The Belgian Travellers

Tuesday 28th of November 2017 We're together again ! After a breakfast in Ponsonby, we go to meet Gabrielle from the Frogs, we book our bus ticket to Mercer and we join the TA trail. The trail between Auckland and Clevedon is only on roads and we don't really want to hike them. Also, the TA website says that Hunua Range is closed, which means that the next section of trail on paths starts from Mercer. We arrive at Podge's place, where we can pitch our tent for free in the backyard. The owner has a collection of pictures of all the TA walkers that stopped by at her place. We have a pizza and a beer before going to sleep.       Wednesday 29th November 2017 We're ready for a new day of tramping. It starts with a nice path that becomes not so nice when we have to cross a patch of gorse bush . We spent an awful moment crawling under the branches, passing through others and we eventually reach the end of the tunnel... to see that there was another way of...

Saturday 25th November 2017 Taking into account Marie-Laure's ankle, we decided to follow an alternative itinerary that would be easier. The full-of-holes 4WD track eventually lead us to the State Highway 1 (SH1). We follow this road, full of crazy-driving-kiwis, during 800 meters to reach the Dome Cafe , our yesterday's Graal. Shroomer wrote that it was there that he ate the best burger he ever had in his life. So we had a burger. Well... it was good. But for the best burgers in NZ so far, we would recommend another place, in Auckland : Burg'z Burgers . Anyway, we had plenty of good food and good drinks at Dome's Café. Talking about drinks, I was craving for glass of red wine and they had some. But when I saw the price (17$), I decided not to take one. While we were eating, I told Marie that it was the most expensive glass of wine I had ever seen in such place. And she told me "7 is not that much". So we checked the price. And she was right : wi...

The 20th of November 2017 Time to say goodbye to Ros and Hugh, after 2 wonderful nights at their place. Ros in front of her bed and breakfast  Hugh driving us across the estuary We decided to hike with Adriana and Craig. We met them in Ahipara, just when we came back from the hospital, and we had a good connection with them. The day is beautifully sunny and we enjoy discussing with our friends, exchanging about our lives, our families, our work,... Something that we discuss a lot with the other hikers is the shoes and the feet. Both Marie-Laure and me decided to hike with hiking boots, while most hikers wear low trail shoes.  After a few hundred kilometers, our conclusion is that we're happy of our choice. Our boots are sometimes a bit heavy and warm, which tends to be more welcoming than necessary for fungus (this blog is becoming kind of intimate). I sorted out this particular problem by changing my socks every 2 hours (so I always use 2 out of 3 pair...