Labour Weekend at Mapua

Real-time

We've had an fabulous weekend relaxing with friends, old & new, at the Mapua Leisure Park. Mapua is located about halfway between Nelson & Motueka and the holiday park sits on a large sprawling site at the tip of the peninsula between Ruby Bay and Rabbit Island.

The entrance into Waimea Inlet and Rabbit Island remind us a lot of Matakana Island and Tauranga's inner harbour. And in fact the coast road from Richmond through to Motueka also reminds us of the drive from Tauranga to Katikati, with all the little inlets and tidal estuaries along the way.

The Mapua Wharf, with it's restaurants, cafes and gift shops, is a prominent feature just inside the inlet entrance. A passenger ferry carries people the short distance from the wharf to Rabbit Island, where there are many walking and biking tracks. 

I posted this photo on Facebook over the weekend & labeled it- Papa Bear, Mama Bear & wee Baby Bear. As you can see there are some pretty big fifth-wheelers on the road. Our 5th-wheeler is 9mtrs, Amanda & Pauls' (on the right) is 10mtrs and Katrina & Bernies' is 11mtrs. 

Happy hour- David, Amanda, Paul, Bernie & Katrina. The weather was perfect all weekend although the sun dropped behind the trees a little earlier than we would have liked. There's still a spring chill in the air once that sun goes. 

Katrina & Bernie are due to hit the road full-time next January and they can't wait. In the meantime they head away most weekends with their gorgeous dog family in tow; Boo, Oakley and Paddy the Irish Water Spaniel. You can see in the photo of the rigs above, they have a large dog enclosure that contains the dogs and allows them access to the rig and underneath for shade when they're at home.

Once we'd settled in I had a wander around the park, stopping to say hello to Joey the resident Cockatoo, who had called me over for a 'Scratch, Scratch'. He sticks his head through a gap and bends it right down and nearly back in if you hit the right spot. One of his wings also lift up and down in reaction to the right scratch, a bit life a dog's leg when you hit a nerve while rubbing their belly.

Joey's aviary overlooks a very busy intersection in the campground and I can hear him talking and squawking as people come and go. He calls to me whenever I visit the laundry- I sidle around the corner hoping he won't spot me and then I feel guilty if I don't go and say hello. Yesterday he grabbed my camera strap in his claw and wouldn't let go, he is very cheeky but I do feel a little sad for him. 

There are a number of semi-permanent residents in camp but Garry has got to take the cake with the most 'awesome-est' mobile home of them all. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked past and had to go back for a second look and say hello to the very charming and slightly eccentric gentleman who was pottering about outside. 

Garry gave me the grand tour, inside and out and showed me many of his bits and bobs and where and how everything fitted together when he did take it out on the road. It's been a work in progress for the last 8 years but very soon he'll be shifting down the road. He loves his outdoor kitchen he told me; I'm sure he has enough burners and elements to cook a feast for the whole campground. The old equipment hanging from the walls reminded me of the stalls at the markets with implements and tools for sale from yesteryear.

Garry has a vege garden on the roof, you can just see a few things sprouting above the roof line. He climbs up through the hatch to water and pick the veges. I love the kids gumboots under each chair leg to stop them disappearing into the ground. On the other side of the truck he showed me his mobile workshop; a vice and grinder on their own frames which pulled out from a gap behind the cab. 

Garry has a neighbour just down the way, who lives in this tiny quirky cottage that looks like it might have once been on the back of a housetruck.

A wander around Mapua Leisure Park reveals many nooks and crannies, interesting buildings, a range of cabin and motel units, open kitchens and even a cafe on the waterfront. The swimming pool and sauna complex were closed for maintenance  but the tennis and volleyball courts were open and being used over the long weekend. During the months of February & March, the park is a 'Clothes Optional'  campground but there are strict rules about where you can and can't walk stark-naked.

There are some lovely displays of sun daisies around the park-

The bird life is also prolific, with dozens of tui feeding on the hundreds of flowering trees. Two or three kingfisher drive me crazy every day with their continuous and monotonous call and I've heard a couple of shinning cuckoos but have failed to spot them. Quail creep about in the bushes and make a dash for it when they get to open ground.

