Walking our own walk

There is a saying among long-distance trekkers: 'hike your own hike'. Largely, it means making the choices that work for you and not following someone else's agenda. So that's what we have been doing.
Today's effort was to follow the advice of a local man at Sandy Bay and walk the coast road, not the inland roads that are the official TA route.
As we were putting on our packs to leave the rubbish free camping area at Sandy Bay, a local man wandered up off the beach and asked where we were headed.
'Ngunguru,' we replied, 'we are walking the TA'.
'Well, I wouldn't go that inland route,' he said. 'The coast road is about the same distance but much prettier'
We figure that locals know the local area and usually give good local advice, so 'OK,' we said and set off on the coast road.
We walked alongside beaches, over hills, through little towns we've heard of but never visited (Matapouri and Tutukaka) stopped at shops for coffee and lunch and even got offered a ride (that we accepted) by a lady who turned out to have written the book about Julia Eichardt from Queenstown. (Of Eichardt's Hotel for those who know it).
And to finish the day, we got a little dinghy ride across Ngunguru estuary to a beautiful private camping area where we are staying in a little hut.
The other TA hikers were a bit jealous because the inland route was largely uninteresting road walking, 5km longer and more hilly. However, the coast route would be too dangerous during the peak season as there's not much room, so we understand why it's not the official TA route. We were lucky that it's a quiet time of year.Læs mere