A Dangerous Business

Date: 24th November 2023

Start: Orewa Beach Holiday Park (km 542.4)

End: Browns Bay (km 570.8)

Distance Travelled: 21.4 km walked + 7 km hitch (28.4 km total)

Total Distance Completed: 570.8 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: willow by Taylor Swift

Auckland Noisiness: uncomfortable

Guess what I had to do this morning? I had to wake up before the sun. It is never fun waking up before the sun. But, I hear you ask, why must I wake up before the sun? It’s for the exact same reason as the last time I had to in Whananaki.

T I D E S

I’ve got another estuary crossing to do today, and it’s 18 km down the trail, and low tide is at 11am. The result: early start.

Although not as early as Melly and Matt who got going before 6:30. To be fair I probably should’ve left around the same time, but I just couldn’t rouse myself in time, eventually getting away just before 7. As I left Orewa behind me, the rain began to fall. The weather all day would be temperamental, heavy rain and strong winds followed by periods of heat and sunshine. Either way, I spent most of the morning in a mildly damp state, either from precipitation or sweat.

The first part of my journey followed this nice pathway to Silverdale.

Sadly, this peaceful period would only last for an hour or so. Once on the outskirts of Silverdale, the footpath ends and dumps you onto a fast arterial road with no shoulder on which to walk. Heavy traffic careening towards you at 80 km/h with maybe 1.5 m of separation if you’re lucky. Oh, and it’s raining. It wasn’t just that it wasn’t enjoyable, I was downright scared for most of my time on that road, so much so that when I got off it and turned onto the road to Stillwater, I had to rest for 10 minutes to recompose myself.

During this time, a local by the name of Alister pulled up and asked if I wanted a lift to Stillwater. Considering the weather was still pretty poor, I happily took him up on his offer. When I saw what the road was like on the way down – very narrow, not that quiet, and nowhere to get out of the way if a car comes at you – I was doubly thankful for Alister’s offer.

There was one slight issue with hitchhiking this section. I got to the bottom of the road before 9, so I had to wait there for over an hour until the tide went down sufficiently in the estuary for me to cross it with minimal wetness. I didn’t mind, it was pretty wet thanks to all the rain so I was more than happy to wait it out. During my waiting, several hikers from the motor camp left and headed towards the river, including Tom, Jamie, and Ron from Scotland. I think the first two were trying to get all the way to Auckland city so they can’t exactly wait for low tide.

At 10am, I picked up my bag and headed out, passing through a muddy and overgrown track beside the mouth of the Okura River.

The track was a bit gnarly in places with the river lapping at my feet, eventually turning onto the estuary bank itself. With the tide out, I had a wide expense of beach to walk over, although in some places I couldn’t take a direct route the k’s to come very slippery algae-coated rocks. The beach was also very shelly, with a report coming in later of a hiker I’d met in the Dome Forest having slipped over and gashed their hand badly on some shells. That got a little too close to home, as I had a similar experience in Hervey Bay a few years ago where I stood on a protruding shell/shelled creature in an estuary similar to this.

Upon reaching Dacre Point, you’re supposed to find a steel pole with a marker attached to it and walk towards it. I couldn’t for the life of me find this pole. Unlike the poles in the Taiharuru which were thick wooden poles painted white, these ones were very skinny. Orange arrows, thankfully, are much easier to spot. I won’t go into too much detail about the crossing, all you need to know is that at the exact moment I entered the estuary (having just taken my rain gear off), a shower hit. This was also much deeper than the previous crossings I had done, the river coming up to my waist. Once across, I made a beeline to some trees and waited for Matt and Melly to join me. They got a nice, sunny crossing much to my chagrin.

No matter, we still had quite a few km to go today. Melly especially, who was aiming for Takapuna. Myself and Matt were only going as far as Browns Bay, after which Matt would stay with a friend and I’d head into Auckland city. For the time being we’d remain together as the markers and signs took us over green cliffs and down to sandy beaches with – surprisingly – only a few sporadic appearances of road walking as we passed by Long Bay.

As we neared our destination, thoughts turned to what to have for lunch. My mind was set on finding a bakery and something relatively cheap. Matt on the other hand had been craving Asian food since he arrived in Kiwiland and he noticed a ramen shop in Browns Bay. Needless to say, his recommendation won out, ramen slaps.

When we arrived we bid a sad farewell to Melly as she continued south. Looking back, I had more or less walked the exact same itinerary as her and Matt since Kerikeri over 2 weeks ago. It’s funny how easily you can take someone for granted until they’re gone. Our paths are bound to cross again at some point, there’s still a lot of country left to explore.

Then came the ramen.

I went for a classic Tonkotsu ramen which went down a treat. I’m also glad that my diet of instant ramen on trail hasn’t put me off proper ramen, that would really suck. What doesn’t suck are Auckland’s busses, who whisked me away from Browns Bay and back to the city. The last time I had seen the CBD skyline, I was onboard an Intercity coach on a very wet day with the harbour covered in fog. Today was the exact opposite. The rain had gone away, the sun was out.

As was the traffic. I know Auckland is infamous for its jams (not helped by the government recently cancelling a light rail project that would’ve helped alleviate some of it and instead investing in more roads (jUsT oNe MoRe LaNe and all that garbage)), but I didn’t expect it to take 20 minutes to travel up Queen Street to K’Road; it’s only just over 1 km! No matter, I got to my hostel in the end and got settled in after picking up a few groceries. Honestly, Auckland ain’t that bad. I certainly wouldn’t want to stay here long-term, but it’s got its perks, the North Shore being one of them. I’ll be back there tomorrow to finish off the trail I left, then I’ll set my sights further south, heading towards Waikato. That’s a weird feeling…

Oh, there’s one thing I forgot to add. If you’ve been paying attention to the songs that have been playing in my head, you’ve probably seen a lot of Kings Kaleidoscope entries on there. Without fangirling too much over them (seriously, please come tour Australia!!!), I connect really strongly with their music and my own journey as a Christian. They announced a couple days ago that they would be re-releasing all of their albums for a very limited time. I have 2 of them already, but I’m missing their other 4. Long story short, I won’t be missing them anymore, despite my bank account’s protests (the USD to AUD exchange rate makes me sick).