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Auckland, New Zealand
Dec.4th - Flight to Auckland
Travel day. We loaded the car and dropped
it off at rental office in the city center. They drove a
vanload of customers to Christchurch Airport. The airport
isn't very big but does get international flights. Our flight
to Auckland was on Air New Zealand and took about an hour.
Another rental car was waiting for us there. We had hoped to
make reservations for our last two nights in Auckland while at
the airport but found none in our price range listed.
Getting back on the Great South Road, we retraced some of our
first driving in NZ until we reached Rt 2. Then we headed east
toward the Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel Peninsula. Lots of
Aucklanders use this area for their beach holidays. The drive
was only 90 minutes instead of the projected 2+ hours. Waihi
and Waihi Beach are ideally located on the Pacific Ocean. This
is the quintessential beach town with streets of holiday
houses and small shopping areas. A wide, white sand beach
stretches for miles and is bordered by nature preserve areas.
 The
Top 10 Holiday Park had new self contained units. Ours sleeps
8. There is a nice deck with chairs and table outside. Right
across the street is the beach. Running through this park is a
small stream that support a large population of freshwater
eels. AD picked up with Everett, a boy from California. The
two of them spent hours tromping in and out of the stream
harassing the eels. The eels varied in size from small snake
size to bigger than a baseball bat. They move lowly amongst
the rocks searching for food by smell. The boys fed them as
much bread as both families would allow. They really prefer
meat.
 The
Oklar family spent two weeks in the North Island. Jim and
Micheon tried motels and switched to a motor home. Their older
son, Zander, was keen on bats and we saw some flying as we
walked to the beach near sunset.
Dec. 5th - Relaxing in Wahia
 AD
was out the door first thing to go hunt for eels with Everett.
The eels hide themselves under rocks and in crevasses. The
stream is shaded with bush and the eel's dark bodies make them
had to see. The Oklars were leaving late morning which
saddened AD. The boys had been a lot of fun to play with. DW &
I enjoyed the free time reading on the deck.
AD & I went to the beach after they left. There was a school
field day going on. We sat and watched the events before
heading into the water. There is little surf here. We prefer
bigger waves but that means more cold winds. The class came
out with boogie boards to practice bodysurfing. We had offered
to get AD one in Christchurch but for some unexplained reason,
he didn't want one. Today, he did.
DW & AD drove into Waihi to rent a DVD. They came back with
Lord of the Rings II. I stayed back and finished the book
I started yesterday. Some books are so much easier to read! I
don't regret at all giving up on "The Brothers Karamozov". We
walk out on movies every now and then. So why not put a book
down?
The Park is quiet tonight. I'm surprised there aren't more
people on a Friday night. Maybe New Zealanders don't start
thinking about the beach until after Christmas. It is strange
hearing Christmas songs. They played one of my favorites this
afternoon. "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer". It's a family
joke going back to when my Grandma was alive.
These 3 nights in Wahia are just what we wanted. Sit in a
cabin on the beach. Swim and read.
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AD Journal |
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The stream at our motel in Waihi Beach has fresh water eels in
it. There are two types, long fin and short fin Male eels can
live to be 70 years old, but the females die after they lay
their eggs in the ocean. They die because being in salt water
stops their capacity to digest food. I met a kid named Everett
and he was brave enough to touch them. One of the males we saw
was about 4 ½ foot long and his head was the size of my Dad's
fist. I have had a lot of fun feeding them raw meat and bread.
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Surfing in Auckland...» |
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