Tramps, Our Favourite Synonym

Since our last update, we zig-zagged across the area to the south-east of Auckland, seeking out interesting tramps (hikes) and tramps (people).

We did our longest hike in New Zealand yet on the Coromandel Peninsula. We hiked the Billy Goat Track up to the Pinnacles, which are part of the Coromandel Forest Park. The hike took us almost 7 hours round-trip, and we were absolutely knackered by the end of it. The track took us through forest, over volcanic ridges, through valleys, and finally up to the top of a lookout at the top of the Pinnacles. It was absolutely breathtaking, since we looked out over the Pacific Ocean. As we were at the top we saw a rainstorm blow through the valley, and it hammered it down for about ten minutes. Luckily that passed and the rest of the tramp was dry and sunny. We took a video of the steep ascent and the wind/rainstorm at the top, which we will upload as soon as we can.

We arrived back in Auckland about a week and a half ago, getting Andrea set up to begin relief teaching. She was ready to begin working this past Monday, and we were getting discouraged when no calls came for either Monday or Tuesday, as the relief agency led us to believe that there was a lot of work here. We took Monday and Tuesday to explore West Auckland beaches (black sand and all), as well as visit the MOTAT (Museum of Transportation and Technology), where we saw exhibits on the history of planes, trains, automobiles, telephones, and lots more.

Luckily work came through for Wednesday, and Andrea spent the rest of the week working in a special needs classroom in West Auckland. It was a great learning experience, as schools here definitely have their differences compared to schools in Ontario, and the kids were great. We are going to stick around this week for more work (Tuesday is already booked), but then will most likely be lured by the call of the road to go out travelling again for a bit.