Why care, Moana?

Guess what we just did? Our very first "Great Walk"!!! That's right, we were in the "bush" for 4 nights and five days. We walked a 43 km track around Lake Waikaremoana and it was AWESOME. First we had to travel an unbelievably long gravel road to reach the lake and then we both had to pack our backpacks with about 15 kilos each containing our food, clothes and equipment for the hike ahead of us.

The first and second days were the toughest parts of the trip. The first day we climbed up to Panekire Bluff (1180 meters high, 662 meters of going up). Then the second day we had to go down, which was the worst part especially since my knee didn't want to cooperate. Oh well, we made it past that and the rest of the track was pretty much smooth sailing. The first night we had to stay in a hut and the other 3 nights we got to camp. We were the only campers at the places where we stayed. The last night we even think we heard some Kiwi birds near our tent. The lake views were amazing and on the last day we got picked up from the beach by a water taxi. The whole experience was great!

Now we are in Gisborne and are just going to relax a few days before heading to Rotorua. Christoph is going to skate later and we might play some mini golf. It is a very sunny and nice day today. Oh and before we left the lake we met a nice family that invited us to stay on their farm for a few days. We will probably do that this April or so. They are nice and have the two cutest little girls.

Ok, take care all and I promise that I will try to write back to some of your e-mails as soon as I get a chance. :)