From Puhoi a group of nine of us rented kayaks and paddled down the river to the coast. It wasn’t a long kayak, it only took about an hour and a half. The views were mixed, but the good ones were really good, some of rolling hills and some of the highway, the alternative is to walk along the highway.
The next section is a coastal walk in low tide or alternatively you can walk over a large hill. Some of us took their chances with the coastal walk, I chose the hill. The walk then went along the coast over more rocky terrain. We had to either take off shoes off or get them wet at a couple points, but rock hopping was a nice change from beach walking even if it is a bit slower.
Grabbed sushi in Orewa for lunch, the fun of being close to Auckland.
The last section was a terrible section of winding roads, lots of traffic, little or no shoulder, honestly just dangerous. I wish I would have skipped it, maybe just have grabbed a bus from Silverdale straight into Auckland. I didn’t though, instead I made it to Stillwater. 548 km, I think it was just 24 of hiking, 8 of kayaking.
