Adventures in lesser known parts of New Zealand’s North Island
Wednesday, March 6: Cloudy the whole day with a little sun shining though occasionally and a sprinkle or two of rain
Brennagh’s/Dave’s
Sleep was unusually fragmented – I managed to fall asleep fairly quickly (what a difference a bed makes) but awoke from about 12:30 for an hour and a half before sleeping through to 7:00.
Tuesday, March 5: Cloud and fog to begin with becoming hot & sunny
Tramping: 11.8 km
Whanganui River Adventures, Pipiriki Campground 2522 Pipiriki Raetihi Road, Pipiriki 4576 (shared cabin, $25)
Sleep was very interrupted last night; the camera switched itself off when the battery was low and I hauled it inside; even so it took a while to get to sleep.
But I was up pretty much on the dot of 7:00, and everything packed away quickly so that I could get on the go by 8:40. Tried capturing the kilometre posts and I knew I was doing about 4 km/h. The crash site of a Vampire jet plane which remained lost for many a year was passed. The Caves were well signed and I thought that a detour would be admissible, and saw and photographed one cave with stalactites. Track condition was variable, but there were a few more markers today. One big new slip even had danger signs on it and was taped off, but by this time no more kilometre posts could be found. Read more…
Tuesday, February 26: Still a bit cold but almost sunshine pure today
Dave’s/Brennagh’s
Had to bite the bullet today and soon after breakfast I went around to the hunting place, but their two civilian backpacks were rather heavy even empty and the camo ones didn’t really come into question. Then it was off to Rel Computer Solutions (144A Victoria Ave) where the guy gave me the advice of resetting the laptop to a restore point by holding down the shift key during start up (didn’t work), and then to Kathmandu who had a 40 L, reasonably light (1.9 kg) pack, one compartment only, for $300, with the possibility of getting 40% off if I complained too much. Then I paid a seamstress (Sue’s) a visit and she assured me that if she could get the seam under her machine she would repair the current pack. With that sorted it was time to return & collect the gear to see what could be done. Read more…
Tuesday, February 19: A little cloudy to begin with, becoming fine & hot again, with a few clouds reappearing towards evening
Kayaking: 22.6 km
Arawa Lodge
There really was no great rush for people to get up this morning, but all of them were faster than I was. All of the eggs, salami, crackers, coffee and sugar had been used up, the muesli bars were to follow for lunch. Lent some string to Ines so that she could attach her glasses to something (she had lost one of her contacts), and the string was returned later in the day. I had all of my stuff packed up so that I required only one trip to the boat, and exchanged a word or two with Boyd about my upcoming hike of the Matemateoanga for which he offered me to stay the night @ Tieke. Will try.
I had tried recharging the “dead” batteries with what was left on the powerbank and hoped I had enough power for today, even though they weren’t full. Today’s plan was to get as far as Ngaporo and see what the final rapids might do to the gimbal, have a break there and decide about further deployment. Read more…
