- Visiting the West Coast of Scotland
- This is it!!!
- On the road again
- Back Country – NZ
- NZ update – east coast
- Back Country – very different this time!
- Lake Taupo
- The Coromandel
- Mini-break
- More little adventures – NZ
- Getting out and about again!
- More holidays!!
- A new year of adventures
- The mountain cottage
- Ginny’s visit
- Another visit – Marni and Jodi
- More changes!
- First stop in Canada – Niagara Falls
- Quick visit – Toulouse and Venet les Bains
- Ffald-y-Brenen
- The Cotswolds
- Back in France again!!
- Barcelona
- A much more interesting path – crossing the Irish Sea!
- London to Loxton
- Enniscorthy – a quick visit
- County Donegal
- South Gippsland, Victoria
- Next port of call
- Victorian High Country
- Snowy River Country
- Reindeer Lodge – Tanjil Bren
- Hiccup to Blessing
- Have tent will travel!!
- Family and friends – hugs and kisses
- Road Trip to the West
- Very snail like!
Here we are again! We have two little adventures to report since we last wrote. In early July we heard it was snowing near Stratford – on the east side of Mt Taranaki. So we rugged up and headed off to the “Mountain House” for lunch and hopefully a play in the snow. After a great meal we went for a walk around the restaurant grounds and through the surrounding forest. You could hardly say it was a huge fall but enough for us to get a baby snow fix!
In mid July we took Robbie and Marie’s mobile home along the local Taranaki coast for a few nights break. Parked in a few spots – all different – all enjoyable. The first was on the very windy and wild west coast – very popular with surfers. We parked near the Cape Egmont Lighthouse – has great views of the sea and back to Mt Taranaki. That’s if the cloud lifts enough to see the mountain – not always guaranteed! We know of people that have visited the Taranaki numerous times and have never actually seen it! Next it was back around to the north coast – a little more protected but can still get wild if the wind picks up. Found a great parking spot at beautiful Greenwood Rd Beach – just enough room for us to squeeze in between the road and the sand. A lovely time just chilling out – great views of the sea from the mobile home. One little extra highlight happened as we were just wandering along the beach. Two men on quad bikes roared past us, did a loop and offered us both a ride. Of course we said yes!!! What fun to fly along the beach, sun shining, wind in the hair. It was just so unexpected – a real surprise. Somehow that made it even more special!
Our third camp over spot was Corbett Park – just down the road from home. The Oakura River runs into the sea at Corbett Park, and it’s a great place to swim. Always busy in the summer – not so busy in July! We often walk down to this area when out for an evening stroll, so know it well. We pulled up alongside the river’s edge and opened the back of the mobile home. Just sat and watched the sunset. Beautiful. We decided to walk to the local pub for a meal – only five minutes away. Still a little bit of light so headed off not really thinking about the walk home. No street lights for much of the distance. Had a great meal and headed back to Corbett Park and our little home away from home. Now NZ gets a lot of rain so there are ditches running alongside the road to handle downpours. Need I say more!! I ended up in the ditch – and I hadn’t even had a lot of wine!! So back to the mobile home – out came the medical kit – and “Dr Reg” fixed up a few cuts and bruises. Needless to say when we returned to Manna my reputation among friends and staff was not enhanced!! I really didn’t have a lot to drink!!!! Fortunately the mobile home was returned safely to its little parking spot at Manna in much better condition than me. It had survived yet another Reg and Di adventure! Many thanks Robbie and Marie – we’ve had such fun!
Well, I guess our biggest news is we’re leaving Manna and NZ. Just seems to be the right time. We’ve had some very special farewell “get togethers” in the last couple of weeks – always sad to leave wonderful friends behind. We travel up to Auckland by bus in a couple of days and fly back to Australia the next morning. Not sure what we’ll do next – our only plans are to hug grandchildren and spend time with family.
Bye for now
Love Di and Reg
This entry was posted in New Zealand