Two's Company

I met Alan on the Otago Rail Trail and he expressed an interest in walking with me for a couple of days. On Saturday 17th March we left Dunedin heading for Aramoana as I restarted my walk north. A fairly boring walk alongside the road to Port Chalmers. We  missed the start of a walkway which runs for about 3km and had to finally gain access by illegally crossing railway tracks. We stopped for lunch in Port Chalmers. After lunch we once again walked alongside the road along the foreshore around numerous bays to Aramoana. A total distance of about 28km for the day.

We camped on the Domain alongside a German couple and we all exchanged travel stories. It was great to have someone to chat to while walking and I found Alan to be an ideal travelling companion. He is a 27 year old an Argentinian touring NZ mostly by push bike. Although there is a large age gap we found we shared a similar sense of humour.

The next day we initially followed a DOC track up a steep hill through a sheep farm. From the top there were great views looking out over Aramoana and the Otago Peninsula. At Haywards Point we headed off across country over more sheep country and at one stage through a native plantation where we both got scratched by an unidentified tree and the the stings were still there the next day. At one stage I climbed a gate and then heard a noise behind me and Alan had fallen while climbing and landed on his back with his feet hanging over the gate. Luckily he was unhurt. He had to stay in that position until both cameras had been put to use to record the event for posterity. The final stretch for the day was along Long Beach where we had heard about some caves. Inspecting the 4 caves we decided to camp in the largest one. Although we had only covered 7km for the day it had been difficult country.
One of the other caves was already in use by Dave who had cycled out from Dunedin 3 days previously. The cave we camped in was huge, about the size of a large aircraft hanger. As all good cavemen do one of our first tasks, after setting up our tents inside the cave, was to light a fire. We had to walk quite a way to gather  wood but eventually gathered enough for a large fire. When speaking with Dave when we first arrived I invited him to visit us later and about 8pm he arrived with a large log for the fire, I guess that's the neighbourly thing to do when someone moves into the cave next door!

On Monday morning we walked into the nearby settlement and filled our water bottles. A short sharp walk up a tar sealed road, eventually led us to a track around an inlet. The rest of the walk around the inlet was on a metal road for several kilometres and then a 4 wheel drive track took us to Purakaunui Bay. This is where our plans came unstuck. We had intended to walk uphill under power pylons marked on the map, over a railway and downhill to Waitati. Unfortunately the power pylons turned out to be power poles and the the land underneath was covered in gorse and impenetrable. Our back up plan of waiting for low tide and walking around the headlands also proved impossible. Eventually we found a faint and steep track up hill which eventually went on the outside of a railway tunnel and then beside the track before dropping down to a car park at a road end. The road led us into Waitati. During my walk I have made a habit of talking to people I meet as this often leads to gaining local knowledge as well as giving me some social contact. The only person we saw on entering Waitati was Paul who was  trimming a huge hedge. On stopping to talk with him and telling him of our plans to camp on the local reserve he turned out to be a custodian of the keys to the reserve toilet and said he would pop down later to unlock them for us. This has happened time and again on my walk that the right people show up at the right time. Total kms walked for the day was 10km.  While I went to the local shop Alan checked his emails at the local library and found that he had received a job offer in his line of work from a local gold mining operation.

Next day Alan heading back to Dunedin and I walked 24km, partly along SH1 and partly along a back road to Waikauaiti. At one stage I came across contractors/ surveyors preparing for roadworks. I was advised that they were getting ready "to move the bumps to somewhere else". As I had not had a shower for 4 days and also needed to do some washing, recharge my cell ph and check my emails I needed either to book into a backpackers or a motor camp. The Waikauaiti Motor Camp was the closest. The tariff was a bit steep @$20 a night but I was going no further that day. The camp office was unattended but a resident directed me where to set up my tent. After setting up I heading off for a very much anticipated hot shower, my first for 4 days. I got very grumpy when I found that the showers cost $1, I had no change and there was nobody around to give me any. When much later the manager appeared and I expressed my feelings about the cost of the site, having to pay extra for a shower, no customer service during the day and the lack of facilities in the kitchen he wasn't very sympathetic. I am staying here two days so that I can get my washing dried.

Today is a rest day from walking. So for relaxation I read my book, I walked the beach, walked to the shops and walked a local nature path alongside a lagoon.