Off at 9.00 am, destination Mount Maunganui where Rex and Annette have a beach house. It was a cloudy sky so umbrellas seemed a good idea. We passed various farms and villages which were part of Rex's early years.
First stop Karangahake Gorge Historic Walkway, famous for beautiful scenery, gold mining and rail history walks. It was raining so we decided to revisit tomorrow morning.
Next stop Waihi, an active opencast gold and silver mine, dug on the site of an existing mine and once complete in a few years time, it will take 6 years to fill with water and be used for recreational purposes. Here are a few facts:
The mine produces $1 million of gold and silver each week.
Gold mine workings, prior to the opencast, the deepest shaft was 600m with 175km of tunnels on 15 different levels.
The final pit will be 250m from top to bottom.
The dumper trucks used weigh 85 tonnes and carry 100 tonnes.
Each truck costs $1.5million, each tyre is worth $11,000!
We arrived at Mount Maunganui but were unable to see the peak due to low sea mist. However it was also hot and sunny! The beach house is in a brilliant location with easy access to the beaches on both harbour and seafront sides of the peninsular.
Annette had recently purchased a tent to increase the sleeping capacity for the family over Christmas and was unsure whether it would fit on the front lawn. We all had great fun in sweltering heat grappling with erecting a tent that had a mind of it's own and identified one faulty pole in the process A well deserved lunch followed at 'Cafe 88'.
With the top of the Mount still shrouded in sea mist we walked around the base and saw some experienced surfers tackling the rolling seas.
We also chatted to a small team who were cleaning oil from the ship currently breached 4 miles offshore in the Bay of Plenty. It looks like they will be occupied with this task for many weeks and months to come!
On the way home we drove through the lovely town of Tauranga, stopping to change the faulty tent pole and stopped at a fabulous viewpoint overlooking the Waikato Valley famous for diary farming. Stunning.
Once home Rex and Henry got our car started using jump leads (lights accidentally left on overnight) then set off on the quad bike to look round the farm. Annette gave me the opportunity to drive her newly acquired 2.5 litre, bright orange, Ford Focus. Wow, the power, put that on my Christmas list.
Delicious home made beef stew with veg for tea. Enjoyed looking at family photographs past and present.