Woke up early to rain on the tent… not happy. I waited as long as I could but the rain made my bladder win the battle. So I ran out in the rain it wasn’t really that much and it had mostly stopped when I got back to the tent. The ground is really really hard… who knew??? I was kinda sore from the night in the tent, but not to bad. I was trying to remember the last time I camped and stayed in a tent, it was probably almost 8 years ago. I have a feeling it wont be so long till the next time.
We packed up camp after the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was still a bit cloudy but it was dark when we arrived so we didn’t see any of the area we were at. We went and walked down on the beach for a while it was great. If the water was a bit warmer it would be perfect. Back to the car for a short trip to the next stop.

The sign says the hike out to the Dukes nose takes about 2 hours 45 minutes one way. That seemed a bit long, but we decided to give it a shot, we could always turn around if we got tired. The hike was great, we had to cross a stream a few times, and I was wearing flip flops, and I stupidly didn’t take them off the first time and got em soaked. This sucked as they kinda hurt my feet a bit when they are wet. It was ok, we just kept on. The path followed along the bay, and the water in this inlet was such an awesome color, it reminded me of the Caribbean. There were a few houses here and there but not much. We also seen several boats some small fishing boats, and a couple big yachts anchored in the cove. We didn’t do the last half hour up to the Dukes nose as it is super steep and I was wearing flip flops and scrambling was required. Also Graces knees hurt , so we took a break there and then headed back. The walk back seemed to take forever. My legs were getting tired, so we stopped and had lunch on some rocks by the stream, it was very peaceful. I was happier to see the little car than I should have been, but I was. Did a bit of stretching before we left. This was the first long walk I have done since December so my legs were pretty sore already, I am kinda dreading how they will feel tomorrow.

Last thing we did was drive the scenic route around the Waigaroa Peninsula. The view from the top of the first hill was breathtaking, but the rest of the road wasn’t very impressive. I sorta head bobbed napped for the rest of the 40K. We decided to take the back road back and it was interesting. I feel fortunate I am getting to see a lot of NZ that I wouldn’t normally see. Its great to travel with a local!!!

More later…