I apologise for the lateness of this post. My bad. Whoops. Thanks to Niv for the encouragement!


Map

Here is the map:

https://onthegomap.com/s/ehk5u3vt

Short Summary

Saturday 26th November

I woke and packed my bag, ready to leave. However, Erin had been out the night before at friend’s gig and I was wanting to say goodbye to her. Therefore I sat in their lounge and chatted with Sam and Jara for a good wee while. I actually learnt a whole bunch about the social issues surrounding Maori and how the government really isn’t doing much to help… That was enlightening.

Erin was woken up at 10:00 by Jara and I thanked her and gave her some chocolate before heading off and out. Time to put some k’s under the belt. I headed through Mount Eden towards Epsom and then turned down south towards the water. It was busy and all very residential, just like any big city I guess. Still, Auckland has this very different feel to most any other city I’ve been to. Very… Young. There’s nothing brick built or has ancient, solid feeling history attached to it.

I headed across the Mangere Bridge (which was closing in a couple days for resurfacing) and then back west, along the water front. There were a tonne of fishermen on the bridge by the way, casting into the sluggish river below.

I walked along, through parks and ducking under branches and stepping off the path to let bikes past. It was only a short day, I was only headed to Ambury Regional Park. The sun was up, a delightful breezy day. I actually bumped into Rob right before Ambury though! I wasn’t anticipating this. We were gonna be going our own separate ways for a bit since we had different schedules in Auckland, so it was nice to see him on the path ahead of me.

But this is when I learnt some bad news, Reid had food poisoning! He’d eaten some salami on the march into Auckland along the North Shore and was now feeling the effects! Not so good. As Niv would later put it, that’s “some serious salami”.

So Reid was out the game for a while. He and Rob had been staying at his girlfriend’s parents (on Aragorn avenue! Like from LotR!) and Rob was just walking the city with only food before catching the bus back each evening whilst Reid lay in bed. Gutted for Reid!

I got to Ambury and said goodbye to Rob, he was walking on for a bit before heading back whilst I was pitching up for the afternoon. There were a couple of hikers close by, Marrisa (who I actually met in Kaitaia before I started Ninety Mile) and Marie, so it was nice to see other hikers and meet new people.

I spent the afternoon lying in my tent reading and getting hassled by some young girls who’d made their den in the camp spot beside me. “Hassled” – it was amusing in reality. They kept asking me questions and later when they were summoned for dinner and to tidy up and for bed, they all told me I should be a teacher since I was “good with kids” haha, but that goes against some life advice from my parents! Eek!

Sunday 27th November

Big day today, over 40km if all goes well. I set off at 07:00 before any of the families had gotten up. It was a cloudy day and the sun was poking through at points. I exited Ambury Regional Park and did the Watercare coastal walk. Do not recommend. Just not so great really, and on top of that, you walk past a bunch of industry and water treatment plants. Just… Not really that pleasant. So I stuck the music in and bolted down the paths and roads.

I walked through Pukeiti where there was some evidence of protests against big companies encroaching onto Maori land. Along the roads and past the airport. I had made good time up to this point so I walked to a café to get some tea. Issue is, the café was closed. So I went next door to a (look away mum) MacDonalds. Second time I’ve been to a MacDonalds, the first being after the CWT. I got some pancakes and a hot chocolate and yeah, it was actually alright. And fast. But, like, if food is made and served up that quickly then it really cannot be proper food, can it?

Still, I got going. I needed to burn allllll the calories I probably just ate. As I was walking under the flight path with the planes roaring overhead as they took off, the heavens opened and rain started pelting down. Spoilers, it didn’t let up for the rest of the day pretty much.

Zipped up and waterproofed up, I strolled along the Puhinui Track. I was, at this point, wanting to listen to something other than music or the rumble of the traffic, so I spent five minutes looking on Spotify and found myself an experiment – an audiobook! And, uh, yeah, I started listening to Pride and Prejudice. No regrets, I loved it. I laughed along with Ms Eliza Bennett as I walked along the Puhinui stream and Manurewa. Listening to an audiobook is such a different dimension to reading it yourself, or to watching a film. I actually quite enjoyed it!

I sat underneath a tree, sheltering from the drizzle whilst I ate my lunch in the botanical gardens before I continued the hustle. My aim of today was to get to Drury where my friend Aimee’s parents were putting me up for the night – so incredibly kind of them!

I headed on down the asphalt, my feet pounding and small splashes arising from each footstep. Cars drove past and I turned to avoid the following wave of water. Yeah, it was a wet wet afternoon. I got into Papakura and, needing a respite, I got myself a drink in the Coffee Club, the chain coffee place in New Zealand. It was funny, turning up dripping with people sitting all around in pristine clothing.

