whangarei to auckland, part 1

i can't believe we haven't really updated since whangarei - it seems like such a long time ago now!

saturday, september 19

whangarei to brynderwyns, 15.25 miles (+.75)

hitched a ride out of town with a couple headed to the auckland airport to pick up their son. surprisingly, it was a nice car that stopped for us - usually it's people driving old beaters. on the way, we chatted about the weather, our travel plans, and the recent wildfires in australia (the husband works with/for the fire department) before they dropped us off in ruakaka. i should confess that ruakaka is 8 kms (5 miles) south of the official start of the part of the trail, but as the 5 miles entailed more beach walking, we allowed ourselves this little fudge.

watched the water expectantly in the morning, as other walkers had mentioned that dolphins were patrolling the shoreline, but all we spotted were birds. headed inland on a high-tide bypass through waipu after a few miles. the going was quick (10 miles by lunchtime!) but the road walking was a bore. picked up a game that we invented in the kaiikanui forest (it needs a name - any suggestions?) - taking turns, we work through the alphabet in movies. for example, today we were on the letter F, so each movie had to start with the letter F and have the second letter somewhere in it; flashdance (fa), ferris bueller's day off (fb), the french connection (fc), freaky friday (fd), etc. we had been stuck on fj for hours until bryan remembered full metal jacket.

we camped pretty early (3:30) in the forest, passing up a few potential sites that were, in bryan's words, "fixer-uppers, not move-in ready".

sunday, september 20
brynderwyns to mangawhai heads, 3 miles (+2)

as evidenced by today's pathetic mileage, this was no arduous day of walking. in fact, we cheated (these little fudges are adding up to one bigger fudge, huh?) and skipped an entire 4-mile section, opting instead for the much more direct road route into mangawhai heads. in our defense, this change was made at the encouragement of des and min, who invited us to pause for tea and anzac biscuits (cookies) on the site of their burned-down bach (holiday home) after watching us walk by a few times in search of a relocated section of the brynderwyn walkway. they had just returned from one of many trips to the u.s.; des had even worked in iowa for a while and visited the mall of america while he was there. they were just some of the many people who first guess that we're canadian, of which we're quite proud as it identifies us as the northerners that we are trying so hard to be and distances us from the classic american tourist. talked with them for a while about the state of the church in new zealand. from their perspective, the church is much less involved in the community here than in the states, leading to a declining portion of kiwis attending services in a country that was apparently once known for its multitude of churches.

received more hospitality once in mangawhai heads, where the campground owner let us stay in a small camper, milo #7, for no extra charge. this is especially appreciated tonight, as it looks like it might rain again. our usual 6:30 alarm woke us up to rain pounding on the fly this morning, so, knowing that we had a very light day of trekking ahead of us, we slept and read until finally rousing for good around 10 am, almost 3 hours behind schedule. it's on these rainy weekend mornings that our homesickness most presents itself, manifesting in long conversations about what we'd be doing if we were at home. this morning, we decided that we'd attend the 9 am church service, stopping first for six cheese bagels from einstein's, then return home for a sandwich lunch before turning on a football game (bryan) and heading to the caribou on 77 & 66th st for some reading time. in the evening, we'd invite some of our lovely friends over for pizza and games. a perfect rainy sunday.

monday, september 21

mangawhai heads to pakiri beach, 17 miles

the plan was to camp at te arai point, a free campsite on the beach, but when we arrived here at lunchtime we figured that we really couldn't stop quite yet and pressed on for another 8 miles to the end of pakiri beach. the weather was maddening - constant strong winds blowing in from the east with on-again, off-again showers. arrived at the campsite wet and tired, but glad for a dry room with a tv and less miles tomorrow. my knee started acting up after lunch today, so i've been rocking a knee brace that i plan to keep on for style long after the knee returns to normal. it makes me look athletic.

tuesday, september 22

pakiri beach to matakana, 10 miles

started the day with a steep climb (380 m) across pastures, buffeted ceaselessly by a powerful wind that seemed to be targeting us at our exposed location. we started later than we should have (after 10 - oops!) and had to work hard to make up for this, not stopping for lunch until after 2. the tamahunga track through the omaha state forest, though muddy, was well worth the time invested.

we were planning to hitchhike off the trail to warkworth where budget accomodation was available, but as we're facing a long day tomorrow and it's bryan's bday, we splurged on a motel room instead. (side note: i believe i told someone shortly before i left that i would never stay in a motel, only a hotel - this was foolish of me. motels can be lovely things, and i'm sorry to have degraded them with my thoughtless comment.) we spent the evening watching the apparently popular primetime soaps "neighbours" and "home and away" in addition to our regular favorites, "how i met your mother" and "family guy". beautiful. took advantage of the electric teapot and complimentary milk cartons and made plenty of tea and hot chocolate for ourselves.

wednesday, september 23

matakana to dome valley, 13 miles

after an exhausting 9-hour day, we emerged from the forest at a cute cafe on highway 1, along which we needed to walk for another few miles to end up at a campground. our decision to stop for a hot chocolate was good one, as it landed us a ride to the campground and a ride back to the start of the trail tomorrow, thanks to bill and jocelyn (the cafe owners). got upgraded to a camper again, a great blessing as it's been pouring for the better portion of the day. today's route gets a thumbs up - as we get closer to to auckland, the trails are becoming better marked and better developed. found the perfect lunch spot on a big rock jutting out over the waiwhiu stream.

to be continued...

pictures:

1) some pretty stretch of beach somewhere. before pakiri beach, maybe?

2) taking off the wet boots in the 70s camper that we affectionately called "milo"

3) another cute picture of bryan. how adorable is he?

4) the sunrise over mangawhai heads

5) checking the gps at our lunch spot over the stream.