As I was finishing packing two hikers left ahead of me, stopping to chat as they passed. They're a German couple, Symi and Janosch, and came in last night after I'd already gone to bed. They had the same trouble I did in Auckland with all the accommodation being booked so caught a bus to Mangere; they're pressing on south today so will skip the walk I did yesterday.
Not long after they set off I followed, waving good by to the expat-UK families as I left. I exited the campsite the same way I entered: through a little side gate leading through the "insect garden" to the paddock and then gravel road beyond. I stopped to read a signpost map and soon Symi and Janosch appeared; having not done the walk round the point yesterday they were a bit disoriented and had taken the wrong road. We set off to walk together, carrying on from the brief 'getting to know you' questions we'd exchanged earlier. They both are recent graduates, Symi in industrial engineering and Janosch in psychology, and are going the TA before looking for jobs. They want to work in NZ but haven't yet looked into the necessary visas etc. They asked me a bit about NZ and I shared the little of what I know about some of our history as well as Maori culture (including pronunciation of things such as 'Mangere' as "maa-nge-re" instead of "maan-jair").
The south of Mangere continues to sidle round the coast, past the sewage treatment plant--I was astonished to discover that the sterile liquids from this are discharged into the harbour on a low tide at a rate that qualifies the outpouring as Auckland's largest river! I stopped for a snack at this point, because my stomach was growling and because I didn't want to force my company on Symi and Janosch. Letting them go on ahead I sat by the water's edge and munched in the misting rain before carrying on along the trail as it passes through the Stonefields, where there are relict piles of volcanic rocks accumulated and used by historic Maori people to capture and retain heat to help their kumara grow. Several of the original piles were later rearranged into dry stone walls by colonial settlers and remnants of these too, remain.
Coming out of the fields I caught up with Symi and Janosch again as they had stopped to take advantage of some free pick-yourself avocados. Unfortunately lots of hungry hikers (and probably numerous locals) must have got there before them because they came out of the gate to the field empty handed.
We walked on together as the trail took us round the back of the airport and the bustling airport shopping center. They went to resupply while I made a B-line for a cafe. I wanted something quick and hot, so settled for a sausage roll, but on the way to the counter a container of fresh fruit salad also caught my eye. When confronted with drink choice after walking I'm always torn between wanting fruit juice and fizzy drink and usually end up buying both; on this occasion apple juice and ginger beer. Again, on the way to the counter mojito flavoured iced tea caught my eye. After a longer than expected wait in a short queue I went and sat outside with my off assortment of foodstuffs. After virtually inhaling the sausage roll and the fruit juice, and drinking the ginger beer at the rather more measured pace demanded by carbonated drinks I was full, so stuffed the fruit salad and iced tea in my pack for later.
Further along the line of shops I stopped at the Warehouse to pick up a new gas cannister (I'm still on my first 230g one but it's running low). I left my pack at the customer service desk as I was worried I might knock stuff off shelves if I left it on. Further along I also stopped in at Countdown where I restricted myself to buying only the strictly necessary: one box of museli bars, two pasta snacks and the smallest box of Dilmah tea available.
There was no sign of the others so after I had stripped the food of unnecessary packaging I saddled up and headed out, off down the long road walk toward Manukau. Fortunately the road shoulders are mostly quite wide, though it was a mission to get across the main road at one point--even on a Sunday airport traffic is busy! I crossed not far along from a people-mover-housed speed camera; I could see the shadow of a person sitting in the back and wondered what a traffic cop made of a burdened hiker having to wait for several minutes before it was even remotely safe to cross the street without things deteriorating into a game of chicken in the traffic.
As well as the incessant traffic on the road there was also incessant traffic in the air as planes of all shapes and sizes came in to land on my right. I was a little surprised to pass a carpark that led no where but which was chock full of cars, then I realised that all the cars had people in them and they were all parked up watching the planes.
Some way along the road I could feel faint rubbing in my boots turning into blister-making chaffing so I stopped by some trees on an extra broard sweep of shoulder for a boots-off break to apply the necessary cotton wool and plaster to my heels. A large double-trailered courier van was pulled off the road nearby; I can only assume the driver was having a rest break as sometime before I packed up to leave he moved off into traffic again. Symi and Janosch passed as I doctored my feet (surprising; I had thought they were ahead). We agreed to meet up at the holiday park and share a tent site to keep costs down if that was an option. I had ring the park and we were all relieved, after our experiences in Aucklsnd, to hear they had plenty of space.
Carrying on the trail finally veers off the busy road onto Prices Rd where you can stand right underneath the planes as fly low overhead on their approach to land. Three Emirates A380s came in in quick succession; they're something to watch as they are so big that up that close they seem to lumber through the sky and it seems impossible that they manage to stay airborne at all.
At the end of the road the trail enters a reserve, cuts across a corner of it (through a paddock) and then follows a gravel track along the bank of the Puhinui River. The river follows a meandering channel through a similarly meandering gully that is jam-packed with vegetation and bordered on the trail-side by industrial estate. Eventually the trail is forced to divert on a road walk through the estate, past truck dealerships etc, and along the road into Manukau. Traffic was eerily absent a lot if the way, bug then I remembered it was a Sunday.
Well and truely back in the city the trail picks up the now smaller Puhinui River again as it meanders through suburbs, minus the vegetation and instead flanked by broad swaths of grass forming an elongate park network bordered by the tumble-down wooden fences of the houses on either side. The faint smell of pot smoke wafted out across the footpath at one point. This is South Auckland, of which we all hear stories, but I have to say I was impressed at how clean and tidy the walkway and parkland is.
Coming to a short road walk again was the signal to divert approx. 500m to the Manukau Holiday Park, where $20 secured my own patch of grass for the night and use of the kitchen and showers . The Germans had arrived shortly before I did and we sat together in the grass, swapping cookies and stories about other hikers we had met before pitching our tents. Someone was BBQing steak do I figured I'd leave cooking my pasta snack dinner until later and have a shower and catch up on my diary first. Symi, Janosch and I sat and had dinner together but it wasn't long before I was ready to hit the hay.
As I lay down to sleep the first spots of the promised rain tapped down on my tent, and soon it was pattering away semi-continuously. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow...I can't really justify a rest day so it might just have to be a rain coat and pack cover mission through the rain if it does!
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