We had planned on going to church on Boxing Day. We had been told of a couple of churches, and chose the nearest one after me having a look at the website. I was wrong. They didn't have a Boxing Day service. Never mind, I thought. We were early. We chose another church way across the other side of town, but near where we were going later that day. And, their service started at 10:15am, so we had more time to get there. Unfortunately, after wandering around the school where they meet, we concluded that they mustn't be having a boxing day service either! On the way we had passed a sign for a church with a similar name to the one we were looking for, so we back tracked and had a look, thinking that perhaps they had changed premises, but it wasn't the one we were looking for. By this time, it was getting too late to catch a morning service, so we gave up and went to visit the family whose house we were going to look after while they went on holiday. A lovely family, with a large house - certainly a contrast from the caravan (I mean that the house is a contrast from the caravan, not the "lovely family" bit!).
Monday saw us move across town to the house. The first thing we did was empty the caravan contents into the house. There was a pile of washing to be done, and the caravan was, after 6 weeks on the road with 5 people, in need of a good clean and tidy. The next few days merged into one another - I was feeling tired - I felt like I was getting Chronic Fatigue Syndrome back again, so had plenty of rest. Esther wasn't 100% either and got lots of rest. Carolyn soldiered on and did a magnificently thorough job on the inside of the caravan, and of putting up with us sickies. What a wonderfully diligent, capable, and compassionate wife I am blessed with!
By Thursday I was feeling better, and spent a large chunk of time outside with my togs on cleaning the outside of the caravan. Towards evening we all drove to Maraetai beach - we were staying a few minutes from the road to Maraetai Bay and enjoyed the pleasant rural drive. The women stayed in the car, and James and I went straight into the water. It was meal time, so the girls hunted down some fish and chips, while James and I headed for the wharf and I helped James overcome his fear and jump off the wharf into the water. It was about 2m off the water, which is quite a bit when you're 9 and can't swim very well. Once he had done it once, it was hard to stop him! I was jumping in too, as were a number of other people. Lots of fun.
Friday we went to see my nephew and his Mum and partner and had a lovely time talking and catching up. It was just supposed to be for morning tea but we ended up talking until after noon. By the time we got home after a stop at an educational shop it was mid afternoon. Carolyn then went off to the library, and I dozed on the couch reading a book.
Despite having the luxury of a large house to use, for which we are very grateful, both Carolyn and I don't feel like we are missing out on anything important by being in a caravan. If anything, the family feels a bit less cohesive because we have so much more room to spread out. Having said that, being able to have a good, readily accessible hot shower is certainly convenient (for some more than others!)
Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season, and thanks for the comments!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas from the land of Aucks.
We had planned to leave Dargaville on Tuesday, but we still had a bunch of library books to finish and return to the Dargaville library, and also it was very windy, so we had a quiet day. I managed to get half way through Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything". I'm up to page 256 (an easy number for a computer scientist to remember!), so will have to find the book in another library somewhere. It turned out to be a scorcher of a day, so in the late afternoon we all piled into the air-conditioned car and headed off to Kai-Iwi Lakes for a swim. The camp site was starting to fill up with long-term holiday makers from the 3-4 tents that were there on our last visit about a week ago. We had another great swim in the warm shallow waters. Just beyond the shallow shelf, where the water depth increases sharply, was a line of buoys marking the boundary of the swim and boat areas. The line was only anchored at each end, and Esther, Abigail and I swam out to one end, and then 'tight-rope walked' the rope holding the line of buoys - the line would sink under our weight, but allow us to keep our heads above water and our hands would be waving wildly underwater in our attempt to maintain balance. Because of the mostly overcast skies and the later time of day we had decided sunblock wasn't needed. We were wrong. Abigail, Carolyn, and I had got quite burnt. Esther had got out early because she gets cold even faster than I do and had been sitting in the car reading, and James was wearing a rash top, and is now brown enough that he has enough natural protection.
Wednesday then became the day of our departure. Another day of heat and humidity (even the locals were complaining!). We had hoped to get going early, but by the time we got to Dargaville and emptied the caravan waste (we couldn't use the dump station we had used previously, because now the bikes were on the back of the caravan, making us too long. At least it wasn't pouring with rain this time!), filled up the fresh water, and returned the books to the library, it was lunchtime. We drove a little way out of Dargaville and had lunch on the way to the Matakohe Kauri Museum. The museum is a fascinating place, and we could have spent much longer there if the air conditioning wasn't broken, and the children were able to last a bit longer without getting stroppy. By the time we had finished at the museum, we were all hot and bothered. We hadn't decided where to spend the night, and Carolyn said that, wherever it would be, she wanted to be able to go for a swim. After a quick look in the our book we settled on the DOC camp at Uretiti beach. Through the NZMCA, we were able to purchase a season pass for most of the DOC camps, although for some of the more popular camps, Uretiti included, the pass isn't valid from Dec 23 - Feb 1. Fortunately for us, it was Dec 22. We quickly parked the Caravan and headed to the beach for a refreshing swim in the cool of the evening. The cool waters soothed those of us who were sunburnt, and the waves were big enough to be lots of fun without being too scary.
