Tātou Araroa — Episode 8: Tarmac-y Makaurau & The Wild Wild Waikato
Progress: 759.1km — 25.23%
Long Bay to Hamilton — Through Auckland into the Waikato.
Firstly, apologies for the delay. We have been really keen to make progress and put some distance in between ourselves and Auckland.
After a much needed four days rest, lots of hearty meals, fruit and veg and catching up with friends we set off on our merry way (without bags) last Saturday. First up was the very familiar Long Bay to Devonport section. During our COVID lockdown we walked the length and breadth of this section a number of times. Whilst walking these sections in the build up to this walk we often remarked how strange this would feel when we did it “for real”.
We were joined on this beautiful stretch of the East Coast by a number of friends. A big thank you to everyone who came for a walk or to say hello to us! After a couple of ferry journeys we made it back to the haven of Sarah, Ash and Veda’s for our last night under a roof. The following day, after a beautifully tranquil ferry journey to the city we were inspired by the sight of walkers and runners on the Auckland Harbour Bridge as they participated in the Auckland Marathon.
Buoyed by their amazing energy and achievements we began the Coast to Coast walkway- a 23km stretch across Auckland, starting by the waters of the Pacific and finishing where Onehunga meets the Tasman Sea. Taking in the volcanic landscape, including Mount Eden and One Tree Hill, it took us on a nostalgic journey through our nine years in Auckland.
Monday took us through Ambury Farm and the Otuataua Stonefields, before reaching the airport. Not before passing through Ihumātao. Māori first settled in Ihumātao as early as the 14th century CE. During the Invasion of the Waikato in 1863, the local Māori had their land confiscated by the New Zealand Government as punishment for supporting the Kingitanga movement (an anti-colonial movement). The land was largely used for farming until late 2016 when Fletcher Building acquired the site as part of a housing-development project. The Māori activist group “Save Our Unique Landscape” (SOUL) has opposed Fletchers’ proposed housing development — SOUL has occupied the site and staged protests since 2016.
In July 2019 SOUL were evicted from the site and eleven people were subsequently arrested, sparking a much larger occupation of several hundred people at Ihumātao that continues as of 2020.
We respectfully and quietly rolled through the area and towards the airport. After passing the airport, we took in probably our least glamorous section of the walk thus far, along busy State Highway 20, through industrial estates, the misleadingly titled Puhinui Stream Track and into the suburb of Manurewa and to Rox and Luke’s (and the amazing Jasper the dog) place for a tremendous BBQ, some cards and, an untimely reunification with our bags.
Next up with further roadwalking towards the South Auckland suburb of Ramarama, with only a brief reprieve in the picturesque Auckland Botanical Gardens to preserve our sanity. Arriving at Ramarama we stayed with some tremendous Trail Angels, Suzanne and Brent. We were treated to lovely company, but also lamb chops, mac’n’cheese and strawberries. An offer to use their hot tub was extended, but declined, for the fear that we might never leave. Brent has a map of the world hung outside the TA walkers bedroom which is dotted with pins from the homes of all their visitors, in the 3 years they have been hosting they have seen guests from all over the world, including Canada, Japan, Korea and Sardinia.
Heading off in the morning, our next stop was the town of Mercer. A climb up Pinnacle Hill gave us expansive views of both our conquered foe, Auckland and our next challenge, the Waikato region. Passing the regional border filled us with pride, two regions down, eight to go!
The following day, Mercer to Rangiriri was our wettest day on the trail yet. Walking with Mark and Tanya who we’d crossed paths with a number of times on the trail we followed the mighty Waikato River, North Island’s longest. The trail was a mixture of bush bashing through stingy gorse, navigating hugely confusing and poorly marked trails and, frustratingly, A LOT of climbing under, over and around often electrocuted fences. A particularly slippery section of off-camber mud left us at times with only a handful of grass or tree roots between us and a swim in the river.
