Author Archives: Kiwihobos

We arrived at our friends place early 1.30am, we went to every customs person to check various items. I realise I have left my phone in Gareth’s car and I have left my e-book on the plane yikes! Annoyingly I checked the pockets but I obviously didn’t check it properly. Not much I can do till tomorrow so I sleep.

Next morning I am up around 8am, everyone is still asleep so I read Rowan’s book, I don’t last long and I am fast asleep too. We wake up at 1pm! In fairness that is 11am Australia time but unheard of for me. Once I am up I stay up. Stunned that I have lost most of the day we rush out to do some jobs. The airport hotline isn’t answering messages and I don’t know if they have my kindle.

Gareth kindly drives us into the CBD and waits for us as we shop. First stop Bivouac I need to sort out my inflatable mat. Rowan got a cheap one in Australia to replace his one as it is an overseas purchase (none available in nz at the time) his will take a long time to replace. Also my merino camp pants are worn through and have holes. Icebreaker isn’t what it used to be! The team take both of our camp mats and said they will call sea to summit and see what they can do about Rowan’s one.

Next Macpac, my silk liner is already failing and another pair of Rowan’s underwear have failed. May he has big balls or something lol. Gareth kindly takes us to the airport where luckily there is on Quanta staff member lingering around so we corner her to see if they have my book. Unfortunately nothing is in the log book so she takes my name and number. By the time this is all done it is 5pm! So we head back to Michaela & Gareth’s place.

The next day I wake up at a more civilised hour and we relax and drink coffee. Bivouac call and our mats are sorted. I keep trying to ring the airport with no luck, then aha I finally get through. The lady chats to other staff and finds my book hooray! We steal Michaela’s car and head straight to the airport. I run in, check it is my kindle and I run back out. Success dopey has her book back. Now onto bivouac, we get two new mats. We need to pay $65 for an upgraded version for Rowan’s mat as they don’t import his exact one. We are more than fine with that. I get a new pack liner, just a cheap $6 one as we keep breaking the expensive ones. Rowan needs a sleeping bag since we sold my one in Australia. Unfortunately the one he wants isn’t on the shop floor in Dwights and we can’t hang around till Tuesday to get it. So off to Lower Hutt to a different macpac who can replace Rowan’s underwear and we get him two cheap sleeping bags. 1 down 1 synthetic. The synthetic one is more of a blanket than a bag. I am dubious as our track record with macpac is abysmal. However we will give it a go. Finally our gear is under control now to sort dinner and get some food for the walk tomorrow.

New years eve we stay up and watch the fireworks on the TV which is pretty spectacular, we can also hear it and see the sky light up from the balcony. I thought the 9pm kids show was pretty special but the midnight fireworks were incredible.

The next few weeks are a bit of a blur, Joanne (Rowan’s mum) is back from Europe. We run around looking for shoe laces and other odd things we need to get walking again. We give up trying to find 2m shoe laces and end up buying some rope from a hiking store. My sandals nearly break, another thing to go find. The list goes on.

We get a chance to do a little sightseeing. But I mostly spend these weeks getting Rowan’s business partner Eddy organised. There is a lot of maintenance and additions to do to his building in Labuan Bajo. I also take over social media adding another 6 accounts, 3 Facebook & 3 Instagrams. You may wonder why there is three different businesses well… Eddy’s Adventures is the tour guide business he has had for years. Eddy’s Place is what came of the backpackers when covid hit. Eddy needed income for his family so he set it up as a basic cafe for locals. Now we are getting the property ready to be run as a 7 day a week eatery. Eddy has some reliable staff to run it while he keeps up his tours. Right now is monsoon season so no tourists around. Anakarang is a charity Eddy started years ago which helps with marine life and the local children. I really enjoy doing the charity page.

Before we know it we have a few days before we leave. It is going to be a big change for Bette not having us around. I am looking forward to getting back to it. Our flight arrives in Wellington at 12am so really Friday rather than Thursday. We have a list of shops to get to gear to replace.

The days leading up to Christmas are fairly uneventful. We have friends coming on Christmas eve, Tynan, his brother Blair and his mum Jan. Bette doesn’t want to have a Christmas this year, which Rowan and I are fine with. However we do head up to Dungog for a quick overnight stay just to see Heather, Katie & the boys.

