Dec 17th I left the South Island arriving at Auckland in bright sunshine to collect a Toyota Sprint from Omega and head north east in time for supper at Coromandel YHA. The weather then turned sour. There followed 2 days of heavy rain and windy gales which turned the beautiful prospect of lying on Coromandel’s peninsula beaches into driving past them with the windscreen wipers in overdrive…. shame. A ful day of driving along the coastline from small Coromandel town to large Tuaranga city left me uninspired to stop in the crappy weather so I turned off the engine at a campsite in Papamoa (beach suburb of Tauranga) and paid for a small cabin to sleep in and stay dry. At least I had a telly. Next day I drove a short distance to Whakatane past Te Puke – famous for being the home of Kiwi fruit and to prove it, they have a giant Kiwi slice in glorious plastic technicolour complete with pips….. awful – I kept driving. Arriving in Whakatane (Fackatanny) I liked the town, it’s a bit like any typical British seaside town, on a river estuary with the ocean behind a sandbar which also hides the view of Whale Island and the more worrysome White Island some 50kms out to sea and a very active volcano. I checked into a motel, and booked onto a White Island tour in a couple of days. My first afternoon in Whakatane was spent mooching the town centre in the rain, then I gave up and retired to my room for sme good old fashioned laziness. The only exciting thing to happen was an earth tremor at 10.33pm (I noted the time) which really gave me the frights! It was like the room was possessed of a devil which was shaking my bed – really scary. I mentioned this to a local the next day and she shrugged it off “happens all the time” she said. Just to be sure, I’ve packed my emergency bag (clean knickers and lipstick) and put some shoes by the door in case I need to make a run for it in the middle of the night!Second day in Whakatane was spent walking in sunshine and humidity along the coastpath to Ohope Beach – some 2 hours of up and down hill walking with stunning views of the sea, coastline and volcano – steaming in the distance. I caught the bus back for some afternoon tea and chilling out – I think I’ve earnt it after some exercise! Volcano tomorrow……. now where did I put my emergency bag?
