Massive Update - stars, hikes, floods, and dolphins

Hey there, welcome back! This is the first time I’ve gotten on the internet in over a week. I’ve had some excellent adventures – camping up a mountain, weathering some storms and meeting extremely nice people everywhere I go. During this last week I experienced what will remain the highlight of my NZ experience – for a while at least, since swimming with dolphins is pretty hard to beat! I’m trying to upload the short video of the dolphins jumping in the water right now. I hope that everyone is able to view the clip from their computers.

So, now that I’ve got your curiosity up – I’ll start off with the boring details of where I left of in the last episode, and lead up to the present


AUCKLAND REVISITED (22 –24 July)
Going back a bit – I really enjoyed being in Auckland again. I was fairly surprised at how much I remembered the area and how easily I was able to drive the roads (considering how nervous I was to drive them after I first got the car). It was pretty cool sitting in Alfred Park (across from Auckland University) amid bare branched trees, considering that the last time I had been in the park the leaves were changing color and carpeting the paths.

I really enjoyed meeting up with familiar people too. I met up with Bobbie Tuesday evening (22 July) at a pub during a pub quiz. I met her boyfriend and several really nice people from her hostel. Unfortunately her boyfriend will be leaving for Australia for a bit, but they have plans to travel the South Island together later in the year and then go to South America! How awesome is that? It was really nice to see Bobbie again, even if we didn’t get to talk that much because there was a quiz going on. At least I got my mail and some hugs.

I spent Wednesday (23th) at the Yaping House hostel – so I could have free WIFI and give Elizabeth and Harry a break. I left them with a bottle of cheap NZ wine as a thank you. Wed was another on again off again rain (if your paying attention, you should see a typical weather pattern in my blog by now :) So it was a perfect day to chop up veggies and make a massive pot of soup. I did some application work, balanced my checking accounts, and uploaded the pictures of my previous blog. After hours of geeking on the computer and finishing a delicious lunch of pumpkin and quinoa soup (I am so proud of myself for my tasty concoction) I put on my rain jacket and headed down the hill. I had a vague destination of visiting One Tree Hill (supposedly made famous by U2, but I’m not sure how or why). The domain (park) was a good distance off (actually closer to Liz and Harry than the Yaping House!), but the rain had stopped for a bit and it wasn’t quite sunset. By the time I made it to the park, sunset was gone and shadows were setting in, so I stopped in and checked out the StarDome Observatory first – found out what programs were going on – and then headed up the hill. When I reached the top, I found a car of people parked at the base of the monument and could see/hear a couple of people next to the monument giggling, coughing, and talking. I played with my camera a bit, trying to get the stars behind the monument and messing with various settings, but the lights were to bright for the stars to show – and I didn’t have a tripod. I couldn’t get a decent picture of the city lights either - the winds were so strong that I was left with a picture of light streaks; even when I set the camera on the rail! An hour later, I was back at the StarDome. I had decided to go to “The Sky Tonight” and find out if I had my constellations correct and if I could learn some new ones. I killed an hour before the show; checking out the exhibits and gift shop. The show was great – yep, I had the southern cross down and I knew I didn’t have Scorpio wrong; but I didn’t know the teapot was so close to Maui’s fish hook (the tail of Scorpio) and I had no idea that Leo was on the western horizon when the sun set (though he’s on his head, since he was named in the northern hemisphere). I didn’t learn any new constellations, but found out that Mars and Saturn are hanging out with Leo, Saturn is a massively bright star next to the teapot’s handle (the teapot is the main body of Sagittarius), and that Alpha Centauri (one of the pointer stars for the southern cross) is actually a binary star. We were fortunate that the by the time the presentation was over the clouds had cleared and we were able to look through the telescope. We checked out the stripes of Jupiter, the two stars of Alpha Centauri, and the various colors of the Jewel box (a group of stars in the southern cross – I think). I kept warm by hopping around a bit while waiting for my turn at the eyepiece :) While retracing my exact steps back to the hostel (so as not to get lost), I was fortunate that the rain didn’t return.

