Later that night

I went straight to sleep and stayed that way for three and a half hours, but then woke up far too hot, woke again two or three times still very warm, but didn't put on the A/C because I worried it might be too cold for Mum.
27/1/10

Up at 7am to another lovely morning. Yesterday we had decided to take a walk this morning and to visit Hamilton Gardens this afternoon. We breakfasted and dressed and set off at 7.50am up the road towards Maungakawa Scenic Reserve. Fran had said it wasn't far and there is a marvellous view from the top. We decided to walk up in the cool morning air and come back for lunch, then go on to Hamilton this afternoon. It was wonderful walking before the sun got up but (of course) it was a lot further than we had at first thought. We had taken some water, something to cover up with, the new hats and the camera. Fran had said just follow the road to the end and then the view point is another 100 metres up a track from there. Well it is now obvious that he has never walked it. It took us two hours to the top. It starts fairly flat from Liz's, becomes undulating and from about half way it goes from steep to very steep. The view from the top is amazing but the walk up has many marvellous views too. We both kept saying 'wow! look at that'
The top is a park made out of the grounds of an old sanatorium. There is a bit of it left, but not much. We got there about 10am and sat and marvelled, partly at the view, partly at the fact we had made it!

It was very hot in the sun and on the way up I had spotted a trail down through the forest so we decide to return that way. It was like being in the temperate rainforest zone at the Eden Project, all tree ferns and llianas.
Because there had been heavy rain last night the trail was wet but not soaking. If you grabbed at a lliana to save yourself from slipping you were rewarded with a shower. We rejoined the road after half an hour or forty minutes and started to walk back down. It was getting hotter. There were the biggest trees I have ever seen and a lone cockerel crowing in the forest. It was clear how the vegetation changed with the height of the land. The walk back was long and tedious mainly due to the very hot sun and lack of shade. We arrived back at Liz and Jim's at 12.04pm and sank thankfully into a chair. Shoes off and both doors open. I had a shower to cool down, then we had cheese and biscuits for lunch and scrubbed out the visit to Hamilton Gardens:- Mother was too tired, but then again she is 75 in a couple of days. I didn't feel too bad after the shower and food but I had developed a blister or two where my sandal strap had rubbed. We had a lazy afternoon sitting around and reading. Francis turned up on his way home from work and stayed about half an hour. We had a drink and went to bed early.