November 26th
Ambury Park Campground(381.3)-Brookby Rd(403.8)
Mileage: 22.5mi/36.2km
Campsite Elevation: 165ft/50m
Elevation chart courtesy of Guthook Hikes Te Araroa App.
We had two mix-ups in navigation this morning that ate up some time. The first one was that towards the end of the coastal walkway, the signage pointed off the walkway through some tall wet grass. It seemed that the walkway would take us the same way without getting wet or going in tall grass, so we followed that. It ended up taking us away from where we needed to be, so we had to go up through the Otuataua Stonefields, which was just off to the side of the track on the Guthook app. Later, we talked to Angeline (who camped where we did last night) who did take the tall grass option and still ended up doing what we did, so it seems there is a mix up in here somewhere.
The other hiccup we had was a bit later in the morning. For any future hikers, look out for a less obvious turn once on the Puhinui Stream Walk. The trail marker is right on the beautifully manicured path, but points off to the left to indicate that the TA actually goes through a gate and through private farmland. The grass is overgrown, so there isn’t a distinct path, and it is easy to blow right past the turn without noticing it. I even commented about the arrow being odd and pointing the wrong way as we passed it and we totally didn’t see that the trail actually did go that way. I didn’t notice until almost two kms later, and we had to backtrack. It will make more sense for anyone reading this and actually doing the trail. Just keep an eye out for that turn.
The turn we missed that went left and DOES NOT follow the clear path straight.
I’ve never seen an alpaca before.
Hiking right by where the planes flew low before landing at the Auckland Airport.
A different kind of traffic on Saturday morning.
A rare dinosaur sighting!
Our lunch outside a vehicle emissions building.
The rest of the day was a mix of road and more scenic sidewalk paths that cut through neighborhoods, parks, or the Botanic Gardens for brief stretches between road walks. It made the day much nicer than anticipated as we expected all of it to be a busy road. Yes, most of it was road walking, but it was nice to break it up a bit and get off the road for bits.
Ending the day on a busy road with little shoulder.
They have tons of family and friends come to visit, so there are multiple families on the sprawling property at the moment. We are next to a converted shed that they use as a mix of a house of worship and playing music. When we arrived, teenagers were in there with music up on a big screen, and they were playing songs that were in Korean and related to the Bible. We were told we could camp outside this space in the grass and even use the restroom there to shower. A shower! It was the perfect setup and we shared the bathroom with some of the others in the second house. Soon after we got there, Angeline walked by who camped at the same campground as we did last night and also joined us tonight. She will probably also camp at our hopeful destination tomorrow, but likes to get a later start, so we won’t see her during the day probably. She plays the piano and it was fun to hear that some tonight as well.
Some great evening light.
The only other thing worth mentioning is our feet. They got really soaked and pruned yesterday in the rain all day. Our shoes and socks were still quite wet, and with additional wet grass this morning, they stayed wet until lunch when we could dry them out. Combining that with all the paved road and sidewalk walking has not been good for either of us. Becky’s feet are quite sore, and I developed a blister under the ball of one foot. It was small, but significant enough to make walking uncomfortable. I was able to pop it at lunch which helped, and then I fully cut it open tonight so it won’t fill with liquid again tomorrow. This strategy tends to work for me so we’ll see. The only worry is that rain is possible on and off for many of the upcoming days. I can tell my feet need a day or two to dry out and not be so sensitive, so I hope that if it does rain, the feet don’t get too soaked. If they do get soaked, I hope that it isn’t combined with lots of road walking, which is more painful with feet that are really pruned up and wet for an extended period of time.
Someone should make a study on Kiwis’ DNA. I’m sure they will find a special strand full of kindness. Good luck with the feet to both of you.
Erin, I was wondering what gear Becky is using? Sleeping bag, backpack, rain shell, insulation layer? I have two nieces that I will probably be outfitting down the road. And its nice to see what young people on limited budgets are buying…:)
Good question! We actually have my old ULA Circuit pack and tarptent coming for her to lighten up next town. Here’s what she has because it was cheap. Kathmandu Incite 60L pack, Jack Wolfskin Gossamer tent, Cikrilan rain jacket and removable fleece, and McKinley X-treme Light 1000 bag 9C with a liner if needed.
Erin, it’s true that NZers are very nice people, but then again most people are nice people, almost wherever you go, I think. Still a bit disappointed with the trail itself though.
Alpacas are wonderful, we have a load of them here in Kent, England .. they are so good-looking, with those huge eyes, but they have a constant battle going on with themselves because they are very curious and interested in you, but at the same time they are also very timid .. so they never quite know whether to come close and say hello, or run away and hide ..
I know better than to tell you how to look after your feet, they have walked further than mine after all .. but you just can’t spend too much time looking after them. I get my boots off at least once every day during the walk.. and I do think it helps to put some cream on your feet, I use CCS foot cream: http://www.boots.com/en/CCS-Foot-Care-Cream-175ml_5121/
.. but any foot cream that has urea as an ingredient should work. If you do a google search locally for ccs or urea you should get hits ..
Happy walking ..
You know….hiking on all those roads just doesn’t look enjoyable. You’ve hiked in some of the most beautiful terrain possible and so far the roads just haven’t put this hike on my bucket list. I hope for you and the others it changes soon…….
Interesting camp site. Those folks seemed pretty cool and it was really nice of them to open it up to you all. Hope your feet are better now.
Your Alpaca encounter reminded me of the Cheryl Strayed book ‘Wild’ where she finds an Alpaca alone on the trail (surreal)…for a moment at first, I thought, wait a minute you had seen an Alpaca before on the PCT, then I remembered it was in the book!
I think maybe you have seen alpacas; remember those creatures on a farm by our old place when you visited us in Big Sur? Those were alpacas 🙂
I would not under any circumstances have the bottle to ask someone if I could camp in their yard 🙁 I wish I could, but I have some pretty bad anxiety happening pretty much all the damn time. I think that has finally put the last nail in the coffin of potentially doing this hike post-covid for me.
I’m very much enjoying this blog though, once I’ve finished reading Te Araroa I’m gonna move onto something Australian I think.