The next morning (Thurs. 24th), I packed up my car, hit the Kathmandu winter sale one last time (merino boxer shorts are the only way to go!), and then caught the southern motorway out of town. At the last minute, I decided to take the Pacific Highway scenic route exit. It was a lovely sunny day and I figured there was no point skipping the small towns by driving the fast, busy motorway. I was quite glad I took the detour: curvaceous roads through green pastures, the sun shining off the blue ocean, the breeze through my window. Along the way, I came across Wharau regional park (wh = f sound). At the park office I found maps showing lots of hiking trails and camping sites, but no information person. Since I had a brand new tent, I figured it would be way cool to camp one night, hike up the next day to Adam’s Lookout, camp a night, and come back down the next day in time to catch the NZ vs. AUS rugby match. However, all the gates were closed to vehicles and I couldn’t figure out where else the parking lot would be. So I drove back towards the town I had just passed through to see if any of the locals knew what was up with camping in the area. I pulled over to the side of the road when I saw a white haired lady walking on the beach. I asked her if she was from around here and then asked her about camping (I had one of the maps/brochures with me). She pointed out the number to call about enquiries and then we chatted for a bit. I went back to the car, found I had no cell reception, and started driving. I pulled into a backpacker enquiry house – (to use their phone, ask about camping), but no one was home. When I got to the end of the driveway, the white haired lady was walking up the road waving to me and jogging a little. I rolled down my window. She wanted to remind me that I was in NZ. They drive on the left side of the road here!!!

I can’t tell you how embarrassed I was when she told me she had watched me pull away from the beach and start driving down the right side of the road. She was so worried about me! I had parked illegally – facing into traffic in order to be in the parking area – and when I pulled out I just didn’t think about moving over a lane. I felt so dumb. It was the first time in over a month I had done that. I promised I would go back to telling myself to “stay left” every time I was behind the wheel (something I had quit lately). She then asked me if I was looking for a room stay at the backpackers. When I told her I had no reception to call the rangers she offered her phone! How nice is that?

She hopped in my car, we drove down 4 houses, and she let me into her beautiful beach front home. It turns out that Wharau camp grounds are closed to all but “self-contained” vehicles in the winter – the campgrounds are too wet. I could have done the hike up to Adams Lookout and camped there, but we would have had to figure out a way for me to pay the $5 fee (I was not using my US credit card for a measly $5). Disappointed, I decided to just keep heading up the road. I drove down the seabird coast – scaring up flocks of herons, seagulls, and hawks – and passed up the chance to stay at Miranda hot springs (it was relatively cheap, but I just couldn’t sit in a stinky pool for half a day when there were sunny mountains to explore). I headed towards Thames and the camp icon I saw on my map.

THAMES (24 July to present day (2 August)): (pronounced kind of like Tems, but more like Täms maybe, it’s the first major town on the west cost of the Coromandel peninsula - a jet of land just east of Auckland, known for its beaches and hippy/artsy populace).

First camping trip in NZ!! 24 – 26 July
I arrived at the Kauaeranga forest center around 1pm. I chatted with the information girl and found they had tons of camping! I had been SO disappointed about missing my pack hike in Wharau, but was super excited to find that I could pack up to and stay at “the pinnacles” (I had heard they were lovely). So, I drove to the end of the road, stopping to do 6 of the 7 short walks along the way. I set up camp at the trail head while it was still light. My tent was easy to set up and roomy enough for me and all my gear (though definitely not big enough for another person – a 2 person tent rarely has room for 2). While I warmed up my pre-made soup with my brand new stove (which worked perfectly – started up on the first click of the ignition switch) I was disappointed to see that half the stars were obscured by dark clouds. However, after cleaning up my dinner I found that the sky was perfectly clear - milky way and all!!! So, I took out my brand new, ultra light Kathmandu tripod and set up my camera. I got a few good shots of the southern cross, a couple of Jupiter and the teapot, and one fabulous one of Scorpio (the red of Antares is actually visible). I also took several blinding shots of a possum up a tree. There were 2 of them in the same area, one of them was yelling at me with a very creepy call that I can’t even really remember, let alone describe – but it was creepy.

I slept pretty well that night (Thurs 24 July). I was bit cold sometimes, but that’s understandable - since I woke up to a tent covered in ice. I ate my porridge (oats, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried papaya, and sultanas (Turkish raisins) soaked overnight) and then used my brand new travel plunger coffee cup to make a cup of coffee using my fair trade Ethiopian blend (yep, I drink coffee now – still need a bit of sugar, and milk is preferable too). I managed to pack slowly enough to give the sun a chance to melt most of the ice off my tent fly and dry out my sleeping bag a bit. At a quarter after 10, I had my pack on my back and was starting up the trail. The sign said it would take 3 hours to get to the pinnacles hut. I figured I’d be lucky to haul my out of shape bum up the steep steps in under 5 hours. I hadn’t gone light on my pack – figured I might as well use this half day walk as a bit of a test/train for future walks. In fact, Dominic (my teddy) was even along for the ride!

