Wednesday 27 January 2010

Quiet Day

After the exertions of yesterday, a quieter day was called for. Fortunately, or so we hoped, the day started off with access in our room to Sky Sports and live football. Eighty minutes of a team I did not recognise and ten of something I could at least cheer about with my totally biased hat on. The whole tenor of one’s day can be ruined by such ineptitude. Slow report about to commence.

Recovering from the viewing we made a tardy start out heading for a visitor centre up in the Kauaeranga Valley. This valley has many pleasant walks, although most are at the end of nine kilometres of gravel road, indeed the last few kilometres to the visitor centre are on gravel. The major interest for us was the relationship between the valley and the mighty Kauri tree. The Kauri is an indigenous conifer that grew to great heights as straight as a die, much like the Giant Redwoods in the States. Here in New Zealand the Kauri has been almost ‘felled out’ such was the rapacious nature of the logging industry in the last two centuries. Mature Kauri and that can mean hundreds of years old are now rare but here in Kauaeranga they have plantings of Kauri saplings and the conservation process is in train.


Kauri close up

Kauri Sapling

A short walk to view the saplings and a replica loggers’ dam and we headed into Thames for a leisurely stroll, coffee, ice cream, dab of watercolour, purchase of fat quarters and then off home to pack for the trip to Rotorua. Thames has some interesting buildings so for the architects amongst you there a few pictures of some of the eye catchers.
Cool Car - Old Hotel (check number plate)

Church 1

Church 2

Who wouldn't want to join this club?

This evening we dined at ‘our club’. No, we haven’t joined the upper classes but each evening as we walked into town we passed a large establishment with signs saying Whangamata Club (Inc) and tonight it was too much for Sheila’s curiosity to pass by without finding out what it was all about. Up to the door to be greeted by Rangi who was in charge of entry to the premises. She was one of the most helpful people you could meet. She took us on a conducted tour of the premises, palatial and chock full of ways to entertain or be entertained after which she signed us in as her guests and left us to enjoy our tasty meal.

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