Today – 15km From Stillwater to Murrays Bay

Total 564km

Started off the morning pretty lazily as we had a low tide crossing of the Okura Estuary at 9.30ish. With only 3 km of trail before the crossing it was nice to chill and pack up slowly instead of getting going super early.

Had a nice coffee and pizza bread that I picked up at the supermarketthe day before, and , wait for it, fresh fruit! Go bananas.

The weather forecast looked promising for the coastal walk into Auckland. I was only going as far as Murrays Bay today where my family lives and I grew up, but the other had a huge day in front of them to the CBD.

5he morning estaury walk was stunning, sun was out and could tell it was really going to be a hot one! Walked around the coast and then everyone prepared for the crossing – there was about 9 of us who stayed at Stillwater last night. People swapped shoes for camp shoes or sandals, I went bare feet , my jandels would have got eaten by the sand monster. Knowing the crossing would probably be waist deep for me i made sure my pack was super waterproofed and lots of us got down to our underwear and tshirts, minimizing the wet clothing.

The crossing went well, a little over waist deep for me and the bottom of my pack got some water but nothing of concern. The crossing wasn’t fast flowing , but some people have been getting into trouble here .I’ve heard stories of shoulder deep swimming situations, packs being floated on air matresses.

Absolutely no way that you should do this crossing at anything other than dead low tide. It’s also important to make sure you are on the right point to cross, between the pole markers 3 and 4 , and what the gps suggests.

Boots back on and snacks in my belly, it was time to begin the meander down to the North Shore of Auckland.

Looking back at the estuary crossing.

Definately a low tide only situation.

The track to Long Bay was really nice and wide and being Sunday we had a chat to some interested locals who were out and about enjoying the weather.

The beaches and water colour made for a beautiful morning.

Finally got a group photo of the awesome people I have been travelling with. L-R Marte,Jasper, me, Aaron, Sarah.

We followed the coast through bush pathways and across beaches.

We wondered how funny we must look , in the middle of Suburbia with our huge backpacks and hiking poles out for an extreme Sunday walk in the city.

Big sailing regatta on at Waiake beach

Soon we rolled into Browns Bay where my family came down to see us. Everyone got some delicious icecream at Penguinos, which was my first high school job scooping icecream!

After lunch it was time to conquer the stairs , my mum joined us on the walk over to murrays bay which would be our tap out point.

75 stairs after lunch

Coastal wanderings next to fancy coastal houses

A final pic before saying bye for now to the crew who still had a big afternoon ahead of them.

See you soon team! Kind of surreal to have walked all the way into Auckland. Body and feet are still doing great. Looking forward to some catchup with the family and my partner Tom, and lots of food!