Day 23 - Stillwater

More windy wet weather on the schedule today. While I usually don’t mind the wind it did change the day a bit. Normally the route takes me down the Puhoi River on a kayak, but the winds are too strong, around 40-50km/hr and we would be kayaking against the wind. Soo around the river we go. The next section is still an adventure thankfully. We have to do some shore walking on some more dramatic terrain. 

11am photo, eating chips at the Waiwera dairy waiting for the tides to go down.  

Lots of dodging waves and hopping over channels in this section. A few waves caught me and I was completely wet on the outside. Nice to know my rain gear holds up. 

After that chaos we walked a few beach sections. Plenty of kitesurfing was taking place with the high winds. 

Car caught by the tide. Oops

We are getting close to Auckland now and things are becoming increasingly urban, more people and more development. This of course means more road walking! There was a pretty sketchy road walk into Stillwater where we stayed the night. The town put a sign up urging TA’ers to hitchhike this part. I didn’t hitch in the end, but looking back I probably should have. 

We stayed at the Stillwater holdiay park in a hall long used by walkers of the TA. The room was filled with years of interesting TA graffiti. Now to rest for a big day tomorrow. River crossings and roads ahead.