Waipu Golf Club to Whangarei

After sleeping the night at the Waipu Golf Club for an extra $5 on top of our green fees of $40 each (we could have played on a Thursday for $10 but our schedule is not in sync yet for the cheap golfing days!), we headed out on the course fairly early on Monday. No-one told us before we started that the fertiliser truck was coming in to spray all the course with lime and by the second hole we were surrounded by clouds of fertiliser and had to be careful not to breathe too much in! It was very off-putting to say the least although we could still admire the beautiful setting of the links course overlooking the sea. The course itself was very rough on the fairways but better on the greens which were still covered in dew when we started. There were quite a few bunkers which we managed to stay out of but I had trouble off the fairways as the grass was very grippy.

It  was mainly flat, the only hill I really noticed being the one coming up to the 18th green.

Len had a good round but I started off very poorly having allowd the fertiliser to totally put me off my game so even my improved 2nd nine wasn't good enough to even things out.

Teed off at Waipu!

It was very nice to have a shower afterwards to remove all the lime from our clothing and legs but it'a bit hard to clean it off the golf bag. I can't believe we paid as much as we did considering the conditions! $15 country courses here we come!!
However, having said all that, the ladies in the Pro shop and the other people we met while we stayed at the course were very friendly and made us feel totally at home.
From the golf course we drove to Ruakaka Beach where we sat for a while admiring the views out to sea and up the coast to Marsden Point and the Whangarei Heads before continuing on to Marsden Point itself. For our overseas readers this is where the Oil Refinery plant is, all of NZs petrol and oil supplies coming from here. We went to the visitors centre and Len went to a presentation on the history of the plant which began operating in 1964.

We then continued on around the scenic route back onto the very busy main highway (oh for the quiet South Island roads!!) to Whangarei where we stayed the night at the RSA Club which is right in the centre of town so easy to have a wander through before we had dinner. We slept well with the town clock which chimed every half hour not really disturbing us.

Manaia bottom, then top -

Today after dumping and replenishing our gas bottle we did the nice drive out to the Whangarei Heads stopping on the way for lunch on the harbours edge before tackling the Mount Manaia walk which is 460 metres high and normally takes about an hour to climb but with a bit of running up some of the many steps, through the bush, to make up for photo stops we got to the top in about 45 minutes. The wind was blowing quite strongly at the top but the views out over the harbour and sea are amazing and certainly worth the effort!