We head off Wednesday morning. It is a four hour drive, which is down the road in Australia terms. We reach Dungog mid morning and grab a cold bottle of bubbles. Knock, knock… Heather & Katie are not home. So we head to their new house to see if they are there. No luck, no one is home. We call them and they are an hour away. Oh well we find a wine glass in the back of the car and drink the bubbles we got. We give ourselves a tour of the new house exterior and before we know it they are home. After a chat Katie heads off to the hairdresser and we head to grandmas land to swim in the river. I entertain Ben while Rowan and Heather swim (Huntah is at pre school). The river isn’t inviting to me, we are spoilt in NZ.

A good cool down and we head back for dinner. They haven’t moved into their new home yet and we get to be the first ones to sleep in the house. I think they want us to check for ghosts. The next day Rowan cooks a big breakfast and we head out to the Commons. The Dungog Common Reserve is 650 acres that was donated to the council to be used by everyone. We all went for a short walk.

After lunch we headed back to grandmas to cool down. This time I got in the water which felt really warm in comparison to NZ rivers. It was a lovely swim and great to cool down before getting in the car and heading back to Sydney.

Chrissy eve is here and I have made a potato salad with edamame beans, mint and no mayonnaise. Instead it has a side tzatziki sauce. I also make a big jug of mojitos and for desert ambrosia. Our guests arrive and we start with the mojitos and some fresh bread with balsamic and olive oil. Then we all head off to the pool. We don’t really have lunch till about 3pm. It is the perfect meal for such a warm day. A few bottles of champagne later we are all quite full. The day ends and everyone goes home.

Christmas day is here and we pretend it is not a thing and we all just settle into a fairly normal day and of course we eat leftovers. The next two days fly by with nothing new to report. New years eve will be another non event. Every first of anything is going to be really hard on Bette and the family. I don’t blame her for wanting to act like it is another day.

Freedom feels great! You only need to stay isolated for 5 days here. First thing I do is get in the pool for a swim. I must say the best thing about getting Covid is being bed ridden for 5 days. It has done wonders for my ankle. It feels much better but not 100% yet.

I finally can help more around the house, so I get to doing odd jobs that I have been wanting to do since we arrived. There are a few things we need to sell on the marketplace so we get those listed. I sell my sleeping bag as it is overkill and warmer than necessary. I will take Rowan’s quilt and we will get a synthetic summer bag for him. I sell it for what we paid for it, so I am stoked. The bags are a small brand so the values stay up high and it is hard to find a shop that stocks them.

The week goes by pretty fast. We get a chance to meet up with childhood friend Tynan and take a long walk around Sydney Park. This was a great test for my ankle, my feet got sore as they are not used to being walked on anymore. Best of all I woke up the following day and I had no ankle pain. Finally my ankle is better. It is still recommended I give it another 2 weeks before hiking.

P.S Happy Birthday Ellery (19th my niece)

Happy Birthday Tynan (20th)

Finally got the Covid, turns out I am not invincible

Blue Mountains – Rowan and I headed to pick up David so they could take me exploring.  Unfortunately due to heavy rainy weather majority of the lookouts were closed.  It made it hard as I didn’t want to walk far.  It became a running joke that the Blue Mountains are closed!  We would turn off the main road and head to a lookout, it wasn’t until we got a few K down the road that we would see it fenced off and closed.  No one has updated the signs from the main road.

We got to the Three Sisters near Katoomba and found a spot to see the view.  Luckily we stopped there as it has become a bit of a tourist trap.  The place is packed and you can’t just do one of the rides you have to do all 3.  So we gave it a miss.  By the time we got to Katoomba town we were starving but everything is closed!

We finally find some Subway at the next town and get back to Miriam’s later than we expected.  Rowan and I don’t stay long and head off home.  We get a chance to chat a bit more with Nathan and get a quick snap of us.

Monday, David flies home.  We get over to pick up David, he heads back to Adelaide today.  Off to get some breakfast before heading out to the Northern Beaches for an explore!  Rowan lived in Avalon for some time when he was young. 

