Travelling to Whitianga

All is good here, except the rain. We are definitely over it now.

 The sun rise at Waitangi was especially lovely one morning, but the colours didn't come out as good as they really were.

We left Waitangi, for Whitianga, last Tuesday. State Highway 1, over the Brynderwyn hills was closed, because of a truck crash on the south side, so we were diverted via the coast road that comes out near Wellsford. One of the trucks stuck at the bottom wasn't able to use the diversion because he was too heavy for the road. He had a hitch hiker on board, who was looking for another ride. The road worker man ask Eddie if she could go with him and he said she can travel with my wife. She is from Argentina, so I spoke Spanish and she spoke English. That way we both got some practice in. We had a lovely drive together. The road is very windy, but I didn't even notice, so I am not sure how safe it all was. She understood all I said, so that was a bonus. She was very helpful when I got stuck too. We dropped her off at Wellsford, as she was going to a Buddhist retreat near Helensville.

We spent that night at Snells Beach, which is near Warkworth. We stayed at a car park where there is parking for overnight caravans. We left the truck on the caravan and, of course, we stuck out quite a long way. The slide outs used most of the parking space beside us where we put the jeep. Luckily only 3 other vans came in, so there was room for us all.

Snells beach

Snells beach

sticking out a bit

The tide at Snells Beach goes out about 600 metres from the high tide mark to the low tide mark. It is sandy, so it is easy to walk on.

On Wednesday night we stayed at Kaiaua, where we stayed on our way north. We went to the fish and chip shop for tea, but I don't think they are as good as they used to be.

Janice and John came up to Waitangi for a week while we were there. (Eddie's sister and her husband)We had a good catch up. 

Josie and Peter (old friends from way back) have come up to stay here in Whitianga for a couple of weeks. We are going to the movies this afternoon to see “Dunkirk.”.

We are still looking at downsizing or getting a smaller tow vehicle that I can drive when it isn't connected to the van. It is a work in progress. 

New Decisions; New Vehicle; New Boots

We have been thinking about a change of caravan for a while (which has been quite painful). We love the 5th wheeler, but it is hard to park and some places we would like to go too are too small for us. So we have decided to put the set up we have on the market and get a 8 or 9 metre caravan with a full awning, so we will have that space to use. Hopefully it won't take too long to sell.

Elvira is way to small to tow a caravan, so she has had to go. We went to Auckland on Wednesday to purchase a new vehicle and sell Elvira.

The rain was absolutely pouring down all the way there and all the way home. We could hardly see the lane markers on the motorway, because of the water lying on the road. On the way, we got a puncture, so Eddie had to change the tyre in the rain. He had a raincoat, but we didn't take the umbrella. We stopped at Whangrei to get it mended and, of course, we needed a new tyre didn't we. Sigh. Never to mind. Onward and upward.

We have bought a 2005 Jeep Cherokee. It has a Mercedes Benz diesel motor and is very economical. We filled it up at Wellsford and the computer said we could go 610 miles before it would be empty. Which is 976 ks. Rather impressive we thought.

It doesn't have a name yet. Any suggestions?

Eddie has got a part time job, which he is starting next week. He is going to be piloting over size trucks for a man he has known for a while now. The business is boat transporting. ( I can hear you laughing). Luckily they all belong to someone and aren't on sale!! He will be away for some nights, but is isn't every day. We hope no more than 30 hours a week.

It is muddy here at Waitangi and we can't find my gumboots anywhere. They must have been left behind somewhere. So now I have new ones. Pretty flash.

This morning we walked into Paihia and had morning tea. It's tough but someone has to do it.

view of the bay

There are lots of quail running around the camp. They are very cute and rather chubby too. No we haven't caught one to eat. I took the photos out of the window. As you can see, it is a big flock. This is only half of them.

To Waitangi

Well, I have been a bit slack lately writing in the blog, but there hasn't been a lot to write about. We have been very quiet. We enjoyed our stay at Tauranga Bay. There were several couples doing what we are doing. One couple come from Blenheim every year and stay for about 5 months. We often had morning tea at their caravan, along with other campers. There were lots of laughs at those gatherings.

Sunset at Tauranga Bay

The above picture was taken on the last evening of our stay at Tauranga Bay. Pretty isn't it?

The sparrows are very friendly here. Eddie was sitting on his chair, looking out over the sea one day and felt something on his knee. When he looked down it was a little sparrow looking up at him. They often came into the van if we didn't have the fly screen shut. 

Eddie had a bit of a bug last week, but it didn't last long and I never got it. 

On Friday we came to Waitangi camping ground, which is on the edge of the river. It is tidal so there are mudflats to look at times. Over the other side we can see the boats tied up in a marina area. We went to look at them yesterday. One looked like it was sinking, so guess who thought he could get a bargain.

We go for a walk most days. Today we walked into Paihia and home again. We think it took an hour, but we don't take a lot of notice of time these days, so who knows. We went along the beach and back  home along the footpath.

Here is the view from the edge of the camping ground. In the far distance you can just see the bridge that goes over to the Waitangi historical site. If you squint, you may see the boats on the other side, just to the left of the bridge. But may be not.

Our set up at the camping ground. The truck has sunk a bit in the wet grass, so Eddie has put boards under the front wheels to try and hold it up a bit better.