Yup, we went for a very long walk today. It’s sort of a tradition now that we’ve been here the last three years. It starts with a ferry boat ride across the way, then a six or so mile walk into Russell where we have lunch. Then another ferry over to Paihia and another six miles back to Opua. Then back on Charisma and three aspirin and a nap!

The highlight this year was when we were a mile or two out of Russell, on a section of the hike along the road, the boring part, when it started raining really hard. Just as the deluge started a car pulled over and beeped its horn. We ran over and they threw the door open. We looked in and just when it seemed like there couldn’t be enough room the folks inside crammed themselves over and made room for us. A bunch of young 20 something’s that just took pity on us. They were of Maori descent and so very nice. There’s only one small road so we didn’t even have to negotiate about where we were going. We just went and within a mile or two we were in Russell and got dropped at our favorite craft pizza place for lunch. How wonderful that people are so kind and genuine! Definitely the highlight of a wonderful day.

Nice to be out hiking again!