First on the agenda Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.  You pay to get in and it doesn’t cost much $12, and you get to stay the full day.  We get to Bobbin Head and it is pretty spectacular, I can see why there is so many boats around.  We travel right through and get to West Head Lookout, it looks out toward Barrenjoey Lighthouse. As kids they would head into Ku-ring-gai Chase and watch the moon rise.

From there we headed out towards Barrenjoey Lighthouse. In Avalon we found Rowan’s old home. The houses around the Northern Beaches sure are fancy. It costs $40 a day to park at one of the car parks on the beach.

After all this exploring we got hungry. David took us out to the pub for a late lunch, the food was really good. We had plenty of time and got David to the airport on time.

Tuesday, we just stayed around the apartment and Rowan cooked up a storm. On Wednesday I wanted to go op shopping and I made a full plan on where to go. I woke up feeling a bit under the weather but brushed it off. We only got to Maroubra and I started feeling worse. By the time we got to Bondi I said to Rowan we need to go home. When we got back I went straight to sleep. I thought I better take a RAT test, no surprises it came back positive. Rowan got the spare room ready for me and I started my quarantine, I wasn’t really worried about passing it on as Bette & Rowan had it recently. However I wanted to stay away just in case.

Quarantine was rather boring but it was fine. It didn’t feel that bad, just like a flu. I found not being able to get a tea when I wanted the most frustrating. Rowan was good with getting me stuff but it often took longer than I wanted. For instance, one day a tea took 7 hours lol

Heather came to Sydney for a Christmas work do and I was sad that I couldn’t see her. However Rowan came back with a beautiful bunch of sunflowers 🌻 from Heather. They sure brightened up my room. I also took the opportunity to give myself cap highlights and brighten up my hair.

Rowan’s dad David arrives from Adelaide. We haven’t seen him since mid 2019 when we were all in Sicily. Rowan and I were trying to decide on where to go and spend a few nights away with David, we were looking at Airbnbs all over New South Wales. Rowan had the idea to go to Coffs Harbour where there is family that I haven’t met before. Mick (David’s Brother) & Liesel live there.

Monday 29th arrives and we pick David up at the airport and head out to Kevin (David’s brother) & Miriams house. Kevin is hiking in Hobart but Mariam is around. We have dinner and make our plan to head off early in the morning to Coffs Harbour. It will be a good 6 hours in the car so the earlier we leave the better.

Tuesday morning Rowan and I leave early to pick up David. The drive was scenic but very much the same everywhere. However we did get to go through a gorge in the beginning with tight corners and limited sized vehicles can go through.

This is the furtherest north I have been from Sydney. I really haven’t done much traveling in Australia at all, cities is about all I have done. The weather is wet and it stays that way the entire time we are there. It was fantastic getting to know all of Rowan’s extended family, I had heard a lot about them but never had a chance to meet them. Rowan’s cousin Justin & partner Jess are currently living there while their house is being built. It was great to hear family stories and spend a good amount of time getting to know everyone. Three nights we stayed in Coffs and each day we got out and about sightseeing. Well maybe cloud seeing.

One of the days they took a walk of Muttonbird Island and I stayed down low and had a short walk along the break wall. My ankle is getting better but I am not pushing my luck! We took a trip out to Belligen and had a late lunch. On our way there Rowan stopped so we could save a turtle that was attempting to cross the road. The poor thing kept hiding in its shell as a vehicle would pass over. David showed us a beautiful old arcade that we really just went in to see the building. Because Liesel was on night shift (nurse) we made sure we were out of the house during the day so she could sleep. Rowan played chef and cooked most of the meals. One night we visited Dean & Jess, friends from when Rowan went to school in Coffs. We got back a bit late so David and Mick cooked a cottage pie.

In the morning friends arrived and we had a brunch, leaving Coffs Harbour around 11.30am. On our way back I wanted to detour out to Trial Bay Gaol, which is an old convict prison right on the ocean. It was quite busy, lots of people around. We also went out to the lighthouse to look at the view. Apparently you can stay in the buildings.

It was a great detour and break up the drive. At one point Rowan and David were in such a discussion I just put my headphones in and listened to music. We got to Kevin & Miriams around 7pm. Nathan, Rowans cousin was there so I got to meet him. We got back to Bette’s place close to 9pm and feeling pretty tired.

