2026 February - More circles, then off

 February 2026

After watching Lydia play in the LPGA we headed out to Taito's POP which is in Golf Road on the way to the Whakatane golf course. A great POP down the back behind Isaac Tait's house with plenty of room, a friendly welcome, a nice shower and toilet in a wet room, a little lounge and deck with free veges and a daily egg for each stayer. We were the only ones there so could park up close to the facilities.
The following day, Monday 2nd, Len was pleased to get a new fishing rod, at a very good discounted price from Hunting & Fishing before dropping off our EPA forms to Jude, our solicitor. We had been "berated" by friends for not doing them earlier - they must know that we are becoming forgetful! We wanted to see Jan and Doug as Doug hadn't been very well so in the afternoon after stopping off to see Sandra at the Mount we headed to the Freedom Camp at Haharua Park at Plummers Point - a nice, quiet place to stay with good toilets - just OTT multiple instructions on what not to put down the toilet!

What about dead animals?

The Council staff can't have enough to do. The next day we visited Doug at Acacia House, the care facility up the road from the Omokoroa Country Club before having lunch with Jan at the Omokoroa Coffee Club and then staying with her for 2 nights being able to park Heidi in the special area for Motorhomes. Always good to catch up with old friends.

Wednesday morning we popped up to see Doug again before having a peek at the show villa in the new Sanderson Retirement Village, close to the shopping complex which is nearly underway. We don't feel ready for a retirement village yet, and that one is really too expensive for us, but I loved the floor plan of the villa we looked at. To me it was the perfect design for what we want, so I have made sure I have the plan on my phone - you never know! 

"Manuel - is this your fault?"

Lunch was with Jan, Margaret & Tony at the Village Green where we experienced a true Basil Fawlty moment. After ordering our food and waiting for 20 minutes the waitress returned to say she had given us the old menus so we would need to re-order but then she disappeared without leaving us any new menus! Margaret went to investigate and found the waitress  out the back trying to assemble the new menus which apparently had just arrived from the printers. Finally we got the new ones and re-ordered, the food arriving over 1.5 hours from when we first ordered. Luckily we weren't in a hurry! I was able to get some muffins baked in Heidi after lunch and it was great to see Sharlene, Tia & George who popped into Jans later on.

The next day Len tried a spot of fishing at Plummers Point where it seems "no-one ever catches anything" and sadly even his new rod was unsuccessful so the rod was packed away and we spent the night at Omokoroa Golf Club, where they are still building their new clubhouse, as we had arranged to play golf and catch up with Pixie the next day. Great to see Pixie again although my golf was that great.

We then had a couple of nights back in the Welcome Bay NZMCA Park which I think we have been to far too often as there is nowhere to walk or bike whilst there. 

Sunday, 8th, Len did a repair job on the very rusty, holey guttering at our rental and managed to fit lunch in with Milly, her friend, Jan from Christchurch, and me at Mixture in between setting times for the bitumen sealant.

Before

After

We really enjoyed playing golf at Omanu, our old course, the next day, being teamed up with a lovely Canadian couple, Sandra and Don Letton.

Then, once again, we returned to Whakatane to take Heidi for an oil change at East Bay Heavy Diesel, pick up our prescriptions and see our solicitor, Jude, to finalise our EPAs. We do seem to be going around in circles! While we waited for Heidi to be ready we did a big loop walk over the bridge  and along the river - it was very, very hot and we didn't have any water so I became pretty dehydrated - disorientated and dizzy. Finally we managed to get to the drinking fountain, Whakatane side of the bridge, which helped a lot and after a rest I was able to carry on. We had done over 20,000 steps in the heat so no wonder.

After visiting the laundromat we decided to head east and go, for a couple of nights to the Island View Holiday Park at Waiotahi where we hadn't stayed before but had been told it was a very special campground. Well, we thought it was special too and our 2 nights turned into 5 even though when I tried swimming in the sea while Len was fishing it was too rough and dangerous requiring me to retreat to the safety of land. 

Safe sand swimming

So, with the fishing conditions also being bad, we  headed to the pool, joining a few ladies who were camping together and one man. Loved the pool with the banana palms, everyone being chatty and with good sun loungers to relax on - it felt like we could have been on one of the Pacific islands! 

Chic facilities

Also the ladies shower and toilet block was amazing with big gilt mirrors, gold basins & taps and completely black toilets. I loved it all and it's so unusual for us to stay that long in one place even though it rained for a couple of days and had strong 40 km/h winds it didn't stop us from walking along the cycle track and around the housing development there in between downpours.

