jackietyfry

Thats what I have been doing - I think!

Browner_

Sounds like you had a fantastic holiday. I had similar great times on holiday to0.

However
- is there anything left for you to do for when you live here and cant easily holiday abroad?
- how will it seem when you spend 48 weeks a year living in the same place?

happynz

^Browner - you're a real ray of sunshine.

edit: Carry on jackie.

Am Loolah

Sssh, don't mention the wines, I told Hubby I was at work!

I didn't like to point out your Hubby might be wondering where you were, especially after you clearly told us you'd locked him in the linen cupboard ...

Was lovely to meet you, only wish we could have solved the crap weather - but the farmers' needed the rain, allegedly ...

Maz

Jackie, I could have sworn I'd responded to this earlier, d'oh! Thanks for writing all this out! Isn't the Overlander neat? So sorry to hear about your friends getting teary-eyed when you left, we've not gone through that yet, but I'm already not looking forward to ti.

Hi islandmom! *waves*

username 34

hi ... (waving back)

jackietyfry

Sorry its taken we so long to reply - been really busy this week!

Yes Browner we did have some good times on our hols but as my son will tell you (who stayed home) we had our fair share of negative thoughts too. We would email him most days and our feelings were like the weather!

Its true that we got to see a lot, and some of our sightseeing were merely fleeting glances - however they were tempered by healthy doses of realism from ex pats that we met/stayed with, and by staying with some kiwi's as well.
As for seeing more of NZ - well I think there is plenty to see dont you? We have had a holiday in the UK for virtually all of my life and there is still so much of the UK that I have still not seen. Although we like to travel for the "experience" most of my friends travel to Spain or wherever for the "weather".
You are right to raise the question of whether we would feel the same bout a place if we actually lived there - this is THE big question of course. .. but how does anyone know unless one tries?
Jackiex

j19fmm

Yippee sense being spoken

jackietyfry

Ok last chapter folks! This is soooooo cathartic and is helping me to clarify my thoughts about nz.

We left Papamoa Beach to travel north to stay with his cousin and her knew husband that we had never met and knew nothing about ... but he has a boat so he cant be too bad eh?

Heading out of Tauranga we spotted a sign for Omokoroa Beach. Now when I posted asking for advice about where to stay in BOP Helenuk replied and told me about a holiday park in Omokoroa. So we decided to have a quick look since it was on the way.
We both absolutely loved what little we saw. It seemed small enough yet big enough - for us country folk. It helped that there were some blokes fishing by the harbour who were friendly and were actually catching fish - this made a very positive impression on OH. We had a quick drive around and liked the nice variety of housing stock, enough there to suit us. Wish we had time to stay there longer.
From there we got back on the highway stopping for breakfast in Katikati which my guide book described as "an ordinary little town" and i have to agree that it was! It was fine for a pit stop though.
Our next stop was at the Karangahake Gorge where we whiled away and hour or too. We took some nice photo's but I dont know if they will come out on here or not .. but I will have a go!
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We walked across the swing bridges which was not a pleasant experience .. especially when he seems to take such delight in shaking the damm things
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Lots of people there were having a picnic which looked a much more sensible idea than taking your life in your hands to cross the road to the cafe! We pressed on towards Waihi Beach/town.
The beach was gorgeous - not much good for fishing but a surfers paradise. We just sat on the beach watching the school kids having what we presumed was a PE lesson. It was great to see them learning life saving skills and learning how to surf etc. We saw this at Papamoa too. Cant imagine this happening during school time at my local beach!
Like I said the beach was lovely - miles of white sand with not many people about. Attachment 64501

From Waihi Town which looked really nice by the way, we kept on H2 heading north/eastwards across the Hauraki Plains. As the name implies, the countryside was really flat but very different to what we had seen before so it was an interesting journey. We stopped at Paeroa (the home of L&P) for refreshments. We eventually found a nice cafe where I tried my first drink of L&P which I really enjoyed. This is where we encountered our worst drivers. Admittedly we were pedestrians at the time but every time we tried to cross the road here we were convinced they were driving on a points system, and knocking over tourists got you the highest points! To be fair though most of these drivers are just passing through on H2 like we were so I cant really blame the townsfolk of Paeroa

After a bit of trial and error we got to where we were staying which was Glenbrook Beach which lays at the southern end of Manakau Harbour, Franklin. Our relatives had a nice house overlooking the water and they also have a boat for OH
Apart from a day spent fishing we had a great time exploring an area that we would never have to otherwise. They took us to Waiuku (lovely little town) and to Kariotahi Beach where the sand was really black .. and looked muddy but wasn't! Really strange.
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Of course we spent time with family catching up which was good but our best day was spent driving up to Manakau Heads where we climbed the "highest lighthouse in NZ" and spent an hour or so just gazing out at Manakau harbour to the right and the Tasman Sea to the left. The view was simply stunning and I could have stayed there all day.
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Having said that neither of us would want to live there - it was way too isolated even for us. I dont want to have to drive absolutely everywhere.

And then it was time for us to leave NZ. We left with great memories but in some ways none the wiser. I think that despite our visit and my extensive research it will end up being an intuitive/emotional decision as to whether we emigrate or not. At the moment there are too many variables to make any decisions but in a few years ....

j19fmm

Thank you Jackie, i've really enjoyed reading about your trip, shame about the photos.....