Day 30: Auckland Botanical Gardens to Repeater Campsite (640-685 - including some hitching)

It was finally time to hit the trail after my Christmas break in Auckland. I left the hostel a little before 7 am and walked to Britomart (the main metro train station), to get a train about a 30 minute walk from the Auckland Botanical Gardens. The train was a half train and half bus ride because of the Christmas/New Year holiday, so it took a bit longer than I thought it would to get to the station. I arrived around 9 and began walking to the botanical gardens.

The gardens were filled with people walking their dogs and then the trail went into an adjacent park. Once I was out of that park, I knew it was all road walking to Clevedon. I was hoping to get about 12 kilometers past Clevedon for the day, because I thought there was a campground around Hunua Falls.

About an hour into my road walk, a man stopped and asked if I wanted a ride. He said Clevedon was about a 15 minute drive and no problem to take me there. With the ride I made it to Clevedon around 11. I talked to some really nice ladies at a cafe and got a milkshake and wandered around the village a bit because I was ahead of schedule.

About 4 hours later I made it to Hunua Falls. There were lots of people on that section of the trail! And when I first got into the Hunua Forest, there were people riding odd bikes down a hill at crazy speeds. I can't believe they didn't spin out and crash.

I looked around the falls and studied some information boards and it really didn't seem like there was a good area to camp, so I decided I'd try to make it about 13 kilometers further to the Repeater Campsite. It would be close, but I figured I could get there before dark.

The forest took me a bit longer to navigate than I had hoped, but I still figured I could make it to camp before dark. It had been cloudy all day, which helped me walk quickly without getting too hot, but all of a sudden the clouds were looking a bit more foreboding. I had a few kilometers to go to the campground and I was determined to make it before the rain.

As I made it to the camp, I was so excited. The sky began to clear and there was a shelter with bunks! This meant I wouldn't have to pack up a wet tent in the morning. But it was an open shelter without a door, so I decided I'd tie my tent up in the bunk to keep the bugs away from me while I slept. It worked great!

Where I met up with the TA trail just before the botanical gardens

People walking their dogs at the botanical gardens.

Sheep in what seemed like a suburban farm.

Where I purchased a milkshake in Clevdon

An example of some of the trail for the day

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When I got to this road to the Hunua Forest, there were people zooming down the hill in these crazy tricycle bikes. They were going so fast and swerving I can't believe they didn't crash!

Some of the muddy trail in the Hunua Forest

The amazing shelter at Repeater Campsite