Update from Opotiki

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Doing a house swap gives you the oportunity to feel and become part of the local community. We've thrown ourselves into doing this in a way which we never really did at home in Tadworth. Perhaps it is because we know our time here is limited and we want to have as broad a cultural experience as we can, or perhaps it is a way of helping the children to feel more at home, or perhaps it is a kind of travellers snobbery to mark ourselves out as different from tourists; whatever our reasoning we have found some ways of engaging with local events.

Catherine has joined the Brownies here in Whakatane, and attended a local art group in Opotiki. Hugh has taken part in rugby training and played his first match - which was reported in the local papers! Some of the very young players looked remarkably skilled, and we wondered if we were watching the next generation of All Blacks. I'm not sure rugby is quite Hugh's game, he's on the small side even for the under 7s and he tends to skip rather than tear around the field; still it is quite an experience for him. Attending a local church also connects you to local life and after church on Sunday we were invited back to coffee with an elderly retired British couple who happen to live on the adjacent farm to this one!

But as well as taking part in local events we have done a bit of sight seeing. We ventured around the coast to Whitianga on the Coromandel Penisnsular. Jon had read that there was to be a festival of cultural events there as part of the Queen's birthday celebrations. Lesson one of travelling - always double check your information - no one in Whitianga had heard of such an event! It didn't matter unduly as it was a wonderful part to visit. It is quite a long treck, and although as adults the journeying is part of the experience, and the views, the terrain and all that we observe is part of it, for a 7 and 5 year old they are most interested in when we will get there. I have to say I was amazed that no one was sick on the way; we passed through some extremely windy mountainous roads, and saw more cyclists there than we have done on the relatively flat terrain near where we live.

In Whitianga we stayed in some basic accomodation in a holiday camp, perfectly adequate but it made me even more glad that for the bulk of our time here we are in more homely surroundings. Whitianga is much more touristy than certainly Opokiti, which is our nearest town. From there we went to the hot water beach, where in a small part of the beach you can dig holes in the sand and they fill up with hot water. We also visited Driving Creek railway, a single track narrow guage train, begun by Barry Brickell - poet, potter, inventer, recluse, to transport materials of his pottery initially, but now taking tourists up steep terrrain to the Eyefull Tower, where there are stunning views of the penisnsular. Barry has also planted trees native to New Zealand and hopes to restore the area to its natural habitat. He sounds quite a character, and in fact we saw him at the railway. We went from there to a similarly quirky place called the Waterworks, where there were all kinds of fun water features in lovely surroundings. The childrens particular favourite was a human hamster wheel, the adults enjoyed firing water at each other! The couple who started this venture were looking for someone to buy the business, we were tempted, but didn't!

The great thing about being here in the winter is that we can enjoy these places without hoards of other people around. We felt this particulary when we went on a day trip this week to Hell's Gate - a very aptly named geothermal site near Rotorura. You smell the place before you actually see it - rotten eggs - which amazingly you get used to. Here there are burning suphuric pools, mud pools and a mud volcano. It is a truly awesome place, important to the Maori people who run it, but far predating any human settlement. It is the kind of place which puts me in touch with prehistoric times, and with the eternal. No wonder the Maoris associate it with one of their gods. It is as if you are glimpsing the inside of the world from the outside; it was both humbling and spectacular simultaneously. In summer the place would have been heaving and perhaps the experience would have been diluted, but to go around entirely on our own was incredible.

Whilst we are thinking about our next trip further afield, we are all enjoying being here at Dean and Sue's. The children play imaginative games together for hours and Lucy is very laid back so we have lots of time relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view. We wil attach some photos eventually. Apparently if you want to be notified when we've updated the blog you can click on subscribe to save you logging on and finding we haven't updated it. Hope all is well the other side of the world.
Rosie

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Comments

[Grandpa]

Thanks!
Thanks for latest update, read this morning 13th. Amazing stuff! Well done, and so glad the children are OK. And you. I was ordained 42 years ago today. Lunching with Marcus in 12 hours' time; this evening I hope to be watching Hamlet at Oxford Castle - open air. Wonder if it rains in Elsinore? Did Monisha ask you to send her a recipe for Jeremy's 40th (surprise collection of ideas)? Mine will be unique: how to make tea at Tim's house in Kasulu (26 steps labeled A-Z). On Monday I encountered two foxes in the early hours: one dead, one half-dead. OK I've nothing much to say but it's good to be in touch. Oh yes; remember Peter Marinello? (Rosie may not.) Programme on his life on the radio just now. In between watering the heather. Also varnished/ preserved the shed etc. There's more in my air-letter; but did you get the last one? I might now go back to bed; only got up because I saw I'd left a light on; then I thought, I wonder what's going on in NZ? Now I know. It's quite warm here too. Love from Dad.