We shot through a couple weeks ago. Been trying to sort out a road trip for yonks, but things kept getting in the way. Anyhoo, anyhoo – we left the Doctor’s with an arm full of Covid booster and a full gas tank, headed south and spent the night in Parakai.
The local Indian takeaway provided a really good Bambi pizza for dins.
Filled the pool with about a thousand litres of hot bore water and soaked in it when the arm started to buzz a bit after the booster: totally recommend the procedure for short circuiting the pain. It just simply went away.
Headed out in the morning through late rush hour traffic. Down through Huapai and Kumeu was chaos, but once on the Motorway and past a lane closure at Hillsborough traffic was very kind. Smoko at Taupiri Services, then on through Tirau and Roto Vegas (fuel – HINT! Don’t get outta ya shopping basket to tank up without ya jandals when it’s about 28° in Rotorua) then onwards looking for a caff for lunch. Which were in short supply. Wound up dining Chez Golden Arches in Whakatāne. Thence to Ōhope Beach Top Ten. Very, very nice new “Surf Shack” on a ridge just back from the beach.
Bastard dog owners letting their dogs run free on the beach despite signs everywhere forbidding it. Little corpses and displaced Oyster Catcher chicks on the sand where dogs had chased them.
Early away in the morning, picked up coffees for the road in Ōpōtiki, then round the Coast to Gisborne. Roads are in appalling shape, roadworks everywhere, and everybody rips through then at warp speed ripping them up faster than the patch crews can repair them. Somehow managed not to stop except for photos all the way round to Te Puia Springs for lunch. A couple of hair-raising moments getting down to and up out of Lottin Point. Going in we met Max Verstappen in a Ranger, but were able to avoid him by driving into the paddock. Then a Camper coming up from the campground decided I was taking too long to move aside for him (had something to do with my left hand wheels being on the crumbly edge of a twenty metre drop) so he launched at me, then went hard left when he realised he was going to collide, and landed in the drain. I edged round and went down to the beach for photos and listened to his truck scratching itself on the bank as he back-and-forthed it out of the drain. We saw him later at Hicks Bay when we stopped to use what must be the cleanest toilets on the East Coast. Mr and Mrs Plonker were doing a walk around checking the damage. (Actually less than he deserved.)
Rolled into Gisborne around half past two, booked into our motel, stooged around town a bit, found the Big Red Shed ‘cos one of my jandals had expired and I needed some new ones (for fuel stops, re: Roto Vegas.) Got Shark and Tatie from a place recommended by the motelier – good tip! They were good.
Away next morning, with the obligatory trip up Kaiti Hill before leaving town. Very pleased to say the statue of the Italian Admiral that was purported to be Lt Cook has been removed – good job, it looked nothing like a Royal Navy Lieutenant. Cook actually didn’t make a good impression when he arrived in 1769, and as a result he couldn’t get supplies from the locals he had pissed off, hence his name of “Poverty Bay” for the area. The damage from Gabriel still looks horrendous and it was as painful to look at as it was travelling the other direction last year. Crews are still trying to straighten the roads out from that event, as well as dealing with damage where the roads are melting. Not repairing the railway from Napier to Wairoa is totally stupid when you see what incessant log trucks do to melting tar-seal.
Got a cuppa from the Tutira Store, and hoped to find a caff on SH5, but they are all gone now, so we had a flash nosh at Cafe Baku when we got into Taupō. Night in Taupō Top Ten, then back home the next day. Trip home was just a routine commute, lunch at Kaiwaka, then back home and into the pink chores routine.
Some pictures here.