I was up at 8 and Penny, Roger and I had a nice breakfast of tea and toast out on the patio in the sunshine. They gave me the Guardian to peruse, but to be honest I'm so out of the loop when it comes to current events having it all suddenly packed into a newspaper in front of me was a little overwhelming. That's something I don't like about myself: I wished I was one of those people that likes to devour newspapers. At best I managed to skim the headlines, maybe an article or two, but invariably end up zeroing in on the cryptic crossword and not taking in much of the "news".
After breakfast I had a thorough repack of everything, which took a surprisingly long time. Finally, after strapping my feet, I was ready to go. Penny kindly gave me a handful of apples. In return I could offer nothing but my mobile number and an email address and an open invitation to her and Roger should they ever find themselves down Dunedin way.
As promised, Penny dropped me back at the spot from which she'd collected me, minus about 10metres. I wished her all the best and thanked her very much before slathering up with sunscreen (yes, sun!) and shouldering my pack. In several minutes I'd made it past the residential streets and across the railway line to town. I diverted off trail to go to Countdown and stock up on good. While I'll be town hopping all the way from here to Wellington, I figure if I have a pack full of good I'm less likely to blow time and money at cafés along the way.
I got some odd looks with my big pack and poles, not to mention walking clothes (however clean), sitting on the bench outside Countdown downing a chocolate milk and ice cream (I also bought real food too Mum, I promise).
One little boy mistook a dog tied up outside as mine and asked if he could pat it. Happily the actual owner soon appeared and the little boy got to pat the dog. I was irrationally pleased by this as I think it's a very important part of childhood, learning how and when to interact with animals.
Happily full of slightly less processed dairy than the powdered milk that is a trail staple, I set off back to the main road and along the footpath until TA turns off and follows a pleasant little walkway down along the Waikanae River to the sea. It's a healthy little river by all accounts; the water is clear, there's little to no rubbish and, peering over the bank, I often spotted small fish in the shallows, including only larger black fish that definitely looked like some sort of freshwater native.
The walkway goes past parks and horse paddocks and is extensively used by dog walkers, runners and cyclists. Several people commented on my pack, and one or two people 'in the know' offered nice words of encouragement. "Are you doing Te Araroa? Good on you!".
Once you get to the estuary the walkway is mostly boardwalk through weedy marsh that is slowly being reclaimed and rejuvenated back to its native state. A short walk along the road at the far end brings you to Paraparamu Beach. I couldn't believe how much wood was washed up! Also in one spot several rotting blue jellyfish, at least, that's what I took the weird little piles of blue jelly-like stuff to be.
As you walk along the beach Kapiti Island slowly slips by. I stopped on an exposed section of concrete retaining walk to sit and have lunch (ham, lettuce and tomato buns; I'm a bit shocked at how quickly my lettuce has wilted since this morning!).
It's funny, along the walkway from Waikanae lots of people stopped to comment or chat briefly, but along this stretch of beach, not a soul said even a friendly hello. Is this a suburb thing? I wondered.
I stopped for water at a public park in Paraparamu, managing to walk right past both the drinking fountain and a tap out the back of the toilet block and having to stop and ask a couple of people, the second of which kindly pointed out the tap (doh!). He had two kids who soon joined me at the tap and pelted me with questions. The little boy in particular wanted to know if I was going skiing and if not, why I had ski poles. Aww.
Down the beach a ways I got caught between an impassable retaining wall and the high tide (doh!). I backtracked a little andcwebtbup what I thought didn't look like an especially private track and which I hoped lead out to the road. It didn't, only past a disused tennis court to a patch of grass walked in by houses. I noticed two people in the top floor window of a neighbouring house watching my progress with amusement (incredulity?). They waved me round the front of their place into their front neighbour's backyard. Unfortunately their neighbour was at home, currently sitting in a deck chair reading a book, overlooking her otherwise private patch of beach. Acutely embarrassed I excused myself and asked if there was any way out to a road. She said no there wasn't but if I cut across her lawn and went out through the neighbour's driveway I'd find the road. Thanking her very much I beat a hasty retreat. Something tells me I'm not the first hiker to intrude on her in this manner. I didn't look back to see what my watchers on the top floor made of the escapade.
Safely back on public land I followed the road along through residential neighbourhoods until I once again could divert out to the beach at North Raumati. I was well in need of a rest break but unfortunately every single picnic table seemed to be out under the beating rays of the by now very hot sun. There's a restaurant here, built up to a second level with a large outdoor seating area built out as a tall deck. The grass underneath this was shady so after making use of the public convenience I settled down in the shade, kicked my boots of and perused my map to determine progress. Two girls in beach attire who were sitting on a bench in full sun nearby looked a bit scandalised. I wondered whether they thought I was sitting in a place I shouldn't be or whether they were gutted they hadn't thought of it first. Oh well. No one bothered me so I happily sat for twenty minutes or so, cooling off, rubbing my feet, watching the beach goers, and listening to the scrape of knives and forks in plates above my head.
