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Published: December 4th 2007
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 - 11:11 p.m. Alex and I went for a drive, not really paying attention to our map, to a hiking destination that takes four hours to complete along the ocean. We passed our destination unintentionally and kept going to a rink-a-dink little city with only a fish and chips place around to get food from. The lady working there is a 60 year old Chinese woman. She was hilarious...really upbeat, hyper and down right hilarious. She told us about meeting her husband in China, he was there for work, but is originally from New Zealand. She thought we were locals just moved to the area, said we didn't look like tourists (good), and that she's lived here for 20 years. She said we should move here to, it's easy for english speaking people, she was lucky that she married a Kiwi, and to now look at her, she's in a fish and chips place - a lot different then cooking Chinese, but it's a living. When she said she was 60, Alex told her she looked a lot younger then that and the woman replied that it's the fish and chips...she doesn't have to get
a facial because her face is steamed every day. I bet she doesn't get many Americans in her shop often. She told us we should come back and see her before we leave, but we were leaving the next morning (and the food was so heavy I don't think I could have stomached it again). I'm not sure how our age was brought up, but when I told her I'm 22 she almost fell over and said she thought I was 14 or 15. You have to be 18-21 to go into the casinos depending on where you are and I've been carded every time.
We back tracked back to our original destination, eating the greasiest fish and fries, happy to have food in our stomachs, and found the trail we wanted to hike. This "hiking trail" was actually a dirt road that cars aren't permitted to drive on. The four hours isn't because you're going such a long distance from point A to point B, but because the roads wind and curve so much it takes you 20 minutes to get to the other side of the valley what could have taken you less then 10 in a
straight line. It was the two of us, the birds, the cows, the crickets, the ocean, and the sound of our shoes crunching over rocks.
We made our way to the "beach access". This "access" was a sign pointing down a steep hill with no path toward the beach...utterly confused we gave it a go. At the bottom was a wire fence...it was falling over due to a tree hitting it on one side and further down a hole had been torn through exposing a drop to the sand that neither of us wanted to chance. Instead of going back I took the lead and started to climb over the fence, sitting on a concrete post to hopefully just hop off onto the other side. What happened was my jeans caused to much friction and hopping off wasn't an option. Alex was trying to hold himself up on the hill and didn't have a good angle to help me out, the ground was out of reach to boost my butt off. I'm not sure how I did it, but somehow we both managed to get over the fence to a grassy drop off. Now what?
We ended up
sliding down the long grass to the sand. Some access point...Alex cut his shin on a log during our adventure and we weren't sure how the heck we were going to get back up, but right then...it didn't matter. It was just the two of us on the beach taking in the view.
After our big adventure getting down we saw an orange post at the far end that we didn't walk down marking wooden stairs over the fence...ha...haha.....we couldn't believe it. Getting back up to the road was much less exciting. Aside from the beauty of the area, there isn't much to report about the hike. Definitely a "must experience it for yourself" kind of place. We only got about an hour into the walk before turning around to make it back to our car before dark. The sky was red with the sun setting.
My arms are breaking out in some kind of rash, maybe from the detergent in the sheets...we're not sure. It's just eczema like.
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2007 - 9:04 p.m. Whew...we're going to need a holiday from our holiday. I think it's worth mentioning that in both
Australia and New Zealand they call my hoodie (or hooded sweat shirt) a jumper and college Uni. The yield signs say "Give Way" and take out food is "Take Away". It doesn't seem to odd until you read a sign,
"Dine in or take away"..."out" fits better there. So far I'm enjoying New Zealand more then Australia. I'm not sure if it's the actual environment here or me and Alex. This is a pretty big chunk of time to spend one on one and it hasn't all been rainbows and unicorns. Alex read my fortune to me in the paper a couple days ago and it said something along the lines of
"A relationship you've been in flourished quickly and suddenly has taken a turn for the worst...talk about it." Before reading this fortune we spent the better half of two days doing just that...talking about it, yelling about it, me crying about it...and after day two we pulled through, better then ever, both understanding more of each others needs and the trip has been absolutely amazing since then. The whole point of going together is to share the experience...a good experience.