The four bikes are proving to be a bit of a problem. They sit on a bike rack that sits on a towball that is attached to the back of the caravan. The rack needs regular tightening, and the straps that help hold the bike rack to the caravan and stop it jiggling too much get worn through. I've broken about four straps already. Just before the entrance to the Uretiti campsite I had checked the bikes - the strap was still tight, but the bike rack itself was loose. Unfortunatley, this is when I remembered that I had left the Allen key that tightens the bike rack on the back of the caravan, probably at the point of our departure that morning. When we had parked the caravan for the night, not even 10 minutes later, another strap had broken amd fallen off! I took the bikes off and instructed the children to go on a tour of the road we had travelled through the campsite to locate the missing strap and hook, which they found within a few minutes. Even though the children enjoy using the bikes, I'm not sure the children get enough use out of them to warrant the stress they cause. There's always that nagging concern when driving: "I wonder if the bikes are alright on the back of the caravan".
James and I woke early the next morning and saw a rabbit out the window. We chased it for a bit, and then headed down to the beach. There was a very large sand fortress near the high-tide mark which some children had constructed the previous day with the help of a spade. The incoming tide was just lapping at the edges, and James and I played and watched as the sand fortress battled against the inevitability of the ever-closer waves. After quite I while I thought I really should return to the caravan and cook breakfast (I'm the porridge expert). Opening the hatch to get the porridge revealed a mass of scurrying ants. They had come up from where the front of the caravan was resting on the ground. I spent the next good while killing and spraying ants. There was a small army of DOC workers outside sweeping the camp with ant posion - a bit frustrating that they didn't tell us the day before when we arrived that they had an ant problem - then I could have undertaken some pre-emptive ant defense action. It was after lunch when we finally left Uretiti Beach and headed south to Warkworth. On the way we stopped in Wellsford for a quick break, and I found a Firestone tyre shop which happened to have an Allen key that would fit the bike rack (which by that time was becoming uncomfortably loose and wobbly.) The quick break turned into a longer break, with the kids discovering the local library. We ended up having fish and chips before heading for our overnight stop just south of Warkworth.
We packed up smartly on Friday, Christmas Eve, and headed into Auckland. There were a few minor navigational issues once we arrived in Auckland, but we managed to get to the NZMCA park-over property in Henderson. It's a well setup place with a locked gate and small lounge available. I decided where to park, but after I had got out of the car, Carolyn insisted that my choice wasn't very good and perhaps it would be better facing the other direction. She reasoned that facing the other direction would allow us to get out easier. I pointed out that there was only one other bus in the property, and who would come here on Christmas eve anyway. Nevertheless, I relented and turned the caravan around. Carolyn was right. By the end of the day we had another 4 campervans arrive, and her suggestion for caravan placement was much superior to my own. It was a peaceful and (relatively!) stress free Christmas eve. We met some of the other campervanners, and the children played on their bikes in the nearby reserve.
In place of the traditional Christmas-time gifts, we had each member of the family write an encouraging note for each other member of the family. Much of the afternoon was taken up with family members scattered about finishing up their notes for each other.
Christmas day. We chose a church that we had heard of, Life Church, to attend for Chirstmas morning. With the help of google maps on my androd phone, I got us to the wrong end of a very long street (house number 965 instead of 95), but we had allowed plenty of time, and got to see a bit more of Auckland in the process. The church service was short and fun, with a brief message about the good news of Jesus Christ being wrapped up in the 'religion' of church, (in the same way as a gift is wrapped with wrapping paper), and how some people don't get past the wrapping paper to discover the gift. Following church we drove to the summit of Mt. Eden, but it was cold and windy, so we didn't linger. James was very interested in the Volcano crater at the top though, and asked heaps of questions, most of which I was able to answer, though some (Will it blow up again? When will it happen?) were answered somewhat speculatively. After our descent we drove into a very quiet downtown Auckland (ooh look! There's the skytower), and Carolyn (the driver) managed to figure out how to get on the motorway heading towards our caravan despite the help from me (and google maps). After a pancake lunch we sat around the table and shared our encouraging notes to each other. It was a special family time of sharing that we all enjoyed. It was delightful to see what we had all come up with for each other. To pass the rest of the afternoon, we all watched the DVD 'The Fiddler on the Roof'. It is a long movie, but we all sat engrossed for the full 3 hours. Carolyn had bought it (for $2.49 at the red shed) after hearing about it in a book we are reading to the children ('Where Arrows Fly', the sequel to 'Where Lions Roar at Night'). After dinner we went for a pleast cycle and walk in the neighbouring reserve and watch another movie, before bedtime for the children, and updating the blog for me!
I appreciate reading your blog comments, it helps me know there are people reading! Merry Christmas!
Wednesday then became the day of our departure. Another day of heat and humidity (even the locals were complaining!). We had hoped to get going early, but by the time we got to Dargaville and emptied the caravan waste (we couldn't use the dump station we had used previously, because now the bikes were on the back of the caravan, making us too long. At least it wasn't pouring with rain this time!), filled up the fresh water, and returned the books to the library, it was lunchtime. We drove a little way out of Dargaville and had lunch on the way to the Matakohe Kauri Museum. The museum is a fascinating place, and we could have spent much longer there if the air conditioning wasn't broken, and the children were able to last a bit longer without getting stroppy. By the time we had finished at the museum, we were all hot and bothered. We hadn't decided where to spend the night, and Carolyn said that, wherever it would be, she wanted to be able to go for a swim. After a quick look in the our book we settled on the DOC camp at Uretiti beach. Through the NZMCA, we were able to purchase a season pass for most of the DOC camps, although for some of the more popular camps, Uretiti included, the pass isn't valid from Dec 23 - Feb 1. Fortunately for us, it was Dec 22. We quickly parked the Caravan and headed to the beach for a refreshing swim in the cool of the evening. The cool waters soothed those of us who were sunburnt, and the waves were big enough to be lots of fun without being too scary.
