Old West- Turitea -Greens -Kahuterawa Circuit

I fondly remember the first time I walked this circuit as I began 'serious' training for the Camino. It was all "new" then , but now the route has become a bit of an old friend. With less than three weeks now before I leave home, I donned my laden pack for a walk that I think is about 22km. I have seen lots of Camino photos where people, who are obviously making early morning starts, delight in taking a photo of their shadow. This wasn't such an early start, at 8am, but as the end of daylight saving has been delayed here this year, the sun hadn't long been up when I started. This is the only time in my life I will ever look skinny!

When I went to Craig Potton's lecture the other night, he talked about how he always had about 40 different obsessions on the go at once in his photography. So I no longer feel any guilt about announcing that I have an obsession with taking photos of rural letterboxes!
This lovely old house on Turitea Rd has always intrigued me. Usually I have passed by much earlier in the morning when it looks all closed up, and there has not been enough light on it for a photo. But this morning, a window was open and curtains were back.
This photo shows the 'high point' along Greens Rd, before you descend down to Kahuterawa Rd. I felt really nostalgic when I reached here today. It has always given me a thrill to arrive here to see the sudden view opening out across the plains to the ocean. And I am not sure whether I will stand here again before I leave home.

So, all in all it went pretty well carrying my pack. It was the necessary water bottles that made it feel slightly too heavy at the start. And as I drank their contents, and then ate my lunch, it all began to feel quite manageable...