21.2.2015
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| New tent goes up OK |
After
camping for a weekend up north in our little bubble tent, we decided that our
advancing years deserved something a bit bigger and more robust. So we sold the
little one and our two ancient single inflatable mattresses to a younger and
more hardy cruiser.
By way of
preparation for our camping adventures to the South Island, (or The Mainland,
as folk who live there call it), we popped down to Whangerei to celebrate the
relaunching of “Scott-Free”, and try out
our new tent for the first time. Whangerei is actually pronounced “Fungeray”,
with the WH = F in NZ Maori names.
The first
time tent erection went well enough, but a breathalyzing road block on our way
back to the camp after our party, was a bit scary It was the first time I have ever had to blow
into one of those things, and although I had nominated myself as the driver,
and been very circumspect… (1 beer and 2 glasses of wine over 4 hours and a big
meal), it was still rather nerve wracking given
new reduced limit, (0.05%), and their “zero tolerance” philosophy.
Anyway, I
passed their test OK, and retired to our
new inflatable camp bed, with a Scotch , only to wake up with my hip digging
painfully into the ground. We thought it had lost pressure as the night got
colder.
The following week we loaded up Mrs Paki, and headed down to Orewa Beach, just north of Auckland, overlooking the Hauraki Gulf, and Great Barrier Island. We stayed at the Top 10 Holiday Park, which was excellent, and right on the beach. With the benefit of our Whangerei experience, the tent was erected in less than 10 minutes this time, but once again we woke up on the hard ground
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| Beautiful Orewa Beach just north of Auckland |
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| Sundowners from our campsite |
Then it was
off to Hamilton to watch the ICC RSA vs Zimbabwe cricket match. The tickets
cost us $67, but the very ordinary Hamilton camp site cost us $74, but had the
advantage of being only a 3km walk to Seddon Park.
There was a
great atmosphere in the ground and it was very strange to be surrounded by SA
accents and Afrikaans. SA were in big trouble early on, at 83/4 after 22 overs,
but were rescued by David Miller and JP Duminy’s record breaking 5th
wicket partnership of 256, and the 97 runs they scored in the last 5 overs.
Steyn and Berhardien bowled a shower ,
and Zim were ahead of the run rate right up until the last 7 overs when they
collapsed, and fell 65 runs short.
The team
shirts were priced around $130 ( R1300), so we decided to just wave our RSA
flag instead.
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| Sunset over Seddon Park |
We then
drove down to New Plymouth, and I had yet another interesting road experience……
pulled over by the “Stop/Go” lollipop man for “overtaking” in a restricted
30kph road works zone. I had been behind a 30 wheel heavy duty horse & trailer for the last 50 kms, and the
road was so narrow and winding that there was no way of overtaking. At the road works end, the truck moved to one
side at 5kph to let me pass, and I obliged, doing about 15-20kph, with a clear
road ahead (except for the lollipop man), and no solid line either. Apparently
,there is a bylaw in NZ that “there is no overtaking in a 30kph road work area,
under any circumstances”. It was all very official……I had to produce my own
scrap of paper and pen to record my name and vehicle registration number.
For this
serious transgression, I am likely to receive a reprimand from the traffic
authorities… Bloody ridiculous.
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| The beautiful Te Rewa Rewa bridge on the Coastal Cycle/Walking Track |
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| Same bridge framing Mt Taranaki |
New Plymouth
was lovely, with a super coastal walk, and the back drop of Mt Taranaki…… and a
“Warehouse”, where we were at last able
to exchange our leaking mattress for a new one.
It was then
on to Whangenui, through some lovely rain forest areas, in the foothills of Mt
Taranaki, where “Lucy”, (our GPS) took
us on a very interesting route.
The camp site was on the Whangenui river bank,
and very nice indeed ($37)....but freezing cold after the sun went down.
The town itself was also very attractive, with
beautiful old buildings, colourful flower beds, and hanging baskets of flowers
everywhere.
Next it was
down to Wellington, from where we had booked our ferry crossing to Picton, on
the South Island. One town we passed through on the way,
had us both in fits…. Whakahora……. Remember how they pronounce WH in NZ?
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