Thursday 9 December

Hopped on the Magic bus at 8 AM. Had a new driver in training so had to bear with her. Mike was still there and took over the driving after a short while. Dropped some people off and picked one up and then went to brekky. Said goodbye to my new friends and Sue (the new driver took me to Globe Trekkers Lodge back in Omapere in Hokianga Harbour.) I had to drag my luggage up the gravel hill to get to the lodge but lucky for me the owner saw me and came out to help! Got settled pretty quickly. Magic was supposed to arrange my whole tour but they didn’t so Mike (the lodge owner) did. Jamie was coming to pick me up for my included pizza at 4:15 and from there I would go on the Footprints Twilight Walk. The first thing I did was walk a half k to the left to try and buy groceries. The only thing they had a the gas station were chips and lollies. So I dealt for the day and ate that pizza! Wet to the beach and walked for a bit. Then I decided to stow my stuff in a tree and go for a bit of a run. It was lovely to feel my heart beating again! Tried to lay out for a bit but the sand fleas were terrible so I just kept walking. Got back in time to change and get ready for my twilight walk. My Hawaiian pizza was delicious and the bartender gave me water with a squirt of lime! Bill the guide for Footprints came to the Opiana Hotel to pick me up for the walk. He is really cool and knows so much about Maori culture and history! (Duh, he is Maori and grew up the traditional way! Lol) Picked up a couple witha baby and me another couple at the beginning of the trail. I can’t even begin to describe this walk. It was so simply wonderful and spiritual, I could feel the energy of the Kauri forest. We met the four sisters and Te Mahate Nguahai, the father of the forest, on this part of the tour plus a surprise tree. The four sisters are 4 separate Kauri trees that look like one tree. We also saw many plants the Maori use for healing. The tea tree (Captain cook and sailors named it), the tut plant (heals broken ribs! Where was this 2 months ago?), and a couple of others. The father of the forest is a 4,000 year old tree that was the inspiration for the walking talking tree in Lord of the Rings. He was too majestic, I can’t even describe the feeling. Bill said a Maori prayer before we got there and sang a song. We all had a moment of silence in honour of the great Kauri father. So beautiful. I got goose bumps and could feel the electricity in the surprise tree on our way back from visiting the father. Tane Mahuta was the 2000 year old Kauri tree that was the point of the triangle. This lord of the forest is the largest known Kauri tree in the world. Here we burned some Kauri gum and smelled its wonderous smokey incense. Lol. Here our wonderful journey ended but not without prayer and song from Bill. Before he took us back to our lodgings we stopped and had a look at Hokianga Harbour under the cover of stars. Beautiful. Went to bed straight away as soon as I got back.