Sunday 11th January- Its Sunday and time for a fry up

We decided to have a ‘brunch’ today with all those things like eggs and bacon etc etc that are not good for you. After the mornings walk you do need a little pick me up and as we were running a little late we converted breakfast in to brunch and Robin and Lorraine came over to join us.

It was pleasant in the sun overlooking the crowds of people in the sea and on the beach, about twenty five actually, and just let the day go slowly by drinking coffee and idle chat.

We ate brunch so late and also had too much so much so that the Sirloin roast we were going to have was put back in the fridge for Monday as neither of us could entertain it after our extremely large breakfast cooked by “Supraman”.

The rest of the day was spent reading and not doing too much although Noel fiddled with the photos from yesterdays car show and put them on the web which took a little while.

Early to bed was the form tonight.

Saturday 10th January- Taipa Auto Spectacular Car Show

It was a grey morning with the promise of rain later however this was better for the car show as it meant you didn’t get so burnt. Last year the sun burned down and people did not want to walk around for fear of getting sunburnt, so today was much better.
There was a very good selection of cars from all over North Island combined with a jumble sale and also old bits of car for sale.
Most of the cars were in absolutely excellent condition and the owners must have worked very hard and spent quite a bit of money getting their cars up to standard.
From Rolls Royce to Cadillac and from Austin A40 to a plethora of Ford Zodiacs, Zephyr’s and the like it was great.
There was also a line up of Chevrolet cars as well as some motor cycles including a Californian Kawasaki Police Patrol bike with the owner togged out in the full gear.
The BBQ sausages and onions on bread were excellent and there was a reasonable choice of food including the national dish of Chips.
On the back of a large 40foot truck a mother and her unwilling daughter were doing a series of dances from country and western to Hill Billy through to Maori. We understand the mother is an outgoing individual who likes this type of event and her daughter is the opposite and she did not smile at any time. There was a large trampoline for the kids to play on and the complete show was well organised.
Noel took lots of photos, most of which are on the Photo Blog, if you are interested in historic or vintage cars.
We just about made it back to the house around two pm when it started to rain and we were so lucky to not get caught. In the evening Lamb chops plus multiple vegetables was the ‘daily special’ and enjoyed by both of us.
We did a fair amount of walking today and Noel’s knee is certainly much better and almost back to normal, wow let’s hope this continues.
We think the weather will improve tomorrow with some cloud and sunny patches.
All the photos can be seen on following link
http://albums.phanfare.com/5194780/2944783_3547345#imageID=57994763

Friday 9th January- I knew it couldn’t last

Of course the good weather could not last. It was grey today with a hint of rain but still very warm indeed if not a bit muggy.

Apart from the usual walk and look at the tourists on the beach waiting to finish their coffee and get back on the bus for their trip to Cape Reinga we didn’t do too much today.

We are looking forward to tomorrow when we can go to the Taipa Auto Spectacular which promises all sorts of great things but we do understand that it will be busy.

We had fish this evening cooked by the master chef (Gordon and Jaime watch out, there is a new man in town) it was great and this fish although from the freezer now is extremely good.

Thursday 8th January- It’s still sunny

Surely this good weather cannot last. On Thursday evening when we finished up the blog it was still very warm at nine pm and whilst typing I was wearing only shorts.
The usual walk started the day and it was so nice and warm we really did not want to do much but just enjoy the weather. We noticed that the anti-booze police gang are encamped over in the Taipa Resort, two police cars and a paddy wagon, or whatever they call it here.
This coming Saturday is the Taipa Auto Spectacular which should be interesting with lots of old cars and all sorts of things are promised.
We did a quick dash in to Kaitaia to visit an electrical company and apart from that not much really hence the long blog from yesterday.
The builder who promised to come on Wednesday has still not arrived so I will give up on him and let Brian sort it out when he gets home in early February.
Whilst researching for yesterdays blog and looking for statistics I noticed that the land mass of New Zealand is about ten per cent larger than the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has about 63 million or so people whilst New Zealand, at the last count, about 4.2 million people and that is why density of living is not a problem here. Of course in the South Island there is a huge wilderness area where nobody lives and it’s pretty much the same in the United Kingdom in Brixton.
Only about 3.8 million cars are registered in New Zealand which is about the same number of cars on the M25 on a Friday night, or so it seems. However the number of cars registered compared to the populations does seem out of proportion and I cannot find out why unless it’s because so many cars are left lying around (see yesterdays blog) that have not been taken off the register list.
Another amazing sunset tonight, see photos.