Heading out of Papakura and then eventually into Drury, I turned left at the pub and made my way along the road towards where Aimee’s parents lived and I eventually turned up the drive. I made it. I actually felt quite embarrassed showing up looking like a drowned rat, but thankfully Paul and Jackie took it in good humour. A hot shower and my clothes put through the laundry, I was soon sitting in front of their fire, scratching the head of Gadget, patting Ginger and chatting with Paul and Jackie.

What a wonderful, wonderful evening. I got so many embarrassing stories about Aimee too, not that I’ll ever tell anyone else! I intend to go hiking with Aimee when I get home, that’ll be awesome. It was so nice have someone welcome me into their home with open arms.

Dinner, and it was so delicious that I requested the recipe from Jackie. I intend to make this version of shepherds pie when I get home! I also got the spotlight tour around the house and garden. Just such a happy evening. I went to bed with a smile and pretty much passed out straight away. A wet, but pretty darn good day overall!

Monday 28th November

I awoke to the quiet beeping of my alarm. It’s funny because I’m such a deep sleeper but that tiny quiet noise switches me awake instantly. Like a light switch (queue Book of Mormon). I packed my now mostly dry gear into my pack and then sat down for breakfast with Paul and Jackie before I left, having given them a Thank You card and a small box of chocolates. It was the least I could do after such a lovely evening the previous night. I cannot stress how grateful I am for their hospitality!

Instead of setting off back towards Drury, I saw on the map that there was a sneaky little road to rejoin the trail. However, uh, yeah, it was now a big building site and impassable. Big signs and a fence running side to side stopped me even thinking of running across the site. I mean, I could see the trail 500m away, I just couldn’t get to it and would have to backtrack to Drury and walk an extra 4km just to get round it. I had sent a text to the site manager who had replied with a two word message, “no sorry” and so I resigned myself to an extra long day. However, just as I had plugged in the high energy music (Cat Empire, of course), a big car rolled up sent from the site office to give me a lift back to Drury. How kind! The driver, Kyle, ended up revealing that a whole bunch of hikers attempt to do the same shortcut whoops

Kyle dropped me at the pub and I set about the day again. Take two. I set off and bypassed the fast roads by sneaking across some paddocks, cutting the corner. I don’t enjoy walking on fast roads full of trucks and lorries. I was kinda shocked that the official route required me to walk on these roads full of trucks and lorries in the first place. But hey ho, I got passed that and could get motoring now, metaphorically.

I walked for a while, listening to my book, before getting into Ramarama (where Rob had stayed the previous night as I found out later) and continuing on. Not gonna lie, this was just a lot of road and so just pushing out the k’s. I climbed into Bombay up a really steep hill and then continued down the other side, passing a school full of kids kicking rugby balls and playing on a fun looking obstacle course. At the bottom of this hill, I encountered Daphné! I hadn’t seen her since Ōmaha forest and so we ended up walking together. We were both headed to the same place, Mercer, so that worked out.

We headed up, spinning some yarns about our adventures so far, and got to the top of Mt. William where had a great view all the way back to Auckland, as well as ahead to the Waikato region. We ate our lunch up here on a conveniently placed bench out of the wind before we hustled down, passing through an unexpectedly beautiful forest.

Now for the horrible bit. The official trail said we had to walk 5.5km along SH2. Nah, no way. Fast cars, trucks, lorries… I’m kinda shocked that this was what was suggested as the official trail, to have 3000 people trooping down that road. There was a rumoured shortcut that Rob texted me about only a short way down, and so Daphné and I walked just a little way on SH2 and even that was too much. Stupid. We scurried across the road and down onto the farm track and the rumoured shortcut.

And it was a shortcut, despite the barking dogs and all the cows, we got to the end of it and could see the trail, up on the dyke across a river. But, uh, yeah… The river. We had to cross it. Normally it would have been doable but this was also the wettest spring in pretty much forever for New Zealand soooo… The river was flooded. My spirits sank again, sounds like we’d have to go back and do the horrible SH2 road walking and go alllll the way around. Second time today I’d tried to do a shortcut!

But once again, for the second time today, someone came to the rescue. The farmer who’s land we had walked across and chatted to came to see how our progress crossing the river was going, and when he saw it was impassable, he offered us a lift to Mercer, along with a museum visit and ice cream stop in Pōkeno. Winning!

