Te Araroa, Day 26

This morning, we will walk into Devonport and take the ferry from there to the other side, to Auckland City. After crossing through the city today, we'll take two days off and then try to walk through Auckland's suburbs quickly.

The "trail" leads through residential areas again, as well as along the coastline and through a park until we reach the ferry pier. The ferry ride takes 12 minutes, and we are in the city center. I stop at an electronics shop and get noise-canceling earbuds. I did not bring mine with me to NZ, but I know I will need them.

Walking through Newmarket, not far from the trail, is an affiliate of the international company I work for. I am grateful that one of my colleagues there agreed to hold a bag for me with shoes and some other items. So, while passing through Auckland, I have a quick stop at the office to switch my one-wall tent with a two-wall tent. I had too many nights wet walls and a wet quilt. That won't happen now with 2 walls.

At the office, I am invited to go in to sort my stuff there. I can't. My clothes are dirty. I don't feel comfortable. But there is a nice check-in area in front of the entrance where I can rummage through my bag. I get the tents switched and am ready to go again.

The trail leads through different parks in Auckland. I especially like the "climb" of Mt. Eden. From the top, one has a 360-degree view and sees both the east coast and the west coast. Although walking a city is not really my thing, we get a lot of interesting places to see before we reach Dukes Midway Lodge 9 hours after we started walking.

I did not take a lot of pictures while walking through Auckland but I tried to catch the skyline from a park in Devenport and from Mt. Eden: