Ohiwa beach

We had a lovely time in Ohiwa. It's a lovely beach and the camp was great too. Not so busy here, but plenty of kids about having fun on their bikes. There was a solar heated pool, but still not warm enough for us, so no swimming here either.

We didn't catch any fish, but not for want of trying. Eddie hooked up something large one day at Ohope, but it broke off. He thought it was a stingray, so probably just as well it got off. He went out in the kayak one day at Ohiwa and caught 2 under size snapper, so they went back to grow bigger for next time.

We spent a nice afternoon sitting in the sun, waiting for a fish to bite on our last day. Eddie fished and I read. Then it got cloudy and a bit of a cool wind, so we went home and had a nice cup of tea. We were very reluctant to come home, but needs must I guess.

It is raining today and a bit cooler today. Autumn is definitely here. The trees around us are being to change colour and the neighbours trees are looking very pretty.

a wigwam on the beach

This is a cool sign made out of drift wood at Ohiwa Beach. Probably the most photographed thing in Ohiwa. We saw lots of people posing beside it.

There is a walk that goes from Ohiwa to Bryan's Beach, which I did one day. There are the remains of 2 Pa up on the top, but,sadly, I never learnt the history of them.

Eddie Kayaking back in after a fishing expedition.

Heading home after a lovely holiday

Ohope Beach

We have had lovely weather at Ohope, until today and it isn't looking good for the next day or 2, but at least we aren't at work.

We had a friend from Matamata, with her 2 girls, until today. We have been trying to catch fish, but no such luck as yet. Fingers crossed for the next time we try.

The camping ground we are in is the top 10 and is quite big and very busy with school holidays at the moment. Lots of kids, all having a good time on their scooters and bikes. There's a pool, but not heated so we haven't been in. The sea is cold too, so no swimming there either. The kids all like the pool. They were lined up at 8 the other morning waiting for the gate to open.

The manager came out when we arrived and said you won't fit in the space we have given you. So they found us another spot where we take up 3 sites. As it was their mistake we only have to pay for one. They were told how long we are when we booked. We are under trees and they had to do a bit of trimming so we could open the slide outs. Talk about a dramatic entrance! Eddie slid the hitch back a bit too, so it is easier to manouevre. It goes back with quite a bang, so that made heads turn too.

The school where our son, Tristan went too and the Playcenter where our daughter, Katrina went too are so different now. The old house we lived in has gone and a flash one built in it's place. 

This is Ohope Beach with Whale island in the distance

This structure is made of driftwood

Ohiwa harbour 

Fishing on Ohiwa harbour. No luck though

a little note

We are looking forward to our 2 weeks off, starting on Friday. We are going to Ohope Beach motor camp. We will be there for Easter and then will move on to Ohiwa, just around the corner from Ohope. The rest of this week will be very slow.

We had a quiet weekend at home this weekend.

On Saturday night we went to the local dramatic society's production of a play by Roger Hall called “Last Legs”. It is set in a retirement village in Auckland. Quite funny and also poignant at times. They always do a good play. They are a very talented bunch of people. Later in the year they are going to do 'Allo, 'Allo, which should be fun.

We took the jeep to the auctioneers in Hamilton on Saturday. We hoped they would buy it our right, but no, so it's going to auction in a weeks time. Fingers crossed.

Not much else this time. There will be more when we are at Ohope.

A trip to Kennedy Bay

We had a weekend away in Coromandel, but we stayed in a motel as it was only for 1 night and we didn't feel like taking the house for 1 night.

We went to view a property a friend has offered us to stay on at Kennedy Bay. It is a farm, which the neighbour uses and the family camp on in the summer. There were about 5 long drops around the place where they camp; 2 huts and a fish cleaning sink. It's about 2 ks from the beach. Really secluded. From the road a stand of manuka trees hide the paddock where the huts are. We would have to trim the trees a bit to get us through without scratching the sides of the van.

The road to Kennedy Bay is pretty windy and gravel in places. Eddie said we would get through ok, but the locals go quite fast on the road and use it all, which was a bit disconcerting. I am not sure I could cope going over it once a week to get the shopping and use the laundromat in Coromandel town. There is no electricity at the farm.

It is something to think about anyway. We aren't quite sure if we will take up the offer or not. No rent, so that's a bonus.

View of Coromandel harbour from the top of the hill

Kennedy Bay from the same spot

Kennedy Beach. Looking out to sea

A half marathon and a tramp

We have rain. Nice gentle, soaking in type rain. And it isn't cold either which is nice. There are more flies about though and the little beasts get in when we go in and out the fly screen. We hardly had any over summer as it was so dry. Now that it is warm and damp they are about. 

I went on a tramp on Sunday to Mt Pureora in the middle of the North Island. There were lots of stairs on the way up, which made it hard going really, even though they are there to help. Very pretty bush. It was foggy at the top, so we had no view, which was a bit disappointing. On a clear day you can see to Mt Taranaki. The trees disappeared at the top and the vegetation was more alpine. It's quite a contrast to the rimu and totara lower down. After we had conquered the mountain, we set off to find the geographical centre of the North Island, but it wasn't to be. We were on logging type roads with not a lot of signage, so we gave up and did a loop walk by a DOC camp ground instead. Very pretty too with lots of rimu. It's probably why it was called the rimu walk. Ha ha

Kokaho Stream, Mt Pureora

Walking up Mt Pureora

There were a few board walks. Nice to walk on

On Saturday, we went to Cambridge and bought a kit set shelf, which Eddie put into the linen cupboard yesterday. It makes it much easier in there. There was no shelf just the cupboard, so it was always untidy. We also bought the last 2 blinds that we needed., 1 for the kitchen window and 1 for the large bedroom window. Next job is new vinyl on the floor and we will be all pretty.

Two weeks ago I did a half marathon on Motutapu Island and Rangitoto Island. They are joined by a bridge. Who knew? No one I have spoken too, but there you go. It took my friend and I took 5 hours, 7 mins and 19 secs, which is the longest I have ever taken to do a half. It was off road and quite hard at times. I was really glad Shona was with me, as she took my bag for a while.  I was only an hour behind the lady in my age group, who won our division, so that didn't seem so bad after all. I wasn't last in my division either. Hooray! So I achieved all the goals: not last, not injured and finished. 

The two islands are such a contrast to one another. Motutapu is a beautiful farm and Rangitoto is all  bush and lava rocks. Motutapu is going to be returned to bush. The tree planting has begun and pests have been removed. We got checked for rodents several times by the rodent dogs.

Some of the marshals dressed up, which was entertaining.

We had the cat in the hat and the lorex

We also had a bevy of Dame Ednas.

Views of Motutapu. This was the last leg. Such a relief

Motutapu with Rangitoto in the distance