Walking coast to coast

View of Auckland from Mount Eden

Where else can you walk from the coast of one ocean to the coast of another ocean in just four hours? Auckland is surrounded by the sea and they have a well marked trail that takes you from Onehunga, a suburb on the coast of the Tasman Sea all the way to the Viaduct Harbour which lies on the South Pacific Ocean. It took me more than four hours to do the walk because I did all the side trips such as summiting volcanoes and visiting botanical gardens and olive groves along the way.

Flower bed edged with lava rocks

The start of the walk (I chose to go south to north but it can be done in the opposite direction as well) in a bay on the Tasman Sea is quite ugly. There is a half dried out marshy lake and a construction site so I just went on my way without lingering.

View towards the Tasman Sea from One Tree Hill

The walk goes towards One Tree Hill or Maungakiekie in Maori. I'm not quite sure what is the historical significance of this hill. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm in an English speaking country but I still struggle to understand descriptions such as "Kiwi Tamaki of Te Wai o Hua inherits the wealth of Tamaki, which is protected by a network of Paa with Maungakiekie at the centre. The original tree, Te Totara i Ahua, is planted to mark the birth of Korokino." I guess it means that someone named Kiwi (so they really call themselves Kiwi in New Zealand?) planted a tree for some reason. There is no tree now, it was severely damaged by a Maori protestor in 1994 and had to be later removed. But the views are spectacular, I could see both oceans and many volcanoes that are scattered around Auckland.

Sheep grazing on the slopes of Mount Eden

The walk also traverses Mount Eden or Maungawhau in Maori. The slopes are full of grazing sheep (so there really are all those sheep in New Zealand?). The crater itself is off limits to visitors but we could walk the rim. There is a story about some legend that the crater is sacred to Maoris. But I also saw a sign asking people to stay out because cardboard sledding on the grassy slopes of the crater is destroying it. Cardboard sledding? I'm thinking the Maori legend is just a cover story to keep people from cardboard sledding into the crater.

Mount Eden crater (no cardboard sledding allowed)

Since I walked through the suburbs and the city for most of the day, I witnessed plenty of sports related activity. There was horse racing and cricket matches and cricket field maintenance.

School children in a cricket tournament

Cricket field maintenance (One Tree Hill in the background)

The coast to coast trail finishes in the harbour where I saw some mean looking sailboats. There were posters for the America's Cup so I guess I might have seen the sailboat equivalent of Formula 1 race cars.

Viaduct Harbour