whangarei to auckland, part 2

thursday, september 24

dome valley to puhoi, 14.25 miles

last night's campground is a bit of an oddity. it's called sheepworld, as it is also a sort of farm where visitors can learn more about sheep and view sheep shows, and is known for its hot pink live sheep roaming around on the front lawn. i can't imagine that this would lure me in if i were driving by, as there doesn't seem to be any real attraction beyond "look - there's a pink sheep!", but maybe they're making bank on the gimmick. we didn't have time to explore anything beyond the little campground, which was a bit sketchy. i picked a dead mosquito and another unidentifiably small insect out of my alfredo before eating it last night.

this morning was the kind of morning that i'd be pleased to wake up to every day. after bill picked us up, he treated us to coffees at the cafe and we chatted about the morning's newspaper headlines. the new zealand herald ran a story about a woman living in a camper who woke up in the middle of the night to find that she'd been lovingly stroking a huge water rat instead of her pet cat, resulting in a nasty bite on the lip. remind me not to stay at spring creek holiday park.

our hiking today, only partially in the rain, took us up to moirs hill on gloriously flat logging roads before marching us along fencelines past cows and goats. the goats, unfortunately, tend to scurry away before we can get much of a chance to gawk at them. the walks through pastures, while interesting for the sake of animal-watching, are dreaded for their unavoidably pitted ground caused by heavy hooves plodding through thick mud. it's surprising that we've escaped ankle injury, as these fields can really be quite dangerous.

camped, for the first time in a while, freedom-style in the forest. today's well-balanced diet:

breakfast: chocolate-honey granola bar and a mocha
lunch/snack: peanut butter sandwich and another granola bar
dinner/snack: peanut butter sandwich, another granola bar, and trail mix

friday, september 25

puhoi to waiwera, 8 miles

a wonderful day on the trail (maybe a favorite?). near 10 am, we wandered into puhoi, a tiny village originally settled by 200 bohemians who came for the free land and found themselves dropped off in an isolated section of dense bush. again, it was tiny, but they played up the historic aspect pretty well and we lingered for a few hours. unfortunately, it was not 1-4 pm on a summer weekday (these are actually surprisingly broad hours for such a small town), so we couldn't visit the bohemian museum. thankfully, the "reservations essential" puhoi river canoes let us rent a couple of kayaks without a reservation, so we pushed out into the puhoi river to tackle an 8 km section where there is currently no foot trail. as we were paddling downstream on an outgoing tide with a strong tailwind, we found ourselves at wenderholm regional park disappointingly early and wandered around the park for nearly an hour before the van arrived to swap our packs for their boats. the kayaking was great fun, and got us planning our next vacations when we return to the midwest (boundary waters? apostle islands?). walked just a mile or two over the hill to waiwera, where we hit up the hot pools and took the opportunity to do laundry before the heavy rain set in again for the evening.

we've been meeting more people lately who are familiar with the te araroa. the owners of the canoe rental shop estimated that we were around the 15th hikers to stop in (apparently the trampers never book ahead) and a man that we met at wenderholm had hiked much of the trail in sections, but said that we were the first he'd met to be hiking it on a longer-term basis.

saturday, september 26

waiwera to stillwater, 12.5 miles

certainly this is the part of the trail that was designed to create awkward encounters for trampers. the day ends with a crossing of the weiti river, a river large enough to require a boat crossing but not large enough to operate a ferry service. unfortunately, by the time you get down to the jetty you're far away from any detour option, but the route takes you there anyway, with the optimistic but unrealistic suggestion "you might be able to get a ride across with local boaties." said boaties were, we found, less than eager to transport us, and we would have been stuck had it not been for a german man who lives next to the boat club and had been suggested by the te araroa trust as a potential ride. he was just getting ready to go out when we came knocking on his door, but kindly ferried us across in his tiny dinghy anyway. thanks, gunter.

the earlier part of the day had been anxiety-producing as well, when a long stretch of rock scrambling along the coast ended with us wading in to shore, having left just barely in time that morning (7:30, an hour after low tide). it's just difficult to pack up in the rain, you know? the rock scrambling routes are a ton of fun, though, as there's an element of danger and you have to be consstantly focused on your next step. i suppose it's a bit like the experience of rock climbing.

ran out of food today, having passed by the orewa supermarkets in our eagerness to get to an i-site (info center) and being under the impression that we'd be walking through the heart of whangaparaoa on our way down to the river. bryan sniffing hopefully into a nearly-empty peanut butter jar was a pitiful (but hilarious) sight. finished off our brothy soups and settled into a less-than-sparkling cabin (another upgrade) for the night.

sunday, september 27

stillwater to takapuna, 13.5 miles

discovered shortly after we set out proudly at 7 am (earliest start yet!) that we had forgotten about daylight savings time, making it 8 am instead. summer is certainly in the air, especially as today is the first mostly nice day in over a week and the 2-week school holidays began this weekend. our first hours were spent on the okura bush track along with 20 or so others who kept bounding by us in either direction, apparently involved in some sort of race.

due to the recent rain, our estuary crossing became surprisingly deep - hip level at the location that was supposed to be an "in case you don't want to get too wet" alternative from the intended crossing spot. my REI pants proved themselves by drying out quickly, and we soon found a four-square (grocery store) where we ate a lunch that involved sandwiches and three forms of chocolate: nutella on a roll, a cadbury caramello bar, and arnott's orange chocolate biscuits. can you tell what we crave on the trail? (though i guess you all know i don't need any excuse to crave chocolate...)

the 15-mile north shore city coastal walk is the last stretch of trail north of auckland, and bounces along from bay to bay past million-dollar homes that are at once all completely unique and all the same (lots of nautical themes, walls of windows, telescope in the corner of the top level, high fences to deter peeping backpackers like us). i expected this portion to bore us with long stretches of suburban sidewalk, but it turned out to be surprisingly well done. everyone was out on the beach today - kayakers, jet skiiers, kite flyers, kids on playgrounds, readers, couples - and we stopped and talked to three separate older couples about our trip. the woman with the purple sunglasses was especially friendly, and she and her husband highly recommended both the routeburn and queen elizabeth trails on the south island.

instead of completing the last 6 miles down to the ferry terminal tonight, we opted to stay at a campground in takapuna, a posh suburb where you could easily blow a fortune on shopping and dining out. we made a reservation at a backpackers in auckland, so at least we know that we've got a bed when we arrive.

monday, september 28

takapuna to devonport, 6 miles

wrapped up the remaining miles (nice, but nothing noteworthy) by 9:45 this morning and hopped a fullers ferry over to the auckland side of the bay. on the to-do list while in town:

1) figure out the answer to "where next?"

2) send thank-you cards to some of the wonderful people that helped us out along the way

3) restock on pain reliever, athletic tape, and moleskine journals

4) pick up our bounce box

hopefully i'll get a chance to update again before we leave. if not, you'll hear from us next from _________

pictures:

1) an abandoned tv near moirs hill

2) waiting for the outgoing tide - taking a break near puhoi's little library

3 and 4) kayaking down the puhoi river

5) pools in the sand and rock along the okura bush track

-rachel