Page 125 of Even Ground

She turns off the ignition and grabs her bag. “We’ll take one of the shorter walks. Let me show you some of my country.”

I follow her across the car park and into the building where she pays for tickets before I can stop her. It’s not until we reach the other side of the entrance that I understand—I catch my breath at what’s in front of me.

Steam rises from the ground in the distance, and Pania grabs hold of my hand and leads me down a walkway.

Being here makes me think of Yellowstone and how it was always one of those places I meant to visit and never got to. I’ve travelled the world but have usually been working, not often stopping long enough to see the sights.

This is another thing I’ve been missing out on.

The wooden walkway weaves its way toward a stronger sulphur smell, greenery on either side.

“We won’t go too far. Just a couple of things to look at, and then we can get back on the road. I don’t want to get to Napier too late, as I want to make a stop there too,” Pania says.

“You’re in charge. Keep leading the way.”

We walk for a few minutes before she points to something to the left. It’s not until we draw up to it that I realise we’re looking at boiling mud.

“I always liked just looking at it. You can’t touch it because it’s way too hot, but it’s just so freaky looking.”

I slip an arm around Pania’s waist and lean my head against hers.

“We went everywhere when I was a kid,” she says. “Mum and Dad had trouble conceiving after I was born, so I was an only child. But we have such a big family, there were always other kids to play with. Except for when we went on holiday—it would usually just be the three of us.”

The mud bubbles below us. It’s hypnotic in some ways, but my head is filled with Pania’s words. This is her letting me into her past, just as I let her into mine.

“Thank you,” I murmur.

“What for?” She pulls away, her eyes searching mine.

“Everything.”

Her nose twitches, and she grabs my hand. “There’s one more thing I used to love coming to see here. Let’s go.”

We walk along the pathway until we get to an area with a huge white rock.

“Now, we wait,” she says.

“What for?”

A burst of water comes up from the ground, and I grin, watching the geyser spray up into the air.

Pania laughs as mist settles on us.

“We’re not in any hurry, right?” I ask.

She shakes her head.

“Let’s stay and watch it again.”

* * *

We don’t stop for the rest of the trip, deciding instead to get there and go to the motel for the night before completing our mission the following day.

And at the end of a very long and twisty road, we reach a sign welcoming us to Hawke’s Bay. Something’s triggered in my memory from the map we looked at on my phone last night when Pania showed me where we were going.

“This is close, right?”

She nods. “We go through Napier and then head onto Hastings. Havelock North isn’t much farther.”

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