1000th Blog Post

I was going to celebrate the 1000th posting (and really do justice to the naffness of it) by taking a look back at the last 18 months and do a highlights blog entry. But time has beaten me and as Jo pointed out (in her blunt and 'putting down all my fantastic ideas' type way haha) "it's easier just to look at the archives!" Fair point.

Me and Adam wanted to celebrate the importance of the 1000th posting though. He wasn't impressed with my 'boring' title picture (above) and so made his own (below). Don't you just hate it when kids can do better things on the computer than you can :)


So I'm not going to do a highlights blog. Instead a blog about our visit to Karangahake Gorge. The 1000th post is going to be different though because we actually have a picture of the four of us together. A very rare thing indeed :)


Karangahake Gorge

We have driven 'through' the Karangahake Gorge on numerous occasions. It's on the main road to Auckland. We've been saying for ages that we must stop one day and have a look and so we put it on our list of things to do in the Easter Holidays. Once 'Getting the garden straight' and 'Painting the house' had been crossed off the list (well almost) we set out for the gorge.

Nice scenery :)

This is at the start of the walkway. The first part takes you over the bridge you can see in the background. Jo was not looking forward to it.

That's the kids waving from the bridge. Jo is not waving because she wouldn't let go of the sides. She was hanging on for dear life the whole way across. I must admit the bridge was very 'wibbly wobbly' and as you can imagine Adam made sure it swayed as much as possible. Jo wasn't happy.


However she did manage to smile for this rare group photo. Some American tourists (bl@@dy tourists haha - I still feel like a tourist!) got me to take a picture of them so I got them to take this one for us.

One of the best things about this trip out was how grown up the kids were. They each had their own backpack and carried their own water, food and stuff. Getting so independent.

Taking a rest along the route

Adam posing on a rock.

Another group photo. You wait all that time for one and then ......

Part of the walk goes through the old railway tunnel. It's about a kilometer long and has about 10 dim yellow lights along the whole route. Most of it is in complete darkness. It's just a case of going in a straight line heading towards the light at the end. Not the most enjoyable part of the walk but it was 'different' I suppose. Worst thing was that when we got to the other end we had to turn around (after having our lunch on that side) and walk all the way back in the darkness. Probably best it was dark though to keep all the spiders and rats hidden from view.

This is Jo and the kids at the entrance

Halfway point. You can see the end of the tunnel in the distance.

Much better out in the open back on the trail.

Exploring the river. Adam was under orders not to swim.
Me and the kids doing what we enjoy most. Climbing across the rocks in a river to get to a big rock in the middle. No point to it really except the sense of achievement of reaching it alive :) haha :)

Made it!This shot was taken for Michel in France. He and the other trainers bought me this as a leaving present. It's an Outdoor Survival Handbook. Might come in handy one day. Hopefully not. Don't really fancy living off berries and skinning and gutting rabbits.


Us on the rock in the middle of the river. You just can't see the danger that we went through to get there. The water was at least a foot deep at some points and flowing really really quickly :)

It was a great day. We only got about halfway along the route so we will definitely be going back. Going to take mum and dad there when they come over in September. Don't think we'll make them walk through the tunnel though!