SkepticaLee

51. Rainy Day in Paihia

Sunday, March 31: Rain on and off during the day, drier towards evening

Jarrad’s

Breakfast had to be in two parts this morning because the bread I had left behind had indeed gone off in the meantime. It was sultana bran to begin with and an orange juice, then down to the shops for the bread, and back here for toast and coffee.

Spent the rest of the morning trying to get something in airbnb near Rayna’s place with a reasonable check-in and not too complicated rules (surely they must have an option to exclude single males from even seeing some places if they are non grata?!?) and eventually sent off a request that took a long time in being answered and was rejected in the end. Then the question of the cooker replacement at home had to be addressed, at least in its initial stage. Read more…

50. Motukawanui – Mahinepua (CC5) – Paihia

Saturday, March 30: Rather cloudy with 20 knot easterly winds on the water, a drop of rain, and a few showers in the afternoon

Kayaking: 10.8 km

Jarrad’s

Wake up call for everyone was 7:30 and our breakfast was rather simple this morning: Muesli with the fruit salad thrown in and milk. Everything had to be packed in again, and the hut swept out as best as possible.

Because it might rain or otherwise be wet on the water we were advised to put on the dry tops, and I had all of the electronics under deck. The bay we were about to cross looked calm enough, but the problem was going to be the combination of high swell from the north with wind from behind us. Once out of the sheltered bay we were in the thick of it and Magnus directed us to stay together and aim for the point almost directly west, where we would then take a left hand turn. Read more…

49. Motukawanui – Harawera – Panaki – Hamaruru (CC4)

Friday, March 29: Two bursts of rain in the night, overcast during the day, improving in the later afternoon

Kayaking: 12.4 km
Tramping: 1.0 km
Swimming: 400 m

Motukawanui Hut

Apparently everyone snored last night, but the spear fishermen were very quiet when leaving, and we didn’t get up until 7:30.

Breakfast was eggs and bacon on toast followed by the usual fruit salad. The weather was apparently not conducive to a circumnavigation so the plan was to stick to the west coast and try our hands at paddling through channels and into caves so that the helmets came on. Very beautiful, steep coast, caves and channels galore with the tide just returning from low. At one beach we stopped for a cup of tea and a biscuit, and a short time later we stopped fairly close to the north end of the island and continued up to the top of a hill on foot and returned to have lunch of salami, cheese and coleslaw on bread. Read more…

48. Lane Cove – Motukawanui (CC3)

Thursday, March 28: A short burst of rain as a wake up call, overcast for a lot of the day with a bit of sun returning in the afternoon

Kayaking: 25.2 km

Motukawanui Hut (Doc, $15)

It was very dark this morning as we awoke and the rain burst sounded very hard indeed. Breakfast was porridge with muesli and sultanas, followed by fruit salad. I made avail of the French press coffee, which was reasonable. Today everything had to be packed up, as we were departing the hut on a longer stretch along the coast to the Cavalli Islands.

As usual, everything packed much better this time, and I volunteered to sweep, which was accepted. Also everything fit into the boat better, but that was possibly also due to the provisions being exhausted. We took leave of the pigs and set out on our very direct route, all except Ana who was going to reprovision and move the van to rejoin us later. Read more…

47. Whangaroa Harbour & just outside (CC2)

Wednesday, March 27: Becoming cloudier during the day, overcast by lunchtime with a stronger north wind

Kayaking: 16.2 km
Tramping: 1.0 km

Lane Cove Cottage

Dawn was just beginning to show around 7:00 and that is when all of us decided to get up. Breakfast was two fried eggs with tomato and mushrooms with a couple of coffees for me, and fruit salad for all at the end.

Then it was time for today’s excursion. The boats basically remained empty except for lunch, and I had my camera and the GPS with me, but they disappeared into the dry bag at a stop just before the heads because I could already see the waves breaking. Pushing off from the shore I scraped a finger on a mussel shell, a scratch which had to be attended to when we were back at the hut. Read more…

46. Whangaroa Harbour – Lane Cove (CC1)

Tuesday, March 26: Sunny with a couple of clouds

Kayaking: 9.5 km

Lane Cove Cottage (Doc, $15)

We were all up at around 7:30 and I had everything together fairly quickly and had an opportunity to watch a bit of news on the telly.

Putting all of the stuff into the duffle bag/pack made it feel quite heavy, and it was not that easy to carry as a backpack. I was soon down at Anchorage Motel where we were being picked up from. The other two made an appearance fairly soon and that was followed by the kayakers. Then we were on the road to Kerikeri and Whangaroa Harbour. Read more…

45. Paihia: Lookout Track

Monday, March 25: Sunny and quite warm

Tramping: 6.5 km

Jarrad’s

Was up bright and early, well before the others and had my breakfast (finally finished off the hiking crackers). After that travel planning was on the agenda. Managed to get a response from the Cell Block in Whangarei and had to decide between a simple room for $45 and the deluxe version for $60. Decided on the latter and sent off my credit card details via SMS. Still have no confirmation, but we’ll take that as it comes.

Still no news from ATHop so I called them and fifteen minutes later the account was set up and I could see the balance down to the cent. Had to use the uni-hannover.de email account to get an email through at all, and even then stuff went into the trash folder. Read more…

44. Paihia

Sunday, March 24: sunny to begin with, then overcast with some rain withe the sun returning somewhat in the afternoon

Jarrad’s

I was up early enough to see the French couple leave while I was having my breakfast of two yoghurts and half of what remained of the tramping crackers with the margarine. Put some Nescafe in a cup and added half a teaspoon of something else which I then realised was ground coffee. Very French mixture ensued and with that underway Jarrad made an appearance. His mate Jake who had fallen asleep in front of the telly late last night had woken about 1:00 and gone home (owner of The Mousetrap backpackers).

Tried to see if the internet had solved any problems and engaged in a longer discussion of Australian and New Zealand politics with Lorraine from Dunedin who is the only other guest at the moment. Decided I needed some bread, sausage, lemonade and fruit for lunch, so took off to the far Countdown in the hope that the selection was better, sussed out a fish’n’chip shop for tonight and examined the shopping mall in town in greater detail. Read more…

43. Rotorua – Paihia

Saturday, March 23: Cloudy in the morning, a lot of places in fog, clearing somewhat during the day, showers in the evening

Jarrad’s (airbnb, $72.6)

A day for an early start. I had managed to get to bed before 10:00 last night, and was awake @ 5:30 for the alarm. Had the remains of the orange juice, a cup of coffee, then what was left of the milk. Everything packed up OK and I was ready to go by 6:30. Was down at the bus an hour before it left and realised I could have taken one of the city buses down, since they started early enough. Next time set the alarm for 6:00. Read more…

42. Rotorua: Rainbow Springs

Friday, March 22: Cloudy the whole day, although quite variable, a drop or two of rain in the afternoon

Funky Green Voyager (room behind Nick)

Again it was a matter of inserting my breakfast (variation: Chicken herb loaf instead of ham) between the various other guests this morning, and I was packed and had the suitcase and pack in the office well before 10:00

Today I decided I would have a look at the gondolas that go up the hill (Skyline) and also try the kiwi park not far from that, Rainbow Springs. Caught a bus into town and got a transfer ticket for the #1 bus that actually goes out to the place. Bit of a wait in town, and the bus was quite full, but I was soon on the outskirts and on my way to the attractions. Read more…