Something just wants to reward us. When it’s good, it just gets better. There’s no way down, only up. We leave the small farm and head south again. It’s time for the rest of the North Island. We drive through ancient kauri forests. We stop for lunch by the sea in a small restaurant that looks like Green Tomatoes.
Then we take the ferry across an arm of the sea that thought it could block our way. No chance, and on to Omapere. Gigantic sand dunes pile up on an arm of land off the coast. Even bigger than the ones we rode the day before yesterday. You could ride right into the sea here. We climb down the steep coast to the sea.
Three metre-high breakers hit the cliff I’m standing on. My new hiking boots are waterproof, my arse! Forgive me, the wave has really hit me. All the colours glow in the sunshine: red sandstone, black lava cliffs, yellow sand, blue sea and green ferns.
This is followed by the Waiotemarama Trail through the jungle. Waterfalls, silver ferns and some mighty kauri trees line the steep, muddy path. Cédric is definitely our hobbit philosopher. Everything barefoot. Everything. He wedges himself between kauri trees and the sun shines through his zodiacs. Meanwhile, the two Allgäu girls show me what chamois are capable of.
Halfway to Auckland, we finally call it a day. An old little hostel, it smells of granny and the entire interior is from the early sixties. The host is nice and the much-needed laundry is free. We are the only guests. Our castle.
Our little group will probably disperse tomorrow. Cédric has to answer the call of his SMS-fuelled heart. The Allgäu needs a day at the beach. I have to go on to Raglan, I want to go kitesurfing at last. But the amount of work I have to do will probably force me to stop for a few days.
This group will break up well. In agreement, sense and respect. I’ve learnt that for every bad thing there’s a good thing. And if something bad follows these great three people and four days? So what! It’s just so that the good shines even brighter afterwards.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.