By the numbers
Several bus’
1 wreck
Unknown steps
23kms at least
1 glitchy Fitbit
I must have been really tired the night before and crashed
not long after I had finished my blog. That was around 9pm and I must have
needed the sleep as I woke up refreshed. The night had been really cold, but my
bed was warm so I couldn’t complain very much at all. The skies when I woke up
were cloudy, but I wasn’t sure if it would rain. I had gotten a cup of noodles
for breaky so I was eating those, although the water seemed a little funky
here. Since it was still a little cold, I would wear a jumper until it warmed
up. My plan was to get an At Hop card, which will allow me on the bus’ on the
island and within Auckland. From there I never had a fair idea.
I wanted to head into the ferry wharf at Mataitia to grab an
At Hop Card so I wandered there from Fossil Bay where I was staying. On my way
I would get distracted as I wanted to know where several roads went as the day
before I had wandered into town via the beach. Seems the day was garbage day
and there were bins out for collection. I ended up outside of the library and
artworks centre, which I had not seen the day before, but I was actually
looking for street signs. Of course I had to cross the road to look at several
bits of artwork in Alison Park and a sign told me to walk at least 35 mins to
the furthest Winery. Not the direction I wanted to go. I walked down the road
towards Oneroa as it was the town I had visited the day before and found I was
actually at the upper end where I had looked wondering what was in that
direction. I turned around and headed to the ferry wharf. It wasn’t actually
that far there and I did pass several trails as they are all conveniently
signposted. I found the ticket office and found that its easier and cheaper to
buy a ticket for the ferry instead of using my Hop card. Also the bus far for
the island would go from $3 down to $1.50 each time I used the bus. I was more
than happy to have a card as it had been my plan since before I left home.
While at the ferry wharf, I got myself a coffee as by this time I needed one
and a bottle of water.
After the coffee I wandered to the back of the building
where the bus’ do tend to arrive to find there was a historic reserve that
would take me back around to Fossil Bay, but apparently you cant walk it on
high tide as part of the walk wouldn’t be visible. Thinking I would wander
towards some tracks and then jump on a random bus to take me anywhere. Somehow
I found there was a rock that said to respect the dead. I found a small fenced
off grave near to where the Kayaks were located. There was no readable
inscription. The area according to an info panel said that it was once a Maori
village that became a farm with stockyards as part o a sheep farm. The same
area later became a reserve named the Te Atawhai Whenua Reserve, which is all
forested and has tracks. The beach down at Matiatia could have been mined, but
the owner never used the license. I decided I would walk part of a track called
the Church Bay track that would take 1.5 hours.
I intended to only walk part and I ended up doing a bit more
than I intended. I ended up at the top of the headland at the entrance to where
the ferries go through at Maiatia. I had been watching several go past to and
from Auckland. I could see some of the other islands that I cant remember the
names of, but one was once a quarantine station and another was owned or had
the accommodations of Sir George Grey one of the early governors of NZ and who
had been governor of South Australia too. I came to a huge problem on the small
headland where the grass had been cleared and the track had vanished especially
since there was no marker. I had a look at the distant Auckland city and then
tried to figure where the path to Church Bay appeared. I could see it in the distance
and what looked to be a path in front of me. The path soon became unworkable
and required a little climbing down as the rest of the path was several metres
away. After carefully making my way down some badly eroded path I came across
the actual path. I had gone off road by accident. The same thing did happen
when I ended up at the beach at Church Bay as I wanted to wander the Church Bay
Road back to town. A track led me down to the beach and there wasn’t a real
path that could take me to the road as I thought I had missed it. A random set
of stairs I took sent me back to where I decided instead to take another road
into town. There had been either council workers or DOC workers who had been
maintaining the tracks by cutting the grass as I had passed two lots. I ended
up outside the Cable Bay Winery where I powered up the road as I was wanting to
get back to Oneroa to have some lunch as it was close to that time of day. I
ended up finding the track for the way to the town via the Te Atawhai Whenua
Reserve. By this time my Fitbit was playing with me. I knew I had done at least
12.3 kms and when I looked at it minutes later it had reset for some reason
back to 0 and I had only done 64 steps. The Fitbit was actually laughing at me with
its dotty images.
Getting back into town I stopped at a nice little cafe or
coffee that I found was a double shot and something to eat. After food I was
going to catch a bus and I had just missed two of them. I cant be blamed when I
found a nice shirt and a book on Waiheke Island history. Deciding not to wait I
walked down to Blackpool wondering what was down that way. I soon came across a
Maori cemetery and walking to the track that I found was the other end to
Church Bay track near a Maori Marae, I came across something for interesting
and random that I had been squinting at in the distance. Turns out I had found
the remains of the last sailing scow that had worked in the Haruaki Gulf, the Rahiri
that was a historic wreck according to Auckland Council. If I had hired a bike
or scooter then I would have missed this. The map marks it as a low tide walk and
the tide luckily was way out so I could walk around the wreck. Deciding to walk
on, I followed the road that was narrow to Surfdale. Everyone used this
unsealed road and the signs told people that. It was a nice walk too. Not
knowing where else I could go as I was thinking that walking to Ostend at least
3 or 4 kms away was too much, I thought catching a bus there or to Onetangi
Beach would be good.
I had a 20 or so minute wait for the bus and half way to
Onetangi, I jumped off as I seen a cemetery. I had looked at the little cool
houseboats in Ostend, but knew I would run out of time. Across the road, I
could see part of the Baroona a ferry that once worked the Hauraki gulf for 55
years. Everything was nearly closed as it was just after 4pm. I had a look in
the cemetery and it was a lawn cemetery that was too modern for me. There is a
historic cemetery on the island, but I need my own transport to get there.
Again I waited for the next bus and it was a short trip to Onetangi where
several others got off with me. The bus driver recommended a cafe further down
the road. It was a good recommendation as I ended up with bangers and mash as I
hadn’t had snags since I been in NZ. I did have a wander after tea and found
there is several nudist beaches, but I was wanting to head back. I was toying
with the idea of stopping somewhere else on my way home, but knew it would be a
bad idea as I was buggered, but still had to walk. I got off at the regular
stop where I went into the supermarket to get water as I didn’t like the tap
water where I am staying. I was pretty lucky as I found the walk from another
street to be easier than the original one I walked earlier in the morning. I
found a bus stop too or else I would have to lug a bag on my back. I think I
will visit the cafe for breaky before catching the ferry in the morning to head
to Auckland. I could have done a load of washing here, but they have no dryer.
With the weather being cool, I don’t think it would dry. I did learn there was
gum digging on Waiheke Island once the Kauri logging had finished. Man o’ War
Bay had been named for the British navy ships after the Kauri for their staffs
or something like that.
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