(written… today!!!)
It’s 6:38 p.m., and I’m already exhausted. I could go to sleep right now and probably sleep all the way through the night. 🙃
It’s been another day packed with journaling.
I started the day by going through the journal entries that I wrote yesterday and adding pictures and then making them live.
Then I worked on writing more catch-up entries.
I did have a pretty cool distraction from my writing: Some adventurous pilot was doing loops, barrel rolls, and I think stall recoveries (flying straight up until the engine dies, and then flipping around as the plane starts to fall and then kicking the engine back in and flying out of it). 😎
Cool stuff. 😊
I also wandered down by the river a little bit as I journaled.
I think I wrote two? catch-up entries before I remembered I could dictate my journal as I drove, so after spending a little bit of time trying to figure out where I wanted to go next, I chose Waihi Falls and figured I’d swing by Pipinui Falls on the way, despite the latter falls’ awful reviews.
I stopped to take pictures, of course, on the drive, first at a lookout on the way up the hill east of Ashhurst.
As I descended a large hill toward the valley below, I remembered driving down that same hill with Chase back in the day.
That was kind of cool. 😊
If I’m remembering correctly, we pulled over while going down the hill, so I could take a picture.
I wanted to stop this time, but I think I thought about it too late and didn’t want to turn around.
For being relatively out in the middle of nowhere, that whole road, east of Ashhurst, both going up the west side of the mountain hill and down the east side, was immaculately landscaped with modern roadside lookouts, pathways, sculptures, etc.
I don’t remember it looking like that last time?
The landscaping and all of the sculpture things looked pretty new, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were additions that came to be after my last trip here.
After passing through Woodville and loads of farms, the road took me up into the mountain hills (too big to be called hills, too small to be called mountains… at least in my book. 🙃)
The further up and in I went, I realized… these were the green mountain hills–the kind where, on a sunny day at the right time of the late afternoon to early evening, the vibrant array of contrasting green colors mesmerizes my eyes and leaves me grinning ear to ear with childlike, giddy squeals of joy. 😁
Much like the electric blue of Lake Tēkapo, each time I would look away for a moment and look back, I would find myself stunned all over again, stopping yet again, to take pictures.
And I took a lot. 🙃
I only wish they could really do the scenery justice. 🙏
Pipinui Falls was indeed as described, a decent falls that is now mostly obscured by the bush that has overgrown between the falls and the viewing area.
Not much to see, so not really any point taking pictures.
Oh well. 🙃
Up, up, up I drove, stopping again and again out of shear amazement of the brilliant green colors saturating my eyeballs.
Eventually, the road took me all the way to the top, with breathtaking views.
Honestly, of all the opportunities I’ve had to experience these vibrant green mountain hill vistas in New Zealand… I actually think this one might be the best?
I think this might be the first time that I’ve been able to drive a road that went all the way to the very tops of this mesmerizing terrain.
Terrain that looks almost pedestrian on a cloudy day or when the sun is at a different angle. The vivid color contrast only pops on sunny days in the later afternoon and early evening (the time of day after the sun will be going down the very hills you’re looking at in the next couple of hours).
Oh, and if you turn around and look at the hills behind you, they’re just… ho hum. It’s that specific angle of the Sun that yields the brilliance. 😊
Once at the top, I started going down the other side, only to turn around and go back to take in the vista a little more. 😁
So beautiful. 😊
I was grateful to have my transmission fixed going down the other side, as it was a very steep, partially muddy, dirt road, with super steep hillsides on both sides of the road. I locked it into low gear, and just let it coast for much of the road down.
Being so far out in the middle of nowhere, there were no other cars on the road. 😊
Nor sandflies!!!
Since I’ve been back in the North Island, sandflies have been conspicuous by their absence!
And I’m definitely not complaining. 😁
On the way back down, I noticed multiple cows were out of their designated pastures. I pulled to a stop next to one cow, and it, not wanting anything to do with me, squoze itself right back through the part of the fence that it escaped through to begin with (one of the wire strands was broken, and the fat cow had forced its way between two of the remaining wires).
I took a picture of the damaged portion of the fence, just in case I ran into someone working on the station (ranch), but I didn’t see anybody.
The scenario repeated itself in different ways, more cows out where they shouldn’t be.
I arrived at Waihi Falls, unsure if I had been there before. I know Chase and I had been in the area before, because we had driven to Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
No, that’s not a typo. Supposedly, it’s the longest place name in the world. 🙃
Waihi Falls is relatively close by, but upon arriving at the car park, I didn’t recognize it at all. It wasn’t until walking down the path toward the falls and seeing a dirt path offshoot along a little ridge that I had a niggling idea that maybe I’d been to that falls before and had followed that little dirt offshoot along the ridge.
As I got closer to the bottom, the path split again, and I had another little poke in my brain that maybe I’d been there before; but down at the main splash pool of the falls, looking at the falls themselves, I still wasn’t sure. 🤔
I guess that’s what you get when you’ve been to probably hundreds of waterfalls, some of them looking quite similar to others. 🙃
It wasn’t until I walked down that other split-off path, down to the water’s edge, where the rock formations changed into a fairly distinctive pattern that I started feeling like, yeah, I think I’ve been here before.
Those vague memories were of a time when there was more water than there was today. My vague memories had me having to be a bit more careful where I stepped so as to keep my shoes dry.
After taking my customary pictures, I decided to check the CamperMate app to see where the nearest freedom-camping spot was, and was delighted to find that I was at a freedom-camping spot. 😊
🙏
Staring at the map, I toyed with the idea of wandering over to a different camping spot closer to where I was hoping to get to tomorrow, especially with this spot being without birth internet and cell reception; but now it’s about 7:45 p.m., and I’m still here and am just going to crash here.
G’night, y’all. 🤍
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 