I took the 5 minute detour to Billy Goat view point – massive waterfall far up in the mountains – and ended up meeting up with a day trekking Brit. We chatted for the first third of the trail, after which time the never ending rock stairs had slowed me enough that his smoker lungs and day pack hauling self outpaced me. I took my time up the trail – enjoying the views, taking a couple water breaks, and reading about the 100 year old history of the pack trail I was on. The steps that were killing my quads were cut into the stone to give pack horses (heading to the kauri logging camps) good footing up the steep slope. It reminded me a lot of my pack trip in Alaska – I hiked the Chilkoot trail but there is a section of the White Pass trail where many horses fell to their deaths despite the steps cut into the rock.

A little under 3 hours after starting up the trail, I was quite surprised to find myself arriving at the pinnacles hut - guess they time these hikes for the SUPER slow hiker! I was astounded at how big and how cushy the hut was - showers, BBQ, massive kitchen. I had heard that the Kiwis liked to camp in style, but this was almost ridiculous. I went down to the ranger hut and checked in with the hut warden, Charles. He was floored at how big my pack was and insisted we weigh it. He was adamant that my 20 kilos (~40 pounds) was WAY too heavy. I insisted that I was too poor to invest in lightweight, non bulky camping gear (my pack weighs almost 5 pounds when empty – but I have never had raw spots on my hips or shoulders from lack of padding). After having a good laugh at my expense, Charles offered me some tea and we chatted a bit. Then I went down and set up my tent and unpacked my gear. At around 2:30 I headed up the trail to the top of the pinnacles. I had a hip belt full of food and cooking gear, a brand new backpack (ya, I bought the pack that folds into its own pocket :) full of water and extra clothes, and my camera. The trail is basically one long set of stairs to the top, but at least they were built to human leg height. It was a bit tiring, but I still made it up in ½ and hour. The end of the trail is quite fun – 2 super steep ladders (with railings) and a bit of rock climbing aided by hand/foot holds bolted into the rocks. At the top, a wooden platform looks out over the volcanic remains of jagged mountains, green forest, and ocean islands. The sky was a deep blue, with thin white clouds starting to come out.

I spent about 2 hours at the top of the pinnacles. My idea had been to get some great sunset shots and then try to catch Leo before he set. However, at 4:30 the sun went behind a cloud just over the mountain and never came out again. So, I took a million pictures of the same views as the light changed, climbed the rocks, did some yoga, and just relaxed. It’s amazing how hard a time I have relaxing! When I first got the top, I took my pictures, sat on a rock, got up, went back down the trail a bit (to see how easy it would be in the dark) and then tried to figure out what to do until sunset. I have the habit of just walking a trail, getting somewhere, and then going back down the trail. But once I set myself down and settled in a bit, I really enjoyed just watching the clouds change.

I ate my dinner and made a cup of coffee, but with the gradual influx of clouds I decided I wasn’t going to get any good star shots and headed down the trail while there was still some light. Back at the hut, I found 2 people in the kitchen and they told me Charles was looking for me. It turns out a severe weather front was moving in and it was recommended that I move into the hut, since the high winds and heavy rains weren’t good for tenting. It didn’t matter one way or the other to Charles, but if I wanted to keep my gear dry and sleep in the hut he wouldn’t charge me the extra $7.50. I felt like a pansy taking my tent down in the dark, dry night, but when I heard the rains pounding the roof at 5:30 the next morning I was quite happy with my decision.
Instead of staying at the massive hut with the other 2 trampers, I ended up staying in the ranger hut with Charles. It was so much fun, he is such a great guy – a retiree living the good life: one week in the mountains and one week on the beach. He was the epitome of hospitality: I took a warm shower (he even had spare towels!), drank a mix of red wine/ginger wine/hot water (super yummy), and watched a Michael Palin travel DVD next to the fire. It was really great. The night before (at the trail head) I realized I had never camped by myself before. Sure, I had slept in my own tent lots of times (the last 2 field seasons), but I had never been in the woods by myself before – completely and utterly alone! It had been just me, the possums, and the stars. It was a little lonely really. It turns out I’m kind of a social person! I think Charles enjoyed having someone to talk with too.

Drowned Rat at the Gateway (26 July) (there are no pictures for this section due to the urgency with which I had to leave the park and then get in a hot shower).