Yesterday we took a flight
from Kerikeri to Auckland and from Auckland to Rotoura on two very small planes. The second plane only sat 20 people, everyone got a widow AND an isle seat (not that there was anywhere to walk to. The sky was clear and couldn't have been any bluer, the clouds whiter, or the grass below greener...I took way to many air plane window shots, but it was fascinating to look at. When we were above the clouds the only thing you could see was blue and white - it looked like an endless ground of freshly fallen snow. We picked up our car - a Toyota Camery - and headed to the hotel. Upon entering the city I immediately thought Alex was passing gas completely forgetting that the city smells like sulfur (rotten eggs) from the hot springs, whoops. Unfortunately we're only in Rotoura, adventure capitol, for a day and a half so we had to make the most of it. Yesterday we decided to go to the Luge and Gondola ride. The gondola takes you up a mountain to the luge where you put on your helmet and head down hill through the scenic, intermediate, and advance tracks on a
three wheeled cart. It was AWESOME. The view was spectacular, you could see everything from up there. The track itself was smooth concrete that went through tunnels, down steep hills, and you had to dodge bunnies that were hanging out on the track. I'm surprised all of the noise and commotion doesn't scare them off into finding a new home. After the run we took a lift (like a ski lift) back up to do it again. We had five runs we could do and on our fifth one down the advanced I took a corner to sharp and my cart tipped over, my hand meeting the concrete. It went numb and really wasn't much of a problem - didn't even break skin. My jeans were black from the tumble.
After the luge we went to the Polynesian Spa to chill out in the previously mentioned hot springs and from there we had another delicious steak dinner before calling it a night. We had an early morning with a day trip booked with white water rafting and sledging. We've been told you have to do both, I really wanted to go to the Waitimo Caves and black water raft,
but a girl we met diving in Tutukaka said that it's just really cold, short, and not worth the three hour drive one way. When we rafted in Costa Rica it was a level four, but Jim, the owner of the Divers Mast said that it was a low level four and that there's a huge difference between the four and the five. The guys on this trip said that this is a level five due to the strong under current making it more dangerous. If it's based on danger, I'll take the four in Costa Rica any day of the week...this was awesome because you go down waterfalls, one being around 21 feet (we're told, it didn't look that big, but maybe they measure from the bottom of it underwater) and other then that it was mostly smooth sailing. We hopped out of the raft and put our feet up underneath and went down a deeper rapid - that was fun.
After rafting we changed clothes and went next door to The Devil's Gate (another hot spring place) to have lunch at their cafe before sledging. What's sledging, you might be asking? Sledging is putting on a helmet,
a wet suit, and going down the river on a board that your upper body is on. This river is fairly deep and not a lot of huge rocks to harm you, but I managed to find one the first water fall we went down and clobbered my left knee on one. I'm pretty good at this adventure seeking, huh? It's a risk you take though and all apart of the fun, right? Right. It's just a little swollen and it getting better the more I walk on it. We took a nap, had dinner at the business of the year Indian Star, who had incredible Indian food, atmosphere, and staff. Tomorrow we start a five to six hour car ride to Wellington - New Zealand's capitol city.
Poor Alex's allergies are going nuts keeping the both of us awake at night with the constant sneezing...I think it's actually worse then at home. Mine have surprisingly been pretty good...the got bad for a bit, but cleared up. I'm used to being the sneezer - not the easy breather. My coumadin is turning me into one big bruise...they're all over my thighs and even on my stomach. I know we've
been pretty active, but my stomach? That's a little odd. I just hope my levels are okay. I'm skipping the blood work since my doctors office, after giving me the lab slips and taking my e-mail to let me know if I need to change my dose, informed when while I was in Costa Rica that they can't e-mail me because they don't have a company account set up. So...scew it.
Have I mentioned the hotel in Melbourne e-mailed me to say they found my memory card reader with the card and are mailing them to my home address? I'm relieved to hear...I just hope postage isn't more then what it would cost to replace both. (Just checked my e-mail....less then five bucks...can't beat that!)
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Denae
non-member comment
my word!
This is an adventure of a lifetime, you realize how lucky you are right?!!???!?!? love you!