Come Monday it was back to work at Unitec, and upon arriving I got the news the place was robbed over the weekend, with an estimated $5000 of tools stolen. It appeared that could have more as many tools were moved so the people responsible must have been disturbed by the security who were meant to be working at the university. Despite this it was a busy week. With building 182 now completely refurbished, this meant work to refurbish building 183 began which meant removing a lot of furniture, carpets, and roofing tiles. There was also a lot to be done in the main building which due to a fair bit interior work being done meant a lot of deliveries of materials onto the site, meaning a lot of lifting and tidying up. This wasn't helped by the weather during the week which once again flooded the building in places, not helped further by a few of tarps protecting some areas blowing away leaving it completely exposed to the elements.
Come Thursday parts of New Zealand got a weather warning for a cyclone approaching. The issue with cyclones is they're unpredictable and can change course very quickly. Auckland was one of the areas predicted to be affected by strong winds and there was even talk of the harbour bridge closing. This meant the university campus was sent home at lunchtime. We worked on however checking and clearing the roofs and scaffolds of loose materials, and securing materials down with heavy things on top and ratchets in case there were strong winds. Luckily come evening the cyclone hit the east coast around the Bay of Plenty area and skimmed Auckland heading south meaning we just got a bit of rain instead of strong winds, so hopefully the site will still be in one piece.
With Friday being a bank holiday, this gave me a day off so I decided to head out of Auckland for the long weekend, going down to Hamilton. I had the option to work however we get paid for the bank holiday anyway, and working basically gave you time owed so there wasn't really much of an incentive to work. Leaving Auckland about lunchtime so I could have a much needed lie in, I caught the mana bus down which is like the New Zealand equivalent of megabus. The road down to Hamilton was busy however so it took quite a while to arrive, arriving about an hour and a half late. Upon arrival I checked into the hostel, before using the little remaining daylight to go and explore Lake Rotoroa, going there via the high street. It was a nice walk round the lake, tieing it in with the sunset. Some of the boardwalks were flooded however as Hamilton fared worse than Auckland during the cyclone. The city itself was dead come evening though as nothing was open being a bank holiday, so I just relaxed in the hostel in the evening.
With it being easter weekend, many services were not open and public transport was extremely limited. This meant it was difficult getting places although Saturday there were a few buses still running to a few places. I was originally planning to go to Raglan on the Saturday and climb Mount Karioi although this was unrealistic in terms of getting back to Hamilton, and the unpredictable weather also put me off having a beach day in Raglan itself which is popular with surfers. I instead looked up popular hikes round the Hamilton area and as with many things in New Zealand you could only get to many of them by car or an expensive private shuttle. The only realistic option I found was catching a bus to Huntly north of Hamilton to explore the Hakarimata Scenic Reserve.
After breakfast I took the bus north to Huntly and followed the Hakarimata walkway south to Ngaruawahia. This walk was described as 7.5 hours, although I only had 6 hours to do it to catch the last bus. Primarily in woodland, the walk showcased many native New Zealand plants in particular the Kauri tree. There was also the occasional clearing in the trees to get views over the Waikato river and surrounding areas. The weather however wasn't great although with the walk being in woodland I was relatively sheltered.
After a few hours I eventually made it to the Hakarimata summit which gave me views of the area. There was a wooden tower you could go up to get better views although it was a little cloudy. I also had lunch up here before heading down the summit track to this old dam which included a few waterfalls. It was very slippery going down however and part of the path had even collapsed. When reaching Ngaruawahia I found out the path down was actually closed because of this although I had no information of this the other end. Arriving about an hour before the bus, I had a bit of spare time so I followed the Waikato river round for a bit before heading back to Hamilton. I spent the evening relaxing at the hostel, watching one of the many films they had available to use.
Sunday was a complete shutdown of services, with only a limited bus service and most shops closed. I therefore decided to spend the day in Hamilton itself. Hamilton is the largest inland city in New Zealand with about 3% of the entire population living there. One of its most popular attractions is the gardens which is free to enter, so I decided to go there. The gardens were split into sections with each area showcasing how a garden looks in different time periods and cultures. It was nice place to walk around, and the surrounding area had nice little walks. It however started raining again come afternoon, so I visited the Waikato museum which was interesting before heading back to the hostel because of the weather. I then just watched a couple of films throughout the evening before going to bed.
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