I was entertained one afternoon by a Hino bus which came in and spent 1.5 hours turning around, going backwards and forwards and trying 3 different sites. It seems that they were trying to get TV reception and still failed! 

On Sunday 15th we sadly decided that it was time to move on and do a little exploring from the NZMCA Park in Opotiki, staying a couple of nights with two other vans parked on the far side. 

We did the washing at the laundromat around the corner and had a good circular walk when we arrived. The next day walking to the Bridge Cafe for lunch before visiting the well-stocked local museum where we really appreciated the vast collection of things from yesteryear with many being reminiscent of our own pasts! One of the staff showed us a book of Whakatane "then & now" photos which had two pictures of Wairaka, the now one showing our house!

Some old things

Some more old things

The Te Puke Citizens/RSA Club was our next overnight parking spot after coming through Whakatane, yet again, for Len to have an x-ray on his painful foot and for me to have a much needed haircut. We took yummy Thai Takeaways around to Colin and Amelias with others in the family - Sandra, Tommy & Sofia, joining us. I always really enjoy our family get-togethers. After sleeping the night in Te Puke we had a wander through the township before setting off for Rotorua doing the interesting circular walk at Okere Falls where we could watch the excitement of the people white-water rafting. 

Hold tight

Following lunch in Heidi and a wander through Kuirau Park we popped out to the Huka Honey Hive where motor-homers are welcome to stay the night for $10. The large shop there is very good and we watched a video about bees, bought some delicious lemon herb mayonnaise, nearly bought some equally delicious Bees Nees Cream Liqueur, but no room in Heidi, and enjoyed some Fig & Honey ice creams.

No, you can't have my snack bar

Len enjoyed playing on the Wairakei Golf Course on Thursday with David and Barney, friends from Whakatane while I caught up on emails etc, read the NZMCA magazine and enjoyed a scone from the clubhouse before joining the boys for an after match drink. I've been lucky enough to play on that course before so wasn't really missing out. We stayed at Huka Honey again for another 2 nights doing a circular walk around the Honey Trail over the road after golf. you get little views of the Waikato River from this.

Sunset over the Waikato

The following day we played golf at the 9 hole Wairakei course which you access through a tunnel which goes under the road from the Wairakei Resort. I've played this before when on a Girl's Golf Trip but Len hadn't - one very steep green to get up to but I managed, probably better than last time I played.

Found it.

Then, once in Taupo, Len had his second try at trying to renew his driver's license, I bought a new case for my phone and we had nice sushi for lunch followed, unusually, by sweet treats from Fusion - I seem to remember that they were delicious. We were parked at the river end of the lakefront which is very handy to town and has great parking for motorhomes buying some Indian takeaways from Zaika, which I thought were just average, before returning to the Honey Hive. 

Heidi at the boat ramp

Saturday 21st we travelled out to the Kinloch Boat Ramp, where you can park for the night, with electricity, for $25. It was busy with 8 out of 10 of the parking bays full and not a lot of room for 2 more vans to squeeze in. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed the walk along the lake to the start of the Whangmata Stream Trail which took us about 1.5 hours return. After returning back to Heidi we took our chairs down to the beach, had a swim (quite a good temperature) and read our books. Oh what joy!

Lucky me!

The next day, which was freezing, Len played golf at the Kinloch course for rich people, at $440, whilst I was the chauffeur in the cart. There was a freezing cold wind but Len was very happy with his round. Before watching Lydia play golf that evening, on the TV we did a circular walk along the lake edge and through the reserve coming back via the road. Fish & chips from the local store made an easy tea - not "fresh" fish as such but actually really nice.

My class reunion for Marsden School in Wellington, very ably organisers by made friend, Sally who lives there, was held over the next 3 days  so we stayed at the TOP 10 in Taupo for 3 nights as it was really the closest place to the motel that most classmates were staying at.

Almost lost it on the bend.

The camp was great - I was able to do all my washing and get it on the line when we arrived and then we had a swim in the lovely pool with the  abruptly turning slide which of course we tried out and managed to not get injured.  It was very relaxing lying on the sun loungers and reading our books before we had a soak in the hot pool.

