Back in Welly

We have had some lovely weather in Wellington since we've been back. One of the days last week I had a very good deep-tissue massage in town, I was a bit battered & bruised, but that was partly my fault as I told the guy to go as hard as he needed... It felt great afterwards though. I then had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up with my friend Scottie & his missus who were over from the UK. It was such a glorious day I sat on the city to sea bridge & read my book in the sunshine. There were a couple of big stingray gliding around the lagoon above which was cool. The saying "you can't beat Wellington on a good day" was made for days like this! I have read loads of books on my kindle these holidays, I've got a bit obsessed with the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child. I've now read the first 6 in the series (averaging about 2 days per book!).I have got the next couple lined up ready to go on the kindle, but I thought I had better take a break for a few days...

It was good to get back home to our chooks. They are quite partial to my sweet peas, but I have netted them off so they can't get at them. However Dora has worked out an aerial approach... Who says that chickens aren't smart?!

They also love our pots. It is one of their favourite places to chill out & dust bath. There used to be pansies in those two pots, but they were no match for their scratching...

Our garden is doing well, our three sets of house guest took very good care of it while we were on holiday, so thank you very much if you happen to be one of those people & reading this. The greenhouse is fantastic, we are getting a bumper crop of tomatoes. There is also a stack of chillies and capsicum on their way, fingers crossed...

We have dug up some of our spuds, as I wanted the room to plant out some leeks. Again, we had a great crop. I don't think we'll have to buy many for a long long while.

It is so nice having fresh veges on tap. Tonight I cooked a roast chicken & had it with potatoes, carrots, beetroot & beans all from the garden.

Our outside tomatoes haven't been good. It looks like they are succumbing to blight. I picked all of the green fruit off them & made some very tasty green tomato chutney which turned out well.

My sport has been all go since I've been back. Touch has started up again, & rugby pre-season training has also begun. I'm not actually going to play this season, but I figure the training can only be good for me (even if it doesn't always feel like it at the time!). I would still like to be involved with the team, helping out when & as needed. I've also been getting in at least 2 badminton hits a week which has been good. I'm really enjoying my baddy at the moment.

School starts winding up from now on. Tomorrow & Wednesday I am only in for lunchtime meetings, then we have teacher only days on Thursday & Friday. The kids are back in from Monday. So, I guess my holiday is pretty much over... I can't complain though, it has been a most enjoyable one.

Maitai Bay & Waikawau Bay

On New Year's Day we travelled further north to Maitai Bay on the Karikari Peninsula. I had always known it as Matai Bay, & that is what it was shown as on an old map I had. However, a new map had it as Maitai, & that was what was on all the signage in the area. It is possibly a Wanganui/Whanganui type thing...

Anyway, we were hoping to stay at the DOC campsite. The only problem was, this campsite couldn't be booked, it was 'first in first served'.  Will & I were the first to pack up camp in the morning, so we headed directly there (bar a short ice-cream break at Cable Bay) as an advance party. It's a good thing we did, as when we arrived there were only 3 sites left in the camp. We ended up with a prime spot, easily big enough to accommodate our two rather large tents. This was another superb camp, with the beautiful bay only a couple of minutes walk away. The DOC campsites are incredibly good value, only $8 an adult per night. Perfect, as long as you don't mind cold showers...

We spent 3 very chilled nights at Maitai. This spot was much more conducive to fishing compared with Whananaki. The guys spent a lot of their time out on the kayak trying their luck. They did actually manage to catch some fish for dinner on a couple of nights. I can't believe I didn't take a photo of it! On one of the days there was a sandcastle competition which kept Georgia & Alexander busy for a while. Our last day there was a real stunner, gloriously warm & sunny.

On the 4th we set off on the long journey to Waikawau Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula. The weather was pretty awful so it was a good day to be on the road (as opposed to getting cabin-fever in the tent!). This really was a big driving day, 528km according to google maps! We stopped for a fish & chip dinner in Coromandel Town to save having to cook once we set up camp. Again, we were staying at the DOC campsite. We had booked it online the previous night (one advantage of taking my iphone camping!) & it was a good thing that we did as when we arrived they weren't taking any new bookings.

We also had a chilled 3 nights at Waikawau. The guys got some more (unsuccessful) fishing in...

 

Plus there just happened to be another sandcastle competition on during one of the days. We had stocked up on supplies at the Thames Pak 'n' Save, so enjoyed a feed of bacon, eggs, sausages & beans for dinner one night.

My friend Hiria was staying in a bach with her family at Whangapoua, about an hours drive away, so on one of the days I went for a visit. We had a nice afternoon swimming in the sea, then the best part was being able to get a lovely hot shower at her place. It felt pretty good after a week of cold ones!

The next day Will & Rich & I went back over the hill to Whangapoua. However the actual destination was New Chums beach, thought by some to be one of the best beaches in NZ. it was pretty spectacular, unbelievably crystal clear water, white sand, & fringed with Pohutakawa trees to provide some shade. Part of its appeal is the fact that you can only get to it by boat, or by a 20 minute or so walk in from Whangapoua. We had a magic day swimming, boogie-boarding & generally just enjoying the sunshine. Below are a couple of pics from my hipstamatic camera...