Wednesday 7th January- I regret to inform you……..

that the weather here in Taipa is perfect. We are having continual blue sky and warm temperatures of around 28 degrees but we have to watch out for the UV rays which are showing as ‘Extreme’ at the moment.

Nevertheless, we are putting up with it quite well.

Today we needed to replace a few things in the larder and so went shopping in Kaitaia. Most important was the need to buy some more sunscreen as we are running out and you defiantly need it here.

We also called in to the car hire company to give them copies of our driving licences for them, no doubt, to check them out.

We shall be getting a Mitsubishi Diamante Saloon car, this has not been sold in UK to my knowledge, but it is a few years old and quite large and all for about £17.00 per day which, compared to the main car hire players, is very cheap indeed.

I have found this web site which gives a good overview on this area where we are staying and also some history of the place. It’s a good site with plenty of interesting stuff.

http://www.doubtlessbay.co.nz/index.htm

Jennifer made cottage pie for dinner last night and that was excellent as the mince we got from the butcher was really good.

We also tried a bottle of Oxford Landing Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz which was really quite good.

We tested the water in the Spa for a while and then headed for an evening of TV etc

We are also trying to assist Brian (our host) to get some of house repairs on track but the builder is very unreliable. I think his fishing rod may get in the way of work. Builders here have a terrible reputation, most of the houses are made of wood and there are thousands of homes with leaky roofs, so much so, that the government is now reviewing building procedures

The Maori people seem to like keeping their old cars, although they don’t work and are rotting away in their gardens. I thought at first it was down to laziness or cost, but I have been informed that it shows a type of wealth where you can see the previously owned car’s and the later most expensive and bigger model which is the one they now use. It’s not unknown for some families to have as many as six cars rotting away in the garden. It does not look good to our European eyes but here is a little different.

The Maoris are also waiting for the proposed ‘disagreement settlement’ which in their eyes means ‘loads of money’ and therefore schooling and working are not important. The figure being banded around right now is between one and two billion New Zealand dollars which when divided amongst the indigenous population will only mean a handout of about three thousand dollars per head. So a family with five kids will get a lot more than a married couple and so birth rate for Maoris is increasing sharply. Almost 9 per cent of Maoris don’t work which is twice as high compared to the national average but their salaries are much lower as they cannot hold high positions due to lack of education.

Recently, in the North part of NZ there was a Maori township of about 40 people which had to drive over two hours by bus to get to a local health centre. They campaigned for a health centre and the government awarded them a chunk of money to pay for it. The money was received and instead of building the health centre which was sorely needed, each family purchased a top of the range 4x4 car so that they could drive the two hours to the original health centre that they used before. Needless to say there was a lot of upset over this

Please see the following article published in a NZ paper.

Why are so many Maori not doing so well compared with other New Zealanders?

Why do so many Maori smoke? More than double the % of European New Zealanders that do.

Why do Maori have almost twice the prevalence of obesity of European New Zealanders?

Why are so many Maori on benefits and not working? Maori account for approx 14.6% of the population but make up 41.7% of all Domestic Purposes Benefit recipients (aged 18–64 years), at the end of September 2008 from a total of 98,473 on the DPB?

Why do so few Maori attain an upper secondary, let alone a Tertiary education? Is it really a cultural thing? If that’s the excuse then why do new Asian arrivals have an even higher educational attainment rate than even European New Zealanders and 4 times that of Maori %?

Why are so many Maori in gangs and in jail (approx half the jail population are Maori and yet they make up only 14.6% of the New Zealand population?

And do I even need to mention Nia? What’s happening in the Maori family unit as a whole that causes so many cases like Nia's?

Why so much under achievement? and why is everyone afraid to tackle this? Why is it that anyone that brings up these facts is so quickly called a racist?

Note

Nia’s case is all about a father who continually beat his daughter whilst his wife was drinking down the pub. The father then got his two sons (19 and 17) to kill the three year old to shut her up. They did not do the job right and so they took her to the hospital and the nurses and doctors went mad trying to save the little girl’s life whilst the mother left the hospital and went to a night club.

This apparently is not an unusual case.

Clearly it is a big problem here which the successive governments cannot seem to resolve but do they think that paying large amounts of benefits will help reduce the problem??? I don’t think so.

