Te Araroa

I'll be starting the track on the 1st Nov-ish. So we may cross pathes. However I'm leaving Auckland for Paihai on the 21st.

p.s a plug for my blog: teararoaonveg.wordpress.com ... Word of advice: don't think you can land in Auckland and just set off. This track requires some planning and logistics.

I dont think there is a regular bus going up all the way to Cape Reinga. All I've found are tour busses for daytrips. The farthest north you get with northliner is Kaitaia. Of course you can try to get a ride from some other travellers :)

The advice I've been given is to hitch. If you're staying in a hostel en route, you will probably meet somebody heading that way anyway.

We stayed the night in Ahipara at the backpackers and found it easy with their help to schedule a 1-way dropoff from there to the start of the coastal track at Kapowairua the next morning. It was one of the 90-Mile Beach bus drivers who drove us up there. He went up 90-Mile Beach to Te Paki, then inland to Kapowairua. Can't remember the price, but it was reasonable. A few days later (as it turned out) he picked us up for free on his big tourbus & took us back down 90-Mile Beach back to Ahipara. The Ahipara backpackers is great too, by the way. We drove a rental from Auckland to Ahipara. There was very little traffic after Whangarei, so I'm not sure I'd want to depend on hitching...

Thanks for the advice re the traffic, trtlrock.

Met and know a few people who've done it. I'm sure it will be an awesome experience for you.