New shoe day today. I switched out my current trail runners for a slightly larger pair that I had in our bounce box (I’d anticipated needing to make this switch after the first 10 days). Heather had to go into town and buy a new pair of boots as both of hers are too small. Knowing that we had a fairly easy 20km ahead of us and another hostel night we took a long morning and sorted out a lot of our things (including shoes). We wrapped up around noon and got back to yesterday’s finishing point to continue on down the trail. It was super hot today and we managed to not bring enough water thinking that we were well hydrated and would be heading towards plenty of water. We had enough but it was less than we wanted. The trail wound up and through a forest of pine trees on easy track. We did pass the original marker for the Te Ararao Trail (laid down in 1995), which was an interesting spot to have a snack. We broke out of the forest and started heading towards the Waintangi treaty grounds and Bay of Islands area. This had some great views across sweeping landscapes. We crossed over the Waintangi bridge to arrive in Paihia and end the day. We met up with our American friends again and grabbed fish and chips and a six pack of Tui to end the night.