At the Yacht Club

That evening all the classmates met at the Two Mile Yacht Club for really nice pizzas. It was a little difficult to recognise some people even though our last reunion was only about 4 years ago but once you knew it all clicked into place. There were probably just over 20 of us with 6 husbands also joining us at times. Lots of chat and interesting things to catch up on and an ideal casual venue for doing just that.

Bungee jumper

The next morning Len and I walked along to the Taupo Bungee where we watched a couple of people doing their thing before walking along the mostly narrow river path into town being careful to avoid any cyclists. The others were doing touristy things but having done them all before we mostly opted to do our own thing during the day as we met up each night for dinner. Once arriving at the Marina we had a coffee and shared an excellent toastie at the  Cafe there before walking back to the camp through town and the streets. A good long circular walk. That evening we  all met up for dinner at Jolly Good Fellows for another good social time.

On the Wednesday Len played golf with David, Sally's husband whilst I walked into town, ordering some lovely flowers for Sally on the way, to join the other girls who had just done the boat trip out to the Maori carvings, and get a ride to lunch at L'Arte, a beautiful venue a bit out of town with well kept gardens and trees and and a courtyard area with brightly coloured ceramic sculptures and seating, a little reminiscent, on a very minor scale of Gaudi's work in Barcelona. The Cafe was busy and it was difficult to find seating for us all but a couple of forceful old girls sorted it out!

L'Arte ists

My friend, Janet, a former dormitory mate, along with Sally, and her husband Murray, arrived at the campground that afternoon so we were able to have a bit of a catch-up before being able to join them in their car for  dinner at The Bantry, an up-market restaurant with nice food but oh so noisy with poor acoustics and another big table of diners outside, through the open doors. It was hard work to hear what your table mates were saying so, although enjoyable, it wasn't such a relaxing evening. It's just not a place to go again, with a big group, in my opinion. The 6 men were all seated together at a table outside and that worked really well.

Bantry Girls Table

Bantry Boys Table

After leaving the camp on Thursday we went to PaknSave to stock up with groceries and had a slight mishap in the busy, busy car park. Len is a very good driver but there wasn't a lot of room to manoeuvre causing our left back wheel rim to make contact with the right end of a ute's bumper. It made such a loud noise but fortunately the bumper only had our paint on it and no dents, although, unfortunately our wheel rim was quite damaged with a few bits on the ground. The store security lady was quickly on the spot, took all the details and they were soon announcing in the shop for the owner of the ute to come forward but even after doing all my shopping and waiting around for a while no-one appeared - I think they were just parked there all day. Anyway with the relief of knowing we hadn't caused any damage to their dirty, cob-webbed vehicle we went on our way as soon as Len had put in his insurance claim.

Oops!

Some girls were walking the Opepi circular and Cemetery track which is on the way to Napier, where we were heading, that morning and we decided to stop for a coffee in that parking area especially as we saw a car that might have been Sallys. We'd just made the coffee when who would emerge out of the bush, from the track, but Sally, Janet and Bobs! 

T,L,S & J

They joined us in the motorhome - more chat - and then headed on back to Taupo whereas we decided we'd better walk the track, not remembering whether we had done it before! (we hadn't). It was a good circular walk which had a short bypass to a little cemetery with men who had fought  Te Kooti in 1869, some dying afterwards.

Continuing on the Taupo/Napier road we stopped for Len to play golf at Tu Pohue, a rugged, steep 9 hole country course which was too difficult for me. So off Len went with the company of some sheep and no idea of where the holes were whilst I made muesli and caught up on some other jobs. Sometime later he arrived back very exhausted and dehydrated - I've never seen him looking so poorly! Lots of fluid later he semi-recovered and was able to drive on to the amazing, spacious NZMCA Park at Napier - so much room and some good plantings.

The next day we both played golf on the Napier course with a friendly local, Glen, which was good as he knew his way around.

Once a bunker, now a "tip"

We stayed that night at the NZMCA Park again and then headed to the 9 hole Awatoto golf course which was all 3 and 4 pars, very rough with hard to recognise bunkers which were overgrown with the odd hubcap nestled in. But I liked the short course. We drove into town and had lunch at the Sunrise Cafe, just off Marine Parade, before moving on to Havelock North where we had coffee with my old school friend, Janet, and Murray, who have lived in the Ryman Retirement Village for 4 years, before having a guided tour. It was nice but has re-enforced our view that we're still not ready to live in a Retirement Village!

That night we stayed, for $10 at the Havelock North Club which was quiet and has a nice view over the city being the only ones there and with the Club closing pretty early, just as Len was about to order a beer!

