Varroom to Yaroomba

 Monday 11th April 2022

A relaxed start to the day, then a drive around the local district, lots of lovely shops nearby and a small mall and supermarket. Chris has a specialist appointment early afternoon, so we take off with Robin to Yaroomba where Chris and Robin have thoroughly modernised a house up there which is nearer to Phoebe and Shannon and Otis in Coolum, and Nick, Michelle, and girls in Malleny. It is about 2hours up the Sunshine Coast.

We are greeted by Yoshi.

Robin and Chris spend a lot of time moving between their two properties, and Yoshi usually goes too, but they had left him on his own overnight while they picked us up. Seemed to enjoy being in charge of the bed!

We are immediately impressed by the highly specialised grass. It is very soft and spongy and only requires mowing four times a year!

Chris arrives and we go for a walk down by the beach. On the way we stop to chat to a neighbour who has had his driveway graffitied. He, apparently, is a bit of a redneck, but we were quite curious  by the neat spraypainting and the use of an apostrophe. (incorrectly). There is quite a lot of local politics in the area, especially to stop the place being dotted with high-rise.

The sea looks gorgeous, but is extremely wild.

Top of the rise. Lots of plaques to people who have had their ashes scattered off here.

Very large waves breaking at angles to one another

Looking North

South to Brisbane

Then its off to dinner in Peregian at a lovely restaurant called Periwinkle.

The other three enjoy the duck meal.

On the way we see a spectacular sunset through the new sapling gums which are growing up after fires. This isn't a very good photo of what we saw - but it is a very moody shot.

Tuesday 12th April 2022

Robin's loving having her fit brother to stay, and drags him out on the cycle in the morning.

This is Family Day, and Phoebe, Shannon and Otis arrive in the morning.

Otis is as delightful in person as he has been in photos. Heaps of smiles.

They will return for pizza later in the afternoon. We head off for  a drive and a lunch at Noosaville. Phoebe is still keen to get married, so we imagine all sorts of places might be suitable on our way.

? Wedding? at Noosaville

Chris is handmaking the bases for pizza which he will cook in the pizza oven. They are lovely.

Meanwhile, Nick and Michelle and the girls arrive and some of us go for a swim in their pool. Otis enjoys some time in there with me.

Bonnie and Freya don't have TV at home.

Just time for the group shot with Nick, Michelle, Bonnie and Freya, before the parents pop off to the pub for a gig.

Overseas Travel - but not as we know it

 Saturday 9th April 2022

After a fraught couple of days trying to confirm bookings, it finally looked like we were on our way - a day early, so we could make the Brisbane connection. Alice kindly picked us up and dropped us at the airport late afternoon. We got the shuttle to the Heartland Hotel for the night.

On our way

Sunday 10th April, 2022

Pretty good flight to Brisbane but we made the mistake of having a good breakfast at the Koru Lounge, and then were served another breakfast on the plane. Unfortunately our excitement on landing was curtailed  as they couldn't make the airbridge work and we had to tootle along the runway to the next gate.

Along the runway

All the forms and downloads we had completed in NZ for Australia were totally ignored and we had to fill out the Australian paperwork again. We were very pleased to get through, and were whisked away to Robin and Chris's apartment - which we hadn't seen before. It is on the 2nd floor of an apartment block in New Farm in the city. One side overlooks a small reserve with a magnificent old tree, and the other side has some interesting old buildings.

We settle in and take a walk down to the Howard Smith Wharves, where there are outdoor bars, live music and a carnival atmosphere.

Asked a young man to take this shot!

The guys try some craft beers

We have prosecco.

At the back of this area are some bunkers which were used during the second world war.

Fortunately there is a lift up from the Wharves to New Farm!!

The bunkers were air-raid shelters, because the Howard Smith Wharves were the base for many American Navy vessels which they thought would make them a target for the Japanese Airforce.

We head back to the apartment for Lasagne and some good wine.

The Godwits fly North in the Winter

 The grass is always greener on the other side. All those old sayings  - meant that when we were forecast to have very wet conditions for a week in Gisborne, we hitched up the caravan and headed over to Ohiwa. I was trying to get pictures of the flooding etc on our way out, but it wasn't very spectacular. Once we got over Traffords Hill and into the gorge it looked very tame.

Reckon you could still fly fish in this

As each tributary joined it got a little bit murkier

Small waterfall

OK, down by Tauranga Bridge it might not have been to pleasant doing the bit where you had to hold the wire.

It doesn't take us long to get the caravan set up on T12 and get the BBQ going.

It's a lovely evening and much warmer than we had expected

We sat our for ages outside watching the sky.

