31 October 2026

Russell to The Farm

~14.7 mi/23.8km 

It’s October 31st! Back home, the leaves are changing, the days are getting shorter, and pumpkins are being prepared for Halloween night. Here, it’s springtime. Flowers blooming, lambs and calves in the fields, tropical-feeling forests bright green. I’ve been away from home for Halloween before, but never in the Southern Hemisphere. It feels odd. I’m not exactly homesick, but I’m not not homesick either. 

But I don’t dwell on that feeling for too long once I see everyone in their costumes, getting ready for the day. Hannah and Thijs are pirates. Thijs even has a skeleton garland hanging from the back of his pack. Sibylle has a pink tutu, pink wig, and pink leggings. Julia has pink disco glasses and a lei, Jack has a Spiderman mask, Sam has devil horns, and of course Izzy has the green wig and alien glasses. And there’s me with my witch hat with orange hair and orange tutu, and Mash with his creepy farmer look: scary mask under his big straw hat, and a pitchfork that replaces one of his trekking poles for the day. 

The vibe is giddy and excited. It wasn’t hard to find costumes, and every supermarket had a small Halloween candy section, but it still doesn’t seem like Halloween is actually much of a thing here. So everyone who sees us seems to struggle to put it together. “What are you celebrating?” one woman asks at the coffee shop in the morning. We explain that it’s Halloween, and that we’re hiking Te Araroa. Neither explanation appears to have clicked completely, though she seems delighted with our colorful dress. People smile. We smile back. 

We are quite a sight to see, after all. For a while we’re gathered around a table at the appropriately seasonally named Hell Hole Coffee, then, before the group dissipates for the day, we get photos. Julia is heading to a closer campsite than the rest of us today, and it seems inevitable that in the coming weeks, the group will split up. There are just too many of us, with too many different paces and ideas, and it’s too early on in the trail to make plans around a tramily. But none of that matters, not yet. Today we’re all together in costume celebrating the best holiday of the American (and Canadian) year. 

We walk out of town together, giggling and sort-of dancing to “Thriller.” Mash and I jump into the Four Square for treats for the day and lose the others, then catch back up to them a little while later. It’s mostly road all day, but there’s a section of beautiful boardwalk over a mangrove estuary followed by a little path in the woods. We pass a family with a young child who is staring at us. When we walk by, the mother asks the girl, “Which one do you reckon is the winner?” Later we discuss who we think she picked, but we never settle on an answer.

There’s a turn onto a long, twisty road walk, and at the junction, we meet a TA trail ambassador named William who is giving trail advice and conducting a survey on our Te Araroa experience so far. We’re happy to answer questions, but in the meantime we lose Hannah and Joel, who decide to hitch because the road is marked as a “high risk route.” We haven’t seen Izzy, Thijs, or Sibylle in a while by this point, either, so we assume they’re ahead as well.

Once we finish chatting with William, we carry on down the road. We decide not to hitch because the hitching thing is a little puzzling to us. The road walks really suck sometimes, but fact is, that’s what the trail is right now. As hikers used to pursuing a continuous footpath, the idea of skipping sections just because they’re uncomfortable doesn’t sit right. Obviously, we skipped that one road section right after Kaitaia because it was marked dangerous and I was hurting after the beach, but to me it feels like a slippery slope if you start skipping every road walk. So all that is to say: today, we walk.

It’s not unpleasant, actually, as far as road walks go. I start an audiobook I’ve wanted to listen to for a while now, Theo of Golden. The time passes pleasantly as I go on, crossing and recrossing the road to avoid blind corners and admiring the estuary on the straightaways. Bear in mind that I’m still wearing my hat and tutu at this point. Every once in a while a car will honk at me, or the occupants will wave. Once someone leans out the window and calls, “Happy Halloween!”

Mash stops in a shady layby and we decide to have first lunch, which is snacks from town. While we’re standing there, Thijs walks around the corner, followed by Izzy and Sibylle. Turns out they took a wrong turn and had to backtrack, so they were behind us all this time, not far ahead like we assumed. 

We continue down the road. I resume my book. Soon enough we arrive at our right turn onto a gravel road. There’s a beautiful, brand-new-looking bench at the junction. Obviously, we make use of it. Then it’s road, road, road all the way to the farm. We stop for real lunch in another good layby. While we’re sitting there, a movement in the trees catches my eye. 

“Those look like pigeons,” Mash says.

“No, those are way too big to be pigeons,” I scoff. I consult the Merlin app for birds that might be in the area. New Zealand Pigeon, or kererū, is in fact the result. Mash is miffed that I didn’t think he knew what he was talking about, but in my defense, these things are huge. Like pigeons on steroids. They’re also so beautiful, with a sort of grayish green iridescent sheen. 

I have no memories of the road walk for the rest of the day. It’s gravel road through the forest. Then the gravel road turns into sealed road and leads us to The Farm, our destination for the night. The mysteriously nondescript name means that I did not have a mental image of the place, and it turns out to be beautiful. There’s a long building with a flat lawn, which is where our friends have set up their tents already. Inside, there’s a library with three big walls of books, comfy old sagging furniture, and a black and white cat in one corner of the sofa. The kitchen is large, with the range in the wooden center island, and there’s a sitting area with mismatched furniture and a woodstove. There’s also a giant wooden table with two long benches. Outside there are picnic tables on the porch. It’s all so unbelievably comfy. The leaves on the tree just outside the kitchen building aren’t turning orange, and it doesn’t smell anything like fall at home, but once twilight begins, if I squint my eyes and suspend my disbelief, I could almost say that this night is autumnal.

We cook our dinners and sit together at the table to eat. Then, yet again, because there is a kettle and a water supply, I drink endless cups of peppermint tea while I write. And of course, as ever on the TA, we discuss our plans and logistics for the next few days. Hannah and Izzy are taking a side quest to go diving from Tutukaka, which means their hiking schedule will be off from ours. But the general consensus is that tomorrow we’re all headed to Whananaki Holiday Park. It will be a long day, but it makes the next day so much more chill. 

Night descends. People go to their tents. Inside the building there’s a warm glow. I write until my eyes start to close, say good night to Sam, who is holding the cat, then crawl into the tent. Mash and I watch another episode of Over the Garden Wall. Drifting off to sleep, I imagine the gentle wind beckoning through the leaves as autumn colors fall. This time of year, no matter where I am, my heart will always be in the Appalachian foothills forests of my home. But I’m happy to be here, too, in lovely Aotearoa. It was a good Halloween. A sweet one. Sweet as.