Blog Day 11: Waipu to Onehari

Miles Hadley

Thursday 23rd  June 2016
Day 11:  Waipu – Onehari

X km (approximately), X hours including a few stops and a 45 minute lunch break

From Waipu, I walked on Nova Scotia road until finding the turning for Uretiti beach. This beach is a fantastic place during the summer time. It is wide and expansive. During the summer time, if you think of bathing there do be aware that you may get pinched! Sometimes in the shallows of the water there are row after row of crabs. For some reason this beach attracts them. I remember swimming there and getting pinched once on the hand and another time on the foot! They have quite a nip to them! It’s a hilarious sight to see bathers at first wading in and then hopping around wondering quite literally what has bitten them!

As I walked up Uretiti, there was a beautiful rainbow behind me (See picture 1) and there were hardly any people. It was as if I had the whole place to myself and there is a nice feeling about this when the sun is on your face and all you share the beach with are just a few sea birds (See picture 2). I walked and walked until getting to Ruakaka where there was a friendly cafe that offered a very welcome lunch.

I then walked for a further few hours and ended up outside St Pauls Church Ruakaka (See picture 3). This was where my walking journey ended 
but I was kindly picked up by some kind friends of the Vaughan Park centre who drove me to Marsden point and then one tree point where they put me up for the night.