Trial by Illness & The First Adventure Walk

(Continued excerpts from my New Zealand travel diary)

I returned from my Sydney trip via an overnight bus ride which arrived back in Levin at 5AM. Carolyn graciously picked me up at the bus stop and I collapsed in bed for a few hours before doing my day's work. That day and the following, I think I pushed myself too hard, having not fully recovered from my fever yet, and my health rapidly declined. I was sick and sleeping on my bed or the couch for a lot of the next several days, eating next to nothing and rarely even well enough to feed the horses (Carolyn picked up the slack). All the previous symptoms had returned, along with a badly congested nose and a profound lack of energy. In addition to all of that, my right ear never un-popped from the flight to Auckland. it was incredibly annoying, often distracting, and occasionally painful. It had happened before, but had always been resolved within a day.

I tried everything I could think of, everything the internet suggested, and everything family and friends advised. Some things helped; some made it worse. It was so blocked that I could barely hear out of it, and the pressure was at times nearly unbearable.

The breakthrough came when our next door neighbor back home said she'd had the same problem when flying with water in her ear after scuba diving. I had been at the beach swimming the day before flying, so that must have been why it was so much worse than ever before. Carolyn also said that the congestion was part of what was clogging up my Eustachian Tubes, and that I would need Sudafed.

By now, it had been probably a week and a half, my body was healed except for my ear, and I was back to work.

A doctor friend suggested Sudafed, nasal spray, and chewing gum, so I finally decided that I needed to buy meds. I was worried about the cost, though, and Mom and Dad decided to cover it because they wanted me to enjoy my trip in good health. Carolyn picked them up the next day, and within two or three days, my ear was clear!

That entire week and a half or two, I was covered in prayers and messages of concern and support from everyone back home--even people I have never met. They may never know just how much that lifted my spirit.

Finally, I was back to my normal routine. I worked every day, finishing Logan's paddock and eventually the girls', doing extensive weeding in the gardens, cleaning, and having occasional fits of cooking/baking.

As the days grew colder, the cats were allowed to come in at night instead of sleeping in the garage, and I fell asleep many a night to the sound of their purring.

Poppy and Quentin

At some point, I decided it was time I properly explored the area. I had gazed at the surrounding hills and the far-off line of mighty pines day after day, but had never ventured up the road. I had waited long enough.

One left turn and straight into the hills

I set out up the road with just my camera. I took a couple pictures of the lower farmland as I went.

Looking back

Notice there are mountains in the background of nearly every picture

It became clear right off that my legs were already stronger than they had been before. My calves used to start hurting pretty quickly whenever I walked, even if it wasn't uphill, and I would be absolutely miserable on inclines. They always felt very tight and stretching didn't help much. Now, after walking all over New Zealand and Sydney, my legs are much more relaxed while walking and I can walk not only faster but farther, even if it's uphill the whole way. It feels so good to expand what I'm capable of and to open up more possibilities.

This walk in particular was very much uphill. I reached the end of the road and started looking for the path that Carolyn said led up into the mountains.

North Manakau Road dead-ends right into what looks like a gravel driveway with a metal gate, and it disappears up around a bend. I was walking toward it when a truck came from behind and I stepped aside, turning awkwardly. The driver sort of glared at me as he passed, and I thought that must be his property so I left.

Just to the side of that, though, was a grassy road-looking thing, half-hidden by a cluster of trees. I was pretty sure it wasn't the right path, but at least it looked like it hadn't been driven on recently, if ever, and it seemed to go right up into the foothills, rather than the mountains themselves. Since these foothills and the treeline were the place I had longed to walk--and since I wasn't content to turn back without an adventure--I decided to take it.

First glimpse of the view that waited behind me

It was incredibly steep and at some point I think it ended, because I found myself just scaling the lumpy hills. I had to put down my right hand a couple of times, and kept my camera always safe in my left.

I climbed higher and higher through the long grass and dirt, getting closer to the pines and the alluring darkness between them.

I had to cross to the other side of a sheep fence on my left as I got nearer to the top, because the red thorn bushes had suddenly became too thick to pass through and would take a great deal of time and backtracking to skirt around. The fence was right next to me and the other side was clear, so I carefully climbed it.

Finally, I reached the top and was able to cross back over the fence, hop up a grassy hill, and at last look out at the entire valley of endless farms and hills.

It was more beautiful than I had imagined, and the sunlight touched every blade of grass and made it vibrant.

I could even see the sea shining far off in the distance, just barely. It was so exhilarating, and a fitting reward for my climb.

I couldn't see Carolyn's house, but by identifying nearby landmarks, I was able to make out the barn, the neighbor's shed, a little mobile home in the field next door, and a small grove of huge pines that the sun sets behind every evening.

The white building in the very center is Carolyn's barn

It felt like I was surveying some magical kingdom.

The abundance of green, rolling hills is one of my favorite things about this country. I just want to walk across all of them.

I went in among the trees then, and climbed a little higher until I found one where I sat down with my back against it and enjoyed simply being in that place that I had dreamed of being.

Yes, that is sheep wool

Eventually, I found a place to cross back over the fence. I could see a grassy road a little ways down that wove off to the right and seemed like it might get me going in the right direction. I wasn't sure I could find the path I had been on again, and from up where I was it looked like it would be shorter and possibly easier to just keep going and cut across country.

So I made it down the steep, grassy slope to the road and followed it along the edges of the hills until, as the sun was beginning to set behind the mountains ahead, I rounded a bend and came upon one of the huge power line towers I had seen from the farm. I couldn't resist a bit of silhouette fun with the burning sun and that crazy view.

From there, it looked like the road curved off too far to the right and through sheep fields, so I decided to leave it. I walked along the top of a hill that ran perpendicular to the grassy road and down to the actual road.

Partway down, I saw a couple horses down the hill from me and on the same side of the fence. That meant I was definitely on someone's property, so I booked it to the road. I wasn't worried, though, because I figured that if someone saw me I'd just say I was taking a shortcut home, because I was.

Once back on the road, I couldn't help grinning (and not just because of the cows that greeted me). That was the most fun I'd had in the country up to that point. It's been a long time since I've gone adventuring, and never in so exquisite a place. Why did I wait so long?