Thursday 13th
March 2008
As it was cloudy in Pauanua
we decided to catch the ferry across the river to Tairua and did the touristy
things – have a coffee in the street café (or tea in our case) visit the I site to find out what to do and
see in their town – and then go and do it?
So after lunch - which was
very nice, apart from the down pour, when we had to pick up our plate and rush
inside the café with half a dozen others – we set off to walk round the bay to
the mouth of the river and climb the Lookout. The ferry called at the Lookout at 3.15
to take us back to Pauanui if you raised the signal and it would take about an
hour to climb the Lookout and back.
It was about
1.00pm when we started
and it was a lovely walk along the river bank in this parkland setting I
described yesterday with the sun occasionally showing its face. There were numerous picnic tables and
toilets (clean and well maintained) on the way round where the New Zealanders
obviously picnicked in their summer holidays. We arrived at the ferry point at the
bottom of the Lookout walk a bit before 2.00 and raised the signal for the
ferryman to call on his next trip.
Trusting that the climb and back was only an hour we set
off?
The climb was up a conical
hill with houses terraced one above the other for two thirds of the way. It was steep along the road then steps
between the rather grand houses to the next terrace and so on until we reached
the tree line; then a steady climb to the Lookout. Keeping up a good pace it
took us a little over half an hour but man in the I site was right, it was worth it
with a 360 degree view of river estuary, coast and islands
We didn’t stay long so as
to be down in plenty of time for the ferry. Have you noticed; going up hill, all you
see is the ground in front of you but going down hill you see the panoramic view
all the way down? This of course
slowed us down but we still arrive at the ferry point with five minutes to
spare.
ALL WAS NOT
GOOD! The ferry jetty was blocked off with red
tape saying ‘DANGER – KEEP OFF’ and the signal we had raised was down. What to do? We went into a nearby shed full of
diving gear and made enquiries. The
lady inside kindly rang the ferryman who said the jetty had broken when he
landed a school trip at 2 o clock and he could not (or would not) come (even
though we knew he had to collect them at 5.15). We had no choice but to go back the way
we had come and walk round the bay back into town. We then had to wait another hour for the
5.00pm
ferry.
It didn’t do us any harm
and when we told the ferryman how we had been caught he more or less said
“tough, the jetty broke, it’s the harbour masters problem”. In other words he didn’t really want to
know, which was entirely out of keeping with our experience of New Zealanders up
until now; I suppose it takes all sorts?
After dropping us off he did go and collect the school children from the
broken jetty, “Ah well”!
Friday, 14th
March 2008
The forecast for the
eastern coastal regions was cloud with rain so we decide to go across the
Coromandel Peninsular on the ‘Old 309 Road’ an unsealed road over the
Coromandel
Range. It was steep and torturous, and a bit
rough, but by now we were quite used to these conditions and it was a pleasant
ride through green tropical hills and valleys.
Leaving the Coromandel
Peninsular we headed towards Aukland looking for the sun and got as far as Orere
Point. We did 214 kilometres and it
rained on and off all day. The
evening weather forecast said it would be fine and sunny on the west coast over
the weekend so tomorrow we are going there for our last few days, so let’s hope
their right!
Roger & Mags; Mum &
Dad
