what a hike!

It is Monday morning and I should be at the gym but alas, I am feeling all of my joints and my feet having hiked all day Sunday.  It was spectacular!  We started the Beehive Creek Walkway about 10:30 Sunday morning and hiked up to the top of a ridge, we followed the ridge up and down and around through fern vales, sheep pastures, wooded forest areas, pine tree groves until we ended at the Ridge Road.

the beginning

The hike is published as a family friendly 4km (2.5 miles) each way.  We opted for the "road back" option as there were some wicked little stickers in the sheep fields - we had on tennis shoes or sandals...  When I read "family friendly" I was thinking of a sedentary, out of shape American family, not a hyper-fit, wearing hiking boots, always going New Zealand family!

It was sunny and nice so we trudged on enjoying the scenery and the lovely day.  A nice way to spend a Sunday morning we said to each other.  We came upon a woman farmer working sheep with her dogs.  She asked how far we were walking and we told her about the Beehive Creek Walk and she - wide-eyed - said with incredulity, "Well done!".  We should have known...

We had unwittingly and unfortunately headed the wrong way on the road.  Who knows where we would have ended up and when we might have arrived somewhere - it was a gravel road that went, as its name implies (The Ridge Road) along the ridge and quite a long ridge it is.  At some point Adrian and I talked and we decided to go back to the last farm we had passed.  We found farmer Tim bringing in rams for the vet to test today with his great working dogs (7 in all).

We filled our water bottles from the hose and he generously offered to drive us back to the trail head.  We were so surprised at how far we had walked on the gravel road!  I am so grateful to him for driving us as we might still be on that path...  We retraced our steps on the path back to the car.   We met a 70-something year old man carrying his mountain bike on this path as we were barely able to put one foot in front of the other - after questioning him, we learned that he was training for a race and was biking the trail and riding on the roads from where we had come.  See what I mean about hyper-fit!  We were a bit demoralized to say the least...

We were back at the car at 4:30 in the afternoon.  6 hours later.  We figure we walked/hiked between 12 and 15 miles all told.  We had not trained for that or even expected it but WE DID IT!  Adrian and I collapsed when we got home and the kids played happily of course.  It was nothing to them.

We spent Saturday at Owlcatraz in Shannon.  We did some shopping on the square and had a nice lunch at a cafe just outside of town.  We will go back there for shopping!

A really nice weekend. We hope to be recovered soon...

early on, intrepid explorers

fun guy

 fungi

becoming obsessed with fun guy, oops, i mean fungi

across the valley, tree ferns

 hi from Shannon 

See he really is a FUN GUY!!

All the latest...

It is a very sunny Friday afternoon in Palmy.  The wind is almost non-existent and it is really nice.  I have laundry hanging on the line - have not used the dryer yet - and Adrian has just walked back to work after lunch.  I will walk to meet the girls around 3:00 so this is the time when I get all the work sorted before the weekend begins.

We are going to take a couple of short weekend trips this weekend and have identified a tramp - walk/hike - that we want to do close by.

So since last we posted - we have been tramping at the Manawatu Gorge - dense vegetation, songbirds singing, giant ferns, dense forest.  watched teenagers playing chess on the square right here in Palmy, went to a WW1 Museum - even the girls enjoyed it! - spent a weekend in Taupo, hiked around the HOT springs, visited a big petting zoo - even the adults enjoyed it! - rode on a jet boat to see Huka falls, went to a new local beach - Foxton - had family fun night - an assignment from Grace's teacher - had a sweet Valentine's day.

So the adventures during our weekend away - museum, Taupo, petting zoo and jet boat ride - Awesome! Taupo is a great place to go and we will go back there to do what we did not have time to do this time.  It is an easy and beautiful drive there from Palmy.  We stayed in a home - booked online - and it was really nice.  Nice size house, walking distance to town, a block off the lake, nice neighbors with two little boys that the girls played with, and less expensive than a hotel!

A little about Taupo - according to a travel site - Located in the heart of New Zealand’s North Island, Great Lake Taupo is undoubtedly one of the world’s most unique and picturesque areas.  The film location for The Lord of The Rings trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit movie, the region is centred around the majestic Lake Taupo, the largest freshwater lake in Australasia. 

Great Lake Taupo Activities are as diverse as the landscape itself, which boasts beautiful geothermal scenery, breath taking waterfalls and world heritage listed forest reserves. You’ll see spectacular steaming cliffs, geysers, boiling lakes, bubbling mud pools and many thermally heated hot pools as well as the mighty Huka Falls, New Zealand’s most visited natural attraction.  It really is a fun and beautiful place.  There was a Doobie Brothers and Little River Band concert there on the Saturday night while we were there at is was Waitangi weekend - more about that later.  There was lots of activity and very few rooms available.  We had lots of fun.  The Huka falls jet boat ride was worth the money!  Very fun and exciting!

ferns as big/bigger than the girls!

Taupo Hole-in-One Attempts 

Museum

HOT springs - do not touch, very hot!

country folk...

for my friend Charlotte

jet boat ride Huka Falls

Mt. Ruapehu

We have so many great pics - my next task of any size is going to be to get them in a spot where all can see.  I always have so many more that I do not add just because who wants to wade through such a long blog...  

So what else, gosh, there is lots more I need to tell you about but alas, my day of solitude is done - time to get the wee ones.  I want to get this posted on the same day it was started so I will have to get back at it on Monday.  I will have more from this weekend, so check back soon.

Thanks for being interested and I do miss you all!  I just wish we could have this life with you all close by, tearfully signing off and grateful for this grand adventure of life - I hope each of you are living it up!  Who knows what tomorrow has in store so do grab life by the tail and go!

Hei konā rā