The owner, Brent, of the motel we are staying at (The Raglan Sunset Motel) has been sharing his enthusiasm for walking in his homeland once he discovered our intrest in the NZ tracks. In fact, this morning he drove us about 8 km from the motel to his front yard beside the trailhead for the Ngarunui Track. This track winds down through lush rainforest to the beach at Manu Bay...a surfing haven. From there, we meandered along the beach back to Raglan stopping along the way to watch the surfers and cool our feet on the emerald green waters of the Tasman Sea.
Sound exotic? It was!
But not as exotic as the multi-year project that Brent is on. In an effort to raise money for MS research he is part of a group who have decided to walk the length of New Zealand in 200 to 300 km chunks. His journey continues next week when he and the group will be walking from Springfield to Fairlie on the South Island. This will bring his total to about 4000 km thus far.
Like I said; it's a way of life here!
Needless to say, Brent has been a font of knowledge for us in our planning for the next six weeks.
Janet's decision to spend our first couple of days in Raglan has been the usual stroke of genius. It is a sleepy little surfing town with a great coffee shop, some interesting little cafe type eateries and a beautiful black sand beach to spend the day walking. The jungle track was an unexpected bonus. What a way to get over the flights to get here! And, with the addition of a local who loves his land so much that he wants to walk across it you have the perfect recipe for planning our adventure ahead.
Tomorrow we get our campervan. We were picked up at the Auckland airport by the owners, Anna and Neil, who drove the scenic route down to Raglan and dropped us at our motel. The conversation over the two-hour drive was very pleasant and informative. They are a young couple from the UK who decided to start a business in a place they fell in love with while travelling NZ. Neil, who is a mechanical engineer, is bitten by the surfing bug and Anna, who has a background in Environmental Studies is equally at home in the area around Raglan. Neither had any background in campervan renting but started the business five years ago and have grown it to be the #1 ranked capervan rental company in NZ. I asked Neil how they did this and he gave me the secret formula. He simply stated that he and Anna treat their customers in a way that they would want to be treated if they were looking for a NZ adventure. I would suggest that getting picked up by the owners at the airport and being driven to our hotel is a great way to be treated! And, by the way, they are picking us up at the motel tomorrow morning and driving us to pick up our van.
I think they're on to something here!
And, given the people we have met so far and the land that has embraced us so early it looks as though Janet's genius reigns - NZ looks better than my choice of six weeks of winter in Edmonton. And, as usual, I'm more than happy to be along for the ride!
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