A summer story - part one

We're all going on a summer holiday, no more worries for a week or two (or three, or four...) Adrian and I have just finished up the most excellent summer holiday tripping all over the North Island and staying in some of the most beautiful places I think you'd find anywhere. It was so great to get out to the beach and laze around in the sun - and even though I didn't really deserve a holiday after only a month back at work, it was very much appreciated! Adrian turned up back in NZ in mid-December just before Veronika and Phil's wedding (which was lovely).

After the wedding, the whole Mazur clan headed up north to Paihia for Christmas while I worked from the Auckland office and then had Christmas at home. We cooked our ham Nigella Lawson styles which involved boiling it in coca cola of all things - and before you wrinkle your nose up in disgust it was actually really delicious! On Boxing Day I headed up north to meet up with Adrian (stopping, of course, at the Bendon outlet shop on the way up...I love that place) and then on the 27th we started our road trip in earnest. Stop 1: the supermarket where we bemoaned our lack of organisation (already) by not taking more food from the family coffers and thus having to spend nearly $100... Ah well, you can only live and learn can't you!

Stop 2: the Department of Conservation (DoC) campsite at Otamure Bay (Whananaki). We headed off full of hope that depsite the time of year, it couldn't possibly be completely full - but yes, after a long, twisty turny drive that's what the sign said... But, ever optimistic, we smiled and insisted that our tent was absolutely tiny (which it was) and they, very kindly, managed to find us a half site to inhabit. Yay for DoC! The campsites were incredible! People had brought everything from: full gas burner BBQs, tomatoes still growing in buckets, fridges, double layer air mattresses - and a group not far from us had even set up a kitchen area using industrial strength scaffolding! It was camping, but definitely not as we were doing it...

The place was absolutely lovely though; white sandy beach and even enough waves to do a spot of body surfing. Adrian was over the moon to discover that across the road they were showing movies in the woolshed - $3 and bring your own chair! It was Transformers, which wasn't the most appealing choice, but sitting in the shed definitely improved it! After a couple of days lazing around by ourselves, working hard on our tans, and appreciating all the absolutely beautiful stars we could see every night, Lisa came and hung out for a while. It was great fun to see her and chat about Oxford times.
From Otamure we headed right up to the northern-most campsite in New Zealand at Tapotupotu. It was completely different to Otamure - as the DoC ranger said, "things are a bit rougher up here"... One thing which was immediately obvious was the wind - after setting our tent up using every single guy rope available, it became quite clear that we were going to have to move it from our prime seaside location to a more sheltered spot back from the beach. It was just as well we did because even after having moved it it still was so windy it flattened the tent right over our faces several times throughout the night!

Tapotupotu is only two bays over from Cape Reinga and is in the middle of a wonderful area of national park. We did two walks, one south towards Spirits Bay, and the second, on New Year's Eve, to Cape Reinga itself. It should supposedly have taken us five hours but we monstered it in only three and a quarter - legends! It was a pretty full on walk, all up and down (mostly up...), but we distracted ourselves with reminiscing about the highlights of the previous decade (each other, obviously...). It was Adrian's first time at NZ's northernmost point (well, not exactly the northernmost point, but the legendary one!) and luckily it was a stunning day so we could see the meeting of the seas and the pohutukawa tree that has never flowered...
Not content to only do one bit of sightseeing that day, after the walk we went to the Te Paki giant sand dunes. They are absolutely awesome! You rent a boogie board from the guy at the bottom, and then after some muscle-trembling hikes up the dune, go as fast as you possibly can down! I'll try to get one of Adrian's runs from his camera so we can upload it here. After the dunes I was all, let's go for a swim, it's not far... Walking in our togs, barefeet and towels, it finally took us (at least) 30 minutes! Whoops... But, luckily, Adrian's first swim at 90 Mile Beach was everything we could ask for - it was so warm and the waves were huge! Definitely one of the best swims I think I've ever had. And then, thank goodness for Remuera Tractors because one of them picked us up on the way back and took us all the way back to the car...

New Year's Eve night was excellent; especially considering I thought we were so exhausted it would be a miracle if I saw 9pm even... We spent the night chatting to the friendly folks (from Hataitai!) who had parked up next to us and then headed down to the beach to listen to about seven different countdowns to midnight. We launched our sky lantern off into the ocean (finally, a prevailing wind that suited us!) and saw off the decade in one of the most beautiful spots I could imagine.

Part two coming soon!