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NZ day 26 & 27
Muriwai Beach & Auckland
Well it would seem we timed our run down to Paihai very well- they must have closed the road soon after we went through- pretty close. Before we left I went down to the gentle stream & took some more photos- it had dropped at least 2 metres overnight, but was still running very fast.
So a quick drive back through the town so that we could actually see the Bay of Islands, & we were on our way south, but over to the west coast to a little place called Muriwai Beach. This is where the Gannets (birds) breed, on a very windswept rock & cliff. They are a strange bird....well have a strange life. They breed here & as soon as they are strong enough they fly to Australia & live for a couple of years, before coming back to breed & never going back to Australia again. The information at the lookouts is quite amusing- it is said that the birds are like us & get their overseas touring done before returning home to start a family......probably right. There is a popular rock fishing spot, although no-one was game
enough to be out when we were there. The beach is quite long & up to the north we could see para-sailing going on. Also a blow hole if you are quick enough to photograph it.
The couple who were looking after the park were quite funny- they in fact come from the south island about 5kms from Upper Mutrie (where Rays grand mother lived for a few years). The owners of the park have gone off on their holidays (China) & these guys come up & park sit for them. We have come across a few places where the owners are now on their annual break & have some-one park sitting for them.
I had rung ahead to Auckland to the park where we intended to stay & the lady gave us quite good instructions on how to get here....which exit to take etc. We had thought this location would also give us a relatively easy run to the airport on Mon (you return the rentals to places very close to the airport), & we were right. Auckland has a population of about 1.3 million- there are only 4.5 million in the country! So we got here about 11ish
& then rang the motor home people to try & get out TV fixed- hasn’t worked for over a week. They sent a guy over and after wasting several hours, could not fix the problem (he did bring 2 TV’s with him, but it would seem the problem is possibly in the wiring in the roof, which of course is no mean feat to fix. They did say that we could go back to the depot & swap this mh for another one, but it really isn’t worth the effort- all that packing & unpacking....uuggghhhhh- will be bad enough on Monday when we return it. SO- back to watching the news in the communal lounge (if kids aren’t in there- should ban the bloody kids).
So, finally we were able to take a short walk & get on a bus (yep- more public transport....have also done that more in the last 3 weeks than the last 10 years), but it was all good....once again armed with a map from the office with all the info. We only went over to a Westfield shopping centre & were somewhat disappointed with the size of it- not as big as Marion or Tea
Tree Plaza, but I did buy 1 top & Ray bought some novels to read.
We also heard from the “Smiths”......the guys from NSW that we met in Picton. They are also in Auckland, but staying on the NE side. We are hoping to meet up with them tomorrow in the city, but they went in yesterday & were planning on packing up tomorrow. Regardless, we will go in & have a look about- they have markets in there, so will probably pay them a visit too.
So, again, a quieter day & certainly not the big drives that we have been doing, which is good. We were looking at a map in the lounge before & we have covered a fair bit of ground- really only missed the area below Queenstown, but hey- can’t do it all. Hope your footy team (or netball team) won today- will have a look on line later. Not too many photos- a few from Murawai Beach. I think I have just about killed the 2 batteries I have for my camera- they are barely able to hold charge for 24 hours- at least they have made the distance- thank goodness. I’ll get some
new ones when I get home.
Hope you are all fit & well
Love to all
Ray & Terri xoxoxoxox
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