The four bikes are proving to be a bit of a problem. They sit on a bike rack that sits on a towball that is attached to the back of the caravan. The rack needs regular tightening, and the straps that help hold the bike rack to the caravan and stop it jiggling too much get worn through. I've broken about four straps already. Just before the entrance to the Uretiti campsite I had checked the bikes - the strap was still tight, but the bike rack itself was loose. Unfortunatley, this is when I remembered that I had left the Allen key that tightens the bike rack on the back of the caravan, probably at the point of our departure that morning. When we had parked the caravan for the night, not even 10 minutes later, another strap had broken amd fallen off! I took the bikes off and instructed the children to go on a tour of the road we had travelled through the campsite to locate the missing strap and hook, which they found within a few minutes. Even though the children enjoy using the bikes, I'm not sure the children get enough use out of them to warrant the stress they cause. There's always that nagging concern when driving: "I wonder if the bikes are alright on the back of the caravan".
James and I woke early the next morning and saw a rabbit out the window. We chased it for a bit, and then headed down to the beach. There was a very large sand fortress near the high-tide mark which some children had constructed the previous day with the help of a spade. The incoming tide was just lapping at the edges, and James and I played and watched as the sand fortress battled against the inevitability of the ever-closer waves. After quite I while I thought I really should return to the caravan and cook breakfast (I'm the porridge expert). Opening the hatch to get the porridge revealed a mass of scurrying ants. They had come up from where the front of the caravan was resting on the ground. I spent the next good while killing and spraying ants. There was a small army of DOC workers outside sweeping the camp with ant posion - a bit frustrating that they didn't tell us the day before when we arrived that they had an ant problem - then I could have undertaken some pre-emptive ant defense action. It was after lunch when we finally left Uretiti Beach and headed south to Warkworth. On the way we stopped in Wellsford for a quick break, and I found a Firestone tyre shop which happened to have an Allen key that would fit the bike rack (which by that time was becoming uncomfortably loose and wobbly.) The quick break turned into a longer break, with the kids discovering the local library. We ended up having fish and chips before heading for our overnight stop just south of Warkworth.
We packed up smartly on Friday, Christmas Eve, and headed into Auckland. There were a few minor navigational issues once we arrived in Auckland, but we managed to get to the NZMCA park-over property in Henderson. It's a well setup place with a locked gate and small lounge available. I decided where to park, but after I had got out of the car, Carolyn insisted that my choice wasn't very good and perhaps it would be better facing the other direction. She reasoned that facing the other direction would allow us to get out easier. I pointed out that there was only one other bus in the property, and who would come here on Christmas eve anyway. Nevertheless, I relented and turned the caravan around. Carolyn was right. By the end of the day we had another 4 campervans arrive, and her suggestion for caravan placement was much superior to my own. It was a peaceful and (relatively!) stress free Christmas eve. We met some of the other campervanners, and the children played on their bikes in the nearby reserve.
In place of the traditional Christmas-time gifts, we had each member of the family write an encouraging note for each other member of the family. Much of the afternoon was taken up with family members scattered about finishing up their notes for each other.
Christmas day. We chose a church that we had heard of, Life Church, to attend for Chirstmas morning. With the help of google maps on my androd phone, I got us to the wrong end of a very long street (house number 965 instead of 95), but we had allowed plenty of time, and got to see a bit more of Auckland in the process. The church service was short and fun, with a brief message about the good news of Jesus Christ being wrapped up in the 'religion' of church, (in the same way as a gift is wrapped with wrapping paper), and how some people don't get past the wrapping paper to discover the gift. Following church we drove to the summit of Mt. Eden, but it was cold and windy, so we didn't linger. James was very interested in the Volcano crater at the top though, and asked heaps of questions, most of which I was able to answer, though some (Will it blow up again? When will it happen?) were answered somewhat speculatively. After our descent we drove into a very quiet downtown Auckland (ooh look! There's the skytower), and Carolyn (the driver) managed to figure out how to get on the motorway heading towards our caravan despite the help from me (and google maps). After a pancake lunch we sat around the table and shared our encouraging notes to each other. It was a special family time of sharing that we all enjoyed. It was delightful to see what we had all come up with for each other. To pass the rest of the afternoon, we all watched the DVD 'The Fiddler on the Roof'. It is a long movie, but we all sat engrossed for the full 3 hours. Carolyn had bought it (for $2.49 at the red shed) after hearing about it in a book we are reading to the children ('Where Arrows Fly', the sequel to 'Where Lions Roar at Night'). After dinner we went for a pleast cycle and walk in the neighbouring reserve and watch another movie, before bedtime for the children, and updating the blog for me!
I appreciate reading your blog comments, it helps me know there are people reading! Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Rain
It's been raining. And raining. We've been mostly holed up in the caravan and tent with a pile of library books and some DVDs. Late this morning the rain finally stopped for a while, and a bit of breeze dried out the tent, so we packed it before the next lot of rain arrives. I'm briefly borrowing the internet of the house where we are parked behind, so just a quick update today.
We went to church in Dargaville yesterday, which we all enjoyed. They had a lunch afterwards which we were invited to.
James and I visited the local school pool with the neighbours (they have a key). Even though it is raining a lot, it's still easily warm enough to swim. Today is particularly humid - I'm struggling a bit with the humidity - I think it gives me headaches.
