At the threat of rain, we bugged out from On the way, we got stuck behind a caravan of, well Caravans. That’s what they call small motor homes here. All of the roads are narrow and winding, with straight stretches few and far between. And if you recall, all oncoming traffic will be at least clumps of two; lead car and butt-sniffer. Besides, when I say caravan, I mean like 20 of them; all identical. It must be some kind of tour package.
Well we slogged along behind at 50 kph. All of a sudden the traffic stopped. Looking ahead we could see a blue-hair directing these units into attack formation, and assigned parking. They stopped at, you guessed it, Tony Mahoota’s. Well that stop was out. Besides, when we went by, instead of being like an Italian or Polynesian restaurant, we saw that Tony Mahoota’s was actually Tane Mahuta, which is a tree. So disappointed not to have seen that.
We continued on to a small community called Omapere-Opononi. The scenery was awesome. The water was an azure blue and the sand dunes across the harbor were spectacular. That’s where the good part ends. There is a definite well-beaten tourist path along the coast, and everyone is forced to traverse it. All over the country they have information kiosks (called i-sites) at all noteworthy tourist traps. We stopped into one hoping to circumvent the usual lodging routine of sitting in a parking, lot calling everyplace at random, asking the same questions: what is the rate, and do you have internet? The info clerk informed us that no place in town has internet.
All the places were the same, so we just picked one. We asked the lady if there was a good beach to fish off of. She gave us directions to a great beach (don’t leave anything in your car) but we dodged it because there was nowhere to park.
We continued on to a small community called Omapere-Opononi. The scenery was awesome. The water was an azure blue and the sand dunes across the harbor were spectacular. That’s where the good part ends. There is a definite well-beaten tourist path along the coast, and everyone is forced to traverse it. All over the country they have information kiosks (called i-sites) at all noteworthy tourist traps. We stopped into one hoping to circumvent the usual lodging routine of sitting in a parking, lot calling everyplace at random, asking the same questions: what is the rate, and do you have internet? The info clerk informed us that no place in town has internet.
All the places were the same, so we just picked one. We asked the lady if there was a good beach to fish off of. She gave us directions to a great beach (don’t leave anything in your car) but we dodged it because there was nowhere to park.
One thing we’ve noticed is all the proprietors of these establishments have the same quality; a cheerful, friendly attitude. We stopped in to a café for breakfast. We walked in through the wide open door. The owner says “we’re not open, get out, I just got here”. In my typical witty fashion, I said “what time do you open”? “I don’t know. 9:00. 8:30 maybe”. They seem to have the attitude of ‘hey, we’re the only game in town, and we’ll never see you again”. That was the worst stop yet, and the earliest we were out of bed and back on the road.
World renowned NZ saltwater fishing:
Heavy negotiations:
And the winner is...
Total trip cost to date: $11,700.26 USD
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