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A week in already and so many little tales to tell... I'll start from the beginning, i'll skim over the flight as flights are flights- right?! 23 hours in the air, an hour at LA airport where they cloned my fingerprints and iris... experimental cloning is on it's way! We arrived at our destination Sunday April 26th 5am. The Benson's greeted us with warm smiles and hugs and took us back to our NZ base in Manurewa, just south of main town Auckland. We were here. The sun was struggling to get it's position in the sky and come late morning the rain had won and decided to greet us as we walked around the Botanical gardens. Not a long walk, due to the ongoing fight Josh and I had with our eyelids and sanity as exhaustion and lack of sleep set in. Sunday was give into the jet lag day... there really is no more to tell.
So Monday arrived, and with it the sun. I was formally introduced to 'Mary' our set of wheels for the journey.. a very old car but brimming with character, and we set off into Auckland centre for a wander and to pick
up a few things- fleece, food etc. Auckland like any other city is just another concrete jungle... the usual chains stand out like a sore thumb but the knowledge of the fact "I am in NZ" seemed to make the grey buildings just a little more attractive. I took great delight in watching the green man light actually walk at pedestrian crossings. Ah the small things in life. From there we headed up to Mt.Eden to have a spot of lunch whilst overlooking our playground and then onto Mission bay for some coastal scenery. Monday night was spent back in the Benson's hospitality and gave us both chance to plan out our first weeks warm up.
And so the adventure truly begins....
Up early doors Tuesday and on the road with Mary by 8am.... up on North in the sunshine! Our first port of call the Kauri coast where we stopped to take in a somewhat 'magical' beauty of the Waipoua Kauri forest (Proclaimed in 1952 don't you know and is now the largest remnant of the once extensive Kauri forest of North NZ... copied from a book? Never!). This was our first proper stretch of the legs...
well at least my legs, keeping up with Josh proved quite a challenge and planted a seed of doubt at my walking abilities for the coming months, but at the risk of losing some pride I slyly wiped the sweat from my brow and marched on. Back to the trees - I'm no tree hugger, but these tree's are amazing. Massive buggers with an almighty girth (wuay) Tane Mahuta, Maori forest God stands at 51m and a 13,8m girth.... so as you can imagine mega trees. They stand there with this mythical presence, although Josh laughed when I mentioned fairies, I allowed my inner child to secretly get excited at such unrealistic thoughts. We left the tree's to head on up further to an aptly titled hostel called 'Mousetrap' in Paihia. A beautiful place along the coast, and a nice hostel to to go with it. The day ended with a questionable dish of mac'n'cheese with broccoli and pitta bread. MMM!? Oh and a cold that's well and truly developed to the point of me going to bed at 9pm to try and sleep it off. Great.
Wednesday saw a wet morning warmed up by the sun so we
took a walk through some mangroves and along to the Haruru waterfalls. The weather was perfect - fresh from the nights rainfall, yet crisp blue skies and sparkling water reflecting the lushious mangrove trees. The walk was cut short due to a path closure so we were forced to go back on ourselves, which in the end was ideal as the weather turned a little cloudy. Didn't stop Josh from taking his first dip in the sea, me being a girl full of cold refrained and instead settled for an ice cream. We then trundled onto the ferry over to Russell where we checked ourselves into a family home turned hostel - Sheltered waters backpackers. In brief - warm and friendly, owners have a large unusual family with their 5yr old already being an uncle of two, a posom called Sam and a dog called Leo who took a great liking to me.... so much so that I couldn't give him a stroke for him straddling my arm and... well you can imagine the rest! There are photo's! I stupidly sat outside till nightfall, no giving any thought to mozies. Oh how I regret this naivity! My lower legs are
now a dot to dot of big red swollen, poison filled spots and just see if there are any un-bitten skin patches left! I'll come back to this. An early night and a daunting day ahead.... a day I was not mentally or physically prepared for, but a day... no wait TWO days that Amy would be oh so proud of.