2026 January - Whakatane , Tauranga, Omokoroa, Ohiwa

 New Year's Day was a pretty quiet one at the NZMCA site at Welcome Bay. I managed to make some pretty good banana, bran & walnut muffins in time for the really nice visit from Margo who was keen to get some tips for her motorhome which is currently in production and expected to arrive in a few months.

January itself rushed by. most of it involving clearing the knee high weeds from our house with it having been rented over the past year and new tenants coming in later in the month. 3 big trailer loads to the dump with David D kindly lending us his car and trailer to do so, the mower guy who said he would do it never  turning up. Also the house, although left very tidy, needed a really good spring-clean which took quite some hours. Luckily we were able to park Heidi outside whilst we did this.

 It was great to be able to have Max & Flynn, the Auckland grandchildren, stay again for a week of the school holidays, this time in the house, even though the existing tenant who had basically moved out still had quite a bit of stuff stored in the garage etc. We met Dave, to collect the boys, at the Waihi Golf Club where we had stayed the night, almost the halfway point and did the usual things with the boys while they were with us - Julians Berry Farm and Mini-golf, the pool and waterslide on 3 days, the Spongebob Squarepants movie, the Christmas Catastrophe in the Escape Room which was a lot of fun and testing for the brain - just as well we had 2 smart young boys with us! We also walked around the Fairbrother Loop over at Ohope, watched people fishing and jumping on the Ohope Wharf (some rods could be good for the boys next time!) before having lunch there, visited the library and the  playground, ate their favourite sushi and played lots of SkipBo, 5 Crowns and some Scrabble. All good fun! After the week we got as far as Bethlehem before we met up with Dave as he had, of course, left home earlier than us.

We left Heidi parked at Woolworths in Bethlehem whilst we caught the free bus into town to use our thoughtful Christmas voucher from Colin, Justine & Amelia on brunch at Stassano Deli, loving our respective mushrooms & bacon dish and Len's French, Ciabatta, Toast- so fluffy & eggy. Both delicious - we'd go back and have the same again. We were also able to buy a couple of baked goods, the oozy-filled donut being extra-special.

It was good to be able to catch up with Sandra & Colin over this time too as well as Whakatane friends including Jim & Mina (lunch at the Fishing Club),  Stephanie & Doug (lunch at Cafe Awa), Sarah & Pete (lovely dinner at their house where we parked outside for the night and Rotary friends at Scottie & Jill's Fish & Chip night. 

We were also able to replace the rather worn sailcloth at our rental with a nice new one from Bunnings and see the rusted piece of gutter and the bowing retaining wall between our house and the neighbours, both of which need fairly immediate attention, the retaining wall probably being a difficult and costly job.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner one night at the Golden Rice Thai restaurant on Devonport Road and admired the awesome new playground on the waterfront before heading to Rona Murdochs POP at Pyes Pa for the night. 

It was also catch-up time for such things as SpecSavers, Len's drivers licence renewal, haircut for me from Tasha at Studio 113 - new to me but I liked my cut. having a massage from Nicky, seeing 2 movies - Song Sung Blue for me while Len was at golf and Hamnet for us both, both movies are pretty good especially Hamnet. I also played golf with the ladies, Mina kindly sharing her cart, and we both played with the Vets having stayed at the Golf Club the night before. So good to catch up with everyone again!

We also parked at other places for the night - lovely Dave's POP at Powdrell Rd - he presented us with a jar of his very nice tomato relish when we arrived,  and 2 nights at the laid-back, popular with families Ohiwa Harbour Tasman Camp.  Len tried fishing at the camp estuary and we had a swim but the water was very churny and sadly not suitable for bodysurfing with us just getting the odd very mini ride.

2025 December - Auckland to the Bay of Plenty

Monday 1st December brought another early Christmas present for Len - playing on the Te Arai South Course which was another great but unusual experience. It's a very good links course with beautiful views but so many differences from playing on other courses such as not being allowed to use carts, which we can understand, as the fairways were practically the same as the beautifully manicured greens.

