Days 21-24 | km 510-638 | midnight madness & Auckland’s volcanic oven
East coast beaches with Rangitoto volcano in the background
Waking with the sun I ran 7km, through every cobweb possible, into the historic town of Puhoi. Puhoi was settled in 1863 by people from villages near Pilsen in Bohemia. The offer of free land was the reason 83 emigrants left homes and families to travel to the other side of the world. One of which was Robyn’s (Kawau boat trip friend & paddler - see below) great grand father! Each adult was given 40 acres and child 20 under the ‘waste lands’ act. In Puhoi this land was steep with almost impenetrable bush. The only access being the water. Te Hemera Tauhia and his men bought the Bohemians up the river, regularly giving them food and showing them bush survival skills. Without this the Bohemians would have almost certainly starved. They were proud and hard working people determined to make the best out of the situation. They farmed the land and created the wonderful little town of Puhoi. Now famous for its cheese factory & pub (of course).
Puhoi’s little church
Robyn’s great grand father - Peter Magdalene Bayer
Robyn & John surprised me in joining me for a paddle down the Puhoi river into Wenderholme. After a short history lesson from Robyn and John strapping Indie the dog into her life jacket we hopped onto the river for a absolutely perfect morning paddle. John used to kayak with Ian Ferguson… but I’m not sure the next video clip truely demonstrates his world class skills… hehehe.
Captain Indie!
Wenderholme Regional Park marked the start of Aucklands east coast beaches. Timed with the tide much of the coast was walkable and the trail followed the cliffs and beaches weaving up and down hill. It seemed to take an age to get to Stillwater with Auckland being as humid as heck, the sun unrelenting and some crazy roads we had to walk along- this wasn’t my most favourite section of trail and after 2pm I totally lost the will to run, it was just making me too hot with the 10kgs strapped to my back!
As night fell, a plan was hatched. An estuary south of Stillwater could only be crossed at absolute low tide, either 2am or 2pm the following afternoon. 4 of us had dates to attend (mine being cake with friends - highly important!) so we were the few who opted for a night crossing. On guidance from the camp manager at Stillwater, who happened also to be an ex-teacher of Bush survival, we were armed with maps, head torches and the will for a little adventure!
The high tide mark! Way over my head!
Wandering into the wet muddy & sandy darkness…
The morning after the night before celebratory beers were had at the very fitting deep creek brewery. Onward to my cake date….
Waffles with banana and maple syrup ….yuuuuuuum
The Coast to Coast trail spans the city from east to west and climbs over what feels like every volcano in Auckland - there’s actually 53 of them - I likely ran over 3. With the biggy being Mount Eden…
After catch up coffees with my old crew at Bodyneed in Ponsonby and a few acupuncture needles in my beasty calves I headed off to run a pack-less marathon and get south auckland out of the way. Although parts were nice, the majority was not- taking in the highlights of Auckland sewage farm, the airports backroads and an array of roads lined with junk food joints. -very glam. So glam in fact I took zero photos.
