Saturday 22 October 2016

A beautiful morning. Saturday and what a great start to Labour weekend. Coffee and breakfast in the sunshine, chats to the kids, and then more chatting to get as much local information absorbed as possible. We re-check maps of this harbour mouth and the coastline, then we walk along the beach checking out the waves and good vantage points to look at the north and south boat access. Did it help? Yes for me it did.

Then it was into Cuzzie, a quick goodbye to the campsite people, and south we headed. It was a few hours driving but there was only a couple of crazy drivers on the road. We do a couple of u-turns along the way, stopping for a fresh berry icecream for Jase, and also to check out the locations I had marked along the way for checkpoints for the next possible paddle day. Then as we neared the turn off for Damper Falls, I suggested we head down this road. It was a 30km detour to Damper Falls but each time I had passed it I promised myself I would tick this off the list of things to do!

Lunch and then a fast hike to the falls and back, after having been to Bridal Veil Falls in full rain filled glory, seeing this 75m waterfall was a little less spectacular but in it's own way it was still a memorable sight. Then it was back over Mount Messenger, a quick fill up on diesel, and then a stop to grab fresh farm eggs. Poor driver Jase was made to stop often and seemed to be having to u-turn and detour rather a lot today, as well as me being a hideous passenger. He stayed calm and just kept smiling, so then we made another detour to sit in the sun at "White Cliffs Brewary" (Mikes brew). I had a lemonade shandy and Jase had a thirst quenching Pils-nah (yes that is the correct spelling). Sitting in the sunshine away from the cool wind was wonderful and I could have stayed in this little place for much longer. But it was now a need to get sorted and onto our campsite location.

This road has been driven a number of times now so in a way I just want to move forward and say good bye to Taranaki and get further north. I read the other day there are only 10 Fridays left till Christmas, and now probably only 9! To paddle when ever possible is still forefront in my mind. A one-pot wonder tonight for dinner. All my gear is checked and at the ready for a possible day on the ocean soon.

My smiles today:
Campsites and kids.. such an iconic kiwi site..
Fresh berry ice creams- summer fun.
The continued warm sunshine.
Sitting in a lawn enjoying a local lemonade & beer with Jase.
Cute Wai iti Campsite.
Back by the west coast ocean.
The weather forecast.
Flowers that remind me of my home- white roses!..

My thoughts:
May your weekend be filled with good thoughts, kind people, & happy moments.

Goodnight from Red.

Ma Te Wa.

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