Up at 6am to catch a 6:50am train to catch a 7:30 bus to walk 23km to catch a ferry then a bus

Up at 6am on a Saturday morning to go for a walk ... This is a first if I have been up at 6am before it's because I'm coming home

Enjoyed the silence apart from the early morning hum from the Auckland motorway .. Are you ever quite ?

Busy train ... Good to see

Quick McDonald's I love being in the city at this time of the morning I enjoy watching the shadows and reflections on the buildings ... Plus it's so quite and peaceful ... But not for long ...

Some late night early morning party person left a present all over the road .. birds are happy ... oh I don’t miss those day ... I wonder what younger me would have thought about older me sitting at a bus stop waiting to go on a walk .. let alone walk the length of the country.

So the walk was due to take about 7 hours .. lots of people out on this beautiful day ... taking their dogs for a walk .. wish I had a dog .. mostly along the cliffs to start amazing views and  that sun shining on the water .. such a great day for a walk ..but I did hope for rain as I really wan to try out my new waterproof jacket .. I'm sure I will get a chance.

Stopped to reward myself with my favourite ice cream from the Takapuna Beach café .. I must look a right sight with a quick pace and an ice cream Probably the best bit is this last section from Takapuna to Devonport ..I could stay on the coast the whole way apart from the small section around the base of north head but a good path is provided here .. I do enjoy turning the corner and seeing the city.

A good days walking, good pace great weather only a few unwanted thoughts and lots of reflecting on my life at the moment, a little bit of writing in the sand and applying thoughts to rocks and throwing them out to sea ... onward I march 

One size 10 in front of the other

So I'm just starting this ... but I  want to keep a blog ... so until I get going it will be a bit all over the place
But in a nutshell I plan to do the walk of New Zealand, Te Araroa. I have given myself two years to complete and plan to do the North Island in sections then the South in one long walk. Why ??? well I will fill you in as to why I'm doing this as we go along
As I'm based in Auckland no better time than to get out at the weekend and walk so I started with the Coast to Coast walk from Downtown Auckland to Onehunga then followed that up the next weekend in pouring rain walking from Onehunga to Manukau

Start here .. but I have already started

Walk number 3 done and now I'm reflecting on my walk on Saturday it opened up my eyes to what is ahead ... and can I do it?
More road walking from Manukau to Clevedon ..got lost in the Auckland Botanic gardens ..but easily back on track just headed up to Hill Road and turned left then back on track.
Got to the Kimptons track and at last a walk in the bush .. but the small problem of a walk up a hill ... yes I was gasping for air on this one .. but I made it including a pit stop for lunch half way up. Made it to the top and worth the few and a glimpse back to the sky tower and gave it a glimpse of how far I had come .. small proud moment .. then back into downhill now and past a group of walkers ..then into the thick of the bush and back to looking at orange triangles .. had a small flash back to getting lost in the Coromandel ranges many years ago. Hooked up with the Clevedon Reserve circuit naturally I wanted to follow this down hill but you must turn right and head up a short walk to a great few then a short walk down the hill to the Clevedon township ... couldn't find a pub thou
So 23km for this walk total time 4:30 not including lunch break