After spending time at home in Auckland to nurture my feet, I boarded the „Northern Explorer „train. I might as well make it enjoyable and exciting to return to the trail (I love traveling by train). My right foot was almost pain-free, and my new pair of Altra Lone Peaks should do the trick for the remaining kilometers to the terminus of TA on the North Island. I arrived in Waikanae, waiting in a motel for John to spit out by the Tararua Ranges the next day. He arrived exhausted and ready to finish the North Island. The Tararuas are notorious for ever-changing weather and steep climbs. I will have to come back and hike them another time. For now, John and I will continue along the coast to the capital of Aotearoa, Wellington! We left Waikanae on an enjoyable path along a creek and through a section of coastal wetland. After entering the beach, we hiked it for the rest of the day. We had good views over Kāpiti Island, a bird sanctuary and nature reserve. The beach was not very exciting as it was accessible from the neighboring suburbs. On the bright side, though, we had terrific burgers for lunch in a beachfront restaurant. The bliss of inhabited areas! The low tide enabled good and fierce walking to the Holiday Park in Paekākāriki.
John headed out by himself as I had to take a work video call in the morning. I followed two hours later. On my way out of town towards the Escarpment Track, a person with a huge backpack and a small pack in front of them came towards me. This cannot be a hiker! It was a German backpacker on a working holiday visa. She immediately identified me as a TA hiker and stopped in excitement. She wanted to know everything about the trail!
After crossing the train route to Auckland via an underpass, a sign indicated the trailhead of the Escarpment Track. The following roughly ten kilometers will be high on a slope above the shore. The sign warned that the trail is steep, exposed, and nothing for the faint-hearted. After being almost done with the North Island, steepness started to become relative. Fortunately, with the Escarpment Track being quite popular, it is well maintained with steps and even some ropes to help in the slightly more eroded sections. However, I wouldn’t necessarily want to hike it on a very windy day. The views from up the trail were magnificent! The ocean was glittering unreal blue-green, the South Island wrapped in haze in the distance, Kāpiti Island, and from time to time, a glimpse over to the suburbs north of Wellington ahead of me. As marine life sightings are pretty common along the coast, I always looked for a school of dolphins, a whale’s fin, or dark shadows in the clear waters.
Leaving the Escarpment Track behind, Te Araroa winds its way through coastal towns. Of course, I stopped at every opportunity to get coffee and ice cream! At some point, I had to walk under and over the bridge that crosses Te-Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour. On the bridge, SH59 runs north. Even though signs indicated that jumping from the bridge was not allowed, at least a dozen local kids didn’t care about any warnings. Soaking wet and with eyes wide of excitement, they climbed up to the bridge, clambered onto the railing, and jumped in, screaming while cars were zipping by on the highway. The recklessness of the youth! Zigzagging through the streets of Porirua, I finally made it to Camp Elsdon, where John was already waiting for me.
The following day, we started slowly as John didn’t sleep well. His tummy felt funny overnight, and it wouldn’t be any better the next 5 km. With that slow pace and John not being in the state of hiking, we decided to call it a day and hitch out of Ohariu Valley to Wellington. We were fortunate: the lovely lady who gave us a ride from basically the middle of nowhere in the Wellington hinterland needed to drop her rental car in the street adjacent to our hotel.
Back to Ohariu Valley the next day, we were miserable with the weather as it was pouring, and the wind was pretty intense with some annoying gusts, especially as we needed to make our way up to Mount Kaukau through exposed terrain. The weather cleared up only after we left the summit, and we had fine views towards Wellington and the South Island. It was a nice day hiking through Wellington suburbs, high up in the forests on Te Ahumairangi Hills, and through the hustle and bustle of the city’s CBD. Tomorrow, bittersweet, will be the final push for me to the southern terminus of the TA on the North Island.
