For the prices they are charging, we should get all those things!
We meet Steve tonight down on the beach here in Waihi and he jokes with us about the cost of EVERYTHING here in NZ. "You're a tourist, give us your money!". He rubs his hands together and smiles. That does seem to be the attitude here. Everything costs money and every area of NZ has their tourist attractions - boat tours, a gold mine, hot springs, hikes and beaches. Everything for a fee.... well, actually the beaches and most of the hikes are free! It is somewhat discouraging that NZ has attached a price tag to most of its great attractions and wonders.
I would like to see the "Hole in the Rock". Apparently, the boat cruises right through it. But, not for $90 each!
So instead, we drive through Paihia and steel ourselves for a long driving day, down through the spigot that is Auckland and out the other side into the central North Island.
The drive back down is through much of the flooded land we tried to push through a week ago. How different it looks this time! Where before there was a lake with trees growing up from the centre, it is now again all pastures. Green and dry. We pass some of the houses we'd seen that were submerged, now with camper vans and contracting vehicles out front as the residents get down to the business of putting their lives back together.
We take a detour of the main Highway 1 to Waipu Cove for lunch, stopping at the beach for our Noodle Canteen take away and then afterwards, a swim in the ocean. The view of Sail Island is super. I tell Jenn that I want to hire one of those dolphin cruising/free sheep boats to take me out there. I don't care WHAT it costs! I imagine very BIG sharks swimming all around the black sail.
Our swim makes us late, but what the hell, it's the best part of the day. It means that we arrive in the spigot of Auckland at the beginning of rush hour and sit in traffic for longer than we intend. Too much like Toronto...
But, finally, we pop out the other side, heading along Highway 2 to the east coast. We alternate the driving and make a beeline for Waihi Beach, which has four campsites for us to choose from. Our good (expensive) taste leads us to the area called Bowentown and a campsite right on the long beach. Hot showers are fifty cents for six minutes. We are appalled, considering it is the priciest site we've encountered.
But then we see the beach...
Steve works at the campsite, having moved here with his wife from New Plymouth to "try something new". The long hours will keep them from staying on when their six month stint is over. He enjoys a day off now that the Christmas rush is over and we chat with him on the beach as he fishes. He has a rod that is about 12ft long and he uses squid for bait. He'll cast into the ocean as far out as he can and then set the rod into the sand as he chats, watching the tip for a sign of a nibble.
We inform him that we are good luck charms - we saw a kiwi in the wild! And then, as if on cue, his rod begins to dance and he hauls in a snapper - spiky, pink, and with large eyes and a row of sharp teeth that can chomp through clam shells. He decides to us give the snapper to us to toss back into the ocean. Which we do... with some trepidation! Within minutes he has another bite - an ocean trout. "He's guts'stit down," he says removing the hook from deep inside the fish. We also toss this one back, despite the fact that it is a "pannie" as he says (the perfect size for a pan fry!). His biggest catch ever out here was a snapper weighing 18 lbs.
The stars overhead are bright and a little unfamiliar in the southern hemisphere. It is a warm, muggy night and little crabs nibble at our toes in the wet sand by the shore. Suddenly, there is a VERY large chomp on the line and then nothing. Steve finds that his squid bait is gone when he reels back in.
Was it the big one?
-K
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