At one stage Rich went for bit of an explore & climbed up the hill you can see on the pic above. Here are a couple of his pics looking back down to the beach.

This one shows just how incredibly clear the water was.

We drove back to Hamilton on the 7th as the weather was supposed to pack in. Considering the forecast before we left, we had been pretty lucky with the weather whilst camping. It could have been a whole lot worse... As it happened, most of the bad stuff was on travelling days.

The Roes had another couple of nights with us at mum & dad's place. We took them for a walk around the Hamilton Gardens, pretty much my favourite place in the 'Tron.

On the 9th Will & I drove back down to Wellington so Will could start back at work on the 10th. It was a brilliant trip. Next Christmas we will be back in the UK, but I'll look forward to another big kiwi camping adventure in 2 years time...

Whananaki

We hit the road on the 29th December, heading for Whananaki North. We travelled in convoy with Will & I following the Roes. Their big Toyota Surf with a bright green double kayak tied on top made them an easy target to follow! We were booked in for 3 nights at Motutara Farm. We had only rung up trying to book the previous night. It just happened that they had had some cancellations due to the absolutely awful weather forecast for the next few days, so could fit us in. What an amazing campsite! I couldn't recommend it highly enough. It was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful beaches surrounded by gnarly old Pohutakawa trees. There was even a swing to keep a young boy occupied...

We had a wicked spot on Barren's Cliff where we could set up our two tents with nobody else really around us, and brilliant views down to the beaches.

We arrived early evening & set up our camp. It was raining when we put the Roe's tent up, so we had a go at putting it up underneath a tarpaulin. Luckily the weather had cleared up a bit when it was time for Will & I to put ours up. We managed to rig the tarp between the two tents to provide a shelter for cooking.

The next day was also wet, so we decided a trip to the Kauri Museum was in order. It was surprisingly good, we ended up spending ages there. We came home via Dargaville, where Will decided that if he was going to become a Kiwi, he had better buy himself a fishing rod!

We arrived back at camp to find our cooking shelter had come to grief...That big blue bulge in the middle of the pic was pretty much a bathtub's fill of water & the weight of it took the rest of the structure down with it.

That night we had a doozy of a storm. Full on thunder, lightning & torrential rain from about 2am to 6am (I know because I was pretty much awake for all of it, wondering if the tent was going to survive!). However, the next morning, New Years Eve day, was fantastic. Obviously the storm was just what was needed to clear the air.

The boys were up bright & early to go fishing. Rich gave Will a lesson on how to make up traces, then it was off to some nearby rocks. 

 I like the following sequence of pics, especially as you can see the wave on its way in the first pic.

The guys didn't manage to catch anything, but at least the rod got its first outing. Alexander on the other hand did find something...

That afternoon we went swimming. It was lovely & warm, but the surf was pretty brutal. Whilst it wasn't big, it was really powerful & would knock you off your feet. It was certainly exhilarating! It really was a beautiful day. We appreciated the sunshine & blue skies even more after our couple of damp days.

That night we had a few (very quiet & restrained) drinks & played some cards until it was time to see in 2012. The next day we headed further north to the Karikari Peninsula. 

Christmas

We kicked off our road trip on the 20th December, stopping in the 'Naki to spend the night with Neal & Nicky, one of my ex-rugby coaches and ex-teammates from my Varsity club days. They have bought an amazing property in Eltham, it's an old park with loads of beautiful old trees as well as a small lake.

The next day, after lunch in a cafe in Oponake, we carried on to Hamilton. It is always nice getting home,  Mum and dad always look after Will & I well. The next day my sister and her husband arrived from Melbourne, so it was also great catching up with them.

We did the extended family 'Christmas thing' at my nana's place on Christmas Eve day. That meant on Christmas day Will & I were free to head out to Raglan. The weather was a bit average in the morning, but got better and better as the day went on. Will & I didn't really give each other Christmas presents, but I did get a new iphone just before Christmas, so I was pretty much counting that as my present... I've been enjoying the old-school style of the hipstamatic camera app. I particularly like this pic of Will taken with it.

You can't get more 'kiwi' than a tiptop boysenberry and hokey pokey ice-cream at the beach...

We also spent a bit of time watching the kids jumping off the bridge...

We then worked off the ice-cream with a walk along the beach behind the campground.

By now it was really starting to heat up, so we headed out to the surf beaches. We called in at Manu and Whale Bay, before heading to Ocean beach for a swim in the surf. It was surprisingly busy, being Christmas Day & all. I was also impressed that the surf lifeguards were on duty. It was the first time Will has ever swum in the ocean on Christmas Day!

Boxing day meant shopping!!! We braved the hoards and headed to The Base. We were lucky enough to get a park straight away and enjoyed a good few hours of retail therapy. The first thing we had done on arrival at the shopping centre was to secure a couple of tickets to the Tintin movie for later that afternoon, as it opened that day. We saw it in 3D and really enjoyed it. Thanks mum & dad for the tickets, much appreciated!

The following evening the Roe family arrived. They had come up from Dunedin, via Christmas in Blenheim. We all had a couple more nights with mum & dad before heading off on our camping adventure up north.