Walking down the Great South Road out of Auckland, we came across a group of five local Maori teenagers. Bored probably. Watching over their neighbourhood in more ways then one. One of the boys stood holding a beat up silver ghetto blaster, music blarring from the speakers as loud as it could be, hauling it around with one free hand as they all sit on the street bench listening to the beats and surveying the neighbourhood.
The Otahuhu street gang from the Great South Road.
They found an interest in us. Probably because we stuck out like a sore thumb. The two of us, weighted down by way too much weight, drapping over our trecking poles, huffing down the street. Dehydrated, exhausted. Two caucasians walking with our Goretex rain gear, gaiters, Brent's wearing his Ray Ban sunglasses and his Tilley hat which barely covers his red buff.
Ultimate gacked out backpackers meet local street gang. Probably not the best street to walk down that day.
Let's just say that the Otahuhu street gang doesn't like it when you come through their neighbourhood. We were walking targets. They started following us asking about where we were from. I didn't really enjoy the feeling I was getting from them. I was already exhausted at this point in time. All they had to do was blow on our packs and we would have fallen over. They stayed on us down the street. Lucky for us their colour of preference was BLUE. They quickly noticed Brent was not supporting the local colour. They didn't enjoy that so much.
They let us know. Informing us that the next time we walked through these parts, it was best to wear the proper colour.
Don't worry, we won't be walking through here anymore.
One of the guys was decent. He was wondering why we would walk their country and asked if we were okay for money. The other guys wanted to know if we had money. Their interest was less in our well being. The biggest guy sucker punched Brent a little bit too hard, then they let us be. We didn't pay any attention to their intimidation, and that was probably the only thing that got us past this area.
Our walk from Auckland was not what I would call picturesque. We decided to follow the Great South Road from the city. It is the longest road from Auckland (that isn't a highway). We thought it was the best idea since this road would get us close to Hamilton before we would have to rely on side roads that turn in every direction. What a map doesn't show you is what areas you will be walking through and what kind of reputation they may have. So, the great south road is NOT an ideal road to take - and if you are planning to travel through Auckland to Hamilton, stick to the highway!
Today's post is brought to you from Hamilton. Very happy to say we are leaving today. Another three days in one city. It's too much for us. We want to see the country, and today we set out for Raglan and the west coast.
Much has happened since we last posted. Needless to say, it's been a very rough first week in New Zealand. "Discouraging" would be the best word for our start from Auckland. "Failure" is another word that comes to mind. Something that has been running through my head off and on since arriving in Manakau City. Phone cards are a cheap way to call home for advice. :) And it's comforting to know that even half way around the world, your parents can encourage you when you think you have fallen into deep pits of mud.
Today has been 80% sunny, and only 20% rainy. Rain actually doesn't bother us too much. We paid premium for our Goretex coats - and they are worth at least 10x the price. :) The storms roll into the cities one right after the other. It's been a wet winter the Kiwis say. Funny enough, when we left Toronto, I was beginning to think it was a wet summer. I actually expect the weather to be this way in New Zealand. Every day you see the sun, every day you see the rain. It comes hard and fast sometimes without much warning. The wind zips in and takes you by surprise. But just as quickly, it all settles down, and the sun breaks through the clouds. It's funny to think this is winter for this part of the world.
Recap. The first week has not been fully enjoyable. Three long days in Auckland. We were tired by 5pm each night. The first night in town, we fell asleep sitting on a bench in a Domino's Pizza waiting for our dinner (cheap dinner that went far!!). A group of American tourists let us know that we missed our order. To be fair, we woke up around 2am on the plane that morning - NZ time. We were exhausted. But it seemed to be every night we were tired by early evening. There wasn't much going on in the city either, so that didn't help. We thought about checking out "The Dark Knight", but the movie cost $23 / person. Uhhhhh.....
As I mentioned earlier, neither of us truly enjoyed Auckland so much. It is probably a wonderful place in the summer - but I would imagine it's nicer on the islands around Auckland. Which are pricey to ferry out to. Three nights was too long.
We set out on the 1st of August. It took us two hours until I finally broke and we went to a Post Shop to downsize our packs again. We had shipped one load of items home to my parents(opening the safety deposit box here is WAY too pricey - as opposed to Canadian prices). We shipped our duffle bag ahead to Hamilton. And this time we sorted through both of our packs to ship ahead another 13lbs. Neither of us know how much our packs weighed then or even how much they weigh now. I think I was carrying somewhere between 45lbs-50lbs (I should be carrying 30!!!) and Brent might have been somewhere around 60lbs-65lbs (he should be around 50-55). It was too much.
