Christmas Break Travels

Our break this year was from Dec 18 to Jan 8th. What did we get up to? I believe we maximized our time away from work with a trip to the South Island with Beth's parents, who came over for their 3rd visit, and a trip to Fiji with our friends Helen and James for scuba diving. Within this period we had a couple nights in Auckland where we met up with some friends.

South Island Adventure:

The plan was to fly into Queenstown and spend a couple days there prior to heading up to do the Routeburn Track. With my recent ankle injury, I had to pull out of the tramp, which was good as I could only walk for about 20 minutes on uneven flat ground before my ankle was in a lot of pain. So I dropped Beth and her parents off at the trail head and drove to Te Anau to spend Christmas in a hostel. I was in a room with a German couple for one night and then we added a French guy the 2nd evening. I spent most of my time reading books punctuated with short walks around town. I then drove up to the trail head to pick up Beth and her parents on the 27th, but thought I would try to meet them on the trail. So I left early, as I was to meet them around 2pm at the trail head. I was there shortly after 9 and I put on my ankle brace and proceeded to walk 1km in about 20 minutes before turning around. I could go up fine but coming down the tricky loose rock wasn't going to be fun. Especially as my ankle got sore and tired. I proceeded to sit in the car for a couple hours reading. They made it to the end at about noon. They were happy that I was early as they didn't feel sitting around for a couple hours for me to show up for the original meet up time. I then drove back to Manapouri, about 20 minutes from Te Anau, where Beth had secured a Bach for us. A Bach is a cabin or holiday home that people will often rent out. It was a quaint little place that had beds for 7 or so people.

We headed back into Te Anau for groceries and to eat out. We also watched a local film about the Milford Sounds at the 1 movie theater. I tried to see Star Wars again on Christmas night, but they had the 2 worst seats available. Either corner in the front row. I opted to finish yet another book. I finished 7 and I'm 84% through my current book. We did a boat tour out to Doubtful Sound where we were treated to some fine weather. They hadn't had rain in 6 days, so many of the waterfalls were not flowing. In this region, the rainfall is measured in meters. Typically it rains 2 out of 3 days, so they were experiencing a bit of a drought.

On New Year's Eve, we woke up early to drive to Queenstown to catch our flight back to Auckland via Christchurch. We were met/picked up by Peter, who was trying to get the most visits to an airport without being a taxi in the span of a week. I believe his tally was going to be 6. Of course that has to take into account that his parents were flying in a couple days later. Then spending a few days utilizing our place before heading down to the South Island. Even doing the same boat trip out to Doubtful Sounds as us.

Our plans for New Year's was to meet up with some friends for dinner, chin wagging, drinks, and possibly fireworks. This was changed when some of our friends decided to eat dinner with family. Then we said to another friend go ahead and hit the BBQ with your mates. We'll meet up later. Well later happened to be after 10 when we got the text. We were already snuggled in bed. We were boarding a plane to go to Fiji for 9 days.

Prior to leaving on our trip, we dropped Bill and Betsy off at the museum in the Domain. This would be their 2nd visit to the museum, but it was a good way to spend a very rainy day. The next day the were starting their return trip to WI with another short stop of in HI to see Mike, Sara (Beth's sister), and the grand kids. They packed a lot of travel in their short time here, but its not very often that they visit.

As we were loaning our car to Peter, while we away he dropped us off at the airport again. Little did we know that on the first day of this trip, the battery would die. He replaced it for us, but we'll be taking him out to dinner after his parents go back to the States as a form of repayment.

