On the Road Again
Sat 14 August
We planned and booked another winter getaway, hopefully as successful as our East Cape one a year ago. This time the target is Kawhia, on Kawhia Harbour on the west coast of the North Island not too far from Hamilton. On the way we will stop at New Plymouth, and on the way back at Waitomo and finally at Kuratau, on Lake Taupo.
We got away from home about 9:30, and made it to Foxton to our regular Dutch cafe stop for coffee beneath the windmill. Pressed on past Whanganui (a bit early for lunch) and stopped at Waverly at the Main St Cafe. Bacon and egg pie (unwise) and kumara soup (sensible).
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| Our regular Foxton stop |
Mount Taranaki remained hidden in the clouds as we continued north, all the way to New Plymouth. Here we have rented a cottage just on the edge of the CBD and also beside the sea. And the railway line - but trains are few and far between these days. From our window we can see the surf a couple of hundred metres away, and on this day there were quite a few kite surfers skimming back and forth.
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| Autere Cottage, our stay in New Plymouth |
We stayed in New Plymouth a couple of nights, taking to the popular waterfront walkway used by cyclists, scooters and walkers every day. The stiff wind meant a warm hat and jacket were advisable. The only hazard was the occasional cyclist who whistled past my elbow at 50 kmh with very little room for error. The cottage was a bit chilly (it is winter I suppose) but would be fine in summer. Fortunately hot water bottles were supplied!
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| Sue on the New Plymouth foreshore |
Onward to Kawhia
It's further from New Plymouth to Kawhia than I would have guessed - about three and a half hours drive. Along the way we stopped at Urenui, where we had a camping holiday years ago with the Reeves. Dan and James did some fishing off this beach:
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| Urenui Beach |
After Urenui the road becomes tight crossing over Mount Messenger, then returns to the coast about Mokau, where were had a coffee at the River Run Cafe opposite the Whitebait Inn. We turned inland again at the Awakino River, where we saw many whitebait stands along the banks, and Sue remembered it is (probably) the start of the whitebait season today. We passed the large "Awakino Tunnel Bypass" project, which seems to have replaced a short tunnel through a bluff with a large bridge.
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| Whitebait stands along the Awakino River |
By lunch time we were in Te Kuiti. We had a substantial, some would say excessive lunch at the converted railway station, the theory being we now won't need to cook dinner, and strolled up and down the tired looking main street, trying to buy a newspaper with little luck. Colin "Pinetree" Meads is celebrated by a large bronze near the railway station.
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| Colin Meads and Sue |
Kawhia
Our next stay is actually in the village of Aotea, a twenty minute drive over the hill from Kawhia. The tiny village is on the Aotea Harbour (which I was unaware of) and has no shops or services. Most of the fifty or so houses are empty at the moment, so it is very quiet here indeed. Our house is very nice inside, recently renoovated and extended and with a very modern interior. It is only a few metres from the water, and the side of the house facing the water is all glass.
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| Our Aotea holiday house |
The next few days were wet and windy. The news reported that slips at Paekakariki had derailed a train and blocked State Highway One. Our house was lashed by rain, and we discovered that it shakes considerably in a strong wind (and also when the washing machine goes into spin). The effect is similar to a small earthquake so we jumped the first few times it happened.
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| Sheltering inside while the storm rages |
I later learned that half of this property disappeared into the harbour over the last 20 to 30 years. It was originally a lot further from the water, but a whole row of dunes was washed away as well as part of this section! In 2003 the locals set about building a seawall to prevent further erosion, extending along 800 m of the frontage. That must have been a very large and expensive project.
COVID
Next minute the inevitable happened: we found we were back in Covid 19 lockdown, after a positive case emerged in Auckland. This does not sound good for the rest of our holiday!
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| Covid Strikes Again |
Jacinda announced a three-day lockdown, with a 48 hour window for people to return home. "Well", we thought, "we can easily stay here for three days". We foolishly failed to recognise that she was really announcing an indefinite lockdown, to be reviewed in three days, which is quite a different thing.
Eventually the sun came out again, and we started getting quite spectacular sunsets.
