Forests of the North

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October 30, 2007

Today was intended to be a rest day, but it somehow turned into a half a day of hiking and a full day of activity. We began by using the expensive internet connection at the motor camp to upload our blog entries, so hopefully people are reading this and it’s not just five dollars for fifty minutes of internet for nothing. After that, we networked with a guy from California also staying at the campground to get a ride into Kaitaia (a neighboring town) to buy groceries. It was only a fifteen minute ride to the town, but since we were further north and east than where we were planning to be, we changed our route to take a different forest trail headed in the desired direction.
At the grocery store we got a lot of the same food as last time, but also some new stuff to mix things up. We have been eating much better than previous backpacking trips due to the intensive research I’ve done on what foods keep without refrigeration for lengths of time. Outside the grocery store we sat our stuff down in an empty parking spot so that we could pack it properly and get out of town. Then a woman pulled partially into the parking space and almost hit us. Even though she saw us there she refused to go find another space. So after I restrained Eric from what I can only imagine would have been verbally assaulting this mean-spirited woman, we moved two spaces down and finished packing.
From there we headed out down the highway to get to our trailhead, which was three miles down the road. We stuck our thumbs out for a few minutes, but it was only after we gave up that someone stopped - funny how that works.
From there we hiked for about two hours out of the farmland and into the rainforest-like hills. Deep and winding valleys so lush with vegetation that any venturing off the path would get you lost within minutes if you could make it that far. We couldn’t find a place flat or wide enough for camp, so we just set up right on the path. No one should come by before we leave in the morning, as we haven’t seen a soul on this trail since we started. Tomorrow should be a full day of travel, as we hope to be to another town within three days.




October 31, 2007

Last night was filled with paranoia and irrational fears. We were camped in the middle of the path so I began to get visions of reckless teenagers with too many beers in them driving their dirt bikes down the backwoods path during the middle of the night. It could happen, but tonight was a weeknight so I should have known such behavior could be less likely. Still my mind worked overtime to reassure itself that we would be fine through the night. The constant cracking of branches in the forest also made my mind assume a visit from an animal of some kind was likely. Morning came though and we were fine- worrying was for nothing as usual.
The hiking today was fairly interesting to start. We made our way through a terribly overgrown forest filled with vines to tangle us up, as well as trees blocking the path in such ways that we had to climb over some, crawl under some, and crawl through others. All these tasks are difficult when backpacking and we must have looked quite funny crawling on hands and knees with packs, but again we passed no one on the trail.
Forest gave way to farmland, but quite different from what most of us know. These farms have towering, lush, green hills that have patches of forest scattered on them. They also seem to be terraced in such ways that the cows can climb them in levels. The cows here are very fit, as I’ve seen them running around their fields, which doesn’t seem to happen in the flat plains of North America. We snaked our way through a valley to another trail and made a push up the steep side of a very large hill to get to camp for the night. It was difficult to find ground flat enough for a tent, but we’re making do.
The blisters on my feet require new band-aidsand a change of socks after about three to four hours of hiking. If I can manage them like this for a while they should become calluses after not too much time. Each day the aches and pains get a little better. Maybe one day soon it will be a joy to walk!