The three houses that are nearby (the only three houses for quite a distance) have about 10 cats between them. Four in particular have 'adopted' us, much to the delight of the kids, though the cats can be a bit annoying in the evening when the children are trying to get to sleep.
We are heading off tomorrow or the next day. Not too sure where we'll end up.
We went to church in Dargaville yesterday, which we all enjoyed. They had a lunch afterwards which we were invited to.
James and I visited the local school pool with the neighbours (they have a key). Even though it is raining a lot, it's still easily warm enough to swim. Today is particularly humid - I'm struggling a bit with the humidity - I think it gives me headaches.
The three houses that are nearby (the only three houses for quite a distance) have about 10 cats between them. Four in particular have 'adopted' us, much to the delight of the kids, though the cats can be a bit annoying in the evening when the children are trying to get to sleep.
We are heading off tomorrow or the next day. Not too sure where we'll end up.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
On to Dargaville
About a week ago (Saturday 11th December) we left Spirits Bay and headed South. On the way we stopped at a Kauri shop just north of Kaitaia. It has a spiral staircase up the *inside* of a Kauri log. Really neat. After a bit too long of a stop at Kaikohe, we didn't get to Opononi until evening. Unfortunately, we had quite a bit of trouble locating the place where we were going to stay. The GPS coordinates were incorrect, as were the directions. We ended up on a dodgy narrow dirt track, and had to do a tricky 3-point turn between two blind curves using a steep farm track. After a bit of stress, I finally just typed in the address to google (once we had reception) and it located it fine. It is a pleasant spot overlooking the Hokianga harbour.
On Sunday we were all too tired to do much of anything. The kids tried a bit of fishing in the afternoon after having seen quite a few fish earlier in the day, but only managed to catch two lots of seaweed, the back of Esther's shirt, and a rusty iron bar. There were a couple of small single-room shacks on the land, one of which was occupied by a guy, and his girlfriend (?). They proceeded to argue very loudly together about every hour or two. I wasn't trying to listen, but the argument always seemed to be the same. They didn't stop to sleep either: 11:30pm, 2am, 3am, 5:30am, and I probably missed a few! It was a blessing that the kids managed to sleep through it. There were three other couples staying there, each with a small house bus. They weren't happy about the situation either.
After a lousy sleep on Sunday night, we decided we had to move on, and stopped for lunch at Waipoua Forest. We did the walk to Tane Mahuta, the largest (living) tree in New Zealand, and then a little further along did the walk to the Yakas Kauri (you can touch this monster, but it takes over half an hour to walk there). It was mostly overcast, but a hot, humid day - weather that isn't experienced in Christchurch. We were all grateful that the air-conditioning had been fixed in the car. Late afternoon saw us arrive at our destination - the back paddock of a guy who lives in Aranga (about half an hour's drive north of Dargaville). No phone (or anything else) coverage.
We went to Dargaville on Tuesday, and somehow managed to join the library and get out over a dozen books and a few DVDs (including Toy Story 3 - had just arrived). It looks like we'll be here for a week or so. The afternoon and evening was spent reading and watching DVDs.
On Wednesday we woke up to drizzle. Unfortunately, our extender awning (no sides, just roof) collects water, and it had a couple of large bucketfuls in it. A blessing in disguise though, because we just realised that we had run out of fresh water! We poured it carefully off the awning, and most of it managed to get stored in a bucket and the chilly bin, with the remainder hitting the grass or James. I then lowered the awning a bit so that the rain would run off instead of pool. We thought we would go for a bit of an explore, and drove down the road to Kai Iwi Lakes - three sand-dune lakes. We decided to go for a swim, even though it looked like rain was coming. The lake, which has a wide, shallow shelf, was surprisingly warm and we had a fun time swimming out to the buoys from Pine Beach (which has no pines anymore, they were all recently cut down.) On the way back home we took a diversion down to Mangonui Bluff where the prevailing westerly has twisted the trees into hunchbacked shapes and a small collection of baches huddle together. There was a rather steep 4wd track ("Council Maintenance Ends Here" read the sign) down onto a wild west-coast beach with soft sand and a nearly full tide. The family (one child in particular) were freaking out a bit, so I did a donut and headed back up the steep track only to get stuck in soft sand. Reversed a bit, and then gunned it up the sand and on to the bouncy 4wd track and up onto the normal (council-maintained) road. Great fun. Except the large container in the back that was half full of water had lost about 10 litres and was now about a quarter full.
Thursday. The rain started about 6am and has been going pretty much ever since. I rigged up a wool-yarn drain for the awning and filled up a couple of buckets of fresh water, but our black-water tank needed emptying, so we left the tent pitched where it was, packed up the caravan a bit and headed into Dargaville to empty the waste tanks, and fill the fresh water tank (in the pouring rain). The first dump place wasn't suitable for the length of our vehicle or the waste hose fitting on our vehicle. The second dump place was even less suitable for our vehicle, but a bit of creative manoeuvring (touching the fence with the caravan) saw us (actually 'me') manage to do the job. Caravan living certainly requires a bit more thought - Receptacles you want filled (fresh water, gas bottle, fuel tank, bank balance, fridge) are always getting emptied, and those you want empty (black water, gray water) are always getting filled!
