Have I mentioned recently that it’s been raining just a little? Well, this morning, very briefly it was calm with a little sunshine. Not at all what the weather forecast said we were to get! But, of course it didn’t last; the rain did return!! What was I to do? Go hiking or manage a quick paddle, walk along a beach or get things that have been on the back burner ticked off my list today? Firstly, a quick chat and a coffee with the Wyllies, to check the ten-day forecast with them, then to encourage myself from inside my battered weather cocoon in which I have been hiding to go out and meet some people about how to get onto the furthest section of the Spit? If the latter, to whom should I talk first?
My initial stop was the Post Office in Collingwood to send some more items back home for safe keeping. Then on to chat to the Eco Tour Team about when and how to get to the lighthouse, along with the do's and the don’ts of the situation. Great to chat to them but they suggested that I needed to talk to the DOC. In the Takaka office. I tried hard to convince myself that this could be done at a later date! Or, perhaps I could just call them, but a face to face chat is always the best way to deal with such matters. A drive along what has now become a well-known section of road to Takaka. First, I chat to the ladies in the Information Centre. Then I get directions to the actual DOC office. By now, wandering along the street, I was battling rain and a cold wind. Then, due to a DOC training morning, I had to wait until after 1.30pm.
Back it was to have lunch in Cuzzie, watching the rain fall and the cloud cover get lower and lower on the hills. Eventually, I managed to chat to a very helpful man in the office and got details and names of people to e-mail. I have to return on Wednesday to discuss it in more detail. Oh well, we all know what happens to my planning, it always seems to need re-jigging or I need to find other options! I hate to say this, but my day continued to follow the same kind of pattern. I wanted to go and see Harwoods Hole, so up into the Takaka Hills I go. Most of the snow is gone, although there are still some small pockets of snow on the farmland, and at last I get to the turnoff to Harwoods. But guess what? The 11km side road is closed due to the bad weather we have been experiencing!! Really? Back down the hill I went, watching the thick cloud roll in, engulfing all the hills by the time we got to the bottom. Then surprise, surprise, the return of the rain for my drive back to the farm. I stop for a while in a car park to answer e-mails and messages.
Tomorrow I have another plan but there may just be another hiccup or two along the way. That seems to be the way life is at the moment! I have made some progress, however, and I have got around to doing some things I have been stalling on so, maybe my Monday has been worthwhile after all. I just have to keep knocking on doors! Thanks to all the lovely, helpful people I have met today and for the contacts and leads I have been given. It will all happen in due course, of that I am sure.
My smiles today:
Hobo still asleep on my bed when I left this morning!
My stop and start day.
Another can of tuna eaten.
Snow on the hills, absolutely amazing.
A lovely donation. I am always so thankful and truly humbled.
Seeing new-born lambs and calves!
My thoughts today:
Three simple rules in life that I try to remember on days like today:
1: If you don’t go after what you want, you'll never get it.
2: If you don’t ask, you’ll never get an answer. Far less the answer you want.
3: If you don’t take at least one step forward, you’ll always stay in the same place.
Goodnight from a very thankful me. Ma Te Wa.
