Start: Stillwater (543km)
Finish: Ihumatao – nr Auckland Airport (607km)
Distance for the day: 64km
Cumulative distance: 607km
Cumulative moving time:
Today was an
exciting day, filled with unusual emotions and unexpected experiences.
Stillwater, where we started the day, is just outside Auckland’s northwern-most
suburbs along the popular eastern coastline, and now we are parked up at the
side of the road close the airport – south of the city. It’s a surprisingly
peaceful setting amongst corn fields with far reaching views to the mountains
and sea. I have lost my bearings a little, but we are roughly overlooking the
Manukau Harbour.
Today was
Auckland day and it was always going to be a big one. If I didn’t have so much
occupying my mind, I may have felt more emotional about reaching such a major
milestone on my journey, but as it was, I approached it in a relatively
business-like manner so it didn’t become too-longer day.
The day
started with another estuary crossing about 3km in. The guide book described it
as a hip height wade at low tide, so with the tide being close to low level, I
remained positive about negotiating it quickly. It turned out to be more like
shoulder height. Although my feet did just about remain in contact with the
bottom for the full crossing, it may have been easier to actually swim, because
another few inches of depth and I would have been afloat. In reality I should
have had a dry bag with me and just accepted it as a swim - it probably would
have been simpler. Anyway, once I was semi dry and my shoes and socks were back
on (they should have stayed on to start with) I was able to get going again. I
find such breaks so early in the day quite difficult to deal with, the reason
being my timings go wrong, and feel like I’m on the back foot for the rest of
day. I reality, I know there is usually a healthy dose of optimism built into
my target times, but how else do you push on without a target to aim at?
The route
down the coast weaved around a lot, but generally involved cliff top paths,
beaches, suburban walk ways and bit of pavement. It was strange have people
around after such long spells of solitude in my journey so far, but I enjoyed
taking it all in. I reached the launch point for the Auckland (Waitemate)
Harbour crossing soon after 12.30pm having run a good 30km, and we launched at
around 1.00pm. The crossing was quite choppy, with wind chop and eddying water,
but Mark and I both felt comfortable and we whizzed across with a nice tail
wind. The get out point in the marina was pretty spectacular, and right in the
heart of it. I then paid a trip to the Auckland The North Face store, chatted
to a few of the guys there, and eventually got back on the trail about 3pm.
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| Paddling across the harbour to Auckland city centre |
The Te Araroa
Trail Trust deserve a great deal of credit for the route they have pieced
together running south from the city centre. Linking a series of campuses,
green spaces and interesting buildings/ landmarks, I felt I got a petty good
flavor of the city in the 3 or so hours it took to move through. And then,
before I knew it, it was back out into the open again, running a nice coastal
section into the airport area. I didn’t expect too much beforehand but was more
than pleasantly surprised.
And whilst I
did all that (the easy bit), the guys were retrieving the kayaks, dropping them
back at the hire shop, cleaning and returning the hire car ready for return and
running other errands to make the most of being in the Auckland area.
And to wrap
it all off, I also had a great leg massage from superstar ‘H’ who was also
there earlier in the day supporting with friends as we completed the paddle. It
couldn’t have come at a better time. She would make a welcome recruit to the
team if she wasn’t quite so heavily pregnant! Thanks H.
I’d be happy
with more days like that.
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| Getting my legs sorted out at the end of the day |
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