Map

Here is the map:

https://onthegomap.com/s/tpi6roul

Short Summary

Sunday 20th November

I’m sure you get the drill by now, up and out by around 07:30. Easy peasy. It was spitting rain as we left but brightened up shortly, meaning that our waterproofs were packed away. I have found myself playing this game with the weather where I take my jacket off and the rain starts up, or I put my jacket on and the rain stops. This time, it stayed sunny as I put my jacket away. It felt precarious though, like it could tip down at any moment.

We made our way along some quiet roads and then turned left and walked past the opening for the Tara Iti Golf Club. This entrance was buried in the middle of a large pine forest and there were a bunch of fancy cars driving in and out. We made our way down a wonderful avenue of trees, ponds with reeds either side (and assemblies of toads croaking away!) before emerging onto Te Arai beach. We found Niv here, sitting once again on a log, waiting for us.

We set off south, walking on the hard sand at low tide. OK, not much to report here. We crossed some streams, a group of Asian tourists filming us as me waded calf deep through some sandy water. There were a bunch of kids being taught how to surf near Eyres Point (the hill where Johanna slipped and broke her arm on…). A dad and his young sons were playing full contact rugby on the beach. Lots of beach cricket too, and dog walking. Yeah, classic Sunday afternoon out really.

My right foot was starting to get sore, specifically the little crease between the big toe and the ball of the foot. I sat down at one point and checked it out and sure enough, a blister was emerging. How frustrating! Second blister, my feet had been behaving for so long now! I guess it has been all the mud and rain and river crossings finally catching up with my feet. Oh well, c’est la vie. I aired it out a little while before setting off again. I only had like another 4km to camp.

Speaking of which, we were planning to push on to a DOC campsite just a little beyond Pakiri, but Melissa had gotten us an amazing deal at the Pakiri holiday park, $20 for six of us! That’s like, £1.50 for a night at a holiday park with all the facilities. Big win! The owners had given it to us because of all the forecasted storms and rain that afternoon and evening. So kind!

And indeed, as I was approaching the Pakiri holiday park, the skies were filling with black thunderheads and the hills to the west were hidden from the volumes of rain evidently falling. There was the occasional tolling of thunder too. I didn’t hear any of this though, I had my earphones in and was listening to some Elgar, conducting as I walked. Hot take, I know, but I think his only decent orchestral stuff is his cello concerto.

I got to camp before the stormy rains arrived and I sat outdoors, under cover, eating some lunch with everyone when the curtains of rain reached us, shutting out all the sunlight and hammering down, little rivulets running under our picnic benches as we hastily put our open drybags up on tables and our shoes elsewhere.

The afternoon was spent pitching my tent between downpours and then lying in the TV room, reading and sleeping. I think my body was needing this rest. My feet too!

Monday 21st November

I was up and out the camp by 06:50. I was kinda fancying a day by myself and so I set off when I was ready, rather than waiting for Rob and Reid.

The early morning was wonderful, a little sunshine weakly peaking through, reflecting off flooded fields (a theme that will be running for a while). Light grey clouds were overhead and a cool breeze. Pakiri was nice, had a cute church.

The nice morning dissipated before long though, pretty much as soon as I left the quiet roads and started climbing up towards Rodney Road. The clouds were low and so by the time I emerged on to Rodney Road (which I am sorry, but is actually worse than that, little more than a poor excuse for a tramping track rather than a “road”), I was shrouded in mist. I also met Stephano and Ondine here, plodding along. They let me past but they were close behind me as we walked into Ōmaha forest. Joyeux. Mud, stinking and squelching and as deep as mid calf. Yeah, my rapid morning was slowing down.

We encountered Nas, and then all together we slowly slipped and skidded our way up and down hills, occasionally falling on our backsides or backpacks, mud getting everywhere. Not a well maintained track! To add insult to injury, there were small showers playing peek-a-boo with us, getting us a little wet as we waded through mud.

I soon left Nas, Stephano and Ondine behind and made my way at a slightly brisker pace. It was physically exhausting for sure! But I soon came across Daphné and Oz and passed them at the top of the hill, where I thought I could see a glimpse of the Sky Tower in Auckland. Nas later confirmed that it was indeed Auckland that I was spying! Exciting!

I pushed on, heading downhill now through the muddy forest and passing signs, getting lost and singing to myself as I listened to some Cat Empire. I came across Ross, Oz and Arwin right at the end of the forest as we emerged onto Matakana Road and onto Gove Wilson Road.

I headed onto the Dome track and it was a nice logging track, easy. I stopped for lunch with Arwin under some trees as the rain came on again. We had the same peanut butter. The logging track quickly turned into a tramping track though and Arwin shot off ahead of me. I made my way along it, muddy and sticky and full of upturned roots and downed trees in the way (ft. Sun Giant) but I eventually climbed to the top of Dome and made it to the Trig point. Got some nice views where I stood panting for a while. I soon descended on some nice steps and I was soon at Dome Café, since closed down from Covid, but Kara (the owner) let us hikers stay inside for free, incredibly kind.