A family of swallows live above the ironing bench in the laundry; it looks like their nest was destroyed a few times before the caretakers gave up. Now two hungry faces peer over the edge and the parents dive-bomb you every time you enter. They fledged yesterday and were trapped against the windows in the laundry, they couldn't find the door so I gave them a helping hand. This morning they were back in the nest!

Another quirky customer....

And a few random captures around camp as people relaxed in the sunshine over the holiday weekend.

We visited the Saturday market (a smaller version of the Napier market, Mum) at Motueka but missed the big event up the valley at the annual Ngatimoti School festival fundraiser which was a shame.

Instead we tiki-toured our way home along the coast road. This is the shipwreck of the Janie Seddon, she was built in 1901 and was credited with firing the first shots of WWII, a warning shot across the bow of the liner City of Delhi. In 1947 she was sold as a fishing trawler but replaced by diesel powered ships which were more efficient than her coal powered engine. Eventually she was sold for scrap but the steel was so hard the company had difficulty trying to cut her up so she was eventually towed to the foreshore and beached there in 1955. And there she still lays, now a much visited historic rusting hulk and monument to shipping in the area.

There was one place I wanted to visit while we were here in Mapua and I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be successful in, a) finding the pond & b) finding the ducks in question as they are notoriously secretive and can disappear for weeks at a time. I found the pond (it's on private property) and I couldn't believe my luck when not only were the ducks in residence they were resting on a bank not far from my entry point.

They soon took off though, but I still managed to get a few reasonable shots. These are Australian Wood Ducks and like my other two favourite exotic duck species, the Plumed Whistling Ducks in Napier & the beautiful male Mandarin Duck at Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes, they are a rare vagrant visitor to New Zealand and only found on this one pond. 

Originally there was just a pair of Wood Ducks but last season they bred and produced 5 ducklings. It's not sure how many survived but from this photo at least 3 of them (others might be nesting at the moment). I'm now lucky enough to have seen all 3 vagrant duck species. I'm going back to see if I can get a little closer later in the week.

And one final photo of another happy hour with a few more friends; all fifth-wheel owners. It was like we held our own rally!

Especially for Dad



....and Pam and Trish & Len and Rodger & Heather and Gladys and everyone else that plays golf & has been waiting to see if we were just taking the clubs along for ballast. We finally dusted (literally) them off and played a round of golf at the Lumsden Golf Course this afternoon.

 

 

When we decided to have a game this morning it was cool, grey & misty, by the time we got to the course early this afternoon it was blue sky, beating sun, and a scorcher of a day! We didn't plan that very well, we could have decided to have our first away game on a nicer course (we've seen plenty) & a cooler day (we've had plenty of those too!).  Lumsden is a very uninteresting flat up & down 9 hole course with plenty of trees & very dry fairways. We were the only silly buggers on it and we both started with a hiss & a roar but faded on the home straight, the heat was unbearable as were my golf shoes on my sore feet. All things considered we both had a few really good holes, some average ones & a couple we'd both rather forget; so that would be......the usual game of golf!

 

The highlight was back in the carpark, in the tree just above our ute. I wonder how many of you know what this is?

This is a black phase fantail & what a sweet little bird he(or she) was. Black fantails are not that common and are mostly found in the South Island, they are virtually non-existent in the North Island. This would be about the 7th or 8th one I've seen down here but all the others haven't waited around for me to take a photo. This little guy was more than happy to pose, I had my arm outstretched to within a foot or two of him & he didn't move for ages and then when he did, he flitted closer still. Unfortunately I only had my cell phone to snap him. I may just have to go back there tomorrow with my camera and try for some better ones.

We were so hot after golf we decided to go for a swim at the stream where David had been fishing. The water was just as cold as the other day but it was so refreshing. I've always preferred river (or stream) swimming to the beach, especially with it being so crystal clear on a shingle base; no sand or salt just ice cold fresh water.

