Regional parks & Pot noodles
Since I was in Auckland I had to go and see my friends! It had been Rich’s birthday so we met for a belated birthday burger in Ponsonby which was heaving. Turns out it was a bank holiday, or a long weekend as they say here.
After a delightful afternoon with Rich and Jodie in the city, I was trying to make my way back up north slightly to see some areas I missed out on. The weather was ridiculously hot for Autumn and the traffic was horrendous! I was doing my best to not get all hot and bothered but I needed somewhere nice to shower and rest so settled with Red Beach, which was perfect for a couple nights and managed to find some gold in Pak N’ Save - Chicken & Mushroom Pot Noodles! I know, such incredible food to be eaten over here but these were heaven to come across.
I stayed there (at a Top 10) for 2 nights, doing some little walks and watching Peaky Blinders on my ipad until it broke, which is when I ended up purchasing my laptop for a mixture of watching, writing and being able to edit and upload my photos! So after getting the laptop and stocking up on pot noodles I wanted to explore the beautiful regional parks around me, starting with Shakespeare Regional Park. I stayed down in the Te Haruhi Bay Campground which was so peaceful and had so many birds! I packed a walking bag for the day and set out for a walking adventure which took me up through fields of sheep and cows, some of the tracks were quite hilly but I managed them and made it back to Vandalf within 2 hours and not touching anything in my back pack, so enjoyed my sandwich afterwards followed by some pot noodles.
There was no signal at all and I quite enjoyed being offline. Though the clouds came over which made me realize I did actually need internet and power for my new laptop, and I had also ran out of gas so it took quite a long time to heat the kettle up for my pot noodle. So I only ended up staying the 1 night before retreating to another campsite to become a bit more prepared!
I spent the next few days exploring Regional Parks around Auckland. I went to Wenderholm, where I explored a decent track in my red chord trousers so that got rather sweaty! I found a waterfall on my way up in Pohuehue, saw Snells Beach and stayed at a quirky campsite in Sandspit before visiting my favourite Regional Park - Tawharanui Peninsula! I did a 12km walk around the park, seeing some incredible views and came across the rare Takahe birds. They were huge and prehistoric looking! Some of the walk was quite challenging for me at the time but I was chuffed to bits with my self when I finished it, and in my chord shorts and heavy black top (might be time for some better walking clothes soon!)
I went back to the sandpit campsite to shower and sleep before the next journey which would finally take me south of Auckland!
I stopped at Hunua Regional Park. I didn’t get there till 2pm and thought I’d just go have a look at the incredible waterfall so just went in my warm red chords and had my little bag with half a bottle of water in it. So naturally I ended up doing a 10km walk with lots of big hills on a very hot afternoon. I passed so many people in proper hiking attire who looked just as defeated by the hills so that gave me some comfort. I got back just before 5pm and treated my self to a big pink ice cream before the park closed. I’d not looked at any campsites before hand so quickly booked something I found on campermate that the reviews said had a brilliant shower.
It was in the middle of bloody no where, on someones farm! The owners hadn’t checked there booking (but to be fair I’d only just made it) so they welcomed me and plugged me in for the night. I met someone who was woofing there named George who was from the UK, he stayed there and helped with the farms and cows and the activities the owner does around the area. They were a very cool couple and the man showed me round the sites the next day on his gator with his two labs. He also told me his wife was leaving him and George said things had gotten a little awkward at the site, so that was a shame and after a coffee I said my goodbyes and wished him the best of luck before it was time to leave the Auckland area once and for all!
Next stop … Coromandel!