So on Saturday morning (26 July) I got out of my warm, dry sleeping bag and enjoyed staying dry as I packed up my gear. The severe storm was coming in and the high winds had reached our area, but the rains wasn’t too bad yet. Charles offered to let me stay another night – even mentioning it would be steak for dinner and the conclusion of Michael Palin’s adventures that evening – but I wanted to catch the rugby game and I didn’t want to eat all his food (I had been a bad backpacker, not packing an extra day’s supply of food – though I did have emergency rations). So, at 9am I got a rather late start down the trail. It was wet and windy and I knew I had to beat the majority of the storm so that the fords didn’t flood and trap me in the park. I felt (and probably looked) like a drowned rat by the time I reached the end of the trail, 1.5 hours later. I was greeted by a several power company people and a couple of rangers – one of which told me it was about time I got out and that if I was 20 minutes later I wouldn’t be getting out!! He told me to drive out fast before they did. I shoved my soaking gear into the car and didn’t worry about oncoming traffic when I took the gravel curves at higher speeds than I would have ever reached the day before. The first ford I crossed sent water spraying out both sides of my car, but wasn’t terribly deep. When I saw the 2nd ford, I came close to slowing down so I could register how deep it was. But I decided that slowing down too much would just give the water more time to reach the engine and possiblly stall in the middle. So I just went for it. The shuddering feeling of a car needing to be down shifted worried me at first – as it happened right in the middle of the ford – until I realized that it was just the force of the water quickly slowing me. I was extremely happy to come out the other side with no problems. The rest of the drive down from the mountain was pretty good - trees hadn’t fallen across the road yet. I gave Jim (my car – a 1991 Mitsubishi Chariot by the way) a pep talk when he started to jolt along (kind of stuttering when I would put the gas on) and I was very happy when, after stopping at an intersection in town, the car didn’t die.

After arriving in Thames, I stopped at the information center to figure out the most affordable place to stay. The Gateway hostel was right next door and had a room. I arrived at the hostel soaking wet and freezing cold. I took a single room so that I could spread my gear out (turns out my pack is no longer water proof – at least not in heavy rains :( I took a LONG, hot shower, put on dry clothes, and then realized I had left all my dry shoes (and several other handy items) in the car. Since I had no desire to get soaking wet right away, I hung around the kitchen/lounge area and talked with Andy. He asked about a couple games and I told him that I vaguely knew the idea of chess, but pretty much stank at it. He made us some tea, set up the board, and patiently explained some various strategy ideas. He was way cool on our first game – pointing out how various moves could play out, letting me move a piece back when I exposed some king, etc. Simon, the hostel owner, came in during the second game. Andy said my game had improved 100% and he wasn’t really sure who was going to win. In fact, he didn’t even see his winning move until I pointed it out to him!

Andy has stayed at the hostel several times and for long stretches, so he knows Simon and Denny (a nurse that lives at the hostel during the winter) pretty well. All 3 are super nice and seem to get along like family. Cookies and chocolate were freely shared with me over tea and conversation. I had finally taken the courage to run out to my car in my bare feet and grab some more gear, so I shared some of my constellation pictures with everybody. Denny ran out to his van and brought in his star chart and a super cool, super inspiring picture he had taken of the southern cross. He had been giving me pointer on how to get the best color from my sunset photos, so every time I asked him about his star photo he would just smile and ask how I thought he did it. The rest of the evening was spent sharing music and having a good time. I roasted up some veggies to go with rice and lentils, sharing them in exchange for the treats they had shared with me. The Japanese guest had never heard of lentils, so when they were done cooking I let him give them a try. The Japanese WWOOFer in Kerikeri hated lentils, but this guy really liked them. In fact, they reminded him of a bean dish his grandmother used to cook. I was really happy when I saw the smile he had thinking about his grandma.

I got so engrossed in sharing cool music with Denny, that I totally forgot about the rugby game. I caught a glimpse of the clock – 5 minutes to 10 – and suddenly remembered kick off was at 10! Denny had to work early, so Andy and I headed down to one of the pubs and caught most of the game (Australia won about 36 to 19 – NZ didn’t play to well at the end) and then stayed until bar close listening to karaoke. We each took turns buying rounds and then somehow ended up talking with a few people next to us . Pretty soon we were the last people in the bar and we were all still talking! So we managed to get ourselves invited up to their house for more beers! It was awesome. I haven’t had a night out like that since leaving Juneau – 3 years ago! We all ended up talking and hanging out until 5 in the morning! The walk home that morning was beautiful – no rain, layers of clouds illuminated by the arriving sun. I only caught a few hours of sleep after arriving home, as I wanted to be up and packed by the 10am checkout. While I did want to stay another night (to share music, check out the area, and just chill out), I didn’t want to get stuck paying the higher rate of a single room (versus dorm room).

