Hellensville & Shelly Beach

We drove through Kaukapakapa, a tiny place with a big name, and then past Alan Gibbs property with all the amazing big sculptures, a couple of which you can see from the road, although rather distant. The emu was a little more up close through the high wire fence. It would be an interesting place to visit when he has one of his "open to the public days".

Bird behind the emu wire!
As we approached Hellensville we happened to see a sign pointing to the Hellensville golf course. The carpark was jammed full but the rain had eased to almost nothing and we could actually play without hardly a wait being early afternoon and the Saturday mens scramble being well underway.

It's a nice course but with all the rain it was very waterlogged, muddy and slushy and after playing another terrible game I had to wonder what I was doing there. Len was his usual steady self so I can't blame the conditions if they didn't affect him! It was nice to have a hot shower afterwards and just settle ourselves down the back of the carpark where they were more than happy for us to stay as security for the club even though the bus was still virtually incognito, covered with mud.

Afternoon in front of the telly!

It rained steadily through the night and was still raining when we left in the morning for Shelly Beach which is on the way to the South Head of the Kaipara Harbour. After we arrived at the little camping area on the waterfront with showers and toilets just along the way in the public car park we just "holed up" in the bus watching the rain expanding the large puddles on the grass between us and the beach as we enjoyed reading and watching a bit of netball on TV. There were already 2 other motorhomes parked and a large bus arrived not long before the rain suddenly stopped and a beautiful rainbow was to be seen before the sky turned blue. We all hopped out of our little houses and had a walk down to the jetty with Len and I going further, up a lot of steps to some streets above the Beach. It wasn't long before the sky became all grey again and there were some tiny spits of rain but now that it is dark all is quiet again. From the news it looks like the rain has been worse elsewhere, especially in the South Island.

The jetty looks like it might be good for fishing, so tomorrow, before we head to Muriwai Beach, it will be a choice between golf, which is up the road, or fishing! But of course that all depends on the weather!!