Mar 22/11 9:33am
The sun has returned after having what I reckon would be about 40mm of rain in the last 24 hour period. I have to check the weather reports but it was coming down pretty good. We foresaw the weather change and luckily were inside a cabin when the rain started Sunday night. We're back at a place called Waipu Cove and we're even in the same cabin we stayed in on our way north oh so many days ago.
We ended up staying for 6 nights at our last wwoofing stop, the B&B. I really enjoyed myself because the host was really funny and you could just joke around and have fun. We ate really well - even bacon for breakfasts if we wanted! - and even beer and wine was part of the dinner. (Most places we've been, either the people don't really drink or they really just couldn't afford to feed extra people beer and wine so it's just a nice thing that makes you feel more like a guest and less like hired help.) All of the paying guests they had over our stay were from England so we got to chatting with a few of them and it was good company. The work even wasn't terrible. Dustin built an alpaca lodge, I oversaw the burning off of the burn pile and some rubbish. I did some weed-whipping and took the netting off of their grapes (quite a lengthy process considering the vines wrap themselves around the netting!) and we cleaned up their veggie garden to weed it and ready it for the winter planting. One day Dustin got stung by what they call paper wasps here - sometime last year he found out he's allergic to what we call yellow-faced wasps at home. So it was a bit tricky to not know if they were essentially the same thing or not. We sat him down, he had a benadryl and we put ice on the 2 bites and he was completely fine. We stayed away from weeding around where we ended up finding the wasp nest but he went back out to work.
Dustin got in some diving and I went for a long walk with the host - the scenery in the Bay of Island area is lovely, full of greens and hills and inlets. One night, they had a BBQ and had the mother-in-law and an old work colleague over so we visited with them and it turned out that the mother-in-law had some work for us. She offered to pay us to "valet" her Jaguar. That's what they call it here to detail a car. Dustin said yes and we figured a couple hours of the next day and who knows maybe $50 or something. Why not. We ended up spending 4 hours to clean the interior, exterior and wax the car! Little did we know she paid hourly and she gave us $120! So in the end it was fine and we gave our car a quick once over afterwards. Then we jumped into her refreshing swimming pool and had a drink with her before going back down the street the our hosts' home for dinner. They were all headed down to Auckland for a wedding and offered us a chance to stay at the cottage on the mother-in-law's property and all we had to do was feed her sheep and birds. We looked at the calendar and the map and figured that we'd want the time to explore further north so we declined. Most regrettably after the last few days!
We moved along north towards an area called Doubtless Bay, famous for stunning beaches. We found a great DOC campsite right over the dunes from a place called Maitai Bay. Though we were tired, Dustin went fishing and I laid on the beach at one of the most beautiful spots of the trip. Since it was a basic campsite we only stayed one night (*sigh* a girl needs more than a cold shower to survive) and headed over to the largest town in the Far North. We'd visited the area on our last trip and there's a very popular surf spot called Shipwreck Bay. Which was flat. The forecast called for it to pick up the next day for a short window but it also called for a massive dump of rain. We looked into hostel beds to stay closer to the beach but for some reason everyone was all booked up. We checked out a basic cabin for a more-than-basic price and tried to find internet service so that we could figure if it was worth sticking around to chance that the surf might get better. It was rainy and we were tired and ended up deciding to move on after a quick lunch back in town. It was about 2 hours to drive south to the next city we were interested in. It was so rainy that taking the scenic route was less appealing so we cut down the middle and went to this holiday park near what was supposed to be a good surf beach. Since we were on the west coast, the ocean beaches are a lot more rugged and the conditions a lot stronger in general because of the currents. So this park was like a 20 minute walk away from the beach where it was just huge and messy. I have started to doubt the accuracy of the surf forecasting website. (It said it was 10/10 but nobody was out at all.) We bunked in a little cabin to avoid the rain and woke up feeling like we wanted to keep moving. So, from the date we left out host's place, it had only been two nights and we covered an area that we had left 6-7 nights to see. At this stage I was wishing we had just stayed in the cottage but again curiosity never fails to lead us on goose chases.