Tuesday 6th January- Gosh what busy people we are

The sun, oh dear, was shining like crazy again this morning as we headed off to the beach. A few more people on the beach already at 0900 this morning than there have been for a few days.
There were two coaches of tourists at the Taipa Bay Resort this morning, a mixed bunch of nationalities no doubt all fighting for the use of the two ladies Loos inside the Hotel.
We arrived back at the house and got going cleaning anything that did not move. Noel did the bathrooms and helped on the floors whilst Jennifer did the laundry stuff, no ironing for her ladyship whilst on vacation though only washing. By the time we had completed the through kitchen and entrance hall tiles twice it was time for breakfast but now it was lunchtime. So we carried our food outside and for the benefit of anybody that might be interested said loudly that this was an early lunch.
Time for a shower and discuss tonight’s dinner and so we headed to our favourite butcher for some lamb chops that had been pre-marinated in honey and Soya sauce and just needed Noel’s velvet touch.
Noel was just getting ready for a brief check of the inside of the eyelids when Robin phoned and invited us over for tea and cake, we arrived at the same time as an unexpected Bed & Breakfast guest. The lady had been before and arrived without notice except that her mostly uncovered 40” DD’s arrived through the door before her. Even the muffins with cherries on the top now looked small.
Back home we started looking at our travel options for February. We have booked the car hire through a local company in Kaitaia at a very good price for a large car and also booked the ferry from Wellington to Picton which is a three hour sea crossing from North to South Island.
We plan to leave the house in Taipa on Saturday 31st January and head south and plan to stop near Hamilton which is about 300 miles from here and then the next day arrive late afternoon in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, for one night.
Our Interislander ferry is booked for 1030 am the next day and so 3.5 hours later we shall be on our way in South island and most likely heading for Christchurch for the night. This will leave us about 8 hours on the final days drive to Te Anau which is on the bottom left hand side of South island and close to Doubtful Sound and also Milford sound where we plan to spend six or seven days. So we discussed this and will pretty much do as planned but we will not book motels just yet as there is still plenty of time and by February the prices should be dropping as tourism is also down here. Afterwards we had a brief spell in the Spa to work away at the tired muscles and then cooked the lamb chops which were beautifully prepared by the husband of the house.
Whoops, another nice sunset passes by, boy we will miss these.
We watched the second half of the ‘Calendar Girls’ film and then headed for the sack. A pleasant day indeed and it was hot today at around 28 degrees centigrade we reckon.

Monday 5th January- Let’s get out’a here!

It was a beautiful morning again with the sun beaming down as we left the house for our morning walk. In front of the Taipa Resort Hotel a large tourist coach was disgorging people for their morning coffee and loo break prior to travelling farther up the coast to Cape Reinga, the most northern point in New Zealand. Most of the people seemed out of place in their semi winter clothes i.e. long trousers and coats considering the current warm weather.

The tourist season is now in ‘full steam ahead’ mode and we can see more coaches and mobile homes passing over the Taipa Bridge every day. Yesterday there was actually a queue of about 12 vehicles waiting to cross, very impressive.

Anyway, we returned from our walk and had breakfast and were thinking about going out somewhere, but not sure where, when Robin arrived to have a chat and a coffee. Robin left after about one hour and then we headed to Ahipara via Kaitaia where we placed our order for the camping equipment we need for the South Island. This is for collection towards the end of this month.

We had visited Ahipara once before when we first arrived but it was a grey day and we did not fully explore the area which we did today. We also visited Shipwreck Cove and looked at the holidaymakers on the beach and swimming whilst the Caravan Holiday Park looked quite full. On leaving Ahipara we headed south through hills well covered by forests and fields towards the bay of Herekino where the HMS Osprey foundered in 1846. If you want a quiet place to live I guess this could be it as we drove for about 20 kilometres and only saw three cyclists and one car and a few sheep and cows. There are no street lights and so if you wanted to look up at the stars, this is a great place to do it.

The beach at Ahipara is not great but it is the southern end of the famous ninety mile beach which is actually ninety kilometres long and good for use by 4x4 and those vehicles which can handle sand. There were a number of quad bikes, motor track bikes on the beach whizzing up and down. There was also a rented campervan filled with Germans who had completely ignored all the signs about not taking rented vehicles onto the beach and only going on the beach if you know what to do. They were stuck well into the sand but a friendly Maori couple in a 4x4 pulled them out. They did look a little embarrassed.