Fiji Bound:
We met up with Helen and James in the check-in line. I had to look around to see if our cameraman Karl was anywhere around. Why do you ask? It was very similar to the dive trip that Beth won the previous year, where we had Karl documenting the entire thing. We flew into Nadi, with the worst child in the history of the world in front of Beth. I think the only person more furious than us was the person sitting in front of the little Beelzebub. This thing was probably 2-3 years old. It only knew how to use high pitch squeal, violent kicks, taunting/movie pausing finger jabs, and waiving a tea cup around as what could be constituted as communication. The parents put cotton in their ears and watched movies while ignoring the beast as it went nuts. It stood on the seat, reached around the headrest and frequently paused Beth's movie. The hands would then proceed to linger there until Beth shooed them away. All the while the squeal would be emanating from its maw. When its butt could find the seat, it was unleashing Chun Li's Lightening Kick to the seat back in front. Otherwise, that passenger had the sweaty hands of death itself draped over his headrest with the shrill sound 'eeeeee' in his ear. We were treated with the look of utter dismay, but the flight attendant when the child presented its cup for hot tea all the while doing what looked to be the pee-pee dance. The father tried to hold the cup still and nodded his head for the drink to be poured. I guess he has hoping to be severely burned by the hot beverage so he could spend some time away from the ball of destruction he created.

Upon arrival in Nadi, Beth went to get our rental car while I got accosted several times by cabbies looking to take me somewhere. Helen and James were slow to meet us as they had to get all their gear. We were finally united and walked out to our rental, a Nissan Note. What was noteworthy about the vehicle? The fact that it survived the week. We all felt that the car was less than roadworthy, but then again the road conditions were pretty island like as well. While driving to Pacific Harbor, every little village we drove through had a series of high speed bumps that I can only assume took huge chunks out of the bottom of the car.

We got to the resort about 9pm just in time for the kitchen to be closing. We had a quick meal before heading up to our lodgings for the week. We were on the 3rd floor with a 2 bedroom apartment with a pretty nice view. The sunrise above is from the deck. The resort is next door to a very fancy resort, the Pearl, that we were able to utilize as well as ours. We had lunch over there a couple times throughout the week after diving as we were too spent to make lunch.

Everyone, but Beth, did 3 days of diving while she did 2. The dive shop is located in a decrepit resort on the back of a golf course, but their shop is in good order. The first day we did an organized shark dive, but it was in jeopardy because of Cyclone Ula. We wouldn't know until the morning of if the dive was happening. We showed up to the dive shop and were giving the thumbs up. We walked out back and grabbed our rental gear from the shed. I was given a 5.5mm suit, which was very warm. The water temp ended up being 27C. The following dives, I was able to get a 3mm suit which was still too warm.

The 2 dives that took place at the Shark Reserve consisted of taking a 15-20 minute boat ride from the Pearl, but 30 minutes from the shop as we had to go down a river at 5km/h. The shark dives consisted of a very structured dive experience. We descended to 30m for the viewings of the Bull Sharks. Here they hand feed the sharks and as well as dangled a wheelie bin full of fish heads that would drop occasionally. Here the sharks would get within a meter of you and the only protection you had was a guy standing behind you with a metal pole. As I knelled on the ground filming, I would see the pole appear over my shoulder right as a shark was getting close. From there we ascended to about 15-18m and saw a few more species of sharks. Here we were gathered on a rope while the feeder dug food out of a wheelie bin. We also go to see a Moray Eel.

We had about an hour long surface interval where we had a very sugary and milky tea and cookies. Our dive plan for the 2nd dive was taking us to about 20m where we would be laying on the floor while the sharks were feed above us. This is where I felt the most scared. I remember seeing their eyes darting back and forth looking for food and then with a quick flick of the tail snatch it out of the water right in front of me. I was trying to turtle my head back into my BCD to get away from the edge. Not that a few inches would have mattered if they wanted a larger meal.

The morning of the 2nd dive, we drove into Suva to get some groceries as the local market wasn't all that big. The drive was about an hour through small villages. We stopped on the side of the road so Helen could get her coconut. She also proceeded to tell us about her dream of Beth and I get her bags back from a thief not once but twice. As we pulled into Suva, we were looking for a parking spot. We were driving around aimlessly when we spotted a parking sign. Then we noticed some free spots in front of the police station. As we were about to park, a guy comes running out of the station. Beth not knowing exactly what to do just stops in the middle of the road as the guy flashes a smile as he runs past. He is followed by 2 out of shape and out of breath officers. They were already probably 20m behind the guy and losing ground fast. We parked the car in front of the police station and were amazed by our first impression of the city. The officers had by now jumped into trucks and were canvassing the neighborhood. We think they got their man as they were pulling up as we about to leave. 