Not knowing where to go next, and not wanting to backtrack much, we went into town where there was an internet signal and sat in a parking lot working out our options. Given that we have a motel booked in Auckland for Mar 28th for our flight on Mar 30th, that was all we had to figure out. But it's a lot harder to fill 10 days than it seems. Plus we're planning to go watch the filming of that current events comedy show we like on the 24th and that's also in Auckland. We thought about wwoofing but after a few calls and finding it was too short of notice for a couple people and not reaching another couple, that was feeling fruitless. We pondered heading down to New Plymouth but again, a 10 hour round trip over even 10 days sounded like a bit much. The weather was not looking great over the next week either so trying to plan to camp for 10 days was iffy. So round and round in circles we went trying to work something out that pleased us both as well as the bank account. It's kind of tough finding a beach area near Auckland because surprisingly we found place to be booked out even though summer is nearly over and the kids have been back in school for a while. Not to mention you also get into the places charging more than $40 to pitch a tent.
Still not knowing where we'd end up, we had already ruled out staying on the west coast so decided to at least start making headway on the road east. We were back into territory we had covered on the way up and after a couple tries elsewhere, we ended up at a great little beachside campground in a place called Mangawhai Heads. Utterly exhausted from stress and lack of quality sleep, I think I climbed into bed before 9pm. However, the stag party and a group of ladies staying in the grounds had other plans. Somehow I wasn't even mad but they kept up the noise through the night. Hmmm, one night at this place will be all and we managed to get to Waipu Cove but they only had 2 nights in the cabin available and we were looking for 4. We took the two and got back online trying to figure something out. A wwoofing host finally texted us back but the area is bad for mobile reception (what's new...) so over 2 days we went back and forth with her about twice because of her lagged replies so we'd already made other plans by the time she said she was keen for us to come stay. For the better I reckon as she mentioned she had weeding for me to do. Which is typically the wwoofing job for those without applicable skills and spots of it is ok but the prospect of many days of it turned me right off.
We managed to find this little guesthouse in Auckland that is actually cheaper or equal to the cost to camp most places. Not sure what to expect but considering some of the accommodations we've had wwoofing, I don't think it can really be so bad. We will take a couple day trips to the west coast surf beaches outside Auckland and spend other time trying to sort out the sales of things we aren't taking with us. We've posted a bunch of stuff on the auction site so we'll see if anything sells. Some things we don't foresee getting a lot of use (ie. the fishing rod and tackle) and some things won't be of use back home (ie. the electric razor Dustin got that has the wrong plug for home) and other stuff just has more value here than it does at home and is near the end of its life for us (ie. Dustin's sleeping bag and my hiking boots.) We figured why lug them around another month if we're just planning to get rid of them back home soon after our return. But, we won't know until the auction time has elapsed so we'll hope for the best because it's easier to be rid of things than keep them for limited use. Even our laptop we have gone back and forth over selling here because even $100 is better than the maybe $20 we might possibly get at home. It's gotten to be very picky and slow lately and we won't have mobile internet in Australia anyways so we might try to find a used shop to leave it here. So, in a way it's good to be heading to Auckland just to take care of the housekeeping items before we go. We have to close our bank account and pick up a couple souvenirs and ship a box of stuff home.
Dustin is out surfing right now and I'm hiding in the car from the light rain going on. He's seen dead penguins on this beach the last couple nights and we don't know what to make of that. There's a sign saying the river that comes in is polluted so we're not sure if that has something to do with it or not. I didn't venture out to see the penguins because they are too cute to see dead. We actually haven't seen any alive here which is crazy for how many places they apparently come in and nest. Though we didn't stop in a couple of the cities.
I've been reading this book about a guy who follows bits of Captain Cook's journey and it's called Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz. There's lots of history in it of course and he talks about the journals Cook kept along the way. There was a passage I totally identified with about how, "Was it not for the pleasure which naturly results to a Man from being the first discoverer, even was it nothing more than sand and Shoals, this service would be insuportable, especily in far distant parts, like this, short of Provisions and almost every other necesary." That was what Cook wrote after they narrowly escaped being dashed to bits on the Great Barrier Reef after previously being run aground inside the reef a couple months' prior. Okay so it's not like we're in uncharted territories, at sea for months with nothing but the stars and our wits to guide us. I'm definitely not comparing us to the great explorer he was. But just the feeling that even doing something you've dreamed of and finding places that are new to you doesn't always continue to be satisfying once the fatigue and stress has set in. So we plan to amuse ourselves until the 28th when we should have enough to keep us busy until our flight leaves. Aside from the comedy show taping, we might take in an NRL game as well. So of the 6 nights we have a bit of plans to entertain us. Dustin already got cabin fever from 2 nights in a cabin and taking him into a city where the closest surf is about 40 minutes away is risky but seems necessary to stop the madness of these one night stops.
Our plans for Australia are coming together though and we're getting excited to head easterly soon!
