Up the Mauao!

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I got up early again so I could pack before heading up the coast to Mount Maunganui to meet Lauren Wade for lunch and stay with her parents that evening. The weather today was glorious which always seems to be the case when I am driving, luckily this time it was only just over an hour away! Before I left Terry had a call from the dog pound saying Oz had been picked up the night before so we went and got him and then i was on my way.

On the route up the coast I passed a very long train carrying lots of wood, a sign of the massive foresting industry I had seen two days previous. When I arrived at the town I was 30 min early for lunch so went for a drive on the beachfront and eventually decided to park up and have a walk. The weather was glorious but the beach was a bit blustery. There were amazing views up the coast to the Mount and I wondered for a while collecting shells with only a handful of other people around for miles!

I then headed off to meet Lauren but to get there I had to cross the train line....however at this time the very long train I had passed before pulled into town halting my journey for a few minutes! It also turned out I had gone the wrong way and instead of heading to Astrolabe Bar I had gone to Astrolabe St...down on the docks! I phoned Lauren and found my way to the bar. Was great to see her again, it had been 5 years since she had been at Sherbourne School, near where I live, as a gappy!

After lunch I went out to my car to find that I had been ticketed, for parking the on the wrong side of the street! I thought this was a ridiculous law and but in my later phone conversation to the council was told it was the case in all countries! I disputed this fact but after some googling it turns out it is a law in the UK, just never have been done for it in my sleepy village! Thats $45 I will never see again...

Lauren then took me for a walk up the mount, or Mauao, the walk up was very steep and not good on my knees! The view from the top was spectacular and you could see all along the bay down to Whale Island, just off the coast of Whakatane! We took a longer scenic route down which made Lauren late for work....sorry!

I then drove down to Te Puke to Lauren and Megan's parents'(Andrea nee Heayns and Jon) house! Andrea welcomed me and we sat and talked about the family history. I saw a picture on her wall from 5m away and instantly knew it was of the Heayns clan, due to the ears, and picked out her grandfather because he looked like a young Trevor, my grandad!

Andrea then took me to see her sister Sharyn, and her daughter Romey, we had a walk on the beach and Romey collected shells for Dad. On the way back we stopped and saw the sunset over the penisular. Lauren came around for dinner and then I packed my suitcase as I would be off to Auckland in the morning for my last evening in NZ!

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