We awoke early, thanks to Noel not reading his watch correctly, and we set off at about 0830 via Awanui, where we bought some petrol, before heading up State Route 1.
The road runs through hills and dales and sometimes close to the sea but mostly in the middle of the country. There is quite a lot of livestock up here as there is ample space for grazing and few houses. Kaitaia is the last large town before heading north.
The main road goes through Houhora , a sleepy little village and then on via Waitiki Landing, which the map says has fuel and food, but more of that later.
We had decided that we would go straight to the
We arrived around 1045 after a slow drive admiring the countryside and also looking for places we wished to visit on our return journey. The last twenty kilometres of road to the
We left the car in the car park and wandered down the path to the lighthouse. By looking left you could see where the
On the rocks below
We met some guys who recommended that we also visited
By this time we were getting hungry as it was about
In the cafĂ© Jennifer placed the order as I went to the joint use loo and as I sled the door back to enter there was this plaintiff cry of ‘don’t come in’. The door had no lock.
We waited about 30 minutes and still no food and so we chased up the lady who said she was all by herself and it would take time. So we left. There was however a guy collecting dishes and once done he vanished and another lady who sat in the kitchen doing nothing. What a place, and it seemed dirty. I see now why people take a picnic.
We stopped off at Houhora Heads but there was not much going on there and then headed back to Awanui for an ice cream before arriving home at around 5.30 pm. Noel cooked the steaks and together with salad and a glass or two of wine made for a pleasant day.
Noel received a call inviting him to go fishing early on Thursday morning but he could not go, which is most unfortunate, as he is due back at the physiotherapist at 1030 and it’s really not fair to cancel at this late stage. Hopefully there will be another opportunity soon.