Day 3
The last, and most challenging flatpack was finally put together. A tallboy for the bedroom. As it was a rather nice sunny day, it was decided that we needed a break from the workload so a trip to Waihi Beach was initiated.
Lovely gentle surf and that beautiful soft black sand that comes from volcanic rock breaking down although I must say, the Pacific was a tad too cold for us to even contemplate a dip. Our next stop was a lookout overlooking ANZAC Bay, a little further down the coast. We then headed to the Waihi Beach/Bowentown Boating and Fishing Club for lunch. Most enjoyable...
Whilst at Waihi Beach, Liam pointed out White Island, which was the site of that ill-fated excursion from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in Dec'19, where 6 people died when the island, a vocanic one, erupted whilst they were on the island. The photo below is from the same lookout as the one above, just in the opposite direction (duh!!!).
Next port of call was Tauranga, a place where Liam spent most of his 20's terrorising the locals, or so he says :). This town is the "major" regional town in the area and again has a lovely beach. On our way to the beach, Liam took us past the port where the cruise ships dock, at the base of Mount Maunganui which, you may recall had a horrendous landslide during some very wet weather on the morning of 22 Jan this year, wiping out a vast majority of a caravan park at its base. Unfortunately, another 6 people lost their lives. This photo is from the beach as I really didn't want to get a closeup. The map shows the area we covered...
Day 4
A day spent doing little things. Di was flat out with the pantry and organising the kitchen cupboards.
I spent time doing things like mounting a smoke detector, racks for kitchen supplies and a hanger for utensils.
The bookshelf still requires a small modification to allow a 3rd shelf to be installed but that will need to wait until tomorrow as the cordless drill ran out of energy and needs recharging. Bit like Di & I really!
After lunch, DI and Triona headed off to see the local apothecary, whilst I headed back to the unit. After the medical visit, Di put up paintings and photo's before she walked back to the unit, a leisurely 8 minutes away.
We headed off for dinner just on 7pm (Liam's knock off time) to have dinner at the Waihi Beach RSA (their equivalent of an RSL), which is perched high on a hill, overlooking the beach. Great view...