Te Araroa 29/09/25

Day 5, Kaitaia to Raetea

Another fine morning as I walked into Kaitaia to sign the register to say that I had survived Ninety Mile Beach. In the Information centre café was someone who had been forced to give up the trail on Sunday and he was waiting for a bus back to Auckland which was a good excuse for a cup of tea and a chat.

On the way into Kaitaia 

I had decided to walk the roads to the start of the Mangamuka Track through the Raetea Forest and was enjoying walking the road, looking at the non beach scenery and the eighteen wheel trucks passing when a car pulled up that was taking Eric, one of the people who started with me, to the start of the trail and I was offered a lift.

The road out of Kaitaia 

The road walking was more interesting than beach walking but it didn't take me long to decide to take the offer, at least my shoes will last longer.

The start of the Mangamuka Track

The Mangamuka Track is renowned for being overgrown, steep and very muddy. It didn't disappoint!

 On the track

There is very limited camping along the track, in fact it isn't a track just a muddy footpath, and very slow going.

Where's the path?

I got to the high point, Raetea, at 744m where there is space for a couple of tents by the radio repeater station and decided that with the speed of travel through the forest at only about 2kph, the next possible camping being 10k further on and the threat of rain I decided to stay overnight.

Camp at the top

Eric thought about carrying on as it was only 16.00 and he had heard somewhere that there was a camping possibility a bit closer but then decided to stay as well.

It was a bit muddy

Te Araroa, 27-28/09/25

Days 3&4,Bluff to Kaitaia, Saturday and Sunday 

A bright start to Saturday but quite foggy along the coast. The fog lifted we when the wind came in from the north and it stayed clear apart from one thunderstorm that passed by offshore with only a sprinkling of rain on the trail.

Looking North along the beach

Thirty kilometers along three beach.. In the words of Stealers Wheel, almost:

Sand dunes to the left of me,

Breakers to the right,

Here I am. stuck in the middle with you.

Beach

Limited visibility with the salt spray churned up by the by the breakers so just walking along the sand with no view. It was nice to hear skylarks singing when there was enough vegitation on the dunes.

More beach

The Huckateri campsite had showers and a kitchen and as I arrived early afternoon there was plenty of time to get clean and drink several gallons of tea while talking to the other walkers as they arrived.

Looking over the campsite 

The rehydration worked too well as I had to get up a couple of times in the night. By morning the wind had gone round to the west bringing the damp air off the sea and the tent was decidedly wet.

Over the dunes and back to the beach

The clocks changed last night for summer time so even with a plan to start early it didn't get properly light until 7 and the tent definitely wasn't dry when I packed up.

Even more beach

The west wind stayed all day with a warm sun and by the time I got to the end of the beach I was coated in salt. Lots of people beach fishing today.

Fishermen 

I came up the ramp off the beach quite happy to see the last of the sand and was met by a 'trail angel' who invited me into his garden for a drink and a chat, very pleasant.

The sea

I decided to keep walking to Kaitaia and try a bit of hitch hiking as recommended in the route description to avoid the dangerous road. I was picked up almost immediately by a car that already had five people in it four of whom all piled into the back seat so I could travel in luxury. Amazing hospitality.

Sculpture on the way out of Alipara

I was dropped back in the town and went to Pack 'n Save to restock for the next section before retiring to a motel for the night.

,

Te Araroa, 26/09/25

 Te Araroa Day 2, Twilight to Bluff

A dry night and a bright start which stayed all day, there was even a northerly wind to blow me down the beach.

Looking back to Cape Reinga 

The first three kilometers were through the bush to Scott point where I got the first view of Ninety Mile Beach, a long wooden staircase led down to the sand and I started the tramp.

First view of Ninety Mile Beach 

What can I say about a seventeen mile walk along the beach? A bit like a never ending version of Burghead beach but with much bigger seas, dry bare sand dunes and some different birds.

Rock with a hole. Looking like Bow Fiddle rock

I had lunch in the dunes to avoid high tide so I could keep walking on good hard sand below the high water level.

Lunch stop

The birds were similar to home but the only

ones that appeared identical were Oystercatchers and Black Backed Gulls.

A sort of Cormorant but with a white underside 

The only people on the beach were the Te Araroa walkers who had set off at various times in the morning and one car heading north at high speed. Ninety Mile Beach is also a road!

No camping in the dunes 

Camping is restricted to the campsites so everyone arrived at Bluff for the night.

