Islands off Thornton Coast

 There are a few islands off the coast of Thornton Beach. 

Quite near the shore we have Whale Island. The waters around it are a marine reserve, so no fishing is allowed there. A commercial fisherman was fined just recently for fishing in the closed area. No  one is allowed to land on it either, so that it stays safe from predators. 

Whale Island

Further out to sea are the Raurimu Islands. The waters around them  are very dangerous as their are a lot of reefs.  When it is stormy, we can se the breakers smashing on to the cliffs and rocky out crop. The attached photo of the Raurimu group was taken on a sunny day, so no drama there. 

Raurimu Islands

The next island is White Island and that has its own notoriety. It is right out on the horizon, so it's too far away for me to get a photo of it. However, Google is always obliging and I found the photo below.

I found the following too.

Whakaari / White Island, also known as White Island or Whakaari, is an active andesite stratovolcano situated 48 km from the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, in the Bay of Plenty. The island covers an area of approximately 325 ha, which is just the peak of a much larger submarine volcano. Wikipedia

So now you know a little about it. It is New Zealand's most active volcano.

We have begun work here this week. The first morning seemed to take me for ever to do the cleaning. Both bbq's had been used and it took ages to scrub them clean again. They had been left in a very dirty condition. I am getting my routine organized now, so it is getting quicker and easier. I will be a smooth, well  oiled machine by the time the holidays start.

Thornton Beach

 

A lovely day here today. We have had cloudy days with cool winds last week, so it is nice to see the sunshine today, although we still have some wind, which not too conducive with drone flying.

We have settled in well here at Thornton. We start work officially on the 27^th. Tuesday and Wednesday's are our days off, so we are starting after them. We chose those days so we can do our shopping and what ever else is to be done in town.

We went to the Awakaponga evening market on Sunday afternoon. It's the first time they have held it since covid. I think they have it 3 or 4 times over the summer. There were lots of interesting things to buy, including Christmas decorations. We just bought some honey and fish and chips on the way home.

A couple called, Mike and Linda  were there serving devonshire teas. They were our first farm job bosses way back in the late 70's. We went to catch up with them properly on Monday afternoon. They live across the river from us now. I think one of their sons runs the farm at Matata. They haven't changed a bit. We had sore cheeks when we left their place after laughing pretty much non stop from 2 30 until 6 pm.

EstThere are about 8 permanent houses here in the park, which are privately owned. They own the house and pay a lease for the section. One of the owners, (also called Mike, so a bit confusing. We will have to be sure which Mike we mean) has a garden here and he said I can use a bit of it. He's only going to grow tomatoes this year. He planted them out yesterday morning. I bought a  few plants this morning. Quite exciting, as I didn't think I would be able to have a garden this year.

Rangitaiki river mouth

Looking up the river

Thornton is by the river mouth of the Rangitaiki River.  The island off the coast is Whale Island. It is a marine reserve. 

Further out are the Raurimu Islands. They are surrounded by a reef and sometimes we can see the breakers from the beach when the sea is really pounding.

Little Waihi to Papamoa

 We came to Papamoa on Monday. We like it here and I think this is our fourth visit. It is school holidays at the moment so their are a few families in. There are lots of children bouncing on the big rubber trampoline all day. Yesterday there were people in swimming, which was very brave. The wind is cold and the water is too. There is a cold snap coming up from the south, with snow already falling in the South Island. 

When we had dinner at Ohope, we noticed the wall that the wall looked as if it had barn wood under the windows. On closer inspection, we realized it was wall paper. That gave Eddie an idea. A trip into Guthrie Bowron in Whakatane was required. We found a wall paper that is very similar and so we bought a roll to use like a back splash behind the stove. We will also put it behind the basin in the bathroom at some stage. We are very pleased with the effect.

Before the wall paper

After the wall paper

We had a bit of a disaster when we got to Papamoa. There are 2 drawers in the bedroom that are behind the slide out. As far as we are aware, they have never come out when we are traveling, so we never go and check that they shut. Unfortunately, this time we weren't so lucky. The bedroom  slide out jammed and when we went to look, there were the drawers all bent and buckled. Eddie managed to get them unstuck and repaired. One needs a new runner, but we couldn't get one the right length today at Mitre 10. We will have to try at Bunnings. It works, but it is a bit stiff. Luckily the slide out was ok. Today we bought some  little bungy cords to attach so it can't happen again. We have them on the kitchen drawers when one of them started to come open in transit.