Kinde, Kepler and Netball

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Wednesday

I wake up feeling drained but better, which is a relief, no idea what came over me, may be it the tiredness catching up, and I have been fighting a cold off for the last week, or a virus from the children….or none/ a combination of all!

Anyhows I have dry toast with mashed banana for breakfast just in case and head off to Kinde for my last day of work. Kinde was quiet today and we went to a different spot, which was great fun getting to…a very steep slope through the forest, and I was in charge of the buggy which is used to load everything in (no children luckily) so I skied down the slope with the buggy leading the way. It was great fun, and apparently they had never taken the buggy down there before, but now I had proved it could be done, they would do it again….the could of told me that before!

My ‘cubby’ (tepee/den) building skills were requested again, and I set about making a big tepee out of branches and sticks for the children – I have obviously discovered a new talent since being here! Nearly finished and I was sawing a branch when the saw slipped and sliced into my nail and thumb – luckily it didn’t get very deep at all, but enough blood to require some attention from the first aid kit! The rest of kinde was fun, we looked at some grubs in some rotting bark and then headed back to the shed so the children could have lunch and cook damper on the fire and toast marshmallows.

This afternoon I booked up my huts for doing the Kepler track – one of the ‘Great Walks’ of New Zealand. When I first arrived I had written off doing it as I am on my own, but the more people I have talked to over the time the more I learnt and that it was fine to do on your own as you walk hut to hut, and with 40 people in each hut, there are quite often people around, and you will see them at the end of each day etc. And after volunteering on the ‘Kids Restore the Kepler’ project for the last two weeks, I feel I know so much about it that I have to do it!

As I have a limited window of opportunity to do the kepler as I am moving on soon, I have to start tomorrow (Thursday). The Kepler is set up that you can walk either way, though most people start at Luxemore hut and work through to Motora. However due to the fact the track is so booked up I have to start at the Motoroa hut and work to Luxemore – though locals I have spoken to say they actually prefer this way, with the best views, and the nicest hut being at the end rather than the beginning. My other issue is that one hut is the hut for the second night is fully booked – this is because the full track is supposed to be walked in four days, but some people walk it in three, others all in one day!!!! So different huts get booked up more than others. So undeterred, and because I really want to walk the track before I leave, I book Motoroa hut for the first night, and Luxemore hut for the second night, and thus will complete the track in three days. To complete it in three days you need to combine two days hiking into one, and for me, due to the hut situation, the sections I am combining are the most challenging, making the day 30.8km long, and the mid section – Iris burn hut to Luxemore hut climbing some serious height in limited kilometres! But needs must if I want to do the track, and some people (very few) do walk the whole track in one day, and I know I have the fitness so I will be ok.

With everything booked up I firstly head to the cinema with a thank you card and box of chocolates for the staff after being so nice yesterday, then head to the supermarket to buy the food I require for the trek, a sharp knife so cut my food with, some matches to light the stoves and collect the cooking pan Caroline has offered me to borrow, then its back to the hostel to sort out my bags and pack for the trek.

Packing is interrupted by a netball match…yes that’s right…I have been drafted in to play for the DOC netball team in their match this evening. I tried to inform them I am not a great netball fan and haven’t played since PE at school, but they asked and it felt rude to turn them down. SO at 7.15pm I find myself playing in a netball match. The match is only 40mins long, and actually great fun – now making me think slightly better of the sport! I really enjoyed, and hopefully played ok for them, though we did end up losing but only marginally.

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