We headed back to our favourite ice cream shop in Awanui which gives you ‘more ice cream for your bucks than anywhere else’ which Noel then proceeded to drip down his clean t-shirt, much to Jennifer’s annoyance. His plan next time is to choose ice-cream which the same colour as his t-shirt is so he hopes that they have a variety which has red and white stripes.

When we finally arrived home it was a little late but sufficient time for Jennifer to cook a Chinese dinner of Chicken with mushroom and rice with bean sprouts, cabbage and of course a nice glass of Shiraz to wash it all down.

Again, the sunset was fantastic and this is now getting to be a bore reporting it and so will not be mentioned again, well at least not until tomorrow.

We watched the evening news which seemed to be full of problems in the Middle East, the economy going down, and even a famous New Zealand rugby player being caught in the rip tide of a bay near Auckland and dragged out to sea and not seen since. The Australian news reported that there are more sharks in their water now mainly do to the efforts to improve the cleanliness of the seas from effluent etc and the result has been there are more fish and as a result more sharks feeding closer to shore. So swimming off the coast of OZ is not to be recommended unless you are in a controlled bay. We think the same may also be true in NZ as well so will have to watch out. Rumour has it that there are as many sharks here as in the East End of London.

Sunday 4th January- What beautiful weather

What a gorgeous morning, the sun was shining down across the bay and so we went for our walk before breakfast. This sounds like we left early but actually we left at 0915 and took a banana to keep the energy levels high and got back about 1045 when we had a proper breakfast on the balcony before retiring to the Spa for 30 minutes. Gosh it is really hard work enjoying your self.
We had noticed on our walk that there was more stock car racing at Taipa Raceway and so we headed off there at around two pm but it was a much smaller event than last Sunday and so we only spent an hour and a half there as one race only had two cars and one was no match for the other.
Noel cooked the Red Snapper this evening in butter and wine, it was extremely good, much better than the shop fish that has been frozen for weeks, although this has been frozen. Noel brought so much fish home the other week that I had to freeze it so that it did not go to waste. Dinner again was on the balcony as we watched yet another superb sunset which should promise a nice day on Monday.

Saturday 3rd January- Even slower day today

We really took it easy today and spent most of the day enjoying the weather and reading etc. There was plenty of activity to watch across the inlet with the boats being launched and the children swimming amongst them in areas reserved for the boats. It’s a wonder somebody does not get hurt.

The evening brought us a really beautiful sunset; we did not take photos as there is a limit to the amount of photos you can take of a sunset.

Friday 2nd January 2009- A much quieter day

After a busy few days it was nice to have the time to sort out the house, clean the BBQ etc after the party and sort out leftover food for later use or dumping.

I must say in retrospect that the steaks were excellent and also the Lamb Roast which had been marinated and tasted really good.

It is quite warm again today and there are many people on the beach and also swimming in the sea whilst tents are springing up in places where you think they should not be allowed. I am not sure of the regulations surrounding this but it would appear that if there is open ground, even land waiting for sale, its fair game to put up your tent or park your RV or motor home.

We actually saw an English-made Bailey Ranger Caravan the other day in a petrol station, so I jokingly said “How long did it take you to drive the caravan from Bristol? (That’s where they are made). Unfortunately his sense of humour was lacking, perhaps the mother in law was there in the car with them, and he sort of smiled and said nothing.

Anyway, back to today and we did our usual walk along the beach and watched a Chinese couple trying to launch a small blow up boat with an outboard motor through the incoming waves without success. Perhaps they did not realise that about 700 yards down the beach is a proper boat ramp which would have made it easy for them, however we watched them for about 20 minutes and scoffed at the attempt and finally left them to it. Perhaps we should have mentioned the boat ramp.

Tonight we shall have for dinner the leftover steak and lamb, but that is where I started this blog.

We watched the first Daniel Craig James Bond film on TV called ‘Casino Royale’ and then hit the sack.

New Years Day 1 January 2009- A new year begins.

