Opotiki to Hicks Bay and on to Gisborne, then Rotorua

The real part of the trip was when we went round the coast of course. Wonderful scenery and beaches. We stopped to look at a couple of Maori churches which were open to the public. The one at Tikitiki had a stained glass window with two Maori soldiers in uniform kneeling at the foot of the cross. We stayed a night at Hicks Bay in a big motel, having a lovely roast lamb dinner in the traditional dining room there. Then on the next day to Gisborne with a stop at Tolaga Bay for lunch and a walk down the pier. On our arrivalk in Gisborne we went straight to this amazing Museum of Technology - Museum of Junk really but so much of it in various states of decay and rust. This elderly man with Parkinson's , the owner showed us around proudly. He had collections of absolutly everything, a man after after my own heart. Tools, fire engines, cars, washing machines, toasters, biscuit tins, prams, chocolate boxes , long drops, an old Post Office, a derelict church and much much more. It is a private museum and the only job he and his helpers are on top of is the lawnmowing. This was a very hot day and it was stifling in the big corrugated barms most of this stuff was housed in, so the beach was very tempting once we were ensconced in our tourist flat at the camping ground near the beach. The water however was several degrees colder than at Orewa or Waiheke, but exhillerating all the same.

The next day we headed back to Opotiki through the Waioeka Gorge and on to Rotorua, stopping at Hell's Gate for a look around the thermal area there. Lots of steaming pools and boiling mud and the usual overpowering smell. Stayed in a nice motel with a heated swimming pool, which Dieter and I took advantage of rather than the thermal pool . Dinner out with the group at Valentine's, seafood night with lots of delicacies like oysters, mussels, seafood mousse, even some mini crayfish , maybe they were lobsters, which we couldn't bring ourselves to try.

The next day was Friday and the day we returned home. Our first stop was another interesting museum at Tirau, a bloke's museum that grew. He had most of his stuff behind glass, nicely displayed, clean and tidy. Many of the same sorts of things as the Gisborne
Museum but not in such overpowering numbers of everything. He started collecting as a boy and had carried on right through life. This is also a private museum and on the outskirts of Tirau coming from Rotorua , well worth a visit. He had honey for sale too. Some of the things I remember were his collection of tables made out of slabs of marble and old Singer sewing machine legs (we have a couple of these), a collection of coins , banknotes and tokens, bowling memorabilia from the local Bowling Club, an old dentist's chair. I really should have made a few notes when I was there. We were there for over an hour there was so much to see. Lunch at Tirau with its great selection of cafes and antique shops then back to Auckland in slow motion along the motorway to Orewa, dropping people off here and there as we approached. I think we were the last to get off but we are not ones to complain or moan. I was doing my knitting to keep calm and while away the time.

Had another lovely swim in the wabe at Orewa the following day and did the usual things like shops, library, internet cafe, catching up with my neighbour, G, and the local gossip. She like op shopping too and as she has a big house chokka full of everything and doesn't see very well, she often buys things that don't fit her and she passes them on to me!! They don't often fit me either!!But it is the thought that counts. She has a lush garden and brought me some grapes. I was going to make some grape jelly for us both but havent got round to it yet. I note with horror that our guava tree is laden with ripening fruit too. And her quince tree is full of large golden fruit so there is more jellymaking in the offing.

Home again on Sunday in time for the Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral.

The pictures are of some of our own bits and pieces. Dieter has a number of these paintings of Vietnamese people , a couple we have got framed, the rest are waiting for their turn. The map is a a 1969 reproduction of Cook's map of 1772, showing Stewart Island attached to the South Island and Banks Peninsula as an island.