Awanui to Hihi Beach

November 4 of the year 2009 in our annals will be known as bad bum day. We had to pack the tent soaking wet yet again and when we got on our bikes we immediately realized that our precious behinds were going to give us serious aches. The first kilometers were not too bad but it quickly became quite hilly and by the time we got to Mangonui we knew we could not travel much further. Ella was not in the mood either so we stopped at a beautiful beach at Mangonui to have an extended lunch. The little bays here are stunning and it was nice and hot.
I do not think we would have gone another meter further if there would have been a campsite at Mangonui. No such luck. We had to get back on our bikes to try and reach Hihi Beach where according to the map there was a motorcamp. To get to Hihi Beach we had to take a detour of 6 km which at that point seemed to us like running a marathon at 40 degrees in a parka. According to the GPS it was another kilometer to get to the campsite at Hihi Beach but Ella was crying so hard that we just had to stop. We were trapped at 1 kilometer from our destination and Ella refusing to get back in the buggy. There was only one thing left to do. Vanessa took the baby up in her arms and I pushed both bikes along the road, The next 600 metres I managed to push the bicycles but then the road started climbing and I just could not manage to get up the hill. Vanessa kept walking to find some shade while I left one bike behind and pushed the other up the hill. Once we got up the hill, I went for the other bicycle. Don´t you just love an adventure?
When you get pushed to the limits of your physical abilities like on this day, arriving to a campsite with absolute beach front makes you feel like a million dollars. Nothing can beat the feeling of having overcome such a huge challenge. The beach might not be that special if you arrive in a campervan but to us it was magic, a flavor I cannot describe. To see our daughter as free as a bird on the beach looking in awe at every little detail, the sunset, the warm reception of our campsite hosts, a bottle of white wine to go with our noodles out of a plastic baggy…it is all worth it! Our neighbours were a lovely couple from Wellington that gave us plenty of advice for our journey further south. I hope we see them again so we can have a bottle of wine together. We fall asleep under a starry night and the sound of the waves in the background. This is the life.