HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Paihia was a safe haven after many days of walking through the muddy forest. We remember hiking (hobbling) down from our last trek before the town + seeing the beautiful ocean, beaches + sailboats ahead. It gave us just enough motivation to push through. 

Once we got into town we were ready to explore + Devon was gathering all the tourist brochures he could find... After finally getting him to keep walking, we spent our first night eating pizza + staying at a backpackers hostel. It was a frat party. Music was on full volume until 2 AM + we listened to someone yell about what they would eat at McDonald's for about an hour as well... Not the greatest nights sleep.

The day after we needed a place to stay. The frat house wasn't going to do it for us especially if we were going to be paying $25 for it. One good thing about the hostel was that we got a discount on parasailing, which we had both never done before. It was amazing. We then sat by the beach + when dusk came we sort of gave up. We decided we'd camp on the beach once dark came. Just when we lost all hope, a lady, Karla, who was going on her nightly walk came up to us + asked us if we needed a place to camp. At first we were a bit nervous, or maybe more surprised. We hadn't had any interactions like this yet, but our guts said "this is okay." 

We followed Karla to her house, across the street from the beach + she explained that her family brings in woofers all the time. We could camp on her lawn as long as we did an hour of gardening each day. So the next morning we put on some rubber overalls + got to some weeding! A satisfying change from the constant pounding of our feet against the ground. After a couple hours we were free to roam with the peace of mind that we had a place to sleep. That night Karla even made us bolognese + we ate a hearty home cooked meal with her, her daughter Sarah + her friend Audrey.

Another fun thing we did was ferry across to Russell- the original capital of New Zealand and the location of the very first pub in the country. Devon got to skateboard too!!

Christmas was beautiful but different. People gathered on the beach for cookouts + swimming. We got a hotel room + tried to make a classic Christmas dinner with ham, mashed potatoes with gravy. It turned out to be pretty good! We did miss home though...

After Christmas we pushed on down the trail + for the next 4-5 days we realized how much of the north island after the initial 200 miles was going to be road walking.. we had been warned, but it seemed as though we would have 8 miles on either side of a 6 mile forest track + with our heavy packs it was bad for our feet.

After another day of roads, then shin deep in a river, then more roads, we made it to a holiday park in Whananaki. Marina's feet looked like raisins + were cracking on the soles of them. Not to mention she had about 2 blisters per toe. 

We struggled to find a place to camp. Once again, not willing to pay $30 for a 10x10 spot of grass we wandered the area only to return to the holiday park. "You can camp right here" a voice said, and a woman pointed to some grass by her family car + tent set up.

"Thank you" we quickly responded, eager to drop our things, + set up camp quickly. Marina put her feet up + they got wiped down with anti- septic cloths along with Neosporin just to make sure the bottoms didn't get infected. 

We were then greeted by the father of the family, Sean. "Would you fellas like a beer?" Of course we couldn't say no. He introduced himself as did we, then the rest of the family came over to say hello. Sean, Viv, their daughter Hailey, + Hailey's friend Brandon. They said hello then took a look at Marina's feet which was then followed with a gasp. Then they said something along the lines of "those could use some rest!"

A few beers later, we made new friends. We learned their son (who wasn't there), was a huge football fan, that their family was very into sailing (two things Devon could talk about for hours) + soon enough we were invited to their house in Auckland.

We felt so welcomed again by another lovely family. We felt so blessed + honestly couldn't believe how generous + friendly our new friends were.

-Marina + Devon