Those brown trout were still taunting us too, we had a swim in the pool right beside their patch & they continued to swim in and out of the flow right beside us! Trout would usually hide away under the fallen logs until we were downstream or out of sight. Not them. One of them was a monster too.

On the way back home we stopped so I could get this shot of the Oreti River looking west towards Fiordland. We feel like we have a connection with the Oreti, the river flows south to Invercargill & it's mouth is beside Sandy Point, a recreation area where we went with the family & by ourselves walking & bird watching.

And one more photo from Lumsden, this is the local hotel with it's fabulous paint job. Originally named the Railway Hotel it was built in the early 1900s, it had 27 rooms, including 19 bedrooms, 4 sitting rooms, 2 dining rooms & a billiard room. The hotel stables had 20 stalls and the owner ran two coaches a week from Lumsden to Lake Manapouri via Te Anau. Lumsden was once the centre point for travellers, gold prospectors & drovers alike.

Well that's it for Lumsden, we move on tomorrow. We have actually been here longer than we intended but we've been waiting for the weekend to arrive. David saw a flyer back in Mandeville advertising a fundraising self drive 4WD safari through the private Nokomai Station. We've booked for it and are moving up to Athol tomorrow so we're closer to the starting point. It's a day long drive through the station and we exit near the Nevis, where there is a well known public 4WD crossing which we'll probably do when we get to the Queenstown area.

It's going to be a great day, apparently the views are amazing so lets hope the weather stays fine. The organisers Oked our Ute but suggested we put some weight in the tray, they didn't know about the fifth-wheel assembly & the deflated inflatable which will give us 100kgs extra. All diesel vehicles must have a spark arrestor fitted- on most new vehicles it's standard- they don't want us setting fire to the tussock. We also have to sign away our life, carry a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher & have suitable tyres, so this isn't just going to be any ordinary drive in the park!

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again, I think we'll be away from cell phone reception but I'll have a post ready to go as soon as I can with photos of course!

"Out There" doing it.

Catching up in Napier

Well we've been parked up here beside my parents place in Napier for the last two weeks & it looks like it'll be another week before we have finished with all we have wanted to do. Not only that but at this stage we can't book our ferry trip across the Strait as all bookings have been suspended while the problem is sorted with one of the ferries(not our one) which lost a propeller while crossing Cook Strait a couple of days ago.

Hopefully things will be back to normal next week & once we have a day to cross in mind we can book ahead as we want to travel on one particular ferry; the drive on, drive off Kaitaki which is ideal for fifth-wheelers. The Kaitaki also has recently been relaunched after a major refurbishment, inside & out & comes with a Premium Lounge. I have too many bad memories of long ago Cook Strait crossings so I'm hoping a little more luxury this time (& fine weather) might help erase the horror of those past rough rides.

Last week was Dad's birthday and we celebrated it by having lunch at Off The Track restaurant in Havelock North, a restaurant that Dad & Mum had wanted to take us too the next time we were in town. It was a lovely spacious restaurant & café just off one of the many Hawkes Bay cycle trails, hence its name, and had Te Mata Peak framed in this large picture window. The meals were great although rather large, the coffee was superb & topped off with a fine work of art.

In the evening we went to a film I had been chasing around half of the North Island to see. It was in the NZ Film Festival & I had missed it in Tauranga as we'd been in Auckland, it was then in Whangarei but we left a day earlier, then Whakatane but we were in the process of moving house & now finally I saw that "Soul of the Sea" was here in Napier but only on the night of Dad's birthday. So I convinced the family to come with me & not knowing how large the theatre was going to be I wanted to arrive early enough to get a good seat. I needn't have worried there were only about 10 people in a theatre that sat a couple of hundred!

No problems seeing the screen!

Soul of the Sea is the story of Moko, the friendly bottle nose dolphin that I swum with a few years ago. I had met most of the people in the film & in fact there was a fleeting view of me as the camera zoomed past the sea of faces at Moko's memorial. As an added bonus & a surprise I got to see my name on the big screen, in the credits at the end, because I had donated some money (& photos) to help the film maker, Amy Taylor produce the movie. I was pleased to have finally caught up with the film, the final chapter for me, on Moko.

