Saturday 26 November 2016

Honestly, last night I slept in the biggest bed. Actually, probably the biggest bed I have ever slept in! What a privilege to be able to be in this wonderful and truly amazing home. I woke early and wandered out to the kitchen, looked at the view and watched Saturday morning awake in the peace and quiet. Soon, the others were up and making cups of tea and also kindly cooked up a rather scrumptious breakfast. We also had some lovely items arrive with Jason from Auckland. The favourites were the homemade chocolate cake (thank you, Michelle), champagne (to celebrate my 5,000kms achieved) and other supplies.

Then off the three of us head to go for a quick, short hike on the Goldie Bush Walkway. Well, 10.5kms later, feet covered in mud and also two Geocaches located, we emerge needing food and drinks. That really wasn’t the expected quick thirty-minute stroll, how typical of us! Back to Craig's home to organise lunch, eat more cake and, to our amazement, lunch was already made for us, waiting on the bench. Jeez, we could get used to this kind of lifestyle!

Before the end of this lovely day, we went to look out over the gannet colony and the ocean before the sunset, standing watching the gannets skillfully landing and taking off from the windy cliff tops. Many images were taken and the funniest moment happened when a gannet flew over the top and pooped on me! Really! Now I smell like a walking gannet colony. Quickly, I take off my now smelly jumper and rush back to the ute in order to head home. On the way, we make a quick detour to grab curry for dinner and then locate another Geocache before the end of the day. But this one took us rather a long time and Jason was the one to successfully find it. In fact, he found all three today! But I reckon it was the girls’ guidance to the exact location which made his life easy.

Tonight, we sit in the comfort of the lounge, our dinners on our laps and a celebration drink of bubbles for my 5000km mark. Wow, the number of kilometres I’ve achieved even amaze and astound me! But there is also a tinge of sadness for me tonight, as I hear of the boating accident this afternoon at Kaipara. My thoughts are with everybody involved. As I look out at the big seas, this again reminds me of the respect I have for the ever-changing ocean, and that Mother Nature is not to be messed with.

My smiles today:
The chocolate cake.
The champagne.
The muddy hike with laughter along the way.
Me and my grumpy moments when I’m hungry!
The crazy nesting gannets.
Another amazing sunset.
My first week with Bianca, she's fab!

My thoughts today:
I love people who are open-minded, people who just vibe with whatever you talk about, with whom you can talk about anything and everything.

Goodnight from Red and the team.

Ma Te Wa.

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