I finally got to meet my three TA walking buddies today and they are great. We gathered early at Auckland’s downtown bus station for the longish journey up to Kaitaia.
The bus trip was over six hours and we emerged from the chill of the bus into the ‘winterless north’ of NZ. Northland’s sub-tropical climate just about lived up to the hype today.
The bus driver provided us with an extraordinary level of detail about the trip. He actually told us how many were getting off and on at the various stops, among other stuff. It’s actually quite cool that the bus drivers in NZ are so chatty.
We checked into our hostel and then hot footed to the Pac N Save supermarket for supplies. The first stretch is going to take up six days, so we all bought a fair amount of food.
I went a little mad and have already given away a packet of biscuits and a few musli bars. My bumper sized packet of M&Ms might have to find a new home tomorrow. I walked past the cauliflowers with a steely determination and never looked back.
We will be picked up tomorrow at 10am and transported north to the very top of NZ. It is from there that we will start the Te Araroa trail along the famous Ninety Mile beach. It’s a mere 2998 km to our final destination. I have n’t told my legs yet. As far as they are aware, it’s just a day out at the beach.
