My Little Pony

My body hates me. I couldn’t fall asleep until 3am last night because I was so amped up still and because the pain of the sun burns on the sheets made getting comfortable damn near impossible. When I woke up at 5am (I’ve been waking up every morning at that time, usually able to get myself back to sleep, that’s 8am home time), I stood up to go use the bathroom and my legs almost buckled underneath me; my calves were in so much pain. I have muscle aches in muscles I never even knew I had! But still, worth it.

I got myself back to sleep after a while and gave myself the leisure of a slow start today. My AirBnB check-out time was 11am and I took every second I could of it. My AirBnB host, Doreen, was wonderful. I sent her a note in the morning asking if she had any brunch recommendations and if she could tell me where a pharmacy was as I was in desperate need of aloe gel for this damn burn. When I got out of the shower I had a message back from her already with a recommended spot and letting me know she had just left her favorite aloe relief spray outside the door to my unit (they live above the apartment). I still had no idea what my plans were for the day. I sprayed my pained body with aloe, packed up my rig and headed to get some food and figure it out. This was the first time this entire trip I’ve had a proper breakfast out instead of just a protein bar or nuts with fruit and/or juice. At the restaurant I pulled up an article I’d seen on free things to do in the Waitomo area. I used those two lone tired pieces of paper I have with me to put together a plan and I was off.

After a little over two hours driving, I arrived at the Mangaotaki walk. This brief trek would take me to the Waitanguru Falls. This was a short 30-minute track per the description. Perfect, I wasn’t doing anything longer than 30-40 minutes at a time today. My body is broken from yesterday. There were no other cars in the car park so it appeared I had this track to myself. Mangaotaki is a dense bush walk that includes views of more Hobbit scenes and sites. As I started this little hike I did not like it one bit. It was creepy in there. And there was no map at the start so the only guidance I had were arrows nailed to trees every few yards. When you are the only one in a dense area as such even a bird rustling in a tree sounds like Bigfoot is about to come running after you. I was anxious starting this walk but told myself to stop being a pussy and get on with it. I also realized that I am pretty much obsessed with the beauty of moss and other interlopers growing on trees. This was not a nice maintained track, tree roots stuck out all across and felled tree limbs and branches had to be maneuvered over and under. But sure enough, after about 12 minutes on the rough path I came across a clearing where you could see across to beautiful steep cliffs. I could hear the rush of the river but still wasn’t really hearing waterfalls, I continued on and before I knew it, I was back at the car park! What the heck? Where had I gone wrong? I was already uncomfortable with this hike to start and I somehow missed a wrong turn and missed the falls? Frustrated, confused, and hurting I pulled up the info back at the car (thank god I took screen shots since cell phone reception at most of my stops is spotty at best) and realized I had read it wrong. It apparently was billed as a good stop ON THE WAY to the falls. Sheesh.

I hopped in the car and started heading the falls direction, only about 15 minutes away. Aside from feeling cheated on the hike, I didn’t mind the extra drive, it’s so beautiful here. And I rarely see another car, stopping in the middle of the road to snap pictures has become my norm. During my drive so far this entire day, the sun has been a challenge. It’s nice and all that the weather has finally cleared from the rain I started with but with no clouds in the sky, the sun was beating down through the window on my sunburned arms and legs. And that shit hurt. It was too warm to wear long sleeves (and if you know me, you know how I feel about sleeves) so I ended up grabbing my travel towel and draping it across me as I drove to protect my sad red skin from the sun. But I digress. I arrived at Waitanguru Falls, again no other cars to be seen. The quick path down to the falls began with steep steps. As if I hadn’t traversed enough steps yesterday! Grr! Slow and in pain I made my way down and was rewarded with a view of the gorgeous falls, and I had them all to myself.

From the falls I started heading back east to the Mangaokewa track which also promised waterfall views. I re-read the description a couple of times to make sure that was for real this time! I had no reception but thankfully I had downloaded google maps of the island so offline map access wouldn’t be a problem. I normally used, and prefer Waze,but was so happy I had this as backup. A bit into the drive I saw the most astonishing sign yet in New Zealand. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to pull off the road and snap a picture. WTF?!

I followed google maps about 55 minutes, I was almost there, and then the road came to an end at the entrances of three farms nestled together. What the hell?! This can’t be right. Google maps lied to me. Bastard! I headed back into the closest town and once I had reception Waze was able to get me there. Almost. Waze told me I had arrived and there was nothing to be seen. I kept going, however, and within half a mile came to the entrance. I wasn’t feeling this spot one bit. It felt like a seedy regional park. I didn’t get a good sense from the people there and the paranoia of having all my stuff in the back of my little SUV made it worse. It was around 5pm at this point and I was thinking about all the other spots I wanted to hit today. After about 5 minutes walking, I decided to go with my gut and turn back. I’m not sure what I missed but I don’t regret this decision.

