The Trilogy

 This trip is in three parts: the delivery of the nuts in shell to the nut cracking and sorting  facility in the Waitakeres, Phoebe and Shannon's wedding in Coolum, Queensland, and the the delivery of the nuts to New Plymouth. It's quite ambitious for me as my health is still up and down.

Not much room for other luggage.

We have about 212kg of nuts, and it is like travelling with a maraca player in the back seat. The turn off at Tauranga is in complete disarray and we lose a bit of time driving by a very circuitous route which seems to involve views of the Omanu Golf Course.

Nuts all tucked in for the trip

We are staying at the Heartland Hotel which allows you to park for $7 a day while you are overseas. We have bought our own breakfast stuff so get on the road at 9 the next morning.

Its a bit noisy in our room - and a Weatheralls truck from Gisborne roars past

Why Nut? is truly in the wilds of the Waitakeres and the steep drive is most precipitous. We manage to edge past the lady stuck in the ditch without falling down the bank. The processing plant is in full swing with the aid of WOOFers (Workers on Organic Farms).

Sue Vause checks our nuts.

We think our nuts are wonderful.

The nuts are feed into this hopper

And travel up here to the cracker - very noisy.

These are not our nuts as they have to go into the dryer for a week.

The WOOFers take out any that look like seconds

And the shells are collected for mulch. We were going to bring our shells home, but this was a step too far.

We notice a sign on the office door "John likes a nap on the floor after lunch. He does not require medical assistance."  And the lady from the ditched car seems to have walked to one of the nearby houses, so we head back to the city.

We have a wander around Sylvia Park, but Duncan does like to use his HOP card, when we are in Auckland, on the train so he head to the Britomart in a flurry of policemen, who were apparently chasing someone who is strolling along the railway tracks. We have a light lunch down at the Viaduct which was hugely busy as it was Graduation Day for some students.

We get back to the Hotel in time for a nap before catching up with Brian (optometrist) and Lindsey Kirk, who are willing to drive over to see us since they are Aucklanders. They have just returned from France where they own a house in a small village, and spend a couple of months each year, and where Lindsey was hit from behind by an elderly lady driver (probably at least 5 years older than us) and broke her ankle. They also both had very bad COVID.

Lindsey is installing an art exhibition next year at Quesnoy where many kiwi soldiers died when liberating it in 1918. Unfortunately the Gallery has been bought by Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop is making an interactive display. Lindsey is now relegated to a smaller gallery, but of course there will be spin-offs. So they will be heading back next year for a few more months. I have been charged with investigating 2 of the Gisborne soldiers who are buried there. It sounds like the whole project is very interesting.

A light tea, and we repack so that we can be away bright and early for our flight.