Giant snails

11 May

Puhoi (529.5) to Dome Valley

KM 502

Distance: 27.3 km

Elevation: ascent 1117m; descent 939m

Steps: 41,000

Time: 8:20am - 4:20pm

Your eyes do not deceive you - we jumped to yet another P-township, this one toward the northern end of Auckland. This is how we managed 150km in 2 days - did you all know about these things called "cars"? And that they can take you really really fast? Ah-mazing!

We had a really good time catching up with good friends in Auckland, although we only were able to meet a few; and one or two that we had intended to meet we couldn't (thinking of you Tony!), circumstances getting in the way. Eliza is actually very glad, for so many reasons, to still be working for Auckland Council, with the excuse to come back to good friends regularly!

Our friend PR hosted us last night, taking care of a car-sick Eliza yesterday evening and then driving us up to Puhoi this morning. True legend, that woman!

One of the errands we were able to do while in Auckland was to pick up new shoes. No, again your eyes do not deceive you - Vaughan got another pair of new shoes! The pair he picked up in Hamilton was just a little too small - they'll be great for wear once we're off the trail, especialy for shorter distances. But being on your feet for 8+ hours with weight on your back, your feet expand out a bit, and you really need that extra shoe size up. So his new pair, and Eliza's 1300+km pair, have both ben shipped back to Vaughan's parents yet again (thank you, and sorry for the stink!). These should take us through to Cape Reinga.

We pretty much immediately took these through mud and sheep paddocks, and got them thoroughly wet with dew from overgrown plants. Welcome to the Trail :D We had actually done this part of the trail before, from Puhoi Village to this shelter. Last time we did this, while training, it took us all morning. Today it took us less than 2 hours. I guess we're more fit! It's a lovely shelter, with a water supply, and on a different day it would have been tempting to put our tent up on the grass. But we had many km left to go.

The trail today was through familiar-to-us forest (so we didn't take too many photos) interspersed with time on rural roads, a mix of paved, dirt and metalled (gravel). It kept us going at a good pace, despite the at-times farily steep grades.

Possibly the most exciting find of the day is when Vaughan almost tripped over this rock - wait, that's not a rock! This is a Paryphanta busbyi snail, also known as a Kauri snail. These are huge, and carnivorous, and also something that we've both wanted to see for many years now!

Our lunch spot was up by a communication tower at the top of a hill, and commanded a stunning view:

We ended the day by making it back to State Highway 1 at Dome Valley - we are actually tenting out in the back yard of the Dome Valley Cafe! They welcome TA walkers, even though the cafe is temporarily closed (we think the owners are ill or covid isolating).

It's a great amenity for us to have a shelter to cook under, and this space put a smile on our faces when we arrived after a reasonably long and tiring day.