By Ruth
Distance: 21 km
After a restorative day yesterday filled with plenty of coffee, good food, a comfortable place to stay, and lovely friends to hang out with, we woke up this morning with fresh determination to officially finish walking the North Island. When we arrived on Friday we gave up walking at Crofton Downs, just over 20 km from the end of the trail, and today we went back to finish off those last kilometres in the beautiful sunshine.
First though, we went out for breakfast (being well-fed is very important). Then we took a bus to where we had left off before. We averted our eyes from the disappointing coffee cart as we went by. Then we were on a lovely path for a few kilometres through a small ravine, with a stream running next to the trail.
After that we popped back out into a neighbourhood where we walked up some steep streets to another little forested section with nice views and benches interspersed along the way. That led us to the botanical gardens which were nice, but nowhere near the level of the ones in Hamilton.
After that we headed down some pedestrian paths/stairs to the central district. We had an amazing coincidence as Isi and Michèle, Elliot’s aunt and uncle, happened to be in Wellington today for just a few hours as a stop on their cruise of New Zealand. So we were able to meet them for lunch and coffee! An unexpected perk of our stay in Wellington.
After lunch, Annika, who we are staying with, joined us for the Mount Victoria section of trail. It was so refreshing to have someone new keeping us company on trail. Mount Victoria was nice but pretty crowded with tourists. Also there are lots of trails in the park and the TA is not very well signposted – so it was not easy to figure out where we should be going.
But we did figure it out, and then Annika headed home while we headed towards another cafe for a snack and a drink (this one happened to be at the zoo). After that was Mount Albert with our first glimpse out at the south coast, and then down to the beach for the final few kilometres.
At the end of the trail was a rock with a plaque saying this was the end of the TA on the North Island. Underwhelming to say the least, but the walk today was overall very enjoyable, and we got a good taste of the city as we walked through lots of different neighborhoods. And now we are looking forward to starting the South Island with a renewed, if cautious, enthusiasm. We have one more rest day staying with Harry and Annika in Wellington before we sail onto the next leg of our adventure.
