We woke up today on a lazy Sunday morning, and David offered to drive us to the head of our next trail cutting off a ton of awful road walking through deforested areas. We gratefully took him up on it, and got his information so that we could get in touch with them if we ever found ourselves in northern NZ again :). We walked down into our 'forest track' through massive deforestation on a hot sunny road. We got into the valley and had about 2k of actual woods before getting to the end and then hiking up the back side of the same mountain on hot, sunny, deforested roads. We would have loved to see the tall pine forests described, but instead we merely glimpsed the destruction of man. It was a sad section of track to have starting the day . We began walking afterwards down the road towards Pataua South. Nick hitched a ride with a local almost immediately, but the rest of us opted to continue on. We all split up far on the road, frustrated at a less than spectacular day. John passed myself Kaspar and Manja in a car and informed us that he had blown his knee out on the road behind us and he'd meet us in Pataua. We wished him well and soldiered on. About 3 hours later of fast hiking, Kaspar Manja and I were walking together when we saw a big banner declaring Double Brown Fest 2013! and a field with a tent and some people in it. We looked in curiosity and heard them call out "Ey! want a cold beer?!' to which we instantly responded 'Of Course!'. This is how WE met OT, Cris, and friends whose names I didn't write down and now regret. They are a group of childhood freinds who for the last 7 years have been gathering on their friend's farm and hosting a big party celebrating their long friendship. We came into the picture the morning after. It actually turned out that OT was the guy that had picked up Nick and taken him to Pataua earlier that day!. We stopped for a while, had a couple of beers, and then figured we should probably head back onto the road. We gave our thanks and moved on towards Treasure Island campsite for the night.
After about 5k more we entered the beautiful isolated village of Pataua North/South. A village split by a large Estuary joined by a gorgeous footbridge with a large mountain looming over their own sheltered cove on the ocean. There were many people on the beach and children collecting mussels and starfish in the water during low tide. Right before we got on the footbridge, OT pulled up behind us and passed us a case of beer and a bottle of homemade plum wine, explaining that they had too much left over from double brown fest. We thanked him and took it off his hands before walking across the great bridge to Treasure Island Campground, right underneath the hill over the cove. We joined up with John and Nick and were glad to see that John was doing alright and planned to continue with us in the morning. We did some laundry and I went for a swim in the cove only to discover it completely full of sea life. The sheltered bay was a perfect place for starfish sea urchins and eels. I swam with them for a short time then went back to the campsite for dinner and drinks with the group. We looked at the mountain and decided it needed to be hiked for the sunset. What a perfect decision that was. Manja Kaspar and I got to the peak just before sunset, and watched the last light descend over the tiny village of Pataua sheltered away from the mighty pacific ocean. It was an incredible cliff to be up on top of looking down on the entirety of the town as the last light faded away. We got to bed and talked of waking up very early the next morning to get across the estuary at low tide. Not something I was looking forward to >.<
picturees?!
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