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.