Our general plan for the next week or so is to do some final prep for the trail, before we leave for Cape Reinga on the 10th. Being experienced hikers, we already have our gear, and it’s just a few “small” things we need to take care of, that we’re not particularly stressing out about.
The most important thing we need to do is secure transportation to the terminus. We already have bus tickets from Auckland to Kaitaia (the first large town along the TA from the north, about 115 km into the trail), but we still need a ride from Kaitaia to the terminus. (I already contacted a shuttle driver, and it would seem like they’ve confirmed a ride for us, but they haven’t actually said that.)
We also need to get our initial food supply, get a NZ Department of Conservation (“DOC”) hut pass, and actually plan out our first section of trail to Kaitaia, which largely depends on the state of a closure currently in effect from the terminus, which we’ll find out more about early next week. Otherwise, it’ll be a fairly relaxing time for me, as I deal with jet lag, and a busy week for CareFree as she finishes up work before we head to the trail.
November 3
I slept eleven hours, and woke up feeling much better and reasonably well-rested. Unfortunately, it was drizzling outside, and most of the day was fairly dreary. By mid-afternoon, though, the weather improved enough that CareFree and I went out for a walk, this time, towards the east, to Pukekawa / Auckland Domain, the oldest park in the city, located in the caldera of an extinct volcano. The TA bisects the park on its way through Auckland; CareFree and I have already crossed the TA dozens of times in our walks through the Domain when I was here earlier in the year, but it’ll be nice to hike through the park “for real” in a month or so.
Dinner tonight was a chicken teriyaki pita stuffed with pineapple and tons of veggies from Pita Pit, on our way back to the apartment.
November 4
This morning, I discovered that my new cell service could not receive phone calls, or send or receive SMS (but it could use the internet, which is why it took two days to notice). So, we added a return trip to Spark to our walk this afternoon.
First, though, we stopped to get me an extra charging cable for my phone, canister fuel for my stove, and looked for replacement silicone ear buds for CareFree’s headphones, since she lost one of them when taking her headphones out when a fire truck screamed by earlier in the day.
At the Spark store, after an hour working on it, and then starting from scratch with a new line, the clerk was unable to make the new phone line work, and suggested I call their tech support. Which I’ll probably do on Monday, since they might not be responsive over the weekend.
Dinner was Thai, from Krung Thep Street Food, a bit further down K’ Road.