Auckland to Hamilton

• Start: @ km 585.5
• End @ km 602
• Hiked: 16.5 km + 3 km in town

Today was a bit of a slow start; although, intended to be a fast one). We had a great sleep (although it was less than 7 hours) for the second night in a row, which reminded our bodies what that feels like. Mathias was already on task five by the time Leah dragged herself out of bed. When she finally got up on her feet her eyes filled with tears. Everything was just feeling too rushed. The Zero Day hadn’t felt like much of a Zero Day at all, and she still felt exhausted. What happened to the chill? Are we not valuing the chill out time?

We pulled ourselves together, got all of our ducks in a row and headed out for some post office fun and breakfast. When we got on the bus, the driver looked at us (and our big packs) and told us we could ride for free. So sweet! The post office visit was a success. We mailed our goods to Maria and our packs felt lighter. We decided to head back to Archie’s (a place we had enjoyed when we first landed in Auckland. Although still delicious, it was no longer enough food. What was once a meal had now become (to us) a mere snack. Cue- meltdown number two. And then, Anita to the rescue. Leah was able to have a bit of chat time with Anita (which always lifts her spirits), while she and Mathias enjoyed their flat whites. 

After that and a few kilometers to get to where we left the trail we walked to the summit auf Mt. Eden with beautiful views over the center of Auckland and the bay. To the south we could also see what was coming up - a nice walk through little calm streets, Cornwall Park and down to the Onehunga to Mangere bridge.

The walk towards Ambury Regional Park was quite lovely. It went along a nice park pathway, alongside the water. It was on this path that we passed the 600km mark.

When we arrived at the campsite, there were lots of spaces to choose from. We found a perfect place to pitch our tent; the water in the background and a picnic table close by. It seemed others appreciated the space as well because soon after our tent was up, a chicken and her chiclets joined us. Later, Jules and Sarah arrived. And after, Joe. Sleep.

• Start: @ km 602
• End: @ km 634
• Hiked: 27.5 km
• Ubered: 4.5 km

Today was Mathias’s birthday. 🎉 We had a chill start to the day: birthday hugs, oatmeal and coffee, and even a skype call from Mathias’s mom (Which totally made his day ❤️). 

We continued along Puhinui Stream Track taking in the views. Soon we were following a road that led us into a less scenic industrial area. And then, the skies turned grey and within a minute, the heavens opened up. We raced under a nearby garage roof and took cover. Mathias checked his fancy weather app and could see that the storm would only last a bit, so we decided to wait it out.

Eventually the rain stopped and we headed out back on the road. We walked for a few hours before turning in to the Auckland Botanical Gardens. We had heard these were quite spectacular and were looking forward to having a look. The weather had other plans. Birthday downpour take 2. We ran to hide under a tree, because really what else could we do?! Mathias again checked his app and saw that this rain would not stop for some time... So, we made the decision to suck it up and walk in the rain. 

The rain was cold and soon so were our hands and bodies. Jules and Sarah had organized a stay with a trail angel and we couldn’t get there fast enough. The girls were already there and we called them to make sure we were at the right house. They said to go around back... oh, and that they were hanging out in the hot tub. What?! We thought they were kidding... We were welcomed in by the lovely trail angel (and home owner), Mandy. She took one look at us and said, “oh my goodness, you must be freezing. Drop your bags and go hop in the hot tub.” Trail Angel magic! Happy birthday Mathias.

We hung out in the hot tub until we were all warm and shriveled. It was amazing. Then we took hot showers, with fresh towels! We had already planned to go out to dinner for Mathias’s birthday and invited Mandy to come along. Ash (their super sweet dog) had to stay behind. Before heading out to dinner, Mathias and Julia worked on Mandy’s Christmas tree; hanging various strings of lights. 

Dinner was lovely for the most part. The place was a bit of a hot mess (packed, no real system in place...), but we were all together and happy to celebrate Mathias. Good food, wine and friends. Sarah and Julia surprised Mathias with a super sweet card and a backpacking dessert: cheesecake. It was so thoughtful and so perfect! They are so awesome.

We headed back to Mandy’s and met her husband Egbert. We hung out for a bit in their living room drinking wine and chatting. When Mandy started taking about their daughter being a gymnast and that the house is filled with all of her stuff, Leah couldn’t contain herself and asked, “Does she have a foam roller?” If it wasn’t so big and/or additional weight, Leah would be traveling with her foam roller! (If you don’t know about them, look em up. They are wonderful.) In fact, she did. And she was more than happy to share it with us. So there was Leah, laying on the ground, rolling around the living room while chatting it up with the trail angles. Julia then had a turn. She gets it. 

As it was quite wet outside, Mandy invited us to sleep in the two spare rooms inside. A-maz-ing. 

• Start: @ km 634
• Stop: @ km 661.5
• Hiked: 27.5 km

We had a wonderful night’s sleep. Good enough that we have to mention it in this post! We were then spoiled by Mandy, yet again, with freshly baked bread and homemade marmalade. What a way to start the day!

