Tuesday, June 6th
After such a long walk on Monday we wanted to take a chill day and kind of relax. First off, we headed for a walk down to the lake that is close to my dads house. It was such a beautiful day and both dogs enjoyed being able to frolic and swim in the lake. As you may know, I have been having ankle issues since a hike in February where I ripped my ligaments in my ankle. On this walk, I rolled my ankle within the first two minutes. Thankfully, not badly and I haven't had much pain since.
We also done a small walk along the main lake in Rotorua, which at the end we found out was not dog friendly, so had to quickly scurry back to the car. Not the 10kms we needed to do in the day, but each walk was enjoyable and the dogs had a blast.
Wednesday, June 7th
We headed up to Tauranga on Wednesday and went for a walk at the Puketoki Reserve. Online it said it would take about an hour, but even with plenty of photoshoots it only took us forty minutes. This meant it was a lot shorter than I had wanted. Although the walk itself was beautiful, in a deep forest with a range of different plants and bird life. After this walk we came back to the car to another flat tyre so instead of heading to our camping ground we had to go into Tauranga to get the tyre fixed. Since we were already in town, our second walk of the day was down at the beach between Mount Maunganui and Papamoa. It was another lovely day, and it was nice to amble up and down the beach meeting other dogs and watching the dogs interact with others. I even got out my book and settled in to read as Tammin and the dogs continued playing in the sea.
Thursday, June 8th
Thursday we were meant to be heading up to Auckland, but as I mentioned above we didn't make it because after spending the night in Omokoroa Motor Park we awoke to another flat tyre. We went straight back to get it fixed, had breakfast at a wonderful cafe (full blog post on that will be coming up) and then went on our way to Auckland. Once we hit Waihi, I realised I had a terrible feeling about it all, and didn't want to risk anything bad happening while up further North or while driving. Instead we took a detour to Karangahake Reserve and explored the awesome area. It is an old gold mining area and a lot of the old machinery parts and railway lines are still intact. As well as a kilometre long tunnel through the hills! It made for a lot of awesome photos, and we had actually visited here when Diego was a young pup so I am so excited to compare the photos.
Friday, June 9th
We braved the Redwoods again! This time we done the Purple track which was a casual three hours instead of eight and followed a lot of the same tracks as the Black track. It was a beautiful day, we were lucky to have sunny days for all of this week, and was a lot more enjoyable with that better weather. After completing the Black track, this Purple one felt like a walk in the park and I loved it. Afterwards we stopped in to the Coffee Club for a coffee and some fries, and received some of the best service! The dogs got delivered a water bowl, with a treat each, and we were given polite, friendly service and banter.
Saturday, June 10th
On Saturday we were headed back down to Whanganui for the last leg of our journey. Before we left, dad wanted to have one last walk with us so we all travelled to Taupo and explored around the Spa Thermal Park. This was a spectacular walk where you trekked along the side of an impressive green river and at the turn around mark you got to view Huka Falls. This track was an easy walk, with a range of short up hill and down hill bursts on a dirt path. It wasn't overly busy but those that were there were in packs of people or did have dogs with them. Spa Thermal Park was a huge expanse of grass with areas to explore and look around. Unfortunately we were short on time so couldn't keep looking around so I would love to go back another time to see more of the place.
Sunday, June 11th
This was the date for the Great Global Greyhound Walks where people all over the world all meet up with their Greyhounds and go for an organised walk at the same time. The Whanganui meet up was a blast, with 18 Greyhounds + 1 Diego there! I did take a bunch of pictures which I will have up in a blog post shortly. Diego and Chico were both super well behaved, and Diego even made friends with Greyhounds who were usually scared of little dogs. The next walk we did was a quick stomp around the Whanganui streets, just Diego and I. This was a chance for us to unwind from such a hectic long road trip, and for me to chuck in some headphones and just stomp the pavements. I didn't keep track of where we went but I remember going and exploring streets I had never seen before.
Monday, June 12th
This day Diego and I were meant to be heading back to Wellington, and I had already planned to stop in Foxton to do our 10 kilometres of walking. Unfortunately that took a twist when we went to leave and I had another flat tyre. To make matters worse, the bolt snapped so I had to take it to a mechanic to get fixed. A wonderful truck driver by the name of John stopped on the side of the road and helped me out, he also called ahead to the mechanic which not only meant I got an appointment that day, I also got a discount on the work completed. I am in awe that there are such nice people out there. Back to the walking... the first walk was along a part of the Whanganui river we had never explored before while we waited for the mechanic appointment. It is part of their walkway from hills to sea, and was absolutely breathtaking. We even met a very friendly schnauzer and his owner along the path. Then, while waiting for the car to be fixed, Diego and I strutted down to a cafe and grabbed a bite to eat and a coffee. This was only a short distance away but meant we got to be adding some kilometres to our total while we waited. The last walk of the day was with my mother, and all three dogs down at the local park. I thought since the universe wanted us to stay in Whanganui for some extra hours we may as well squeeze in some more time with the family. All three dogs had a great time rushing around after Diego's toy and generally just burning off the days extra calories.
This week has been hard. I am realising more than ever what a feat I have taken on, but also, how more than ever I am wanting to prove to myself I can do it. So at the end of week 1 we had hit the 55.86 kilometre mark, and this week we managed to get up to 47.27 kilometres. For 7 days, that is well behind schedule, and I am quite disappointed in myself. That makes the grand total for 12 days sitting at 103.13 kilometres when we should be at 120 kilometres to be on track. This just means I really have to push the second half of this month to clock up those kilometres.
Remember all this struggle we are going through is for a good cause which is HUHA. Please find it in your heart to donate to our GiveaLittle page where every donation not only puts you in the draw to win some amazing prizes, it means you are helping another animal have a great chance at life through HUHA.
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