On Friday we left Kaitia on a very humid and drizzling day . The temperature was 26C and the humidity was about 95%. The first few kilometres were easy driving but it poured with rain for some of the time. We came across the historic village of Kokokhu where we bought a coffee and a sandwich to eat later for lunch.
The town’s war memorial was an arch at the entry to the waterside park. I notice that it had one name from Vietnam and another from Afghanistan. New Zealand bats well beyond its size as a military force. Twenty eight of its servicemen died in Vietnam.
Down the road, we joined the queue for the Hokianga Ferry but by now it was raining heavily. I’m glad that the skipper knew where he was going becaus as we crossed the two-kilometre inlet our Apple map was telling us that were in the South Pacific Ocean!
Using Apple Maps to identify local attractions, we found one at Martin’s Beach near the entrance to the inlet. I didn’t walk all the way to the signal station at the far end of the point, but far enough to capture nice coastal views and some photos of the giant sand dunes on the other side of the bay.
The rain eased for a while as we travelled south through some farming country.
But it started again as we drove slowly over a mountain range with its winding roads but beautiful forest scenery.
This was a Kauri Forest area and we stopped to see one of the big trees in a forest reserve. It had a girth that was about four metres wide.
A ranger told me that this tree was around 2,500 years old. I embarrassed myself when I responded by saying “That’s older than Captain Cook” (250 years). The ranger responded by saying “it’s actually predates Christ.” Of course it did – I just left out a zero in my mental calculations. That one zero made a big difference!
Further along the mountain road, we crossed the Waipara River. Fortunately, there was little traffic and I was able to walk out to the middle of the road bridge to take a few photos.without putting my life in too much danger.
After a little while, the rain stopped and we came across a little Catholic Church in the middle of nowhere. The paddock next to it had been planted with a sunflower crop. I thought that if I could just get the right angle, I might end up with a good photo.
We continued on to our overnight stop at Dargaville and a visit to the Central Hotel for dinner. This pub is right out of the 1930s. I think that time has stood still in this part of New Zealand. The dining room and decorations were vsry old fashioned. I don’t think I have seen one like this for decades. However, we ordered at the counter, went to the bar to buy a drink and had a delicious meal.
It rained heavily overnight and for most of the morning today (Saturday). Some parts of the North Island have declared an emergancy due to flooding. We drove on through the rain, not expecting to get any views of any surrounding countryside.
We did stop at the little town of Maungaturoto to look at this striking image on try wall of the Returned Services Association Building,
Coincidentally, the President was just locking up and invited me to have look inside. We had quite a chat about New Zealand’s war experience. It sounded like he had rescued this branch from failure after the membership had dropped down to 25 members, It now has around 100 and serves meals on Friday and Saturday nights.
For over half of our driving distance today, we travelled south down the motorway through Auckland and the territory that we have already visited. I dion’t understand the reason for the dense traffic but for both the north and south sides of the bridge, all the three lanes were filled with bumper to bumper stop-start traffic for over four kilometers. This wasn’t a good experience when you are busting to go to the loo. Eventally, we found a service centre and made a prompt stop.
We continued on until we reached the coast near Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula. The rain had eased by now and we spent an hour exploring a road that travelled up the western side of the Firth of Thames. We found what a ‘minor’ slip (landslide) looks like on this road. Some other areas are so flooded that roads have been completely washed away.
This is one of the gentle shingle beaches that we found. Locals had cast nets to catch fish but we had no idea of their success rate.
Subject to the weather, which looks like it might ease, we will spend tomorrow exploring the beautiful Coramandel Peninsula..