No1 Tee

No 1 Caddie

They tell you before you start to play "that there are no bunkers" although there are bunkers everywhere you look - it's just that you play out of them the same as you'd play a shot on the fairway i.e. you can ground your club and there are no rakes. There are no sign boards to show you anything about the layout or distances of the holes, totally unlike Kauri Cliffs where our cart had it's own GPS monitor showing all the details about each hole and where you were on the course. Also a GPS service is not available so a lot of guesswork goes on! However it was very picturesque, Len loved playing it and I enjoyed walking it plus I think his score ended up as a "counter" so he can't really have missed any of the above things. Len took the opportunity of having a shower afterwards where everything, such as rolled up white towels on shelves outside the showers, was provided in their very nice facilities. However that didn't stop Len from thinking that the rolled up bath mat in the shower was a towel and that's what he had to dry himself on! And all those fluffy white towels sitting on the shelf beyond his shower door!

After leaving Te Arai we popped in to the Wellsford golf course to book a time for the next day but with the office being all closed up we continued on to the RSA in Wellsford where we could park for the night, as we did 12 years ago. We had a beer with the only 3 elderly members there whilst we learnt about things local before retiring to Heidi for dinner. We tried ringing the Wellsford club in the morning but, getting no reply ,we headed on out and were able to play after the Vets teed off using one of their many available carts. 

Two modes of transport in this shot

Play was a bit slow so we had plenty of time to admire the trees on the undulating course. It paid to stay on the fairways even though there was no run but the long grass bordering them grabbed the ball making it difficult to get any distance - that's what I found anyway! There were quite a few crossover holes, one of them being named "Tin Hat" and we could see why, being close to being hit ourselves with not being able to see men teeing off from the right. There were quite a few deep ponds with toads in them which we managed to avoid and we had to don jackets when the light, drizzly rain started but overall it was a good experience with at least Len playing well. 

T on Tee

Home for the night was a POP on the way to Leigh called Willow Park which is still being developed and really needs a bit of a tidy up but there were nice views across the valley and about 10 other vehicles there.

Willow Park POP

The owners were currently away but they still welcomed you to stay and use the facilities which included a shower, toilets and a small washing machine. We only made use of the toilet but enjoyed some peas growing nearby which desperately needed picking as most were getting past their use by date. There were ducks about which were leaving their signatures and a rather brown small pond behind us. During the night we were quite exposed to the strong wind.

We had booked in to Leigh Central Camp for the next 2 nights and what a great spot right in the middle of tiny Leigh just along from the General Store and even closer to the Cafe where on the second night we enjoyed delicious fish and chips, the batter on the snapper being quite different from any others we have had but it was very nice. and crispy. We had a good coffee and 'cakes' there as well. Our first day there was when there was bad rain and hail predicted for at least half the North Island. 

Pleased to be inside!

The wind was strong and the clouds were moving fast when we were about 1 minute from Heidi with the intention of doing the Leigh Coastal Walkway. We made the wise decision to turn back which was fortunate as the next minute heavy downpours of rain were lashing down along with huge hail, thunder and lightning. Instead, I made it a washing day needing to do 2 loads in the little machine and waiting a long time for the little drier to do it's job. It makes me appreciate the very efficient machines in the Liquid Laundromats. The neighbour in the Dethleffs opposite, who also does a blog, had a good chat to Len  whilst I was overseeing the washing. By evening it was sunny but the wind still strong.

After the storm

The next morning was sunny but still windy with some light showers about but we were able to do the Coastal Walkway which was stunning with Pohutukawa trees, tuis, song thrushes, gannets and many other birds with views out to Omaha, Great & Little Barrier Islands but it had lots and lots of steps. For this reason we opted to return via Lax Crescent through the streets having a nice chat to an 80 year old  Scottish lady who had moved here from Waiheke Island and was walking her son's dog. 

View from walkway

Walkway humour

We were a bit sad to leave the camp after our 2 nights but another golf course was calling, this time a private one which Len just happened to come across online. Called Gemini Golf it was developed by sheep-farmers, Kevin, an architect, and Janet, a golfer, who converted the farm into a golf course, transforming it over several years by planting lots of trees, olive groves and lily ponds many of which you have to negotiate your ball over. 

A narrow corridor

A less narrow corridor

It's a challenging but interesting course with the hills, dips, water and reeds as well as the Pohutukawa and eucalyptus trees. They advise you to play with a cart which is very wise advice and also suggest you to take lots of balls. We lost about 3 between us but found 6 or 7 others whilst looking for ours. At present only 13 holes are ready to play but the others shouldn't be far away from being developed.

