(written on January 29th from notes taken previously)
Not much to report for today.
I spent some time working on journal catch-up efforts today. I keep getting so far behind! 😬
Let’s see… it rained a bit this morning. Someone had left shoes next to a car, and I waited for the people to come back, but after all the nearby cars left, I went over, moved them from the parking area to an island, hopefully a place people would see them, though they were really beat up shoes, so maybe no one will come back for them?
I thought maybe they belonged to the people I was chatting with last night, and I messaged them, but they didn’t reply, so… 🤷
I’ve inherited clothing left places before, and secretly I hoped they were my size, but best to at least give people at least a day to come back for their stuff when there’s no place to turn it into, yeah?
Last night there was a sweatshirt, too, over at one of the picnic tables. Doubt anyone will pick that up either.
Anyway… headed out and decided to make my way next to Omaru Falls.
I continue to be amazed at how much of New Zealand Chase and I packed into 2 months of traveling. 🤯
I mention that because sometimes it’s hard to find new places to see? 🙃
I think it would be different if my perspective were different right now. I still feel like I’m in a rush? So much to see, so I don’t stop and explore in depth much? I guess I’m still working on building that overall mental map of the country, so I know where I want to settle down and explore more deeply?
Kind of a, how do you know where you want to be until you’ve been everywhere?
Something like that, at least.
At Omaru, I waited in the parking area (basically a dirt/gravel wide bend in the road in the middle of nowhere 🙃) watching my show, waiting for the other people hiking to the falls to come back.
I just wanted to be alone. 🙃
After the crowds left (3 cars? 😆), I headed out. (I think there was maybe one car left?), first walking across a cow pasture and then along the trail for maybe a few kilometers.
I was grateful that I had Micro John with me, as I definitely needed to use it about halfway through the walk. 🙃
The rain kept falling, not too much, just light. I snapped a few pictures and stared at the falls for a little bit before heading back.
Next adventure was going to be Matapeka Falls, a pretty good hike, maybe a bushwhack, to a beautiful waterfall, but after pretty long drive on dirt road into the middle of nowhere, with no signal for internet, I came to the end of the road and found there was neither car park nor trail.
And no signal to figure anything out.
😶
Being so far out there, and having it already be relatively late in the day, I thought about maybe just calling it and parking for the night in a pull out on the side of the road.
I got myself fairly situated to do that and then changed my mind, headed back toward the coast, and headed to the “Three Sisters” freedom camping spot, where I arrived, still light enough outside to forget I had my headlights on.
I didn’t realize I had them on until I saw a young gentleman look at my headlights, at which point alarm bells went off in my brain, and I checked, and they were on, and I tried to start the van, but it was a no go.
Ugh.
I wasn’t in the mood to ask for help tonight, and sometimes a battery that’s only just barely drained down can recover sufficient cranking amps over night and start in the morning.
Here’s hoping! 🤞
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 