Day 24

Today was a day of urban tramping. Susan dropped me off at Long Beach. She saved me over 40 km which was a dog leg through Stillwater and Silverdale and a low tide only river crossing. I started walking round the rocks but there were some dodgy bits where my short legs found it hard to scramble up rock ledges. I was grateful to find  public stairs which took me off the beach. The track followed a lot of hidden green areas round the edge of top shelf real estate interspersed with older homes that would have been built before north shore mania set in . There were numerous hidden lanes and stairs to and from the beaches we walked on. They had some cool names like Sea Dog Alley and Possum Stairs. It was a real mixture of beach and pavements . Lots of people out sun bathing, swimming and school groups doing beach days with Surf lifesaving clubs or learning to sail. There were lots of public toilets and lots of dogs been walked. It looks like a dog is the ultimate fashion accessory in Auckland and everywhere you go there are water bowls for them. Walking the pipeline from Mairangi bay to Campbell's bay was enjoyable. The JF Kennedy park had reminants ofa WW2 camp including old barracks which the disguised as holiday homes. My feet got really sore from the concrete so I walked in my Crocs which helped. I went into Milford shopping centre for a late lunch then avoided the disputed land by road walking. It was then a walk over rocks at the south of Milford beach to Takapuna beach and the motor camp. It is $50 for a basic tent site. The view is great, been looking at Rangitoto all day but the amenities are a bit run down. .