Auckland: Coast to Coast Tramp, 20 kms, 25C, Cloudy

Ok, Now Don't Get Too Excited:

First, your morning sunrise...I've missed these:-)

Not a spectacular sunrise, but it was the only sun we saw today until 18:00, so noteworthy for that reason. To bed very early last night, both experiencing a very choppy night, but ready to go this morning! There's no time to waste!!

When we arrived here Annemarie found us a walk...it's actually called 'tramping' here. The Coast to Coast trail. Now don't get too excited my walking friends, the UK Coast to Coast this is not! That said, I'm pretty sure the UK route doesn't have three volcanic cones to cross over, and besides, it always rains there...or so I'm told. We headed out this morning at a most leisurely hour of 9:30 and headed of without much of a map in search of Mt. Eden, the first volcanic climb on the tramp. The idea was to climb to the top in search of free views of Auckland...the tower in the distance costs about $30 per person and the volcano climb...for me, priceless!

As you can see, there are volcanic peaks all over Auckland...23 to be exact, but let's not let this old geographer get started on that subject! As we climbed we picked up the trail, and I must say that there are not very many arrows on this route. We often had to guess and back track to find our way. Nothing new in that as urban routes are often difficult to locate. We are following the blue signs, the yellow signs take the walker in the opposite direction. One of the survival skills learned on Camino is to locate the flecha amarillo, yellow arrows...as you can imagine, by now we are becoming fairly skilled in this department and we managed to find our way most of the time.

The second volcano is very subtle, but within its broad crater it is home to Auckland's cricket fields, and this being Sunday, they were in full use. As you can see there is an old review stand. As we later learned during our visit to the quite excellent Auckland War Memorial Museum, this area was used to parade the NZ troups before the Boar War and WWI. It has since been used for many historical events. The museum itself is located on the west rim of the volcano and I've covered our visit in "High Endeavours".

After our museum visit the route crosses through some beautiful gardens, and if you are sitting in a Canadian winter you might wish to skip this section, or perhaps the sight of flowers will cheer you up. You decide.

The trail then led us through the rambling University of Auckland, housed in many new and colonial styled buildings. A beautiful urban campus where smoking is not permitted anywhere...very progressive.

More gardens...

Then just when we're thinking that we were finished...we lost the trail and never did find it again...two blocks from the west side of the island! 

We climbed back over the third volcano home where I sit drinking a very nice glass of NZ Marlborough Sacred Hill pinot gris while Annemarie cooks me dinner...very nice! Tomorrow we plan to go a tramping around Rangitoto Island, another volcanic peak, but this time it's located off shore (see Annemarie's photo). How cool will that be?!!

Link To "High Endeavours" Blog

http://highendeavors.blogspot.ca

A pal of mine told me he was having trouble with the link I put in place on my last post. I looked into how to make sure this was correct and hopefully this will work now?!

Four days to go and all the mad last minute things to complete, then we are off for a taste of a new part of the planet.I guess for once I'll be able to sleep on the airplane...its a red eye arriving ion Auckland at 5:30AM local time...yuck! We will find breakfast, dump our gear and beg to be let in to our hotel early (with a handful of cash encouragement?).

Temperature in Auckland....27C :-)  Shorts and t-shirts...a very early summer!!

Next post from "Down Under"!!

Almost Time

Happy New Year 2015!

Another year, and with it comes a time for new things as Annemarie finally retires at month end and my "in between" time will end as we take off for three amazing months of travel February 5th (happily missing the rest of winter!!!). New Zealand, Eastern Australia and Indonesia wait just over the horizon (ok, 14 hours flying time away) and for sure we are very excited to get on the road again. Free of all work commitments, open to new experiences, new cultures and people. An opportunity to visit some close friends and test the waters in an area of the world new to us, yet somewhat familiar. After years of reading books by the likes of Bryce Courtenay, studying the geomorphological history, speaking with many people from these countries encountered on our travels and of course the continuing TV documentaries over the years I feel ready to finally see first hand what this is all about. About time, some have said. I don't know about that, things happen when and as they should...taken as they come.

