Great Barrier, the long version

I'm not entirely sure why I decided I wanted to go to Great Barrier Island, but I'm glad I did. I got up very early on Thursday and had a relatively uncomplicated journey down to Auckland, arriving in plenty of time to check in. The baggage allowance of 15kgs turned out to include hand luggage, so after ditching a few kilos of stuff I was a mere 9kgs over. Actually it only cost me $13.50, which isn't too bad.

The plane carried six passengers and the pilot and was a bit squashed. It was unfortunately cloudy until the very last minute, when we broke through the cloud to see the island below, green and rugged.

I hadn't planned much beyond arriving on the island so it was lucky that the island's shuttle bus was there and able to give me a ride down to my accommodation. Fiona, the driver, was Scottish and said she'd arrived on Great Barrier eight years ago while travelling around the world. She was supposed to stay for a month, but ended up calling her mum and telling her the journey was over as she'd “found paradise”. On first sight the island was certainly impressive, all rolling green mountains and white beaches with crashing turquoise surf.

Nobody was in at my B&B, Pigeon's Lodge, but there was a note on the door and keys in the door to my unit. I flopped and read through the information folders, deciding eventually to wander down to the nearby shop and see if there was anything edible for lunch. There wasn't, really, but sandwiches were advertised and sandwiches were shortly forthcoming as the shop owner made me some to order.

After a bit more thought I resolved to hire a car in order to be independent. There is a bus that does a run up the island every day, but only once and if you miss it you're stuck. Hiring a car meant I was able to do what I wanted, stop for photos, and also get out for dinner (there was nowhere to eat out closer than 3km away). The very sweet lady in the car hire place let me have two days plus a few hours for the cost of two days, so I was quickly mobile in a little Toyota and tootling down the road that goes as far south as you can go.

I looked at nice views and had a couple of short strolls, then was virtuous and did the nasty hill sprints I was told to do for rowing. Ugh. Dinner, a bit later, was in the Irish pub (there's always an Irish pub) which wasn't actually terribly Irish but did serve a superb piece of snapper and a nice chocolate brownie.

On Friday I was served breakfast on my private deck, all very civilised, and then got in the car and headed north. Via a few short stops for photos and a brief side-trip for a view down “Windy Canyon” I eventually reached Port Fitzroy where there's a little shop. Dumping the car there I set out for a tramp. It had been trying to rain and still looked as though it could so I carried waterproof trousers and jacket and an extra layer, all quite unnecessarily as it turned out.

Really I should have driven to the start of the tramp as it took me a good 40 minutes to run out of road – not that it's busy road, but it was driveable. The track I wanted to take is being repaired, but close scrutiny of the notice indicated it was nominally open, so I went for it.

The walk began very pleasantly, through bush alongside a stream, but after a bit got steeper. There was a bit of a scramble where the track basically vanished for a short distance, and later more scrambles up rocks and very steep bits. En route I stopped to look at the remains of a kauri dam – these were built in the early 20th century for the timber company that was logging kauri from Great Barrier's forests. They built these enormous structures across the river, felled the trees, and let them float down until they were behind the dam. Then they tripped the dam and let the logs float downstream. Not many survive but the one that does is very impressive.

After about two and a half hours of tough walking I got to the bottom of some steps. Apparently, 860 steps, straight up to get to the summit of Mount Hobson/Hirikamata, 621m above sea level. I thought they were never going to end! I also thought I was reasonably fit but was huffing and puffing and dripping sweat by the time I finally, exhilaratingly, got to the top. The cloud had completely cleared and the views all around were spectacular. Unlike many viewpoints Hirikamata is really and truly the highest point on the island, and thus the highest point for some miles, so you can see in all directions – right across to Rangitoto in Auckland harbour, in fact. It felt very good to have reached the top!

After a break I started down a different track, although there was another long steep flight of stairs to contend with. This track had evidently been repaired recently because all the steps were in brilliant condition. A bit further down it got slightly slippy and I fell quite hard (but without injuring myself) before I found a stick to help me the rest of the way. I'm so bad at downhill and by the end of the walk was plodding a bit with sore feet and legs, but the track was also very pretty, through a number of different sorts of woodland with some good views back towards the summit.

Eventually I made it back on to the road and about 800m from Port Fitzroy was picked up by a kindly truck driver – hitching is very acceptable on Great Barrier as everyone knows everyone. Leaving your car and house unlocked is also fine. I realised when I got back to my car that I'd left the windows open the whole day, but it didn't matter (also, I was carrying all my valuables!)

The drive back to Tryphena took well over an hour, via the restaurant I was planning to eat at which recommends booking. They didn't seem that busy but I told them I'd be back and hurried to my B&B for a lovely shower.

At the restaurant the couple and their elderly mother who had been on my flight out were there, so invited me to join their table. That made for a pleasant meal with nice conversation, which was good after a day alone in the bush when I'd only seen two other people the entire time. I had another nice chat with Jim and Anne who own the B&B when I got back there before finally crashing.

My last day was a bit slower, thankfully, as my legs are really quite achy! I did a bit more tootling about in the car, looking at one of the surf beaches; and a short walk along a bit of the Tramline track, which follows the route of the tramline built by the timber company to pick up the logs they'd floated downstream. There was another short and easy walk (I did it in trainers, boots would have been a joke) to the Kaitoke Hot Springs, a natural hot stream running through the forest down to the Kaitoke Swamp. For a while I had the glade all to myself, and luxuriated in the warm water listening to the birds singing and the water bubbling away until a family arrived and broke my solitude.

Annoyingly I had some time to kill, even after I'd filled the car up with very expensive petrol and had a milkshake, so drove a little way to a beach I hadn't visited and wandered there for 20 minutes until it was time to catch the tiny plane back to Auckland. It was a glorious day so this time the views were incredible, and I even saw a whale.

I'd considered getting the bus into Auckland but in the end couldn't be bothered. It's not like I like Auckland very much. So I whiled away the hours at the airport with a shower and very slow duty free shopping and then messing around with pictures on my computer and blogging. Remarkably time passed quite quickly, and as I write it's only half an hour until boarding and then the interminable journey back to wet, windy London.

(And as I post it's half an hour until boarding again in Hong Kong … getting there!)