I waved the helicopter as they flew over the Karamea Lodge, I don't know if Florian and the pilot saw me but it felt funny (Florian: I did not realize the two, but I looked down at the lodge so I did physically see them).
So there we are – four days just on my own with the little one.
Sunday, the first day after Florian left at late afternoon, we had a relaxed day. Just some walking and playing in the huge garden around the lodge.
The next day we did an excursion: we went to the Oparara Basin: a beautiful area with a huge limestone arch, native forest and a cave called the Moria Gate. It was a really nice walk in the sun, Tobias was sleeping half of the walk - so I could hear the birds singing. Close to the end of the walk we passed a beautiful pond called Mirror Tarn. At the information center Tobias was crawling around flirting with everybody who wanted or not. In the afternoon we went back to the lodge via the narrow and winding gravel road. Luckily I didn't met anyone coming towards me.
On Tuesday
(March 26) we had again a relaxed day. Tobias was having a bath outside in one
of our gear-boxes and had lot of fun - like always when being in the water.
Last day without Florian. Tobias and I drove to the trailhead of the Heaphy Track, one of the Great Walks in New Zealand. The beauty of the track started right at the beginning! I decided to walk for one hour on the track to Scott’s Beach. This track is really nice. Walking through the bush sometimes with nice views of the sea. Scott’s Beach is just a beautiful long white sanded beach - just like you see on a brochure! We stayed for a while, had lunch and Tobias was crawling around happy to be out of the of the backpack (aka Kraxe). I really enjoyed this walk in the stunning nature.
But it was time to leave. Tobias and I wanted
to be back in time because I wanted to pick up Florian in the helicopter as the
weather was beautiful and I did not want to miss than chance of flight-seeing
over Kahurangi National Park and the coastal mountains. At the
beginning of the flight Tobias was really afraid of flying but by the time he
got more confident and started playing and watching. Definitely he was happy to
see his dad again!