On Sunday we were all too tired to do much of anything. The kids tried a bit of fishing in the afternoon after having seen quite a few fish earlier in the day, but only managed to catch two lots of seaweed, the back of Esther's shirt, and a rusty iron bar. There were a couple of small single-room shacks on the land, one of which was occupied by a guy, and his girlfriend (?). They proceeded to argue very loudly together about every hour or two. I wasn't trying to listen, but the argument always seemed to be the same. They didn't stop to sleep either: 11:30pm, 2am, 3am, 5:30am, and I probably missed a few! It was a blessing that the kids managed to sleep through it. There were three other couples staying there, each with a small house bus. They weren't happy about the situation either.
After a lousy sleep on Sunday night, we decided we had to move on, and stopped for lunch at Waipoua Forest. We did the walk to Tane Mahuta, the largest (living) tree in New Zealand, and then a little further along did the walk to the Yakas Kauri (you can touch this monster, but it takes over half an hour to walk there). It was mostly overcast, but a hot, humid day - weather that isn't experienced in Christchurch. We were all grateful that the air-conditioning had been fixed in the car. Late afternoon saw us arrive at our destination - the back paddock of a guy who lives in Aranga (about half an hour's drive north of Dargaville). No phone (or anything else) coverage.
We went to Dargaville on Tuesday, and somehow managed to join the library and get out over a dozen books and a few DVDs (including Toy Story 3 - had just arrived). It looks like we'll be here for a week or so. The afternoon and evening was spent reading and watching DVDs.
On Wednesday we woke up to drizzle. Unfortunately, our extender awning (no sides, just roof) collects water, and it had a couple of large bucketfuls in it. A blessing in disguise though, because we just realised that we had run out of fresh water! We poured it carefully off the awning, and most of it managed to get stored in a bucket and the chilly bin, with the remainder hitting the grass or James. I then lowered the awning a bit so that the rain would run off instead of pool. We thought we would go for a bit of an explore, and drove down the road to Kai Iwi Lakes - three sand-dune lakes. We decided to go for a swim, even though it looked like rain was coming. The lake, which has a wide, shallow shelf, was surprisingly warm and we had a fun time swimming out to the buoys from Pine Beach (which has no pines anymore, they were all recently cut down.) On the way back home we took a diversion down to Mangonui Bluff where the prevailing westerly has twisted the trees into hunchbacked shapes and a small collection of baches huddle together. There was a rather steep 4wd track ("Council Maintenance Ends Here" read the sign) down onto a wild west-coast beach with soft sand and a nearly full tide. The family (one child in particular) were freaking out a bit, so I did a donut and headed back up the steep track only to get stuck in soft sand. Reversed a bit, and then gunned it up the sand and on to the bouncy 4wd track and up onto the normal (council-maintained) road. Great fun. Except the large container in the back that was half full of water had lost about 10 litres and was now about a quarter full.
Thursday. The rain started about 6am and has been going pretty much ever since. I rigged up a wool-yarn drain for the awning and filled up a couple of buckets of fresh water, but our black-water tank needed emptying, so we left the tent pitched where it was, packed up the caravan a bit and headed into Dargaville to empty the waste tanks, and fill the fresh water tank (in the pouring rain). The first dump place wasn't suitable for the length of our vehicle or the waste hose fitting on our vehicle. The second dump place was even less suitable for our vehicle, but a bit of creative manoeuvring (touching the fence with the caravan) saw us (actually 'me') manage to do the job. Caravan living certainly requires a bit more thought - Receptacles you want filled (fresh water, gas bottle, fuel tank, bank balance, fridge) are always getting emptied, and those you want empty (black water, gray water) are always getting filled!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Spirits Bay
We packed up our site on Monday morning. It took us all morning! It is suprising how spread out and settled in we become after staying in one place for nearly two weeks. Finally, shortly after noon we said goodbye to Maitai Bay and headed for a chore-stop in Kaitaia. We had a large load of washing to do, lunch to have, groceries to buy, a gas bottle to fill, insect defence arsenal to stockpile, and black and gray water tanks to empty. Everything went smoothly except dumping the waste from the caravan. The car park where the waste facility is located was being resurfaced, which meant the dump point was slightly higher than the caravan outlet, but not only that, the position and shape of the curb in relation the dump point was such that I was never going to get the caravan close enough without damage. I'm getting pretty good at backing the caravan now, but that dump station was beyond me. We checked on our map where else we could go to dump. There are two camp grounds with waste dumping facilities on the road to Cape Reinga, so we decided to stop at one of those and pay the dumping fee. We stopped at the second, just over 40km north of Kaitaia, but they had a policy of no dumping unless you stayed the night. Everyone up there has septic tanks, apparently, so understandably no one likes to let passers-by dump waste. We were getting somewhat concerned at this point that we would have no where to dump our poo and wee so we turned back down the road for 5 minutes to the first campground hoping that we could make them an offer. Fortunately they were happy to take our waste for $5, and let us fill our freshwater for another $5. By this time it was early evening, and we still had quite a bit of travelling ahead of us. In particular, the road in to Spirits bay is a winding, unsealed, washer-boarded track. I quite like driving on that sort of road, but the rest of the family weren't too keen, and it was the end of the day. Finally, just on sunset at about 8pm, we arrived at the DOC campground at Spirits Bay. To the delight of Esther and Abigail, we chose a site just opposite the river from a field of horses (including three young foals). We quickly pitched the tents and got set up for the evening, and settled in to a good night's sleep.
