Home Day 1 - Arrival Day 2 - Raglan to Urenui Day 3 - The Long Road to Levin Day 4 - A Day with Granny Day 5 - A Wellington Wander Day 6 - The Tour to Taupo Day 7 - Rolling to Rotarua Day 8 - The Redolence of Rotorua Day 9 - The Beach at Bowentown Day 10 - Outtrip to Ohope Day 11 - Meander over McLaren Falls Day 12 - Mission to Mt. Manganui Day 13 - Shopping the Strand Day 14 - Wistful in Whangamata Day 15 - Cruising to Coromandel Day 16 - On the Road to Orere Point Day 17 - Departure
| |
Wednesday, March 27
We got going pretty slowly this morning. Zanada had caught a mouse the
previous evening, so we kept the bedroom doors tightly closed - don't want any
mouse breath (or worse) in the bed.
While we were puttering about doing our morning chores, the sound of dogs
being called and the ATV roaring about brought us outside. Graham had put the
cows in the paddocks near the house the previous evening, and now it was time
for milking, so we got a good look at how to herd a group of cows.
 |
 |
Graham rides behind the cows, calling to the dogs that run back and forth,
driving the cows ahead. |
The cows in the west paddock move toward the open gate in the corner. |
 |
 |
One stray cow sneaks to the other gate, but they'll all end up on that
path eventually. |
Meantime, in the east paddock, the cows peacefully (if somewhat smellily)
graze. |
 |
 |
But not for long, Graham and the dogs show up and drive them up with the
other group of cows. |
A few minutes later, they show up wandering down the main road. You can
see the milking house in the right side of the photo. |
After the morning's excitement, we called Virginia and arranged to drop off
the linens that Granny Stanton sent with us. We had a short visit with
Virginia, she told us that the Stantons were her first friends in New Zealand
after immigrating from Samoa. She gave us some idea of where to go and what to
see in Mount Manganui, so we left her place and drove around the area. Shortly,
we stopped at the "surf side" beach.
 |
 |
A look at the mount from the entrance to the beach. |
The girls do their usual beachcombing routine along the beach in Mount
Manganui. |
 |
 |
A little ways down the beach, a kite surfer uses a kite to race across the
shallow waters at the edge of the beach. |
A few minutes later a second kite surfer shows up. Amazingly, they never
got tangled up. |
We drove further up the beach, closer to the Mount and spotted a small island
called Moturiki, which actually connected with the beach. It looked like too
good a walking opportunity to pass up.
 |
 |
Walking onto the beach, looking up at Moturiki. |
Across the beach, we head up the path. |
 |
 |
Off to the left of the path, we can see surfers catching waves. |
On the right of the path is another island, this one is called Motuotau,
or "Rabbit" island. Dunno why. |
 |
 |
At the edge of the island, looking straight down, there's crashing
waves... and fishermen. |
The girls hang out on the rocks and wind. |
 |
 |
From the top of the island, looking east down the beach whence we came.
You may be able to spot those kite surfers down there somewhere. |
And here's the view west... the Mount itself is just to the right of this
picture. |
 |
 |
Waves smash into the rocks below. |
Alex poses on the rocks. |
We wandered back off the island and drove to the end of the road, right
beside the Mount. There were numerous cafes, offering lots of options for lunch,
so we took advantage of the choice. After that, we did a bit of shopping around
Mount Manganui, and headed back to the farm.
Later that evening, everyone got together at a tavern near Katikati: Richard,
Stacy, Alex, Caitlin, Graham, Jeanette, Ray, Judy, Malcolm, Anna, Alyssa... we
enjoyed the buffet dinner and good company, but no photographs because the
camera battery was dead and Richard forgot to bring the spare. The
next day we'd do a bit of shopping, getting ready to
leave Tauranga.
|