It was a really beautiful morning and the sun was shining as we set about preparing for the BBQ later in the day. Friends of ours in Reading, Roger and Sue had suggested we get in contact with a couple who have lived here for many years and worked with Roger for a while.
So early afternoon, and an hour earlier than they planned, Chris & Jan arrived and it was good to chew the cud over the past and we knew many of the same people but we ourselves had not met. Jan works in a senior position in the Kerikeri Makana Chocolate Shop and Chris works for the local council. Chris and Jan when they first arrived in New Zealand opened a restaurant in Pahia called Tides and with no experience in the restaurant world it was a bit challenging but it lasted twenty years and then it was time for a change.
Later in the day Robin and Lorraine arrived and also Steve and Mary and then Noel set about doing a BBQ on a Gas BBQ which he has not used before but the result was fine thank heavens. The meat from the local butchers is really outstanding and the steaks, leg of lamb (boned, flattened out and marinated) and pork sausages were great. We also bought some pork spare ribs in New World in Kerikeri so it was a good spread and enjoyed by all. The wine flowed and so did the beer as we sat on the balcony watching the boats float past and people cooked food on the beach.
The conversation covered many things from travel to golf and Mary and Jan are planning to meet up for a game sometime. As the dishwasher has broken down it was nice that help was at hand with washing the dishes, see photo.
Everybody left about nine pm with Chris and Jan facing a journey of at least an hour back to where they live.
It was still a warm night and tomorrow the weather forecast is also positive whilst we have plenty of salads to finish up and also a bit of meat as well, no shopping for us for a while then
And so to bed and now the Christmas and New Year events are over we go back to a much quieter life and perhaps it’s now getting warm enough for some sea swimming, but it has to be very warm for Jennifer to venture into the sea.
Today started the New Year very well and let’s hope we can see an improvement in the coming year over the finance disaster of 2008

31st December 2008- New Years Eve and tomorrow is another year

A nice walk along the beach followed a good breakfast and the rest of the day we took it quite easy and watched the boats and people on the beach.

We had planned to have dinner alone this evening at the Galley Restaurant down town but Robin phoned and when discussing plans for the next few days indicated could they join us which we accepted of course.

We arranged to meet at the restaurant and Robin had informed them of table numbers on our booking but when we arrived the waitress said yes the table for nine was ready. What I said I think there must be some mistake as there are only four of us to which she was very confused.

Anyway Robin and Lorraine turned up with some friends of theirs and we immediately went in to the Champagne or the NZ equivalent. But it was a good evening and then later on the rains came and so Jennifer took the others home and I waited at the restaurant for her to pick me up.

So we got home about ten pm as we did not want to have a late night as there were three couples joining us for a New Years day BBQ and we needed to be fit to handle that. Robin and Lorraine and guests stayed up till three thirty am, we understand, too late for us this year.

Tuesday 30th December- Its open season in North Lands

A couple of days after Christmas and the tourists and the Aucklanders arrive en masse for their holidays. The roads are getting busier and at the boat ramp yesterday we counted about 40 trailers compared to a usual eight or ten.

There are more cars parked on the grass overlooking the beachfront and some people are swimming, it’s still a bit cold for us though.

We were going to Kerikeri for some shopping and combined it with a visit to the Manginangina Scenic Reserve where the Puketi Forest is located and a number of Kauri Trees are looked after by the Department of Conservation.

These trees are magnificent and grow to a huge width and some of the walkways to the trees have been completed to the same width as the trees trunk so that you can fully appreciate the size of the Kauri Tree. They have had to protect them from loggers, one of New Zealands main exports is wood, and one large tree is known to have had sufficient wood to build twelve houses.

Anyway we wandered around this area for a while and then continued our drive through the forest on un-metalled roads and then came across Kerikeri Airport which Noel had to look at. However it seemed pretty much closed as it would appear that it only opens for business just before the two flights per day arrive and leave. Gosh life is hectic here.

We had a great lunch in a little café called “Posh Nosh” that we have been to before and then went to the bank where we changed some Hong Kong Dollars into New Zealand Dollars, we won’t be needing them now as we are not stopping in Hong Kong on the way back, but the rate is not good.

We did some food shopping at New World Supermarket for the BBQ we are planning for New Years Day and then headed back to Taipa. Our lunch was so good and filling our need for an evening dinner of fish (minus chips I may add) was deemed not to be necessary.

We spent about thirty minutes in the Spa overlooking the bay with the sun beating down and it was a pleasant way to relax.

We are expecting the estate agents to visit tomorrow with perhaps somebody who is interested in the house but we shall see if they come. We have decided to eat out on New Years Eve at the Galley Restaurant in Mangonui and we think that Robin and Lorraine will join us.

There was an old English film on TV called Mrs Brown which was quite interesting and we watched most of that before retiring to bed.