We knew that signing up for this walk we would have to face our fears, for Bill it is heights, so far untested. For Sarah it’s slippery downhills. Today this was put to the test and she passed with flying colours.
Eight hours of trudging through the patchy rain, sometimes even sliding under fences on our bellies, we had a final 7km section of road walking to complete. The weather gods decided, whilst we were walking on this exposed stretch of farming road, to really let loose. Horizontal rain and whipping winds battered our weary bodies on our approach to Rangiriri.
The historic Rangiriri Hotel was a sight for sore eyes. As the four of us clambered into the bar looking like drowned rats a huge sense of relief and also pride came over us. This day tested us, mainly mentally but it was 31km too and the body could feel it. We were proud because despite everything, we were in great spirits and could approach the challenges with a positive attitude.
After transforming our room into a laundry, with socks, pants, t-shirts, jackets and shoes hanging from every surface, we headed into the bar for some of their famously generously portioned food.
No trip to Rangiriri is completed without a trip to the Rangiriri Pie Shop. Cathy, as well as being a culinary genius is also a wonderful trail angel and regularly offers her lawn to poor souls arriving into the town. The roast pork pie was a delight and sustained us both well past lunch.
Our solid nights sleep was followed by a gentle 20km walk into Huntly. Our track for this day was primarily on our new favourite feature — the mighty stopbank. Built to protect land near a river, a stop bank is a raised mound that runs parallel to the river and offers the walker an elevated, and often drier experience than the path below.
Mention Huntly to most New Zealanders and their initial reactions are telling, it has a reputation for being somewhat rough around the edges. The brutalist power plant overlooks the town casting a shadow in people’s minds about its rugged and grey exterior. Whilst we won’t be moving to Huntly after the walk, we were delighted by the friendliness of the people and surprised by the pleasantness of Lake Hakanoa on the outskirts of town where we stayed. Taking full advantage of the kitchen facilities we cooked up a dinner of rice and tuna (of course) but supplemented with capsicum (peppers), courgette, peas and BBQ asparagus.
Our next challenge took the form of the Hakarimata Ranges which overlook the Waikato between Huntly and our destination for the night, Ngaruawahia. The local’s had mentioned her 1100 steps, soliciting a Pavlovian response of making our calves and hamstrings twitch in anticipation. In short, it was tremendous. Yes, there were many many stairs, but given our experiences with rooty and slippery mud on other big climbs, we were delighted by the steady and immediate progress one could make on these predictable and solid steps. After an hour of hard work, we had completed 80% of all the climbing we needed to do that day, which was a comforting feeling. We followed the ridge line whilst being afforded views of the Waikato Plain below, seeing as far as Mt Pirongia, a challenge we face in the coming days.
As we dropped from the ridge line down into the town of Ngaruawahia we finally saw why the local’s in Huntly had mentioned 1100 steps, the entire descent was set upon set of staircases. Dotted amongst these sets of stairs were plaques with motivational signs such as “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t you’re probably right”, which provide potential encouragement, or potential patronisation for the unfortunate souls who attempt this climb.
Dinner in Ngaruawahia was excellent. A small regeneration project The Durham Precinct offers the diner a tough decision; Phat Patties Burgers or Chur-coal Chicken? After deliberation, we went for both and were delighted we did.
We again followed the Waikato River yesterday for our 20km stroll into Hamilton. The tranquility of the river broken at regular intervals by the sound of power boats and jet skis competing the annual Bridge to Bridge Race running 82km along the waterway. Half an hour before our arrival into Hamilton Central we stopped by the river to watch the main event “The Long Race” involving paired water ski racers being towed at speeds in excess of 100km/hour along the water. A further highlight of yesterday was passing 750km completed or 25% of Te Araroa.
So here we are in Hamilton. Laying ahead for the next week is the aforementioned Mount Pirongia, the towns of Waitomo, Te Kuiti and then into the Pureora Forest.
