The plan was to drive south from Kaitaia to Whangarei where our eldest grandson would join me. We would then head further south, stopping briefly in Auckland to eventually reach Tongariro National Park.
It didn’t quite work out that way!
The trip to Whangarei was uneventful, being a reverse of the previous day. With Carlin and his kit on board we headed south to Auckland.
Planning
If my memory is accurate I’ve previously mentioned I had removed my large backpack (rucksack) from storage and gone for several trial local walks in Perth. Would I be able to carry the pack? Eventually I decided not to take it.
My reasons were:
- It’s more of a travelling pack than a pack for trail walking
- The pack is actually robust but heavy
- “Stuff” expands to meet the space available! ie, I’d fill it with things that might be nice rather than staying with the essentials.
I decided to take one of my smaller day packs. I have two and one has numerous loops and tie-down points. I would use this pack for the walk and tie anything that wouldn’t fit inside onto the outside. To achieve this I bought three $12 waterproof 3 litre ‘stuff sacks’ from the local KMart and some tie down straps from the nearby Bunnings hardware store.
Weight was going to be critical and I opted to buy pre-prepared free-dried meals (dehydrated food) in NZ. I would only have two sets of clothes during the walk. One set to walk in and the second to sleep in. As space was at a premium I took my very thin ALDI sleeping bag. Whilst it packs down to a tiny bundle it isn’t particularly warm. We would be walking around a snow covered mountain and to add additional warmth at night I would wear my merino wool base layer top and some thermal ‘long johns’. Two pairs of thick merino/possum socks purchased in NZ would give me a walking and a sleeping pair. Jan knitted me a woollen ‘beanie’ to keep my head warm whilst sleeping.
During the day I would wear the thin long sleeved merino base layer, a thin fleece if it got cold and an outer rain jacket against rain or wind. The bottom half would be a pair of long lycra skin tight shorts and synthetic shorts or long trousers; depending upon the weather.
The actual walk would take six days. By eating breakfast before starting and having dinner on our return I would only need to carry five breakfasts and dinners. The daily lunch would be two small muesli bars. Fluids would be weak black tea or water from the streams, which I would filter for the first four days.
As the cooked meals would be freeze-dried food I would use my ‘Jetboil’ to heat the water and eat the reconstituted food directly from the bag using a spoon. No washing up and minimal rubbish to carry out.
A small medical kit, blister pack, foil blanket and my Zoleo 2 way satellite communicator would be the safety kit.
The above meant I would need to buy the merino-possum socks and the ‘long johns’ in NZ. Finding a retailer who both had the socks in stock and was located on our route to the mountain proved to be slightly difficult. However eventually I identified an outdoor store in Silvia Park, Auckland.
After a two hour drive from Whangarei we crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge with the Sky Tower visible out the passenger window.
Silvia Park is in South Auckland. There used to be a large NZ Army logistic centre here but it’s long gone, replaced by a large shopping complex.
Clothing and food purchased, we continued south. More new road for me as the dual lane carriage way from Auckland now extends south of Hamilton. Later that day it became obvious we wouldn’t reach Tongariro National Park today and we made a detour to Matamata to stay in a caravan park.
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