After we left Mandy and Egbert’s (and Ash’s) house, the day was pretty much road walking. Lots of ups and downs and curves on back country roads (though mostly paved). Not much more to report. The girls had arranged a place to stay: with a Trail angel named Glenn. 

At pretty much the highest point of elevation (for the day), was Glenn’s house. He was a super chill guy who happily welcomed us into his home. We pitched our tents in his yard and then spent the majority of the time hanging out on bean bag chairs and chatting with him on his front deck, which had a beautiful view of the rolling green hills in the distance. At one point, Glenn came out with a tray of roasted veggies. They were delicious! Glenn also talked to us about Huntly (a town we would be walking through in the upcoming days). Apparently, people vote for what they think is the worst town in New Zealand (possibly just the north) and Huntly was this year’s winner. When we asked him why, he didn’t really give us a clear answer. He just said we’d see. Hmmm... 

Side note: Incase we haven’t made it clear in past posts: Trail Angels are magic. They help TA hikers just because they are super nice humans. Some of them give us food, a flat grassy patch to pitch our tent, a warm shower, good conversation, a bed, a hot tub ... whatever it is, we appreciate it (and want to live on a trail so we can give back to hikers in the future). 

There was probably a beautiful sunset view from Glenn’s deck, but we were all to tired and were asleep well before the sun went down. 

• Start: @ km 661.5
• End: @ km 690.5
• Hiked: ~ 29 km

We got an early start to the day. It started with lots of road walking and we were thankful the road was not busy... well, the first road that is. Soon, the road led us to a highway, which was fast, busy, curvy and did not have much of a shoulder. We crossed over a small bridge and luckily could carefully walk on the outside of the barrier. 

Just after the bridge, a man across the street was calling for us to come over. We crossed the street. He told us that the next section was even worse (and more dangerous) and explained that there was another way through the pastures (avoiding the highway). He had even put up trail markers (the big orange triangles we follow... when we can find them) to help us. 

We decided to take his advice. We messaged the girls to let them know as well, in case he wasn’t there to flag them down later. The trail was pretty well marked at the beginning, for the most part. At one point, Mathias spotted an orange marker down below (which Leah would not have seen!). From there we could see there was a log/pipe in the river that we could balance on to cross over. We both made it across without any dramas. 

We had contacted a trail angel called Josh about pitching our tent on his lawn. He told us no problem. Just before arriving, we passed a handmade sign that offered TA hikers a place to pitch their tents. We learned later that Josh had just posted this sign the day before.

We walked from the trail up a hill that led to a small farmhouse. We assumed this was Josh’s house, but nobody was there. The house was surrounded by pastures. And the various pastures were filled with calves, mooing calves, very loud and intense mooing calves. Later, Josh explained that the calveshad been recently weened off milk... which they were not happy about. 

Josh arrived home from work about an hour or so later. We soon got to know that he had just moved in a week ago! He met a TA hiker 3 days earlier and learned all about what the TA is. She had asked to pitch her tent on his lawn. He had even hiked a portion of the trek with her on the following day just to see what it was all about. So, within a week of moving in, Josh was now hosting a second batch of hikers (and had made a sign for more to come). Magic. 

He told us to make ourselves at home. He offered us hot showers (which we all gratefully accepted). He later came out and gave us electrolyte powder! We chatted with Josh for a bit and learned that he has been a dairy farmer for 13 years. He just started the job on this farm a week ago. He let us know that tomorrow we would be walking through pastures of bulls. He said they should be fine, but he tends to follow the rule: never turn your back on a bull. He also mentioned Huntly (the town we would be arriving in tomorrow)... with minimal description as to why we should try to keep on going and make our way to the next town. Hmmm.

We were exhausted from a long day and soon retreated to our tents to crash. The calves continued to moo at ridiculous volumes throughout the night.

• Start: @ km 690.5
• End: @ km 725
• Hiked: 34.5 km

We woke up to sounds of mooing/yelling cows. Josh had already left for work (Dairy farmers start early). He left a sweet note to us on the kitchen counter telling us to help ourselves to toast (he also left out various spreads), tea and/or coffee. So nice!

We made our way out; past the mooing cows, down the big hill, over a fence and soon onto a very overgrown pathway. We weren’t sure at first if we had gone off trail. We were thinking, ‘This can’t be the trail, can it?,’ when we heard voices coming from behind us. 

The voices belonged to two Canadians: Yoni and Noah. We had brief introductions and then stepped aside so they could pass us. They flew by us and into the jungle abyss.

We eventually popped out and into a pasture filled with bulls. They didn’t seem at all interested, but Leah remained suspicious... The majority of the day was spent going over stiles and into various pastures (some with and some without animals inside); this pattern was repeated for hours. 

We were only in Huntly (the infamous town) for a few minutes before we heard someone calling to us from his front yard. What was he saying?, you might ask... He was asking us if we needed any water. And at this point, we really did. We handed him our empty bottles over the fence and he collected them in a big bucket. When he returned, he subtly mentioned that we should probably stay in the next town, as Huntly wasn’t really a place for tourists. He himself was not from there, but as just currently there for work. 

