Far North
Trip Start
Sep 11, 2005
1
15
34
Trip End
Jun 25, 2006
Kaitaia,
New Zealand
Monday, October 17, 2005
Kaitaia is well small and rural. It definitely feels more remote then Matamata probably because there just isn't much around other then a lot of beach and ocean. We are staying in what New Zealanders call a "Bach" (pronounced Batch), what we would call a cabin or cottage, kind of a rustic getaway and probably derived from "Bachelor Pad". We can't really complain... It is a three bedroom place that has a great view of the beach and ocean. Our Bach is 14 km outside of Kaitaia in a place called Ahipara. It is the start of the 90 mile beach which is pretty spectacular. We went for a walk along it this morning. It is long and flat and stretches for as far as the eye can see, and has sand dunes all around. You can also drive on it! Until fairly recently it was apparently the state highway, and you can take it all the way up to almost the tip of New Zealand, hours away. So we each had to try driving along and it was pretty fun. When you approach the "on ramp" carved into the dunes, there's actually a speed limit 100 kph sign! You do have to watch out for things like quicksand and you can only go at low tide. There was a fair amount of traffic on the beach and we had to laugh at "rush hour" and the fact that we didn't know if there were any rules of the road when driving along the beach. When in doubut, stay left here.
Another interesting piece of New Zealand culture is Hokey Pokey ice cream. We are enjoying some right now on our balcony at the Bach. It's a local favorite and consists of vanilla ice creams with bits of Hokey Pokey candy which is similar to our Crunchie bars. Yummy.
Unfortunately Fred has to head back to work tommorow to a new practice where he has no idea what he is getting himself into (yet again). We have however been invited over by one of the doctor's for dinner tonight which is very nice of them. It will give Fred a good opportinuty to ask about how family practice works up here. Emma is readying herself for another challeneging week of walking on the beach and doing yoga on the patio.
Comments
Lovely!
Emma and Fred! It sounds great up there. Enjoy your diner with the Doctor. Emma, keep up the good work. Are there any Dairy farms to volunteer in there? Miss you, Wendy