The ending to last night:
I was pacing, we had a table conversation with each other and then this ended with a speaker phone conversation with our poor team mediator back in Auckland. This is not an envious job or title within the Redz NZ Journey team, this only happens when there is a split decision on the next days paddling. Yes or no on my departure and I am needing someone to rationalise with me. We make the mobile call, it is always a head strong moment in me that is causing this and the team being more level headed, sometimes I must be disliked!
24 hours later it is now funny, but try and picture this, last night as we sit in 8 degrees, rather cold, in the dark at the campsite picnic table, under a sun umbrella to protect us from the rain. We are next to the office trying to get coverage on our phones (2 degrees won the coverage battle) and I was talked down. This person we call has a crazy mind and manner that puts me straight back on my seat with just a couple of straight talking words of reason and I have always promised to listen, so stand down I did. I agreed with them and saw reason in their argument. I was told, "Sleep in, have coffee and chocolate for breakfast," and he finished his phone call by reciting words from a Taylor Swift song, “Shake it Off!” Do I need to say more? I did laugh by the end and my frustration from the day was abating.
Bed was a safe place for me and I eventually went to sleep, to the joy of the support crew, who probably wanted to put a sedative in my cup of tea to have some peace from my 'what if's' and 'if I just left now's'...I was like a stuck record.
Sunday morning, the campsite was silent and quiet, well it was only 6am. I wandered to the showers and probably it was just me with a bad excuse to re-check the weather updates, as I just happened to pass the office wifi, but no change. No point arguing, I must focus on a day off the water.
Coffee and a shared sante bar first thing in the morning, totally not the best option for me in the world, but fun when you can do it, I am a little stingy with the chocolate bar sharing. A bush walk, a wharf, a jetty walk, meeting a crazy white goose (I want to take him with us on the rest of our journey, he has attitude a plenty), then we were off to get some stable internet coverage and sit and do office and in Cuzzie. We have a list of things to order and we have people to make New Year connections with for further south (when I get there). We connected up to the world and progressed through the list, once my brain was well and truly fried via the laptop I was ready to head off onto a few tracks, streets and hills to bury my mind into some exercise.
Firstly we grabbed a camper van fridge lunch then headed to walk and burn off some of my energy, and my thoughts. I was good to just walk and breathe, cabin fever is a bad thing some days. As we drove on some of these steep hills poor Cuzzie was on such a lean the water tank over flow was leaking. It did give us a bit of a fright as we thought we had a water tank leak. There was a funny moment to this when both Trish and I are lying under our camper van, trying to locate the water over flow...a picture opportunity missed.
Cuzzie is keen to get off these hills, as I am to get further on my trip.
Eventually we got free, we walked, we talked, we looked in shops, we wandered into health food shops and then as this did not calm either of us we headed to a couple of sheltered beach tracks. We got rained on, I played in puddles and generally just tried to understand why I was being so impatient with today. As the wind got in my hair and blew the day away I started to feel better. The rain and the fresh air was helping us both and the mood of the day was at last lifting, unlike the clouds and the weather on the hills which seemed to be getting closer to sea level.
We headed inside to a cafe for hot tea and honey and to sit on their couches as we sampled some of the cafes special chocolate range. The tide was way out on some of the bays and I was at times tempted to see how deep I would sink into the mud flats if I rain out onto them, but I was not brave enough or really in the mood to be covered in smelly mud today.
Time to return to our campsite. Time to reconnect to the power and get my head around a
statement I made back in Auckland, if the weather is bad I will just have to wait for it to clear. That was easy to say, I am telling you it is not so easy to put into practice. Maybe, just maybe, a massage tomorrow, or a horse ride along the beach, or lets go fly that damn kite, or download the Taylor Swift song and drive with it blasting out of the speakers of Cuzzie.
My smiles today:
Both of us Lying under Cuzzie looking for the water over flow, now that was a sight, all that was showing was our black woollen leggings.
Talking with Nat about her return, her tan lines and her fun crazy cricket world. I have warned her I am in Caged Tiger mood.
Hot coffee and a sante bar for a brekkie snack.
Standing in puddles washing my feet and crocs!
After a small mudflat walk Trish telling me she had a bad feeling about me climbing on things today. No accidents on her watch with me! She could just see me with a broken arm, but I climbed anyway.
Smiling at me and my frustrations.
Smiling at Mother Nature, she has today won.
My thoughts today:
To be totally honest, they are like the low lying clouds on the hills of this Peninsula. A mixed bag of sun, rain, and haze. BUT tomorrow is a new day.
Red
The Guard Goose
For all those northerners who keep telling us, 'oh but its nice here!'