Arwin and I were entertained by Kara’s kids who were 4 and 6 whilst other hikers emerged from the jungle. First Niv and Reid, followed closely by Rob. Close to 17:00, Oz appeared followed by Ross an hour later. It was getting late and we were eating dinner as Melissa showed up and Luuk finally brought up the rear when he arrived in darkness at 21:00. He set up his sleeping mat in the dark!

Daphné and Nas had stayed with trail angels over by Govan Wilson Road whilst Stephano and Ondine had a Airbnb booked somewhere. It was a long long day. Everyone was physically exhausted for sure. As I was getting into bed though, my sleeping mat exploded! Just two stitches, but still sad. Oh dear. Gotta think about getting a new one now!

Tuesday 22nd November

I left Dome Café with Rob and Reid and we had a wonderfully pleasant morning, wandering amiably along chatting. We walked along trails and tracks. It was all very pleasant and very nice, especially compared with the mud of the previous day. We also crossed 500km mark and celebrated by cracking out some Whittaker’s chocolate!

We encountered Niv sitting beneath the FM radio station, taking a break as per. But Niv is so kind, he gave us some Oreos whilst we rested up a little.

However, we got lost very quickly, taking the wrong turning and trespassing over someone’s property trying to find the correct path. Whoops. We found, like, an animal trail and bush whacked our way downhill towards Ahuroa Road. Niv was scouting a way ahead of us and we quickly lost him and ended up making our own way, climbing over fences buried deeply in the forest until we eventually came across the correct path. We later found out that Niv was literally wading through bushes downhill and accidentally found an 8m waterfall whilst we skated down a “muddy hellhole of a track” – not my words, just quoting Farout.

We had lunch at the bottom on the side of the quiet Ahuroa Road before we set off along it. The Dunns Ridge Track was closed, as well as the Puhoi track so it was easy road walking from here to Puhoi. Just… One foot in front of the other. We passed some workmen at one point who asked us what we were doing and when they found out, if we were doing it for a cause or charity. We jokingly asked them if they had any suggestions for a cause when we said no, when they started to sprout conspiracy theories and quote dodgy websites and tell us all manner of things, we uncomfortably nodded and left quickly. Conspiracy workmen, eek.

We got into Puhoi and headed to the general store but man oh man, it was a massive mark up, twice the price easily. So we didn’t buy anything there and instead made our way to Pip’s place, a trail angel who had agreed to put us up for the night.

Madness ensued, and I feel really bad for Pip for having to put up with us. It was such a lovely place and we behaved for the entire evening. We had a nice dinner and sat in the garage eating food and drinking tea. Melissa and Rob were gonna sleep in their tents (despite the heavy heavy rain predicted), Luuk and I were sleeping in the garage (with the rats and me with my bust up sleeping mat) and Niv and Reid were sleeping in Pip’s caravan.

However, the caravan had a whole bunch of mosquitos in it and so Niv and Reid went about cleansing the place. This was when disaster struck. All I heard was a crash and didn’t think much of it, but as it turned out, Niv had smashed one of the caravan windows, chasing mosquitos! Rain was flooding in, Niv’s hand was gashed and it was getting dark. Chaos.

Pip and Niv installed a tarp over the broken window and Niv slept in the garage with Luuk and me, whilst Reid had a restless night in the drafty caravan which ironically, had more mosquitos in it now than before!

Wednesday 23rd November

When I awoke, Niv was up already and distraught. His hand was fine of course, but he’d spent the night swatting at mosquitos and had ended up ripping his down gloves. Just… Not a great 24hrs. Ripped his bag strap, ripped his shirt and coat, smashed a window, gashed his hand and now destroyed his down gloves. Whoops… But I don’t think anyone had a good night’s sleep, except maybe Rob and Melissa in their tents and the rain.

We set off from Puhoi and walked along the old SH1 and into Waiwera. We met a wonderful Geordie (sorry, from Sunderland!), Dave, who told us all about the time he stayed in The Witchery in Edinburgh in the same room as Kylie Minogue. Really nice guy for sure.

We also passed Couldrey House. Fun fact, they used to move houses, Couldrey House had been moved three times! Like, they cut it into pieces and then just slotted it all back together once it had been moved! Guess that’s the benefit of that style of house.

Lots of rain and lots of muddy forest as we walked into Waiwera and then we started rock hopping along the coast as the sun came out, a slight breeze at our back. The tide was out and we were clambering along the rocks at the bottom of cliffs, going round that way into Orewa, instead of along the road. Much more preferred! That was really fun and a different type of walking from anything so far!

We got coffee/tea and then a Subway for lunch as torrential rain started up. Yeah, lots of rain recently, if you hadn’t noticed. I think I have had constant wet feet for the last several days, easily! The Subway tasted so so good. All the calories! We headed to Melissa, who then dragged us to a trail angel’s (Pierre) that she had found and was willing to put us up in his house. That was nice. Pierre had a very… Old fashioned house, but charming in it’s own way. He was an old guy and just seemed to want company really, so it was a pleasant evening for sure and I fell asleep pretty darn quickly!

