Whakatane

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After taking the decision not to do the 10 hour round trip to Windy Wellington, we followed the sun up to Whatakane on the eastern side of the Bay Of Plenty. Abi held her nose as we drove through smelly Rotorua and as soon as we got into town, an hour later, not only did we spot where we were staying but found loads of shops to peruse in the spring sunshine.

The Pacific Coast here is magnificent and my pics don’t do the beaches much justice. The name "Whakatane" pron: fa-kat-arnee commemorates an incident occurring after the arrival of the Mataatua Maori canoe. The men had gone ashore and the canoe began to drift. Wairaka, a chieftainess, said “Ka Whakatāne au i ahau” (“I will make myself a man”), and commenced to paddle (which women were not allowed to do), and with the help of the other women saved the canoe. The statue of Wairaka in the pic in front of Whale Island commemorates the event.

We travelled inland to Kawerau for a ride. The scenery was terrific; a mix of fir, native bush, silver fern and pasture across the Rotoma Hills. The trek included a quarter of a mile trot down a stream, four feet deep in place. My horse ‘Boston’ was excellent and I managed a couple of decent canters. The low hanging branches were tricky and I got bashed a few times on the helmet. Abi enjoyed her ride on ‘Isaac’ although a slight altercation with the goat was a key event of the day - well it was for me.

It’s been an educational time. Not only can I canter now, I can now disable the immobiliser on Pam’s car without waking the town up and I’ve discovered that you can get a nice hot meat pie (staple Kiwi fare) at the New World supermarket after 4pm for just a dollar (36p). How good is that?

The ‘Lineses On Tour’ now moves to Whitianga on the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula on Friday.

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