We walked up the Karamatura stream, had lunch with Old Tom Thumb, and climbed to the top of Goat Hill for some overcast views of Auckland and Cornwallis. Coming back we returned via the Karamatura Waterfall.

On the track up to Goat Hill I found this bullet. I called the police today to find out if I should hand it in to them, but they said that wasn’t a necessity although I could if it made me feel safer.

Had a few beers and some Sages Indian curry with Robert and Tim back at my place.

Got my hedge and the tree in front of my house trimmed. Pulled a selection of light switches and plugs out to check the wiring has PVC insulation.

My cellphone died, and being busy I hadn’t checked messages for a few days. Dad and Suzanne came round Saturday the 4th expecting to find me dead. Sorry about that! Tim has since given me his old cellphone, so I am TXTable again.

The next day had Griffs and Heather over for lunch. Suzanne created a garden for me which is still alive a week later. And Heather and I unpacked my stuff from the boxes and found places for everything. I’ve set up the front room as an office with the bed back from the street where it is a bit quieter.

Good Friday the Electrician checked my wiring and found the old fabric wiring is only looping from the meter to other parts of the board. Everything going back from the switchboard is PVC insulated, so it is ok. Also managed to get the oven working by bypassing the timer on it.

Had friends over for a BBQ on Saturday. The last BBQ of this summer. Went pretty well I think. Some people were pretty determined to sit outside even in the rain, but in the end we gave in and moved inside.

Today (Monday) Michelle, Brian and I tramped the Panto-Parau-Farley tracks in the Waitaks. A decent 4 hour walk, with some nice views, tree cover and interesting fungi.

The inorganic rubbish collection is due on my street. Collection day was notified as being today, but I don’t think they realized it was a public holiday. There must have been at least 100 vans/trucks/cars cruising up and down looking for good stuff. It’s interesting what they think is worth taking. I had a small rusted thru piece of roofing iron, it’s gone. And an old chest which was once very cool, complete with the airholes for being locked inside; but now is borer-infested and falling apart; and that’s gone too. Though they’ve dumped the plaster board I had in it on the ground.

OK, now this blog is up to date!

Tramped up to Ongaruanuku, the Auckland University Tramping Club Hut in the Waitakere Ranges. I’d forgotten socks for my boots, I just wore them anyway. We followed the Waitakere Tramline through the tunnel and up to the Waitakere Dam. There’s some construction going on there which means we couldn’t walk along the dam, but the track around the base is no hassle. Then up the Fence Line Track to the Hut. (The Fence Line Track is part of the Montana Heritage Trail which has had a lot of work done on it, all very well maintained and gravelled with not a bit of mud to stick to your boots.)

One of the best times we had as children was staying at the AUTC Hut as a family. I must have been about 10? It was a great adventure. Cooking on the open fire. Trying to trap the rat. The hut is still pretty much as I remember. Still decorated with stolen road signs. Still occupied by a fat rat. There is a cistern in the long drop toilet. This was a joke with the water soaking anyone too green to realize you don’t flush a long drop. It looked like the plumbing had rotted away long ago, but I didn’t try it!

Return was via Robinson Ridge and Cascade Tracks. It is quite a climb to get back over to the Auckland City Walk valley. Plenty of mud on these tracks. Was a long day, but a good tramp. No blisters even without socks.

Did a exciting tramp around Lake Wainamu and back down the Wainamu Stream. Michelle has a more interesting post on her blog.

Somewhere on Saturday I lost my phone, so if you want to contact me you’ll have to use email, or you can try my landline (number is in the white pages). It must be somewhere between my apartment, my car, Eden Terrace and the Waitaks, but I haven’t found it yet.

Finished the day with a surprise birthday party for my sister who was over in Switzerland on her actual birthday.

We walked the track clockwise with many stream crossings and not much chance of keeping our boots dry. There wasn’t much water to the waterfall at the end. Not like I remembered. It was pretty crowded there too with several families having lunch, so we didn’t stay long. There must have been over 15 cars in the carpark when we came out.

A nice walk, finished off with icecream at Swanson. Michelle has more details on the walk over on her blog.