Travel Journal:

New Zealand - Auckland: Coast to Coast


Auckland: Coast to Coast 2006-11-8
 
Wednesday morning started, as it seems many do here, with cloudy skies and rain. I went down to get breakfast at 7am and stuffed myself with cereal and toast. My two things for the day were to visit Kelly Tarlton's Aquatic place and do the Coast to Coast Walkway. However, wy tummy had been unhappy since I got here so my first stop was a pharmacy. I got some immodium and a cheap umbrella.

Since it was overcast I figured that I might as well do the indoors thing first and hope that it cleared up for the afternoon. I bought a $7 daypass on the bus and took it to Takami Drive. It lets off right across the street from Kelly Tarltons. I had a 15% off coupon from one of the free guidebooks so my admission was $23.50. The coolest part of this place is the penguins. But otherwise it also has cool fish and stuff.

I had to wait about 20 minutes for the bus but made it back downtown..which incidentally is where the coast to coast walk starts! The CtoC actually goes up past my hotel so I stopped there to change clothes since it was pretty windy out. I put my jeans and hiking boots on and headed out at 12:30 pm.

The Coast to Coast walkway is a 16km (about 10mi) tour that goes from one harbor to the other through Auckland and takes you through some interesting spots. It's made up of 4 sections (or walks) that you could do individually. However being an intrepid traveller I decided to do it all.

Auckland isn't a flat city like New York, it has hills and volcanic cones and little mountains too. The walk started up the hill from my hotel and took me past the University and Albert Park. There were lots of pretty buildings and stuff. Then I cut through the University and headed down to the Auckland Domain. That was probaby the best part. It wound through a path called Lovers Walk that cut through the woods and along a stream. It was muddy and more of a hiking path than a walking path; you'd never think you were in the middle of a city.

The first walk ended as I exited the Domain. The second walk would take me up to Mount W... a sacred Maori place with a near perfect crater at the top and magnificent views..or so the brochure said. This part of the walk took me through very residential areas and around a boys school. From what I can tell all schools here have uniforms.

Right around the corner from the school was the entrance to Maungawhau aka Mt Eden. Maungawhau is a mountain with a near perfect crater at the top, terracing, and kumara pits that was a Maori stronghold. It's the highest point in Auckland and you can see the entire city. It was a steep hike up and there were cows out to pasture. Yes cows out to pasture in the city. I wonder what kind of grazing laws they have.

Anyway the top was full of tour buses and therefore tourists so I took some photos and headed down the mountain. The c2C isn't exactly well marked everywhere so it was confusing on how to get down but eventually it meandered into some backyards and out onto a residential street. I checked my watch and it was 2hrs and 2 walks done. I was on target for four hours.


The next walk would take me to Maungakiekie or it's more common name One Tree Hill, you know like that tv show. I had to cut through a college of education which was a bit weird, then through a park with a big playing field. Then finally I found civilization! You see I had breakfast at 7am but hadn't eaten since and it was near 3pm. So I popped into a convience store and bought an energy drink, a bottle of water, and some cheesey poofs.  From there I entered Cornwall Park.

Cornwell Park was donated to Auckland by some guy named Campbell who was the governor or something like that. Why wasn't it named Campbell park you may wonder. Well that's because near the turn of the 19th century the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall came to Auckland and so it was in honor of their visit. The first big stretch was once again through a shady lane with playing fields on either side. Then I entered the big gates of Cornwall park and went up through the olive grove to the start of the trek up One Tree Hill. I was seriously thinking of hitchhiking up since I wasn't sure my legs would make it. But I figured I couldn't really say I did the whole coast to coast walk if I didn't actually walk it so I trudged on. There were lots of people running and walking up the hill as well as the tourists. It had gotten very windy and chilly too.

On the walk up I saw more cows and the sheep! Yes my first sheep spotting of my trip. I knew we sent Fleecy to a better place. The top is basically a big obelisk and where that Campbell guy is buried but once again you get great views. I cut my way down to make it faster and realized just how tired my legs were. I had weird pains in my right foot so I was hoping I wasn't doing any lasting damage.

The last walk took me down to the Manukau Harbor..coast to coast, baby! It went through party of a rather grubby shopping district and some more residential areas before I got to the Onehunga Lagoon. There seemed to be a lot of warehouses and not much to see, but I found a bus stop around the corner. I checked the schedule and saw one was going to "midtown" in 15 minutes. I wasn't exactly sure where midtown was but I figured it was closer than here. Well 20 minutes had gone by and only 2 out of service buses has passed. Up the road I saw buses passing so I decide to walk up that way. Lo and behold there was the midtown bus running just as I got there. I hopped on and then pulled out a map to see where it was going.

I got off a few blocks from my hotel and popped into Starbucks for some well needed sugar and caffeine. Then I dragged myself home. I kicked off my shoes and passed out for 3 hours. I woke up at 10pm and decided I'd rather sleep than eat, so I changed, took 2 advil and went back to sleep.
 
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