More glorious white sandy beaches, kayaking down the Puhoi River, then into more suburban areas before arriving back where we started in Auckland.03. Auckland
More glorious white sandy beaches, kayaking down the Puhoi River, then into more suburban areas before arriving back where we started in Auckland.Te Arai Beach Walk
My god what a day! Miserable! Thanks goodness Diane made us those scrambled eggs to see us through. We needed the energy to get through this wind ravaged, rain soaked day. On the whole the weather in NZ been glorious sun, but for only the second time so far, we spent the day in wet jackets, wet trousers, wet shorts and wet pants.. Nasty chaffing! But the terrible weather spurred us on and we made it right over to Pakiri camp from Mangawhai – my first 14 miler!
Well the weather wasn’t too bad when this shot was taken, took a turn for the worst soon after.We’d spotted something in the water ahead. Black and rolling with each break. Turned out to be a dead penguin :( So cute.. but very sad to seem him in such a poor way – shrimpy things crawling out of his eyes :(
When we arrived the sun came out and the ducks and finches came to greet us. A sweet evening lying on the grass as the sun set and a well earned snooze! :)
Smoked Chicken Posh Nosh
A gap in the rain allowed us a chance to put together a bit of a special lunch! Some smoked chicken picked up at the dairy, some salad, and tortillas. Pretty posh nosh!Yep that smoked peri peri chicken sure hit the spot :) Best lunch we’ve had so far.Pakiri Stream Crossing
We were already pretty soggy from the driving rain so getting a little more damp didn’t matter :) It’s hard to tell the exact depth of a stream. Turned out I’d not rolled my trousers up quite enough ;)Last obstacle of the day was an easy fording of Pakiri Stream before pitching our tent in the nearby campsite.Omaha Forest
On the way up this steep hill we met the farmer on his quad bike. I’m not sure if it’s just the farmers we’ve come across but alot seem to be in their 70’s. Hard working fellas!
This hill was straight up. But a great view down. A few electric fences, stiles, and encounters with wandering bulls later and we were down into Matakana. An affluent town, and the first we’ve seen with a cinema and gallery, rather than just the standard dairy ( corner shop ), and takeaway. Even the public toilets looked like an expensive sculpture :) Several pints of Tui were downed in the pub after a hot day’s climb. And then off to appreciate the local motel :)
This is the track leading up to Tamahunga. On the map the trail seems to do an odd and lengthy detour from the summit. Wasn’t sure if it was because of land access issues or logging, because there is a more direct trail marked on the map. You can’t actually see in this picture, but looks like the reason is a huge golf ball radar type thing, which presumably they don’t want us walking past.. So down we went to Matakana.Egg Trap!
No possums in here :) Since coming across all those possum corpses before I’ve learned a bit more about why they are considered such a pest here. I didn’t realise but other than stripping trees of leaves they apparently raid the nests of all the rare and endangered native birds. A lot of the areas we walk through are Kiwi bird conservation zones so there are no dogs allowed for the same reasons. Every area features these trap boxes. I expected to see a piece of cheese in there like in Tom and Jerry cartoons! But the possums are partial to an egg for breakfast. And who can blame them I guess. I was tempted to have it myself ;)
Pike River Mining Disaster
For a few says now we’ve been following the events at the Pike River Mine where a methane explosion had left 29 men trapped underground in precarious conditions. We turned on the TV to see the Prime Minister John Key announcing a day of mourning and knew something terrible had happened. There’d been a second massive explosion in the mine. Up until then lots of people had still held out hope that some of the men might be alive… A really awful turn of events. And terrible news for such a small close knit community. Horrific, and extremely sad.
Warkworth, Water Scavenging and Unexpected Biscuits!
Lots of vin yards to see along this section but on the whole not a super exciting detour :) Although we did get a bit short of water in the hot hot sun. Spotting a lady up a ladder pruning a tree, I nipped back to cheekily ask if we could ‘borrow’ a bit of water from her rain tank. Christine Morris turned out to be a bubbly girl who was in the middle of reconstructing and restoring an amazing kauri tree log cabin! Very envious indeed :) Gladly she filled our pouch with water to take us up and over the hill. And furnished us with her last two home-cooked shortbread biscuits ( which were absolutely awesome by the way! :) ), so thank you Christine! You saved us! :DI’m ashamed to say we took a bit of a shortcut today.. Felt a bit weird heading north from Matamuka back onto the official route that curves around Warkworth, so we cut straight through town and out the other side.
On the upside it saved us about a days walking, also Warkworth was really nice, with a very pretty little town centre.
Lunchtime leg shaving
Stopping for some sustenance by the side of the road we were surprised to find a waterfall and a small deep lake. Cookie had fun I think hurling himself across but I went by the tarmac behind ;) After a few minutes a local parked up stripped off and dived in! He couldn’t believe we’d not been in for a dip! But it did make a great spot for a snooze… and to give my legs a quick once over with the razor haha! :)The road we were walking along was called Falls Road, so I suppose we should of expected it! Lovely spot though :)
Moir Hill – Stealth Camp #2
Tried to get as far as we could that night so we could get down to the next town for river kayaking in the morning ;) But this called for a stealth camp!
There were two logs propped up like seats so we guessed some other hikers had had the same idea on this spot not too long ago. My guess is it was Alex and Shalane, who are always one step ahead of us.. We’re following you! ;)
Pleased I’d managed to do my second 14miler too! :) Thursday was a pretty windy night with a lot of tent flapping. But slept sound as a pound.
The trail notes said this section was ‘no camping’, probably due to the logging that seems to be going on around here. A guy in a 4×4 did drive past and stopped to say hello, didn’t seem bothered about us camping here though.
I got Nicky out of bed at 5am for the second time! Reason being we had to get to Puhoi by 10.30am to catch the outgoing tide. We made it just in time!