Therefore, we got a lift back to his car in the back of a little farm truck. William, the farmer, pointed out all the ducks and animals to us as we went. We then put our bags in his car before I hopped in the front and he drove us to Pōkeno. He pointed out all the local secrets as we drove, before he stopped at a museum that he was a member of the trust for. It was a museum about the Maori wars in this part of the country and he enthusiastically showed us around for half an hour. We were the only ones there, that was fun. Interesting.

We then zipped up the road to the ice cream shop (Pōkeno is known for it’s ice cream) where we got a single scoop treat on a cloudy day. It was good ice cream for sure! I was surprised he allowed us to eat it in his car, a Nissan Leaf by the by. Lots of electric cars around!

We were then dropped off at our end point of the day, Mercer and we pitched camp. Kinda felt bad for missing maybe 10k of walking, but I’m not gonna stress over it. There were dark stormy clouds as people filtered into the camp, including Rob finally, and we were reunited. He had been ahead of me all day and he was feeling it. He too had tried the flooded shortcut, but had then had to backtrack all the way since he didn’t bump into the friendly farmer, and walk the road and then the next flooded section. Not so great, he looked totally out of it, as did everyone else. A rough and tough day for sure.

The greatest success of this evening was when I managed to make Ross laugh. I don’t think I’ve seen him crack a smile for the entire hike so far, so I call that a win, and with that, I headed to sleep. Another big day to come, or so we thought…

Tuesday 29th November

Rob and I headed out of Mercer and into the hills. A couple twisty turny up and down sections full of roots and branches and mud. It was fun! Or at least, it was until we descended into a field that was under water. The flooding from the Waikato was just terrible and it had gotten to this field, the other side of SH1. Eek. We waded through, pushing fronds aside with our legs, waist deep in water the wrong colour. Yeah, this may be a long day.

We emerged though, sodden and dripping from the waist down and pushed on until we came to a car park beside SH1, beside a railway track. I was so excited and wanted to see a train pass, but nope, nothing. Instead we went under the railway bridge, under SH1 (both very flooded) and emerged on the western side of the big artery of the country, fueled by gasoline. We walked along it, wading in parts through the Waikato. Yeah, this wasn’t a great section, kinda shocking really. Wettest spring, after all.

When we got to Meremere, the path actually went up on a dyke and stayed dry for most of the way that we could see, and so we decided to follow it, despite some deep misgivings that it’ll jump back into the water when we were in the middle of nowhere. Spoiler alert.

The track and SH1 diverged since we were following the Waikato at this point. We wandered along this dyke, avoiding cows and electric fences and witnessing the flooded fields on either side of us. I would not be keen to be a farmer in this day and age, too much uncertainty with the climate…

This next bit, I think it shows a lack of judgement, but I’ll let you see for yourself. We were about 4kms from safety, a road called Churchill road. But we also saw the path leave the dry safety of the dyke and head underwater again. We decided to give it a dig. I mean, 4km isn’t too far, right? It was that, or backtrack about 7km. Or go across private property and hope no one shouts at us… What would you have done?

About 1km along this path which was dipping in and out of the Waikato, it soon became impassable and so we cut our losses and fought our way through gorse bushes with a lot of swearing from Rob, before we got to a farm road and tiptoed our way along private property. The farm turned into a landfill site with a whole bunch of trucks rumbling past. I think we must have been reported because before long a big black car rolled up and asked why we were in private property. Eek! Rob talked us out of it and the lady gave us a lift back to SH1. Pfffff, we had basically made no distance.

We found a small country road to follow instead of the official trail. We put music in and plodded along, tired. This was not fun. Road walking parallel to a flooded river and the constant thrum of SH1… Yeah, they don’t put this on the advertising.

We got into Rangiriri and headed to the pub. Over a glass of coke for me, and beer for Rob, we decided to call it a day. It was another 18km to Huntly where we were aiming for at the beginning of the day but we weren’t gonna make it whilst daylight was still around. There was a trail angel who lived next to the pub and so we went and asked her if we could camp in her field, and ten minutes later, our tents were up and Cathy was making us pies. Good choice this time.

Wednesday 30th November

OK, let’s aim to have a day not full of rain, diversions or flooded rivers. But yeah, not all wishes are fulfilled…

We packed up at Cathy’s and left early as a big group of all TA hikers who had ended up at Cathy’s the previous evening. Rob and I stretched our legs and left the others behind before long. It was a hot and humid day and we were just bouncing down a road. Not so fun. But the conversation was good.

We had some great conversations about all sorts of things. Lifetime of stars. The food industry and the business of farming. Have humans exceeded the food chain? Plus a whole bunch of personal stories of course. I think we pretty much chatted the entire way.

