We struck up a convo with our "neighbors", Lorraine and Mark, who were camped across the way in a really swanky blue tent (with fringe!!) that they got from Holland. Apparently Holland makes really good tents.... who knew?
Anyway, they recommended to us a great day hike that took you 2.5 hours into the woods and emptied out onto a beach. We were looking for a decent hike (Cathedral Cove is only 90 minutes roundtrip) so off we went.
It started raining while we were in the middle of the forest, which resulted in lots of slipping and cursing and soaking wet shoes (there were 30 stream crossings -- that's right, I counted), but also some incredible wildlife sitings. We saw:
6 wild pigs! (I think this remains the highlight of Iain's entire holiday)
2 owls (pretty amazing -- we've never seen owls in the wild before)
2 Tui birds
1 Fantail bird
When we finally made it to the beach, we sat down and had our lunch: canned chicken, crackers, and cheese. I'd underestimated how challenging the hike would be and had stupidly brought a bottle of beer , but we had no opener. Beer and hiking don't really mix, so this was a good thing.
Six hours later we returned back to the camp, covered in mud and sweat. We showered and went out for dinner. There are few things more satisfying than collapsing in front a huge meal after a day of hiking.
I am sure this meal (these are our appetizers!) totally canceled out whatever calorie burning we enjoyed on our hike but it was still worth it.
1 comment:
I officially hate you! I'm going to start a blog about poopy diapers and post them so you can explore their natural beauty.
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