Ohope to Little Waihi

 Last Saturday, we came to Ohope, where we are settled for about 10 days. It's a very big camp and covers about 7 hectares. They have a pool, mini golf and a huge trampoline that is filled with air and gets blown up each morning. There are always children on it. There is a big movie screen too, but that would only be used in the summer.

The fish cleaning station is one of the best we have ever seen. It even has a bucket for the scraps that gets emptied every day.

Eddie went fishing on the Sunday and caught 2 fish. We shared 1 with some people on the beach, who were watching what we were doing. The man was very interested in the drone and his wife told me that her husband would probably want one now. We should get a commission ha ha.

We went out to dinner on Sunday for our wedding anniversary at a little cafe down the road from here. 51 years! Who would have thought!

Monday morning Eddie went down before breakfast and caught another nice size snapper.

Last Tuesday morning, we found a water hose had come loose underneath in the night and there was a flood under there. We were attached to a tap, so the water just kept flowing. We don't know when it started, but there was a lot of water. It was pouring and windy too, so Eddie wasn't happy. ( as you could imagine).Wednesday we bought a hose clamp, so it can't happen again. Fingers crossed ha ha.

We like Whakatane. It's a nice town with a good array of shops. We had a good walk around on Wednesday to check out where is what. The supermarket is huge. It took ages to do the shopping, so we could find everything.

Apart from the first 2 days, we didn't have a lot of luck with fishing at Ohope. The weather wasn't the best, but when it was the fish weren't there either. I guess that's why it's called fishing and not catching.

 Our body clocks have adjusted to daylight saving time. Strangely,  we woke up at the normal time, it was really an hour later. I thought we would have slept in a bit until our body clocks adjusted, but no. I did feel a bit sleep deprived for a few days this week, but I am ok now.

As a result of the long weekend, there are a lot more campers in Ohope than there were. I really like watching the kids playing on the big trampoline. There is someone on it all day. It is big rubber thing that they blow up with air in the mornings and let down at night. It had repairs done to it on Sunday, so there was no jumping that day. 

On Monday, this week, we came to Little Waihi. The camping ground is on a small peninsular that goes out into an estuary that empties out at low tide. We are surrounded with water on 3 sides at high tide. There are a lot of oyster catchers, black back gulls and seagulls living here. Across the estuary is Pukehina, which we can see out of our back window.

The weather has been cool and cloudy with a cold north easterly wind since we have been here. It is a bit of a trek to the beach and at high tide you can't get there. Today we went to a beach called Newdicks Beach. It is access through a farm and costs $5 for a car to go down. Fair enough when he maintains it. There were two men on bobcats when we went down working on the track. A load of metal came down while we were there. We put out one set and caught a good size snapper that we will get two feeds out of, so we were pleased about that.  Eddie put out another set, but it began to rain, so it wasn't out for very long and came in empty.

The showers here are a bit odd. The shower head is up high and points at the back wall, so I nearly drown as the water is pouring straight onto my head. I don't find it hot enough either and there is no taps to do any adjustments. You put in your coin and away it goes and stops about three minutes later. It's just enough time to get clean and wash your hair if you want too. 

The photos below were taken at Newdicks Beach. There was even a long drop loo

Looking back towards Little Waihi

Looking towards Waihi

Matata

We left Matamata on Monday afternoon. We arrived at Matata at about 3 and got set up just before the rain came down very heavily. Great timing. We used to live nearby on our first farming job many years ago. The place hasn't changed much at all. 

Last Tuesday, we had what is our first frost for the winter in Matamata. We didn't have any up north of course; just a lot of rain. The water pipe froze, but we were prepared with the jug full and some bottles of water ready for the morning. It was defrosted before it was time for showers and washing.

We got our electrical and self containment certificates while we were in Matamata, so we are set for another 4 years.

The camp here is nice and quiet. There are lots of pukekos and rabbits around the place. The rabbits aren't the least bit scared of people. Walking in barefoot is a bit fraught with all the poo about. So I don't ha ha

We went for a walk along the beach yesterday morning. The tide was in, so we were walking on a steep beach with soft sand, so it was quite a work out for our legs. It might be easier at low tide.

The camp ground looks across the lagoon towards the village, which is  bigger than I thought it was. They had a stream turn into a river a few years ago and a lot of homes were damaged or washed away with big rocks. The north end hasn't been built on since.

We are off grid while we are here. It is working very well, so we are very happy with it.

It's been a bit windy  for fishing with the drone. Perhaps tomorrow will be better. It has improved this afternoon.

Today we went for a walk along a track that runs between the lagoon and the swamp. Below are the photos I took.

The lagoon at Matata

Eddie on the track

Looking back towards the camp. The white blob is our van.

Across the lagoon to the village

 

Matata has a Nessie and a pub.

A few doings

 

It was wet and cold on Monday morning. It was only 10 degrees at 1pm. We were snuggled up in our caravan with the heater on and the computers working hard. We had such a lovely sunny week last week, it's hard to believe how different it was.

Today we had what is our first frost for the winter. We didn't have any up north; just a lot of rain. The water pipe froze, but we were prepared with the jug full and some bottles of water ready for the morning. It was defrosted before it was time for showers and washing.

My cousin Adele and her husband Russell, came and stayed for 3 nights here in Matamata. We went out on our bikes twice. Once out towards Te Aroha and the second time around Matamata.

Her brother, David and his wife Stephanie came to visit us last Thursday. We haven't seen them for ages, so we had a good catch up with what everyone is doing.

Adele and Russell are heading south now, so we won't see them again for a while.

We were going to see friends on Saturday afternoon, but Valmae had a cold, so we are hoping to catch up next weekend.

On Monday morning I had morning tea with some tramping friends. We had lovely catch up. Swaps have built a new huge building with mechanics, COF area, offices and a lovely cafe, which is where we went. Very nice too. A lot of the staff use it instead of going into town to buy their morning tea or lunch.

We have had air springs put into the dodge. They get pumped up with air when we are towing, so the back of the truck has a bit more support to tow the caravan and it's nose isn't pointing skyward. We are looking forward to towing it on Tuesday, so we can see the difference.

Today a man is coming to do our self containment certificate that has to be done every 3 years. On Friday the electrical man is coming to do the same for our electrical certificate. We don't expect it to be a problem.