We spent some time wandering around Suva, but not too much as my ankle can only take so much walking. We went to the waterfront and a couple parks as well as walking past their government building. We then proceeded to drive through town to the grocery store, where we picked up our supplies for the week. Its interesting to see what people eat for breakfast. I was doing eggs and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Beth did nutella on bread, and Helen and James often did beans on toast. We ended up making most of our meals, which was nice as there wasn't too many places to eat nearby. I also did a lot of eating out on the South Island when a kitchen wasn't always available.

For the 2nd dive day, we went exploring the coral around the same reserve. This was an afternoon dive, that left very late as we had to wait on 2 Russians who dove in the morning then left on a long lunch. We were told 5 minutes, but it was like the 5 minute conversation in Snatch. It turned out to be about an hour. We went to the same dive site, as a German guy lost his GoPro there that morning. Why don't people tether their expensive camera to their BCD? I have a carabiner that I use, but I'll be switching to a locking carabiner in the future. These 2 dives were very organized as well with no venturing off as we were still around sharks. I had about 20 seconds of panic as I felt very lite all of the sudden and felt like I was ascending rapidly. I was breathing heavy, until Beth signaled to let air out of the BCD. I thought it was empty, but evidently there was enough so I was ascending. I dumped the air and descended back down. This caused me to hit the air limit while on the dive so I ended up swimming next to our guide and used his secondary regulator for the next few minutes. On the 2nd dive, Beth and I were supposed to stay near the other dive guide in case I used my tank up again, but with Beth's recognition skills and trying to communicate underwater this didn't work out too well. The air wasn't a problem the 2nd dive as I sorted the equipment out during that first dive. Got to see 2 sea turtles during this dive. What shocked me, was that there was a Swiss girl doing her Open Water certification there and she is doing these drills with sharks around her.

Beth was in a fair amount of pain after diving and decided not to do a 3rd day of it. The 3 of us however were keen as they were going to take us out further into a big reef. The diagram during the dive briefing showed a lot of coral reefs that could be explored as well as a wreck. We ended up diving with a brother/sister or married couple from Australia again. I just called them the Lannisters. They were on the shark dive with us earlier in the week. They weren't very talkative, but the guy had left his GoPro handle at the resort as the dive charter handed them out the first day. They hadn't brought any this time. I thought I was being nice and gave him mine, but said just don't lose it. I figured I would just get photos and videos from Helen and James. The first dive of the morning was down to 30m to swim around and above it. During this dive, I ended up seeing a lot of cool things as I wasn't preoccupied about holding my camera. I just enjoyed looking at marine life and diving. We all grouped up for our safety stop before heading back to the boat. On the boat, the guy noticed he lost his camera and my handle. He is apologetic and visibly distract. He jumps back in with his mask and snorkel to see if he can see it. The Swiss girl during our surface interval had to do her 10 minute tread water and her 200-300m swim. The guy ends up putting a $50 (Fijian) bounty on his camera. We descend again to about 20m and work our way around some different reefs. I see a couple sharks, as well as a couple giant clams. There were a couple scorpion fish, aka camo-rock fish. There were 2 massive cray fish hiding under a ledge. You could tell the guides know the area really well as they knew where things were going to be. I'm first back on the boat and the captain has a big smile as he is dunking a camera in the freshwater. I recognize the carabiner on the handle. I asked where it was found. Jonny, the dive instructor for the Swiss girl's cert, said he found it right by the mooring line on the bottom of the ocean. The guy was super ecstatic to get it back. It had all his vacation videos and pictures on it and its also expensive. It was the newer model with an LCD screen and extended battery pack. I wonder how many cameras have been lost. I'm thinking of making a tether to the case just in case it comes off the handle. Which happened to a girl we dove with at Goat Island.