Bluff campsite

Te Araroa 25/09/25

Day 1, Cape Reinga to Twilight beach c/s

An early start for the trip to Cape Reinga. There were four people on our car and another four following so just eight starters for the morning, 4 Kiwis, one Canadian, one Japanese one Norwegian now living in New Zealand and me.

Cape Reinga 

The reason for the early start was that we had to get past a rocky ledge on the beach before the tide was too high. The timing was perfect and everyone got past safely.

Sign at Cape Reinga, camera settings are wrong!

Another group started later and crossed the ledge on the falling tide which was actually a more sensible option as it is a very short walk to the first campsite.

 Te Werahi beach

 Cape Reinga is totally uninhabited and a really wild area of scrub (bush) and sand with rocky outcrops like the one the Lighthouse is on.

Cape Reinga

The scenery was superb with the seas rolling in from the west onto miles of pristine sand.

The crossing 

A river crossing to get off the beach and up to some interesting sand dunes meant getting wet up to the undercarriage but the sea was relatively warm and the wind and sun soon dried out everything that had got wet then and in a previous rain shower.

Looking back to Cape Reinga across the sand

Over the top and onto Twilight beach and a straightforward walk round the tideline before climbing some steps to the campsite

Up from Twilight Beach 

A nice little basic site with two composting toilets, a covered cooking area and a limited, untreated, water supply. Everything a hiker needs.

Twilight campsite

It was only lunchtime but the next campground was too far away for the first days walking so I had a lazy afternoon in the sunshine.

Te Araroa, September 2025

Getting to the start. 18th to 24th September

I left home on Thursday morning for the start of the journey by bus, train, three flights and minibus to arrive in Auckland on Saturday afternoon, exhausted.

Refueling stop Singapore 

I had booked two nights in a cheap hotel in Auckland to recover and woke, after a good night's horizontal sleep, considerably
refreshed and ready for the sights of Auckland.

Aukland

I was in the center of Aukland and it is similar to most big cities with its modern highrise buildings and a few older ones , but nothing ancient in this relatively new city. It was only in the green spaces with the unusual plants, trees and birds that I felt as if I was in a foreign land, especially as it is suddenly spring.

Albert Park, Aukland

I found the Maritime Museum by the waterfront with a fascinating collection of Polynesian canoes, proas and catermarans as well as big section devoted to Peter Blake's sailing feats. Steinlager 2, the boat he won a round the world race with, is in the harbour along with a pair of 12 meter America's Cup boats. This complements the display of dinghys of various types that were, and are, sailed in Auckland Harbour and the 12 meter yacht that won the America's Cup in 1995 all housed in the museum buildings.

Polynesian canoe

Steinlager 2

A depot boat. These were placed on islands so that shipwrecked sailors could make their way home.

I needed to buy some gas so walked out to Newmarket, a suburb of Aukland, where there is a good outdoor shop and discovered that they sold the Altra shoes that I prefer. Good news as they are part of a chain of shops throughout New Zealand, shoe replacement problem solved.

Aukland and the Sky Tower 

The following day after picking up my Te Araroa package containing the trail pass, for discounts along the way, and other information l climbed onto a bus for the nearly five hour trip to Kerikeri where I had two nights in a motel as there was no bus going further north the next day.

Bus unloading at Kerikeri 

A really good day wandering around Kerikeri which is beside the Bay of Islands and an important historical area.  It is a significant Maori site and was also the site of an early Christian mission, it also has the oldest stone building in New Zealand, a store and shop built in1830. www.kerikeriwalks.kiwi

The Stone Store

Not knowing much about New Zealand history it was fascinating to learn how recently the Maoris had arrived, 1250ce, with Europeans only about 500 years later. In human history it really is new, a point made clearer after being on Orkney with it's 5000 year old remains.

The Kerikeri River meets the sea

Kerikeri was so much better than Auckland and I felt that I had really come to somewhere interesting when I found a subtropical garden full of amazing plants and trees with Tui singing in the branches.

Bird of paradise flower

There was a restaurant there as well that I went to in the evening only getting half drowned by the rain on the walk back to the motel. www.wharepuke.nz

Woodlands Motel Kerikeri 

The very heavy rain that had been forecast for this week came down that night and into the following morning when I took the bus to Kaitaia.

Sculpture in Kerikeri 

The rain eased and by the time the two hour bus journey to Kaitaia was over so was the rain. Kaitaia looks like a wild west town complete with a wide main street , battered pickups driving up and down and a couple of 'interesting' bars.

Bar rules

I stayed at a nice little apartment with the advantage of being picked up from the door by the minibus to Cape Reinga in the morning, it will be good to get started.

Main Street Kaitaia