The following days between Nikau Bay Camp and Ruakākā turned out spectacularly beautiful and challenging.
After we stopped for a quick resupply at the local store in Ngunguru, I contacted James again. We already arranged to stay at his place at Nikau Bay Camp, but we also needed his help to set over to the peninsula, as the camp is across Ngunguru River. Ten minutes later, James came over with his boat and shuttled us to his property that is nestled at the shores. He was already very precise with directions when we booked the boat shuttle and the tent site; now, after shuttling us and a bunch of other hikers over, he gave us very detailed and reasonable information on what awaits on trail in the upcoming days, and what we had to keep in mind when crossing Māori land (many kilometers of the track lead over privately owned land and only because of the generosity of the owners, hikers are allowed to pass through). Two river crossings and a longish crossing of an estuary lay ahead, and as everything was connected to the nearby ocean, we had to keep a close eye on the tidal times to cross all of it within a day. That also put us under pressure to quickly walk the road walk sections of the day. But everything worked out nicely: the first crossing was 300 m through the Horahora River, where the water reached up to our waists, the estuary of the Taihahuru River occasionally gave us wet knees, and the last crossing of a stream across Ocean Beach was thigh high. After that, a fantastic hour-long slog along one of just another spectacular beach awaited us before we set camp at Jaggers Camp on a private farm a bit inland from the beach.
While walking down the beach the following day, we had spectacular views of the surprisingly high mountain range between Bream Head and Busby Head. Along the ridge, Te Whara Track will lead us towards Urquharts Bay, where a flat road walk will bring us to Reotahi Reserve.
Te Whara Track was spectacular but challenging. It was hot and humid in the thick of the forest, and we sweated a bit, huffing and puffing uphill, occasionally with the help of many steps to avoid erosion of the track. The ridgeline was surprisingly rugged, with some rock outcrops. But the views over the ocean towards a few shattered islands were beautiful. After some kilometers, we started going downhill – with the help of over 1000 steps. When I arrived at the shoreline again after going down many steps, my legs shook, and I could barely walk straight again. After another 7 km of road walk, we rewarded ourselves with ice cream, burgers, and chips at a Whangarei Heads takeaway before reaching our little camp spot at Reotahi Reserve. The following day, at 8 am, Blair shuttles us over by boat to Ruakākā. A massive oil refinery is on the shores next to this town. Seeing such a huge industrial site in the middle of Northland’s pristine nature was pretty odd. From Ruakākā, I took a bus back to Auckland. Back in the city, I needed to take care of some work before returning to the trail soon. Oh, did I mention how spectacular Northland is?! 
