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Happiness Is The Road
We once again awoke to the wonderful sound of waves lapping against the shore. The weather was fantastic again with a gorgeous blue sky,the sun shining over the bay and a mist sprawled mysteriously over the headland. After brekky we hit the road and drove through almost unreal model railway type countryside scenery. Everywhere was vibrantly green and all the animals were happy. We stopped at Taupo Bay which was another gorgeous little bay. As in other places we have been to along the coast there were signs at Taupo Bay stating that it was a tsunami ready community. Most of New Zealand is at risk of a tsunami if there is an earthquake in the pacific and the coastal communities have an evacuation plan and route. From here we followed the road to Mangonui which is a beautiful little coastal town on Doubtless Bay. We had a walk through the town on the Heritage Trail taking in it's history. The name Mangonui means 'large shark'. Mangonui was known as a safe harbour for whaling vessels by the late 1700's and in 1831 the first European settlers arrived. By the mid 1800's Mangonui was a centre for whalers and traders, with the saw milling, flax and gum industries flourishing. In the 1900's these industries declined and Mongonui became the much quieter place it is today. We had some lunch and then we drove to Whatuwhiwhi on the Karikari Peninsula a bit further along the coast where we intended to stop for the night. It was a lovely camp site, not absolute beach frontage but it was just a stone's throw from a cute little beach in a cute little bay. We got a great private spot and then went for a walk to the beach. There were trees overhanging the sand and one of them was sprouting a load of unusual and fluffy looking green stuff that looked like a cross between candy floss and netting. Once back at the camp site we were chilling at our picnic table when something large and black caught my eye. It was a big black cat, very overweight but extremely gorgeous, and she shuffled her way over to see us. She was very friendly and wanted lots of fuss and attention. I was very happy to oblige and get a good cat fix as I really miss having a p**** cat. She stayed with us for ages and just about managed to haul her large bulk up onto the top of the table. We're sure that her crafty mind was plotting how to get some food out of us as she must have done with many people before us. When we got up she shuffled off in indignation. We then went to cook our tea in the camp kitchen. We usually cook in the camper van but the kitchen here was amazing. On our way back to the camper van we bumped into the camp site owner who told us that the cat was called Missy and was the camp site cat. We had our tea at the picnic table but Missy had now dumped us. We spotted her lurking around at the other side of the site obviously hoping to have better luck scrounging food elsewhere. That's cats for you!
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