Thursday 24th November

Melissa’s birthday! Happy birthday Melissa! We celebrated by eating chocolate mud cake for breakfast and singing Happy birthday in five different languages at the same time (Hebrew, German, Dutch, Maori, English. Can you guess which language I sang…?). That was fun!

Today was the infamous Stillwater crossing, but the low tide mark was at like 14:43 and we had all made arrangements to meet people in the city soooo… We all just caught an Uber to Long Bay beach where we set off along the North Shore.

It was a nice day, having fun conversations and observing the fancy fancy houses! This was all the rich areas after all. It is funny to see Christmas trees in beach houses with a shining sun overhead. We saw plenty of people with designer dogs and lots of walking groups. Yeah, it was a nice walk. I also learnt, much to Reid’s distress, the Pohutukawa song.

Reid also bumped into a familiar face, his girlfriend’s boss, and they walked ahead of us Kiwi style in the brief showers of rain as Rob and I walked behind, European style, coating up for every raindrop.

After hiking all day along the length of the North Shore, we finally rounded the military emplacement at Devonport and proceeded to the ferry where I sat and ate a Lamington whilst we waited for the ferry. Melissa and Niv also caught us up here, and we made plans to have dinner at 19:30 at a restaurant downtown. Therefore, after the windy ferry ride which I emerged from with windswept hair and a ticket lost to the river (it flew out my pocket…), I got myself an Auckland Hop card and hopped on the bus to Mount Eden where I was staying with a friend, Erin.

Erin’s house was a wonderland. I loved it so much. It was a large villa turned into a seven person flat. Kittens were being fostered there, houseplants in corners and quirky things here and there. It was just so… Lived in and comfortable and beautiful. I loved it so much! I met her flatmates too! Jason, Jara, Sam… Not all of them though. They were all young professionals and just lovely people who welcomed me in, stinking and smelling as I was.

A chat with Erin and then she drove me into the city where I headed to Ima Cuisine where we were celebrating Melissa’s birthday with some Lebanese food. I loved it so much. I ate so much, and I loved every moment. So much food, and so much amazing company. What a great evening! I caught the bus back to Erin’s and sank into my bed straight away!

Friday 25th November

A zero day! Finally! I got up late, had a nice breakfast and phoned some friends and my parents before heading into Newmarket to do some shopping. I got some hikers wool (my latest discovery, helps sore feet so much), some flip flops (“jandals”) and some new socks. It was Black Friday after all! I also bought some new shoes which the shop offered to ship ahead of me when I needed. That is customer service, I love it.

I then caught the bus to Wynyard where I went to an Argentinian Street Food place and got some Empanadas. Delicious. How have I not had these before!? I also got some Indian food because it looked nice and was cheap.

I then caught the bus back and sat outside in Erin’s veranda, reading and chilling all afternoon. A true zero day.

New People

  • Stephano and Ondine: A couple from Laussane in Switzerland. Ondine has a PhD in maths which is cool for sure. I actually met them in Kaitaia the first time before I started at Cape Reinga!
  • Alexa: Dutch lady who was absolutely racing along the North Shore
  • Megan and Alana: I’m gonna assume these two were sisters since they were both Dutch, looked identical, had similar gear and similar mannerisms. Brief chat with them on the North Shore

Status

  • Physical: 8/10, some blisters have appeared after hiking through so much rain and having soggy feet everyday
  • Mental: 10/10
  • Distance covered: 600km
  • Most memorable moment: Chaos at Pip’s place
  • Toughest moment: Ōmaha forest
  • Burnt-o-meter: 5/10, a nice tan developing
  • Random thoughts: Do birds have accents?
  • Number of times I have fallen: 6, five of which were in Ōmaha forest…
  • Jars of peanut butter: 3
  • Song suggestion: Bright Lights Bigger City, CeeLo Green

What’s Next?

Next? I head out of Auckland and into the worst part of the TA, apparently. I head down towards Hamilton, vaguely walking parallel to the Waikato river and State Highway 1. I was gonna split it into different parts dependent on region, but I’ll just keep this section as 2.2.

Comments (6)

  1. .

    Reply

    Once again you have outdone yourself, 10/10 update.
    Keep sharing with us your stories.
    Cant wait to hear about your adventures from Auckland to Hamilton.
    Warmest regards,
    Niv.

    • Al

      Reply

      And once again, you are too kind Niv. Hope your walk into Hamilton was pleasant. Hope your friend arrived safe and sound

  2. Flora

    Reply

    Congrats on making it to Auckland! Cute kittens are definitely a good reward for your progress so far

  3. Tim

    Reply

    Hey Al,
    Don’t know if you remember me. We shared a tent for a while in Peru 😉
    I just found this due to a weird combination of nostalgia and pure chance. Love what you’re doing and wish you all the best for the trail!
    I’ll definitely stay along and follow your next posts. Might also be some good inspiration for my next adventures.
    Have fun out there!
    Best,
    Tim

    • Al

      Reply

      Wow! Amazing to hear from you man! Of course I remember Peru, loved every moment of it. Yeah, glad you’ll follow this along. Hope you’re doing well 🙂

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