Another day gone by here in Waiheke, another garden cleared of weeds. On top of clearing another garden of weeds I also transplanted a Hydrangea bush/small tree thing. All in all, another good 5-6 hours of work complete. The skies didn’t open up and rain as they constantly threatened to, but the sun was absent the entire day.

That didn’t stop me from taking a walk once my work was complete, around 3pm. I’d contemplated going for another drive to a different section of the island or giving my hip a try at this whole ‘walking’ thing again. I haven’t had any pain in the last couple of days and only mild soreness remains, so why not? Naturally, rather than work my way up to it I went a little bit further than planned. Beaches look closer than they actually are, okay?

I began my walk with overcast skies, my jacket, water bottle and a chocolate bar for energy (one of 5 I bought in Auckland – mmmm chocolate). I had only planned to walk to the nearby beach and back. I got to the beach in about 10 minutes of steady downhill walking along the road. The beach was completely devoid of people, I had it to myself.

I walked along the beach to the point, because my curiosity asked I ‘wonder what is around the corner?’

Oh look, another beach! A really nice big one, that looks nearby. Okay, it’s hard to see in this picture, but it’s there really. I figure I’ll just go there for a bit, it doesn’t look far and my leg is doing well.

Naturally, it turned out the beach was quite a bit further than expected, and the rocks weren’t the most easy to scramble over. Still, I made it in one piece, though the last 5 minutes I was harassed by a bird that didn’t enjoy my presence.

The red eyes mean it’s evil. Actually it just made a lot of noise and followed behind for a few minutes, making noise the entire time. I guess it didn’t like me.

I made it to the far beach. Now I know why the chicken crossed the road – to take a picture from the other side.

The beach was empty so I relaxed on a bench, read a book and enjoy the quiet (once the angry bird left me alone). I also noticed that someone had kindly taken the time reserve the bench for me. How very kind of them!

Afterwards I decided to hike it back a different way. Naturally, I got sidetracked once or twice, all in the name of exploration, really. I did make it back in time for dinner, and so far my hip doesn’t feel like it’s being stabbed with an ice-pick, so it’s an improvement over Auckland!