Success is getting what you want; happiness is liking what you get

Wednesday, 17 June 2020

Next Stop – Opotiki

Saying farewell to our friendly Pop hosts we had one job to do – visit the dump station, then we were on our way.  Another relatively short trip again, just 49kms.  We drove through the very popular seaside town of Ohope, well known for safe swimming and good fishing.  Then through the Cheddar Valley, passing by the famous fish and chip shop on the estuary and Cheddar Valley Pottery.  We can remember coming here with friends Pauline and her late husband Geoff when they collected a very special hand painted platter featuring their motor home some years ago. Lovely coastal views as we drove on to our next stop, Opotiki.

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We are here at Island View Holiday Park for an ICA Rally starting Friday but decided to come a little early, as we have a special trip booked for Thursday – more about that next time.    Previous to coming here,  we had get permission to bring our cat Gemma, so she became a “pre approved pet”.  And sign a Dog Policy when we checked in, (yes, we know she is a cat) agreeing to keep Gemma on our own site,  and not walk her around the camp.

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Keep to the rules Gemma, and you wont need to hide your head

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Sign at the camp office

Ours camp  site is great, just a hop, skip and jump to the beach.  As we are a couple of days early, no one else from the ICA group has arrived yet.  I’m sure we will enjoy some beach side solitude.

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Island View Holiday Park

At the beach we got a glimpse of the volcanic island Whakaari / White Island, which erupted on 9th December 2019.  There were 47 people on the island at the time. This tragedy left twenty-one people dead, including two who missing and declared dead, and a further twenty-six people suffered injuries, mainly severe burns.  We took a trip out to the island some years ago, it is a weird place with the smell of sulphur in the air, I remember we had to wear hard hats and gas masks.

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Whakaari White Island off the coast

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