Deborah's Pilgrims

 After a leisurely start to the day, Michelle Campbell arrived with her dog Yoffi and we all (including Ross) set off for Ambury Farm. We quickly discovered that dogs aren't allowed on the farm, so Michelle and I (Joanna) returned back the way we came leaving everyone else to continue through the farm and on to Strawberry fields for icecream. I go tired of walking, and saw I'd already completed my 300 km so Michelle and I hailed an Uber to get there. Everyone else walked.  So I'm now 4 km shorter in walk length than everyone else, but still well over the 300 km mark.  After icecreams all around, we returned to the house. Ross had kindly left the group early to pick up the van to bring us all home again. Then we had a lunch of salad sandwhices and muffins, said fond farewells and Bruce and I left with Sarah, leaving the rest to finish packing and return to Whangarei.  Now I'm home surrounded by trees dripping with peaches and apples, and grapevines being ravished by t...

  Britomart and overpriced coffee.  That was the start of the day having taken the train from Otahuhu because the Onehunga line - like most lines in Auckland - is closed for repairs.  Then putting our best face forward we put on our grimaces and started the walks around the Auckland Streets. This turned out to be more interesting than expected, partly due to the ongoing search for the street signs saying where our next corner was.  Eventually we made our way to the bottom of Eden Park and Jenny insisted we depart the 20km route and go to the top of Mt Eden. And having done this, and hardly complained once, we had the best view of Auckland we could hope for.  Joanna had also requested a detour through the Wintergarden, so you can see some photos of this as well.  Then onto Cornwall Park, commissioned and paid for by the John Logan Campbell Trust - after Burger King for sustenance.  We side-swiped One Tree Hill (Bruce insisted we half summitted it) and o...

(This was a 24 km day, so ignore all statements about the fun in this day's events.) After a leisurely start to let the traffic ebb, we headed over to Long Bay Regional Park. As the road access there was limited, we began walking at the southern end.  En route down to the beach we had to out flank a school party disembarking their buses. We were summarily roped in to carry luggage, and we were so pleased to be taken for parents that we obeyed without question. An hour later a coffee and fries at Brown's Bay refuelled our energy levels.  The morning was spent climbing steep headlands and dropping back down to beach level. Had the tide been low we would have walked around the rocks. As it was we had a coastal walkway from Milford, but still removed our shoes to keep them dry. It was fun perusing the real estate and critiquing the number of windows that would have to be cleaned, etc etc.  We finally arrived  in Takapuna for a rather sumptuous lunch to give us the energy...

  Today we sailed away to Tiritiri Matangi, a bird reserve island in the Hauraki Gulf. We were ferried ashore three at a time in close proximity in a tiny zodiac. As soon as we began walking away from the beach we heard the birds. It was a delight after a lot of the fairly silent bush we have walked through recently. There were heaps of stitch birds, tuis, bell birds and some saddle backs. Sadly we missed the redident takahe family on our quick swipe up and around. Due to tide times today we had to be back at the berth before 3pm, so not long on the island, but enough to appreciate what a gem it is a short ferry ride from Auckland. Next time an all day picnic. The girls had a rushed swim back at the yacht before we lifted anchor.  Sailing home in a stiff breeze we got up to 6 knots, which put us on a lovely lean. Not so lovely for Gordon lying down, each time we tacked he was leaning a different way and in danger of being deposited on the floor. We made it back to the berth wi...