Day 6: Kiripaka to Waipu Cove

Start: Kiripaka (338km)

Finish: Waipu Cove (408km)

Distance for the day: (70km)

Cumulative distance: (408km)

Cumulative moving time: 61hrs 15mins

Today I ran/ paddled 82km, but because of the inland route diversion I described yesterday, my ‘mapped’ distance for the day was only 70km. To be honest I’m pleased with both! Today was a great day for me – I felt good, I ran strong, and covered good ground on a multitude of different surfaces – road, forest tracks, beach and gravel roads. Thinking about why I ran better today; my fuelling over the course of the day is improving, and the cooler temperatures with occasional misty rain definitely also helped. A real tell tale sign is how I feel during the final ‘session’ of the day - perhaps the last 10km or so - which last night was a death march, and tonight was a pleasure.

First paddle of the day.

Shouldering the kayaks up to the road from the get out point.

About to cross Whangarei Harbour

Footprints in the sand. Lovely beach running today.

Prepping the first paddle.

Food-wise (my favourite subject for the next 6 more weeks), James will give you the detail tomorrow, but what we’re finding is that real, hot and calorie-dense food is best. Butter, eggs, cheese, bacon, bread – oh yes. It’s very different to my normal diet but it’s definitely working. I’ve realised that for a super long multi-day effort like this, there’s only so far you can go on the usual runner’s fuel of jelly babies, sandwiches, snack bars etc etc. Bacon and eggs on toast for breakfast and cheese on toast for lunch worked a treat :o)

From today's shopping trip. A basket full of runner's rocket fuel...

There were two short paddles today, across the Taiharuru and Whangarei River estuaries. Both were far more comfortable than the longer one a few days ago, basically because we had a tail wind and better tide conditions. It’s a real logistical challenge dealing with the crossings. Mark accompanies me, but there then needs to be a shuttle to reclaim kayaks and the drop off vehicle, so it makes for a pretty full on day for my support guys. What I have realised is that I am generally just leaving a mess and a headache for my guys to deal with, trailing in my wake. It’s not all that fair, but makes for a super slick team effort. There are a few more crossings coming as we work our way down to Auckland, but thankfully we then return the kayaks and the second vehicle to become a lot more streamlined for the inland section down to the south coast.

On Thursday I’ll be heading through the centre of Auckland which will be the first significant milestone on my journey, and I’m particularly looking forward to paddling across the harbour into the centre of the CBD. We roll on….