Dragonspell, Cullen Road - Torbay (141km)

- Dragonspell, Cullen Road - Riverside Holiday Park, Mangawhai

After climbing the forestry track the day before, a (mostly) downhill/flattish route was greatly received. The track, which leads through Dragonspell land, is nicely trampled with a few short climbs to the summit before heading over rolling hills and pasture, coastal path and beach and finishing on road.

The route was fairly easy and thankfully short so that we could enjoy an ice cream and tent drying session before tea time in the shared kitchen/lounge area!

Riverside Holiday Park, Mangawhai - Govan Wilson Road

A biggish day for us today we walked over the hills of Mangawhai forest a short way and continued on beach for 15km where we had to cross the river to Pakiri holiday park. We stopped for some ice tea, an ice cream and refilled water bottles before continuing to Omahi forest. Kevin, Renee, and Ollie (who had serious problems with back at this point) stopped mid forest and pitched their tents between the pine trees. Luke and I decided to push through. When we got to the other side we realised there weren't quite as many houses as we first thought. It was raining, it was getting dark and the only way to go after this short stretch of road was the Dome forest. We knocked on doors but got no answer, we noted bits of grass on the side of the roads as possibilities for pitching tents and I think we'd both lost hope when, thankfully, we caught a man and his daughter mowing the grass in their front garden.

Luke walked part way down the driveway and before he'd had chance to ask, the mower had been stopped and we'd been given a place to pitch a tent. Matt, the owner of the land, brought us out a beer while he put his children to bed and then invited us in for a hot shower, a cup of tea and a square of coconut chocolate.

Knowing it was his daughters birthday the morning after, we made a hasty departure so we didn't interrupt the celebrations, and followed the road to the Dome.

Govan Wilson Road - Nanekiti Homestead

The Dome is a great forest- the perfect family day out (though I'm sure my brother would disagree!!) it had everything the other forests have but much less mud and the hills roll into one another rather than squeeze into points and plummet into bog.

After making our way over fields to Nanekiti homestead where we pitched our tents in the owners front garden and made use of the bathroom and kitchen, we drank hot chocolate and slept extremely well!

Nanekiti Homestead - Orewa Holiday Park

Well, being on a budget is sometimes an inconvenience but today, being on a budget was a BIG inconvinience. The usual route once you've passed Puhoi (and visited the pub for a beer and chip basket) takes you down the river on kayak but the price is not cheep. We decided instead to take the road which meant a few km on highway 1- I think the beeps were good ones to cheer us on but they could have been ones telling us to get off the busiest bloody road in the whole of New Zealand!

After that, we had to edge our way around the rocks (advisable in low tide but we'd arrived later than expected and had walked too much Road to detour). The rocks were just about high enough above water to climb over without getting wet feet if we clung to the sides so we pushed on until we made it to Orewa beach unharmed and walked past the tsunami safe zones and onto the path that took us along the shore to the holiday park.

We resupplied and walked around the city once we'd showered before returning for another good nights sleep.

I'm the morning, I signed in for my 100mb of free internet data. It was gone within the first theee minutes of signing in. Little did we know while sleeping in our little tents that there had been an earthquake in Kaikoura (South island). It was a 7.3 with almost 3000 aftershocks and was felt as far as Auckland in the North and everyone at home had emailed or texted or whatsapped or facebooked me to check I was still alive.

Mum wrote in to the Auckland Heart radio help page and left messages with the Holiday park, Dad was preparing to fly out and save me himself and Luke's parents had left voicemail after voicemail to check we were ok.

Having joked about the tsunami safe zone the day before, we suddenly realised how careful we really do need to be (and also how lucky we are have a family that worry about me so much!)

Orewa Holiday Park - Torbay

Today was not a good day. I spent the whole day with my left foot turned inwards to try and stop the muscles in my leg from hurting. Every time I bent or flexed my foot, my ankle would hurt and a shooting pain would kick upwards to my shin. It was the same pain people had described after leaving the forest so I knew it wasn't anything serious and tried to push on but the pain got more intense on the road.

We were pushing on and determined to get to long bay regional park but when a lady pulled over in her caravan just 10km from our destination and offered a lift, I sobbed to myself, looked at Luke and he gestured to the car- I was so thankful he did. When we got to the park my ankle had swollen so much you couldn't see the bone anymore. We wandered around looking for camp spots when we saw the dreaded sign for no camping!

As the lady who had dropped us off turned to drive away, she beeped and pointed at a lady dressed in all pink who was running straight for us. She'd noticed we were looking for a camp spot so came to tell us we couldn't stop here but she'd be happy for us to camp in her garden once she'd finished her run - we were so so grateful after feeling so helpless!

She, Mareana, drove us to her home and let us use the bathroom and set up tent- I spent the rest of the afternoon with my foot in the air hoping my ankle bone would return.

In the evening, Mareana, her husband Ryan and their daughter lit a camp fire. We chatted, roasted smores over the fire and ate fresh fruit until dark. I had expected 'free camping' to be more difficult as we approached Auckland but Mareana and Ryan's kindness just reminded me how New Zealand really is the kindest place we've ever been!!