Feeling the Pinch

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The sky was bight blue so we thought a coastal walk to a pretty bay would suit everyone. From Waihi beach we took a forest trail which snaked uphill. After 15 minutes Cas thought that the trail reminded her of a dog walking path rather than an idyllic coastal footpath. It was not long after this thought that she realised that we'd taken, well, a dog walking path. We retraced and were soon on the right path. It ran along the cliffs and gave great panoramic views of the islands in Waihi Bay. We then descended to Orokawa Bay, a long, white sand beach that was fringed with overhanging trees, perfect for monkey children. Ed and Hat spent a good hour lying in the surf as waves crashed over then. Cas and I were both in the water on life guard duty as we'd been warned that the riptides were dangerous. The lolling about ended suddenly when Ed leapt up with a shriek of shock; his pinky bitten by a crab buried in the sand. On the way back Ed collected a couple of Pampas grass fronds (which grow wild all over the island) and Cas and Hat sang Adele and waved them all about. We walked in pairs and had good lengthy chats with both Ed and Hat which was really lovely.
We were all starving by the time we got back to the motorhome, despite some small banana sandwiches on the way back; Ed had tried one for the first time and was a convert.
Our free site for the night was a beach carpark about 20 miles up the east coast. We stopped off at Waihi town for some a bakery stock up and lunch. I saw a sign for a $10 curry and we dived in; our first curry in several months and it was delish.
The site was call Island View Reserve, a public car park right next to a great beach with, unsurprisingly, great views of Whangamata bay with its many islands. It also had another ninja warrior style obstacle course. Cas took a fancy to rocking in a giant cup shaped swing. Hat and I had to help Cas off the swing as she was firmly wedged in!
The meatsballs we'd made at yesterday's campsite were reheated in our homemade tomato sauces and these family favourites were wolfed down (not so the angel hair spaghetti).
Before we settled down for the night we nipped to the beach for wheel barrow races and various ball games. There are forested islands in the bay which reminded us of Thailand and the sky turned a beautiful pink colour as the began to set.

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