Old Pine Trees

 I had a migraine yesterday afternoon, so I went to bed and had a good sleep.

The attached photos are big old pine trees along the side boundary of the camping ground. I think they are pretty old. The jumping pillow is in the foreground of one of them. It is used all day when there are children in the camp. Herons and pigeons live in the pine trees. The park was called Heron Park at some stage in it’s life. In the evenings the pigeons fly around in formation. I don’t know how they don’t crash into each other. They all turn or swoop at the same time. They are quite amazing to watch. I haven't been able to get a photo of them.

The buildings from left to right are the tourist flats, then the motels and in the jumping pillow one is Kayla’s house. She’s Louises’s daughter.

The satellite that our tv aerial uses has changed and we had to get the aerial box updated. It worked for about 2 weeks and then gave up. When the aerial is up it points completely in the wrong direction. Now we have found out that older tvs and aerials might not be able to update. It looks like we may have to get a new tv and aerial. Most annoying. At the moment we are watching tv via our wifi and dongle. Sometimes modern technology is a real pain.

Nga Tapuwae o Toi track

 On Sunday we had a little frost. That’s the first for the winter.

After all the rain last week it is nice to get some sunshine. The Matahina dam (on the Rangitaiki River) was full on Saturday and they were warning farmers to move stock from the river banks as they were having to let water go. The river is still very brown and full. There are several rivers across the Rangitaiki Plains, so flooding could be a real issue without all the stop banks around the area. There are a lot of canals too, to take the extra water. Back in the day most of the plain was a swampy area. Flax was harvested for rope making.

On Saturday I went for a walk with the Matamata Tramping club who were over here for the weekend. We went on the Nga Tapuwae o Toi track. ( the footprints of Toi). There was a lot of up, which I don’t get a lot of when I go for walks around here, so I found it quite hard going at times. It was a good day though and nice to catch up with friends from Matamata. Part of the walk goes through the area where Toi and his people settled when they arrived in the first Waka. Some of it goes along Otarawairere Bay (bottom left photo) .The island in the photo is Whale Island.

This part of the walk can only be done at low tide

The beginning. up up up.

The last picture is a vertigraph. It starts with pictures of the ocean and goes up through the land with trees and birds. Then the sky with the birds. It's quite cool, but I was a bit puffed to appreciate it properly. Perhaps I need to go back.

On Sunday my legs didn’t feel too bad, but my calves were quite stiff on Monday. I went on a bike ride on Monday afternoon and they felt a lot better after that, so that was a good result, if a bit unexpected. I shall do it again if I have stiff muscles.

Lottin Point

We have had some lovely sunny days over the past week, in spite of the fact it is supposed to be winter. Not that we are complaining. 

We had a lovely day on Sunday when we went to visit friends who were staying at Waihau Bay near Hicks Bay ( towards Gisborne). It was quite windy up in the Waihau village, but we went to Lottin Point and it was really sheltered there. The men tried their hand at fishing, but it is pretty rocky, so they mostly lost hooks. It was a 21/2 hour drive each way, so we didn’t get home until 7. We bought hamburgers fat Tirohanga for tea on the way home. We haven't had takeaways for ages, so it  made a nice change. I don't think we have had takeaways since we stayed at Tirohanga earlier in the year.

Lottin Point

Lottin Point

The  hills surrounding the bay are very steep and high. Unfortunately I don't think the photo does that justice.
The church below is on the way to Waihau Bay. It is probably one of the most photographed churches around the country.

 

As it was King’s weekend this weekend, Eddie had the day off.  He had work on Tuesday, but there is  a storm coming from Wednesday on, so it might be a quiet week for work this week.