A drive to a gorge, a walk through a tunnel (27 July)
After moving my gear into the dorm and having a lazy morning tea, Andy offered to drive me to the Karangahake Gorge. The weather wasn’t great, but it wasn’t raining much either. It would have been perfect for walking down the pinnacles trail :) While Andy had seen the area, he hadn’t checked out the tunnel walkway and figured it would be a good place to spend a day that may, or may not, choose to rain. It was so nice to sit back and watch the scenery roll by, particularly since I still had the headache I had come home with the night before. While we had decided to the tunnel loop right off, we ended up detouring up into the old mine shafts. Funny enough, it was wetter inside the mines than it was outside – I had to watch out for cold water dripping down the back of the neck. Eventually, we made our way back to the original track and followed the river for a while. It was extremely brown from the recent rain, and very full. We ran into a couple of guys running along the stream. They were safety lookouts for the kayakers coming down. Watching the paddlers bob and splash through the decent sized rapids was pretty fun. At the end of the trail we came to the tunnel. I’m not sure how long the tunnel actually is, but holy cow – it felt like we were walking to the end forever! We decided that purgatory must be much like walking this tunnel – surrounded by thick darkness with the light at the end never seeming to get closer. It was a really fun day. In appreciation for all his driving, I bought Andy and I a takeaway dinner of fish and chips. There is nothing like a bunch of grease after a night of drinking! The rest of the evening was pretty mellow - chatting with Simon and Denny, watching TV, and finally getting some well deserved sleep!


Heading north, acquiring a travel partner (28 July)
On Monday morning (28 July) I woke up early, had breakfast, and typed up the majority of the above blog (I’ve just edited it on Tuesday). I had intended to post the blog and check e-mail before heading north up the peninsula. I figured I’d take a week to thoroughly explore walking trails and do some camping. However, most of my gear was still wet, the sun was shining warmly, and my car was a disaster. Simon had come in and mentioned that the sun was only going to last half, maybe most, of the day and then it would be back to pissing rain for the rest of the week. I decided not to waste time with internet nonsense. I moved my wet gear into my hot box of a car and started packing. Andy was just getting up, so we talked about my plans and exchanged phone numbers in case we ended up in the same area some time. Then he mentioned that he had half a mind to follow me up, since he had yet to check it out. I told him he was more than welcome, but it was pointless to take two cars. He packed up his gear while I arranged my car into some semblance of decent presentation. I would have loved to have taken his car – since it has CD player that works, is super clean, and isn’t mine:) However, I wanted to have all my gear with me and Andy figured I could always throw him on a bus when I got sick of him. So, with a navigator in my passenger seat and a funky smell coming off my drying clothes in the back, I set off to explore the Coromandel peninsula.

Nothing is very far apart around here, so it didn’t take us long to reach Coromandel town. We marked the location of the Anchor Lodge – a BBH motel/hostel that has a heated pool and spa! Then we drove to the end of the road, finding a lovely walk through kauri trees and along the coast. After the fresh air, we decided to keep heading north and see if the weather held out. We intended to make it all the way to Fletcher’s Bay (the very end of the northern road – with a coastal walkway as our ultimate goal), but we came across a non-bridged stream flowing through the road and I wasn’t going to risk ruining Jim. So, we headed back to one of the campsites we scouted earlier – Fantail Bay. We did a short, though very steep, walk up the mountain before deciding to set up my tent. I know I mentioned in this blog that there was no way my tent had room for 2, but it turns out it does. I wasn’t going to make Andy sleep in my uncomfortable car (to be honest, I didn’t want to move my stuff out of the way either) and since we were tenting right next to the car, there was no reason to have gear in the tent with us. (Now – I’d like to politely ask all of you, particularly one my aunts, to think a little bit higher of me and get those soap opera ideas out of your head. Andy and I may have been in close quarters, but we were still in separate sleeping bags and we slept head next to feet. What kind of girl do you think I am?)

