Soaked on the East Whakanui Trail

Eclipse of the moon

Took a very wet hike to a highpoint, but missed my turn off due to the trail not being marked.  The trail is now just a trap line, but very easy to follow. 

It was too wet for me to take many photos and I was cold, tired and grumpy after my hike.  I did see the world's tallest free standing moss on my hike and a new to me mushroom, the cloud fungus.  

So lots of good stuff even if I got soaked.

My boots were too slow to dry in our cold and damp house, so I put them over the dehumidifier and was horrified to see the leather had cracked.   The boots are no longer waterproof so maybe they were done.

I have a pair of brand new boots of the exact same type that I bought before I left.  I bought them knowing that they might be hard to find and very expensive in New Zealand.  I did not expect to be using them so soon though.  My two pairs of hiking boots took up so much space in my suitcase!  Oh well I guess I have good boots to wear while doing yard work now.

7 miles 1,900 feet elevation gain

In other news we got a good view of the eclipse and I'm happy with the shots I got of it with no tripod.  My tripod is still on its way to me in a shipping container.   

I took a nice trip to Wellington and road a scooter along the waterfront.  A few pictures of that trip are posted.

It is coming into fall here and I was going to hike today in spite of the fall rains, but our car was stolen last night.  There is a fad or internet challenge where dumb ass kids try to see how many granny cars they can steal.  What little assholes stealing old ladies cars.  The cars they target will belong to working people who can not easily replace them.

My fiancée had to get a ride home from work as she found her car missing at 10:30  at night when her shift ended.  Today she had to go wait for a bus in the rain so she could go to work with no car.  Tonight she will get a ride home with a co-worker.

That police found our car this morning after Abra got to work.  It had to be towed due to the damage to it, but we were told the damage was no too bad.  Sounds like just a smashed window and a punched ignition.  Hopefully insurance will cover it.  I guess we will have to take a bus in the rain to get to my planned birthday dinner this weekend.

We are a no car family until Abra's car is fixed.  Perhaps I should go ahead and buy a car here even though I don't know for sure how long I will be staying here.  How long I stay is not entirely in my hands. 

For next week or when we get our car back, I want to do some hiking on the coast. 

On the weekends I have been staying busy photographing rugby for free.  I can't work here yet so I am taking free photos just to get my name out there.  It turns out to be a great way to meet people. 

Looking back to downtown Wellington where my scooter ride started

Solice in the wind statue on the Wellington waterfront

Dawsonia superba grows to be the worlds tallest free standing moss

Cloud mushroom.  I have only seen these dried in Chinese supermarkets.  I did not 
know what the mushroom looked like when alive.  I took half of this to taste. 

Abra returning seashells to the sea