{"id":960,"date":"2015-07-10T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skeptic.de\/blog\/kv\/?p=960"},"modified":"2016-10-27T10:05:38","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T09:05:38","slug":"42-tauranga-whitianga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leetraynor.com\/blog.multi\/kiwi5\/?p=960","title":{"rendered":"42. Tauranga \u2013 Whitianga"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tuesday, March 24: Changeable, with some dark clouds and rain around the middle of the day; starting and finishing sunny<\/h5>\n

On the Beach Backpackers<\/a>, 46 Buffalo Beach Rd, Whitianga 3542, tel.: +64 7 866 5380, double\/twin as single in a unit shared with just one other party; kitchen, living room, TV, fridge, large balcony with BBQ equipment shared (BBH, $38 + $3)<\/h4>\n

Liz gave me the whole rundown of her neighbourhood dispute this morning before I left; in any case I was in no particular hurry to get going. The plastic shop did in fact carry a salt-and-pepper shaker set but didn\u2019t have any in stock; the cutlery set looked just as useful as the stuff I already had; but for $4 I got two cosmetic containers which were just larger than my filters and a snap top bottle obviously designed for some sort of liquid that could also be used for salt (the pepper part was not so important). Filled the tank & then I was on my way. <\/p>\n

\"Beach<\/a>
Portrait of an old lady, Beach Hop, Whangamata<\/figcaption><\/figure>Katikati prides itself as being a mural town but I have saved it up for the proverbial rainy day. Whangamata was in the throes of \u201cBeach Hop\u201d which is a meeting of vintage car\/1950s enthusiasts and I spent my walk up and down the main street taking photos of the cars. In Tairua I stopped at the library (not in the main street as per memory but just off it in a side street) to email Chinara about staying on Saturday. As it was raining very lightly I decided to stave lunch off until arriving at the backpackers. Was here around 2:15. The layout here is very generous \u2013 this is obviously a family unit for which the bedrooms are being separately let. Anyway for the price unbeatable value. Will have to consider staying here until the end of the week & doing some serious kayaking (they are free, but their condition looks a bit iffy).<\/p>\n

\"Beach<\/a>
And yet she moves! Beach Hop in Whangamata<\/figcaption><\/figure>Showered and have started the washing which in the course of a couple of days is causing the car to smell. Will see about celebrating the Great Walks tonight.<\/p>\n

\"Beach<\/a>
Portrait of an old man, Beach Hop, Whangamata<\/figcaption><\/figure>Went out for some shopping and then walked into town to see what there was to eat. I settled on roast pork fried rice (large) for $11.5 and it will do for two days as usual. Had a bit of a problem trying to identify a pizza place, but there was one with large pizzas in the $20 range, and, interestingly, gyros, which if it were in Germany would be a good sign. Anyway will have to decide fairly early tomorrow morning if I\u2019m going to stay another two nights. I could probably kayak up the river tomorrow, and see how far I get around the bay on another day, and then take a walk on the day in between. High tide looks like around 12:00 tomorrow, so that would be advantageous.<\/p>\n

I am sharing with two Chinese girls, Penny and Xiaoxiao.\"No