Prehike Pictures

into the woods of the north

(pictured above)Typical chainsaw work...

(Pictured above is the finished duck pen. A great deal of time went into this pen, drainage, digging, fencing, hammering. A fun project. Then there is the clipping of the wings and butchering of the drakes.)

Tomorrow I begin my hike up the north coast around Cape Reinga. I take a hand fishing line with hopes of actually catching something. I have low expectations as but it will be fun nonetheless. I spend my next 4 nights in my hammock.

As for the weather, it rains about 5-10 times a day, never for more than 10 minutes at a time. Mornings can be cool at times but it always warms up (60s-70s).

I would have done this hike about 3 weeks ago but i hurt my back. I have been fully recovered for a while now but needed to work for the family that gave me the time off to rest my back.

I will shorten my woofs from this point forward so i can maximize my time here.

A day of adventure

A few days ago I went on a hike. The picture above was taken at the end of that very long and tiring day.

It was meant to be an 8.5 hour stroll through the woods covering about 15km. For the first 6 hours or so, I took my time, snapping photos and merely enjoying my surroundings. Then around 1:40pm the trail completely disappeared, it had been a bit overgrown all along but now the trail was nowhere to be seen. At this poing, i had covered around 11km and my pick up time was 3:00pm. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out where the overgrown trail led. No luck. I knew then I would have to retrace the path that I had just walked, only now I had just over 2 hours to do it, (not to mention the place i now headed was not the pickup spot). I had no other reliable option and i didn't care to spend the night in the woods without any gear.

I began my run. I will never forget this particular run through the woods. The ups and downs and crumbly terrain. I somehow made it back to where i was dropped off some 8.5 hours earlier by 2:52pm. I was not home yet, Pete would be looking for me at the pickup which was a 45 minute drive away.

I lay down, my heartbeat shook my entire body. I decided to wait for Pete or a hitch to where Pete was. (this is when i took the above picture)

I slept. . . I woke at 5:15 and decided I had waited long enough. I needed to get home. At this point i could now stand and walk without getting a sick feeling. I began walking in the direction of home which was only about 6kms away.

I ducked in the first drive i came to and asked for a ride. A local pig hunter drove me home.

It was a day to remember.

14 duck, 2 pigs and a family with 2 girls

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I dont have internet access at my current woof and i plan on being here for about 2 more weeks, so check back in then. I have to come all the way into town (about 15kms) to get internet so i most likely wont be posting for a while. Sorry. I am really enjoying my current location with a knife maker and his two daughters(9 and 11). I will be splitting firewood, constructing a pig pen, and roofing a shed in the coming weeks.,

from woof to woof in kaitaia

I have decided to do another woof before heading up to hike the cape. I will still be in the kaitaia area but this time with a family. The review in the woof book mentions knife making, wood carving, establishing a food forest, as well access and advise on many far north walking tracks. Good enough for me. Ill give it a try and report back.

So i stay the night in a kaitaia backpackers and will be picked up by pete tomorrow around 10:00am (note that i am 17 hours ahead of US central time)

Above are pictures from a bike ride i took two days ago. Certainly a trip highlight so far (other highlights include the motor cycle adventure to pearl bay and the coatal track on Great barrier island. I have to extremely selective about my trip favorites due to the fact that it is all so pleasant). Anyways, back to the bike ride. Not easy, covering a fare amount of milage, yet the views were simply stunning. The ups and downs of gravel roads had a roller coaster type feel. The tasman sea a few miles off to the west could be seen only from the apex of certain climbs.

My competitive nature came out in which I pretended to be among the leading pack of a tour de france mountain stage. This did not stop me from enjoying the magnificance of my suroundings.

The past week woofing with John (67,divorced, retired surveyer) has been quite interesting. Jobs here have included, splitting wood, wind generator maintenance, wood treatment(for his future house) and last but not least the transport of the beams(7 meters in length) to the mill in which i helped feed them through a thicknesser. The beams were heavy to say the least and to my supprise there was no machinery in the mill to help with the process of feeding the wood through.

More to come, just off to kaitaia now...

New home in Kaitaia (northland)

I now am 5 hours drive north of Auckland. Constant and gusty winds. I will have no trees in which to hang my hammock during my 3 night hike to the lighthouse. I recently watched an interesting youtube video "the story of stuff" i urge you all to watch it and let me know what you think (its about 15 minutes but well worth your time) The camper seen here is where i have been for the past 4 nights. I find great reward in minimalistic living. "may my heart always be open to little birds who are the secrets of living whatever they sing is better than to know ... may my mind stroll about hungry and fearless and thirsty and supple" _e.e. cummings

Leaving Great Barrier Island

Its official, I just changed the date of my return to the states. Instead of August 1st, I now arrive February 7th. I try to live life with no regrets, and I knew I would always regret missing the south island during the summer months. Therefore, I stay.

I leave Great Barrier tomorrow, I will spend a night in Auckland and leave on the bus up to Kaitaia to woof/hike/Adventure. It was very gratifying to leave GBI with 76 dollars more than i had when i arrived 17 days ago. However that money is now a bus ticket. I will try to make it to Kaitai with the 4.60 dollars i have left. Just as a challenge, i dont need to but it should be interesting. I greatly look forward to the view of The Tasman Sea meeting the Pacific.

Above is a picture of the family i woofed for on Great barrier and pick of some tree climbing adventures with the boys following our beach cricket match.

As I have mentioned previously, I greatly enjoy receiving comments on the blog. If you have not made a comment yet, i hope you will so that i will know who all is following. Thanks guys.