Two days of Tramping

Saturday and Sunday Rob & I got out our boots and headed out to do some tramping...getting ready for the Milford Sound Trek that we have booked for December. Saturday, we drove to Long Bay, a beautiful beach on the East Coast Bays, and took a tramp along the bluffs through Granny Bay,Pohutukowa Bay, and finally to the Okura River. We could have tramped along the shore, but we decided that even though it was very low tide, we needed the hills and steps to get us stronger. And...even if we would have tramped along the shore...we could have been layed flat many times as it was dangerously slippery on the rocks. Emily can attest to slippery rocks along the shore. She took a huge fall when she was visiting here over the Christmas break. The tramp along the bluffs was under some sunny skies, mixed with a few rain showers. Amazing rainbows, and incredible display of big white birds dive bombing into the sea to catch fish. Not sure what kind of birds, but they certainly produced a splash when they hit the water! It was a glorious day, with gorgeous vistas looking out to the Gulf Islands...Rangitoto Island, Tiritiri Matangi Island, Little Barrier, and others that I do not know how to say or spell. Considering that it began to pour on us when we began our adventure, it was amazing that we stuck it out and completed what we set out to do. Saturday night I was in bed by 8:30, after a nice dinner that Rob cooked, and a hot bath.

Mother's Day was so different without having the kids around. Rob was so sweet...he made me a gorgeous mixed berry crepe, fresh papaya with lime and a flat white for breakfast. The kids called on Skype, and then I received a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from Ross & Emmy. It got me all teared up...and made me miss them even more!

My wish was to take a bush walk for our daily activity. I got my wish, but the weather was dark & gloomy. When we entered the Okura Bush Walk...it really was difficult to see, but as we continued the clouds must have lightened up because we could see better. This walk was amazingly gorgeous! I kept proclaiming to Rob that it had to be one of the most beautiful bush walks I had ever been on...so lush and full of huge Kauri Trees, giant Fern trees, ferns of every kind, amazing bird life, weeping walls of water, mosses...it was just lovely. It was also very muddy! Some of the track was so muddy that I was very grateful to have my new walking poles for support. Again, we got caught in the rain...but it didn't get us through the heavy canopy of trees until we were almost back to the car. We were both quite a muddy sight!

There will be two photo links from my Picasa web album to show you how beautiful these tramps in the outdoors were for us...and both within 1/2 hour of our house here on the Waitemata Harbour.

One more week before we come home for Ross' graduation from CSU Chico!! Looking forward to some good visits!! Cheers!