Swimming with dolphins !!!! (29 July)

WARNING: The following video may contain words not appropriate for sensitive ears. You may want to turn your volume down before playing



The night was quite dry, but the rain did show up in the wee hours of the morning. My tent, as I expected, stayed warm and dry. It was a nice sound. We were fortunate that the rain did start pounding down first thing in the morning. We had time in between small showers to pack up the tent and I even got the stove going for coffee. We decided to try getting to the coastal walkway from the end of the other road on the peninsula. As I was driving down the road and checking out the blue ocean against the black rock beach, I saw a pod of dolphins. I quickly pulled over at the nearest shoulder, grabbed the camera, and started filming. I hope to be e-mailing a small file to everyone soon – though it may have to be muted in order to not hear some of my expletives. I freaked out a little when I saw that the dolphin was jumping in the frame I was filming. It was so awesome – they were jumping, slapping their tails, and there were tons of them! Andy told me how he and Denny spotted some off a sandy beach one day and Denny just jumped in. Well, I hadn’t thought about it until then – but how cool would that be? How could I not do it?

So, Andy hung out on the beach while I changed at the car. I got my snorkel and wore my rubber boots down to the shore. Andy took some video and photos while I swam into the chilly water. I gotta admit – I was a bit nervous. Sure, it was really cold – but I wasn’t sure how the dolphins were going to act or if they were going to stick around. The visibility wasn’t really that great, so I was caught by surprise when I saw the first of several swim right in front of me!!!! I can’t believe how close they were! Several of them did circles around me, like they were checking me out and didn’t know what to think. Near the end, 6 of them passed under me at once! One time, 2 swam past belly to belly with each other. At one point, I didn’t think there were any nearby so I was geeking out on a tiny little ctenophore (jellyfish like organism), when I heard a dolphin blow right behind me. I think I actually jumped out of the water! There’s no video of that, but there is a cool footage of my back and bum out of the water and a dolphin fin right next to me. I told Andy he didn’t have to pay for gas after taking doing camera work for me :) However, the footage of the jumping is WAY cooler! It's to bad I completely forgot, in my mad rush to get in the water, that I also have an underwater camera. The dolphins may have blurred and I doubt the ctenophore would have been visible, but it would have been worth trying.

Man – what a day!! It’s pretty hard to beat something so epic! Even if we had made it all the way to Stony Bay and the coastal walkway (and the sun had come out) the dolphins would have been the definite highlight. However, we didn’t make it to the bay. After hours of driving mountain roads we made it close. The rain was coming down pretty hard by the time we got to the last section. However, neither Andy nor I really wanted to test Jim on the muddy, steep section of road that had a sign boasting its lack of maintenance. So, we turned back around. Part way up, I had Andy take over driving so I could enjoy the views. We took a slightly different route back to Coromandel. After stopping for some beer and food, we headed to the Anchor Lodge

Trapped by floods (30-31 July)
It was raining quite hard when we reached the Anchor Lodge and I didn’t have a single pair of dry shoes! My hiking boots were still wet inside and out from my pinnacles expedition, my “wellies” (British for rubber boots) were wet from swim with the dolphins, and my trail runners (basic tennis shoes) were wet not only from the steep hike the night before, but also from the wet morning grass of the morning. If I was wise, it would have occurred to me to put all of these shoes in front of the lodge fire – but I didn’t. Instead I put on socks and wore my slippas (Hawaiian term for flip flops – called jandals here in NZ). Eventually we got tired of watching TV and being cold, so I put on my super cold, wet swimsuit and Andy put on his swim trunks and we sat in the hot tub for a bit. I would never have thought that I’d ever warm up, let alone get to hot! But eventually I got hot enough to enjoy the cool breeze and chilly rain on the walk back to the lodge. I took a hot shower, put on a bunch of fleece and settled in for a toasty night of movies.

While I have very much enjoyed my solo travelling, I must admit – it’s kind of cool having someone to share things with. For one, I’d never have a picture of myself snorkeling next to a dolphin! For two, while I spent the evening watching TV and writing this blog, I listened to pots rattle and smelled onions browning in butter and then I was served dinner and juice! How sweet is that? I suppose it’s only fair really – I did the cooking at camp.

