Lake Waikaremoana Track February 22 - 26/09 (images attached)

We very much enjoyed this track however did not find it as easy as we had thought it may be. The first day amounted to a 600 meter climb over a huge bluff to get to our first hut. The wind, the roots and the erosion made us work very hard that first day. The other factor is that our packs were filled for the four day hike and considerably heavy. The views of the lake were outstanding that day and we kept meeting folks along the trail that we would get to know better that evening as we dined from our freeze dried gourmet dinners (just kidding). This time we both had the luxury of bringing a book to read and while we did that for a limited time each day we often spent hours chatting with fellow hut mates on their travels, their lives and stories about our own lives in Canada.

The second day amounted to a huge descent and walking along the lake to our next hut. Again the challenge of going down some very steep hills is quite difficult for us prairie kids. The next couple days were along the lake shore more or less but always with up and down a couple hundred meters here and there. None of it was boring and we had a wonderful time and met so many neat folks.

After leaving this very remote area we drove to Gisborne and stayed at a B & B and walked along the ocean and bought ourselves a few used books in the local library. Even with all of our activity we still read a lot.

From Gisborne we drove to the Bay of Plenty and found true paradise. We rented a cute little cottage in a village called Omokoroa located near Mt. Taurangi. I am in love with this place and would buy property in a flash. We stayed there for five days and hiked through an old gold mine area in the Karangahake Gorge and ate at a great winery nearby called Ohinemuri Estate Winnery. http://www.ohinemuri.co.nz/ We also climbed Mt. Taurangi and then played in the waves. Truly awesome.

From there we have come to the Bay of Islands and have visited with some folks we met through a Wpg friend. We had a lovelyy dinner with them and today we went on a cruise and saw about 70 dolphins. They were so playful and swan along side our boat and we felt blessed. Bob had signed up to swim with them but they had babies so that wasn't possible. Seeing them was enough though. We got dropped at another village called Russell (one of the oldest NZ settlements) and hiked arond there and then came back to Paihia via ferry. We also got to walk and visit the Waitangi treaty grounds where the treaty between the Maori chiefs and the British govt was signed in 1840.

Tommorow on to the west side to see the giant kauri forrests and think about heading to Auckland to catch our plane on March 14. More later.