After golf we drove onto Scandrett Regional Park on the Mahurangi Peninsula having booked here for 3 nights. The overnight site is gravel and actually quite small, only fitting 4 vans but we have been the only ones here for the weekend so it is nice and quiet except for the beautiful birdsong - there are more birds here than anywhere we have been; making it a very special place. 

"Gated community" of 1

Welcome shade

As we sit under the flowering pohutakawas overlooking Kawau Bay from our high up park there are tuis calling right above us and Len's birdsong Ap has picked up goldfinch, silver-eye, Indian peafowl, greenfinch, chaffinch, songthrush and kingfisher plus others. On our walks we have seen ducks, geese, grey herons and gannets and we just love being able to enjoy nature in this way. Yesterday we walked the Scandrett's Bay loop, visiting the historic Scandrett family buildings on the waterfront before trotting on down the track to Martin's Bay on the other side of the peninsula. There is a popular camping ground there and the beach is lovely - the water flat and fairly shallow making it perfect for families with young children.

Down to Martin's Bay

Mullet Point walk "kissing gate"

Kawau Bay from Mullet Point walk

This morning we did an hour loop, before it got too hot with 29 degrees predicted, out to Mullet Point and back down the Kawau track to our Bay. This afternoon I managed to make some really good banana, bran and walnut muffins, not burning them this time, while I listened to Max and Flynn play their guitars with Flynn also playing the keyboard - something I enjoy doing each week to help keep in touch.

Monday 8th December saw us on the road again, this time to play golf at Omaha, a very popular course which you have to book well in advance, especially if you want to hire a cart, as I did. No luck there, even though we had been on the waiting list for one from the previous week. We arrived early so had time to walk down the road and an access way to the beach, a circular route, which took us past many vacant, lovely houses. Obviously all holiday homes, not yet occupied for the summer - it seems such a shame that they are sitting empty.

Once on the beautiful golf course we played with 2 young men who both work for Golf Warehouse - Blake on a 0 handicap and Jake on a 5 - both excellent players of course.

The three boys!

Luckily I was on form for me and did some quite good shots to compensate for my bad putting before I finished after 9 holes, Len continuing on to do the 18. The course was great - very picturesque with little lakes, water features, bush, and birds, initially playing alongside the road and then having quite a climb up once alongside the houses.

Interesting par 3

The only problem with playing 9 holes is that you end up about as far away from the clubhouse as you could possibly be so I just walked back with the guys towards the clubhouse as far as I could. Len said the last few holes alongside the bay were difficult with lots of hazards so it was good that I finished when I did. It was very hot at 27° so I was pleased to have a shower - just a sole unisex one provided in the clubhouse at the entry to the ladies toilets. Not a great experience as there was just a push button for the shower with no way to adjust the water temperature and it was boiling hot! I could only dash in and out of the spray very quickly! Not the greatest way to cool down.

That night we stayed at the Willow Park POP again so we were handy for our visit to the fantastic Sculptureum gardens and many quirky art works the next day. It was an amazing place with its beautiful gardens, sculptures and art works and we were surprised that we had never heard of it until a week or 2 ago.

 

A special place

Elephant emerging from drain outside restaurant

Quirky outdoors

Quirky indoors

Our favourite water feature

We totally recommend it as a "must see" with it being in the top 4 of NZ attractions on Trip Advisor. After enjoying coffee and muffins there and hearing about the history of the gardens and art from the lady working in reception we headed for the Orewa Beach Holiday Park where they had mixed up our on-line beachfront booking with the 2 different sites they sent us to already being occupied. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing they gave us a site in the row behind which had lots of space and we were totally happy with. The big bonus was that they refunded all of our prepaid money which was so generous of them - unexpected but very appreciated.  The tide was right out at Orewa but we enjoyed a swim after finally settling in, did the washing and got it out on the line. To celebrate having free accommodation we splashed out on dinner at the Faridas restaurant, just along the road, where we both enjoyed delicious, oh-so-tender beef cheeks, which just fell apart, good veges and a Asahi beer.

Golf at Northridge Country Club was our activity for the following day but don't be in a rush to go there!

Crash helmet territory!