The remainder of the trip we, ended up renting kayaks as the jet ski place didn't actually take our reservations. We had booked a self-drive tour around the near island with a snorkel and lunch on the beach before returning. It was to be about a 60km ride over 4-5hrs. It looked like a lot of fun as we saw them shoot past the day before while heading back in after the morning dive. Instead we ended up doing 3km up river and then 3km against the incoming tide. We started in a downpour, which felt great because soon as it stopped rain it was like wearing a wet flannel blanket in 36c degree heat. Helen drew the short paddle, as she and James were in the tandem, but we had a paddle that was missing half of its blade. Our journey down the river took us past the local golf course and past some pretty flash houses. Our final night in Pacific Harbor, we made our way over to Uprising Resort to eat. I had the lovo, which is the traditional form of cooking, an underground bbq. While I believe the others had pizza and burgers. I got to sample fish, chicken, pork, as well as interesting salads and tubers, similar to cassava, but different. Thursday night, is not only lovo night, but they put on a traditional dance and fire show. It reminded me a lot of a luau, but it was still fun to experience.

Our last full day was spent driving back to Nadi, where we stayed in a pretty run down hostel. James and Helen had a private cottage, which in hindsight we probably should have slept in. They had AC, while we stayed in a private room with a shared bathroom. Our cottage only had a fan. We spent part of the afternoon walking through The Garden of The Sleeping Giant where we admired a ton of flowers and were bothered by mosquitoes. We then had dinner in Denarau, a gated community, which felt like we were sitting back in Auckland. We were surrounded by boats, tourists, and kids with braids. We were all glad that our entire trip wasn't spent there. I think just having dinner there was enough.

The next morning, our flight departed at 9. We were a little delayed leaving, but we were eager to get back home. We said bye to Helen and James at the airport, but said we would be in touch soon. Our car was waiting for us over in the domestic terminal as Peter, who was borrowing our car, had gone to the South Island with his parents the day before. We weren't able to go home just yet. We had originally booked our hotel room through a special, but then ended up going to Fiji, so we had another night in Auckland. We made the most of it and met up with Mike, who recently broke his hand and had surgery, Paula, and Irish Rachel over in Takapuna for dinner. Most of us ate at El Humero, which is Colombian BBQ. It is similar to El Sizzling Chorizo, which is Argentinean. While the vegetarian of the group had a VPN pizza from Dante's. After dinner, we wandered over and had an ice cream. The next morning we were up early and drove back to Kinloch.

Our lawn and garden was crazy. The cilantro had flowered, the spinach had dried up, the zucchinis were massive, and the peas were plentiful. I spent some time tidying up the garden and mowing the lawn. I'm glad it was really dry while we were gone or our weed lawn would have been even more ridiculous. Now we are getting settled back in with work and routine. My ankle is still bothering me and I may have an ultrasound scheduled if it hasn't come right in the next 2 weeks. This puts me in a little bind as we got things planned. I was supposed to be doing the 85km Timber Trail on the 16/01, but have already bailed on that. We are diving White Island at the end of the month, but that shouldn't prove problematic. The following we were doing a 4 day MTB trip to Hawke's Bay with the Auckland crew. At the moment, I don't know if I have the range of motion to ride. I'm going to test it out tomorrow with some flat pedals on the road. Then in February, we head to India for Shiv's wedding. Beth is also busy planning our next Great Walk adventure. We haven't even finished doing the Whanganui River yet, but we are already booked in for Abel Tasman at the end of April. I hope my ankle comes right soon as I've been feeling lazy with no biking or running.

Merry Christmas

Was supposed to be doing the Routeburn track but I ended up screwing up my ankle. So I dropped Beth and her parents off at the trail head and made my way to Te Anau.

Sock modeling to laid up

 

These are my S'more socks that I received from my Secret Santa during our friend's Christmas from earlier this month. Unfortunately, I'll not be wearing them any time soon. I've received what I think is the worse ankle sprain I've ever had. That is a pretty bold statement from a person who has had numerous sprains and a few brakes over the years.

