The long and winding road

This morning I woke up with a sore back, the reslt of last nights unplanned nap. It eased off during the day but wasn’t the best way to start a day with a 4 hour drive in it.

I was ready for the pickup at 10 and got a message via reception to take a taxi and they would reimburse me. That ride cost $20, which was about the first day’s hire. Not sure how they make money if you have a short hire and they do that. The car is a Toyota Vitz. It looks a bit like an Echo but I’ve seen those around so not sure if it is a different model or just a name change. It’s 1.3l Auto and was fast enough for the trip, which doesn’t really allow you to do much over 100kph anyway.

It took me about 5 hours but I stopped at a shopping centre on the outskirts of Auckland and then for an hour in Wharangei. (The initial sound, surprisingly, is an “F”).

It was overcast most of the day and although I stopped a couple of times for photos, I was mostly shooting on the run, so focus and framing was a bit hit and miss. The journey included a lot of winding roads through quite hilly terrain. It seems as though these ranges just pop up from an otherwise flat landscape. The countryside is lush and green with hills covered with trees. Some are conifers, others are ferns and an occasional deciduous tree in its autumn colours is seen.

I wasn’t certain I’d taken the right road out of Wharangei, since it seemed to be inland but finally I saw a sign to Paihia, which is where I’m now staying, on the Bay of Islands. Even then you seem to transition from mountain road to coast road in a few hundred metres.

After settling in to my room, I wandered down to the wharf and the shops probably half a km away. While I was there I hear my name called and a couple of the 35s players were running up to me. They are here with family. I retuned to the hotel and booked 4 hour cruise for tomorrow.

I headed over to the RSL equivalent for dinner since Jen said they’d be eating there. I had a look in the restaurant are but didn’t see then so bought a drink and wandered over to the TV and started a conversation with a group there. Jen found me and said she’d been there and her son had notice ny tracksuit. I joined them for dinner and had a sea food platter for only $19. She was there with her friend, her sons, her mother and her friend’s parents so it was a reasonable group. When they headed off I rejoined the group who turned out to be motel owners on there night off - 5 guys and a woman. I had an interesting chat with them for a while before heading home. They seem to have a good life here and are having fun both with their businesses and with fishing etc on their days off.