Saturday, March 7: Variably cloudy at first and then a storm blew up in mid afternoon and it rained quite heavily
Dan’s (airbnb, $50)
We were up around 9:00, and there was not much in the way of breakfast (coffee, toast) and Missy & Brian were on their way to the shops to get some breakfast for themselves, and at least some milk for home. I went onto the internet briefly and there was one over the top comment saying how Dell was so disrespectful to the speaker, etc. Hey, it was Skeptics in the Pub! At least no beer glasses flew through the air.
Had my stuff all sorted and gave my hosts a copy of Te Wai Pounamu – for them at least some information will be new. Then just after 10:00 I was on the road. Read more…
Friday, March 6: Cloudy at first with a few showers, then in Wellington very heavy rain clearing in the course of the afternoon
Missy & Brian’s (airbnb, $45)
At just after 9:00 I was the first up and proceeded to make some coffee, after which Julie got up and offered me some wheatbix and toast as well. I was determined to get as much of a day’s work done as possible and started on scheduling the next few blog posts with pictures so that I can concentrate on organising the rest of the tour. Low tide at Napier seems to be reasonable to do the gannets (Cape Kidnappers) walk in two weeks’ time, so it won’t be on the agenda for next week. Put in a request for kayaking on the Manawatu for the day in Palmy. Read more…
The only problem with sleeping in the tent – especially so close to the sea – was the dew fall. The whole tent was soaking wet inside and out by morning, and I had pitched it in the shadow of the amenities block from the point of view of the morning sun.
After possibly the last breakfast of tramping/kayaking diet I set about drying things out. In the end I chose the clothes line that runs on the road side of the camp, and within half an hour or so the tent (both internal and external) was dry. The stuff I had washed two days ago was still having difficulty drying but in the course of time was dry enough. Read more…
The start to the morning was much better organised, and having all the necessary stuff distributed logically over just a shopping bag, a chilly bin, and the pack meant that I could try out my experiment tonight and camp out in the tent.
I was ready to go by about 9:00 even after having switched on the computer, gotten the reservation OK for Hamilton, and installed an update. Today’s drive was not going to be long, so there was plenty of time. Read more…
Couldn’t sleep the last hour or so, so I was up at 8:00 and had a very frugal breakfast of muesli bars, crackers and coffee. The car had to be properly organised for the rest of the trip and that took up the next 2 hours. The case was reserved for the rest of the books and fresh clothes, the pack takes on the computer and diaries in the main compartment, and the vanity bag in the bottom one, the chilly bin is packed full of spoilable food and other stuff that needs to be kept cold, and there is a shopping bag with non-spoilable food and the large shampoo etc. bottles. The camera bag is now loaded with batteries and cards; one A470 is ready to go in the glove box, and the SX120 is in its pocket in the pack. A notebook with pen is with the glasses & ipod in one of the open compartments on the passenger side. Almost 100% ready to go. Read more…
Monday, March 2: Quite cloudy at first, becoming fine & warm
Sunflower Backpackers, 33 Timandra St., New Plymouth 4310, tel.: +64 6 759 0050, triple as single (BBH, $45 + $5)
Robert was up earlier than me and the table was already laid out for breakfast. The usual fare: Cornflakes, banana, two poached eggs on toast and coffee. Then the packing had to take place – got most of the stuff into the rucksack, and the chilly bin is now fully functional with two frozen water bottles.
Decided to make Robert a present of the book and he insisted on an inscription (he had given me a print of one of his paintings the night before) and then the obligatory picture had to be taken for his collection. Fiddly mobile phone camera. He was also very pleased that I had gotten his ancient XP machine to run a little faster by clearing caches, deleting zombie files, killing a few processes, installing a few updates and eventually reducing the processor load to less than 100%. We swapped emails and no doubt he will find me on facebook. I’ll check to see if he has had his hip replacement surgery if I pass through Hamilton at a late stage in the journey. Read more…
I had gotten a fairly good night’s sleep and was up and about just before Robert, and we had breakfast together: Cornflakes, a couple of poached eggs on toast, and coffee. After getting the stuff together that I needed for photography, I set off for the Bridal Veil Falls for the walk and photo session #1.
Bridal Veil FallsThe turnoff is a couple of kilometres down the road, and then a farther turnoff into the Kawhia Road led to a car park. Unfortunately the road is a dead end, otherwise I would have considered taking it to Kawhia, just to see the town again after 2009. Will have to see what alternatives there are.
Short stroll, map detail. GPS: [download id="1739"], map: [download id="1691"]At the car park there were plenty of cars and not many signs of break-ins, so I took off in crocs as it was an easy walk. The waterfall is quite high (55 m) and the track starts at the top where the water disappears over the edge. There are a total of four lookouts, two at the top, one in the middle and one at the bottom. I started taking photos at the bottom with a time lapse of about half of the falls (first without, then with the filter) and repeated at the middle lookout (where the shooting had to be portrait orientation to capture the whole image) and at the top I got a time lapse of the water disappearing and a single shot of the “No abseiling” sign, although it is strangely out of focus. Read more…
Saturday, February 28: Clear and sunny, and very warm with a couple of clouds
Robert’s (airbnb, $50)
Couldn’t sleep much beyond 8:30, and there was not much to pack this morning, so I got some breakfast (muesli, coffee), then transported my stuff to the door, woke Chinara and said goodbye to her, then marched along the street to the bus stop. Had thought of leaving my stuff there to begin with & collecting it later, but the roads were already chock-a-block and I was glad I had all my stuff with me, and didn’t have to drive back through town.
The bus was rather full as well (one bus later than planned, and it was apparently the planned bus that had failed to turn up). The driver let me leave my suitcase up front. When we were in town I was quickly at the stop in Albert St, and the next bus that I was able to catch was the one bus earlier. So much for Auckland’s public transport timetabling. Read more…
Friday, February 27: Cloudy in the morning, clearing on the way north, just a bit of rain in Taumarunui, which we missed, and rain visible in the distance around Hamilton
Chinara’s
Was up before 8:00 to finish off the bread from yesterday with what remained of the ham, and a can of Watties baked beans with sausages for breakfast. Simon called over with a final loaf of bread which I saved up for the bus trip.
The rest of the morning was spent packing and transcribing another two days of the diary. Managed to transfer €500 from a savings account to the Visa card, and with a daily limit on cash withdrawals of €600, I should be able to get the $1200 for the car together in cash for tomorrow. Read more…
Got up closer to 8:00 than previously the case and had breakfast before Simon turned up with his daily bread. That was the last of the eggs, so I will have to go shopping in the afternoon for something for tomorrow morning.
The Old Coach Road as a mountain bike trail was on the programme for today. I was ready to go just before 9:30 and cycling down Railway Row I seriously considered going back and trying on the breast mount for the camera. That wouldn’t have been such a good idea. Read more…