What I don’t like about travelling with a person is having to consult them for what they want to do. I got up pretty early Wed morning (30th July) and enjoyed having the hostel to myself while doing some much needed yoga. Afterwards, I checked out the news – not good. The entire Northland was cut off from the rest of the country (northland is where I was all of last month – all my WWOOFing plus my week at the Walkers in Whangarei). I also heard that several roads on the peninsula were closed, but it is such a small area that it doesn’t get covered in the news. So, when the 10am checkout time started rolling around, I debated whether or not to wake my travel partner or just pay for another night here. Luckily, he got up in time for me to talk our options out with, but it was finding out that pretty much every road out of town was closed due to flooding that really made our decision. So, we spent the extremely wet day hanging out with our Spanish roommate – Antonio - watching movies and eating PBJs (which I introduced to Andy the day before – apparently the Brits have peanut butter and they like their jam, but they don’t put them together. I think I may have gotten Andy hooked, as that was lunch today too :)
Surprisingly, the hot tub was never used during the day! I had gone out in my bare feet and rolled up fleece pants during the one hour in the morning that the sun was out. I waded through the massive pond that was the road and over to the mud field that was the park, enjoying the warmth and blue sky that was surrounded by extremely black clouds. Soon, the clouds moved in and the rain returned. Around the time that I started thinking about getting into a chilly swim costume and jumping in the tub, the rain stopped. I can’t say the sun REALLY came out, but it was much more visible through the clouds. After a day of sitting on the couch, I couldn’t say no to a walk in town. We went to the top of a hill, got a good view (though I didn’t take my camera), and then walked into town. Andy bought some supplies to make a German pasta dish called spetzl (neither of us have a clue how to spell that!) – flour, salt, eggs, and water boiled up and then fried with onions and cheese – it turned out to be a heavy dish, but quite good (can’t go wrong with cheese!). It went well with the bottle of the wine I pretty much drank by myself.
Surprisingly, I didn’t feel all the bad the next morning (31st)– though I didn’t bother doing yoga ;) After breakfast I checked out of the hostel and talked with the owner about taking “The 309” across to Whitianga – he didn’t mention any road closures. So, we filled up on gas, passed a “road closed sign” on the side of the road, and decided to see how far we could go before the road was closed. We had wanted to hike up Castle Rock, but knew it would be far to muddy after all the rains. We got a decent way down the road and past cleared landslides before coming across a massive pile of dirt covering the entire road. We wisely decided not to follow the two tracks going through the dirt and along the side of the cliff, we turned around. On the way back we found the parking the lot a nice group of kauri trees – including a Siamese one! It was nice place to stretch the legs and enjoy the sunny day. After reaching the main road we turned back towards Coromandel to try the better maintained highway. We found a queue of cars and some heavy machinery lined up. The road wasn’t going to be open for quite a while. We held out hopes of it opening in the afternoon, so instead of going back through Thames and around to Whitianga (a decent loop, even if it wouldn’t take much time – 2 hours instead of the ½ hour if the other road was open) we decided to head back up the peninsula and try to find some walks we may have missed the first time. It was such a nice day that we ended up having lunch on a lovely rocky beach – surf spraying over black rocks, but wind whipping our lunch bags around. We ended up driving all the way back to Colville (having picked up some local hitchhikers that gave us a chuckle) before I decided that I was done backtracking. I didn’t see the point wasting gas going places we’d already been and knew had no more walks.

We did manage to find a short coastal track on the way back down the beach. When we stopped I found that my parents had tried to call again – they had received my package of goodies. So after a refreshing walk through the bush I sat on the beach and talked with my parent. It was so nice to hear their voices and hear their stories. I had texted them about my dolphin adventure and they wanted to know all about it. Mom was very happy that I was traveling with someone (she worries about me), but did wish that I wasn’t climbing mountains by myself.
When we arrived back in Coromandel (again!), we found the roads were still not opened and not scheduled to be open until the next day. AAAAAGGGHHH trapped on the tip of NZ on a beautiful day with more rain to come in the night – discouraging any fun in camping again. We would have been in Whitianga (and the Cathedral Cove I wanted to see) by this time if we had just gone through Thames to begin with. Now we were deciding whether or not to stay at the Anchor Lodge again or head to Thames. Neither of us really wanted to stay in Thames – we hadn’t even been gone a week! I did want to be in Thames for the weekend, as I wanted to meet up with a new friend for some internet time. But it was only Thursday, and there wasn’t much to do to kill time otherwise. We finally decided to pass through Thames without even stopping for groceries and head to Miranda hot springs. Andy drove pretty much most of the way, while I looked out the window sulking about our luck and poor decisions. I really wanted to get to the other side of the peninsula. I didn’t let my mood get to me to long before I found something to laugh about and quit worrying about gas and money.