And then it was inside to play scrabble. I won, due to getting Zulu on a double letter score, and triple word score (69) but Duncan got me back the next night with Dinners as his opening word, using all his letters (68).

The next day we took it pretty easy, I really enjoyed my swim, Duncan went for a run along the beach, and a cycle ride, and we went for a walk, read and relaxed.

A very serene sky.

Sunday we were up bright and early to go to Katikati to see Harbourside Macadamias. They also do kiwifruit and Avocadoes, but very helpful to run some ideas past Wyn. Then onto Paul and Chris Edginton in Katikati for lunch. Paul was an optometrist from Duncan's year, but has had a long battle  with muscular dystrophy. They are good friends with John and Bev Watt - who have decided to move to Christchurch! as they are finding the infrastructure in Tauranga so chaotic. It was quite a long drive, but we felt it was worthwhile.

Monday was another easy day, but we went along for a walk up the road, and read the historic boards.

The estuary has changed a lot, with shifting sands, and when it got too shallow near the wharf, they used to just drop the cows into the water using a sling, and they were expected to swim ashore!!! I've heard of horses doing a bit of swimming, but not cows!!

Thunderous skies down to East Cape

Looking towards E Block

And another lovely sunset for us.

Next day it was an uneventful trip home.

A bit boggy by the Waipaoa River

Just a Little Trip

 We were regretting not being able to get away in the caravan this summer, so when Duncan mentioned that Veterans Golf was in Mahia I suggested a few days away. The weather forecast was not great - but how bad could it be?? The answer to that was pretty bad. Cold, strong, gusty wind and squalls of rain.

We set up after Duncan had played golf on Saturday. It never takes us long to set up on these short trips, and it wasn't long before we earned a beer, and had the BBQ heating for chops. "Where's the wire brush?" I asked - for cleaning the BBQ plates. Oh no, we must have left it behind, I tried to clean it with the dishwasher brush. Soon there was an acrid smell, and something caught alight in the bowl of the BBQ. Yes you guessed it - the plastic handle of the wire brush. (Bad as me putting my glasses through the washing machine)

View from the camping ground

The berries on the Pohutukawa trees are so prolific this year, following that spectacular flowering.

Next morning I had a zoom meeting for the Macadamia Society which used up the last of my months data, so I had the rest of the day without the internet. It seemed that I couldn't log on to buy more data and in the end I had to buy $5 worth from the camp store to log on to buy some more. I think more daily Wordle and Nerdle habit must be pushing up my usage.

After lunch we went on a drive to Mahanga. It's quite a compact little seaside village with no shops.

Grassy reserve

Couldn't work out how to get a selfie of ourselves in these two conveniently  placed chairs.

I'm not flying in this wind. C'mon, we're walking.

Alright, just wait for me....

Excellent sedimentary rocks on the shoreline.

Then we went to Blue Bay (where we took our first tent). A developer tried to turn it into the Pauanui of the East Coast - but not all that successfully.

The 'highlight' of the day was going to the Sunset Bar for dinner. I couldn't decide between the nachos or the spaghetti bolognaise but it didn't really matter as the mince mixture was the same for both.

Golden Sky at Dusk.. is there a rhyme for this??

That little cloud seems to be mimicking the cliff

Unfortunately they had added extra salt to this meal. Maybe the way they do things in Mahia.

On Monday we went for our drive before lunch - this time to Mahia, as opposed to Mahia Beach where we are camping. The coastline is weirdly rugged, with tilted, eroded layers of sedimentary rock. It must have really hampered any early settlers who would need ocean transport.

Looking back towards Gisborne

Looking South

So many rock faces popping up from behind the line of defence.

The weather was pretty miserable that afternoon, so it was puzzles and reading, and an ear to the cricket, and later on a game of scrabble - Duncan won this time.

I could hear the rumble in the clouds above the hills, and all next day the sky was black and blue.

Our actual campsite was reasonably protected from the winds.

I made a start on a couple of walks, but both times it started to rain and blow. Duncan was out on the golf course. A good turn-out from Poverty Bay golf club, maybe they got word of the crayfish and salad that was to follow the golf. Duncan won $5!  He was very proud of the fact that he didn't loose a golfball as the course is very scrubby. One of his group lost 6!

The deckchairs seemed to be damp every time I sat on them, but I managed to write a few articles for the Wrinklies Rag. By the evening it was quite pleasant and we sat out for a while, chatted to our neighbours - it was amazing to see how busy the camping ground was, as it is off the main road.

 A steep scrubby cliff at the back of the camping ground. There's always one tree that wants to stand out.

We were away by 9 next morning and got most things cleared out before our next trip away. It was very beneficial as a break away, and very pleasant despite the weather. (I had to wear my trackpants 3 days in a row).