Day 18 - Back to Whangarei

Driving from Palmerston North to Whangarei in a day isn't an impossible task.  I've done it before and back then the roads weren't as good.  I estimated it would take 10 hours of continuous driving and my actual time was 9¾ hours.

There was a brief stop at Huntly where I took a photo of the town church.

It's where my parents were married in March 1950.  I was born in December of the same year.   They obviously didn't waste any time

Continued north through Waiouru and the up the Desert Road where I again briefly stopped for a photo.  Red arrow points to Rangipo Hut. 

I'll never walk around the mountain again.  A combination of too many things on the "bucket List" and not enough years left.  I may not see the mountain again!

Another brief stop at Tokaroa to refuel and then on to Whangarei non-stop.

A very good evening with the family where I congratulated 3rd grandson on achieving his qualification as a carpenter.  At the end of the evening Aaron (SIL) invited me out to their rural retreat the next day.

In the morning the lift bridge on David Culham Drive was being raised to allow a yacht to depart from the town basin.   

The road and bridge didn't exist when we lived here.

The rural retreat is located towards Whangarei Heads and high on a hill.  There are spectacular views to the south, west and north.

When they bought the property there was just a caravan on site.  That has been gradually extended.  It's "off grid" with water collected from the hill behind the property and electricity provided by a solar array.

Driving back towards Whangarei I stopped at Parua Bay to take more photos.

I found a vacant motorhome site on the waterfront at Onerahi.  Public toilets across the road were a bonus.

That evening I had dinner with our eldest grandson.  He had gone sailing in his new yacht that day but anchored and rowed his dingy back to join me.

The next morning I was up early and off to the Whangarei public dump station to fill and empty as required.  The next stop was the hardware to exchange the motorhome gas bottle.  The motorhome must be returned with full and empty tanks and containers.

Forty kilometres out of Whangarei I stopped at the scenic lookout on the Bryderwn Hills for a final look and yet another photo.

Unfortunately the photo doesn't do justice to the actual view.  In the distance you could see 'Sail Rock' and the 'Hen & Chickens' islands…. but not in the photo!

I needed to refuel the motorhome and went to the same service station I'd used on the first day.  It was closed…. Permanently!!!  More driving around and it got very noisy around Mangere Town Centre.

I could see numerous red and blue flags initially thinking is was a Taiwanese protest.  Then I realised it was the Samoan national flag.  Not sure what they were celebrating but they were noisy!

There were no issues returning the motorhome but I was deeply disappointed with my Air NZ check-in.  It was self check-in and my bag was rejected as overweight.  The scales were displaying 15.2kg.  I thought I had a 20kg allowance.  I went away and moved some items from the hold to the cabin bag.  Back to the check-in and this time the bag was rejected as over weight at 13.5kg.  My option was to either get the weight down further or pay $350 excess baggage.  I took the bag away and discarded some old clothing into a nearby rubbish bin.  A third attempt was successful.  I was NOT HAPPY.  When I returned to Perth Jan checked the booking documentation.  My hold allowance was 23kg. 

There was a seven hour transit stop in Melbourne.  I knew that would happen as I'd booked the cheapest fare.  Customs & Immigration was done in Melbourne and I flew on to Perth on a Qantas domestic flight…… Where the service was better than Air NZ. 

Final thoughts on the trip

• There appears to be an agenda to transform the country from a western orientated society into a Polynesian society.  This manifested itself in many forms.  
• NZ is beautiful
• The people are friendly
• The Wilderness motorhome was comfortable and reliable
• It was expensive
• Saveloys are fantastic
• A great country to visit, but I wouldn't live there.

I'm reminded of the story about placing a frog in a pot of cold water, then gradually heating the pot on the stove.  You can cook the frog before he realises what has happened.  Some of my Kiwi friends have belatedly come to believe they are in the same situation.