The sun has returned after having what I reckon would be about 40mm of rain in the last 24 hour period. I have to check the weather reports but it was coming down pretty good. We foresaw the weather change and luckily were inside a cabin when the rain started Sunday night. We're back at a place called Waipu Cove and we're even in the same cabin we stayed in on our way north oh so many days ago.
We ended up staying for 6 nights at our last wwoofing stop, the B&B. I really enjoyed myself because the host was really funny and you could just joke around and have fun. We ate really well - even bacon for breakfasts if we wanted! - and even beer and wine was part of the dinner. (Most places we've been, either the people don't really drink or they really just couldn't afford to feed extra people beer and wine so it's just a nice thing that makes you feel more like a guest and less like hired help.) All of the paying guests they had over our stay were from England so we got to chatting with a few of them and it was good company. The work even wasn't terrible. Dustin built an alpaca lodge, I oversaw the burning off of the burn pile and some rubbish. I did some weed-whipping and took the netting off of their grapes (quite a lengthy process considering the vines wrap themselves around the netting!) and we cleaned up their veggie garden to weed it and ready it for the winter planting. One day Dustin got stung by what they call paper wasps here - sometime last year he found out he's allergic to what we call yellow-faced wasps at home. So it was a bit tricky to not know if they were essentially the same thing or not. We sat him down, he had a benadryl and we put ice on the 2 bites and he was completely fine. We stayed away from weeding around where we ended up finding the wasp nest but he went back out to work.
Dustin got in some diving and I went for a long walk with the host - the scenery in the Bay of Island area is lovely, full of greens and hills and inlets. One night, they had a BBQ and had the mother-in-law and an old work colleague over so we visited with them and it turned out that the mother-in-law had some work for us. She offered to pay us to "valet" her Jaguar. That's what they call it here to detail a car. Dustin said yes and we figured a couple hours of the next day and who knows maybe $50 or something. Why not. We ended up spending 4 hours to clean the interior, exterior and wax the car! Little did we know she paid hourly and she gave us $120! So in the end it was fine and we gave our car a quick once over afterwards. Then we jumped into her refreshing swimming pool and had a drink with her before going back down the street the our hosts' home for dinner. They were all headed down to Auckland for a wedding and offered us a chance to stay at the cottage on the mother-in-law's property and all we had to do was feed her sheep and birds. We looked at the calendar and the map and figured that we'd want the time to explore further north so we declined. Most regrettably after the last few days!
We moved along north towards an area called Doubtless Bay, famous for stunning beaches. We found a great DOC campsite right over the dunes from a place called Maitai Bay. Though we were tired, Dustin went fishing and I laid on the beach at one of the most beautiful spots of the trip. Since it was a basic campsite we only stayed one night (*sigh* a girl needs more than a cold shower to survive) and headed over to the largest town in the Far North. We'd visited the area on our last trip and there's a very popular surf spot called Shipwreck Bay. Which was flat. The forecast called for it to pick up the next day for a short window but it also called for a massive dump of rain. We looked into hostel beds to stay closer to the beach but for some reason everyone was all booked up. We checked out a basic cabin for a more-than-basic price and tried to find internet service so that we could figure if it was worth sticking around to chance that the surf might get better. It was rainy and we were tired and ended up deciding to move on after a quick lunch back in town. It was about 2 hours to drive south to the next city we were interested in. It was so rainy that taking the scenic route was less appealing so we cut down the middle and went to this holiday park near what was supposed to be a good surf beach. Since we were on the west coast, the ocean beaches are a lot more rugged and the conditions a lot stronger in general because of the currents. So this park was like a 20 minute walk away from the beach where it was just huge and messy. I have started to doubt the accuracy of the surf forecasting website. (It said it was 10/10 but nobody was out at all.) We bunked in a little cabin to avoid the rain and woke up feeling like we wanted to keep moving. So, from the date we left out host's place, it had only been two nights and we covered an area that we had left 6-7 nights to see. At this stage I was wishing we had just stayed in the cottage but again curiosity never fails to lead us on goose chases.
