Day 6-10: Saddle Road Camp Ground to the Farm. 137km - 281.5 - 🥾Te Araroa Trail - The North Island 🇳🇿

Tough Girl
Apr 10, 2024
3 min read

Day 6/50 🥾Te Araroa Trail - The North Island 🇳🇿

📍Supported by ZOLEO @zoleolifeeurope #ChallengeWithZoleo

ℹ️Stats: Date: Monday 6th November

Weather: hot & sunny ☀️ but I was in the woods so quite cool

From: Saddle Road Campground

Start time: 7.20am

To: small camping area approximately halfway down Makene Rd.

End time: 4.50pm

Accommodation: camped 🏕️

Terrain: mud, mud, mud with roots and then more mud

🥾Km: 12.9

🦶Steps: 16,606

Total Km: 154.3/1600 9.6% ✅

💰Costs: $0

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 2/10 - type 2 fun!

Fatigue: 3/10

Ease of terrain: 10/10 - one of the hardest sections/walk I’ve done this year!! No words.

Highlights: reaching the campsite, washing my feet & trainers in the stream. Lying down in the sunshine. Mentally preparing for the next day!

Challenges: The mud was brutal and it hadn’t been raining for the last few days. I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Went over in my left ankle at the very start. It was such a hard day. An unbelievable stretch. I knew it was going to be tough - but OMG - WTF! 😂

Day 7/50 🥾Te Araroa Trail - The North Island 🇳🇿

📍Supported by ZOLEO @zoleolifeeurope #ChallengeWithZoleo

ℹ️Stats: Date: Tuesday 7th November

Weather: sunny ☀️ with rain showers on & off all day

From: campground halfway down Makene Rd

Start time: 7.35am

To: Puketi Recreational Camp Ground.

End time: 5pm

Accommodation: camped 🏕️

Terrain: gravel roads

🥾Km: 34.4

🦶Steps: 44,093

Hitch - 1️⃣ 9km

Total Km: 197.5/1600 12% ✅

💰Costs: $46 breakfast (egg & bacon in lettuce), hot chocolate & resupply (crisps, chocolate, dried mango, dried melon)

$8 camping 🏕️

$44 top up for SIM card

Total 🟰 $98

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 3/10 road walking is so tough

Fatigue: 2/10 - still feel really strong and doing good distances

Ease of terrain: 3/10 - gravel roads

Highlights: chatting with fellow hikers. Really great to hear more about their experiences and why they were doing the trail. Lots of Brits 🇬🇧 out here!

Challenges: my left ankle is still giving me trouble. I’ve put a tube grib on to give it more support. It’s quite badly bruised and swollen.

Day 8/50 🥾Te Araroa Trail - The North Island 🇳🇿

📍Supported by ZOLEO @zoleolifeeurope #ChallengeWithZoleo

ℹ️Stats: Date: Tuesday 8th November

Weather: hot & sunny ☀️

From: Puketi Recreational Camp Ground

Start time: 7.15am

To: Hone Keke Lodge

End time: 4.40pm (after stopping for resupply)

Accommodation: bed 🛌

Terrain: road, farm land, gravel paths

🥾Km: 27.5

🦶Steps: 35,211

Total Km: 222/1600 13.8% ✅

💰Costs: $25 accommodation

$140 resupply (this included 2 pieces of chicken $10, bottle of wine $10 - I honestly don’t know how the rest added up to $120 - food is expensive)

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 8/10 perfect day of walking. Good weather, nice views, waterfalls, a few rest stops.

Fatigue: 4/10

Ease of terrain: 3/10 nothing particularly difficult today

Highlights: cooked up a storm (chicken, bacon, onion, white sauce with rice) had some New Zealand 🇳🇿 wine 🍷 while cooking. It was delightful 🥳

Challenges: I thought I was going to have to walk through fields of cows and bulls. I was not looking forward to it. However, going through the farm, we were separated from the animals and were on the other side of the fence. So it was all good.

Day 9/50 🥾Te Araroa Trail - The North Island 🇳🇿

📍Supported by ZOLEO @zoleolifeeurope #ChallengeWithZoleo

ℹ️Stats: Date: Thursday 9th November

Weather: sunny - but a little cooler

From: KeriKeri

Start time: 10am

To: Russell, Top 10 Holiday Park

End time: 6pm

Accommodation: camped 🏕️

Terrain: gravel roads

🥾Km: 26

🦶Steps: 33,188

Total Km: 244/1600 = 15% done

💰Costs: $8 ferry at 5.10pm

$40 camping

Total 🟰 $48

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 6/10

Fatigue: 5/10 felt super tired in the afternoon

Ease of terrain: 3/10

Highlights: walking the final section of the Kerikeri river track. Which was stunning - beautiful waterfall! Meeting Danny (🇬🇧) & Peter (🇺🇸), taking the ferry ⛴️ over to Russell which is a gorgeous town!

Challenges: my pack did weight heavy - after doing a big resupply!