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Bill with the Three Sister rock formations on the Taranaki coast
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With the Wellingtonians heading home we set forth to pack up after our unintended months stay in one place, to head to Ak over the coming week.
But not before our Nelson friend Bob turned up for a drink of water on his way South ferrying his daughter's car and possessions as she relocates from Orewa to Cromwell.
Good to catch up and get some news of friends at home in the Kayak Club.
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| Big Opps!! Broken Tow Hitch |
On leaving Waitarere, we headed north passing through Hawera on the way to New Plymouth but not without incident! On our way up the west coast, we called into the seaside town of Tangimoana - a little place we hadn't been into before - probably not likely to return either! I'm sure its a lovely little community but all the access we tried, finding the beach, had been washed away with storms and not much in the way of signage telling us this. So we headed off down a long narrow lane to the beach only to find the road had been washed away. We had to unhook the car as we were unable to back all the way back up the road, I drove the car and Bill the bus! But a bit of a shock awaited us when Bill found the tow hitch on the A Frame that tows the car had snapped off! Bummer! First tow on our new towbar and all! Never happened on the old one but lets not go there with Bill.
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| Mt Taranaki trying to pop through the clouds |
So now unable to tow the car, Bill managed to get it unhooked off the bus and we drove separately onto Hawera. Thankfully it was only $150 to buy a new tow hitch and get it bolted onto the A Frame, which was made possible due to the local Engineering firm Ace Engineering.
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| Walking along the Esplanade to New Plymouth Port |
We spent the night at the Hawera NZMCA camp which is on a piece of land that was previously part of the Hospital (Nurses Home) - nice and central in Hawera and quite peaceful - it has a large sealed area and with all the rain we were experiencing thankfully we weren't likely to get stuck.
Bill took the A frame away to be repaired while I did some computer work. By mid afternoon the repair was done and as it was still raining, we decided to move onto New Plymouth and catch up with an old friend and hopefully do some cycling around the waterfront.
We stayed at another NZMCA camp in New Plymouth way down in a gully in the Huatoki Domain. It looked pretty wet and plenty of evidence of large vehicles getting stuck so we were a bit wary but it turned out to be a lovely quiet spot handy to the city centre and full of birdlife.
We headed into New Plymouth's city centre the next morning parking down by the beach. New Plymouth has a great coastal cycle trail 13km in length that we had cycled a few years ago and enjoyed but unfortunately this time round the weather wasn't on our side so we decided to walk half the trail down to the Port. An agreeable relaxed saunter along New Plymouths sea frontage. A real asset for the city and a highly recommended sea side trail
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| New Plymouth's NZMCA Camp Site |
We then caught up with our old friend Michael, whom we last saw 30 odd years ago.
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Te Rewa Rewa bridge looking through to
Mt Taranaki (pity about the cloud) |
Catching up with old friends has been a really enjoyable part of our being on the road, we are able to visit far more of our old friends. Life got busy raising families and establishing jobs and homes, so its not that you forget your friends, it's just that other activities come along taking over your lives. We had last caught up with Michael in New Plymouth we think back in 1981or 82, after we had returned from our OE's. So it had been some time ago and of course we had changed physically a little, but 5 minutes together it was just like the old days back in our early 20's. It was great catching up, learning of his family, and coincidentally two of their children live in Perth as well! Small world. It will be nice next time to meet his wife and spend time reminiscing and forging new bonds....
From New Plymouth we continued north along the Taranaki coast in and out of little seaside towns.
We came across signage to The Three Sisters - a rock formation just north of Tongaporutu. We were fortunate it was low tide so we could walk out to the rock formations - a stunning sight with Mt Taranaki poking through in the background.
We continued onto the King Country's Mecca Otorohanga and another NZMCA camp site. A good location to stay and break up our trip to Auckland and visit the world famous, in Otorohanga, the Haddad Brothers and their amazing shop..... .
The next morning was too beautiful to rush off so we walked into town and looked around the town centre. Those of you who know Otorohanga, know you can't afford to blink when passing through - but did you know it is such a Kiwiana Town?
Strolling down the main street we came across the Haddad Brothers menswear shop. It is like going back in time, .. started in 1965 right next door to their father's Milk Bar, both Karam & John were there to greet their customers along with 3 female assistants - all busy shifting and laying out stock of top quality, long wearing clothing suitable for King Country farmers.
