Today was one of those days (which normally come after a full day of heavy rain) where you *do not* take dry weather for granted!
To make the most of this, we rose early and drove to Redwoods forest where we hired a pair of mountain bikes. Helmet-ed up and ready to go on my Large hardtail bike, I picked a trail that would lead us to a view of the lake. Now I haven't been mountain-biking for the sake of it before, and I did find the abundance of tree roots and gullies fairly nerve-racking - to start with at least! Not wanting to add to the scars on my legs I was quite wary, glad that my route had us doing the huge climb on a non-texhnical stretch. I say huge, it was only 600ft, but on 60psi and 6cm dia tyres it felt truly epic. I now have a little more sympathy with Wendy's sluggish climbing, the poor girl is on fat tyres and 40 psi...
The top of Tokorangipa gave us stunning views over the green lakes - and even better, the only way from here was down! Gritting my teeth, I tackled the 'Advanced' section which started the only sensible descent, and then gladly turned off onto an 'Intermediate' route. I know I sound like a real wimp, but some of the terrain (roots, stumps, rocks, drop-offs, bends) was quite terrifying! Let's just say I was glad I was not clipped in.
Four hours later, and after some tough technical climbs, speedy ramps and getting stuck on what seemed to be a circular 'Beginner' route in a forest, we handed back the bikes. My new sympathy for Wendy lasted until her fridge door decided to swing open of its own accord an hour down the road on a not-particularly-sharp corner. We managed to rescue the majority of the food, with the mango and coconut cake sustaining the brunt of the damage.
Huka Falls was our next calling point - the river here was an incredible blue. The falls (pictured) weren't too bad either, just a bit commercialised. Because of this, we didn't hang around, and a trip to the supermarket beckoned in preparation for the next day.
Visiting our second "Pak'n'save" illustrated to me an oddity (aside from the trolleys that have only two wheels on castors, not four, making them a proper mission to steer) that I had previously thought may be an Auckland thing, but appears to be New Zealand-wide. When you reach the till you unpack onto the conveyor as normal. By the time you get to the front of the queue, another trolley has magically appeared where you would naturally want to put your trolley. This alone causes trolley mayhem in the narrow bit beyond the till (you know - the bit where old people generally fumble with their purses and get in the way). Whilst you're feeling anxious about how to rid yourself of your trolley, the cashier has meanwhile begun scanning and throwing your items into the other trolley. Feeling awkward at having to stand by and watch this (rather than busy myself with packing) I tried to fathom a reason for this inefficient system, but failed. It takes longer for the cashier to scan and "pack" rather than just scan, and it was a big waste of my time having to repack the thrown items into bags afterwards... I think they should rename it "Repack and waste time" as no "Pak'n'Save" occurs.
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