Tuesday morning dawned clear and warm. James and I wandered off to explore the beach - the white sand curved to the left for a number of miles towards Cape Reinga, visible in the distance. To the right was a small island and bay, ending abruptly in steep bush and grass covered hills. There was a half decomposed body of a whale lying a short ditance away on the beach, much to the interest of James, and in our wandering spotted a few dead penguins washed up also. Little blue penguins, I think. After lunch James and I left the girls to watch a recorded TV program (the Austalian X-Factor final) and headed for the beach. It was a warm sunny day, and the water was warm enough for a good play. First we had climbed the small island, and on our way back down James spotted a stingray in the clear waters right near where we were planning to swim. This didn't deter us as the water was clear enough for excellent visibility, although this is the season for fish eggs to wash up in their multitudes, and the first few meters of water was thick with the transparent jelly-like globules. After a while we tired of going over and under waves and, as the tide was out, instead focussed on civil construction techniques concerning a small stream flowing down through the sand. We dug, channeled, banked, and reinforced without any regard for time until Carolyn and the girls came down with their togs. We had another lovely swim, coaxing them in despite the stingray story and the fish eggs. It was evening by the time we all returned to the caravan. The children have named about a dozen of the horses in the paddock on the other side of the river.
Wednesday started out quietly. I had a long nap late morning, only resurfacing for lunch. In the afternoon the kids and I tackled the steep hill on the other side of the river. We had spotted some horses half way up the hill earlier in the day, but it looked like they had gone. However when we reached the small crest half-way up we saw 7-8 horses calmly munching on the grass and scratching themselves on the cabbage trees and pohutukawa. We continued to the top, and were rewarded with a magnificent view out to Cape Reinga and along the length of Spirits Bay.
Thursday saw us pile into the car and head for Cape Reinga and the lighthouse, then we turned around and drove down the dusty track to Te Paki stream, the northern vehicle entrance to 90 mile beach. We had a great time blasting down through stream, spraying water in all directions, but when we got to the beach the tide was in, so we turned around and splashed our way back up. Even Carolyn had a go at driving. The sand dunes there are monsters, I never knew NZ had dunes like it. I felt as if I was in Saudi Arabia. We couldn't afford the $15 each to hire the boards for sliding down the sand dunes, but had a go using one of our boogie boards (The guy hiring boards calls them 'brake pads'), but they have too much grip. The sand was very hot. Too hot to stand in for very long even for my feet which haven't seen shoes for 4 weeks now. On the return journey we were a little concerned about our fuel level, so at the turnoff to go back to Spirits Bay decided to head south to find the nearest fuel stop. It's a few hundred metres down the road and around a corner! It has to be one of the most expensive petrol stations in the country though. Diesel was 189c per litre compared to about 133c in Kaitaia! I put in enough to make sure we could get to Kaitaia with the caravan. On the plus side they sold huge icecreams.
The kids and I went for a short bike ride on Friday morning, but it was too hot to do much exercise. Carolyn, James, and I went to the beach for a swim in the afternoon, and on our return to the caravan were met by Esther running towards us telling us that Abigail had just found a kitten! It was small, vocal, and looked like it hadn't eaten for quite a while. We had some chicken defrosting in the fridge, a small portion of which the kitten greedily gobbled down. The children were extremely excited to have a cute kitten to play with, but we are in a DOC campsite, and no pets are allowed. Unfortunately, the DOC workers which had been working around the campsite during the week hadn't come back today, and there is no cell-phone coverage nearby. We had to drive 10 minutes to the top of the road to get cell coverage to ring DOC, and even then only Caroyn's phone worked, and not my expensive Android phone (I don't know why it wouldn't work. I could get 2-3 bars, but it wouldn't call or do mobile internet). Fortunately some DOC workers were reasonably close (an hour away) and could come to pick up the kitten. The children were all upset to see it go. Amazing how attached they became to the cute furry animal in just a few hours. We are planning on leaving tomorrow and heading somewhere south of Kaitaia, so hopefully we can post this on the way when we get mobile coverage.
Yes. The McDonalds in Kaikohe has free wifi. So here's the post. The laptop battery is running low though....
Tuesday morning dawned clear and warm. James and I wandered off to explore the beach - the white sand curved to the left for a number of miles towards Cape Reinga, visible in the distance. To the right was a small island and bay, ending abruptly in steep bush and grass covered hills. There was a half decomposed body of a whale lying a short ditance away on the beach, much to the interest of James, and in our wandering spotted a few dead penguins washed up also. Little blue penguins, I think. After lunch James and I left the girls to watch a recorded TV program (the Austalian X-Factor final) and headed for the beach. It was a warm sunny day, and the water was warm enough for a good play. First we had climbed the small island, and on our way back down James spotted a stingray in the clear waters right near where we were planning to swim. This didn't deter us as the water was clear enough for excellent visibility, although this is the season for fish eggs to wash up in their multitudes, and the first few meters of water was thick with the transparent jelly-like globules. After a while we tired of going over and under waves and, as the tide was out, instead focussed on civil construction techniques concerning a small stream flowing down through the sand. We dug, channeled, banked, and reinforced without any regard for time until Carolyn and the girls came down with their togs. We had another lovely swim, coaxing them in despite the stingray story and the fish eggs. It was evening by the time we all returned to the caravan. The children have named about a dozen of the horses in the paddock on the other side of the river.
