Day 10 - A re-start from Kerikeri.

Our adventure of walking the length of NZ resumes after celebrating the New Year at home ( Karl at Whangamatā).

We also celebrated Brianna’s 21st birthday with a special family dinner in Hamilton.

A 3am wake-up with an Inter City bus departing from Hamilton at 4.20.

Fast forward 8 hours and we’re in Kerikeri once again.

Within 50 metres of walking with packs on we had a man pull up in a huge pink Cadillac asking if we were all good for accomodation in Kerikeri. Astounding to have such a generous offer so quickly.

Our destination of course - Paihia.

First things first though. Retrieve my trusty hiking stick from down at the Stone Store.

Low and behold, it was still propped up in a flax bush.

More road walking eventually turned into a forest walk - minus the forest. Most of it had been cut down for milling. Slash offcuts lay everywhere. The exposure to the sun here made you wish the trees were still growing.

The Bay of Islands came into site as we wound our way down into Waitangi. A beautiful site. Manicured golf course. The Treaty Grounds (closed now that it was after hours). The one lane bridge across to Waitangi settlement. A real sense of history and mana. Yes, the land here holds mana. You feel it. It makes you break into a waiata or chant verses from a haka you know.

Karl considered popping a manu off the bridge, however, we still had walking to do to reach the Peppertree backpackers in Paihia.

That evening we enjoyed a meal at the ‘Tipsy Oyster.’ The security guard got talking. He came from Te Kao in the far north. We explained our hikoi. Amazing how quickly you can make connections with people who are prepared to listen.