 So what happened? I've been climbing a fair bit since moving to Taupo. So last weekend I was at the climbing wall doing some lead climbing when I slipped and fell between 3-4m crashing into the wall/hold. I knew instantly that something wasn't right. The pain was intense causing my leg to shake. I was lowered to the floor, where I raised my leg. Got ice and compression going within the first couple minutes. The swelling was already starting. Mike dropped me off at the Emergency Room and then went out to pick Beth up, as we only have one car and I had it. I was seen fairly quickly after filling in my paperwork. The initial diagnosis was a bad sprain. I had to come back for an x-ray the next morning. The x-ray only showed old injuries, but nothing new. I've started going to Physio to get back into action. It  is about a week since it happened and its still looking purple, but a gross green has started to appear. I still have a lot of lower leg swelling, but I have pain to the touch up the shin close to my knee. Below you can see where I pushed my fingers to my shin and the amount of swelling that is still there.

The swelling is down but not gone after a week. The shin just above the ankle is super tender and the bruising is below the calf. There is still tenderness along the shin up to almost the knee. I have to spend 30 minutes in the morning doing stretches and band work in order to walk normal. While doing these exercises I've had my ankle lock up and then pop. This doesn't feel pleasant at all. Oh and to run it in my face, the quick draws I ordered have been delivered. Won't be using them anytime soon.

Still not used to it

Another year living in the Southern Hemisphere and I can't get used to Christmas happening over Summer. Its going to be a busy festive season. 2 weeks ago, Beth and I were in Queenstown to run a half/full marathon. I ended up twisting my ankle pretty good at about 15km in. I ended up finishing, but probably shouldn't have. This past weekend I did the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, a 160km road ride around Lake Taupo. This weekend, my office is having its holiday party. So we are heading up to Auckland for that as well as a friends Christmas. We are doing an outing at Snow Planet, an indoor snow park. Then afterwards we are having a potluck at Banu's new house. I've made mini-choco-pucks, pumpkin pie, and ginger cookies. We are also taking spinach, cilantro, and salad greens from our garden. The following week, Beth is getting her vision corrected and its her work party, so we'll be back up in Auckland. The week after that, Beth's parents arrive and Star Wars Episode 7 is released. We are doing a few things around the North Island before heading to the South Island for another Great Walk. Once that is complete, Beth and I and our friends James and Helen will be heading to Fiji for a diving holiday. The following weekend I'm doing the 80km Timber Trail with the Taupo MTB Club.
There is much more that we have planned and we may be looking at going to India in February as our good friend Shiv is getting hitched.

Great Walk #2: Lake Waikaremoana

Lake Waikaremoana

This past weekend was the first National Holiday in some time. So in order to take full advantage of it, Beth booked a couple hut spots for us to tackle the second of nine Great Walks that New Zealand has to offer. We had opted to do Lake Waikaremoana over 3 days, which is situated just East of us.  We extended an invitation to the other ninjas (this is from Ninja Tortoises our team name for events) and a total of 7 of us took to the trail over Labor Weekend. We weren't the only people on the trail as the huts were booked out months in advance, but a few spots opened up the final week and Rachel was able to get a spot as she wasn't sure she would be able to go. She has gotten her work visa sussed for the time being though. For the full photo album go here.

Ginger Ninjas

The gang came down in 2 cars on Friday, which meant we were able to host again and let Banu see the house for the first time. In order to satisfy Peter, we ate at Pauly's Burgers in  Taupo. They have a sign that says best burger in town and we agree with that statement. Prior to the second vehicle showing up I made some Ginger Ninjas, gingerbread men in the form of ninjas, for the gang to snack on and I took some on the tramp. It was an early night for most of us as we had to be out of the house by 7:30 in order to make the shuttle time of 11am.

We woke early and had a breakfast of croissants with nutella and banana that were gently warmed in the oven and some French Press Coffee. We launched from the Kinloch pad early to get to the trail head where we would be dropped off. From there Beth and Banu would drive to the Big Bush Holiday Park, 3 km away, to leave the cars in the secure lot and then be shuttled back to the trail head. We were a few minutes late to the Holiday Park, but that didn't much matter as the shuttle driver was already driving to the trail head. Its Island Time at its finest. He started to ask us what our plans were and Peter responded I don't know, I'm here to walk. I broke down what we were expecting to do: 2 people drop off cars at Holiday Park and get shuttled back to Onepoto for the 9km up to the first hut which had an elevation gain of 600m. Next day we would do 20km and sleep in the next hut. On Monday, 2 of us were to be picked up by water taxi at noon, where they would then get the cars and drive up and meet us at the trail exit. He left thinking we didn't have a clue what we were doing.

