Weather Woes for the Holidays- Far North

Catch-up

We packed up and left Houhora before the forecast heavy storm arrived. We'd decided it would be best to return to the NZMCA Park at Tokerau Beach, park up there and sit the wild weather out along with the Christmas/New Year busy holiday period. 

With the top half of the North Island on a wild weather alert we didn't expect too may campers to arrive at Tokerau over the next few days. And we were right, there was just one other caravan on site when we arrived two days before Christmas and a only a handful of others trickled in over the next few days. This time we parked in the top corner overlooking the horse paddock and with just a peep of the beach behind. Just as we finished setting up, big fat rain drops started to fall and rogue gusts of wind rocked the van. The rain became torrential and the wind more constant... 

...and that was how it was for the next two & half days, a solid wall of rain bucketing down on us from the heavens above. We watched as the creek filled the floodway up and quickly grew wider and wider as it flowed through the back of neighbouring sections and into the NZMCA Park drain. We saved a few trips to the local fire station to get fresh water by collecting bucket loads of it off the awning overflow. We'd only just empty one bucket and it'd be full again within seconds; in the end our water tank was overflowing and the ground around us started to flood too.

Christmas Day was wet although we did get to see a gap in the thick grey blanket of a sky late in the afternoon. And we actually had a lovely day even though we were by ourselves. Of course we missed the family scattered around the country & overseas but we enjoyed the relaxed pace of being forced to stay indoors and preparing and eating a smaller Christmas dinner than we'd normally have.

Before we knew it Boxing Day arrived, the rain moved on, summer resumed and a few more campers arrived. And in fact Christmas Day was the last day of any significant rain we had for nearly five months as we travelled around the Far North, Northland, the Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay. 

Over the next few days an assortment of RVs arrived and, with plenty of space available on both sides of the drain, found themselves a spot in the sun.

Most were keen to check out Tokerau Beach as soon as they were set up and it didn't take them long to find the lovely wide grassed track that took them straight to the beach (a road separates the track entrance from the beach). The Park may not be quite beachfront but it's a pretty close second and I'd say it will quickly become one of many people's favourite parks. 

From the camp I managed to photograph a number of sunsets which were just as spectacular as the sunrises I captured from the beach on the last visit.

Released from our 'cabin fever' Christmas we decided to head into Mangonui and... 

... have another lovely fish 'n chip lunch at the 'famous in NZ' Mangonui Fish Shop again.

Lunch from our previous visit

Of course we didn't allow for a throng of holidaymakers who had the same idea! The queue came out the door and ran off down the footpath. 

We gave that idea away, purchased some of their delicious Raw Fish Salad for later and wandered back through the village, checking out the fishermen on the wharf and dodging people, dogs and vehicles along the narrow road through the village shops. All the cafes and the hotel were overflowing with people enjoying the holiday atmosphere. Before we left for home, I climbed the steep road and then several flights of steps up behind the village to photograph a church that had a fabulous view over the Mangonui Harbour. 

On the last day of 2018 we went on a tiki-tour around the Karikari Peninsula, calling in on some of the beaches we'd visited just a few weeks before. And what a transformation! The DOC camp at Maitai Bay had the full sign out although there were still a few spaces here and there. I guess some campers would have cancelled due to the weather and others were still to arrive after New Years Eve. 

The boat ramp and carparks were full and a small tent town had taken over all the camping bays at both the top & lower camps. When we stayed here at the beginning of the month there was just us and a couple of small tourist vans.

Waikato & Maitai Bays are side by side at the top of the Karikari Peninsula, both with beautiful golden sand crescent shaped beaches. There weren't too many people on the beach at Waikato Bay on this day but many more than the deserted beach we'd seen on our last visit.

And a sure sign that holiday makers & summer had arrived was the icecream van tucked up in the corner of the bay.

I did get the shock of my life when I climbed up to the top of the small ridge between the two bays...

...to see that Maitai Bay was full of people; swimming, sunbathing, picnicking and playing on the beach. 

A bit of a contrast to the last time I looked over the side. 

And even though the beach was busy (relatively so), there was still plenty of room at the north end of the bay.

