28 October 2026
Puketī Hut to Kerikeri
15 mi/24.3 km
As far as I can tell, I’m the first one up. I fell asleep before 9, which makes this 5:30 wake up a nice thick 9 hours of sleep. Not that I was asleep the entire time, because I’m never that lucky backpacking, but still, I feel significantly more rested than I have this whole trip so far. I wait to hear more stirrings before I hop up, get my still wet clothes and put them on (cringe), then set the kettle boiling for coffee. Today is Kerikeri. I want to get to town as soon as possible. Maximum Possible Town Time. MPTT.
After a little while, everyone else is up too. We sit around the table discussing plans. Originally I was going to hitch with Izzy to Kerikeri, but it sounds like both she and Hannah are feeling better and are going to walk at least the first 7K of the day. I don’t want to jinx it, but I feel better too. The leg pain is still there, but it isn’t creaking and popping like it was at the end of yesterday, and besides, my left leg is more sore now from all the overcompensating it was doing on the stairs. Today is mostly farm track and road walk, with no significant uphill or downhill. I think I want to try walking.
Pay attention because this will probably never happen again: I’m ready to go before everyone else. I say I’m heading out, we agree we’ll see each other later, and then I’m walking out of the campsite and down the road in the morning sunlight. It’s quiet and cool, and the birds are singing, and I feel happy again. I feel in love with the world and hiking and the morning! That’s right. I don’t hate thru hiking. I was just in pain. There I go again, mistaking temporary misery for a permanent state.
Ben catches up and we finish the road and start the farm track. I didn’t expect much from this part of the day, but it is actually very beautiful and very well maintained. The hills are softly rolling and the ground is soft. Farms transition to forested sections next to creeks. There are mossy carpet paths and I feel very strongly as though I am in the Shire. It’s giving Lord of the Rings really hard today. How beautiful, the world after a day of rain. How beautiful NOT being in pain is.
But then there’s a three-mile road walk, and by the end of that, I am, tragically, in pain again. It’s not as bad as the last few days but it is still there. Creaking and yelling. Getting back onto the farm track helps, but I still have to take all the rest of my drugs. I’m crawling to Kerikeri on two ibuprofen, five aspirin, and a dream. I’ve never gone through this much pain medicine this early in a hike. It is… concerning. Maybe I actually am too old for this. Maybe I can’t just hop into a thru hike anymore. Maybe I should have hit the gym hard for a few months before this one. Maybe, maybe.
At the end of the hike, the trail enters the Kerikeri River Walk. This is a pretty section. There’s a swing hanging from an enormous tree, and obviously I try it out. There’s Rainbow Falls, an enormous waterfall tumbling into the river below. The forest around the falls is a kiwi zone, apparently. Ben and I are super quiet trying to see one, even though they’re essentially nocturnal and it’s rare to see one during the day. We aren’t successful, but it’s a long trail. I believe.
At the end of the river walk we have to go uphill to the road and then uphill on the road into town and I am a crawling, struggling blob by the end of it, but I do ultimately make it into town. We check into our motel, which feels more like a small apartment and has a horrifying painting of ghost eyes on the wall facing the door, and I plonk my bag on the ground, feeling the sweet relief of not having the weight on me anymore. After settling in, we head to the laundromat, then to a burger place for dinner, and finally to the supermarket next to our place for food and drinks for the next few days.
By the time the day’s over, my knee has stopped screaming. Will it recover with just one day off? I sure hope so. All I know is that I’m happy I don’t have to move at all tomorrow.
