Day 19. Ngunguru - Tidesong

I was awake by 6:00 am to take Hilton up on his offer to drive me to the Mackerel track start. It was about 8km of road walking that I didn't mind skipping.

The sun coated colours of orange and yellow over the shadowed hills, and by 7:30am the morning had come to life. Frost lingered on the shallow grass beneath my knees shading the forest floor in a hue of blue. Birds began to sing as I found my morning rhythm of step, and it wasn't too long before I approached my first stream crossing. The option to take my boots off was available, but instead I decided to bolder hop over the stream. With the help of my walking stick for balance I had crossed the stream with no cold wetness done. I continued walking and soon came to another stream crossing that was much deeper. I was given no choice but to take off my boots and walk on through. Painfully cold, but much better than wet boots.

At the finish of the mackerel track I approached the next stretch of my day. A 4 hour road walk. As I continued on the road I was surprised to find no cars pass me for sometimes up to an hour. There isn't enough room on the shoulder of the road to walk comfortably, so I often find myself walking towards oncoming traffic unless I'm coming around a bend. I don't keep my headphones in while road walking for obvious reasons, but after hours of a long stretch of road I begin to focus on my tired legs and feet more than anything. The road walk did have some increidbly scenic views of mangrove swamps.

eventually I walked into Pataua. A small town that was full of energy. As I crossed a foot bridge I came across a fisherman scaling a fish and some kids swimming in the teal water below. The sun was bright and the day was hot.

I called Tidesong B&B and Roselyn answered the phone. When I told her I was a TA walker she was surprised and asked if I wanted to be picked up. I declined the pickup and to my regret began to climb the next 4 km of really windy, hilly road before arriving.

Tidesongs location is positioned on the shore of the Taiharuru river with a beautiful view of Kauri mountain and the hills beyond. Roselyn welcomed me in for tea and bread with her granddaughter June, and it wasn't long before I discovered that Roselyn had walked Te Araora last year! She asked me about sections in particular and how challenging I found them. We took a walk through her amazing garden and across the boardwalk mangroves. With the help of June we fed some ducks and picked up the mail.

A few hours later Hue - Roselyn's husband - arrived. We had a toasty fire and they treated me with amazing kindness. Roselyn made a big meal of mashed potatoes, gravy, beef, with fresh vegetables from her garden. For desert we had apple dumplings with ice cream. I have found heaven.

We spent the rest of the evening watching a TA slideshow of walker "freebird" (a popular Hawaiian hiker who did TA a few years back). Though I still have a long way to go this walk has already become a precious memory.

My feet have been struggling with all the road walking over the past 5 days and I decided to take a rest day here at Tidesong. A place not only where my body can relax, but also my mind.