Well the time has come and now I’m at Cape Reinga lighthouse. Excited and Enthusiastic on a sunny day to start this journey of a lifetime, I wonder when the gloss will wear off.
We skipped down ninety mile beach no blisters, no wild dogs, just some fishermen, fellow TA walker Andrew and a few wild horses.
I thought we had passed our first test but then came the Raetea forest.
We are urban trampers with no multi day tramping experience so this will be our first test and maybe that’s why I walk like an old man each morning before the legs warm up. We were still keen at the beginning but the mud holes, fallen trees and then solid rain the second day. Final score line Raetea forest 1 Urban trampers 0.
Soaked thru and walking down the main road knowing we signed up for this but not sure what options we have, out of the blue Jenny got a text “do you want to dry out for the night”.
We couldn’t reply quick enough, in 30 minutes we were picked up and heading to camp Moor. A luxury retreat as I called it by Kerikeri. No tenting that night a cold beer or two, a cooked not dehydrated meal, great company and a real bed. What more could we ask for.
Well I didn’t ask but then lockdown in Northland the following day and an extended stay at camp Moor. I was happy.
But the trail kept calling so had to rejig our plans so 1 Covid test later and we flew back to New Plymouth.