Pix & Travels » Ingrid's Blog

Hi there…..a voice from the Land of the Long White Cloud. Great flight, all good. Only were lost 3 times, but made it safe to our first destination. Our holiday has begun!

Day 2. In Keri Keri and had a super drive through green valleys upon valleys with fabulous countryside to match. Of course there is hardly any place to pull over to take photographs. Just chilling out at another B&B and off for some fine dining now. Weather superb and quite hot this afternoon. Will keep you posted.
Must take note of some of the funny signs we see in our travels. Today’s priceless ones are:
“Highway Robbery”
“TERESTRAYLA” Terry finally worked it out and it was supposed to read Terry’s trailor.
“Get Fudged”
“Animal Refuse Recycling Station” – what the?

Today we ventured further north with a befitting “Welcome to the Real Far North sign”

Many more rolling hills and valleys with a lot of logging going on . Hence, we passed many trucks laden with huge logs all heading down south.  Many of the hills are covered with Pine Plantations, of which, many have been logged.  But we noted quite a bit of re-vegetation going on as well.  We traversed through many tiny little townships, with equally cute tiny shops and houses. Farms galore, cattle, not so many sheep yet and orchards.
Unfortunately the day was overcast with some intermittent rain. But temperature very pleasant.  Hence our beach photography did not have that magical blue water and skies, that people expect to see. Must say there are many camp areas here directly on the beach.  Definitely a pleasurable way to have a holiday.
We drove to Whangaroa Harbour and the waterway is beautiful, we then continued north and only ventured as far as Doubtless Bay – Coopers Beach.  Having taken taken the Scenic route loops, took up more time than anticipated.  Therefore heading further and taking one of the huge loops, incorporating some of the west coast was not achievable. But we totally enjoyed all the scenic country side.

Make note:  We must keep an eye on the fuel gauge as there are not many Petrol Stations that we saw. Nor is it advertised how far it is to the next or last petrol station.
We drove through many road works on tiny country roads, where you least expect it. Yet, we haven’t stopped and really chatted to any of the locals yet.  Yes, that is unusual for us, but the the people we met in KeriKeri are incredibly friendly.

For some reason we have run out energy, but after a second wonderful night’s sleep, I think we have regained our mojo.
Tomorrow’s outing for the day will be to Paihia and drive to Russell – which is all part of the Bay of Island area.

Today’s  signages seen were ….

Lime splashes, wash your car today.
Free Garden – help yourself.
Trucks Crossing – then it has this huge ! mark above it. Yes we found a lot of signage with a huge ! mark.
Kiwi Zone – No dogs allowed
The we saw this one….Sudden Dip with another huge ! mark.  Yes, we found the dip 😉
Quite a few of these – old small microwaves used as letter boxes.
Pavement rehabilitation.
Passed a few Car Clinics.
Bus shelters for –  “Undercover Kids”
Quite a few “Liquour Ban Areas” in small townships.
In the middle of Keri Keri at the Pedestrian crossing here is this sign….Pedestrians give way to Traffic.  Now I like that!

Today’s little adventure – we headed to Paihia and the Waitangi area. Stopped to see the Haruru Falls where a rooster befriended us in the car park. Our journey continued on another beautiful drive, through scenic farmland with great looking cattle, not many sheep and then headed off on a small stretch of dirt road which lead us to a great coastal stretch with superb views.  En-route, we stopped at the Waitangi Treaty House which had the most beautiful grounds and garden. Great little walks which took us through rainforest vegetation with beautiful birds tantalising us, but were unable to capture them. We did not take the ferry across to Russell, as intended,  as it was blowing so hard, you could barely keep your eyes open.  Stopped to photograph St Paul’s Church (not that old really – 1925) but most beautiful in its structure of Kawakawa stone with magnificent timber work inside.  Apparently it stands on the site of NZ’s first church built in 1823.

We continued on, not knowing what to expect and landed up in Kawakawa. Apparently this is just an ordinary Kiwi town, but the public toilets, designed by an Austrian born artist and eco-architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser is something to see. This is apparently the most photographed toilet in NZ which have many wavy lines decorated with mosaics and brightly coloured bottles. The roof has grass and other plants and other buildings in the township are starting to have the same type of decoration. The railway line goes right through this little town and we had a quick snack at the quaint railway station. Spoke to some of the locals and had some good laughs.

We continued to the west, with more pretty farmland and cattle, taking us via Pakaraka and Okaihau. This loop landed us back in Keri Keri with the sun shining and giving us a most wonderful afternoon.

More signs of the day:
Thank you for returning ‘your trundle’ to the trundle bay – ie shopping trolley.
Stock effluent disposal.
Lock it or lose it.
Highway robbery – mechanical repair shop.
Slow down stay in Mantrol.
Mind your head when you come into the shop because our prices are so low.
Persons with gang affiliations and the wearing of gang patches prohibited on these premises!!!  Now that one wins the cake for today.