While waiting for Beth and Banu, we ate snacks and stood under the starting shelter. There was another group of people doing the tramp as well, but from what I gathered they planned on camping each night. From the sounds of it, a few of the people we under prepared as they didn't have a sleeping pad or even a sleeping bag. Don't know how friendly they would be after a few nights camping on the ground with only the clothes they have keeping them warm. They aren't my responsibility so whatever. In preparation for the tramp, I was once again asked to provide a packing list. I had previously did it for a day hike. This makes it easy to pack in that there should be a minimum one needs to take in order to be self sufficient, but also can prevent you from missing vital items. You have to check the list verses what will be offered in the huts as well or you may end up eating cold food. More on this later.



 

The start of the tramp saw fits of light rain, but nothing that compared to the drive in. The weather forecast had said that it would be heavy in the morning and lessening after noon and then the next 2 days would be partly cloudy with a high of 18-20C. To start, we were all in our rain gear as the rain was just holding on, but would be shedding under layers fairly quick as day 1 consisted of gaining 600m of elevation over approximately 9km. We didn't get to see anything of the lake while slogging our way up as a dense fog settled over it. We did get to see some cool trees on the way up.

We arrived at the Panekire Hut around 5 after playing leap frog with a couple trampers throughout the day. We set off close together, but they liked to take breaks and eat snacks. We didn't do much stopping other than stripping layers, the odd photo, and eat a couple snacks. There would be no long tea breaks today with the cold rain. We would wait until we got to the hut to eat any substantial food. The hut is located on a bluff that over looks the lake and when we first got up there there wasn't anything to see as it was covered in a dense fog. One has to be careful as there isn't much keeping you from falling over in some sections. The drop behind us in the photo above would have been gnarly. At the hut, we quickly hung up wet clothes around the fire, claimed mattresses, unpacked gear, and cooked up food. Beth runs into a co-worker expectantly. We later played some wifi-free word feud, aka scrabble, and cards against humanity. As it neared night time, I broke away to do some studying. I've got to get my MSCE for work. Which consists of passing 5 exams. Since there is no power at most huts, trampers usually go to bed once the sun goes down and get up when the sun starts to peek out in the morning. Right as I was falling asleep, a group of trampers come in and start to grab the last few mattresses. I briefly hear that there is an 80 year old woman in the group. I was debating internally if I give up my bottom spot for a middle when I say to myself, she is doing the tramp she can probably do a ladder rung or two. With that I go to sleep.

I'm kicking myself now as it was such a cool image, but I woke up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, which is out back. I put on my jandals and quietly sneak outside. Bam, there is close to a full moon, pockets of dense fog on the lake, and just the tips of land cradling the fog in place. I doubt my camera would have captured the image as vividly as I remember it. So I guess you just have to experience for yourself. In the morning, I wonder out to the toilet again only to run into my friend Csaba as I'm entering the hut. We talk briefly, but he, Kirsty, and her mom (the 80 yr old) are doing the tramp as well, but over 5 days. New Zealand is a pretty small place, in that I frequently run into people I know while out doing things. I come to find that Csaba left his camp stove at home as he recalled that all Great Walk huts have gas stoves provided, which may be the case for newer huts, but most if not all on this one did not. Since we had 3 in our group, I gave mine to them for the duration of their trip so that they could have their morning coffee and hot meals. Always check what DOC provides in each hut/campsite. It pays to be prepared or you might be stuck eating cold food for multiple days after being out in the rain. We mucked about the hut for a long time on Sunday morning grabbing dried rain gear, repacking bags, eating breakfast, and running back down the trail for some scenic shots. We probably didn't get on the trail till after 9am. Seems early, but when you've been up since before 6. That is late.

