Monday, March 5, 2012

Settling in



It’s the start of another work week and life is settling down to a pattern.  Five days of work then 2 days to explore the Bay of Plenty. We have visited Tauranga many times over the years on a reasonably regular basis but we are still amazed at how little we know of the area.  We spent one weekend with Sue and Peter camping at Pikowai, or should I say glamping – we took our motorhome down so had all the home comforts.  Sadly the fishing was not great but we enjoyed the weekend as the weather was mild and of course the beach spectacular. It is a lovely long sandy beach sparsely populated and great for walks.

Pikowai is on the way to Whakatane and neither of us had been to Whakatane for many years so we took advantage of a work opportunity to visit briefly one afternoon. It is nothing like either of us remember, far more developed and attractive.  We will have to return to have a better look around.

We have discovered some nice cycle pathways around the city, (Tauranga and the Mount) which we have spent some time on and I have the pleasure of a waterside walkway as part of the walk to work each morning. Our exploration of the mount was during the three days that we were based there while we had an awning built to fit DREEEM. The awning has been tweaked a bit by Warren to make it a firm fitting and it certainly proved stable in the winds that we had last Friday and Saturday. To top it off we now have a plywood flooring in the awning as well so we are really very well set up for winter when it comes.

Yesterday we visited the Motorhome show in Hamilton and came back with a backing camera for DREEEM and a solution to the high pressure toilet flush that tends to wash your feet when flushing. We found it quite a different experience visiting the show as full time motorhomers rather than potential buyers. The show was great with lots of interesting stalls and a large number of motorhomes and campers to view.  We are still very pleased with our own, there is none better in our mind.