Royston Vasey

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20th November

Woke up about 6, opened the van door, as it does get a bit steamed up at night. Carried on dozing while listening to the waves and the dawn chorus.
Woke up proper about 7ish. Headed to the kitchen to make tea and toast I decided would try having a bigger breakfast to see if I could ward of hunger pangs mid morning. Breakfast was avocado on toast plus a bowl of cereal.

Sorted the van out, headed to the kitchen to wash up and had a shower all ready to leave by 9.20. Pretty good going I thought.

Carried on my journey south towards Opotiki, on the way I saw a sign for a regional park at Ohiwa and took a right turn, sat nav was not happy that I had deviated from her instructions.

Parked up and there was circular route around the park that took about an hour and half. I am up for that I thought. I packed water, glucose tablets, cereal bar and a satsuma, put my boots on and grab my walking pole. All good to go.

The sign had said it was steep in places but I thought I would see how I got on. The first was part of the walk was in the shade of the forest, and the gradient was quite manageable. All going well until I see a sign Glow Worms in one direction and Campsite in the other. I don't want to go to the campsite, so took the turning for the glow worms.

Carried on climbing up got to a sign with a load of blurb about glow worms. There was a small waterfall but no clear path, people had obviously walked either side of the waterfall, but it was very muddy and very steep and narrow, I decided that I would not risk it. Headed back to where I had come from and took the turning for the campsite, as I had passed the campsite on the road while I was looking for the car park.

Carried on climbing, got to a clearing and took in the view, having gauged how high I had already climbed I felt the full walk would be manageable, then we got to the point where there were steps as the gradient was so steep, I began to doubt myself after my experience of steps on walks . Thankfully there were only a dozen or so. Eventually got to another signpost to the campsite or to carry on the circular route I got this far, I figured I would continue with the full walk.

Back under the shade of the trees, and we had a series of hair pin bends to reduce the gradient. I was beginning to feel that maybe I could not reach the top when I saw a clearing on to open pasture, I will get to the gate and assess the situation there. The summit was about 150 metres away, so I carried on, stopped for a breather and admired the views from the top.

The walk then carried on through a working sheep farm until I got to a gravel road which took me all the way down to the beach. As usual going downhill is difficult as I am a little worried about slipping so I took baby steps and took a steady walk down hill. Got to the beach and it would be all plain sailing from there, flat and I walked on the wet sand. Not long into my walk on beach I noticed a structure built out of driftwood; Barnacle Bar, complete with and bar stools, coat rack, flag, it's fairly impressive.

Got back the van and was ready for food, I got my chair out of the van out in a shady spot by the bench, took my boots off and put my feet up and had my left over pasta from yesterday, a cold drink and a satsuma. Boy, I was ready for that. Read a bit of my book and carried in my journey to Opotiki.

I filled the van up when I got to Opotiki and had to make a decision about where next. I could head across country to Gisborne or carry on along the coast road. Coast road it was, not far into my journey there was a big sign saying it was Mauri land, for some reason I got a sense of foreboding and suddenly I was not sure that this was a good idea.

The reason for my doubts was due to a lady I meant when doing volunteering, she said to be careful of the Mauri as they expect payment if you are on their land. I was really not sure about this. I tried to put this out of my mind and decided to carry on. Now this part of New Zealand is remote, even by New Zealand’s standards. I decided at the petrol station that I would stop for a coffee at the next cafe saw. I had been driving for almost an hour and I had not even come across one village yet.

Then I saw a cafe, It was so remote, just the cafe nothing else nearby, I did not stop, it felt a little like the shop in Royston Vasey, for locals, I even saw them watch me approach. Was I being paranoid because of what that lady had said, probably.
I will stop at the next cafe or shop I promised myself.

The roads were the normal roller coaster ride, saw a small settlement with a shop and cafe, but the cafe was closed, went into the shop to buy cereal and milk, asked about a campsite, they had one out back so booked myself in for the night. The shop also served hot food, decided to come back later.

This campsite was huge, a bit spooky as I was the only one there. About an hour later this chap on scooter rocks up and comes over and says hi, whilst telling me that he needs petrol and he is just going to check out the farm machinery that is scattered around the place for petrol. I really do not want to know this, so I tell him I won't see a thing as I am reading my book. I am half expecting to woken up in the middle of the night with trying to siphon fuel out of the van.

I had a lie down for read but soon dropped off. Woke up at 6.30 wandered to the shop, but it was closed, closed at 6 bugger. So tea was bread and jam, breakfast cereal and a cuppa. It looked like it might rain so tucked up my bed by about 8.30, not long after that the rain started, carried on reading my book. Lights out about 9.30, the rain was getting heavier, I was a bit concerned whether my van would cope with the mug in the morning as I was parked on a bit of a slope. Deal with it the morning I thought.

Had a fitful sleep as it started hailing in the night, it sounded like someone was throwing stones at the van, then the wind got up, I had visions of the van being blown over.

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