With it's narrow, confusing fairways adjacent to each other in some places - you couldn't really tell there were 2 fairways running together - the long grass, ditches, lost balls and s l o w play as a lot of people seem to have decided to play that day, it was a forgettable experience unfortunately and we were happy to move on to Fridgetech Marine in Rosedale Auckland where we were able to stay the night with having Heidi booked in for a fridge and stove service the next day. The fridge had been leaking a bit, the stove had an element that wasn't working and the gas oven seems to stay at the same hot temperature. It seems like they hadn't been serviced for quite some time and we were happy with the work done although he couldn't do anything about the oven. That's just how it is, but luckily I'm gradually getting used to it. The service was going to take 3/4 of the day so after a quiet night we were off early in the morning to walk to Westfield at Albany where we both did a little shopping - summer pyjamas and a couple of T shirts for me, shirt and socks & undies, to replace his holey ones, for Len. Heidi was ready to go by the time we returned so then it was off to Tui Glenn, the NZMCA Park, West Auckland where there were 5 other vans, two couples parked near us being from Tauranga.

After a phone appointment with my GP about my continuing lower leg and feet numbness and my prolific leg cramping at night we zipped off to Urbanaut, the brewery my nephew, Bruce, set up with 2 of his mates a few years ago. We, along with my niece, Jacki, and Tim, and Bruce's wife, Kirsten, were treated to excellent beers and burgers by Bruce. I especially loved the Little Rock, non-alcoholic IPA with Tim insisting on paying for our take-home beer as our Christmas present,

After lunch, as we were on our way back to the Mount and Whakatane, we stayed the night at a very special POP at Marphona Farms - Green Valley Dairies, not far out of Maramarua, down a long drive with wide open spaces, trees, picnic tables and beautiful lawns. They also had a toilet and shower attached to the big house and although we didn't use the shower it was handy to have a toilet and also water available to top up. A lovely place and only $15 to stay the night where we were on our own. We saw a worker on a farm bike going down the drive but there didn't seem to be anyone in the house. An excellent find.

On Saturday we had arranged to pop into Jan & Doug's on our way past Omokoroa for a late morning tea and a good catch-up with Jan producing lunch for us as well which was very good of her. Next stop was at Fiona and Graeme's to drop off some flowers following Graeme's Dad, Jock, dying a few days previously at the remarkable age of 99. The house was wide open but no-one about (Fiona had popped out to the supermarket) so we had time to visit our other friends, Margaret & Tony, before going to Colin's to pick up our mail and catch up with him and Amelia before going on to the NZMCA Park at Welcome Bay to stay the night.

Before travelling on down to Whakatane the next day we had time to catch up with Sue & Pete in the morning and then have lunch with Milly at Classic Flyers before dropping in on Madi and Sofia in Papamoa. Being back in this area means we have quite a few friends and rellies to catch up on which we love! In Whakatane we returned to Bill and Annette's POP, along the road from the golf club, to stay for a couple of nights. A blood test for me and chores in town the next day before popping in to see Jonah, who lives next door to the POP, to check if Vets golf was still on the next day. It was, so Len and I joined in, playing with Jane, and with getting quite a few extra shots with my handicap at Whakatane I was in the prizes winning $20 for my 39 Stableford points. Len  won a bottle of wine for his score and a box of chocolates for having the best Stableford score on the 3 Par 3s so it was a good day made all the better by being able to catch up with friends and fellow golfers.

That night we had dinner at our good friends, Dave & Anne's, being able to park outside their house, on the beach side of the road, for the night. A lot of news to share and great to hear the sea again. Wednesday morning we had a walk down the beach before doing a house inspection with Mel. The house is in good condition but the tenants still have things to move out when they come back from Jakarta before their lease is up on the 24th January. The oven still needs a good clean and most of the garden has nearly a years worth of overgrowth in it but luckily we like gardening and are able to do it while we live on the drive in Heidi as I think the tenants are only coming back for a couple of days and there's no way they would have any time to do all of this. We're disappointed that our Property Manager didn't make sure they kept on top of the garden as they had said they were happy to do it. However they are happy for us to use the bathroom and washing machine while we're here so it's all good.

Into the jungle

The garden has turned out to be a huge job. We started that afternoon doing 5 hours between us and 9 hours on each of the 2 next days, returning after our early family Christmas to complete over 50 hours altogether. We just have huge piles of green waste to be collected now although there will be more weeds to pull out before new tenants move in. We can see that we'll need to get a gardener to come in regularly over the next year so we are on the lookout!

The "Readers"

I enjoyed having an end of year dinner with my book club group, 6 out of 7 of us, at Fisherman's Wharf, Ohope, on Wednesday 17th with Andree kindly picking me up from home. Even though I can't go to the monthly get togethers I can still access most of the books somewhere and email my written review to them each month. What a nerd! But they say they like reading it and it does make me think more deeply about the book!

