On the 11th day of a Te Araroa thru-hike, a British walker covering the 19.5km stretch from Kerikeri's historic Stone Store to Waitangi Holiday Park found out the hard way that Northland's cafe opening hours are not to be relied on. Three separate coffee stops — a wooden sign promising weekend trade, a mountain bike park kiosk, and the visitor cafe at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds — all turned out to be shut on a Monday. Lunch was a bench instead.
The route itself is typical early-Te Araroa stuff: a lift from a local host back to the Stone Store at 8.30am, a riverside path sneaking behind houses, then road walking where the pavement abruptly ends, as it tends to in New Zealand. From there it's gravel forestry roads through pine plantations — dull underfoot but quiet, with only two cars passing despite the logging-truck warnings. The day ends at the Treaty Grounds, where the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, was signed in 1840. The site is a proper historical attraction with a museum, well worth timing a rest day around.
By 1.45pm the hiker had pitched her tent and discovered a pattern that surprises many first-timers: the trail is full of solo women. At a recent campsite of roughly 12 people, nine were women walking alone. Te Araroa's Northland section has a friendly, nomadic social scene — hikers swap trail intel at Woolworths (there's a handy supermarket near the Waitangi campground), share rides into Paihia, and compare notes on which holiday park has space, since Kerikeri accommodation can fill up and force groups to detour for rest days.
For anyone considering the trail, this leg is a good snapshot of what the first week or two look like: short-ish road and forest days between towns, camping grounds as the default lodging, and resupply from ordinary supermarkets rather than trail towns. Paihia's Top 10 holiday park is the more popular stop for most walkers, but Waitangi suits anyone wanting to see the treaty site or take a side trip the next day.
The bigger takeaway for travellers, not just hikers: the Bay of Islands is walkable, campable and sociable, but plan your caffeine. In this part of New Zealand, Monday is not a cafe day.
