Bay of Plenty, NZ - Feb/Mar 2018

HOMETOWN HOMIES

Whale Island

We were of no fixed abode again for a few days so headed for Kawhia, on the west coast of the Waikato, a place neither of us had been before.  We stayed the first night in the forest just over the dunes from the coast and were planning to stay on the beach at Aotea the second night when the wind got up and we had to abandon camp.  We took ourselves inland to the infamous Oparau Roadhouse, a free campsite nearby.  We quickly made friends with the owner who gave us a couple of pies, made by his lovely wife, for our dinner.  A perfect way to weather the oncoming storm.

A view of the beach from Kawhia coast.  People come to
this spot at low tide and dig hot pools to sit in

Prospective camp site ... until the wind put us off

Next stop, Clare's cousin's place in Welcome Bay.  It was time to again enjoy some family time with Sara, Gareth (briefly before he went off on a cycle weekend) and the two children. A quiet weekend just hanging out was very much appreciated here.

Soon we were on our way to Clare's coastal hometown of Whakatane -although none of the family have lived here for a number of years.  Home is an unusual concept to us.  Since we met and started travelling together we have not had a 'home' as such.  We have lived in plenty of other people's homes and enjoyed the company of their pets.  We have enjoyed each others home countries and home towns but we have not had an actual home of our own. .  This minor detail bothers neither of us.  We are content to call each place we lay our pack 'home' ..... for a little while at least.

We arrived at Ollie and Snow's, Clare's very long time friends, where we were to look after two Springer Spaniels and a(n allegedly grumpy) cat named Ruby.  It is through acquiring Springer pups from the same litter 23 years ago that Clare met this fabulous couple.  There have been a few Springers in between and two wonderful daughters added to the Goldsmith clan since then!  Much has changed for all during this time ... except our collective and enduring love of Springer Spaniels!

Ruby Cat ... butter wouldn't melt!

15yo Rufus and 4yo Max

After a few days of catching up, eating fine food and drinking wonderful wine, Ollie and Snow packed up the van to head to the South Island, where both their daughters live... for now.  We spent our time walking the dogs on the coast between Coastlands and Thornton.  What a wonderful, deserted and wild beach this is.  Especially after a storm passed through and dumped all manor of (mainly organic) debris on the beach.

Stormy walk

Rufus loves nothing more than to fetch a stick or pine cone, although his age is starting to show a little, he can certainly turn on a trot when there is a fetch to be had.  He also just likes to walk at a gentleman's pace which we came to call 'Ruru speed', leaving the cutest footprints in the sand.

Max is a real hunter with boundless energy and a lot of love to give.  Some of this love comes in the form of dead birds or fish which he finds washed up on the beach.  Sometimes the same dead thing would be presented more than once!

We went for a couple of paddles on Ohiwa Harbour and even caught enough fish for a couple of meals. Mostly, though, this was a time of catching up with friends not seen in a while.

Max in the river

Springer freckles

Me and my mate James

Monarch butterflies in the garden

LAKESIDE LODGINGS

A fortuitous catch up with an old friend (well, longtime friend at least) led to our next housesit.  Right on the edge of Lake Rotoma.  

Plenty of time to relax and enjoy the view

We walked many of the trails around Lake Okataina, Tunnicliff's Track and Manawahe Road.  Mostly in the early mornings, looking for the local Dama wallaby.  We had tasted the wallaby in south Canterbury, a much bigger cousin to this one, when we were there three years ago and were keen to try some more.   We didn't have any luck with the hunts and ended up calling it 'taking the rifle for a walk', but we did find a very fresh road kill on our way home one morning.  It had been hit in the head within the few hours of us passing the spot on our way to and from the forest.  Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, we gladly took it home and cooked it. Wallaby meat is very lean and great for the slow cooker.

The flora and fauna took our breath away.

The unfurling frond of a punga

Kereru (native pigeon)

Moon rises on the lake ... bliss!

Having welcomed our friends home we headed to Maketu intending to do some kahawhai spinning at the river mouth, the Maketu Cut.  As it happens,we arrive bang on the approach of low tide. Perfect!  After half an hour of watching several locals dragging in some quite sizable fish on bait we get our super lightweight travel rods out and start spinning up.  In a couple of hours James had landed 9 kahawai (about 2-3 kgs each) and lost about 20 (mainly due to the difficulty of landing them on such light gear). So much fun!

We happily gave four of the fish to the family fishing beside us who hadn't caught anything.  Their teenage son showed an interest in spinning and borrowed Clare's rod (which, quite frankly, wasn't doing anything ;-) and after a bit of instruction, hooked a beauty.  He didn't manage to land it but was hooked on spinning after the experience.  His dad was stoked to find a more active fishing style to keep his boy interested.

BACH BLISS

We briefly returned to Whakatane to hang with Rufus and Max for another week.  They had a friend come to stay .... Luna, a lovely young black lab with a gorgeous nature who loved to fetch sticks.

The Three Amigos

She gave Rufus a bit of a run for his money in the stick department but was also very respectful if he (accidentally) got there first!  She also quickly learnt to negotiate the waves on this wild part of the coast.

Normal service resumed with long daily walks on the beach.

 

Best mates

BACH BLISS

What else but the view from the door of the bach

So we were off again.  This time to the Goldsmith's bach in Whanarua Bay, East Cape and a couple of hours from Whakatane.  The road is quiet and isolated and you are lucky to see anyone else east of Opotiki.  The bach itself is right on the water front, one of only five in this bay.  There is no phone/internet so you have little choice but to hunker down and enjoy the tranquility.  As we were waiting on news of a couple of housesit opportunities, we did venture out to Te Kaha a couple of times to check on messages.

Time to relax, me thinks

Out in the bay in our kayak we caught some really pretty fish for a fresh dinner.

Blue maomao, trevally, gurnard

Ollie and Snow arrived that first weekend with the tinnie and we were all off for a fish out to sea.

Nice size snapper

Captain Ahab sporting kahawai blood

Our day's catch ... kahawai, gurnard and snapper

Walter and Sauvi (short for Sauvignon Blanc) his gorgeous golden retriever and able assistant, joined us mid week expecting to help with some cartage work which got postponed.   What else to do?  Perhaps a spot of diving and fishing.  Walter's dive for crayfish yielded three which we gratefully enjoyed for dinner.

James and Walter went fishing the next day and scored a mountain of kahawai and trevally which we smoked in the neighbours multi layer wood fired smoker. Smoked fish cakes became a staple diet. 

Ollie, Snow and Ollie's Mum arrived the following weekend and a bit of work got done around the bach in preparation for the new roof which would be installed at Easter.  A huge old Pohutukawa tree fell down on it in a previous storm doing enough damage to warrant replacement.  Oh, and of course we managed a bit more fishing ....

Porae

Never thought we would say this, but by the end of our magical two weeks up the coast we were really in need of something other than fish to eat.  We stopped at the bakery in Opotiki on the way out and enjoyed a meat pie for lunch!

Thank you Ollie and Snow.  We had an amazing time in your slice of paradise!