Day 2 consisted of doing approximately 20km and losing all the elevation we gained the previous day. Spirits were good as we started down the trail, knowing that lunch awaited us at the first hut/campsite we would cross. We would also have ample places to use the toilet and replenish water on the rest of the tramp. The next stopping point just happened to be about 4 hours down the trail. I believe we made it in 2:45. During this section, Rachel and I started talking about how this felt like the Fellowship of the Ring. Not that we were in New Zealand or even in a place where filming occurred, but we there were 7 of us with packs walking in single file to a destination in the future. We then proceeded to give everyone a name from the Fellowship. I was firmly anchored in the back, so I took on Gimli. Beth was Gandalf as she lead, organized the trip, and as I said old and crotchety. Peter was Aragon. We both instantly agreed that Banu was Frodo. Mike was Legolas. But now I forgot what we determined the others, Rachel and Paula to be. We talked about Ents and trying to place different city names. We were asked if we read the books or if all our knowledge came from the movies. We were nerding out, but then someone would say 'gilly weed' and we would go on a Harry Potter tangent for awhile. Ah, the conversations you have when tramping. I often lagged behind to take photos and would catch up to the main pack. Hence, why most of the photos I took are of people's backs.

After a short sand fly anger induced lunch, we had the option of going to see the Korokoro Falls, which we were told is a must see even if you're dead tired. 5 of us decided to go see the 4m tall falls. It was a cool little spot with a river crossing where DOC gave you a braided steel cable to use for balance, but unless you plan on jumping in the water I may give it a pass if you plan on doing a 20km like we did. If you are doing a shorter day, absolutely do it as there are trout in the stream and campsites near by. As the day wore on so did the nerves. Its hard to be on your feet with a pack for over 9hrs. Right before we got to the hut for the night, there was another hill that wasn't shown on the map. This elicited a few choice reactions.

The 2nd hut, Marauiti, was situated right next to the lake. This had a slightly different design than the first in that the sleeping area had a separate entry than the kitchen area. This makes it nice for those that like to have a bit of a lay in as they don't have to hear the people making food. However, when someone sets an alarm for pre-5am, its hard to keep sleeping and when they proceed to pack up their sleeping bags and gear in the shared room nobody is sleeping through that. Time to get up and make some food. We had 17 km scheduled for the last day, but that number changed as the final bridge out to the recently broke. There is a cool French video of it happening. Beth and Rachel picked up the Water Taxi and were given a quick ride back to the other side of the lake. We ended up having an extra 45 minute hike out from the broken bridge. This was an older track that was quite steep and muddy. We seemed to keep climbing and climbing and sharply descending back to the road where we were greeted by a cleaner looking Beth and Rachel. Banu and Rachel drove right back to Auckland as they had to work on Tuesday morning. While Mike, Paula, and Peter came back to Kinloch.

Spring has sprung

The weather has finally started to turn. We are now having longer days and nicer weather.  We have several activities planned that are coming up soon. We are running Queenstown again in just over a month. I'm under prepared, but I'll be able to finish another marathon. Beth is doing the half this year. The week after I'm pushing myself to do a 160km cycle around Lake Taupo. I've been spending a fair amount of time trail running and mountain biking. I need to switch over to the road bike as I've got about 6 weeks until the long ride. We are still swimming and climbing in Taupo.

Beth and I did a relay from Paeroa to Thames along the Hauraki Rail Trail. It was my old stomping grounds and we met up with Kat and Garth for a coffee. Kat is busy training for a multi-day swim race in the US and Garth recently had ACL surgery. Some of the Auckland Mountain Bike crew came down for a ride around Craters of the Moon and the Redwoods. It was a good weekend topped off with a trip to Tauranga to buy a BBQ. I happened to find one on TradeMe and it allowed me to say hi to some friends I haven't seen in awhile. However, having a charcoal BBQ this summer is going to be interesting. Since we live in a rural area, we are subject to a rural fire ban. I get to apply for a 2 week permit that allows me to start a BBQ between 7am and 3pm and have it out by nightfall. I'm looking forward to smoking some ribs, brisket, and lamb shanks.

We are doing the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk next weekend. It's also our first national holiday in about 5 months. There are 7 of the ninjas going out to hike 46kms over 3 days. Banu is nursing a knee issue and hasn't been to any of our training sessions so this might be interesting. In preparation, we have done several day hikes of various distances and elevations as a group. This past weekend, Beth and I took our new aarn packs out for just shy of a half marathon (20.4 km). A few others from Auckland did a tramp in the Waitakere Range.

