World New Zealand Tauranga

Carol & Gary's NZ adventure

Week 42 – Week ending 26 April 2009 – North Island, New Zealand Apr 26, 2009

We wake on Monday after a great night’s sleep and it is pouring rain. We set about hooking up the van and getting going from Gisborne. It is not the best day for towing but as long as the rain and wind holds off it should be an Ok trip. Pretty soon into the drive we start to climb a range and drive into a rainforesty type gorge. It is stunning particularly so because it is raining and it is in low cloud. We stopped at a roadside camp ground and Gary spotted some Rainbow trout feeding off the top and wandered off for a fish with the fly rod. The temperature has dropped considerably now. We continue on down the highway stopping here and there and eventually exit the gorge and into a complete landscape contrast that is green undulating rolling hills. We arrive at Opitiki and grab some lunch and head for Whakatane (pronounced fuck a tar nay). We drive along the coast for a bit and then drop into Whakatane. Our drive from Gisborne is only 165km but it ended up taking us over five hours due to all the stopping. We are staying at the Whakatane Holiday Park which is right on the Whakatane River and at $30/night is a bit steep but it does have grey water drainage which makes our lives a hell of a bit easier. After we got ourselves set up and the van swept out we drove to the Information Centre and found that there isn’t that much to do in Whakatane. We drove around the town and to the mouth of the river. By now we are freezing and the rain isn’t letting up so we head back to the van and get warmed up. We go to bed and listen to the gale force winds and rain outside. Today is the 18th anniversary of the first night we went out together. We can’t believe how quickly time has gone by.

We wake early on Tuesday and Gary said he was awake on and off during the night due to the wind gusts. It is pretty fresh this morning but the rain has eased off. It is mid morning before we get going and head into town. It is forecast for a top of 14 degrees today and with a fresh Southerly wind it is quite cool. We took a walk around the town centre and ended up back at the mouth of the river. It is the narrowest river mouth we have ever seen and at low tide it is maybe 20 metres wide. Vessels have three hours on either side of high tide to go in or out of the mouth and the bigger vessels are piloted in. It is also running some strong currents. We stopped and had a look at a significant Maori site and made our way to Video Ezy. We have decided to kick back with a DVD and we got out 88 Minutes which was OK. We had a lazy afternoon and Gary cooked a Lamb Shank Casserole for tea and as usual it was delicious especially with fresh crusty bread. We watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars and saw our favourite competitor Tamati take out the title.

We woke on Wednesday morning to a gorgeous day. We are packed up and on the road just after 10am. We are off to Tauranga. It is a lovely flat drive that hugs the coastline in many places and travels through some green farmland. Tauranga is only about 90km from Whakatane. Just before we get to Tauranga we travel through Te Puke which is the Kiwi fruit capital of NZ and they are everywhere. We are staying at the Tauranga Holiday Park and at $24/night it is great value. We drive in and set ourselves up in this gorgeous park. This is one of the best we have stayed in and it is cared for to within an inch of its life. Tauranga is built around a huge inlet/harbor. This inlet actually is about 55km long and ends at Bowentown. We had some lunch and went for a drive around town. The town area is delightful and the entertainment area is built right on the water front. This is such a busy place. We drove on over to Mt Maunganui which is situated on a sandy surf beach. The mountain is a dormant volcano cone standing at 232 metres high. There must have been a lot of volcanos around here years ago. Mt Maunganui is like a tiny tiny piece of the Gold Coast complete with high rise, boutique cafes and lots and lots of people. You wouldn’t think that NZ is in a recession when you see the people and development around here. We grabbed some groceries and headed back to the van. Our park is right on the water and it has a boardwalk around the edge so we took Logan and Poppy for a walk and got back inside before the cool air got too bad.