We had seen on the map that there was a dairy a few kilometers up the trail. We were all looking forward to a snack. When we got to the dairy we were quite surprised. The attendant could be seen behind the metal bars. Hmmm... We ended up buying a few random snack items (the selection was very limited) and then sitting outside the shop on the curb to eat them. 

The girls found what might be a place to stay, but there was no number or address; just a vague-ish description of the location. We found the place, and the family was very kind. They let us pitch our tents and offered us hot showers. We were also able to fill up our water bottles (which is a common need). 

We at our dinner in the lawn while their cat, dog and goat observed.

• Start: @ km 725
• End: @ km 758
• Hiked: 33 km

Today was going to be a long day and we knew we needed to push it; so we got up early and were already walking before 6:00am. The house we stayed at the night before was only a five minute walk from the start of the Hakamirata Walkway. The walkway starts with an obscene amount of steep stairs. We were panting and sweating within minutes and the stairs just seemed to keep on going. There were 1300 stairs. 

At one point there was a small detour to a lookout point. We followed it and not only did we have a wonderful view, but we also met Noah and Yoni (The Canadians) who were chillin on a bench eating their breakfast. Noah offered an Oreo and of course we accepted (you don’t turn down food). Then we moved on.

The rest of the trek was lovely. We continued onward and upward for a couple more hours until we reached the top. There we came across the locals; who were coming from the other side (this is a popular hike for locals). We had planned to take a snack break at the top, but the sun was beating down hard and we really needed some shade. So, we quickly went up, then down the observation tower and started heading down the other side. We basically took 20 steps and then plopped down on the side of the trail to snack in the shade. It was a good choice.

The way down was a hoot. There were so many stairs, which we were happily flying down, while tons of locals were huffing and puffing their way up (We could relate because we had just done it on the other side... although, I have to admit, I think they had it harder). In the beginning, we would mostly receive gasps or occasional eye contact in response to our "Good mornings"; however, the further we went down the more less dramatic the breaths became and the number of smiles and verbal interactions increased. It really was so cool to see so many people out and about; enjoying a active day with family and friends.

After completing the track, it was time to eat! We headed into town and attempted to go to a cafe we had looked up, but unfortunately, it was closed. Sigh. We managed to quickly find another one and enjoyed toasted cheese and onion sandwiches and coffee. We spoke with a couple to guys at the table next to us who were asking us questions about the trek and teaching us a bit about the area and a few Maori words and meanings. As we were leaving, we were approached by a shady-looking character who wanted to give us some Christmas weed and a Bob Marley tie, we graciously declined. He then showed us the way to a water tap where we could stock up for the remainder of the day.

Soon we were on a developed cycling path alongside the river that we would follow all the way into Hamilton. Along the path we passed Noah and Yoni who had just had a swim in the river. We decided to follow suit and jumped into the river ourselves to cool down. Closer to Hamilton, we were approached by a family who was asking us about the hike. One of the young kids gave us a big candy bar with a note attached; the note read something like the following: to teach our kids that the holiday season is not just about receiving gifts, we are going around and having them take part in random acts of kindness (In this case, making Leah's and Mathias's day with some much needed calories). So cool! Leah definitely gave the parents a big shout out.

The day was long and Mathias's foot and knee pain were getting the best of him (although he still held it together... for the most part). We finally made it to Hamilton and met Jules and Sarah at the Pak-n-Save. Leah (having developed a seemingly successful strategy) ate a bar before entering; we were pretty much like wild, hungry animals at this point. After shopping, Mathias posed the question: "What's worse than going grocery shopping hungry?" The answer: Having four of us going grocery shopping hungry. We bought so... much... food!

We took an Uber from the Pak-n-Save to our Airbnb; ordering Dominoes on the way.

We enjoyed a Christmas eve dinner (aka 4 Dominos pizzas), wine, beer, chats and laughter. It was such a lovely way to spend the evening, which could be a late one because tomorrow would be a Zero Day.

• Hiked: 0
• Ubered: 2
• Watched the new Star Wars: 0

Let's just start with saying: Breakfast of Champions! The girls woke up a bit before us and prepared vegan pancakes (they're vegans), fruits, yogurt, applesauce, juices. It was so good. We ate until we couldn't eat any more... and then we took a few more bites.

Pretty much the only plans we had made for the day were eat, see Star Wars, eat. Mathias had booked the tickets online the previous day, and we all jumped into the Uber excited for the theater. We were quite surprised when we arrived at the mall as there were no cars in sight. Hmmm... Turns out the tickets were booked for the following day. Everything in Hamilton was closed for Christmas day. What ya gonna do? Call another Uber, head back to the Airbnb and have some much needed nap time.

We awoke from our naps ready for another feast. Again, it was glorious. As we were preparing we met Mandy; a girl from China who had just arrived in Hamilton, where she will be starting university after the break. We invited her to join us and she happily accepted. She was quite impressed with our spread. Another beautiful end to a wonderful day.