Wenderholm to Uretiti

It seems counter-intuitive to have a lazy start to the day when parked up in a regional park - there's something about that environment that seems strongly to suggest getting up and out amongst nature early. Nope, not for us. It was breakfast in bed - toast with marmalade for me and with tomato and hummus for David. It was lovely to relax and have a slow start to the day. 

I did do more handwashing - David's this time. In spite of my undeservedly harsh reputation, I do look after him in quite a kindly way - mostly...

And because drip drying is the norm when motorhoming, things were once again hung in the shower for the journey. It's quite efficient really. I'm not entirely sure just how clean things actually get, but I'm working on the theory that it's the thought that counts, and a jiggling around acquaintance with water and soap powder while we travel, then a squishing by me and a couple of rinses has to end up with greater cleanliness than they went into the water with, yes?

We eventually headed away from Wenderholm and decided to avoid the toll road, i.e. SH1. So we headed up the Twin Coast Highway (?) and the first thing we saw was a brown sign that I felt the need to follow in the spirit of exploring somewhere we haven't been before. So off we went to Puhoi Historic Village. We spent an hour or so in the village museum which is in the old convent school. Well worth checking it out, as the European community was started by people from Bohemia back in the 1860s I think. They were welcomed by the local Māori, and in fact would have starved in the first winter without their help with food and shelter.

The only photo I took in the museum - this is the carpet my mum and dad had in their house in Doralto Road New Plymouth.

We stopped for lunch in a layby on the way down a long hill. As we'd had toast for brekkie, lunch was what we usually have for breakfast: fruit, yoghurt and muesli. We didn't take advantage of the walk that went down into the valley - I am anxious with the e-bikes on the back of the motorhome. As David assures me, the bikes are insured, but I worry about the damage that could/would be done to the motorhome while they were being wrested off... They are very attractive - lovely shiny red things! 😊

The native bush beside the lunch lay-by.

 

And bush across the road. Two concrete picnic tables and bench seats to sit on. Birds calling out, and I saw a skink heading into the grass under a tree. Too fast for me to take a photo though. Sorry, Irene.

Given it turns out the walk was down to view a waterfall, I will probably get a growling from Irene ...

We headed in to Warkworth to do just a small shop at the supermarket. Not much needed, you understand. Famous last words! More than I have spent in one go in a fair while ... So it's a good thing the National Super went into the account last night! I filled four bags and while we travelled they were stashed on the bathroom floor. I did wonder if they would each find a space in the appropriate cupboards (not safe or sanitary to leave them in the bathroom, is it?) I shouldn't have worried! I am not sure how I do it, but somehow everything was put away and no bad words were uttered while I was storing stuff. It is so good to have a kitchen garage outside though ... It was always the same on the boat: I'd look at the two granny trolleys I'd managed to fill and wonder where and how it could all be stored. And piece by piece, it would all be found a sensible home. Must be a woman thing, because David gives up and leaves most of it on the bench because "you are better at this than me, Marilyn"... He did once unpack them at home in high dudgeon after I'd grouched that I hated having the job left for me. He put everything away except the carrots and celery, and left me a snappy note saying he couldn't find a place for them. I wrote a note back to him, saying that I could - I'd shove them up his arse... Made me feel better anyway 😉😇😆

Lovely New World in Warkworth, by the way. It is down a very steep little hill - which seems just as steep on the way back up!!

We then negotiated a pretty complex intersection to to get to the dump station - David wanted to empty that bloody cassette again - where we were heading had no dump station, and as we did on the boat, we didn't pass a waterpoint or a pumpout place if there was any chance we would regret it. Job done - intersection successfully negotiated by me, cassette emptied by David - and off we went. That damn intersection needed a different route this time - almost a U turn out of the park, a right turn to the lights about 20 metres away, then a right turn at the lights and on to the main highway out of town northwards. Fortunately a nice truckie waited for me to get across - kind man!

