Eventually I must have slept as I rolled over and woke up just before 7...but didn't get up til after 9. It was still raining and I lay for as long as I could semi-dozing and secretly hoping the rain would stop, which of course, it didn't.
Finally I hauled myself out of bed, took advantage of the shower facilities, packed up and was mentally preparing to head out into the rain when Symi and Hanosch invited me to share their plentiful breakfast; they had both shopped and raided the free food bin at the holiday park so were flush with four different kinds of cereal plus real milk. The news that there was suddenly a lot of fare in the free food bin prompted me to check it out and I came away with fresh capsicums, a tomato and corn on the cob. Since the corn needed to be cooked and wouldn't fit in my pot I cooked it then and there in the kitchen microwave...and so had cocoa pops and corn for breakfast.
Symi and Janosch are having a zero day today, so after thanking them very much, I wished them well and finally set off around 11am. Despite the rain and lack of sleep I was in good spirits: today I finally get out of Auckland. Not that it's been that bad, but it just doesn't feel right tramping through civilisation for days on end.
The trail out of Auckland finishes the Puhinui River Walk and detours through the Auckland Botanical Gardens. I must have missed a marker as I took an alternative route through the gardens, past some nice beds including an interesting display that looks like an entrant for the Ellerslie Flower Show, entitled "Underground Bunker".
Exiting the gardens the trail sets off on a long road walk out of the city toward Clevedon. The roads were busy and it rained all day. I took cover in a bus shelter to have lunch, much to the distress of the resident pair of swallows. There were two dead chicks on the floor at one end of the shelter and I mused on the fact that one bird's tomb is one human's haven. I can only assume that at least one live chick was left concealed in the nest, or that the parents we're trying again, as they never gave up swooping the door and chirping the entire time I was there.
I set off again ironically with "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" stuck in my head. Since the original lyrics hardly seemed appropriate I came up with my own:
'Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!
I've got a sneaky wee feeling...that it's going to piss down all day.
I have to walk down this ro-oad, and the volume of traffic is high;
That car that drove by wet me up to the thigh,
And when there's a truck I get splashed in the eye!
Oh what a beautiful afternoon, oh what a beautiful day!
I really would like to be there soon, but I still have a long wa-ay...
Oh what a beautiful day!'
Mid-afternoon I stopped for a rest under a bush by the side of the road (bus shelters had long since been left behind). Moving on and after dodging numerous trucks coming to and from the large quarry at the end of the road I took the turn off up a quiet gravel road and came to the stile at the start of Kimptons Track. The first part of the "track" is a route through a paddock and steep scramble up a grassy hill. Though I was wet already, I got soaked anew wading through the long grass, so much so that the water dripping down my trouser legs resulted in my feet swimming in my boots as much as if I'd waded through a river. At the top of the hill the trail passes through a small pine plantation before following a narrow and overgrown path through native bush and emerging on a rather better quality loop track. This it follows past a lookout (where the trees have grown too high to be able to see anything) and down a series of steps to the valley below, exiting at the Clevedon Scout Hall.
I had intended to camp here but a day of trail magic meant I didn't have to. During the long road walk of the day three different women pulled over their cars to talk to me. The first, Jill, offered me a place to stay, but her house was nowhere near where I planned to get to today and I wasn't keen to back track so far. The second lady, Paulene, offered me a place to stay as well, and when it transpired her house was not more than a block from the scout hall I gladly and gratefully accepted. (The third lady stopped to ask why there were so many hikers recently and to offer me a lift. I enlightened her with respect to the trail, but declined the lift...rain or no rain I set out to walk this beast!).
Sopping wet and beginning to get cold I stumped up the steps of Paulene's house. She heard me and met me at the door. After briefly being introduced to her partner Paul, daughter Paige, and Joey the cat, I was ushered into her other daughter Jess' room (she's away tonight) and shown all the necessary facilities. After a shower I showed them my maps and told them about the trail. Paulene first heard about it from two German girls she met on the road last week, but she had no idea it went right past her driveway.
The family wouldn't let me lift a finger which was at the same time lovely and a little uncomfortable as I always feel lazy or as if I'm taking advantage of people's hospitality if I don't help out with anything. But they were adamant and further treated me to a dinner if Thai chicken curry, salad and leftover fresh home kill steak. Omg, hiker heaven!
After dinner we supped tea and milo and watched a recorded episode of 'Call The Midwife' (fortuitously the very next one after the episode I watched with Ron and Betty). Joey the cat sat on my lap the entire time, as generous with his drool and fur as he was with his affectionate cuddles. Paulene and Paul were appalled by Joey but I wasn't bothered, just happy to have a cat on my lap again. It was almost like being at home...almost.
As the credits rolled it was time for bed. There's nothing quite like going to bed in a real bed after a fresh hot meal and quiet evening watching television when only a few hours before you'd been anticipating wolfing down a pasta snack sitting in a tent in the rain!
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