Long Soak in a Cold Rain (31 July - 2 August)
As always happens, one thing leads to another and one decision makes all the difference. Sitting in the natural mineral pool of Miranda’s I found myself thoroughly enjoying the rain for the first time since arriving in NZ. I was warm and relaxed, the rain made beautiful patterns in the water, and watching the drops rebound off the water really made me want to catch the perfect picture (of course I had no desire to really try it – I would like to keep this camera safe for at least the rest of the trip). Who knows where we would have ended up if we had gone to Whitianga, who knows what cathedral cove would have been like, who knows what the roads up to Whitianga would have been; but I like that we ended up where we did. I also really liked having super cheap laundry facilities! My car smelled 50% better after my wool socks went through the wash!

Friday morning (1 August) we had a quick soak in the pools before packing up and heading out. We had vague ideas of walking tracks to head for, but when we stopped in Paeroa for coffee and sandwiches we decided to stop in at the information center and see what they might suggest. It’s always funny talking to non-hikers when trying to find a place to walk. The lady was certain that every track in the two parks we were looking at were going to be muddy and slick. Well, obviously – we did just survive two “weather bombs” in a row. We finally decided to head towards Kaimai park, but with my driving (apparently I don’t listen to navigators to well :) we ended up at a local walking trail at the end of a neighbor. After 5 minutes of walking, I didn’t even stop to ask Andy if he would should continue over the stream through the trail. I just hopped rock to rock. When I looked back, Andy was wandering from side to side trying to figure out how to get across. After a minute or so I asked if he wanted me to come back, but then he just stepped into the ankle deep water and came across – water flooding his shoes. I felt quite bad, but at the end of the day I was so very glad we hadn’t turned back. We ended up spending 3 hours or so on the mountain following signs to the Tui Mines. The weather was just about perfect for hiking – not hot, but the sun coming out a few times; not real wet, but with a couple of good rains; not a continual steep grade, but patches of heart pumping, sweat inducing stretches. Near the bottom of the trail we had a snack overlooking the waterlogged town of Te Aroha, and at the top we had a decent view down the cloud filled valley. There were many jokes about “gorillas in the mist” and “backpackers in the mist” when we were treated to the Juneau-esc view of mountains shrouded in clouds. At one point, I’m pretty sure we were inside a cloud.
We came back out of the mountains a little after 3. Ate lunch in a historical park (Andy forgot to pack the sandwiches) and then headed back towards Thames.

When we reached the Gateway, Simon wasn’t around. Andy just took his gear in and wasn’t worried. I took my gear in, but then went out to look for Simon – I just felt better if he knew we were there. Of course, he’s so laid back that he hadn’t even changed Andy’s sheets yet! I think Andy was quite happy with that, as he was going to be a bit put off if he didn’t get his bed back :) Simon, Andy, and I sat around drinking tea and recounting our adventures until Dave picked me. Dave was the guy that had invited Andy and I back for beers after the last rugby game – also the one that had offered me a WIFI DSL connection. We went out for beer and pizza and my first live band in NZ. The pizza was great – chicken satay?! – and the band rocked. It was great fun. I got home at a decent hour (2ish?) and slept well.

I got up a bit early, 7:30, as I usually do after a night out. I was surprised, though, when Andy got up just after me. I was afraid he would sleep in late and I wouldn’t get a chance to talk to him before I checked out (though I would have just texted him for rugby this evening). I had gotten a couch offer and couldn’t see spending more money at a backpackers. Denny came home from work while Andy and I were talking about plans for the day. Denny was super stoked when he heard about my dolphin swimming. I busted out the laptop and showed videos and pictures of our trip. Denny once again gave me some tips for taking pictures. It was a pretty nice morning. I got to chat with Simon a bit too before meeting up with Dave and his high speed internet. When I pulled up at the house I was a bit nervous to meet his dad first thing (Dave lives with his parents – temporarily of course). So, by 10:30 am I had met the whole local family (mom, dad, and little sis – a brother and sister live out of town). Obviously they are lovely people. I’ve been here working on this blog and uploading pictures pretty much since. We took a good walk and played on the playground toys for a lunch break (I really missed Olivia when I was there, she would have gone crazy on this awesome playground). Hopefully the couch offer will pan out after rugby tonight, but if not – it’s nice to know that I can just crawl into a hostel bed and pay Simon in the morning!

Whew – I think that’s all. Once again, I haven’t gotten myself to read this entire thing, so I’m sure it’s full of misspellings and random details; but I do think I got most of the dates straight! It's been a good day to stay inside and do online things - it's been rainy and wet since our lunchtime excursion. Should be a good night for mum's corned beef too! yummy!