At around 10:00, the rain started up, and then it shifted into a higher gear and really got going. I think we were soaked through within five minutes. The tolling thunderclaps rolled over us and the landscape turned black and white when sheet or bolt lightning unleashed it’s fury on the earth. Yeah, seems we were hiking through a big thunderstorm. The lightning was all happening over by the mountains ahead of us though. I enjoyed seeing how far away it was, using the nifty fact that the speed of sound is roughly 300ms^-1.

During the various thunderstorms, we were still chatting and rolling on south. Every time the rain intensified, I’d have to turn to Rob like poor imitation of Michael Keaton’s batman to see his lips and kinda lipread, such was the noise of the rain on my hood. It was incredible.

As such, we showed up in Huntly dripping and wet, but with a gap in the rain, a hint of blue sky mocking us. We crossed over the river and made our way to the Huntly campground where we got ourselves a two person cabin. We spread our gear out, drying it in the weak sun and stuff breeze and hurriedly taking it in when the rain pelted down.

It was awesome though, so many TA hikers! Niv showed up. Melissa too! And then the three ladies Alexa, Marie and Grace too. Johanna with her broken arm was next door and Lodenna and Alena showed up as wet as us. Plus many more of course. The camp hosts, Dave and Carol were so accommodating, it was wonderful. A bit of comfort. We sat around in the evening, a packet of crisps opened like a “friend sharing” and packets of Oreos being passed around and dipped into various cups of tea as we told tales of our last couple days and vented about how terrible this sections Auckland to Hamilton had been so far… Still, the company was ace. The best. I ended the day with a smile on my face for sure.

Thursday 01st December

It seems rain wasn’t on the agenda for today and it was a wonderfully sunny day instead. Completely opposite from the last four or five days!

We headed out of camp, a long string of hikers. Maybe seventeen of us in total? Rob, Niv and I out in front. A brief 5km of road walking and finally, some hills again, the Hakarimatas. Or, “the Huks” to local Kiwis.

Cleaning our feet due to Kauri dieback, we set off up. There was meant to be something like 1200 steps on this northern side, and 1500 on the Hamilton side. Up, up and up we went. I had no balloons to help me though, unlike Mr. Frederickson. Oh it was so nice to be on proper tramping track again.

We strung out and waltzed our way through the jungle on top. The track was as I like it. Slightly overgrown, slightly muddy and traipsing through the most amazing environment. Though one weird thing about the Huks, there was not a whisper of birdsong. Dead silence except for the wind in the branches. This was an endemic problem across all of New Zealand. That is, predators were damaging local wildlife and destroying ecosystems. There’s a push for NZ to be predator free by, like, 2050 or something. We see so many traps and poison out and about. That is, predators like possums etc., scavengers.

I bolted along this track, following the ridgeline up and down. I caught glimpses into the Waikato basin along with glimpses of Hamilton, the destination for today. I also heard the occasional noise of a passing cargo train, beside my own panting breath. Oh it was so good. I love that sorta exertion.

I got to the lookout point, right at the end of the ridgeline where I found Niv waiting for me. We stood atop the tower looking around. A whole bunch of people came running up from the opposite direction. Apparently running up those 1500 steps is a local challenge. Seems fun, I think I’d enjoy that sorta thing. Niv left before long, and Rob soon joined me. A quick drink (of water!) and then we descended.

When we got to the Hakarimata car park, guess who was waiting for us? Reid! Yay! After getting food poisoning, he’d stayed at his girlfriend’s parents for a couple days before going home to Hamilton with his parents, last Sunday. He was feeling better, albeit slightly slimmer. He was going to walk this section from Ngāruawāhia with us, all the way into Hamilton. His parents had dropped us off so we met Karen and Ian, wonderful wonderful people. We gave our big packs to them and transferred some snacks and water into day packs that they had brought, and then we set off, a trio once more. This is called Slack Packing by the way, when you get your big pack taken ahead of you and you do sections with just a day bag.

The Waikato river walk from Ngāruawāhia to Hamilton was so good. It was nice to see Reid again, and we had many things to tell him, as well as reassuring him that he hadn’t missed much with the bit from Auckland to Hamilton. Still, I think he kinda felt bad for missing it, you know, missed out on suffering together and all that. We stopped several times for crisps and drinks and it was just very pleasant.

We arrived into H-town proper, the Tron, and he lead us directly to his parents house where we were greeted with open arms and a washing machine. Reid’s parents, Karen and Ian, were just wonderful hosts and so welcoming. Their house was beautiful as well with a stunning garden and the most amazing aesthetic inside. Old travel suitcases as coffee tables, knitted stuff everywhere, and the smell of coffee and food. It felt like such a comfy home for sure. And definitely a “home”.

