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…
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…
Wednesday, February 25: Changeably cloudy throughout most of the day, and still warm
Danni’s
Slept almost completely through until 8:30 when Simon knocked on the door with a fresh loaf of his bread. Breakfast had to be improvised from what else was to be found apart from the eggs & butter I have over from last week. Some wheatbix were found, some milk and sugar, so the day could start.
The butter, it must be remarked here, was rock solid out of the fridge and still maintains its buttery appearance and taste despite living for 10 days in my sealable plastic container and melting at least twice during the kayak trip. This must be the test of tests for all concerned, both butter and container. Read more…
