Day 45 Baylys Beach to Orewa Beach 2nd April 2011

It was 09.00 and the sun was shining from a clear blue sky; something was wrong.  It can’t be an April fool joke, that was yesterday.  What a difference it makes to setting out in the sunshine.   After showering and breakfast, we loaded up and headed for Baylys Beach, just a few hundred metres down the hill.  On the way we passed the Funky Fish restaurant where we dined last night and very good it was too.  We reserved a table thanks to the advice of the receptionist at the campsite, but at the time I thought she was joking as the site was almost empty and there was little sign of life in the town.  However, by 8.00pm the place was buzzing and not a spare seat in the house and the good thing was it seemed to be full of locals.  As we drove down the hill towards the beach, it suddenly became apparent that we were actually going onto the beach.  We thought we’d better reverse up, just in case we had to explain to Avis that their car was submerged on Baylys beach!  Once we parked up and took an early morning stroll along the beach it was obvious that lots of people drive on there, but the sand did not feel that firm and I don’t think I would like to stay in one place for long in a car.  The beach was littered with jelly fish and a few fairly large fish skeletons that had been washed up on the morning tide.  After a few Kodak moments we headed off towards Dargerville and the museum that was recommended to us by the driver who picked us up for our trip round the Bay of Islands.  The museum was further out of town than we thought, but easily found.  It had an area with farming equipment outside of the main museum, which on certain days of the week, they actually fire up the tractors and equipment.  Unfortunately today is not one of those days, so we decided to miss this section out.  Apart from the fact that this museum has a marine section, it bears a striking resemblance to the little place with the cafe that Nancy & Norm owned.  The only real difference is that this place is about 10 times the size.  Many exhibits are identical and equally as interesting. As we said in a previous blog it’s quite disconcerting to recognise so many items in a museum!   In the marine section they had all sorts of bits and pieces, but probably most significant is various artifacts from the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, which was blown up by the French Secret Service back in the early 80’s. They also have the two masts from the ship outside.  I guess we spent a good one and a half hours looking round and talking to the staff.

From here we headed to the next museum, which was the Kauri Museum at Motakohe and this one had been recommended to us by the couple who run the B&B.  Before entering, it was time for lunch so we just had to try a Gumdiggers Pie at the cafe opposite. Fully refreshed, we spent the next couple of hours going round the exhibits, which told the history of the massive Kauri trees, their felling and how they were cut up at the saw mills.  It also had amazing pieces of furniture made from Kauri wood and the history of the Gumdiggers who dug in the boggy fields for the gum from Kauri trees, which is used for many different applications, such as varnish and linoleum making, amongst others.  Many of the gumdiggers were from Croatia, although we don’t really understand why Croatians specifically became diggers.  The museum was very well laid out and like all good museums, there were buttons to press that made things happen.

It was turned 2.00pm before we left the Kauri Museum to head for Owera Beach just above the North Shore of Auckland.  We arrived at Owera around 4.00pm and moved into our studio apartment at the Top 10 campsite.  Back on home ground.  After a quick stroll along the beach, just to finish the day as we started, it was time to get to the supermarket and buy dinner for the next two days.

Just to let you all know, the clocks go back tonight here by 1 hour, so we will no longer be 12 hours ahead, but back to 13.

Also, apologies for no pictures, but internet connection is playing up tonight.