Not only did we go to the Moko movie we were given tickets  to the premier of the Paul Potts movie, One Chance, the story of the rags to riches story of the Welsh opera singer & winner of Britian's Got Talent. We all thoroughly enjoyed it too, it's well worth seeing. So after not having been to the movies in quite a number of years Mum & Dad got to go twice in a week!

Over Labour weekend the Gypsy Fair was in progress just around the corner in Anderson Park. We had a wander through the odd assortment of vans, buses, stalls, people & dogs. And marvelled in particular at the bus in the top photo. That must surely be the earliest version of a slide out there is. Maybe that's where the alternative term of "push out" (& push in) comes from.

During the week I took the opportunity of paying a last visit to my favourite pair of ducks. These plumed whistling ducks are very rare visitors to New Zealand (only 2 or 3 sightings have ever been recorded) and they have made a suburban pond their home for the last few years. I have been visiting them regularly on my visits to Napier and up until the beginning of last winter there were in fact three ducks. Sadly one has disappeared sometime over the colder months & I wonder what will happen if & when another disappears. There will be one very lonely duck left behind.  Their natural habitat is in tropical northern Australia & Indonesia so they are a very long way from home.

Yesterday I had my first round of golf since my foot operation, just six days short of four months since the op & I was a little nervous of how my feet were going to stand up to the rigors of playing 9 holes of golf even though I had a cart to carry me (& Mum) around. My feet are still quite swollen & I have only been able to wear a couple of pair of shoes with adjustable straps, up until today that is. I couldn't get my golf shoes on but I managed to get my walking shoes on with their softer sides. It was still quite a tight fit & I worried that I'd have to remove them before I got too far but they were fine. And my golf wasn't too bad either, I managed to match Dad on a couple of holes & beat him on another, I was just a little rusty here & there but I was happy I did as well as I did. Although I did lose two balls in exactly the same spot which didn't help with my score.

                                       Waiohiki Golf Course Hole #9                                                      Mum looking for my lost balls

We had a few drinks last weekend with extended family and we've come up with a name for these gatherings; we're having drinks with a "Chatter Platter". There are many females on my mother's side of the family and they span four generations in ages & we all like to talk, lots! Usually it is very hard to hear yourself think let alone get a word in so when we saw a Chatter Platter on the menu at Off The Track Restaurant we decided it fitted the Johnstone girls perfectly.

I've had a bit of a distraction while writing my blog & catching up on paper work this past week. This has been the view from the dining table as the neighbourhood transformer gets replaced right beside where we are parked. Little do they know that they are being watched as I sit typing at my laptop although I must say it's a little bit disconcerting waking up in the morning when there's just a thin wall between you in bed & them out there. There have been lots of comings & goings with anything up to six men and four vehicles here at once, they all seem to have their own particular job to do & there's much leaning on the bollards offering advice to each other. And occasionally in amongst the group I even see a white haired lady offering advice!

Golf, Gold & A Railway

We're staying in a lovely private bay at the moment(more on that in the next post) south of Coromandel township and today we've decided to travel back into town to play a round of golf & visit a popular tourist attraction, the Driving Creek Railway.

This was our first round of golf since starting our travels & we thought we'd better have a game before the clubs thought they'd just come along for the ride. Most of the land the Coromandel course covers was barren gold mining tailings from early last century and the reason each hole is named after a local gold mine. It's a very picturesque course but very challenging with lots of hills & slopes.

We were the only two on the course for much of the time & we both thoroughly enjoyed the round although it was getting rather hot towards the end caused by both the sun & the exercise. I liked their novel way of keeping the rake out of the bunker, with any luck you're ball could hit the handle & ricochet away, hopefully up onto the green!

After golf we drove over to the otherside of town, all of 3 minutes away, and booked for the 2pm rail trip at Driving Creek. We had half an hour to spare so we wandered down the road to the Driving Creek Cafe & had a bite to eat. The cafe was slightly alternative & vegetarian but with delicious food & coffee. David had the quiche & I had the gourmet salad sandwich.

