Well, Margery’s boots are but her feet aren’t at the moment. Too much driving and flip flops has made her feet soft as she found out today. We were going to call todays blog “A bear went over the mountain” or even “I love to go a wandering along a mountain track...” but the pressure blisters on both her feet at the end of our 4 ½ hr walk means that she was struggling towards the end of the walk. The problem is I’m “going native” – getting used to bare feet or flip flops is just part of it!
But, we did it and arrived at our destination in time for a drink and a chance to put feet up before the water taxi picked us up from Anakawa.
When we set off this morning our taxi was a fast cabin cruiser which M clocked at 25 knots in spite of the wind and the waves banging on the hull. We were the only passengers and so sat alongside the pilot. These guys also do Mail runs to outlying properties around the Sounds and so the speed these craft travel at reflects the distances they are required to travel, as well.
We were supposed to be picked up at our destination at 4:30 allowing us 20-30 minutes of stops for photos and lunch, but when we were waiting on the jetty well after the agreed time we wondered if they had forgotten us!
In fact, we were collected by a fast craft named Exhilarator, 20 seater open top speed boat where the donning of buoyancy aids was compulsory with instruction to pull the orange tab ONLY in an Emergency!
As we were motoring out of the bay a speed boat towing a water skier raced us to the point before turning back to the bay. Why are we mentioning this? Well the skier was only wearing a smile and so we hope he didn’t ditch suddenly!
Much of the first part of the walk was up hill on a narrow (2ft wide) track over slippery roots. I joked to some people travelling down in the opposite direction that I had half expected to see signs “Slippery when wet” posted every few feet! There is a culture of elf and safety gone mad according to Kiwis, but frankly its nothing like in the UK.
The path rapidly deteriorated into a scramble as we climbed to the ridge. The rest of the walk was less testing with great views where the bush was cleared sufficiently to see. It was interesting being dive bombed by cicadas (tropical crickets) because we didn’t know they were that territorial. Or maybe it was own back on Margery for removing one from the kitchen this morning whilst we were preparing breakfast. It made a lot of protestation noises as she picked it up and “....bunged it out the window, the window,” as the campfire song goes. The constant noise level from these 3cm long insects must be above 70dB. There are times when you feel you need ear defenders.
The walk reminded me of the second day of the West Highland Way walk I did 11 years ago. It wasn’t as challenging as the cross island walk we did on Rarotonga, but rather longer and so requiring more endurance. The section we walked was accessible for mountain bikers, but frankly where they had cycled in the wet had made for some very muddy sections and steeply eroded paths. Not wishing to be a kill joy, after all I enjoy mountain biking as much as the next person, but narrow bike tyres with a point load of say 7 stone will do more damage than a walking boot with a far higher surface area! OK, rant over, sorry guys, we did see quite a lot of bikers.
Yesterday, M was shopping for some embroidery threads for the Afghan shawl she is making for “beanette”. The proprietor of the “Dog Box” (yes, this really is the name of the shop!) wanted to see what M was making and the proceeded to parade it round the shop for all to see. She was obviously very taken with it. M is sitting here busily sewing away as I blog. Well, she says it’s too early for supper (6:50pm) as she needed a frozen strawberry yoghurt ice cream in a waffle cone to cool her feet down when we got back to Picton. Needless to say it would have been rude to let her walk along the street with her ice cream and me carrying the boots etc, so I forced myself to have a berry berry (isn’t that some disease) sorbet. Well it should count as part of my 5-a-day shouldn’t it! Not a hope, sunshine!
But, we did it and arrived at our destination in time for a drink and a chance to put feet up before the water taxi picked us up from Anakawa.
When we set off this morning our taxi was a fast cabin cruiser which M clocked at 25 knots in spite of the wind and the waves banging on the hull. We were the only passengers and so sat alongside the pilot. These guys also do Mail runs to outlying properties around the Sounds and so the speed these craft travel at reflects the distances they are required to travel, as well.
We were supposed to be picked up at our destination at 4:30 allowing us 20-30 minutes of stops for photos and lunch, but when we were waiting on the jetty well after the agreed time we wondered if they had forgotten us!
In fact, we were collected by a fast craft named Exhilarator, 20 seater open top speed boat where the donning of buoyancy aids was compulsory with instruction to pull the orange tab ONLY in an Emergency!
As we were motoring out of the bay a speed boat towing a water skier raced us to the point before turning back to the bay. Why are we mentioning this? Well the skier was only wearing a smile and so we hope he didn’t ditch suddenly!
Much of the first part of the walk was up hill on a narrow (2ft wide) track over slippery roots. I joked to some people travelling down in the opposite direction that I had half expected to see signs “Slippery when wet” posted every few feet! There is a culture of elf and safety gone mad according to Kiwis, but frankly its nothing like in the UK.
The path rapidly deteriorated into a scramble as we climbed to the ridge. The rest of the walk was less testing with great views where the bush was cleared sufficiently to see. It was interesting being dive bombed by cicadas (tropical crickets) because we didn’t know they were that territorial. Or maybe it was own back on Margery for removing one from the kitchen this morning whilst we were preparing breakfast. It made a lot of protestation noises as she picked it up and “....bunged it out the window, the window,” as the campfire song goes. The constant noise level from these 3cm long insects must be above 70dB. There are times when you feel you need ear defenders.
The walk reminded me of the second day of the West Highland Way walk I did 11 years ago. It wasn’t as challenging as the cross island walk we did on Rarotonga, but rather longer and so requiring more endurance. The section we walked was accessible for mountain bikers, but frankly where they had cycled in the wet had made for some very muddy sections and steeply eroded paths. Not wishing to be a kill joy, after all I enjoy mountain biking as much as the next person, but narrow bike tyres with a point load of say 7 stone will do more damage than a walking boot with a far higher surface area! OK, rant over, sorry guys, we did see quite a lot of bikers.
Yesterday, M was shopping for some embroidery threads for the Afghan shawl she is making for “beanette”. The proprietor of the “Dog Box” (yes, this really is the name of the shop!) wanted to see what M was making and the proceeded to parade it round the shop for all to see. She was obviously very taken with it. M is sitting here busily sewing away as I blog. Well, she says it’s too early for supper (6:50pm) as she needed a frozen strawberry yoghurt ice cream in a waffle cone to cool her feet down when we got back to Picton. Needless to say it would have been rude to let her walk along the street with her ice cream and me carrying the boots etc, so I forced myself to have a berry berry (isn’t that some disease) sorbet. Well it should count as part of my 5-a-day shouldn’t it! Not a hope, sunshine!
Hi Ron and Margery, sadly we are now back home - suffering from jetlag, not sure what time of day or night it is! just catching up with your blog, which is bringing all our great experiences back as well. Allthough, we were incredibly lucky as we didn't have any rain at all, apart from one night in Paihia! Joi & Roy
ReplyDeleteI should think the "catching up" caused the jet lag! There must be quite a bit to read!!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're safely home.
Cooooooooooool! Beanette has a shawl made in NZ! good start to being a well travelled Child I think :)) And Mum, you *know* any type of fruit based product is not only a non-food but DOES count as a 5 a day :p J&Dx
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