Setting out along the beach again the tide soon forced me up onto path that although makeshift is obviously frequently used and which runs along the various forms of retaining wall that protect the houses on one side from being eroded into the sea on the other. This time I checked by asking a fellow out walking his dog whether I could follow the pathway all the way to South Raumati Beach at the far end without reaching a dead end. He assured me I could. Phew!
At a couple of places roads run down to the beach to provide access and I stopped on a bench at one of these. There was an older guy with a cane sitting on the neighbouring bench and we got to chatting. Though he wasn't as forthcoming I was strongly reminded of sitting on a bench and chatting to and old guy with a cane whilst overlooking a beach north of Auckland. How long ago that seems, and yet I remember it like it was yesterday.
Finally I followed the path down off the retaining walk and into proper beach once again. You can follow a route through Queen Elizabeth Park into Paekakariki but I opted to keep walking along the beach; in the home stretch for the day I'd found my beach pace once again.
This pace saw me keep in close stride with a couple out walking. While trying to maintain a respectful distance it became apparent that we three were all going at the same pace and so eventually they said hello and we got to chatting. Their names were Chrissy and Robert and they proved to be very keen travellers. Rivert is from Germany and so they spend a lot of their time there and use it as a base to explore Europe on numerous occasions. They were very enthusiastic and full of advice about the best places to go. They were also very interested in Te Araroa as they are planning to do it themselves in a couple of years time, so I shared some of my favourite bits so far with them. In mentioning seeing kakariki in the Pureora forest they pitched in that there were some around Paekakariki too, Robert pointing out that the name "Paekakariki" means "perch of the kakariki". Unfortunately as with everywhere else they're very rare and hardly ever seen.
I asked Chrissy and Robert where the best place to leave the beach was to go to the campground and they kindly offered to show me. We soon left the beach and were just heading up to the road when the "March of the Dwarves" them from the Hobbit movies started emanating from my waist belt. Startled at first I quickly pulled out my phone. It was Alyse and Pete wanting to know where I was...Queen Elzabeth Park...them too! The sneaky little buggers had jumped online to find the TA route to Paekakariki (I'd told them that's where I was headed today) and were lying in wait for me at the entrance to the park. Unfortunately I'd thwarted them by coming along the beach, but we soon agreed to meet at the southern entrance. Thanking Chrissy and Robert very much (both were highly amused at my friends having stalked me) I went to wait on a picnic table by the gate. Ten minutes later a familiar white car pulled up and two familiar people climbed out, one holding a very familiar type of can of fizzy fruit juice. Alyse you Saint!
We had a bit of a catch up about their recent move to Wellington while I knocked back the fruit juice. Then I went to freshen up a little and change into camp clothes as we decided to head down the road to Fisherman's Table for tea. Apparently it was all arranged, whilst I was free to stay at the Paekakariki campground if I wanted, our mutual friend Bex was happy to out me up for the night, and Alyse was happy to deliver me both there and back to this point tomorrow morning to continue my walk. More than this, this arrangement could be conducted all the way down the coast into Wellington. Friends eh? Amazing.
By the time we got to the restaurant I was very stiff and sore. I shouted a round of drinks while we waited for a table, on a whim getting myself a traffic light since I saw one being made and hadn't had one since I was a kid (probably the last time I was at Fisherman's Table!). Unfortunately it wasn't as good as I remember. Food colouring just isn't as good when you're an adult. Perhaps they used to be made with lime and raspberry not food colouring?
Funnily enough, after going to a fish restaurant none if us ordered fish, but we made up for it by making the most of the all you can eat buffet salad table. Every time I sat down I stiffened up and then would hobbled comically back to the buffet after each empty plate.
After dinner we headed to Trentham for Alyse to pack an overnight bag; she's going to stay over at Bex's too to have a catch up. Pete's got work in the morning so we left him behind when we headed into town. Had I realised it was so far I might not have taken Alyse and Bex up on their offer, not wanting to be such an inconvenience, but Alyse is adament she doesn't mind the driving. They're still settling in and she hadn't found a job yet so she says she doesn't mind the time. I went to offer them petrol money but they're avid AA fuel card users and when we stopped to fill up they got a full tank for about $10!
We got to Bex's just before 9. Bex's partner Clay and young son Ali were already in bed but the three of us girls stayed up til nearly midnight chatting. I was dog tired, but its just what girls do I guess. It's going to be tough getting up tomorrow, but then, that's tomorrow's problem!
No comments:
Post a Comment