It has been rather uneventful, I have been reading lots, watching TV and resting as much as possible. It has been nice hearing lots of stories from Bette. I have had a chance to use the pool a few times. Just for some light exercise my ankle is not really improving hugely.

It just needs time I guess. I have been feeling a bit stir crazy and restless. There is an amazing painting from a Fijian artist that I get to stare at all day. It is rather interesting and I have fallen in love with it.

I will just take it easy and hope it heals soon.

The lovely Geoff greets me in the kitchen making me jump, “ready for coffee?”  He sure knows how to keep me happy, I am sure most hikers appreciate a good coffee when stopped.  Geoff is taking us to the train station, the commuter train goes in once a day, and comes back.  It starts in Palmerston North and it is not till Waikanae that you have several trains. 

The commuter train is really good, you get to see the countryside for a mere $12, it arrives in Wellington at 8.20am.  There are people busy working or a lot of them sleeping and relaxing before a long day at work. 

It is really nice being in a warm, safe, dry environment without having to endure the elements.  The train drops us off and we head to McDonald’s for breakfast.  Michaela, Rowan’s friend is busy till 10am.  We chill and catch a taxi to Newtown.  we catch up with Michaela, haven’t seen her since she was in Christchurch and we have never met her partner Gareth. Our package with our passports hasn’t arrived yet.  With an early flight the following morning I am feeling a bit anxious.  We decided to fly to Sydney for my recovery as Bette (Rowan’s grandma) is alone for Christmas for the first time. We can recover there where a pool is which will be great for exercising my ankle. By 1.30pm I am calling NZ Post asking where it our passports are.  They have to search two locations as they are currently changing their sorting depot and packages have a couple day delay.  Eeek, my dad sent it on overnight courier I reply.  I get put through to Pace who tell me I can get it tonight but it will cost me $240, no problem it will cost me closer to $1k to change the flights. Then they realise it needs to be located first before the Pace team can help me. A lovely lady Tracy at NZ Post digs high and low for the package.  Finally by 3.45pm she has found it, now it’s on her desk, come now the depot closes at 5pm.  We arrive at 4.30pm and pick it up, phew that was lucky. It also didn’t cost me more money to collect it earlier. My ankle is in agony and when we get back to Michaela & Gareth’s house I am popping a codeine. We need to be at the airport early so I book a cab for 4am, I have already checked us in so I don’t need to be there at 3am.

My alarm goes off and I have a message on my phone, your flight is delayed. I check okay it is now at 8.45am. I call the taxi to cancel it and tell Rowan to keep sleeping. I can’t fall back asleep so I just stay awake. I check the flight times again before waking Rowan, just in case. In the taxi by 6am heading to the airport. I have never gone internationally from Wellington before, it is a really quiet international airport and is quite good. Once through security our flight gets delayed a further hour, Rowan is grumpy about losing an hour sleep. As time goes it gets worse, we are told there are further delays, looks like in total we will be 5.5hrs late. The airline gives us two vouchers so we can at least get some food.

We were in a holding pattern for 30min because of severe winds and eventually land 6 hours later than we should have. I get out and hobble along, I have a few staff members suggest I use a wheelchair. I politely decline. Rowan gets frustrated by my slow walk and puts me in a chair. I am quite thankful as the distance and waiting for bags is quite a lot. Finally in a taxi on our way to Kensington. We spend the rest of the day chatting to Bette and Rowan sorts out food. I am grateful to not walk anywhere else. We will be out of touch mostly while we are in Australia as I won’t have much in the way to blog about.

Lazy Sunday. Geoff let us wash our clothes which was great, I tried to keep my foot up most of the day. It got really sore later in the day. Rowan cooked us a great fish curry and we had plenty of leftovers. Geoff really makes you feel at ease and is a really great person.

Monday morning and my ankle is feeling really good (go figure). Geoff takes me to the physio, because of where it hurts she wanted to make sure I haven’t fractured my tibia. I get a referral to the medical centre for an x-ray, I didn’t make an appointment I just showed up hoping they could see me. The radiologist couldn’t see anything, put the slides go to Palmerston North for a full report. We go off op shopping and I get a call from Ingrid to come back and at least get it strapped. If I have fractured the bone I will need a moon boot. I am getting all strapped up and just before I leave she checks to see if the results are in, hooray no fracture. I am to rest and keep it elevated as much as possible for 1 to 3 weeks. After it is better I am to take further 1 to 2 weeks before hiking again. We are in for at least 2 weeks! We get back to Geoff’s and I rest up. He has a meeting at 3pm then we will go food shopping so Rowan can cook dinner. While he is out I have a shower and pack my bags as much as I can.

