Baylys Beach

We arrived at Bayly's Beach Holiday Park later in the afternoon and booked in for 2 nights. Not unusually we were the only ones there until late on our second night when a little old Bedford with a couple and their dog arrived. From the camp ground it is a steepish 500m walk down the hill to the beach where a narrow little stream runs down to the tide and when we first went down, without the camera, there were a group of Maori digging for toheroa, a protected and indigenous bi-valve shellfish, for an occasion "down the line". Because they became endangered from over-harvesting years ago a permit has been required since 1980 to collect them. Unless you have a permit you are not allowed to disturb them in any way.

I didn't disturb it too much!

Entrance to the beach at Baylys Beach

The settlement of about 400 permanent residents at Bayleys Beach is just one of the beaches on the beach known as Rapiro which stretches from Maunganui Bluff in the North to Pouto at the mouth of the Kaipara Harbour in the south. It is actually the longest driveable beach in NZ at 101 km and there seem to be quite a lot of 4WD vehicles using it. The sea was quite rough with the waves breaking from a long way out so Len decided to put the fishing on hold for a couple of days.

The Northern Wairoa golf course, which is just up the road from Bayly's Beach Holiday Park, is the local course for Dargaville and that's where we headed on Friday morning, a cold rather bleak day which produced the odd bit of drizzle while we played before turning into quite a heavy downpour afterwards. There were some groups of older men on the course, all in their carts, but there was no wait to start playing and no-one behind us. There's not too much trouble to get into on this course, apart from the bunkers surrounding the par threes, and there are just the odd little hills mainly where the tees are. Most of the fairways are straight and lined with Norfolk Pines and Pohutakawa which must look amazing when they are in flower in summer and there are some well tended gardens at odd spots around the course. We both had an average day, Len just beating me on match points allowing for my handicap.

Our venue for a great Thai meal!

That night we treated ourselves out for dinner at The Funky Fish Cafe and Bar which is a 2 minute walk from the camp ground (there is a short cut behind the houses!). It's a nice little Cafe with lots of atmosphere, good service and good food and as well as their normal menu they had a Thai chef there that night so we both enjoyed our Thai fish and chicken curries as well as a yummy dessert. The owner who has had the cafe for 12 years had just listed the business for sale that day - she feels it now needs someone more inspired than her though she still wants to work there. We think she has done a pretty good job with it.