Day 24: Stillwater Motor Camp to Auckland Central (561-595, walked to 575)

Julia, Puff Puff and Kristen were planning on leaving at 8:30 to get to the river we needed to cross at low tide. I really wanted to cross with them after my last exciting river crossing experience, so I left a little after 8 to make sure I didn't get behind them.

We all got there a few minutes early, reread the trail notes and started planning how to cross. I hooked my PLB to the front of my shirt and we began walking out on a sandbank. Peter had told us the day before that the water would at least come up over our bellies, so I wasn't too worried when the water began touching my shorts. Puff Puff was looking at her gps and thought it was time to cross, but I was really nervous.

She led the way and started testing the path across but the water came up over her chest and she turned around. By now it was nearly 10 and it seemed like the tide was coming back in (it also could have just been the wind picking up). There were little waves coming from two different directions, hitting my legs and splashing my shorts. There was a much longer road walk around this crossing and I was ready to take it. No more swimming across rivers for me!

I turned around and started walking back, but after a minute I turned around to check on Puff Puff, Julia and Kristin. Julia was leading them across the river! It got up over their chests and Puff Puff and Kristin turned around, but Julia kept going. It never got deeper and she started making her way out of the water on the other side!

Puff Puff and Kristin turned around to follow and Julia talked them through the crossing. I quickly waded over and began to make the crossing as well. Puff Puff said she had to swim a few steps as she talked me across. Thankfully my toes just touched the bottom the entire time so I didn't have to swim again. It felt so good to get to the other side! The wind was blowing hard, but we dried off and continued on. I'm so glad they were all there. I never could or would have done the crossing by myself. And it felt amazing to look back on what we had crossed.

I stayed with them through Long Bay, the track right after the Okura River Corssing, but as soon as we hit the beach after the track I stopped to use the bathroom and check how wet everything was in my pack (everything was pretty dry!). I'll probably never catch up to them again, but it was a fun morning and I hope they have a great rest of their hike! Puff Puff is on instagram as masonalexandra and blogs at masonalexandra.com. If you want to follows real legitimate through hikers you can find it there.

I walked another hour or two until I got to Browns Bay. When I stopped to grab ice cream I realized they had Auckland Transit buses coming through the area. There was still about 20 kilometers to go if I followed the trail, or I could take a metro bus for a few dollar and get to the post office a little after 2 and then get to the hostel (the post office closed at 4 until the Wednesday after Christmas, so I also figured if I was going to cheat today I might as well cheat in time to get my bounce box). I'm sure more than half the walk to Devonport would have been beautiful, walking between residential streets and then along beaches and cliffs the whole way, but it sure would be nice to start doing tourist activities in Auckland. And if all the attractions are closed for Christmas, the transit system is still running so I could always bus back and walk the part of the trail I skipped (if I really wanted to).

I hopped on a bus for an hour and got off by the post office holding my bounce box and walked to the YHA Auckland International. My parents had changed my dorm room booking to a private room for a Christmas present which was so nice! I could unpack my stuff however and wherever I wanted. After laundry and showering I made my way to the iSITE at sky tower to find out what the holiday hours were for the attractions I wanted to see. Almost everything was only closed on Christmas except for the Stardome, or planetarium. They were open today and then closed until early January. The brochure said they had a show at 8, so I was going to try to make it. Especially after walking on 90 Mile Beach at night, I've been really curious what some of the stars in the sky are. Some I've seen back home but some seem different.

On my way back to the hostel I stopped at the grocery store to buy food for my five day Christmas Break in Auckland and to buy food to make a Christmas meal.

After making dinner I hopped on a bus going south to the Stardome and got there early enough to look at all the exhibits before the show. The lady behind the counter kindly took my youth ID as a student ID for a discount since it was almost Christmas. One of the exhibits had lego models of the ISS, satellites and other spacecrafts, which I thought was pretty neat. My brother always had lots of legos growing up so I always think things made with them are fun to see.

The show was great too! I learned Venus is the first light to appear in the sky where the sun sets here and learned how to find south with the stars if I can find the Southern Cross constellation without the help of the planetarium show leader.

For some reason I was still awake even though it was 9 pm and close to my normal backpacking bed time (probably because I skipped 20 kilometers of walking with my pack!). While I was on the bus back into the heart of town, I started looking up Friday night Auckland activities on my phone. Silo park, maybe a 45 minute walk from my hostel showed movies and had a market from 5-11 pm on Friday evenings. Sounded worth a try to me! It was starting to rain, but it wasn't raining hard and I had my raincoat.

By now it was dark and I walked along the waterfront. They had so many neat bridges and displays. Some were lit up for the evening, but I may go back to the fish market during the day to see how different they look in the daylight.

It was changing between drizzling and raining by the time I made it to Silo Park. They were projecting a Christmas movie on a silo and there were food and alcohol vendors. A few die hard movie watchers were still camped out under their umbrellas. Since it was raining I decided to wander back to the hostel.

The sky tower in Auckland is a great landmark! I know how to get back to the hostel from there so I just walked in it's general direction. The rain lightened up and the city was beautiful. The sky tower and some cranes were lit up for Christmas and the street and car lights reflected in the wet, black streets. Cities are beautiful after a good rain. Like a neon watercolor painting.

There were lots of food shops open on Victoria and Queen Streets. I walked by a McDonalds and had been wanting to try one of their meat pies to compare it to the rest of the ones I have been eating in New Zealand. This was the fanciest McDonalds I had ever walked in. The ceiling was ornate (probably just how the building is) and when you walked in there were big touch screens to place your order. I got a egg and bacon pie since they're my favorite. In my professional meat-pie-sampling opinion, the McDonalds version isn't quite as good as the others I've had in the country, but I was a bit hungry and it hit the spot. In case you're wondering, so far my favorite meat pie has been from a little bakery in Russell, but I'll be sure to keep you posted if I find any better ones.

I wandered back to the hostel and started mapping all the attractions I might want to see out on a map I got from the iSITE. Then it was about midnight (well past my normal 9 pm bed time) and time for bed. Today is the 23rd of December and I'll be leaving the hostel to continue the trail at some point on December 28th. If you only want to follow my trail wanderings, you may want to skip ahead to day 29. Until then I'm a tourist in Auckland, though I might decide to walk sections of the city trail with my day pack if I get through all the other city activities I have planned.

Puff Puff (left to right), Julia and Kristin after the Okura River crossing.

Me crossing the Okura River. Photo by Puff Puff

This must be how they make snow men in New Zealand.

My bus ride over the bridge into Central Auckland (I'm a cheater!)

This may be the most perfect rainbow I've ever seen. It was a few minutes from the Stardome.

The planetarium had really cool models made out of legos. Here's the Discovery

Another bridge around the Viaduct at night. This isn't a great photo, but I want to post it to compare it to the day time version.

The free Friday night movie in Silo Park, project on a silo

My room for the next 5 nights! Auckland Christmas Vacation!