watch ya head bro...

We woke to another beautiful morning. Cloudless and full of sunshine, yet totally freezing! We were in a valley at Karangahake gorge where an old gold mine used to be. After a quick cup of tea and wriggling into freezing clothes, we set off for what Ollie had planned as a ‘morning stroll’. Crossing the river by bridge and after learning a little about the mine that had once been there we picked the hour and a half route. Everything started off fine. We passed through the remains of the main mine buildings and followed the old rail track along one side of the valley until it met the mine shafts.

It was at this point we realised having a torch would have been a really awesome thing. The tunnels were pitch black, eerie, dripping with stale water and had incredibly low ceilings. Apparently miners were hobbits or hunchbacks! However, the one good thing about my shockingly bad phone (my other one got stolen about a month back and I don’t want to talk about it because I’m still grieving) is that it has a tiny torch light at one end. Using this Ollie led us through the maze of tunnels. I say led but it was more like he walked ahead as I clung desperately to his coat and saw nothing because I spent the whole time squeezing my eyes shut and hoping we weren’t about to star in a new ‘Descent’ movie. Anyone who has ever watched that film must be permanently freaked out about dark holes with no light at the end! But lucky for us there was eventually light at the end of our very real and not at all metaphorical tunnel! 

When we got to the next set of mine tunnels I announced that I wanted to be the leader this time. I was feeling much braver and this one was shorter because I could already see the end! Turning on the torch I began to lead Ollie into black. At once he was moaning about how much harder it was to follow than lead and I felt mildly triumphant as I found our way forwards. It was all going so well until just before the end of the tunnel when I decided to see how much of a difference the phone torch was making and so turned it off momentarily. Of course I found it did make a massive difference as we had been instantly plunged into darkness. Shouts of annoyance from Ollie made sure the torch went straight back on but during the time I hadn’t been able to see but I had already lost my balance and walked out of my safe path. I whacked my shoulder on a low part of the ceiling but it was worse for Ollie following me, he smacked his forehead on the rocks! Turning back to help him I hit my head and as we finally emerged from the tunnel both of us were in heaps of pain. Of course Ollie was not happy and the decision was made there and then that should any more tunnels come our way there was absolutely no way that I would be leading us. I didn’t even get to vote on that!

Continuing along the path and enjoying the astoundingly clear water of the river beneath us, I noticed a parallel path on the other side of the valley. Deciding that one looked more exciting than ours I informed Ollie that at the nearest opportunity we should cross the river and take the other track back. We had been walking for just under an hour when we reached the bridge that would take us to the other side. Eagerly I ran across the bridge ready to enjoy the path back that I knew must begin in a tunnel because I had last seen the path emerge from one. I picked the track that followed the river back and ignored Ollie’s questions about the time the path took and that the sign didn’t show our car park on it. 

The walk had turned into a steep upwards trek and after another hour both Ollie and I were feeling it. Our early morning walk had just transformed into a mission. We had lost sight and sound of the river, were headed in the wrong direction and could see nothing of anything because we were trapped in a dense forest with occasional warnings about fallen mine shafts. We both began to panic as fatigue (apparently a banana for breakfast isn’t enough to keep you going on a tough walk) and loss of bearings crowded in on us. Two and a half hours into our walk we were faced with the horrible decision; turn back on ourselves and retrace all of our steps or keep going and hope we find our way back. 

Silently the ‘keep going’ option was chosen and as my hopes were fast scurrying off into the undergrowth we finally heard it. The faint sound of rushing water. Suddenly we could see the sky, the valley and feel the heat of the sun. We could also now see just how far up we had climbed as we stood looking out over a cliff edge. The track began to take us downwards and in another thirty minutes we were back where we had begun, in sight of our van. We had made it. What had started out as a leisurely walk had turned into a three hour hike but it was definitely worth it to see the views from high above the river. But I’m just glad we found the way back because I really wouldn’t have wanted to be me if we hadn’t!

Back in the van we had a quick lunch of bread, cheese and very unripe avocado before setting off for Tauranga and Mt Manganui. As we drove we passed one kiwi fruit orchard after another, all surrounded by ridiculously tall trees that were there to keep people with sticky fingers out! It was lovely to be sat in the van on such a sunny day in comfortable silence. And after only about an hour we had reached our next stop. Ollie, who had been to Tauranga for work, showed me around as we drove towards Mt Manganui. Obviously the main part of his tour were the massive docks and I got a lecture about the difference in size between those ones and the Auckland docks and how the workers in Auckland were stupid to complain and compare. But I won’t get into the argument as it’s complicated and Ollie listens to Newstalk way too much! His tour over with, yes it was just the docks and fishing boats, we parked up at the beach and took a walk along a sort of island (sort of because it was attached to the beach by a tiny stretch of rocks) which was quite pleasant really and made me feel like half of an old couple! Mainly because the majority of other people on the rat’s tail (I named it that) were of a certain age!

Feeling in a sea side mood we found an ice cream van going by the name of ‘Mr Whippy’ and got thoroughly ripped off and half enjoyed a not very good ’99’. Afterwards we commenced on a travelers main priority, a search for the nearest toilets, and then took a walk back along the beach to our van. The sand was freezing but it was nice to sit and chat for a bit on a bench we had made out of drift wood. In the evening we cooked our dinner and took advantage of the free internet I managed to find before playing the family friendly game that goes by the name ‘Shit Head’. It’s a card game for anyone that doesn’t know! I’m embarrassed to say we were asleep by 9P.M but all the fresh air in the morning had worn us out!

10/7/12