The Driving Creek Railway (named after a gold mine that was located on the property) has largely come about due to the work of one man, Barry Briknall. Barry is an acclaimed NZ potter, he is also a conservationist, developer, railway enthusiast & engineer. To get the very good quality terracotta clay down from the steep hillsides on his property he built a narrow gauge railway (381mm, 15inches) through very rough & steep terrain, surveying was done with home made instruments and a slasher to get through the scrub.

Barry began the project in 1973 eventually building 3kms of rail. But it wasn't until 1990 that Driving Creek opened to the public after Barry's bank manager suggested it was a way to reduce his considerable debt.



Bridges & viaducts, three short tunnels, two spirals & five reversing points are required to gain the elevation to the Eyefull Tower where there are fantastic panoramic views out over Coromandel, across the Firth of Thames & up to Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf. On clear days the skyscrapers of downtown Auckland can be seen. Thousands of bottles form retaining walls in many places & pieces of weathered pottery sculpture dot the line along with  6 or 7 small but perfectly formed railway huts. Over 27,000 native trees are planted each year and the scrub is slowly returning to the native forest of yesteryear.

In the first year of operation just 15,000 people road the rail, in 2011 the one millionth person was celebrated. Most of the income from the railway is used in conservation & upkeep on the property, but Barry also donates to the local community in many ways. Driving Creek will be left to the people of NZ when Barry (who is 72) passes on.

Good Time Golf Girls

I mean.....Good Bye Golf Girls!

I love my golf and especially being a member of the Womens 9 Hole at Tauranga Golf Club. We have the largest 9 hole membership in NZ with over 140 ladies and over the last eight years I have made many friends. Sadly there will be no more Tuesday club days for me, no more competitions, no more mystery bus trips, no more entertaining fundraising evenings, no more haggles, no more driving range balls or giving Jack, in the Pro Shop, stick. I knew from the beginning of this journey that giving up golf at Tauranga was going to be another hard thing to do & I was right. I felt rather sad when I couldn't access the booking forms the other day or print out a card with my name on it, number 400-4369 no longer exists, I've been moved on. I guess that means my carpark will be free too! :)

I'd like to say a big thankyou to all the lovely ladies I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the years, thanks for the fun times & the laughs, I'll miss you all.

And today I played my last Thursday morning game of golf with my regular duo of happy ladies, Kerry & Jane. Unfortunately Chris who has recently joined us & usually makes up our four was unable to make it. I took along a bottle of bubbly which we opened on the 4th (I figured that was as good a hole as any to have some added help, Tauranga members will know what I mean) and we'd finished it by the 8th! We had a quite a few laughs & the golf wasn't that bad either. I did take some nibbles to slow down the bubble effect but we were definitely looking forward to a coffee by the time we walked the 10th back to the cars. Thanks for the company & happy putting girls, you've definitely had my last $2

Tauranga Golf Clubhouse                                                                Who is that under the tree?                

I'm not giving up golf, just the club for now. And I will come & play as a guest when we're back in town so Tauranga  hasn't seen the last of me yet. I'm now (along with David) a fully paid up member of the Mt Nessing Golf Club. "Mt Nessing? Where on earth is that?" I hear you ask. McKenzie Country, inland from Timaru & not far from Fairlie in the South Island. They have a 9 hole course that is open once lambing is finished; from February through to September. Owned by a local farmer & run entirely by volunteers I think their membership is a little over 100.

The attraction is the $110 membership fee which allows us to be affiliate members so we can play at any of the hundreds of golf clubs around the country. It also allows me to keep my NZ handicap running. And it's not like we won't know anybody either if Mt Nessing decide to have a shindig for their members, friends from the Mount (hi Trish & Len) who are also touring NZ at the moment in their bus, joined Mt Nessing last year. I would have loved to continue with Tauranga but the affiliate fee was just a wee bit too steep and I'd also have to pay for each round over and above the fee.



A marks the spot