From Ahipara to Kerikeri through the rainforests of Herekino Forest, Ratea Forest and Puketi Forest:
- Days 4-8
- Kilometres this section: 121 km
- Total: 221 km
- Slipping into muddy shoes in the morning is no fun!
After a brief stop to restock our supplies we decided – against the wishes of our feet – to skip a rest day and head straight into the rainforest section. That one is rather feared among us walkers, everybody tells you it is an absolute mud disaster – with a great deal of up and down on top. The official timings say it all, really:
- Herekino Forest Track: 14 km in 8h 45m
- Ratea Forest Track: 12 km in 8h
- Puketi Forest Track: 16 km in 8h
Yes, that is exactly how it went.
Herekino Forest was genuinely good fun, though! At the beginning we optimistically tried to get our shoes and feet through the forest “dry”. But the mud got us in the end…
Since it was clear we would no longer make it out of the forest before sunset, we pitched the tent at the next halfway suitable spot.
Just as well – because the next morning the mud party really got going. Jan slipped over countless times, went down every time, and was rather less of a fan of the track afterwards (alright, I did find it a little funny…). But then we had made it!
The route then led through wonderfully idyllic farmland. This is the life!
Ratea Forest was one long mud battle from the very first moment! That day we walked only the first laborious hour to the first summit, then pitched the tent at one of the few suitable spots. Sadly we ended up on a slight slope. It does not make for particularly good sleeping, and slipping into mud-caked shoes in the morning is no consolation either…
The next day it took us seven hours to fight our way through the rest of the forest. The path looked as though somebody had walked through with a scythe ten years ago, leaving the poor walkers to battle the undergrowth ever since – plus the mud… Jan will probably be donating a chainsaw to the Te Araroa Trust. No, in all honesty: the route was strenuous, but wonderfully unspoilt, and I am very grateful that no “proper” path was ever built!
Coming out of the forest, we had the coffee break of our lives!
In the third rainforest – Puketi Forest – it was riverbed walking! So beautifully cooling for our exhausted feet!
After that came a lovely forest path, strenuous again, but mud-free.
And on the last day of this long section, the next highlight straight away: the route crossed green farmland past hundreds of sheep.
Later a Kiwi couple living at the roadside invited us in for a glass of lemonade, and Jan seized the opportunity to cheat the final three kilometres, getting himself driven to the finish in a Jaguar. In exchange he missed the Rainbow Falls…
Here in Kerikeri we are now sharing a small cabin with five other walkers and taking our first rest day.
