Pacific Coast Visit

Thursday – Friday, 14 – 15 March

It’s odd to think about going to the Pacific Ocean on the East Coast, but that’s what we did in New Zealand. It was nice to be in the more touristy part of the North Island where we could go from one popular spot to another in an hour’s drive. I had heard good things about Tauranga, where we had plans to visit a friend-of-a-friend that we’d been in touch with since before we left Iowa in December. Plus, nearby Mount Maunganui was a surfing destination on Tevka’s souvenir cup.

Torin found a perfect place to stay – a mid-sized backpackers within walking distance of the beach.

The mural was spot-on – we knew we were in the right place!

By this time Torin was good at finding extra perks with our lodging – a big draw at Pacific Coast Lodge was free surfboard hire for guests!

After the girls made a late lunch of shrimp, couscous, and veggies, they got hooked up with the complimentary surfboards and I walked with them to the beach. Turns out five blocks is plenty far to stroll while toting a heavy board, but it was worth it – the girls got the hang of surfing again after their hiatus…and kept at it for 2 1/2 hours.

Torin wrote, “The waves were decently sized for me. Big enough I got rolled some. All fun tho. I took my wetsuit off ’cause it was so warm. I really enjoyed the sunset, surfcatching the ‘gnarls’ and laughing with Tevka.”

Tevka had a similar perspective, “The ocean was warm today! Enjoyed the fun surf. Started at 4:30ish. Really had fun. The sun began to set and it was so stunning.”

Tev continued, “I cut my hand on a shell. So I joined the fam on the beach and ate some shrimp, rice cakes and jerky and we watched the sun go down by the ocean.”

Back at the hostel Tevka got her hand bandaged and took a shower, then played a bunch of ping-pong with Todd. It was handy her cut didn’t prevent her from playing. Torin was gone on a long run (lengthier than she intended because she was a bit lost, but she found her way back before I got too concerned). We all snacked more and made the most of our single night at the hostel.

I pored over the book swap shelves and found a sweet memoir that three out of four of us read – Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod. A charming story that was right up my alley – “One woman’s journey from the fast lane to a slow stroll in Paris.”

To me it was an ideal mix of travel story plus conscious living manifesto. I was intrigued by the author’s means of supporting herself by selling subscriptions to receive monthly painted letters – a copy of an original watercolor overlaid with a chatty letter about her days in Paris. Even better, we passed along the well-loved book to an artistic and French-speaking high school friend in Norwalk when she graduated in May…and Emma felt it was the perfect choice.

But wait, there’s  more! The next morning we had a tasty breakfast including an egg scramble and fresh passion fruit…

…then cleared our room by 10am checkout. Torin had been scheming and both girls sweet-talked the hostel manager, Aline, into letting them use the surfboards for another round. I once again assisted with carrying the boards to the beach. It was a cloudy day, but that didn’t slow down the two surfer girls. Here’s a recap from Torin’s journal, “It was overcast & raining in the beginning, but it was still a blast. Had the sea to ourselves. I caught solid waves and felt balanced. Around lunch break time some super skilled guys came. I enjoyed watching them and attempting to stand in their size of waves. Pretty much just got rolled, but hey, that’s fun, too. By the end I was solidly surfing diagonally with the waves and a bit on the “greenwave” I’d like to think. It was a jolly grand time throughout. I was never cold. Gonna miss the ocean a lot.”

Tevka recorded her thoughts, too, wrapping up with, “Coulda gone longer, but it was nearly 2:00, so time to take the boards back. Had a great 4 hours. Aline even let us use the hostel showers. Super service! Also, for the record, I am a better surfer than Torin.”

Meanwhile, back at the hostel when we were loading the car, Todd had cut his thumb on an exposed sharp metal edge in the trunk. I applied a Band-Aid, but Todd re-did my work with three or four more. We were hanging out at the local library while the girls were surfing, but Todd continued to wonder if the cut was deep enough to need stitches. Since we had a couple hours to spare, we decided we might as well get it checked out by a medical professional. We received directions to a walk-in clinic and discovered firsthand that New Zealand’s ACC coverage is effective, even for tourists. ACC is the country’s universal no-fault accidental injury plan administered by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), providing compulsory insurance cover for personal injury for everyone in New Zealand – whether citizen, resident or visitor. Todd was seen in a little over an hour, paid $32 to have his paperwork submitted (just because we were foreigners), and got his flappy thumbskin super-glued together and officially bandaged.

We reconvened with the girls, and drove a couple kilometers to the base of the actual Mount Maunganui at the end of the peninsula. Of course we wanted to hike the walking track to the top of the extinct volcano – 232 meters above sea level to so we could take in the 360-degree views of the entire length of the Bay of Plenty.

Even halfway up, the view was expansive…

Tevka was glad to get to the top!

Tevka & Torin had raced each other up there. Once I joined them we got another sightseer to take a photo of the three of us together. Todd wasn’t up for the speed tour, so when we had gone into double-time, he started back down the trails and its many steps.

As a reward for the extra effort of hiking to the top, I found this thoughtful memorial to a woman who had lived with cystic fibrosis and had a double lung transplant. A good reminder to be thankful for our healthy lungs which enable us to move at the pace we want.

On the way back down I saw a couple freshly sheared sheep – not as ever-present in the parts of NZ we visited as some Americans expect.

Back at sea level, the girls took a quick beachside stroll with what I believe is Moturiki Island in view.

Then we hopped in the car for a half hour’s drive back inland to our long-awaited dinner destination. Our fellow congregant & usher queen Lynn Fox, from our UU church in Des Moines put us in touch with her best friend, an Englishwoman named Janet who has lived in New Zealand for most of her adult life. Lynn & Janet were camp counselors together, which launched a 40+ year friendship! Back in December Janet & I had Facetimed to give me planning and lodging tips, plus advice about what to see in NZ. At that point I had thought we’d meet up during the earlier part of our trip, leaving Auckland and heading southeast to Tauranga. Instead, as plans unfolded it worked out better for their family and ours that we would wait to visit in March. Back in January we had gone North out of Auckland, navigated counter-clockwise around Northland, and then worked our way down the west and central portions of the North Island. By then it was time to head to the South Island for the week with the VDub. Ultimately we decided to finish our tour with Rotorua & Tauranga.

So that brought us to meet Janet, her husband Chris & their daughter Jill for dinner at their house on Friday, March 15, less than a week before our departure from New Zealand. All three of the Freemans were super friendly and great conversationalists. We were amused to learn their pets had drink names – their dog Ginny’s predecessor had been Sherry, and there was at another one I don’t remember. Dinner was a tasty fish pie including potatoes, leeks and more, peas and dessert (aka pudding) of apple-rhubard crisp with cream, and tea. Perfectly lovely!

The lighting wasn’t the best for our pictures, but they still help me remember the evening and allowed us to share a little of our get-together with Lynn back in the States. I appointed us as her proxies, since Lynn won’t opt in for the long flight to New Zealand.

After dinner we had a garden/yard tour and were tickled to see their avocado trees and learn a bit about the growing cycle for avocados…they provide mature fruit every other year – see the avocados dangling?

This type of acreage in New Zealand is called a lifestyle plot.

Torin could have been right at home for days…the avocados weren’t ready, but she happily accepted a cucumber from the garden.

We would have loved to stick around longer – I’m sure we could have shared stories into the wee hours – but we had another adventure a couple hours up the road, complete with overnight freedom camping. So, we repeated our thank-yous and added goodbyes, then piled into the car as the sun was setting. We felt lucky to have spent a memorable mealtime with the Freemans in their corner of paradise.