Day 13 ~ Mangamuka with mates
3rd December 2020 ~ Mates ‘n icecream
Joppy waking up early, surrounded by his new favourite people is too much to bear, so he’s up despite the quiet and condensation soaked ground.
I have to tell him to stop being creepy seeing as he’s staring at their tents, willing them to hop up. He doesn’t stop, but they’re bloody lovely people and don’t seem to mind when they slowly emerge.
Terren, who owns this little patch of land by the stream comes down to say, “morning”, and hand out homegrown bananas. Delish. He’s a good keen man in black woollen singlet and original stubbies from his old Rugby days down South.
Our reliable mate, Greg arrives early to give us a ride to skip the road walking section. We know that roads + kids = crap so we try to skip them when we can.
The Mangamuka Dairy is what hiker dreams are made of so we make sure to call in for real coffee and the kids get their ice cream for breakfast - reward for splendid efforts over the Raetea.
The kids know that Tip Tap and Marv are desperate for jars of peanut butter and won’t get there until we leave, so hatch a plan with the owner to hide the peanut butter and pretend that this weird family came in and bought it all.
The kids are besides themselves with excitement about their marvellous prank.
Charlie and Dahlia, fondly referred to as Chahlia, hitched a ride and are enjoying their coffee so we join them and it’s just so easy and nice.
Somehow Goldie managed to trip over the doorway while holding her double scoop goody gum drops ice cream cone and land superman style with the ice cream safely held high and yell,
“I’m good!”
We are stunned. And of course, I didn’t catch any vision of it.
The walk into Apple Dam Campsite is pleasant enough and we get there with the afternoon to spare. Our new friends trickle in. We swim in the cold tea-tree stained water hole, dry out in the sun, eat, paint water colours (actually! Chahlia have all sorts of delights in their packs) and feel like we’re in a movie about thru-hiking bliss.
This surely is as good as it gets.
“This surely is as good as it gets?”
