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Published: February 19th 2010
Blog four; Omaha to Rotorua
First off, my deepest apologies to our avid readership for a slight hiatus in postings. This is mainly due to the fact that where we are staying in Rotorua (deepest bush ie subtropical jungle) has not the faintaest mobile phone signal so my dongle is unproductive (no change there then!). But I am getting ahead of myself.
Now, where was I? Oh yes, whilst still at Omaha, we met Carmel and Mark, Oliver and Anton at their lovely home, just outside Matakana, maybe 15ks from I&K, for an anteprandial libation then all went for a takeaway fish and chip (in New Zealand parlance, "fersh and cherp ”) supper on the beach at Snells Bay.
Sadly, no photos of this event, though, as I forgot the camera.
The next day, Zarema and I surprised ourselves by getting up early and travelling 20ks or so to Goat Island, famous for its snorkelling. However, by the time we had treated ourselves to a slapup breakfast at the hire shop cafe, we came down at 9.15 a.m. to find the car park heaving and a coach full of schoolkids lining up for their wetsuit,s masks, snorkels etc.
GOAT ISLAND, EIGHTH WONDER OF THE SNORKELLING WORLD
If only we hadn't stopped for the homemade pineapple muffin and toasted ciabatta..The cheek of these local yokels. Since not all of us were desperately keen on snorkelling anyway, we drove on to Pakiri beach, a breathtaking 20 mile strand with only about 10 people in sight.
Then back for lunch with Ian and Nikki at a restaurant forming part of a winery (it seems this is relatively common all over), and later that evening a farewell barbecue at their bach of fish shreds caught by Ian shortly before -- see photo. Maybe they got caught in the propeller as he hauled them in?
Eventually the time came when we had to say goodbye to Ian and Nikki, and I must say the emotion they displayed at our departure was overwhelming, and how we appreciated the traditional New Zealand jig they performed as we drove off up the road; their friendly two fingered salutes made us feel we were finally getting under the skin of NZ culture.
Our next victims were rellies Lyndon and Pam, who live in deepest campo not too far from Thames, at the base of the Coromandel peninsular. The views from their house are magnificent.. (See photos). Lyndon is a former airline pilot and
THERE IS A GOD!
Look at this beach, baby! helicopter pilot, and is building a kit helicopter in his hangar by way of post retirement therapy. As you can see from the photos, the work is well advanced.
We took them up on their kind offer of the loan of their bach by Tarawera lake, Rotorua, for a couple of nights. Thus, today has seen us walking several miles down a valley populated by scalding lakes and boiling mud pools. Incredibly, everything you see in the pictures was devastated to bare volcanic mud in an eruption in 1886, and the dense subtropical jungle has re-colonised the slopes in only the last 100 years.
Tomorrow, Friday, we leave Rotorua and head down to Martinborough, a famous vineyard area, a journey of some 600 km but which will put us within easy reach of Wellington, where we catch the ferry on Sunday morning to South Island. Of this, more anon, dongle willing.
(Author's note -- one or two of my keener readers are still complaining that they are often checking the web log site in vain for new posts: the simple way to avoid this is to click on the "subscribe" button to the left of the log
VIEW FROM THE WINERY
ian nikki and some fat guy wearing a stripey t-shirt -- merely entering your e-mail address will ensure you receive an e-mail (with a helpful link button) automatically each time I post a blog - et voila, no wasted time.) (Robbie, this means you)
PS welcome, Frankie, to subscriberhood!
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