Hiker Dave arrives with Geoff, we were expecting him tonight or tomorrow. He is from Melbourne and is heading SOBO (South bound). Dave is going back home for holidays and birthdays then coming back in February. The weather is naff in the Tararua Ranges for the next 10 days, I convince him he should head to Queen Charlotte do that and hopefully come back to better weather to carry on. Everyone sure gets to know each other on the track, and we all look out for one another. It is a really nice community. We have a vege pasta for dinner and Rowan stays up late chatting to Dave. I last till 11pm.

Today is the day, we have 3 days worth of food. 4 if we count all the extra snacks, soups etc. The aim is 8km, if we can get that far we may be able to get to the Makahika Outdoor Pursuit Centre in two days rather than 3. Either way we are not worried there are lots of walkers about now and all are more than happy to help in anyway that they can.

We set off and I get 500m down the road and it really starts to hurt. I walk a bit longer before deciding it would be dumb to not tell Rowan. I talk him into walking a bit further and seeing if we can see anyone at the carpark, the weather isn’t great but it is Saturday. We may need to turn around and go back to the hut. 2km from the hut we get to a road that leads up to the reservoirs and back down to Shannon. We can see there are some tracks and make the choice to go to the reservoir. 1, there could be cars parked. 2, there may be some shelter from the weather. 10min later a ute is coming in. I stay on the road and make them stop. There are 3 guys coming in checking something to do with biodiversity. They say it will take them 45min or so but are happy to squeeze us in on the way back. We thank them and tell them if we are not at the carpark we have been lucky enough to find someone else to pick us up. Not even 5 minutes later a car is coming down the hill towards us. We stop them and they say the ute stopped and told them about us. Very kindly they said they would take us in.

Gram and Lynn have 40 hectares here overlooking the ranges, reservoir. They take us up to the top of their property to have a look. Unfortunately the day isn’t clear enough, but on a good day you can see out to Mt Taranaki, Ruapehu, Levin and even the South Island. At the top Lynn gets a phone call, I think great I will turn my phone on there is signal. All of a sudden I have text messages and WhatsApp messages wondering if we are okay. I didn’t realise it but my family had started worrying this morning about us. They had started to contact people who could help, DOC, police, tramping societies and such. It was a bit of a shock and felt like an overkill but of course they don’t have any hiking experience or know what to expect. Rowan’s family weren’t the least bit worried being hikers themselves. A very important point for me, and I will need to have a good think about what steps they should take if it happens again (which I am sure it will).

Gram & Lynn had gone down to the lower part of their property near the reservoir and were on their way back when they picked us up. They took us all the way to the Levin Holiday Park. Extremely thankful for their kindness I tried to pay them but they wouldn’t accept it. At the Levin Holiday Park we get a site and pitch the tent. Now to work out what on earth we do next. I contact all the physios in the area to get an appointment. Luckily I get a reply from one and an appointment for Monday morning. Next, do we stay here or try a trail angel? Angel Geoff replies to my message pretty fast and is happy to take us the following day. Showered and sitting down in the TV room, I have my foot elevated, we are debating dinner. Rowan will need to walk somewhere as I really can’t handle it. Then a message comes through from Geoff, he has two NOBO (North bound) hikers cooking dinner tonight would we like to come? Why not! It feels strange to be going on a dinner date, it has been so long since we had one. Geoff, Marine & Antione pick us up and we go to the supermarket. Vege tacos are on the menu. Rowan and I pick up a bunch of the ingredients to make sure we are helping. We get back to Geoff’s home and have a wonderful meal. Marine & Antione are completely gorgeous, they met here 10 years ago. They are French and are currently residents in Quebec. We all get along like a house on fire, past my bedtime Geoff drops us off at 10pm. Marine and Antione are hiking tomorrow, hopefully we haven’t kept them up too late.