Not knowing where to go next, and not wanting to backtrack much, we went into town where there was an internet signal and sat in a parking lot working out our options. Given that we have a motel booked in Auckland for Mar 28th for our flight on Mar 30th, that was all we had to figure out. But it's a lot harder to fill 10 days than it seems. Plus we're planning to go watch the filming of that current events comedy show we like on the 24th and that's also in Auckland. We thought about wwoofing but after a few calls and finding it was too short of notice for a couple people and not reaching another couple, that was feeling fruitless. We pondered heading down to New Plymouth but again, a 10 hour round trip over even 10 days sounded like a bit much. The weather was not looking great over the next week either so trying to plan to camp for 10 days was iffy. So round and round in circles we went trying to work something out that pleased us both as well as the bank account. It's kind of tough finding a beach area near Auckland because surprisingly we found place to be booked out even though summer is nearly over and the kids have been back in school for a while. Not to mention you also get into the places charging more than $40 to pitch a tent.
Still not knowing where we'd end up, we had already ruled out staying on the west coast so decided to at least start making headway on the road east. We were back into territory we had covered on the way up and after a couple tries elsewhere, we ended up at a great little beachside campground in a place called Mangawhai Heads. Utterly exhausted from stress and lack of quality sleep, I think I climbed into bed before 9pm. However, the stag party and a group of ladies staying in the grounds had other plans. Somehow I wasn't even mad but they kept up the noise through the night. Hmmm, one night at this place will be all and we managed to get to Waipu Cove but they only had 2 nights in the cabin available and we were looking for 4. We took the two and got back online trying to figure something out. A wwoofing host finally texted us back but the area is bad for mobile reception (what's new...) so over 2 days we went back and forth with her about twice because of her lagged replies so we'd already made other plans by the time she said she was keen for us to come stay. For the better I reckon as she mentioned she had weeding for me to do. Which is typically the wwoofing job for those without applicable skills and spots of it is ok but the prospect of many days of it turned me right off.
We managed to find this little guesthouse in Auckland that is actually cheaper or equal to the cost to camp most places. Not sure what to expect but considering some of the accommodations we've had wwoofing, I don't think it can really be so bad. We will take a couple day trips to the west coast surf beaches outside Auckland and spend other time trying to sort out the sales of things we aren't taking with us. We've posted a bunch of stuff on the auction site so we'll see if anything sells. Some things we don't foresee getting a lot of use (ie. the fishing rod and tackle) and some things won't be of use back home (ie. the electric razor Dustin got that has the wrong plug for home) and other stuff just has more value here than it does at home and is near the end of its life for us (ie. Dustin's sleeping bag and my hiking boots.) We figured why lug them around another month if we're just planning to get rid of them back home soon after our return. But, we won't know until the auction time has elapsed so we'll hope for the best because it's easier to be rid of things than keep them for limited use. Even our laptop we have gone back and forth over selling here because even $100 is better than the maybe $20 we might possibly get at home. It's gotten to be very picky and slow lately and we won't have mobile internet in Australia anyways so we might try to find a used shop to leave it here. So, in a way it's good to be heading to Auckland just to take care of the housekeeping items before we go. We have to close our bank account and pick up a couple souvenirs and ship a box of stuff home.
Dustin is out surfing right now and I'm hiding in the car from the light rain going on. He's seen dead penguins on this beach the last couple nights and we don't know what to make of that. There's a sign saying the river that comes in is polluted so we're not sure if that has something to do with it or not. I didn't venture out to see the penguins because they are too cute to see dead. We actually haven't seen any alive here which is crazy for how many places they apparently come in and nest. Though we didn't stop in a couple of the cities.
I've been reading this book about a guy who follows bits of Captain Cook's journey and it's called Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz. There's lots of history in it of course and he talks about the journals Cook kept along the way. There was a passage I totally identified with about how, "Was it not for the pleasure which naturly results to a Man from being the first discoverer, even was it nothing more than sand and Shoals, this service would be insuportable, especily in far distant parts, like this, short of Provisions and almost every other necesary." That was what Cook wrote after they narrowly escaped being dashed to bits on the Great Barrier Reef after previously being run aground inside the reef a couple months' prior. Okay so it's not like we're in uncharted territories, at sea for months with nothing but the stars and our wits to guide us. I'm definitely not comparing us to the great explorer he was. But just the feeling that even doing something you've dreamed of and finding places that are new to you doesn't always continue to be satisfying once the fatigue and stress has set in. So we plan to amuse ourselves until the 28th when we should have enough to keep us busy until our flight leaves. Aside from the comedy show taping, we might take in an NRL game as well. So of the 6 nights we have a bit of plans to entertain us. Dustin already got cabin fever from 2 nights in a cabin and taking him into a city where the closest surf is about 40 minutes away is risky but seems necessary to stop the madness of these one night stops.
Our plans for Australia are coming together though and we're getting excited to head easterly soon!
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