It was so good to finally be able to keep my appointment with Scott, my dentist, the next day for the tooth that broke soon after I saw him 11 months ago. A big repair so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that it lasts. We had our early family Christmas at Sandra's, at the Mount, on Saturday 20th with me doing a different salmon dish from my usual (and it wasn't as good!), kumera and orange salad, new potatoes and boysenberry cheesecake, Christine her beautiful glazed ham plus waffles and berries for dessert, Colin his delicious ham and cheese croissants and broccoli salad. Busy Sandra was on drinks. It's always so good to all be together - just missing Madi and Sofia this year, as they are having Christmas in Invercargill, and Jack who is in London. Sandra's newly renovated house is looking great with the new decks nearly being finished.

The whole group + peacock

The annual height check

After staying that night at the Welcome Bay NZNCA Park again we went to Milly's for a relaxing lunchtime barbecue before going to 99 year old Jock's (Graeme's Dad) funeral at Holy Trinity with Colin joining us. It was good to catch up with some of the Mackenzie side of the family and you always learn things you didn't know before when going to a funeral. He certainly had a good innings.

We decided to head straight back to Whakatane so we get in a few more hours of gardening, do the washing (I love being able to hang it outside instead of using a drier which usually happens when you on the road), and have lunch at the Fishing Club with good friends, Clive and Wendy. Don't have the garlic scallops there - they were mushy, very overcooked and just not nice with the runny mixture they were in. I had to put them aside and just eat the rice and salad. However the others enjoyed their choices.

Shark!!

Christmas Day arrived and what a different Christmas than usual! I thought we had promised each other that we would't garden that day but Len was soon out there again so I joined him briefly before having lunch and then driving over to Ohope Beach for a swim - between the flags again as there are lots of rips about everywhere this summer with more rescues than normal and some people sadly drowning. Luckily there weren't many people in the water so they didn't get in the way of our body surfing efforts in the petite waves. Midway, Len saw a fish that he thought was a kahawai but soon  after we got out the lifeguards were telling everyone to get out the water and putting the shark signs up. Who knows????

Trish relaxes, while.......

......the chef prepares

Too many bubbles?

On Boxing Day we basically finished the gardening in the morning so I persuaded Len to come and see The Housemaid movie, having read the book lent to me by Madi which she and I both enjoyed. Again, for me, the film was disappointing compared with the book but it did nothing at all for Len who felt like walking out after 20 minutes even though he stuck it out! I can see he'll have to choose the next movie!

Old friends

Highlights of the next 5 days, before the end of the year, were having lunch at Cafe Awa, just a few minutes walk away, a lovely last minute visit from Jan & Doug and Margaret & Tony who came over from Tauranga to have lunch with us at the Fishing Club (no scallops for me this time!); a delicious roast lamb dinner that same night with Clive and Wendy, with Clive kindly picking us up so we didn't have to drive up the big hill although we enjoyed walking down it on the way home; lovely dinner again plus 5 Crowns at Anne & Daves ('leftovers', Anne said, but they didn't look like leftovers to us!) where we stayed the night, after a rainy rainy day, on their drive; the next day having coffee with friends, David and Jenny (Jenny's birthday) at Moxi and lunch for me with friends Sue, Diane, Marie & Susan at Spice Junction after getting a new COF.

What a social few days!

That afternoon, on the 30th, we headed back to Welcome Bay, our second home, for 3 nights, picking up our mail from Colin's and having a delicious lunch with Madi and Sofia at Bay Sushi, Papamoa before returning to the NZMCA Park, which was very full with about 130 vans, for New Years Eve and sort of gate-crashing a wedding, unbeknown to us at first! We thought everyone was gathering for a New Year's Eve Happy Hour at the Big Shed on site so, like a lot of other people, we carried over our drinks and chairs and joined in on the outskirts as we didn't know anyone and they all seemed to know each other. After about half an hour of chatting with a couple of men we found out that they were all members of the Western BOP branch of the NZMCA and they were having a rally there with 2 of their members renewing their wedding vows, the celebrant at their "real" wedding a few months previously having had a breakdown, turning the whole event into a disaster. Then, next thing, before finishing our drink and departing the event was all happening and we couldn't really walk off. Anyway it was a lovely moment and their vows brought tears to my eyes. Fortunately we were able to sneak off soon after that before any of the contributed barbecue took place. So that was our New Years Eve!