We ate a lot of food. Reid had warned his parents ahead of time that Rob and I demolish anything put in front of us, and indeed I think we lived up to the reputation. I think we both had thirds… Yeah, it was amazing hospitality. Afterwards, we even got some pudding and a brazier on the deck. We headed to bed pretty soon though, feeling rather knackered from the Huks.

Friday 02nd December

A zero day! After a leisurely breakfast and watching a little of the Football, we headed into town to do some resupply and some tourism. We walked, of course, along the Hamilton riverside walk, called Te Awa. I think that means “The River”. We even passed St Andrews golf course!

We got into town and went to a good café Reid knew, local secrets. He’s big on his coffee after all, he’s scouted it all out. The guy who served us had been working their for Reid’s entire life I believe. We planned for the next several weeks, sketching rough dates for the Whanganui River Canoe and the Timber Trail biking etc. before I got distracted by the most amazing bookshop ever, Browsers! They even sold piano sheet music and I saw a copy of Saint-Saëns piano concerto! No.2 of course. I’d love to learn that way. I was so so close to buying it and sending it home but… I have too much to learn already. Another day.

We then went to Trek ‘N’ Travel, a local hiking shop run by a Scottish guy! His daughter has set up another Trek ‘N’ Travel in Stornoway in the Hebrides, so when I do the Hebridean Way, I intend to visit there too! They seemed to only sell MSR tents. It was an awesome shop though, loved it.

Next, a resupply at Pak ‘n Save, the greatest shop ever, and then we popped to Duck Island, an award winning ice cream shop. And boy oh boy, I could see why it won awards. So good.

We were then picked up by Reid’s mum and taken back to their house where we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling, packing and helping with dinner. Again, Rob and I ate our own weight in food (I do feel guilty eating this much…) much to the entertainment of Karen and Ian. We also regaled them with stories. Rob told us about his brief rap career in Tanzania and his other… Misadventures whilst travelling. Hilarious.

Afterwards, we watched a film (the first in a long long time!), Boy. That was great, yeah, loved it. I now say “Chur” a lot whoops

New People

  • Marissa: Remeeting her after bumping into her at the hostel in Kaitaia before I started. Australian (I think) lady who is wearing a jaguar print dress from Auckland to Hamilton as a bet
  • Marie: French speaking Swiss lady from Lausanne. Always orders the “house shot” at any pub she goes to
  • Grace: Kiwi-Dutch lady who likes Khruangbin band and is gonna go to their concert in Auckland on 07/12, maybe with Alexa.
  • Adam: Australian nurse who has the lightest equipment (i.e. bivvy etc.) but the heaviest pack. Don’t understand it, but hey ho
  • Alena and Lodenna: two German speaking Swiss friends from Lucerne.
  • Shona: Scottish lady from Inverness

Status

  • Physical: 10/10, no qualms here
  • Mental: 8/10 – road walking is not so fun
  • Distance covered: 760km total
  • Most memorable moment: The Bebbington’s. Or the Hakarimatas. Or the Reid’s parents.
  • Toughest moment: Getting up from the Waikato river track
  • Burnt-o-meter: 5/10, neck area mainly
  • Random thoughts: Have we elevated ourselves above the food chain as a species? What’s the deal lightning?
  • Number of times I have fallen: 6
  • Jars of peanut butter: 3
  • Oatly bars eaten: 26
  • Song suggestion: Postcards from Paraguay; Mark Knopfler

What’s Next?

From Hamilton, we’ll push on and over Mt. Pirongia and into Waitomo. From there we have a bunch of hits, the Timber Trail, 42nd Traverse, Tongariro Crossing (Mt. Doom!) and finally the Whanganui River Canoe. I also have a concert on 13/12/22 in Auckland, seeing Jacob Collier, so I’m well excited for the next several days or weeks!

Comments (4)

  1. .

    Reply

    Dear Alex.
    I write in regards to the post above.
    Happy to see post 6 up after all this time. A very funny post, loved to hear about your inner thoughts and monologue. Be careful when biking along the timber trail!
    Cant wait for number 7 now.
    Send my kindest regards to Rob And Reid, your good hiking partners.
    Niv.

  2. Karen McLeay

    Reply

    I’m so glad we could accommodate you after that dreadful section of trail you’ve just described from Auckland to the Hakarimata! It was great meeting you and Rob after hearing Reid mention your names often. Hope we catch up again!

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