Day 20 & 21: Magical Mangawhai and Pakiri Beach

Day 20. What I thought would be a big day walking over Bream Tail into Mangawhai was actually a really nice meander...

... With some special scenery and quirks

And what I consider to be the best stile ever built. Wonder at its magnificence!

But all too soon I was at Mangawhai Heads, which has some pretty cool beach architecture.

After an average lunch and a nice chat with a local cowcockey, I headed to A camping ground to the South of Mangawhai.

An was it magical? Clearly. It even has an official sign to prove it.

After setting up my tarp to sleep on the ground (I know! Just nothing to hang from unless I used the kid's playground), I went to the Smashed Pipi, the local pub. After a short while I was introduced to many of the locals who frequent the pub- and what was to be an early night blew out. Magic! After quite a few

Bourbons and hearing about local politics (apparently there is a bit of a stink about a sewerage project cost overrun), and meeting the local fire chief who got involved in the original setup of SHINE, the charity I am raising funds for (small world, huh! Macca says hi, Jane!), Macca the fire chief ran me back to the campground and I fell asleep to the sound of rain on my tarp.

Day 21. I woke up to a beautifully still morning, unlike my head, which was throbbing from dehydration and a mild hangover.

I hung around the campground this morning to watch the America's Cup racing, before heading off as the weather freshened. More beach walking. Yippee.

I found some interesting goings on though! This is a couple of blokes putting out a 'long line' on an electric contiki. Hope they caught something!

I also found the local make out place, wittily named the 'love shack'. Imagine being told you were conceived here!

I got in to Pakiri Beach campground at 4 pm, and was a little tempted to keep going into the hills, but a storm looked to be building there so I chose instead to do some laundry and other chores in preparation for my walk into Auckland next week.

And that, my friends, is the end of Week 3 on the trail! I'm looking forward to meeting the team from SHINE this coming week on Thursday, and Auckland-based family. Bring it on!