Since we were right next to such a lovely beach,
it seemed a shame not to take advantage and go for a morning jog. Since we only
have one MP3 player now, Matt went first. He didn't expect to get far but he
returned after a good while and looking a funny colour so I knew he’d done
better than he thought. When I measured it using the software on my phone, he’d
jogged 3km non-stop. Looks like it won’t just be walking that he’s kicking my
ass at soon.
The sun was heating up by the time that I went
and I’m not sure my date with Ranfurly last night helped. 6km later I was
boiling hot and actually looking forward to a cold shower. As I drew towards
the exit off the beach, I noticed a bunch of elderly nudists, hanging loose on
the sand and, before I thought about it too hard, just chucked off my clothes
and ran into the sea. I was delighted with myself. An old guy asked my about
the temperature of the water and I stopped for a quick chat with him and his
wife after I’d put my clothes back on. I’m not sure I’ve ever stared someone in
the eyes so intently.
We drove to Whangarei but it looked pretty rough
so we didn’t stay long. We’ve been trying to reduce our amount of ‘stuff’ so
Matt dropped off some things (mainly his coat collection) at the op-shop (but
still couldn’t resist leaving with some binoculars) and I bought some contact
adhesive for my multiple shoe issues. We also stocked up on water-proofing for our
outdoor clothes – probably not worth a mention apart from the fact that it was
made in Derbyshire, in the postcode next to ours (DE55)! All the way at the
other side of the world and we were buying things that were most likely made in
Heanor!
After all that excitement we were ready to find
our overnight location. We set off to the DOC campsite at Whangaruru North Head
but passed an interesting-looking farm with places to camp. I stopped off to
enquire and spoke to a guy who told me they had were currently hectic with
several families, pony camp, dirt-bike camp and about 25 WOOFERS but that we
were welcome to stay. The farmhouse stretched out with various rooms, seemingly
all tagged together in a ramshackle order and containing with people of all
ages, most of whom didn't even look up as I passed. Matt wasn't feeling too
sparkly and I wasn't really in the mood to try to penetrate such a dense and
confusing bubble and so we continued.
I can’t say that the area seemed particularly
friendly. We passed lots individual segments of private land, all bearing an
array of signs declaring that dogs, stray livestock and trespassers would be
shot. No spontaneous walks there then.
Puriri Bay was still quite lovely despite the
rain and was a lot more relaxing than the farm would have been. We ate dinner,
looked out over the bay and caught the end of a speedy but glorious sunset.
It’s been a while since we've seen the sun disappear into the sea.
Instead of going to bed we ended our evening with
a frenzy of chapatti making. We've both been trying to stay away from bread
because we noticed that we feel so much better in ourselves without it. Unfortunately,
our will-power does not always agree.
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