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.
Once back it was already lunch time so I had my pastrami sandwiches with Jarrad preparing to go to Auckland for the day. Was beginning to get worried about a lack of response from Whangarei (am trying for a hostel there, if only to be able to give away stuff). In the meantime I had sussed out the local bus system and wrote to one hostel (Whangarei Falls) which is at least close to a bus stop. Managed to get some camera settings done for time lapse program #4, but will have to see what settings are necessary for a star shot and try to limit the next settings to that type of exposure. Not much time to experiment.
An answer came back from Whangarei that I could have a single cabin for $60 a night and wrote back to book. Also booked my bus ticket there. Now only two blocks left to book and the end is nigh.
Also noted when I will have to book kayaking and swimming for the summer semester back home. But now it was time for a decision for the rest of the afternoon. Decided to go for a swim, as there is a platform close to here about 30 m from the shore. Swam out and back (but choppy) then walked down the beach (saw that the one kayak place was hiring for $55 a day) and then around the headland and back along the road. How a shower had to be undertaken after a shave, and all the while as many clothes as I could get together had to be washed. Not much left in the way of clothing, so am wearing the hiking trousers and the one (good) blue shirt. Had unpacked everything but no blue mug surfaced; started on recharging all the batteries and the power packs.
A Canadian couple arrived and proceeded to drag all of their stuff in. Time for my fish’n’chips from Ti Bay Takeaways, 150 Marsden Rd, for $9, which was sufficient. On the way back decided against shooting the sunset due to the above considerations and am thinking of sitting out on the balcony to do some computer stuff while the others watch endless nonsense on the telly.