From there I had already planned that my next stop would be to check into my AirBnB. All my other AirBnB’s so far have been their own units either attached to a main house or beside it like in-laws quarters. My home for tonight was a farmstay, one I was able to book last minute last night. I’m not sure what I expected but sure enough, I am on a farm. But not like near the main farm house, I have no idea where that is, but in a separate small home “just past the wool shed.” My host had given me clear instructions to make sure I closed all gates I came through due to the livestock. I arrived at my farmstay skeptical, pulling up the road and parking at what was the back side of the house. The house is situated at the base of lovely green hills. I hopped out of my car and walked around to the front side of the house to check it out and, sure enough, there was a cow just off the deck munching away on the emerald green grasses. She looked up at me, and I just stated to laugh. This is the first time I’ve been greeted by a cow instead of the property owner! By now it was around 6pm and I knew my timing was tight since there were still 2-4 more spots I wanted to check out today. I named the cow Bella, dropped my stuff off, and jumped back in the car.

As I pulled away from my little farm, I noticed a pasture I had missed, too busy trying to follow the gate directions, when I got there. The green pasture looked lovely with sheep grazing and even a little pony! I had to stop for a picture. I threw my car in park, hopped out, and made some clicking noises with my tongue to see if I get the attention of my little friends for a good picture. The sheep were not very interested, the pony, however, was all in! She looked at me interested, and before I knew it, she decided to come give me a proper greeting. Apparently this little pony is Maori because she insisted on a nose-to-nose welcome (the traditional Maori greeting is to grasp each other’s right hands, put your left on each other’s shoulders, then gently press your noses together twice with slight breaths and saying “kia ora” in unison). Kia ora my little pony!

I peeled myself away from the pony and hopped back in the car. I was hungry. I remembered passing a McDonalds on my way here, and I would be going by it again now on my way to to the Mangapohu Natural Bridge. I have no shame, and I didn’t want to waste time stopping to eat. If I did I would lose my light, and New Zealand isn’t known for their amazing cuisine so I didn’t feel like I was missing out. I again drove through McDonalds. You guys!!! They have a cadbury mcflurry at McDonalds!!! I stuffed my face and drove the narrow, windy, beautiful road to Mangapohu.

I’m not sure how to describe Mangapohu, you’ll have to check out the pics and watch the video. The Mangapohu Natural Bridge is a 17m limestone arch. Who knows what mother nature was thinking when she put that there but job well done. I stood in awe and tried to soak it in. Just as I was starting to continue on, a man I had seen in the parking lot came bounding down. “Just checking to see if its dark enough in here yet” he said. Huh? I engaged and he said that it’s possible to see glowworms in the arch at night so he was coming down to see how dark it was within the arch so far. He was an orthodontist from Belgium. His girlfriend a social worker. They both quit their jobs , sold their homes. and are traveling the world for a year, maybe longer. He says he’s going to see if his degree can be validated in New Zealand as they have fallen in love with the country and want to stay here for a bit. I feel you bro. They were doing this trek via camper van. At one beautiful point I asked him if he didn’t mind snapping my picture. Right away I realized how awful I looked, I hadn’t even redone my ponytail since throwing my hair up 8 hours prior and after having taken my hat on and off multiple times. At another scenic point he asked me if I’d like him to take another picture of me. I declined saying that I had just realized how tore up I look (aside from the hair, I definitely look exhausted today as I recover from yesterday’s magnificent crossing). He looked at me and said “who cares about imperfect hair, you are still lovely.” I love Belgium folks. Along our brief walk together we discussed highlights of our respective trips.

Next up was to drive just a bit down the road to see the Marokopa Falls. At 43m tall, Marakopa is often described as both the most beautiful and most fierce falls in New Zealand. I arrived, and again, not a sole around. I started the brief downhill path to the falls and for some reason something came over me and I decided to jog down to get there quicker. The jogging movements hurt way less than walking today. The Marokopa Falls were the most gorgeous natural falls I had ever seen. I felt so lucky to get to experience them in solitude. I stood there for quite a while just soaking them in. I started looking at the top and trying to follow the paths of water down across all the different shelves. This is probably the most meditative action I have ever done. As my eyes followed all the unique paths down two things happened. First, I realized that the falls literally became clearer as I contemplated them in more depth. It was as though new paths were emerging before me and the gushing water became transparent, allowing me to see the unique paths each drop of water take. Second, I started to tear up. What the hell? I don’t tear up at waterfalls, what was wrong with me. I’m still not fully sure how or why Marokopa affected me so. I think it had to do with contemplating all the paths possible for a drop of water to reach the basin below, and thinking of all the paths possible in life. Am I on the right one?

I reluctantly left Marokopa to head back to my farm. I considered stopping and waiting with my Belgian friends to see the glowworms when it got darker but I knew I didn’t want to drive 40 minutes on the narrow windy roads in the dark! Plus, it was already after 8pm and I needed to get to the Countdown (the local grocery store in NZ) before they closed at 9 as I desperately needed aloe gel.

When I got back to my farmstay I could see in my headlights that Bella had brought at least half a dozen friends back with her for the night. I’m pretty sure I hear cows snoring outside my bedroom window right now. I have a very rough idea of a couple things for tomorrow but now think I want to stay on the Coromandel Peninsula instead of heading to Auckland tomorrow night. Time to figure that out!