November 2019 – Returning to Te Ika-a-Māui

57. Rainy Day in Auckland

Saturday, April 6: Rain in the morning, clearing by late afternoon

Jocelyn’s

Everyone was up and about for their various activities today – Jocelyn was going on one of Stephen’s hikes to Mt Auckland and was thoroughly prepared, and I put the pieces of my breakfast together in a leisurely fashion because I suspected that the rain was going to put a damper on all of Rayna’s plans. Toasted my toast with care not to set off the smoke alarm again.

Rayna reported for duty on the dot of 8:00 with a suggestion to wait an hour, which soon became more than two. The eventually agreed upon plan was to spend the morning at the museum, and she called by pretty soon after to check out my digs and take us there. Cameras went along for the ride, but there was not much in the museum to photograph (very dark), although there was an exhibition of early Auckland landscape photography that we blithely walked past. Had a more intensive look at the volcano and geology sections which confirmed my surmise that Whangaroa (an old volcanic field) was rubble that was the remains of the disintegrating volcano more than 20 mya. Read more…

56. Auckland

Friday, April 5: Sunny but cool, interesting clouds developing during the day

Walking: 10 km

Jocelyn’s

No need to get up early this morning but had forgotten to turn off the alarm so it was breakfast @ 8:00, then down to the bus to return the PLB.

So much bus riding for $6.9! Both trips took longer than an hour, and one change of bus (I had memorised the street plan of the change and was relatively confident I was at the right place) involved an unlabelled bus stop, no number, no timetable, no nothing. But I got there and and recognised the surroundings from the pick up trip with Rayna, now nearly eight weeks ago. Read more…

55. Whangarei – Auckland

Thursday, April 4: Cool and somewhat cloudy in Whangarei, sunny in Auckland

Jocelyn’s (airbnb, $62.7)

All packed up quite neatly after breakfast, which was not as populated today as it had been two days ago. The instant coffee still seemed to have an admixture of coffee grounds in it though, but the orange juice and mild could be finished before the journey began.

I left @ 8:40 and it took only a couple of minutes to get to the Hub. Had the podcasts playing away on the ipod and hope to make a dent on the backlog. Barbara turned up shortly after me, and just after 9:00 the bus was already there, and so could make a longer break. I raced up to the top to claim a front seat, and we pushed off at pretty much on the dot of 9:15. this is an “express” service, meaning: Stops along the way, but no break in Kaiwaka. Traffic flow was fairly good until we reached a critical point just before Warkworth. After that Auckland was not far. A couple of rainbows made an appearance along the way. Read more…

54. Rainy Day in Whangarei

Wednesday, April 3: Some sunshine to begin with, clouding over and showery in the afternoon

The Cell Block

Tried not to get up too early this morning, but not much can stop me waking as the sun starts to rise. I had used my beach towel to block light from the hallway last night & that worked well, and stayed in place, but the outside window had no curtains so nothing stops the light from getting in in the early morning.

After breakfast and checking the internet for whether airbnb were cancelling again I took off down to the Hub to investigate the shops a bit further. Had a look around at some souvenirs, but not much of interest. Decided that today would be the day for a haircut so went along the yacht harbour (marina) to Bank St where I had seen two barbers and took the second one, as there were no other customers. The barber himself inquired whether I had been a redhead in a previous incarnation which I negated but it brought the conversation to his accent – he was originally from Galway, so the family history was trotted out again. Anyway for $29 head hair and beard are now in fine form. Read more…

53. Whangarei: Te Whara

Tuesday, April 2: A bit cloudy to begin with, clearing up to sunny an only fairly warm

Tramping: 8.7 km

The Cell Block

Today was the day of the last tramp, so it was up @ 7:30 & breakfast, lunch preparation and the internet all got their turns before I headed for my shuttle. This had been organised late last night with Trail Drop Whangarei – for a section of the Te Araroa path known as Te Whara. Walking time to the pickup location was less than ten minutes, putting all of the equipment on the outside of the pack likewise and just before 9:00 Hannah Ffrost turned up in her van to pick up the only fare for the day, myself.

Drive was about thirty minutes in the direction of the Heads through what appeared to be little holiday villages, quite pleasant. There was one Natural Jetty, which would have to be photographed at some point as one of the series “Jetties” and we were soon in Urquhart Bay for the start of the walk. Read more…

52. Paihia – Whangarei

Monday, April 1: Showers the whole day, very humid, clearing in the afternoon

The Cell Block, 91 Cameron St., single with toilet ($60)

The alarm hadn’t yet rung (by about a minute or so) but I was still up @ 7:30 and had plenty of time for breakfast and to check the net to see if my further booking in Auckland had been reneged upon (it had not), and pack the rest of the stuff, which was all done by 9:00. Locked up Jarrad’s place and put the key into the safe and away I was having selected a relatively rain-free period via radar to time my walk to the bus stop.

Was about the first there, although peu-a-peu people gathered, and so far the weather held, I was in no rush to get on the bus when it finally arrived with about ten minutes’ delay, as I was going to be one of the first passengers off again. When I came to load my luggage the driver told me to put it inside the bus (a double-decker again) which also made sense. Read more…

51. Rainy Day in Paihia

Sunday, March 31: Rain on and off during the day, drier towards evening

Jarrad’s

Breakfast had to be in two parts this morning because the bread I had left behind had indeed gone off in the meantime. It was sultana bran to begin with and an orange juice, then down to the shops for the bread, and back here for toast and coffee.

Spent the rest of the morning trying to get something in airbnb near Rayna’s place with a reasonable check-in and not too complicated rules (surely they must have an option to exclude single males from even seeing some places if they are non grata?!?) and eventually sent off a request that took a long time in being answered and was rejected in the end. Then the question of the cooker replacement at home had to be addressed, at least in its initial stage. Read more…

50. Motukawanui – Mahinepua (CC5) – Paihia

Saturday, March 30: Rather cloudy with 20 knot easterly winds on the water, a drop of rain, and a few showers in the afternoon

Kayaking: 10.8 km

Jarrad’s

Wake up call for everyone was 7:30 and our breakfast was rather simple this morning: Muesli with the fruit salad thrown in and milk. Everything had to be packed in again, and the hut swept out as best as possible.

Because it might rain or otherwise be wet on the water we were advised to put on the dry tops, and I had all of the electronics under deck. The bay we were about to cross looked calm enough, but the problem was going to be the combination of high swell from the north with wind from behind us. Once out of the sheltered bay we were in the thick of it and Magnus directed us to stay together and aim for the point almost directly west, where we would then take a left hand turn. Read more…