Day 46: Mangawhai Road/4WD Track to Tamaranui Holiday Park (1021-1052)

Saturday, January 14

We were all pretty excited to get to Tamaranui to eat a meal, so we were all packed up and ready to start walking around 6:30.

I really like road walking with Julia, Puff Puff and Kristen. They definitely walk faster than me, but if I want to keep up with them to chat, I just make myself slowly jog to keep up with them whenever I fall about 10 meters behind.

Julia let us take a quick break when we made it halfway to Tamaranui, a little after 9 am. We played some games we could play while walking and soon after our quick halfway break we made it to Sam's Shop.

Sam is a 12 year old that lives on the trail. He and his dad built a little shelter for TA walkers that's usually stocked with hard candies, water and fruit. It has a map and a sign-in book so people can say where they're from. We saw Jeff, Everett, Mike and Dave's names in the book. Sam sells eggs and uses the money to buy candy and other snacks for TA walkers. It was so nice!!

It's summer vacation here, so Sam was home. He took a break from dirt biking to talk with us and his dad came out and cut up watermelon for us. It was delicious!

Before we knew it we were in Tamaranui. It was a little before 1 pm and we had decided to eat Thai food. On our way there we saw Erinn and Trevor sitting in a park. They had taken the entire Timber Trail and had just gotten to town too. We sat at the Thai restaurant for awhile getting caught up on our phones and found out that Dave and Mike were going to join us for our canoe trip too. It's going to be so much fun!

After eating a nice Thai meal we promptly went to McDonalds to eat another meal and use the wifi. As we were just thinking about leaving, Dave and Mike showed up. They were headed to the supermarket to resupply before leaving town, so we went with them to get supplies to make guacamole and tacos for dinner. The Tamaranui Holiday Park is 4 kilometers out of town, but they really try to help TA walkers get to and from town to their facility if they can. They were picking up Dave and Mike, so Kristen and I decided we would take a ride there and take all our groceries. Julia and Puff Puff walked there with their packs and showed up just as we were finished setting up our tents and talking with Remi, Dave and Mike. I hadn't seen Remi since Paihia and learned he was joining our canoe trip as well.

Dave and Mike left and Kristen and I started making guacamole while Julia and Puff Puff set up their tents. We had a great dinner and were ready for bed around 10.

Road walking like pros. Julia, Puff Puff and Kristen

Kristen, Puff Puff and Julia check out Sam's Shop

Us being excited that Mike and Dave are joining our canoe trip.

A nice lady at the holiday park took a photo of us with our taco dinner.