Though I woke up a few times last night feeling a little sore, I slept a lot better than expected. Mosquitoes were just swarming the camp site when we got back from dinner and we had to fit all four of us in the tent for the first time (Wes slept outside at Raglan). To top it off, the zipper on the door came off the track and the closest we could get to fixing it left two thumb-sized gaps in the door. It was crowded, buggy, and loud, and I actually managed to get a better night's sleep than I had in Raglan. And I can honestly say that even a terrible night's sleep would have been worth it for the day we had today.
We started with breakfast on the beach—oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar, which has become a staple for us. Though we missed sunrise because Ian's alarm didn't go off, the beach was still pretty and the tide low enough that it wasn't much of a hassle to walk there. We cleaned our dishes in the ocean and started our day-long hike shortly before 8:00.
The walk led us immediately into the ever-dense forest, which was nice for me since I had forgotten my sunglasses and had to keep my gaze straight down whenever we walked on the beach. We walked through a lot of the trees and shrubs that are starting to become familiar to us. The many fern trees that are interjected here and there throughout the forest are a pleasant reminder that we're in a new country. There seems to be nobody sharing the trail with us since we left camp, which makes us feel even more immersed in the wilderness. Within a few minutes of leaving the beach we come to Aworoa lodge where we're hoping to find drinking water to top off our water bottles. There doesn't seem to be any at the camp, but there is a restaurant nearby that will probably have some somewhere. Hesitant to go inside and ask for water without buying anything, we are happy to find a sink behind the counter of the outdoor bar. Zach, Wes, and I fill up our water from there and we head back to the path.
Somewhere around half an hour from the restaurant, Zach wonders aloud whether the water we got was actually filtered. Most of the camps in this park have a limited supply of it and it seems plausible that the sink we found was just for washing dishes and not safe for drinking. All three of us have already had a few swigs but quickly become hesitant to drink anymore. The first two guys we pass on the trail tell us that the nearest supply of drinking water is at Bark Bay. Though it's still two hours away, we decide not to drink any more of our water until we get there. Ian has about two and a half liters from a source we know was safe, so the rest of us will just mooch off of him for the time being.
The hike is great. The general pattern is to wander slowly up a mountain and slowly back down and out onto a beach front. The trails down consistently provide spectacular views of the beautifully light-blue water.
The camp at Bark Bay is perfect. The tent sites are right on the beach, firewood is provided, and there are even flush toilets. It was a shame we weren't going to be staying a night there. We refill our water bottles with definitely safe water and debate whether to swim or eat first. Zach, brilliantly, proposes we do both. And so, PBJs in hand, we wade out into the ocean to eat the most satisfying sandwiches we've ever had. This really feels like paradise. The water is perfect, the sand is white and fine, and the landscape is rolling beautifully all around the bay. Ian and I race through a foot and a half of water and exhaust ourselves pretty quickly. After we rest for a few minutes, we all swim out to an island of sand a little inland from the sandbar we're on.
Ian and I "planted" this driftwood/tree in the sand
We eventually head back to the beach and make another round of PBJs before getting back on the trail. We had spent about 2 hours at Bark Bay. The trail continued to be awesome. It's surprisingly well maintained. We started passing more people going both ways, but for the most part it was still uncrowded. We sang a few songs on the way, both out of key and out of tempo, and probably for that reason didn't make it very far with any of them.
From left to right: Wes, Zach, Me, Ian
Swing bridge!
Crazy warped tree!
There was an explanation for this pose. I remember that much.
The meal tonight was egg noodles with chilli, beans, and tomato sauce. It tasted very quite good to our ravenously hungry selves. I was the only one willing to try my now very melted fudge from home while Zach, Wes, and Ian shared the rest of our cookies. The sunset was again starting to paint the sky in brilliant strokes of orange and purple, but the mosquitoes attacking us -- even way out here on the beach -- did not bode well for our sleep tonight. Ian is the only one among us having his first serious outdoor experience on this trip and he commented on something I also felt during the Canada trip last summer: you really don't realize just how cushy your life is until you spend a few days and nights outside. Wandering a place like the coast of New Zealand provides some beautiful views and a lot of fun, but it is also very tiring and makes you miss having a comfortable bed to lie down in at night.
Fortunately and unexplainably, there were almost no mosquitoes back at our campsite. We were able to assemble the tent in peace and Wes was even able to sleep outside again without any pestering from bugs. This and the fact that we don't have to wake up until 7:45 tomorrow should make this a (relatively) good night's rest.
you are so lucky!!! and you're becoming so worldly :)
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