After breakfast Sharron dropped us off again in Helena Bay and we had 12km of road walking ahead of us. Rose introduced me to the game of ”imaginary hide and seek” which made the time pass by quickly. Never did 12km of road walking that easily. My ankle unfortunately hurt again today. I have the feeling that monotonous road walking is the worst for it.
We again entered a beautiful bush on a good trail which at one point of time ended in a river.


Before we went into the river we came across the last hut on the TA. Not a real hut as we had them on the South Island, rather a shelter but still time to say good bye to the huts…


So we just walked in the river for about 5km. It was beautiful. We really enjoyed it and were happy we didn’t have to bush bash.


It’s also nice to have a photographer now. So there will be other than selfies from now on.


When we got to Waikare bay we just ran into the school bus which dropped of the kids. We had planned to stay in the bay and catch a ride to Russel tomorrow to take the ferry across. But since the bus was going today we decided to grab the opportunity. It gave me the chance to already start sorting out my phone issue today. The phone didn’t turn on anymore by the way…
We got dropped off in Kawakawa. They have Hundertwasser toilets here. Isn’t that amazing???


I hitchhiked to Whangarei. My plan was to go to the store that repairs iPhones in the morning. So there was not much I could do today. I went to a restaurant called Amici for dinner. The owner, Lily, has German parents and since it was a quite night we started chatting. What an amazing young woman. After school she travelled for a while and took over one of the best restaurants when she was 19! Running it successfully by herself.
Since I didn’t have a working phone I was quite restrained in finding a place to stay or to contact anyone. At 11pm most hotels where closed and we didn’t find a place for me to stay. So Lily offered me to stay in the restaurant. Can you imagine?
So I got my air mattress out and slept in the restaurant on the floor. My first night in a restaurant. The biggest room I have slept in so far and definitely the most unique one!


Can you imagine this happening anywhere else in the world? What a trust. Thank you for everything, Lily!!!