Aotea
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| Cheerful seagull by the front steps |
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| The slightly creepy (pottery) cat |
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| Aotea sunset |
Here in Aotea we have various entertainment options. We can stay inside or go out. Outside we can walk west, toward the ocean, or east, further into the harbour.
The Aotea Walkway goes out most of the way to the open ocean. After 1.6 km it ends on the harbour shore, and you can walk the rest of the distance to the sea on the sand, except at high tide. The locals all seem to have quad bikes (or side-by-sides) and motor out there along the beach to take their dogs for a walk or to collect firewood. Our host Geoff said he would be going out to look for any "treasure" which might have washed up in the storm, for example ambergris*.
*(Google says:) Ambergris, a solid waxy substance originating in the intestine of the sperm whale. In Eastern cultures ambergris is used for medicines and potions and as a spice; in the West it was used to stabilize the scent of fine perfumes.
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| Aotea Walkway and helipad |
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| On the walk out to the ocean |
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| The way to the "Muscle" Farm |
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| The mussel farm - those buoys out there |
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| A bevy of quail we spotted on someone's lawn |
Lockdown
We have now ventured out from lockdown twice, once to drive to Oparau for groceries, and once to Kawhia. It is a twenty minute drive to either. In Kawhia we took the opportunity to go for a (banned) walk along the shore. At the end of that walk is the pa, and nearby is the ancient pohutakawa tree which the original Tainui canoe tied up at, about 500 years ago.
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| Walking beside Kawhia Harbour |
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| The historic Tainui pohutakawa tree and stone marker |
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| A perfect mirrored evening view |
Almost everyone in the village seems to have a (red) quad bike, and out on the beaches we saw their tracks everywhere. Some people seemed to be just having a ride, while others were collecting firewood.
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| Local on quad bike |
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| At low tide it's soft and wet out there. |
We see less wildlife than we expected, except for a good number of sparrows foraging on the lawn, and those quail we saw one day. I've seen one pair of shags, a couple of grey herons, and a kingfisher or two. So we surprised to come across this seal basking on the rocks of the seawall, up the harbour towards the mussel farm. He yawned or bared his fangs at us, I'm not sure which.
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| Seal yawning - or snarling? |
We've had several very pleasant days now, after those first few of wind and rain. It is often particularly still on the harbour in the evenings, leading to some beautiful sunsets.
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| The evening view from our sofa |
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| Red sky at night, shepherd's delight |
Geoff our host has called round several times. He and his wife renovated this house to retire to, but are currently renting another place around the corner so they can continue to let this as a holiday rental (until the mortgage is paid off!). They have been very generous, extending our stay and reducing the nightly rate, as well as delivering home baking and newspapers and books to keep us going. His other bookings have all cancelled so he is happy to have us stay.
Covid 19 has penetrated our defences, and we are all into level 4 lockdown from midnight. Yay! Outside Auckland the lockdown is for three days, and we have 48 hours to get home. We ponder our options and decide we can happily hunker down here for three days. If it is later extended, then our options are less clear!
18 Wednesday
Walked along to the end of the road, then clambered up the steep grassy knoll to the pa site, now occupied mainly by the huge pohutukawa tree. Weather rather windy and rain showers coming through. Came home with soaked shoes and jeans from the long wet grass.
There is also a goat living on this hill, which I noticed from our place. Later found out it is actually Geoff's goat, but he got fed up with it and now it wanders free on the hillside.
21 Saturday
Sunny this morning, and warm enough in the sun. This house actually gets too hot in the sun, thanks to the unbroken glass. We worry about how it would be in summer!
Today's Jacinda and Ashley show reported 51 active COVID cases now, but still just three in Wellington. Still a couple of thousand close contacts out there so more cases are expected each day. A freeing up of lockdown on Tuesday as announced seems unlikely, so we are going to have to work out how to get home.
This afternoon we went for a walk this time out onto the low tide sandbar. It is soft and squishy in places but we found enough firm sand to walk on without overtopping our shoes. Tried to complete a loop right back past our house, but were thwarted at the last by a channel which would have soaked our shoes so we retraced our steps instead.
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| Looking back at the house (the larger white one) from the low tide sandbar |