Even after downsizing our packs at the post shop, we were defeated. We had exhausted our bodies and from this point on fought through the first day of hiking. Passing through Otahuhu, stopping for dinner and then trying to make our way to Manakau City for the night. The original goal was Papakura. We weren't even close by four o'clock. When we happened upon another 'rough' patch on the road, neither of us could fathom going any further. All we wanted to do was find a taxi cab to get us to an accomodation for the night. And we couldn't find a payphone that accepted coins - only cards. Something we didn't have. Ugh.
We walked over to a Cheesecake shop around the corner to use their phone. Brent spoke to the owner who said he could call a cab for us. At the same time a scottish woman walked into the store to pick up a cake for the evening and when the shop owner asked for her opinion about places to stay in the area, she offered to drive us down the street to an inn for the night. An invitation we couldn't refuse.
We spent the night in a run down Quality Inn. Most of the night in tears of defeat. It was a terrible night. Our bodies were in ruin. No training could have prepared us for this walk. We were carrying too much weight. We never would have been able to prepare for the scale of our bags.
Blisters, our feet were spared. Brent's hips however, suffered deep blistering. It still looks like someone took a lash and crossed both of his hips with a violent strike. My hips were bruised. Our legs are only now healed from the long treck.
What would happen of our mission. To walk the country. It took me a long time to come to terms with our situation. If we didn't have people pocketed throughout the country able to hold some of our gear for long periods of time, we couldn't do this mission. We couldn't carry everything that we needed to do the trip safely through the four seasons, through the different parts of the country (alpine included). It was too much weight.
I felt like a failure. Stepping into the scottish woman's car was bittersweet. I lasted a day. It was painful. My soul still hurts from that decision. Everything I had planned and prepared for. Gone.
The next day we made the last part of the treck to the Manakau City bus terminal and decided to catch a bus to Hamilton to wait for our mail packages. People honking their horns at the sight of us on the sidewalk trekking away. A local Maori gentleman stopping us to ask what our poles were for - wanting to shake our hands and welcome us to his country. Everyone we spoke to in manakau seemed really impressed that we had walked from downtown Auckland to this point. I guess something to make us feel a bit better inside. The bus ride was quiet. Rolling hills of farm land, the real New Zealand that I dreamt of was finally showing itself. Along with flooded farmlands, devastated by the storms that have passed through the entire country recently. The damage was everywhere. The rivers are swollen, apparently worse then they could have been, but they opened waterways from two nearby lakes. Overwhelming the lower farm lands.
Hamilton.
A city south of Auckland. A hub for some travellers, as it is easy to access Raglan, Taupo, Waitamo, Rotorua and other places so quickly. But honestly, there is nothing to this city. It was a great change from Auckland. More peaceful. We spent three nights (again too many!!!) waiting for our mail to show up and figure out what we would do next. Personally, I felt like the trip was ruined. I didn't know how to rethink what I had wanted to do for so long. I couldn't see the logical alternative to walking the country. I was feeling blah. J's backpackers. They offered a free pick up from the bus terminal, so we logically picked them for a place to stay. We couldn't walk anymore.
Quaint and cozy. Friendly. And by the river. We walked into town the first evening. Trying to clear our minds of all the emotions we were going through. The river swollen over the footpaths nearby. It was impressive to see the damage done by all the rain. It rains every day, but not as bad as it must have before we arrived.
We thought about renting a car for part of the trip. We could drive to the parks and do the tracks and spend nights in the huts in the mountains. But that wasn't practical. Renting a vehicle outside of Auckland was very expensive. In Auckland, it's more competitive, so the rates are unbelievably cheap. We spoke to our hostel hostess Fiona, and she suggested we look into buying a car. Her mom's late husband used to work at a place in town that likes to help out backpackers. It was an option we had to ponder. But with rental prices the way they were, it wasn't hard to think about buying a car over renting.
We spent our time in Hamilton shopping. For a fourth friend for our trip. Not how we envisioned our trip at all. Spending days at a time in city centres running around in circles.
Car shopping. What is this? What are we doing? Is this really happening?
The good, the bad, the ugly. Luckily, I have gone through the process of shopping for a used car before, so we weren't going into it blindly. Cheap is what we wanted. Reliable was important. Working was crucial. White smoke shaky cars - they were no good. And people were trying to sell them.
How it works here is when a person comes in to buy a car, they usually come with a trade in. The dealership either keeps the trade in on the lot (they usually sell quickly) or sends it to the auction to make their money back.
We saw all sorts of cars. Even one that had a new ignition installed. It had been stolen previously, and people were using screw drivers to drive it around. Rough. And they wanted $3000 for it.
That was Hamilton. Car shopping. Getting to know the downtown core. Way too much. Enjoying the backpacker lifestyle while meeting people in the hostel.
Everything that happened, happened for a reason. I don't know where we're headed next.
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