A short walk

Tuesday 16th. The weather forecast for this afternoon suggested rain so we thought that a short walk in the morning would be good. 

We drove to Ngakawau to the start of the Charming Creek walkway. There we had a choice of various walks from between 15 minutes and 3 hours. We set off on the fifteen minute walk. 

The walk was alongside the creek, following the path of a railway built to transport logs and coal from higher up the gorge. 

We then decided to move on to the hour and a half walk, just to see how we would get on. 

After that things got somewhat confused. We were feeling good at this stage and the route times indicated that you could get to the Charming Creek Road car park in 3 hours. Well, that didn't seem too bad. Another hour and a half and we'd be back at the car. 

When we reached the gold mine (which was a two hour and fifty minutes walk) it dawned on us that we were heading towards a different car park, not our starting point. 

Having confirmed with some rangers, who were repairing one of the old trucks, that this was in fact the case, we had to turn round and retrace our steps. Luckily it was all downhill and only took two hours! But this was two hours longer than intended. 

Not too sure about the spring above. There was a very strong smell of sulphur and all the rocks were stained white. The pool was bubbling away quite steadily as well. 

But then it started to rain. 

After it was all over, we had a good laugh about it - and if you believe that, you'll believe anything! Still, back home, hot shower and the rest of the afternoon on the bed reading and zzzing. 

Back to Miners on Sea for supper where we both had the steak. Got talking to a bush guide about her work on the Heaphy Track. It's marvellous out here that people will start up a conversation without any embarrassment or modesty. They just come out with: are you visitors here? and carry on from there. We love it.