Awanui, NZ
Too much goodness. It's overwhelming me. And I can't take this shitty grin of happiness off my face. I have to tell it in the flow of the day because that works best for this senior memory of mine.
Awoke to rain after 12 hours of sleeping. Can't say I'm not well rested:). The rain let up and I got packed up heading south down this peninsula that Cape Reinga is at the top of. (Never end a sentence with a preposition is reverberating in my head!).
I know that Pukenui has a cafe with a veggie pizza the hostess if the hostel there (when I stayed there a couple of nights ago) mentioned was good. I'm headin' for PIZZA! When I walk in, who walks out of the kitchen? Steve. Erina's husband. The guy who gave Blaze a lift. He and Erina are up there checking out the cafe. How sweet to run in to them again! After eating most of a medium pizza - reminds me of hiker days - I continue south. And I gave a destination in mind. On my way north 4 days ago, I met Ian standing by the side of the road and got invited in to meet Alison, his wife, and have tea. I went. And when I left they invited me to come back on my way past when I would be heading south. I went:). I was looking forward to spending a bit more time with them, hearing their stories, and getting a major town chore done...laundry. (It had been 2 weeks:/. I done some stuff by hand, I'm not that grubby!). So we had a delightful evening and due to rain preventing me from setting up the tent, I slept indoors. Yes, I know. I never do that! Oh, and I have to mention the spa soak I had too! Fabulous
So after much rich and interesting conversation over breakfast, I managed to tear myself away and head on down the road...about 5 kms...and I turned off onto a gravel road to check out the Gumdiggers Park and Buried Kauri Forest. John, the owner
(who was adorable) inherited this land and discovered about 20 years ago it was full of holes in the bush. Gumdigger holes where the kauri gum was plentiful in the late 1800's due to the fact that there had been a kauri forest here 45,000 to 100,000 years ago and some unknown events toppled the trees time and again over the thousands of years. The swamp was rich with amber. And it was dug up from the muck by these guys that lived in huts covered with the fabric of the sacks the gum was shipped in. It went to England and was used for varnish.
John's created a tourist business here that was quaint and simply done. You see the huts, the holes, and kauri trees still in the ground preserved by the peat.
2 hours later, with an amber necklace John had made that I bought, I was headed south again. Now I'm having issues with the screws that hold in my cleats. I think I've mentioned this. I lost another one on the other shoe yesterday so I replaced it with a new one. It didn't hold. By this afternoon I only had 3 screws and 4 holes. My clear would lock on my pedal and not twist free. Arrghh. My plan was not to go all the way back to the town where I found the screws, but by the time I got to the turnoff I'd changed my mind. I had tried biking without being clipped I and it was exhausting to my leg. That wasn't going to work. I'll need to buy a bunch of those screws and hope that eventually I can get them to stay in. Just 3 more weeks. Please. So I went 20 kms out of my way tonight, got my screws, and got back on track.
Looking for a place to stay and hearing from a local that the District Council here frowns on freedom camping, I followed Maori advice and turned in to the first marae I spotted to see if I could camp. Sure. Showers too. Come for tea...which I forget means dinner. I'm in good hands tonight!
BagLady
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