We wake on Thursday morning to a lovely sunny day. After a chat to another couple and their Bichon Friese dog we headed off for a drive up North to do a bit of fishing. The drive through here is really nice. We drove into a waterside town of Omokoroa and it is full of very expensive new homes that have amazing water views. On we drove through KatiKati and drove down to the water. KatiKati is known for the more than 40 murals that are all around the town. We drove into Bowentown and to Anzac Bay and up to the lookout. We decided to have a fish here so we parked the car on the beach and crawled around the rocks to a good spot. It was a bit tough going for the dogs (and me) walking on the sloping large rocks but we all got settled and enjoyed the serenity of the spot. Gary did a bit of lure fishing and I used some bait and lost some tackle on a snag. I started taking photos while Gary watched my line and pulled something in. It turned out to be a star fish with these five very long “legs” that actually looked like little snakes. To cut a long story short three times in a row Gary pulled in different star fish. Some old fool who was fishing nearby tried to tell Gary they were deep sea Octopus to which Gary replied “Well it is missing a couple of legs!” We watched a shag who has worked out that if he hangs around fisherpeople he is likely to get a feed. He was diving underwater looking for the star fish that Gary threw back in but he didn’t retrieve any of them. A hungry tummy and lack of fish called us away and we drove to KatiKati to have some lunch. We got home late in the day and decided to stay a few more nights here.

We wake on Friday and it is raining. We have a pretty lazy morning and drive into town to check out the Information Site and grab a few grocery items. We found a diesel mechanic and booked the Cruiser in for a service on Tuesday. It is pouring rain so after lunch we stay indoors for the rest of the day. We decided to head out for tea and a few drinks. We walked around the corner and caught the “Hopper” bus into the City. It was $2 each to go into town. Tauranga has a really nice bar and restaurant area so we sampled a few bars and had a nice meal. We ended up at an old English Pub which had a live band playing covers. They were really good and I went up to request some Aussie music. When they came back on to play Gary and I went up to dance and they pointed to me and said “this is for the Aussie over here”. It was very funny and so was our dancing! Everyone was having a great night. Eventually as we are so old, tiredness (and the taxi driver) drove us home! It was a really great night.

We wake early on Saturday after only a few hours sleep. The wind and rain kept waking us up. We get out of bed later in the morning and both feel a bit rough. It is Anzac Day so we watched some of the TV coverage. NZ doesn’t have a Public Holiday on Monday so the shops open after lunch today. We drove into town to check out some cameras and ended up wandering around for a bit. We headed back home again for another much needed sleep. That night we braved the horrendous weather and went out and got some fish and chips for tea.

We wake on Sunday after a great night’s sleep. The weather though is getting worse. I was talking to the lady at the holiday park and she said the rain is much needed as they have missed out on their normal rain fall. We are starting to see a pattern here with rain following us around the North Island. That’s great for the towns that need it but not so good for the tourists. We drove up to Athenree to have lunch with Max and Josie Moffatt. Max is my dad’s cousin and my second cousin. Athenree is about 50km north of here. We arrive at their place around 11am. Max and Josie have a gorgeous spot right on the estuary. They have and will always have uninterrupted views right onto the water. Logan and Poppy are welcomed inside and we have a great chat and catch up. Josie has invited some their friends (who are also neighbours) for lunch also. We met Garth and Trish and Max and his wife (I just cant remember her name). They are all lovely people and we have a delicious Roast Chicken and veg lunch complete with plenty of wine flowing. We had a desert of baked apples, bananas and custard and a cheese platter. The food was so yummy and we had a lot of laughs. Josie really is the “hostess with the mostess” and listening to all the stories of neighbourhood dinners and parties it sounds like “any excuse” will do for a get together! Later in the day we had a tour of both neighbours homes. Their homes are to the back of Max and Josie’s place and face the Tauranga Harbour. We made some arrangements to catch up with Max and Josie again later in the week. It was after 6pm when we set off for home. We had a light dinner and watched the news to see that 14 people have been killed in car accidents over this weekend. Five people died in one crash alone. Gary took Logan and Poppy out for their last pee of the night. About 1 hour later I got up and couldn’t find Poppy inside anywhere so Gary flew out of bed and we went outside to look for her. We couldn’t see her anywhere and it was pouring rain so we came back inside to double check again (as this seems surreal) and we went back outside to see her running towards the van soaking wet and dirty. She is a smart dog so I was fairly sure she wouldn’t go too far. Gary said when he took them out he didn’t have their leads on and he saw Poppy at the step about to jump in the van then he turned his head to watch Logan and walked Logan back inside and shut the door. Turns out Poppy must have walked under the van and not inside. As their beds are under our bed you cant always see them inside. So we were very lucky that she didn’t wander off.