November 1, 2007

I’ll start by jumping to the end of today before going to the beginning since the end has been by far the most exciting and unexpected part. Right now as I write I am sitting in a warm bed after a hot shower, with a very good home-cooked meal in my stomach, and my laundry is drying in the dryer. Plus, we haven’t paid a dime for any of it. How did this all happen when we were expecting another two days on the trail? Now I’ll go back to the beginning.
We began our hiking by climbing an awfully tall and long mountain with the thickest foliage on it that we’ve seen yet. Three hours into this and after many slips and times literally crawling through the forest flat on our stomachs under downed trees, we emerged onto a crossroads of several grass roads high in the forest. They weren’t on the map and we were pretty sure we weren’t lost, as we had been following the orange markers through the forest the whole time. But after heavy debate we took one of the dirt roads that seemed to head in the approximate direction we wanted. The road curved and descended and it quickly became apparent that we were going to the wrong way. The great part of the whole thing though was that I knew this and still didn’t care because we were so far down the wrong way. We were now going to take this road to civilization and figure things out from there. So we crossed some farmland, avoided a bull that stared us down, and even did our first bit of trespassing. The trail led us down and out of the forest to a farmhouse where the people living there informed us that we had been victims of “the puzzle,” which is a section of forest that confuses many people every year. With this knowledge we modified our route since we were now well south of our plan, and tried to hitchhike in a round about way back to the area we were targeting. After randomly meeting and talking with a German backpacker named Martin on this road in the middle of nowhere, we split up because three people together are much less likely to get picked up than one or two. Two hours later a South-African fellow named Johann who lives in Boulder, Colorado picked us up. He took us about twenty miles down the road before leaving us at a junction that would take us again north and east so we could be on track again. The only problem was that we were much farther from where we wanted to be, and would need to hitchhike quite a ways to get there.
It was almost six o’clock and we were miles from anything. Plus traffic was almost non-existent. Now this is the part of the story where the truly remarkable happens. I was feeling dejected by our situation and again said a quiet prayer for God to provide something. The next car that came down the road actually stopped. The driver named Terrance said he was on his way home, but would take us as far as he could on that road. Then during the drive he said we could pitch our tent in his farmyard if we wanted. But when we got to his house, his wife insisted that we sleep in their guest rooms. Then came the offers for a hot shower, a washer and dryer to use, and the news that dinner would be ready in ten minutes. “Oh, and do you guys eat lamb?” This couldn’t get any better. So after a fabulous dinner, dessert, coffee and tea, as well as great conversation and the wealth of information we acquired from them, Terrance and his wife Maggie are now two of my favorite people in New Zealand. Unsolicited hospitality like this is something that everyone should feel at some point in their lives as it is something that I will definitely remember for a long time to come. These are good people who are taking care of us tonight, but we wouldn’t have met them had we not gotten lost in the first place. It is through experiences such as this that I am really coming to understand how God not only provides, but also exceeds what we can even imagine to ask for. I’m also learning that getting lost can many times take you to an adventure that’s even better, although I’m not ready just yet to throw away our map books.

November 2, 2007

I woke up this morning feeling quite refreshed, and to the sound of breakfast being made downstairs in the kitchen. I was still excited about the fact that Terrance and Maggie had not only invited us to stay in their house, but they also seemed to be enjoying hosting and even spoiling us for no cost to us at all. After breakfast, Terrance dropped us off in town where he was sure we’d find a ride to get back on track. We decided to do today without sticking our thumbs out since we’d actually found more rides when we weren’t trying. This again proved true as half an hour down the road a lady in van driving her young daughter to daycare stopped to offer us a lift. This experience again turned into much more than we bargained for. After dropping her daughter off in a nearby town, she took us on an extensive tour of the area. Again, someone giving freely of their time and resources to complete strangers without being asked to do so. I’m in a constant state of awe over this fact considering the culture I’m used to.
Gayle was her name, and she took us to see the major points of interest within a fifteen-mile radius it seemed. We saw some old Maori settlements, learned extensively about the local plant life, and she even took us twenty minutes from the town to a Kauri tree grove. That was well worth visiting. They were the biggest trees I’ve seen, and these were some of the smaller ones of the species. They’ve been harvested almost to extinction this century, so they are very sparse across the country. This place was extra special to Gayle since her and her husband had been married there.
After Gayle spent almost two and a half hours with us she dropped us off at the junction we needed. From there we walked three hours on a fairly busy road to the coastal town of Paihia. Upon arriving, we tried to find a hostel that our German friend from the previous day had recommended. We found it and it turns out that Omri, the owner, is not running a “legitimate” operation, hence why the rates are lower. We didn’t care though. This place offers free internet, free showers, and has all the amenities included in the twenty dollars per night price. It’s a much better deal than anywhere else in the area. It’s pretty here, we may even stay two nights.

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