We left Maitai to the masses and headed off back down the peninsula; I wanted to show David the stunning beach I had found when I went exploring during our last stay at Tokerau. This time we took a shortcut that I knew about but hadn't managed to drive last time because there was a large deep muddy bog blocking my way. I wasn't game enough to drive through it without David (to help get me out if I got stuck). 

You'll see it on the map below, Waimango Road is a public 'road' although there are a couple of unlocked gates to open & close. The surprise is at the end of the gravel straight where it has been left to the elements and farm vehicles.  From there on it's mostly a bumpy, dusty dirt track but a section of it skirts around the edge of a large swamp and that was where I'd come to a halt at the bog. This time the bog had mostly dried up (even with the recent rain) and I'm not so sure it was a 'shortcut' even though it  cut off about 10kms. It probably would have been quicker to take the longer route but hey, where's the fun in that?

The dirt track exited onto Puheke Road, the road that leads to one of my favourite beaches in the Far North. Last time I visited it there hadn't been a soul in sight; I had the whole beach to myself. Today I felt like, "Hey you guys get off my beach, you're spoiling the perfectness!"

In reality, there were just a few families enjoying a sunny day (and roughing up my perfectly smooth sand with their games). 

We drove up a gravel track to the top of the hill beside the beach (Mt Puheke- up here in the Far North where the sandy land is mostly flat, they call any sizeable hill a mountain). The carpark overlooked beautiful Puheke Beach in one direction...

...with a breath-taking view overlooking Karikari Moana (Bay) and the white sand and large dunes of Karikari Beach in the other. 

These are the large white sand dunes with the wetland and dune lake behind, that can be seen from the Maitai Bay road, and from the villas and hotel rooms of Carrington Estate (below).

We were amazed to see that a group of people had set up their tents (which looked to include the proverbial kitchen sink) on the slope below the carpark; a perfect spot overlooking the bay but I'm not so sure it would be comfortable sleeping on a slope. We were also surprised at how steep the track past the tents and down to the rocks below was, and then to see a ute and fishermen at the bottom. Hopefully they have good tyre grip to get back up the slope on the slippery grass.

And while I'm talking about being amazed, the next surreal sight was an ambulance arriving with it's lights flashing. What the heck? They were quick to ask if anyone had called 111, no one in the carpark had so they drove down to the tents, no one there had either. They'd come all the way from Mangonui, 40 minutes away and were just about to leave after checking back with base when over the rise from the direction of Karikari Beach came a young woman huffing and puffing.

The patient was stuck down in the rocks; he'd speared himself in the leg with his speargun while clambering over the rocks and he couldn't walk. The young woman found him and his mate on her way back up from the beach.

One of the ambulance officers set off down the track to find and attend to the guy while the other called back to base, a Mangonui firetruck would have to come out (another 40 minute trip), so the firefighters could stretcher the guy out. He'd be spending his New Years Eve in hospital, or at least in the out-patients no doubt.

And what were they looking at? (for those that follow my Facebook page), they were watching the paramedic heading off down the track.

On the way back down the road we stopped for one last photo overlooking Puheke Beach and then headed home (the long way round) for a quite New Years Eve.

On New Years Day  I was preparing dinner when I spotted out the back window, a tiny wisp of smoke on the otherside of Doubtless Bay around the Taipa area. It quickly grew and within a couple of hours smoke was billowing across the bay. I could see a couple of helicopters flying around and the orange glow of a large fire that had quickly spread through the tinder dry scrub. I later read that there were 5 fire trucks in attendance & 2 helicopters and it took over four hours to bring under control.

You may have noticed in the photos that between the NZMCA Park and the beach is a large horse paddock which held a dozen horses, most of them looked like retired race horses. Now, does this look the face of innocence? 

The horses provided quite a bit of entertainment each day as they made their way around the paddock grazing together, chasing each other, annoying each other, scratching each others back, checking any campers dogs out and generally being nosy.

So we couldn't stop laughing when we came home one day to see that one of the horses had ripped and chewed a great hole in the neighbours shirt which he'd hung on the fence. It does say in the shed not to hang washing on the fences (a standard rule in all NZMCA Parks), and it also said not to feed the horses! I chuckled even louder when the neighbour arrived later to see what had happened and commented that it was the only shirt he had with him! 

Wasn't me he said as he peered through the hole.

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!