The Auckland crew are coming down Friday afternoon and we'll leave from here early Saturday morning. We are starting by Tuai and ending by Anikiwa. 2 of us will be shuttled from the local holiday park (secure free parking) to the trail head and then picked up by a water taxi at noon on Monday and then driving back to the trail end to pick up the 5 who get to do the whole trail. It should also be interesting as some also have never done a multi-day tramp before. They are still busy buying and organizing gear. I've been asked to provide a list of gear that should be taken with. This should take care of someone forgetting vital gear like a rain jacket. We are in New Zealand after all.

What else are we up to? I've planted a garden recently and it makes me remember my Grandfather and his garden. My garden is no where as big as his was, but I've got rosemary, coriander/cilantro, basil, spinach, lettuce, zucchini, hot and sweet peppers, beans, and peas. On a daily basis, I've taken to pulling extraneous grass from the bed as well as watering. The rain isn't coming that frequently as its no longer winter and the hot sun dries the soil out by midday. Lots of seeds have started to sprout and come Christmas time we'll be having quite a bit of fresh produce. I hope that Bill and Betsy will be able to help us eat the produce.

We've gotten the kayaks out recently, but we have a lot more kayaking to do if we are going to take on the Whanganui Journey this summer. This will be one of next adventures, but we have Betsy and Bill visiting in December. We are hosting Peter's family for a couple days in January. We have to be up in Auckland a few times in December for holiday parties and someone is looking at getting her eyes corrected. January we are diving White Island and mountain biking Hawke's Bay. So I guess we better get Beth out on a MTB soon.

Te Aroha Mountain Summit: Day hike

Beth, Paula, Mike, Peter, and I

It has officially started. What? Our getting ready for the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk that is. A portion of the Ninja Tortoises is going to head out and tackle the 46km track over the 3 day long Labor Weekend. We have been discussing this outing for several months. We have booked our hut spots and are anxious to go, but there are a few with limited experience. So we have planned a few outings before hand. Our conversation is really just a continuation of the same email thread that we kick around all our group activities. Did you know that Google will only allow 100 consecutive responses to an email before it spins it off to its own thread?

Any way, Peter, freshly returned from his trip to the US on Friday afternoon, was picked up by Paula and Mike in Auckland early Saturday morning while Beth and I left Kinloch to a foggy start. We met in Te Aroha at 9:30 am  and departed right from the iSite. The plan was to summit the 952m track via the direct path up, located behind the local spa pools, and then taking the longer ridge track back. Shortly before getting to the Whakapipi lookout, we were already stripping off excess layers. We would be adding/removing the outer layer most of the day. This would be a common story all day as the weather fluctuated all day long. After leaving the lookout, the conversation dried up as the heart rates increased along with the steepness. This was only a temporary set back as we stopped for snacks and the trail leveled out a bit.

At the trig station

 We heard all about Pete's trip to the US, where he downhill mtb in Alaska. He ended up having some medical issues on a flight to Boston. He ended up passing out 3 times on the flight and ended up "getting off" the flight in Chicago. He ended up driving to Boston with strep. Evidently the congestion prevented his body from equalizing and he passed out. Mike and Paula talked about celebrating their meeting at flight school. With a flight school reunion in Matamata. We ate lunch at the trig station and talked more about the Great Walk.

Bearded Pete in surprise

We talked about what gear we have/could share on the trail. A good discussion was our trail recipes for tramp meals. For previous trips, I've made Beth and I a combination of couscous, dehydrated peas, Parmesan cheese, chicken bullion cube, and canned chicken for dinner. For breakfast, I had porridge with dried fruit. For my daily snacks, as I typically don't eat lunch, is salami and cheese. Beth opts for English muffins with cheese.

 We joked that we should have a color-coded spreadsheet of equipment people would be responsible to bring. We are now planning an over-night planned trip in a couple weeks. We will find a tramp that has a decent distance and an available hut for our next adventure. It is good to break in the others with a gentle day hike, followed by an over-night trip, and then a multi-day walk.

Is this thing on?