Helen and Randall on the road

Wednesday afternoon – hike up to Whakapipi lookout (or ‘Bald Spur’ to Randall’s great amusement):

We stayed up late drinking beer and chatting with Sam and Jody who we met at the campsite, then Thursday morning we met Rosa (girl who lived on the camp site with her dad) and Abby the sheep, her hand-reared pet lamb. Apparently she would have one each year, and at the appropriate time they would be shipped off to slaughter with their contemporaries, but Abby was hilariously pet-like, coming when called etc…very weird.

Then we did a beautiful hike to Wairere falls:

Ensuring we had permits for all our firearms…

The hike follows the river up to a lookout over the falls, with several bridges to cross and in some points steps to climb up the side of the gorge. Just beautiful.

After the hike we headed back into town to the tiny council run Te Aroha Mineral Baths as we had a discount offer on a private mineral bath session AND I got a fantastic massage. Mmmmmmmm.

Definitely room for two, even when one of them is Randall.