I’m not quite sure if today’s turn of events was a blessing in disguise or not? Nicky was sick of the jungle and pretty tired when we rolled into Mangamuka Bridge looking to re-supply. We only had $20 left in cash and the store didn’t take Visa or MasterCard, neither did the cafe, nor the pub/hotel.. Shite. Note to self - carry more cash (hope there’s no muggers reading this ;) Maybe we can get one of these Eftpos cards, they seem the only plastic taken around here.
Anyhow, $20 of food wasn’t going to get us to KeriKeri so we had to hitch to the nearest town with a cash machine. Blooming Kaitaia, where we started from! Well probably turned out for best because Nicky’s getting a good rest in a comfy motel and we can get a bus from here to KeriKeri tomorrow, missing out the next bit of jungle (much to Nicky’s delight).
I just liked the look of these hills, so I took a shot of them for you. They look kind of cartoon eh? Soft and lumpy and a special vibrant green from all those flowers. Being a sheep here must be the life eh?
After coming down from the dandelion hills, there was an incredibly long straight stretch before hitting SH57 which would take us into Shannon. The road was busy and lacking good sidings for safe walking so we decide to walk with our thumbs out. As with all the times we’ve tried to hitch in New Zealand, we were picked up in a matter of minutes by a lovely ex-pat Dutch couple :)