Into Tai Tokerau proper now...

 In the last few days we have moved on from Uretiti to the NZMCA Park at Manganese Point, then on to Otamure Bay.

After we left Uretiti, our first destination was the dump station - you guessed it. That cassette and grey water tank both needed emptying, the water tank needed filling - again. And we can't blame google for getting the location of the dump station wrong - we didn't listen properly to Bernice's instructions (it probably would have helped if I'd loaded the address into my phone while she was talking, but instead I trusted a man, an ACP in fact... But once we found it, all was well. We had driven past it, and in fact had stopped just across the road to get diesel and still not twigged that this was where Bernice had told us about ...

 David had ordered a power adaptor thingie on line. And once again, I failed to take Bernice's advice and I did end up driving through the parking area for the shopping centre - narrow, busy, breathe in to make the motorhome less wide - reminded me of the one in Richmond near New World! We exited unscathed and found a park down a different street. David offered to go over to Chemist Warehouse alone but I was NOT having him crossing that 3 lane road with no pedestrian crossing on his own... It was a hand holding crossing with loud instructions: To the middle, and now to the other side - NOW, David!

We had looked at the freedom camping site by a roundabout at the entrance to Whangarei - but already it was pretty full, and we weren't keen on hearing roundabout traffic all night. So it was off to the NZMCA Park at Manganese Point. 

It's a fabulous site - but a long way to go to get there! And the approach is a bit daunting - a steep downhill, narrow, gravel drive. There were only 2 motorhomes there when we arrived so we had the pick of the sites. We chose one with a beautiful view - and I sat outside the motorhome and read for ages in the sun. And in contrast to what the roundabout would have been, it was a very peaceful night. It doesn't have many spaces but it is small and perfectly formed - like I used to be about 55 years ago!

The view

I asked David to set the chairs out in the sun - this was his effort...

The approach to the camp is in the background.

Dinner was portobello mushrooms baked with pesto and a small lettuce salad - yummy, thank you, Adair! And we ate outside.

Sunset approaching - I was still reading outside.

I was inside by this time...

In the morning, over an al fresco breakfast we had a long conversation with 2IJ - we miss them. 

Brekkie - what a lovely place to be.

One of the changes we had made to the motorhome in October was the orientation of the garage door. It used to be hinged at the bottom, and as short people, we struggled unsuccessfully not to lean on the hinges... And it was difficult to reach right into the garage to retrieve stuff from the far side. Freeway put a new frame on, hinged at the top, and a catch to hold it up. Yay!!

If the garage was empty, I reckon I could tip David in there quite easily - yeah? Shall I try?

David was in charge of navigating us back to the dump station (who keeps pooing?) I'm not saying it's his fault, but I am blaming him - for (excessive pooing and) a wrong turning on the journey back which meant an extremely long** journey into the dump station.  

The route we should have travelled, i.e. the route we came out on the previous day.

The route we travelled: I did say that I thought we should turn left, but David insisted that Google maps was right and he remembered that this was the way we had come... No, google maps wasn't right, not even close. Lesson: look at the entirety of the map before starting off, esp up here where a wrong turn can mean really long detours are required.

 

It was a **29 additional km adventure, but not necessarily one I wanted though. What it did demonstrate is another reason why this part of NZ, as per the centre of the North Island, inland Taranaki and many other rural areas (East Coast, the top part of the South Island between Picton and Nelson...), are sparsely populated - steep almost mountainous hills that descend into deep valleys, all covered in bush. Even where the bush has been cleared, in the main, settlements are perched on the coast.

And we've come to the realisation that infrastructure maintenance always takes a lot longer than we expect:

• 3 waters administration
• more supermarket shopping by me while 
• David swapped an empty gas bottle for a full one (he was back at the motorhome for ages before I came back fully laden again - with elongated arms...)
  
• and got a refund for the wrong power adaptor that he knowingly purchased ...

Then we had a long drive out to Otamure DOC camp - we had looked at it online, decided to go there, then changed our minds because we were already weary (!) from the extra 29kms of winding hilly driving, the infrastructure maintenance load (sore arms and shoulders for me ...). But as often happens, I couldn't make up my mind where to go instead and everywhere we looked at on the NZMCA app seemed to be down long winding roads anyway. So Otamure DOC Camp got re-selected. It felt like a l-o-n-g way out of town, and you know the road is going to be slow when it's 28kms and 40 minutes ...

But surprise surprise, when I went to check in, I recognised Cindy the custodian. She had sold us that disastrous house in New Plymouth back in 2011... Lovely old villa, bad decision on our part. Should never shift to be near your kids and grandkids - only a few months after we bought it (and didn't manage to sell Cherswud, thankfully) Tim informed us he and Marta and the boys were moving back to the UK...

And when I told Bernice, she told me that they knew Cindy and Ray well - from long acquaintance at Uretiti where they were custody sergeants before Otamure.

We parked up overlooking the sea - what a beautiful view! 

View from the door.

I had planned that we would have garlic and chilli vegan sausages with beetroot and carrot salad and broccoli, cauli and carrot salad, but I ran out of oomph. So it was garlic and chilli vegan sausages, potatoes with butter and parsley, lettuce salad with lots of avocado - much easier and didn't involve the grater...

We had a walk along the beach after dinner, and played silly games with long shadows.

 

The man takes his own path 💘

 

See, we are tall really!

David being a bug-eyed monster

See - silly games... 😂

A two person triffid perhaps?

Otamure Bay is quite small and I wouldn't be wanting to bring a boat in through those reefs!

We didn't walk far enough to see if that is an island and if yes, whether it's accessible at low tide.

 There are some very large and extremely impressive pohutukawa trees here at Otamure Bay. 

Some of them are so large that their branches are on the ground.

😘😊

Peaceful and calming.

Soon this will be in flower.

Irene, these trees and all the others up here and throughout NZ are why we need to get rid of possums - they destroy these trees, and letting them do so feels criminal to me. They are so beautiful and old - I think about the storms they have withstood and the life they have seen.

As we walked back there was a family fishing and playing on the reef.

Early to bed - how unusual!

Twilight here is much earlier than in Waikanae - we must be getting close to the equator!

The next day the weather was pants, so we blobbed all day. I did get up to make dinner though - and I did employ the grater and made beetroot and carrot salad to go with asparagus and a lettuce salad...