Into our last weekend of the mid-year holiday now. Boo-hoo back to school on Monday and back to the crazy hustle and bustle after a pleasant respite.
We decided to get away just for one night this holiday and knowing that lots of touristy things shut down at this time of year we headed for the biggest city between Kaitaia and Auckland. Whangarei is about 150km South East and has a population of maybe 50,000. Quite a lot of things happen there. They have a big museum, a huge sports stadium, lots of shops etc. I have been a bit underwhelmed by our previous trips, possibly because we have mostly gone on day trips and have targetted the big box shopping centre where you could really be anywhere in the world. This time we got a hotel on the edge of town for a night and we built in a number of fun activities. Eric was away on his leadership course so it was just the four of us. We parked up by the main shopping area and had a good wander around the shops. It was nice to go into shops that had a good range of fanciful goods. For some reason I was pleased to see a shop selling about 7 different very expensive chess sets, plus a microscope for $1500 just out on display. We went into a few fishing shops and had a good yarn with one guy about the pros and cons of different kayaks. this bloke claimed that he paddles a kayak that is worth $15,000 because of all the bits and bobs he has added to it. He drives a bomb of a car because that is not important to him.
We visited Frings a microbrewery down on the riverfront. I purchased a flagon of dark ale for later consumption. Very nice it was too - not fizzy and definitely not a hint of yeast. How do they do that?
Paddy had asked to go swimming so we both went and visited the aquatic centre. It had a wave machine, hot pools and a regular lane swimming pool. It always amuses me how many different combinations there are for setting up a public pool. This one was particularly confusing because they were busy doing refurbishmenst and there were conflicting signs on bits of cardboard all over the place. We had to ask a lifeguard how to get out because the exit was hidden!
That done we went to the Indian Aroma for a takeout. There was even a choice of Indian takeouts! We had tried the Shiraz before so gave the other place a go. I think Shiraz was better.
On the Wednesday we wentback into town and Chantelel went for a coffee while Paddy, Stuart and I went to see "Boy" at the cinema. The place was packed out with kiddies at 10 am but thankfully they were all going to watch Shrek. There were less than 10 of us watching Boy. It is a NZ made film that has been very popular when it first came out. Boy is a young maori boy whose dad is away and he lives with his Nana close to the beach in a remote little community. Nana leaves him in charge of his younger brother and cousins for a week or so whilst she goes to a tangi (funeral). Boy fanatsises about his Dad and mourns for his mother who died giving birth to his brother. Dad turns up in the middle of the night with 2 other blokes who together form their own gang called the Crazy Horses. On the surface it is a very funny film showing how people make their own entertainment when they live in the middle of nowhere. We were in stitches for most of it. At a deeper level it is perhaps quite sad, because the Dad refuses to take responsibility for his children and he lives in a fantasy world. Meanwhile the kids suffer and are very neglected. I guess it makes possible a discussion of some issues that affect this country by using humour.
We feasted at BurgerKing before hitting the road and coming home.
More on what else we have been up to next week.
Just realised that the words above offer no explanation of the pictures. We went to Quarry gardens on our way in to Whangarei. They are a huge complex of gardens that have been built into a hillside that was quarried at some time in the past. The hill faces North and is close enough to the sea to support sub-tropical species. The bananas are fruiting mid winter, they don't do that for us up here in Kaitaia.
Stuart is pictured with one of his creations, he is continuing to make props for films, when he is not snaffling all our spuds and apple for the spud gun.