Wednesday started out quietly. I had a long nap late morning, only resurfacing for lunch. In the afternoon the kids and I tackled the steep hill on the other side of the river. We had spotted some horses half way up the hill earlier in the day, but it looked like they had gone. However when we reached the small crest half-way up we saw 7-8 horses calmly munching on the grass and scratching themselves on the cabbage trees and pohutukawa. We continued to the top, and were rewarded with a magnificent view out to Cape Reinga and along the length of Spirits Bay.
Thursday saw us pile into the car and head for Cape Reinga and the lighthouse, then we turned around and drove down the dusty track to Te Paki stream, the northern vehicle entrance to 90 mile beach. We had a great time blasting down through stream, spraying water in all directions, but when we got to the beach the tide was in, so we turned around and splashed our way back up. Even Carolyn had a go at driving. The sand dunes there are monsters, I never knew NZ had dunes like it. I felt as if I was in Saudi Arabia. We couldn't afford the $15 each to hire the boards for sliding down the sand dunes, but had a go using one of our boogie boards (The guy hiring boards calls them 'brake pads'), but they have too much grip. The sand was very hot. Too hot to stand in for very long even for my feet which haven't seen shoes for 4 weeks now. On the return journey we were a little concerned about our fuel level, so at the turnoff to go back to Spirits Bay decided to head south to find the nearest fuel stop. It's a few hundred metres down the road and around a corner! It has to be one of the most expensive petrol stations in the country though. Diesel was 189c per litre compared to about 133c in Kaitaia! I put in enough to make sure we could get to Kaitaia with the caravan. On the plus side they sold huge icecreams.
The kids and I went for a short bike ride on Friday morning, but it was too hot to do much exercise. Carolyn, James, and I went to the beach for a swim in the afternoon, and on our return to the caravan were met by Esther running towards us telling us that Abigail had just found a kitten! It was small, vocal, and looked like it hadn't eaten for quite a while. We had some chicken defrosting in the fridge, a small portion of which the kitten greedily gobbled down. The children were extremely excited to have a cute kitten to play with, but we are in a DOC campsite, and no pets are allowed. Unfortunately, the DOC workers which had been working around the campsite during the week hadn't come back today, and there is no cell-phone coverage nearby. We had to drive 10 minutes to the top of the road to get cell coverage to ring DOC, and even then only Caroyn's phone worked, and not my expensive Android phone (I don't know why it wouldn't work. I could get 2-3 bars, but it wouldn't call or do mobile internet). Fortunately some DOC workers were reasonably close (an hour away) and could come to pick up the kitten. The children were all upset to see it go. Amazing how attached they became to the cute furry animal in just a few hours. We are planning on leaving tomorrow and heading somewhere south of Kaitaia, so hopefully we can post this on the way when we get mobile coverage.
Yes. The McDonalds in Kaikohe has free wifi. So here's the post. The laptop battery is running low though....
Monday, December 6, 2010
Fishing and Frogs
It's now Monday morning, Dec 6.
We survived the weekend. The two-night teen party passed without major problems for us. It was noisy - until about midnight, so we didn't get as much sleep as normal. We all slept in the Caravan, rather than the usual configuration of the kids in the tents, and me in the caravan. If our site wasn't so well established with tents and clotheslines etc. we would have moved. It was an eye-opening event for the children, who could see first-hand the negative effects of excessive alcohol.
We woke early on Sunday, and drove the 1.5 hours to Kerikeri to go to church before picking up Carolyn at the airport. I had searched for 'church in kerikeri' on google maps, and, of the four results returned, had chosen frontline church. They were very welcoming and friendly, and had a lovely morning tea available after the service. We weren't planning to stay for morning tea, but Carolyn's plane had been delayed 10 minutes, so we had a short time to stop and chat. The airport was close by, but a little further than I had thought. As we neared the airport I couldn't see the plane at the terminal, so I said to the kids to watch out to see if we could see it coming in. We parked, and then while walking to the terminal suddenly all realised that Carolyn's plane was just coming to a stop beside it. We all ran to the outside viewing area with a few seconds to spare; the plane door was lowered, and Carolyn, who had managed to get the very front seat with a view out the cockpit, was excitedly waving from her seat to us. We stayed long enough in Kerikeri to grab some fruit and vegetables, and then headed for 'home'.
Carolyn, for some reason, had bought while in Christchurch three hand-lines for fishing, and the kids were eager to try them out. Many people enjoy fishing, but I am not one of them. Nevertheless, for the sake of the children I relented. While Carolyn had a nap, the kids and I scrambled around the rocks for 15 minutes or so until we came to a safe place to drop the lines. We used salami for bait and succeeding in catching seaweed, snagging the lines on the rocks, and James managed an impressive knot. As the children were going to bed in the evening, just on dark, Esther nearly stepped on a rather large frog. Much commotion ensued as James tried (and eventually succeeded) to pick up the frog. He didn't hold it firm enough and it jumped up Abigail's arm. It was recaptured with much excited shouting, and I managed to get a half-decent photo of it. Frogs are his favourite animal (and green is his favourite colour), so you can imagine how excited he was.
We are planning to head up to Spirits Bay near Cape Reinga, probably today. I doubt there is any mobile coverage up there, so this could be the last post for a week or so.
We survived the weekend. The two-night teen party passed without major problems for us. It was noisy - until about midnight, so we didn't get as much sleep as normal. We all slept in the Caravan, rather than the usual configuration of the kids in the tents, and me in the caravan. If our site wasn't so well established with tents and clotheslines etc. we would have moved. It was an eye-opening event for the children, who could see first-hand the negative effects of excessive alcohol.
