thankfully) don’t cross through any paddocks, but rather skirt around their edges, occasionally also dipping into pine forests.

It reminded me a bit of the track conditions on the Carnarvon Great Walk; narrow path flanked by tall grasses on either sides. The difference this time is that I didn’t need to be worried about snakes, although I was frequently having to dodge thirties and stinging nettles. The sun was out in force as well so I heated up pretty quickly, relief only coming when the trail descended into these forests, passing by peaceful brooks and even a waterfall.

Towards the end of this first farm I could see some slightly unfriendly clouds forming behind me. Clearly I was the target of their anger as it began to rain softly, forcing me to make a quick pit stop to put on my rain gear and cover my pack. It didn’t last long, although I didn’t get any drier due to the build-up of sweat inside my rain gear, requiring another pit stop to take everything off. This was followed by a rather dull 5 km road walk to the next farm track, one that I was hoping to hitch but couldn’t due to the lack of traffic on said road; one car drive past me the entire time.

I took my lunch break at the start of this second track, where I was joined by Marlon and Vadem after about 15 minutes. Vadem was in quite a bit of pain due to some very nasty blisters on his feet so they has been taking their time on the trail. We entered the second farm track together which ended up being more scenic than the first, with more forested sections and some great views looking towards Kerikeri.

The only real difficulty with this track was a bit of mud in places which was easily avoided; quite a nice change after yesterday’s, er, “adventure”. Once out of the farm, the track meanders along the banks of the Kerikeri River until it reaches SH10, where Vadem and Marlon were hoping to hitch a ride into Kerikeri. It soon became apparent that that would not be possible, with far too much traffic and far too little shoulder to stop a car on. So, I guess they’d just have to walk wth me into town. On the plus side, it was a very nice track, clearly very popular with local residents, passing through grassy fields and shady forests on a well-formed path, eventually reaching Rainbow Falls.

We exited the track shortly afterwards and made our way up to Hone Heke Lodge, where we were met by our hosts David and Vicky, who greeted us with ice blocks. The lodge is well regarded by Te Araroa walkers and I can see why. Marlon and Vadem booked two nights to let the latter’s feet rest, but – apart from the cough – I was feeling good and wanted to continue the next day. Besides, I had managed to book a doctor’s appointment in Paihia so I kinda had to keep going. Unfortunately, this did mean I would have to rush around for the rest of the afternoon to get ready for the next section, grabbing groceries, doing laundry, all that sort of thing. That being said, I did get to enjoy a lovely meal with Team France at a pub in town, although I left early to pack and get ready for an early start tomorrow. I could feel my cough starting to ramp up as the night progressed, but I wasn’t that concerned, it’d just be another annoying night with interrupted sleep.