By Ruth

Distance: 27km

Waking up this morning at the hostel at Kerikeri was great. We had already stayed there the night before we began our trip, and this time felt a bit like coming home. They even gave us the same room! Throughout the uncertainties of the past couple weeks, the hostel in Kerikeri was always a warm light on the horizon to look forward to. When we walked out of there this morning it felt like only now had we truly begun our walk.

Speaking of walking out of there, we did it in the pouring rain. The forecast said to expect fairly heavy rain until about 11am, and then things would clear up and we’d have sun the rest of the day. We thought, “we’re tough enough to walk in the rain for 2 hours!” And naively set off.

The going was cold and wet. The rain came down in buckets. We were walking in an active logging forest, with clearcuts on both sides of the road. Which meant no shelter from the wind and pounding rain. It was misery, but I knew it would end soon. I would check my watch, each time counting down the minutes until 11, when it was promised to start clearing up.

11 came and went. The rain continued. 11:30. The rain intensified. 12. No end in sight. We were cold. We were hungry but there was nowhere to stop for a snack. We were tired but too cold to sit down and take a break. Eventually we huddled in the meager shelter of a small tree and miserably ate a granola bar.

The rain continued unabated until 1pm. Our 2 hours of walking in the rain had turned into 4 hours of trudging through a downpour. The worst part was not knowing when it would end. When the rain finally stopped, so did we. We took a long lunch break at a nice view point, and laid out all our wet clothing to dry in the sun.

As you can imagine, the day took a dramatic turn for the better once the sun came out. We walked the last couple hours in high spirits and arrived in the beach town of Paihia in time to have a coffee and enjoy the sunshine.

A bit of a rollercoaster of a day but at least it ended on a high note.