Day 3 - Stairway to Heaven
Day 3 - by David Berry
Rawene to Waipoupa Forest
55 kilometres
At daybreak, Luc announced that we needed to go into downtown Rawene (just about one kilometer from our campsite) and treat ourselves to a proper breakfast. It didn't take much convincing as neither one of us wanted pencil shaving oatmeal again. We decided on the Boatshed Cafe, where the coffee was off the charts wicked good and the food was double off the charts wicked mega good!! I ordered a Kiwi version of eggs benedict and Luc had lox on a bagel. We were immediately spoiled. Were we ever going to be able to go out for breakfast again on our adventure?
Luc wanted to buy a Boatshed Cafe tee shirt but the idea of adding just one more piece of clothing to his already too heavy clothes bag was just too much. Ergo no tee shirt for Luc. After going next door to the market where we bought food for the next two days (ham and cheese wraps and ramen noodles), I wanted to go to an art gallery across the street. Rawene was one one of those sleepy little fishing towns that you could spend the entire day there just lollygagging around.
After about an hour of window shopping, we went and got our bikes packed up so we could get going. We had an ominous 400 meter climb over 9 kilometers on our route which seemed like something that would be insurmountable. Well it was in fact 9 kilometers but not as steep as we envisioned. We made it, we made it, eureka !!!!
The goal at the top of this giant hill was to go see Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest). A giant kauri tree believed to be over 2,000 years old. In Maori culture the tree is the life giver, all living creatures are his children. Truely an anthem to creation. Seeing Tane Mahuta was one of Luc’s top priorities for the Tour Aotearoa. He had read about it in a book a few months prior during his research for the trip. We originally were unsure if the official TA route would give us the chance to see the monolithic tree. Luckily we did not have to veer off the route and seeing Tane Mahuta was well worth the effort.
As we descended the other side of our climb, we encountered an absolute downpour. It was as if the heavens opened up. Somehow we made it down the mountain safely with our white knuckled hands and chattering teeth. By the time we got to our campground we were exhausted. Luc immediately jumped into a hot shower while I got some tea going on the kettle. Upon Luc’s return from the shower, we quickly sat down for a supper of steaming hot ramen noodles and beef jerky.
Dinner was followed by a few rounds of Gin Rummy as we sipped on good old Jim Beam bourbon and water in ceramic coffee mugs while it continued to pour buckets outside.
After we had our fill of bourbon and card games, we had to figure where to stay for the night. The thought of pitching our tents in the pouring rain was paralyzing. We spotted an old unused structure that somehow was dry, Luc immediately christened it as our manger for the night ...... making us almost biblical, minus one wiseman, we were dry and slept like the little baby Jesus!