Then it was up and over the Brynderwyn Range and on to Uretiti where we are now - Bernice met us at the gate, saw me through the registration process, we followed her to the waterpoint, filled and then followed her to where we were to park up.

Bernice and Roy with David and their motorhome in the background. Given Bernice often forgets to take photos when they are with friends, I got in quickly - in case I forgot too...

Our nearest neighbours

 

And there's us on a nice flat spot. The toilets, cold showers and sink were through a little path beside their possie.

This is such a lovely place! And we will return another time - it needs a good few days, we reckon. It is a huge DOC camp, and Bernice tells me it is the most profitable DOC camp in the country. I reckon while we were there there were about 25 caravans/motorhomes, but in the summer it fills up a fair bit more...

Bernice had determined we were going to them for dinner for both nights. Last night's dinner was yummy: an asparagus quiche, tomato foccacia and a delicious chickpea salad with miso and peanuts and other things. I have the recipe...

The next night's dinner was snapper they had caught - served on a bed of a salad of red onion, tomato, orange and avocado. I had leftovers as fish is not my thing, but David loved it!

This is the sight that greeted us as we walked through the dunes to the beach.

And these lovely birds, always in at least one pair. Beautiful. They chirp to each other as they hunt for food. Makes my heart sing.

The headland across the large bay.

Isn't that a spectacular view?

Patterns in the sand - made by the tide and the wind?

Little seaweed bubble things

We could have walked for miles in either direction.

I walked to get the laundry from the camp custodians - they do a load for a small fee! And I took photos as I walked. Amazing extensive grounds. It's beaut. It was flooded badly during Cyclone Gabriel and the custodians did a stunning job accessing pumps and pumping millions of litres of water over the dunes to the sea. There are still areas that are coned off as they are soggy.

There is a memorial seat in a raised garden area with this as the view.

A pond remains after the storm. The road had to be raised almost 2 metres.

 

Bernice had threatened us with a thrashing at 5 Crowns (they are on their 3rd pack) but we were tired on the first night so we piked. But on the following afternoon we introduced them to Crosshand Poker. One game and Bernice was addicted. So she has bought a set on TradeMe and will pick it up on Thursday. We had introduced them to 5 Crowns back in 2019 on Waka Huia... I wonder what game we can show them next time?

I sent this photo to David's sister Ginny as Bernice informed us that she is related by marriage to Ginny's husband Graham. It's convoluted and involves her brother and his sister in law and her uncle, who is also Graham's uncle. I lost count of the number of degrees of separation.

At two points during our time at Wenderholm and then Uretiti, David decided to sort out his supplements - he started taking them when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He stopped taking them during his radiation treatment (I don't know why), and has been sporadic in his taking them since. But he always feels better when he takes them regularly. So that was his mission. He was going to do 28 days worth. It turned out to be a multistage process:

1. Get them all out and arranged on the table
2. Identify and label the dosage per day and if they needed to be taken with food
3. Put them all away again in the crate so we could travel to Uretiti
   
4. Add two missing ones to the shopping list (Marilyn's task: purchase missing ones - accomplished with minimal fuss at Warkworth)
   
5. At Uretiti: Get the crate out and place them all on the table again
6. Sort them into dosages per day - silly me, I thought this would be for the 28 days. But no - it was only going to be for a week
7. Find plastic bags in the pantry, find out we only had 4 left in the pack
8. Do 4 days' worth of supplements, instead of a week - some in the little pill dispensers (1 per day) and some loose in the plastic bags (the afternoon ones)
9. Console wife who has had a silent hissy fit and who is so pleased she never employed this man on any project that required a deadline to be met with a task complete...

Actually, 9 didn't occur. I just mentally threw up my hands and actually said to Bernice that I would NEVER have employed him on ANY project I ran...

Don't they look tidy?

He was SO proud of himself he took a photo ... He says I'm a bitch, a fun bitch but a bitch