Whangamata

We spent three nights in Whangamata (30 January to 2 February).  We stayed at Dennis and Maree's house.  Much of the time was spent cleaning the caravan and Owen did quite a lot of repairs on the shed replacing some rotten wood and repainting the repairs.  Everything certainly looked much better when we finished.  The punga tree behind the shed had died so Owen cut it down, it was surprisingly heavy to move!  

We did take time out to relax - a couple of good swims, a geocaching bike ride and a trip to the RSA.  Another couple were staying at the house as well and they invited us to come to the RSA on Friday night and make up team for the quiz night with some of their friends.  Well, our team won and we scored a generous tab at the bar!

Caravan and shed - tidied up

A very clever geocache hide - I must have picked this piece of wood up off the sand at least 3 times before I saw the slot hiding the log book!  My camera case to indicate the size.

Our holiday continued south to Pureora forest where we biked some of the new mountain bike "Timber Trail".  We completed a 25km circuit back to the DOC campsite we were staying at. The bird life was wonderful in this superb native forest - lots of kaka noise, but they were hard to see.

Next day we continued on to Taumarunui.  Owen biked from here to Whangamomona on a very hot day - about 80km.  We camped at Whangamonona overnight.  Alas the fine weather ended and the rain arrived first thing in the morning.  We decided to drive home, but stopped on the way at the Tawhiti museum near Hawera.  We highly recommend visiting this museum, it's full of models, both miniature and life size.  Lots of interesting history, often done with a sense of humour.  Also a boat ride through the times of "Traders and Whalers".  We spent 3 hours there!