Mahia Peninsula & Gisborne

The beauty of freedom camping.

After our night in the free parking area alongside the beach at Oputama Reserve on the Mahia Peninsula we had a walk along the calm, safe beach (too cold to swim) before driving to Mahia Beach and then Mahia itself, going around the coast almost as far as we could until we reached a big parking area by a little river where Len did some spinning. It was freezing cold with a bit of a wind and nothing was biting so before long we continued on towards Gisborne, just stopping at the Morere Hot Springs on the way for a lovely soak and warm-up in the thermal pools where we had a bit of a chat with a friendly English couple who come over quite frequently to look after the Quaker Hostel in Wellington for a few weeks. The walk up the wide sealed path to the far hot pools is very picturesque with Nikau Palms lining both sides. There are other walking and tramping paths leading from this area as well.

It was great to feel warm all the way through as we drove on to Gisborne and the large NZMCA park there which is situated just over the road from the beach. 

Thumbs up.  Must be having a good round!

Over the road on the other side of the park is the lovely Poverty Bay, Awapuni Links, golf course where we played the following day, managing to teee off, under instructions from the Pro, when there was a gap in the groups of ladies playing on their club day. We slotted in easily and really enjoyed the course which was in excellent condition - a joy after playing at Wairoa I have to say.

After golf and a shower in the Club Rooms I met up with my Physio friends, Glenn who I used to flat with in Dunedin, and Tracy who I used to work with, at Peppers on the Gisborne waterfront. 

Not a wine bottle in sight!

Nice views overlooking the beach as we did lots of catching up and reminiscing over a few wines although Glenn wasn't well with a throat infection so didn't partake. So good to catch up with them both and have Len join us later for something to eat  (Chowder for me and lamb shank for Len).

Afterwards we drove the short distance back to the NZMCA park for another night with perhaps another 7-8 vehicles.
We had thought we might play golf on another Gisborne course the next day but the weather report wasn't good with very heavy rain and strong winds forecast for the Friday so we decided to drive through the gorge to Opotiki before that happened. We needed to be at the Mount on Saturday for a family birthday party and  a few days of 'boy-sitting' of my grandsons.

So Thursday we spent the night at the Opotiki NZMCA park with about 5 other vehicles, driving through to Whakatane later the next morning and striking patches of very heavy rain on the way. After doing the things we needed to do in town we drove out to Bill & Annette's POP again for another nights stay before setting off for the Mount the next morning.

Our 5 days at the Mount, staying at Sandras & Matts and keeping an eye on the boys just flew by what with Greg and Dianes' family party and catching up with most of our good friends. We did manage to fit in one game of golf at Omanu as well as a driving lesson for Oli, mini-golf with Tom and a night at the Otumoetai College show "High School Musical" which our granddaughter, Madi, was in, before setting off on our travels again, this time a quick trip to Waiarapa and Hawkes Bay before having to be back at the Mount on the 25th June for a spot more of boy-sitting!