• Te Araroa Day 32
• Stillwater to Takapuna – 26.3 km in 7 hours
• My saviors today: Favsta & Shiresh

After a really comfortable sleep, and hearty breakfast I set off from Mary’s house just after 11am – knowing that low tide was at 13:47. A friendly local stopped to chat about my journey so far, as I headed past the Stillwater Community Centre and onto the Okura Bush Walkway track to Dacre Cottage. Mary had told me about the Friends of Okura Bush group’s conservation efforts that she’d been involved with, and their battle with the new subdivision which has created silt that runs off into the Karepiro Bay Marine Reserve. Even just a small amount of silt has a substantial effect on the fragile sea life. I looked up at the new houses, knowing that people need places to live but feeling sad at the cost to the natural environment.

As I approached Dacre Cottage I could see two figures in the distance. I initially thought they might be Te Araroa walkers heading north, but then made out their kayaks they were dragging. We had lunch together at the cottage, and I learned they’d got the tides mixed up. Shirish was a teacher at an Auckland high school and also had done quite a bit of tramping, so it was an enjoyable chat. He and Favsta were both curious about my journey, and I explained about the Okura River crossing and where the trail went from here. The tide was going out, and it looked quite shallow so I was still feeling like it was very doable.

I headed off to check it out while they were still in the area. After a mid-shin deep section, I came across the deep part. ‘4th white marker pole’ I thought – but didn’t remember which direction you were supposed to count from. The wind was blowing strongly up the river, and in hindsight I should have been closer to the sea but at the time that seemed counterintuitive. One test entry without the pack had me up to my chest with each step getting deeper.

At that point Shirish yelled out to see how it was looking. I gratefully hurried over and explained it wasn’t looking flash. He immediately offered to help and I was incredibly relieved. The channel would also be good for them to paddle up. They lashed my pack onto the front of Shirish’s kayak and he did an amazing job of paddling and balancing across in the strong wind. I had a final go at walking across after him, but got to my armpits to no avail. Favsta said I should jump on the back and she’d take me across. With a few wobbles, we safely made it across!!!

Shirish even got some excellent Gopro footage! These guys had really helped me out, and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have met more really kind people, just at the right moment. (FYI the unofficial Te Araroa app with comments varies greatly here – one person writes ‘5 of our group of 8 had to swim across’, another says ‘I’m 6 foot 1 and water was at my belly button’, while someone else short had only hip deep water. Zac we met in Ngunguru was up to his neck but thought he’d mistaken the markers)

I found the start of the next trail and sat down between 2 mountain bikers and 2 day walkers. We were just a few metres apart but I laughed to myself as neither group returned a hello, or batted an eyelid at my wet-up-to-my-chest clothes as I put my shoes and socks on and collected myself. Despite willing the sun to dry me out quickly, it had clouded over and the strong breeze wasn’t particularly warm. Was it a good idea to walk on in salty wet shorts? Not really…. the merino top did seem to dry without trouble but the shorts needed a pat down with my towel a few kilometres on and were a touch uncomfortable.

Anyway, I was spurred on by having got over the last real hurdle into Auckland and sped round the bays to meet my Mum’s relative who was going to pick me up. It wasn’t particularly nice weather, but hot sun would have made it much harder work. Being a Sunday afternoon, there were lots of people out and about walking, a few swimming, and kite surfing.

Near Takapuna a woman with a dog stopped me to say “I saw you in Torbay this morning, have you walked all this way?!” Yes, and some..😅

It was sooo nice to finally arrive in Takapuna and meet Mum’s cousin Ailie with a big hug! We had a lovely catch up, omelettes for dinner and I opened my parcel from Mum to find special Easter treats!