More at Matai Bay

Thursday 2nd November was a quiet day. After the rush to get to Paihia from Christchurch, and then coming up to Matai Bay, I was about ready to have a day doing very little. I even had a nap in the afternoon.

The following day Carolyn went to Kaitaia on her own to do laundry and shopping, while the rest of decided to go geocaching (www.geocaching.com). There was a geocache nearby, just under 700m away. The sky looked threatening however, and about half way there I decided to turn back in drizzle. We were back at the caravan only moments when blue sky started to reappear, so we decided to try again. Esther wasn't keen so had some time to herself reading (her favourite activity, I think!) while James, Abigail, and I set out to search for the geocache. Using the GPS in my android phone, and the geocaching application, the hunt took us over top of the small hill separating Matai Bay from the neighbouring bay. It was a bit of an adventure with scratchy gorse and other plants, and interestingly shaped trees. Once we reached the destination according to the GPS, it only took a couple of minutes before James spotted the geocache, a solid metal box the size of a large lunchbox. We signed the logbook contained therein, and James got to choose which of the numerous trinkets in the box to swap for a handful of yummy mint lollies - he chose a small rubber shark. The afternoon was a quiet one; Carolyn returned after lunch, and her and the children went to the beach for a bit of a swim. I fixed one of the bench seats in the caravan whose support had been cracked - I had a selection of tools with me, and a few spare bits of ply, but I'd forgotten to bring my vice-grips.

Saturday was another warm fine day, so I rounded up everyone early for an attempt at another geocache. This one was a bit further away, but looked like it didn't involve quite so much scrambling as the previous day. We walked to the neighbouring bay, and ambled along the golden crescent of sand, with the waves lapping gently nearby. It took nearly half an hour to reach the giant gnarled pohutukawa tree at the far end. There is also a jumble of smooth rocks that are great fun to play on. It took quite a bit of hunting, but finally it was Abigail who was triumphant in finding the hidden container. She swapped a small mouse statue for a handful of mints, and Carolyn wrote in the log book. It is a recent geocache - we were only the second people to find it. After the walk back to the caravan, we were ready for a good lunch. It was such a nice day, that we decided to head for the beach in the afternoon (although Esther had had enough and stayed behind to read). Despite it being a warm, fine Saturday, there were only a handful of groups scattered along the length of the beach. We found a spot and went for a swim in the cool sea amongst remnants of dead jellyfish. I'm just not built for cool water, and only managed to stay in for 10-15mins before my shivering forced me back to the beach to warm up. After a bit, Carolyn came out of the water and had a short rest, while James, Abigail and I made sandcastles. I taught them how to make tunnels in the sand (it has to be damp, and for strength it has to be compacted by smacking. Not too dry that it crumbles, or too wet that it has liquefaction issues during the compaction process). Carolyn and Abigail returned to the caravan, and James and I stayed on the beach until after 5pm - me having a peaceful rest on the beach, and James playing pretty-much non-stop in the waves. Before bed, Carolyn suggested I lock up the bikes, but I said, no - that I would hear if anyone tried to pinch the bikes. At 2:30am, I heard noises outside. Was it a bird on the roof? "No", said Carolyn, "they're asleep. Maybe it's a possum". I didn't think so, so I fumbled for the head torch and ventured outside (in my underwear) to confront the disturber of the peace. I had to walk between the tents to get enough distance to see what was going on on the roof. Carolyn was right. It was a possum. Not sure how it managed to get on to the roof. And in my half-awake (half-asleep?) state I was having trouble thinking about how to get it down. After a few moments thought ("Throw something? No, bad idea"), I grabbed the curled up clothesline string, and, holding on end, threw it on to the roof a couple of times. Meanwhile, Carolyn was in the caravan bathroom wondering if the possum would peer down at her through the open roof vent - it didn't. I went around the caravan, and my feeble attempts with the clothesline string must have frightened it down. I chased it up a tree, and it decided that munching on the native pohutukawa was a better nighttime activity than wandering around a barren caravan roof. I took a photo with my phone, but it turned out pretty poor.

We had a slow start today (Sunday). We had planned to go to church, but the nearest one was quite some drive away, and we were all pretty tired from the busy day (and night!) before. It was another lovely day so we all went to the beach in the afternoon and had a great time all playing in the sea. I managed to stay in maybe 20min before the cold forced me out - a new record for me!