From James' place it is an 8km road section to the start of the Mackerel Forest track. Having slept wonderfully and had eggs from his chickens for breakfast, we were overwhelmed when James offered to cart our backpacks to the start of the forest track. We walked 8km in just under an hour and a half and felt brilliant.
James arrived with our packs and we proceeded through the forest (taking our shoes off for each of the three river crossings) before finding the road again the other side- at least we had dry feet for the neverending downhill of nothing but tarmac and a lack of hard shoulder. When I was just about ready to stop in my tracks and contemplate why on earth I was doing this, a couple pulled their car over to one side and offloaded fresh fruits, trail mixes and dehydrated pasta meals for us. I'm continually being amazed by the kindness of the people out here and as TA hikers we seem to have their upmost respect - it's difficult to follow the 'no sweets from strangers' rule when everyone is so nice!
The boost of fresh fruit and a quick stop at Tahi cafe for a nice hot cup of tea carried us through to the bnb. Having been drenched in a crazy downpour on the way, we were overwhelmed again by the locals kindness and hospitality. Ros and Hugh, the owners of the bnb, had hot tea, scones, biscuits and banana loaf on the table ready for us and made us feel as though we were back at home for the evening.
Ros cooked a beautiful meal for all ten of us squeezed around the dining table like on Christmas Day. We had chicken, sausages, fresh bean salad and sweet potatoes for main, ice cream, fresh fruit and pineapple chocolate for dessert and homemade carrot cake for after that!
With full tummies we all huddled in the lounge and watched an episode of 'Te Araroa; Tales from the Trail' - Ros herself walked the trail after giving Hugh a kidney. She wanted to prove it could be done and the donor could remain healthy and my god, she did just that!
After a lovely evening, we all retired to our rooms and settled into our sleeping bags on the floors of the BnB inside while a storm began outside.
The storm lasted all night and continued in the morning. While some pushed on, Luke, Renee, Kevin and I were enjoying the comforts of Ros and Hugh's just too much and booked in for an extra night. Hugh drove us into town for a resupply and Ros prepared a delicious roast with wine for us to enjoy on our return.
Luke spent most of the afternoon smashing macadamia nuts on the kitchen floor with a hammer while I split the shells open ready- all was going well and we'd almost done a whole box when Luke accidentally knocked his glass of wine over. We quickly cleared the glass from the kitchen floor and mopped up the wine but Luke then spent the next half an hour cleaning and washing everything in the kitchen in way of an apology- not that Ros/High would have minded that much anyway!
The morning after Ros made poached eggs on toast with fresh parsley from the garden - that along with her assistance across the estuary made for a fantastic start to our day to Whangarei heads.
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