Whangarei to Auckland

FINALLY! We made it to Auckland! And 5 days ahead of schedule! We tore ass across New Zealand to get here in time for Christmas. We are really excited to be in Auckland for a bit of rest and relaxsation. We have successfully completed the forth leg of our epic trip, our feet are sore and it's nice to sleep past 7.00am and not have to get up and eat porridge. In addition we are very excited about what the trail has to offer next.

Day 26- We left at 11.00 because we knew a river crossing was coming up on the beach and low tide is 11.30ish. After saying goodbye, Robyn drove us to the beach. It was a quick walk to the river and it was only knee deep, so we crossed it with ease. It didnt take long to get to Waipu where we went staight away to find the Waipu Wanderers BBH Backpackers. The hostel is owned by Steve and Elain a very nice and welcoming couple who moved to New Zealand 15 years ago from the UK. We wanted to help out and collectivly we wash down the grime from the side of the house.  Dinner was amazing! Add a little wine, a bit of herbs du provence and a block of budget cheese and you have a gormet cheese fondue! Using an old fondue pot we found in the house, we ate this with lots of toast and lamb and rosemary sausages! For dessert we had citrus fruit salad containing oranges, sweet lemons, sour lemons (the danger lemons) and grapefruit. Delicious!                        

FONDUE! 

Day 27-  In the morning we weighed our packs and decided we should lighten them in Auckland. A whole day of road walking, because the Brynderwyn Walkway and the Bream Trail Head were dangerous in the rain or after rain. Apon arriving in Mangawhai village we found out Mangawhai Head was 7km further. At Mangawhai Village we stayed with Sherrill and Murray. Cool little story - Landey got an email from his dad (in Ecuador) who met a nice Kiwi who happened to have parents who lived in Mangawhai Village who were happy to put us up, and it just so happened that we were heading that way today! Sherrill and Murray were incredibly nice and gave us a place to sleep, a shower and an amazing home-cooked meal. Good thing too, we were exhausted!

Tasty Trek with Murray

Day 28- Murray  gave us a lift back to where we detoured and we began walking along a dirt road (black swamp rd) to the beach. Nice onshore breezes and we could see where we were going so progress was fast. We climbed Eyers Head which offered awesome views of the beaches. The decent however was steep, and slippy; but so fun! Back on the second stretch of beach we found a couple of logs and stuck them straight up in the sand - Dm informed us that this is called ephemeral art (art with a lifespan) so we took a couple pictures to imortalize them! Later we came to the Pakiri Beach Campsite were we waded through the river to the campsite. A short day. After setting the tents we took off for the beach for a swim in the Pacific. When returning to the camp site we found an enormous 9 foot log we stuck upright in the sand and made it look awesome. See the pictures, it looked like a skeleton hand punching through the ground.

Eyers Head

Day 29- Nice views of the mountains as we walk along the road. But the walk up the mountain  is steep, 15 minutes in we were exhausted, sweaty and tired in the middle of the cow field. One bonus is that it offers spectacular views of the coast, kinda cool that you could see where you came from the previous day. Up we climbed to the Te Hikoi O Te Kiri track opened by Sir Edmund Hillary in 2001. This track was not too steep, awesome views, jungle, farmland and a little bit of scrambling, a little slippery in places as well. The track opened up onto the Tamahunga with a little helipad and a trig point. Perfect weather! The walk down was fine but the walk to Matakana along the raod was very dodgy! Once in Matakana we decided ti stay there in a park reserve ontop of a table. At least it was out the way!

Day 30- Sleeping on the kauri table on the pier in Matakana was suprisingly comfortable. A BIG day, about 19.5 miles, so we set off sharpishly after refilling water bottles at the Matakana Toilets. A short 5miles to Warkworth. In Warkworth we refilled some supplies at a handy wholesalers before chilling out with some peanut butter and jam sandwiches. We stopped for lunch on the side of the Moirs Hill track on a little patch of grass and we rested. Already we had come 10 miles! Refreshed and recharged we pushed on upto Moir Hill. The top of Moir Hill gave some beautiful views back northwards. The next rough track from here was only short and we finished up on Ahuroa Road which we followed all the way into Puhoi. In Puhoi we went straight to Puhoi Pub where we sat in the pleasant evening sun, drank some beers and ate chips.We stapled a TastyTrek card to the inside of the pub. It was then that the pub owner approached us and told us of a gentleman sitting outside who regularly took in backpackers. We chatted to the man who turned out to be Campbell the vetinarian. After chatting for a while we all pilled into Campbell's truck and drove to his. His house is awesome  (complete with views of rising and setting suns) he made us a delicious dinner with plenty of beer and we chatted for a long time before settling into our beds for the night.

Day 31-  We got a lift with Campbell back into Puhoi. He dropped us next to the church and we said our goodbyes. We had planned to canoe down the Puhoi River to Wenderholm Regional Park. However at $50 per person, this was out of our budget. So instead we were left with 4 miles of State Highway 1 and 17. It didn't take us long before we were in Waiwera, we took a break hear and bought some ice creams next to the bay at a huge wooden table. It was at this point Anders' world changed! The Cornetto Caramel Cookie Crumble ice cream is litterally the greatest ice cream ever mass produced at a reasonable price! At least thats what Anders thought...seriously he wouldn't stop going on about it! The rest of the coastal walk from Waiwera to the southern end of Orewa beach was lovely and chilled out and very pretty too. Pohutukawas were in full bloom and the sea was a brilliant blue. We stopped for lunch at Orewa beach. The next obstacle in our way for the day was the crossing of the Karepiro Bay. Te Araroa provided phone numbers for two sailing clubs and a Te Araroa supporter who were located in Whangaparaoa that may be able to ferry us across; however due to christmas being the day after no one was answering the phones, this meant we had to divert our route and skip out the Whangaparaoa Peninsula altogether and condemn ourselves to State Highway 17 again. A few hours later and we left the highway to take the East Coast Road. Our plan for the day was to get as close to Castor Bay as possible and by the time we got Redvale we decided we had had enough. Although we were only about 8 miles from Castor Bay it was now 16.00 and we had already done 16.5 miles. We were picked up by Dave Morton who drove us to Castor Bay where we will predominately stay until after New Years.


What have we learned since last time?
1. Most Kiwis we have met along the way have agreed that New Zealand has a drinking problem especially in the form of drink driving. So what does that mean for us and other trampers? It means stay clear of the roads at night and do not think of walking on them, especially out in the countryside.

2. You will need gaiters or something that will keep your feet from getting wet after it's rained. I know, very basic, but we neglected them because we were sure we could do without them...but 3 days of wet feet does hell for them. Blisters galore!

3. Human kindness should be apprechiated a whole lot more. We have met so many people along the way that have gone above and beyond to help us, either giving us shelter, food, water or advice. In our experience almost all Kiwis (except the angry lady on the beach) we have met have been very willing to help us. Our advice to other trampers: Don't be afraid to ask for help, it is more than likely they will be very excited to hear about what you are doing and help you in some way.