nolife

Written on the plane to Queenstown.

We picked up our film an hour later.  Halfway though the wait we moved the car since it was only 30 minute parking.  The pictures turned out nice.  The shop, though, didn’t put the borders on which upset Rachel a good bit over time.  Shortly after picking them up we headed out of town.

We drove [to] Oapu and got the car ferry to Russell.  She’d been told about a great beach by a guy in the hostel so we turned away from the town and headed out.

We drove for ages it seemed.  Poor Rachel was in a sour mood, her mind racing about all the things to come in Southeast Asia.  She needed padlocks & a mozzie net.  A chain, too.  She had expected Charlie [(her friend that had been travelling with her)] to be with her for the whole trip and now she was at it alone.

I did my best to put a smile on her, but shes as bad as me when I start thinking.

We drove through some resufacing, which was intersesting.  You’d have a paved lane that suddenly became solid dirt then back to tar.

Eventually we decided we’d missed our beach so we stopped and poured over her maps until we finally found our position.  We determined we were on the right road so we moved on.

After a short distance we came around a bend and looked down at a stunning beach – that was completely private!  There were a couple small buildings on the property and they sat at the edge of this bay.  It was very rugged and the wind was bringing in beautiful waves.  We drove by looking for access & didn’t find any.  It was pretty small I suppose.  A few 100 feet wide & set into the coast.  We just couldn’t believe it was private!!

Oh yeah – backing up a bit, we stopped at Jack’s Bay, one of our landmarks to pass on the road.  There were a couple of gated driveways to private residences and [one] road not gated with a sign that said “Public Access.”  We nearly drove her borrowed Honda Domanti down that one, but I warned against.  We parked at the top.

We walked a few meters down the road and discovered it was a private driveway.  Good thing we didn’t go down.

We looked at the sign as we passed it and someone had drawn an arrow in the grime pointing left.  We went right right down the drive, though, figuring it was a hoax.

Of course we turned around and went to the left.

It took us into a well-beaten track where we frightened birds from their perches and cicadas tried to deafen us.  It seemed tropical, with ferns, palms & other foilage.  After a 100 meters or so we were dumped into someone’s backyard with no clear path to the beach.

Well, there was a clear path, but it had a gate & a sign stating it was private property.  We stood and looked around a bit, hoping for a sign, but nothing came to us.

Back up to the car.

It was then that we travelled past the stunning beach.

Just past there was a beach with access.  It was very similar – rugged, inset and tight.  It had Christmas trees lining the beach.  It seems they really like the water!

We took a few pictures and talked about what it must be like to live there.  There was a house sitting just off the beach – we later discovered it was a backpackers.

Which brings up a whole new tangent discussion  Rachel and I had.  There are backpackers nearly everywhere.  This was kilometers from any major attraction, tramp, etc and yet there was a bed waiting for you!  This wasn’t the first one we’d seen in an odd spot and I’m sure its not the last.

The idea of living there stayed with us as we travelled on.

We drove south for a bit, then looped around and headed north through a scenic reserve.  I can’t remember the name… it was east of Russell.

Anyway, it was interesting.  All gravel, [the road] took us through a forest.  The sky was nearly blotted out with foliage along the road and for sure when you got off.  We stopped once to visit the twin bole kaori tree.  It was a short walk through a marked path, passing several younger kaori trees.  They reminded me a lot of the trees at Joyce Kilmer.  We passed another walk along the way since she’d seen plenty of Kaori trees already.

It was along this road that Rachel talked out a lot of things she was worried about concerning her next leg.  She told me about all the meds and shots she’d had.  They cost a fortune plus the doctor kept trying to sell her things like insect repellent & such.  They gave her a hard time about not getting her rabies & Japanese influitis (?) shots as well.  This all occurred the day after her friend Charlie (female) left, [so she was a little further upset.]

 I’m removing my notes about Charlie and Rachel’s split as I’m sure they’d enjoy their privacy.