We have booked only the core infrastructure for this trip including multiple flights, a couple of camper vans and a few hotels. Most of the rest we will simply figure out as we go.

From necessity we have drawn on the services of a cycling company in New Zealand to organize the 340km A2O route and a walking based company in Oz to arrange the 110 km Great Ocean Walk. We will ride and walk independently, but some gear, a few meals and all accommodations during each of these 5 day events have been arranged for us because for these experiences its just about impossible to do this on our own; bring bikes, book remote accommodations, etc. We will bring our basic cycling gear and of course many of the things we will need for walking, aka "tramping" down under. We will have our walking poles, boots, gaiters, minimal wet gear, etc., but alas no serious walking packs, just good day packs. Given we plan to walk in France and Spain late this summer and through the fall we decided not to risk the possibility of loosing much of our Camino gear on one of the many flights we will take over the coming months...9 days with flights, some of these with several connections. We will carry our usual travel packs and as always, pack light:-)

For those interested in following us I plan to blog most of our experiences on our regular travel blog: http://highendeavors.blogspot.ca  But I will post most of our walks here.

Internet will be spotty as we travel, but I will write daily and post when possible. Stay tuned!!

Santa Barbara, California: Various Walks, 23C, Sunny and Warm:-)

I Must Be Dreaming!

Travelled down to Santa Barbara, Cal. to visit my daughter Erin and her partner Seth for a few days and also to warm up a bit...ya I know, a tough life! The weather cooperated and day time highs were in the 23 range with bright blue skies to match the deep blue waters. Not really complaining, but I do sometimes wish that I lived in a part of the world that was a bit warmer and drier during the winter.  I really like where I live and Canada is a special part of this planet, but I'll freely admit that I could happily do without our winter...any winter. Wouldn't give it a moments thought, but Annemarie would so we of course compromise. Maybe one winter away and the next year one winter month home??

A nice visit to the farmer's market indicated a pretty healthy lifestyle in the area. The tomatoes and grapefruit were so fresh and amazing!!

The past few days we walked quite a bit and of course ate well and sampled lots of wines. I mean, this is California! A nice time of the year to visit a very beautiful, dry part of America. Not saying I'd like to live there, but it's a nice place to have an excuse to visit. So, thanks Erin! 

You can see from the photos that it is a nice place to visit with good walking beaches, nice flowers and a moderate, warm climate. There are turtles in the parks and even in front of a few restaurants...very laid back turtles!

There are also lots of Brown Pelicans out and about and I had a nice afternoon trying to photograph them dive bombing the fish just outside the foreshore surf. 

The price of clothing is half what we spend at home...almost payed for the trip! Well, not quite, but my small carry on contained a few more shirts and pants on the return trip. I needed some proper clothes to get me truly into the retirement "look"...I've been observing old pros at this game for a few months. I day of shopping is about all I can handle and will carry me for a few years...batch shopping.

Travelled out to the university this morning with Erin and Seth, said our goodbyes then I wandered down to walk the foreshore bluffs and beaches outside the inner lagoon. It wasn't a long walk as walks go, but it was beautiful and pretty amazing! Had it all to myself. There were some nice waves and even a few white Egrets walking the beach in search of their breakfast.  All in all, a good walk and a peaceful way to spend my last morning before catching the bus for the short ride to the airport. 

As I write this I'm sitting in a small cafe in San Fran airport wishing I was outside walking in the sun, but alas, this is not to be. But it sure was nice to have a short break to enjoy the warm blue skies again! Happily, just two more months and my winter will be prematurely over as we travel into the Southern Hemisphere to wander, explore, walk and visit new friends Feb until early May. Looking forward to that!!

Time to have a look around at this airport and get ready to fly to Vancouver for a couple of days where I'm promised dinner tonight!!