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Plenty of newspaper items on the Haddad Brothers
in their front window |
The stock sits atop of large cardboard boxes which fill the large shop and have hand written pricing on scraps of cardboard. They don't have a computer but have given into an EFTPOS terminal. The two brothers looked like they were in a time warp with their conservative clothes and wearing large hats which were quite eye catching and helped you spot them in the much cluttered store. So much so, that Bill had to get one too. I think we have mentioned before - Bill's predilection for hats! He now has one for all weather - the new "Southern Man" Jenny!
Moving along the main road, there were numerous cartoons of David Henshaw's Jock -on the side of an old pub. An older gentleman pulled up along side us as I was taking photo's guessing we were tourists. He introduced himself as Bill, Otorohanga's Ambassador and proceeded to give us the fascinating history on the town. With the Waitomo Caves on the towns door step, a station where the Kiwi Rail's Overlander stops, the Kiwi House (a Kiwi & Tuatara breeding centre) and being on Highway #3 - the town has a lot of tourists coming through. In the early days his services as a taxi driver were sort after, he had 4 taxis in his fleet at it's peak. But these days the tourists are mostly in rental cars. He had only recently retired from his services as a taxi driver having just turned 80.
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| Bill in his snazzy new hat overlooking our camp site |
He highly recommended The Ed Hillary Walkway that links the main street through to the historic railway station (now an espresso coffee bar & coffee roaster). We ambled along to where there are 33 panels featuring slices of quirky & informative Kiwiana, evoking many memories of our childhood. Continuing our walk around the outskirts of the town we returned to our campsite for a cuppa before heading north to Auckland to make it in time for dinner at the Hobsonville RSA and watch the AB's first game against the French
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| West Harbour Heights!! |
Our first week in Auckland parked up outside my brother & sister-in-laws once again, saw Bill & Wayne trying to progress the painting of the gable ends and dormers on their home with the help of scaffolding W had organised to be put up. Heights are not one of my brothers strengths (runs in the family) so Bill is encouraging and reaching some of those higher parts. This was all between the many rain showers that occur up this part of the country.
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| Big Boys Toys |
We did get away on the Friday to Mystery Creek Fieldays, an event we had heard many stories of, having met people over the years who had made some amazing purchases of innovative gadgets/clothing.
We left Auckland at 7.30am and thankfully slotted in between the heavy traffic Auckland suffers everyday. It still took just under 3 hrs to reach the bus shuttle just out of Cambridge. Fieldays were celebrating 50 years this year, reading about it's early days and how much this event has grown into the huge 4 day event it is now - is a must attend for the farming community throughout the country, the southern hemisphere's largest agricultural event. It was originally set up to sell farming products with 80 exhibitors and 10,000 visitors. Where as now it's 1000 + exhibitors showing off innovations, cutting edge technology and new products to approx 134,000 people over the four days.
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| And they're off - tractors pulling bigger tractors |
W, B and I easily filled in 5 hours wandering around the huge complex / pavilions / grounds experiencing this huge event and apart from buying our lunch managed to resist purchasing anything else. Bill did very well considering all the hats for sale ☺
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| Lunchtime at Fieldays |
We made the right choice to park in Cambridge and use the shuttle service to the event (15mins away) as we passed paddock after paddock close to the event full of parked cars. Over the years the organisers have got systems very organised to handle the numbers of visitors that attend.
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| City Boy in Redbands |
The only downside to the day was the 3 hr return trip where for half an hour on the motorway just south of Auckland we only covered 1km as we crawled and merged from two to one lane through road works! We made it back home just after 8.00pm - after our first Fielday Event - probably a one and only experience but worthy of attending. Gumboots or sturdy footwear are a must - Wayne (City Boy) blended in very well with his Redbands along with thousands of others, and Bill in his new hat!
We have continued our walks around the Hobsonville area between prepping and painting, and seeing the area starting to come together. All the varieties of styles of apartments blending together well. Just hope they stand the test of time and don't deteriorate through lack of maintenance and care.
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| Building still ongoing around Hobsonville |
The area is a new strategy in high density housing, one would have to say hardly affordable, but attempting to meet the insatiable need for housing in Auckland. We would guess this style of housing will be be accepted as normal before to long. It is not bad but very different to what our generation and our parents could reasonably expect, IE the old 1/4 acre. Thankfully there is generous green space and Ak is well endowed, as a Region, with great reserves, parks, and beaches.
