A Dangerous Business

Date: 17th November 2023

Start: Ruakaka Beach Holiday Park (km 404)

End: Camp Waipu Cove (km 420.4)

Distance Travelled: 16.4 km

Total Distance Completed: 420.7 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Praise You by Fatboy Slim

Thoughts on Waipu: suspiciously Scottish

Hallelujah, a sub-20 km day! Granted the only reason I’m only walking this far is because there aren’t any good camping spots between Waipu and Mangawhai, the latter of which is over 40 k  from Ruakaka and going there in one day would be ridiculous. Also, a short day means I’m still walking and making progress towards my goal whilst also putting less strain on my body. The best of both worlds.

Not rushing to leave, I was strapped in by 9am, making my way down to Ruakaka Beach which I would only be on for 6.5 km. There aren’t that many beach sections left, the last big one being Pakiri Beach south of Mangawhai and then nothing until close to Invercargill.

It went by smoothly, the only hindrance being the rising tide that forced me onto softer sand which wasn’t even that soft (Ocean Beach, take notes). Then it was back to the roads for about an hour until reaching the town of Waipu which is distinct in one very particular way.

Yes, Waipu was founded by a group of Scottish settlers that came here from… Nova Scotia. Not Scotland, Nova Scotia. A province of Canada, albeit one that I only learnt recently has a long history of Scottish settlement (I also only realised that Nova Scotia sounds like the Latin name for New Scotland today). In short, they were having a bad time in Canada so they followed a charismatic preacher to the area around Waipu, settled there, and now you have a very Scottish town in New Zealand. A town that I would stop in for over an hour so I could have lunch and let my feet breathe.

From here it was only 8 km to tonight’s camp at Waipu Cove. A good portion of it would be on a newly constructed footpath that follows the road out of town but there was still a section of road walking. To make matters worse, this road was the main thoroughfare in and out of town. It was busy, and no one moved over to give you more room, requiring a high level of vigilance to make sure I didn’t become a layer of strawberry jam smeared on asphalt toast. Sorry for the grisly image.

Once back on a proper footpath, the music went on and my mood lifted. And then I did a silly. I followed the TA signs pointing me up a hill when I should’ve gone straight, which lead me past a house with an overly protective dog. I didn’t know the house had an overprotective dog – my fault for blasting Foo Fighters – until it bumped into my leg and told me to back off from his property, which in his head included the road I was on. This angered me for a number of reasons, not the least of which being the fact that this dog was able to reach me and hadn’t been restrained properly. I fully understand why some property owners like having a dog to protect their stuff, but I wasn’t trespassing on anyone’s property, I was on a publicly accessible road. Secondly, if the dog had decided to give me more than a warning and take a chunk out of my leg, that’s my thru-hike done, and chances are that’s that dog done too. I don’t know what the local council’s laws are around dog ownership, but I expect an attack is grounds for euthanasia.

To make matters worse, I’d gone the wrong way and now had to go back past this house to reach Waipu Cove. This time I wasn’t taking any chances. I took my pole out and ensured I was recording in case the dog decided to have a go at me again, forcing me to resort to self-defence. It saw me, barked a couple times, but otherwise stayed at home. I’m not planning on taking things up with the council, it was a freak occurrence.

The rest of the walk was uneventful, arriving at 3pm and setting up my tent on some very hard ground. Everyone except for Tom and Jamie would be here tonight, they had apparently found a free campsite 10 km further up the trail. The afternoon was nice enough, although the weather was becoming more overcast as the evening drew on. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Vicki had joined us again from Ruakaka! She’d have given some antibiotics from a doctor in Whangarei and had spent 4 days at Ruakaka resting up to rejoin us. Unfortunately, she was still in quite a bit of pain, potentially caused by her shoes. The trouble now is that Waipu is the last place to catch a coach for about a week. She could push on, but she’d be entering an area where getting transport further south would be extremely difficult, especially once we enter the Omaha Forest. It might be nothing, but is it worth the risk? By bedtime, she still hadn’t made a decision. Understandable, it’s a sucky decision to make, potentially having to end your walk so early even when it’s the best thing for your health.

Speaking of rest, it’s looking likely that I’ll take a zero day in Mangawhai. There’s supposed to be a storm coming on Sunday and I’m feeling pretty tired having done 200 km from Kerikeri without having a day off. It’s not in my original plan but my body’s telling me it needs it, so it’s best that I listen to it.