The Cape Brett walk. Not for the weak hearted! We set out on Thursday morning and arrived in Rawhiti by 10am, where we left Mary under the watchful eye of a local for $5 (apparently the other locals just aren't worth trusting with an unmanned car!). On my back was my 70l rucksack with a change of essential clothes, waterproofs, sleeping bag, torch, book, chocolate, 1l water, fleece and food for us both- x2 lunches, dinner, snacks and breakfast. Unfortunately for Josh, I was too weak of a girl to carry anything else so he took the tent, cooker, water and his clothing. Now his parents had previously done the walk and informed us it was a little hard with some ups and downs.... HA! a 20k walk there to camp day one, and then the same 20k
walk back day two.... the ups and downs were ridiculous UPs and DOWNs. Not little hills like that of pentridge no no no, but steep walks where at times I had to grasp on to the trees to pull my weary self up. I'm use to one day walks with a day pack- waterproofs, snacks and water for one.... up one or two mountain sides and then down again. definitely NOT this. I reckon there was around 8/9 inclines and of then 8/9 declines. My calf muscles hurt, my shins hurt, my back hurt, my collerbone bruised, my thighs hurt, my feet overheating, my entire body sweating... thankfully Josh felt the pain too, so together we carried on until we reached the lighthouse and the the hut to sleep in. By this point even any enthusiasm to finish had gone, the slope down to the hut made no difference to my speed... but I made it. The hut however needed a code for the lock.... a code you get when you pay the $30 fee for walking across mauri land. Whoops.... so we pitched the tent outside the hut and ate 2 minute noodles at sunset, before hitting the sack
at.... 7.30pm. A few games of shit head later, I was asleep my 8! Awoken at midnight by an overwhelming heated itch from my many mozie bites.
Up at dawn to see a brilliant sunrise between the rocks, a breakfast of cheesy baked beans = a chirpy, although a some what achey sally. Then the realisation of the day ahead... then the view of the immediate climb that lay ahead. My enthusiasm vanished and my heart sunk. The night hadn't even begun to heal my aches and pains... the rucksack, although emptier now seemed alot heavier. I couldn't even manage all the water and had to load up poor Josh with some of that along with the load he carried the day before. The walk went straight into it, up and up, a zig zag path up to the lighthouse and then a steep narrow track to the top of the first peak. I could of cried there and then... my tiny pain filled steps seemed to get me no where, but knowing Josh was up ahead got me up. Just very slowly. And that was the way for the next 6.5 hours.... small tired steps up the peaks
and slightly longer wobbly steps down the hills. Many a times the thought crossed my mind 'I really can't do this!' but knowing I had too and that it would soon be over with a feeling of accomplishment to suit kept me going. We succeeded! Woohoo. Now I may of painted a somewhat gloomy picture of this back breaking hike... but the views were amazing! The weather was perfect, hardly a cloud in the sky - the blue sky merged into the bright blue see and the views of the bay of islands was just astounding. At the end of the peninsula again the views were just breath taking.... the sunset an array of colours, both of us sending our 'Hello's' over to England as it dropped below the horizon. Even on the way back when I could only focus on the ground where I next dragged my sorry feet, i somehow managed to appreciate some spectacular scenes.
So yes, Amy - your kid sister now only did a 40k walk over two days, up and down NZ 'so-called-HILLS' but she did it with your 70l rucksack on her back! I did have to fasten some sort of padding from
a scarf to sit across my collarbone... if only when I ate more I could direct where the fat went!
That night we headed back to the sheltered waters backpackers in russell for a much needed shower, food and a comfy bed. I fought of the randy leo and got $10 knocked off the prices for helping with childcare... we even fitted in 'finding nemo' before a 9.30pm bedtime. Oh i must add... by now two days of heat and sweat had made my mozie bitten legs scream out with itchiness... It was unbearable. I had to go to the pharmacy where apparently I'd had somewhat of an allergic reaction to the bites and so needed tablets, cream and vitamins to calm them. No joke on one leg I have around 30 bites. Oh well.... just gearing me up for the insects ahead hey!
Saturday... today. And a sad day to end on... for on our journey south back to Auckland, not only did the heavens open but Mary konked out. Unfortunately for me, whilst I was driving.... I was changing gear and all of a sudden she just wouldn't stop revving. EEEK! So we had to call
the AA out, who wouldn't tend to her in the rain on the side of the road so towed us back to his garage... where she rests now waiting for hopefully a straight forward operation Monday. We're just praying that this is not the end of Mary. So we waited in this funny backward garage whilst the wonderful Benson's drove the 2hrs out to pick us up and take our weary selves back to the comfort of their home. Where we've chilled and contemplated Mary's fate. We find out Monday lunchtime. Watch this space.
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Sally T
Sally Taylor
Hahahaha....
Just seen how long this is. My god I can ramble on... I assure you not all entries will be this long. Josh has just laughed at the essay on the screen.... And this was me cutting out alot, making it brief. Whoops - sorry!