Friday 22 January 2010

Mt. Maurangi south to Whakatane

Wow! raining again and with major vigour. Am I glad to be inside the info centre at Whakatane! Some false starts in the internet experience, the library in Rotorua wanted $2. Ok , I can handle that, BUT unfriendly to Macs. Unable to get in. Next door at the info centre selling 30 min cards for $3 I managed to squeeze in 2 hours, what with loading pictures and writing the blog off and online. I finally bought a cooler, known here as a chiller. What a difference! Ice lasts for a days now, instead of daily replacement. Yes, really, a no brainer.
I attempted to visit the Wingspan Birds of Prey Centre http://www.wingspan.co.nz/ arriving at closing... Proceeded on around the lake to the north and drove on through rain to Tauranga and Mt. Mauganui. Awesome beaches woah! Surf heaven I am sure. Lots of surf schools and many, many individuals waiting in the waves. I watched awhile, they seem to spend more time waiting then riding. Mind you at 8 am I was impressed to see so many already out there.
Back to yesterday, I found a campground, a "motorcourt", almost to Papamoa and walked out into the dunes across the road. Onto the beach the wind was howling, no one seemed to bothered, although there weren't many on the beach. Sitting in the lee of the dunes was fairly pleasant speaking with my Elke, catching up.
Awoke to, you guessed it, torrential rain again. It did quit and I went for a walk out onto Moturiki Island looking for the Blow hole....
Cruised around town, visiting second hand shops looking for a frypan and the library. $4 an hour on their computers... time to move on.
Driving south? East really, stopped to photograph some sandstone cliffs and the big surf. Bought fresh blueberries, but having trouble getting my daily grapefruit, and when I do they are orange inside. Ah the sun is out, the streets are wet and I'm ready to walk around Whakatane.

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