Moving on to Opunaki

There was a bit of a treat on our final morning at New Plymouth.  There seemed to be a bit of police dog and handler training going on – that was worth checking out, I decided.    So I walked up and asked if I could take a photo of the dog.  Guess an old lady on a walking stick didn’t look too threatening to those big strong policemen and the dog.  No problem at all, the handler walked his dog over closer to the fence and instructed him to get down, so I could take a quick photo.  He certainly was a fine looking animal.  We had noticed aa sign on the enclosure next to where we were parked up saying “Police Dogs only”, and were told that they come here to train as it was neutral territory.

Police dog training going on

Then we were on our way – first stop to refill our gas bottle, go to the dump station, and then we followed Surf Highway 45.  This is quite an interesting road, passing several small beach towns on the way.  Oakura Beach holds special memories for Robin, as he spent quite some time at this surf beach in his younger years doing Surf Life Saving training.  We stopped for lunch at Cape Egmont Boating Club, pulling into a large grassy area with two others in our party.  There were plenty of cars and boat trailers dotted around.

Lunch time

The boat club has a replica lighthouse attached, which also serves as a museum, not open when we were there as it it run by volunteers on an occasional basis.  I climbed up the ramp and got a good view out over the beach and boat ramp.  That’s where the fisher-folk go to launch their boats and try their hand catching those elusive fish.

Replica lighthouse and museum

Looking down over the boat ramp

After a relaxing lunch we continued on our way around the coast to Opunaki, passing hundreds of small rounded hills in the paddocks, as far as the eye could see..  These were created by ancient lahars flowing from Mount Taranaki.  A lahar is a rapidly flowing mixture of rock debris and water (other than normal streamflow) originating from a volcano

Small lahar mounds

Our ICA group all trickled in to Opunaki Beach Holiday Park during the afterrnoon, found our allocated sites, and settled down for our first afternoon here.  The peace was shattered when a Life Flight Rescue helicopter landed in the motor camp car park.  Seems an ambulance was called in first, and then needed back-up from the helicopter.  Sadly, one family's holiday is now in tatters.