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Published: November 18th 2008
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Hola Amigos,
The Smith-Ovenstone partnership has gone bi.............bi-lingual that is. All these reports are being created in some back alley interent cafe with swarms of flies for company. We have a long wait until our overnight bus picks us up so we are trying to catch up on some blogging and bringing you guys up to date.
Moving on from the South Island was quite sad because we had experienced some of the most beautiful scenery that man can set their eyes upon, but after gliding our way through Wellington for the second time we knew that our next week would be actioned packed. Our plan was to travel back up the West coast of the North island and go towards Mount Taranaki, a volcano that would still be snow capped and then onto the Waitomo caves, before heading to Auckland to pick up the parents or evil ones, depending on which side of the fence you sat.
We stopped for some sleep in our usual haunt of a laybay about an hour North of Wellington, it provides a well earned rest and the constant noise of trains provides a suitable excuse to have your fingers in your
ears when your other half is talking to you. Em and I got so good at communicating without speaking that she claimed it would be great for us to continue the rest of the trip without me saying another word. Well I think that is what she meant. We took the camper over hills and past sheep until we reached what would be our second stop of Owahe. It is the start of what is named the Surf Highway 45, a road that has surf heaven written all over it. Beautiful, eh? As it was getting dusky when we arrived we spied out a campsite, what we stumbled across was an absolute delight. We stayed in a site that was owned by a gloriously old couple. They invited us into their home to warm by the fire and seemed enchanted to have some people coming to stay there. As you can assume we were the only ones that were in the site and obviously had been for a long time, it was perfectly manicured but still a little rough around the edges. For us it provided a welcome rest and the opportunity to have a chat with the locals about
´Whitebaiting´. As we had no previous experience with these little fishy creatures, we were full of questions. They seem to come about at very precise times of the year and they swim up river to spawn and then get caught on the way back down. It is a delicacy in thse parts and they get made into a pattie and served in a sandwhich. It is a event that demands patience, so with Em and I containing about a ounce between us we made our polite excuses and left them to it.
The main delight of our stay in Owahe is that we discovered here that Emma and I had became Aunty and Uncle to baby Katie, I wil l let you guess who is Aunty and whom is uncle, but you can ask me to cough if you want. Em´s sister Liane gave birth to the bundle of joy and both mother,father, baby, grandmothers,grandfathers and dog mascot were doing well. (And it was Liane´s Birthday!!) We probably felt the most homesick that night, more than any other day of our trip. It was great news and we look forward to getting to know her, I already have a
surfboard picked out for her.
We woke the next day and moved further up the coast, around the all seeing volcano that is perched in the middle of the half moon peninsula. It is a breath taking sight, the mountain follows you everywhere. We headed to a well known surf breaks of grave yards, stent road and Rocky point A lovely swell was running and the waves were proving to be some of the finest that i had in NZ. It was a mind blowing thought that you are surfing with the backdrop of an active volcano. No lava was flowing, just the steam off the kettle as Em prepared some needed refreshments.
We bedded down in what would later become my most favourite of all campsites, it is called Oakura and is about 15km West of New Plymouth. It is a very nice, little village that has a campsite placed right on the beach. The local store provided a full range of refreshments and we slept soundly and with a full bellies. The next day brought more surf at the local beach, which was 1.5m from where we slept and a complete chill out. We hired some
DVD´s in the evening and just sat back and relaxed watching the sunset over the aqua marine sea.
Unfortunately it was time to move on and get further North, Waitomo was our next stop but the Taranaki region will always be a special place. It gave us ideas for the future also.
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Katie
non-member comment
Thank you Aunty Emma and Uncle Stu ! I'm looking forward to my surfing instructions...... Will need to be advised on suitable rubber and nappy wear... Grandma says it is something to do with rips and curls... is she right, or just getting batty ? Love Katie XXXXXX