{"id":845,"date":"2015-06-09T13:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skeptic.de\/blog\/kv\/?p=845"},"modified":"2016-10-31T18:28:19","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T17:28:19","slug":"33-whakatane-gisborne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leetraynor.com\/blog.multi\/kiwi5\/?p=845","title":{"rendered":"33. Whakatane \u2013 Gisborne"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sunday, March 15: Sunny for a brief spell then clouding over and a few rain showers gradually increasing in intensity as Pam approaches<\/h5>\n

Ethel\u2019s, spacious bedroom with shared facilities (airbnb, $50)<\/h4>\n
\"Danger<\/a>
Danger Watermelons\/back at petrol stat[ion], Ohope Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Breakfast and packing were very quickly dealt with and I was on the road before 10:00. Took the coastal route to join the SH2 near the unfindable kayak place then along to Opotiki and the shorter route to Gisborne.<\/p>\n

Very abandoned looking places up in the hills and nothing much like civilisation until Ormond with its vineyards. The going up until now had been fairly slow and I had stopped for two pictures (Dangerous Watermelons, and Other people make mistakes) earlier along the way. <\/p>\n

\"Others'<\/a>
Other people make mistakes, road sign, SH 2 near Opotiki<\/figcaption><\/figure>Arrived in Gisborne just after 1:00 and had lunch in the skater park opposite the i-site after determining the Flying Nun was full up. My plan was first to get wifi \u2013 which was graciously provided by the i-site itself \u2013 and try to get a booking via airbnb. This, of course, would be touch-and-go. Since the i-site closed at 4:00, I decided to wander around town until 3:30, then either cancel the airbnb request and see what the i-site could find for me, or find a confirmed booking and take that.<\/p>\n

Got a hokey-pokey from an ice cream shop on Gladstone St for $2.9 and went window shopping for as long as possible. Noticed that the library had 24\/7 wifi so brought the car around and logged on, but as yet no news from airbnb. Rain started to fall so I headed out to where the airbnb place was, but nothing much seemed to be doing at what I determined to be the property. Then it was back to the i-site for the moment of decision.<\/p>\n

Got the woman there, Kim, working on finding me something for under $100, then logged into airbnb and found an acceptance. That was close. Kim had found an offer for $65, which also wasn\u2019t bad, but I now had to go with airbnb.<\/p>\n

Still it wouldn\u2019t be until 5:00 when I got the room, so I went around to the department stores to try to get a pot grip, but the camping departments seemed only to have a very vestigial palette. Still had a bit of time so I sent a spot OK and then went out to collect my room.<\/p>\n

Ethel is a very pleasant person and she got my wifi sorted out after a little bit, and this is a spacious place and the dog demands a lot of attention. Could park the car in the carport. Around 6:00 went down to town to the Hong Kong Chinese Takeaway for pork fried rice for $9.5 which I ate about half of in the shop while watching the news of the cyclone.<\/p>\n

Apparently the accommodation situation is difficult because of a surf life-saving meeting, exacerbated by the storm. Anyway, it\u2019s now off to work.\"No