We woke early on Sunday, and drove the 1.5 hours to Kerikeri to go to church before picking up Carolyn at the airport. I had searched for 'church in kerikeri' on google maps, and, of the four results returned, had chosen frontline church. They were very welcoming and friendly, and had a lovely morning tea available after the service. We weren't planning to stay for morning tea, but Carolyn's plane had been delayed 10 minutes, so we had a short time to stop and chat. The airport was close by, but a little further than I had thought. As we neared the airport I couldn't see the plane at the terminal, so I said to the kids to watch out to see if we could see it coming in. We parked, and then while walking to the terminal suddenly all realised that Carolyn's plane was just coming to a stop beside it. We all ran to the outside viewing area with a few seconds to spare; the plane door was lowered, and Carolyn, who had managed to get the very front seat with a view out the cockpit, was excitedly waving from her seat to us. We stayed long enough in Kerikeri to grab some fruit and vegetables, and then headed for 'home'.
Carolyn, for some reason, had bought while in Christchurch three hand-lines for fishing, and the kids were eager to try them out. Many people enjoy fishing, but I am not one of them. Nevertheless, for the sake of the children I relented. While Carolyn had a nap, the kids and I scrambled around the rocks for 15 minutes or so until we came to a safe place to drop the lines. We used salami for bait and succeeding in catching seaweed, snagging the lines on the rocks, and James managed an impressive knot. As the children were going to bed in the evening, just on dark, Esther nearly stepped on a rather large frog. Much commotion ensued as James tried (and eventually succeeded) to pick up the frog. He didn't hold it firm enough and it jumped up Abigail's arm. It was recaptured with much excited shouting, and I managed to get a half-decent photo of it. Frogs are his favourite animal (and green is his favourite colour), so you can imagine how excited he was.
We are planning to head up to Spirits Bay near Cape Reinga, probably today. I doubt there is any mobile coverage up there, so this could be the last post for a week or so.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Matai is Maitai
It is now Friday, 3 Dec.
The days are starting to merge together. We are still at Maitai Bay (the name was corrected from Matai to Maitai a few years back, a local was telling me). We have been swimming and playing at the beach often. But this week has been dominated first by the news that Carolyn's last remaining grandparent was ill, and then by his passing. Yesterday we drove to KeriKeri airport (about an hour and a half) to drop Carolyn off to go back to Christchurch for the funeral. She will be back on Sunday.
I explored a sea cave with James earlier in the week. It was quite a scramble around the rocks, and the cave was surprisingly deep. We had brought James's small wind-up LED torch with us 'just in case', and I ended up wishing we had brought my head torch. He is enjoying having adventures every day. The kids and I also biked over the other side of the peninsula to Karikari beach. It has sand that is much whiter (higher silica content?) than Maitai Bay, and a large selection of interesting shells and bits of coral.
The roar of the waves was unusually loud last night, and this morning when I went to check, I saw waves that were far-and-away the largest we have seen at the beach by a factor of 3 at least. The were rolling in thick and fast and dumping themselves loudly on the beach. After morning tea I took the children down and we went swimming. I only ventured in as far as my waist. The waves were still breaking quite a bit further out, but even then, most were a seething mass of white water the height of my head by the time they reached me. The children loved it. They learnt how to dive under the big waves, did boogie boarding, and general big-wave play for nearly two hours. By the time we got back, the area behind us was a loud teen-tent city. The year-13 students at a nearby highschool have taken it over for a two-night party. There's probably about 40 tents. I mentioned to the kids that I should toot the car horn (it's really loud) at 6am if they keep us up tonight. But then I said that I wouldn't, because we are christians, and that sort of tit-for-tat behaviour isn't the sort of thing we should do. But boy, is it tempting.
The days are starting to merge together. We are still at Maitai Bay (the name was corrected from Matai to Maitai a few years back, a local was telling me). We have been swimming and playing at the beach often. But this week has been dominated first by the news that Carolyn's last remaining grandparent was ill, and then by his passing. Yesterday we drove to KeriKeri airport (about an hour and a half) to drop Carolyn off to go back to Christchurch for the funeral. She will be back on Sunday.
I explored a sea cave with James earlier in the week. It was quite a scramble around the rocks, and the cave was surprisingly deep. We had brought James's small wind-up LED torch with us 'just in case', and I ended up wishing we had brought my head torch. He is enjoying having adventures every day. The kids and I also biked over the other side of the peninsula to Karikari beach. It has sand that is much whiter (higher silica content?) than Maitai Bay, and a large selection of interesting shells and bits of coral.
The roar of the waves was unusually loud last night, and this morning when I went to check, I saw waves that were far-and-away the largest we have seen at the beach by a factor of 3 at least. The were rolling in thick and fast and dumping themselves loudly on the beach. After morning tea I took the children down and we went swimming. I only ventured in as far as my waist. The waves were still breaking quite a bit further out, but even then, most were a seething mass of white water the height of my head by the time they reached me. The children loved it. They learnt how to dive under the big waves, did boogie boarding, and general big-wave play for nearly two hours. By the time we got back, the area behind us was a loud teen-tent city. The year-13 students at a nearby highschool have taken it over for a two-night party. There's probably about 40 tents. I mentioned to the kids that I should toot the car horn (it's really loud) at 6am if they keep us up tonight. But then I said that I wouldn't, because we are christians, and that sort of tit-for-tat behaviour isn't the sort of thing we should do. But boy, is it tempting.
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