Opunake Beach

We spent the next three nights at Opunake Beach Holiday Park, with our group taking over 14 sites.  We had a good situation in camp, nice and close to the ablution block, and more importantly to the ladies, the laundry.  Morning teas and Happy Hours happened, and there was plenty of free time for members to do their thing, walking, cycling, or just relaxing.  The sun was hot, and the noisy cicadas in the pohutukawa trees behind the camp were making a racket.   Vast numbers of these insects can emerge around the same time and in the same place, and the combined volume of their calling can be impressively loud.  Only males call, and they are trying to attract females.  Males have special structures on their undersides called tymbals. Repeated contraction and relaxation of the tymbal makes the distinctive sound, the sound of summer in New Zealand..

Opunake Beach Holiday Park

The camp has an interesting choice of bollards at the entrance, around the barrier arm.  Those orange objects are recycled gas tanks, guess your car  would know all about it if you drove into one.

Entrance to the motor camp

With the beach on the door step, it was just a short walk for the keen fisher-folk in our group.  The weather was great, but sadly the fishing was abysmal, and not a single fish was caught.  And to add insult to injury, Buddy lost his fishing drone in the sea.  Although he managed to retrieve it, it is now inoperable – oh dear.

Where are those fish?

You can tell that this is a surfing area, just look at this selection of surf boards on the fence by the pub.

Surf City, Opunake

On the hill above the camp we found an old totara shipping  marker, circa 1890.  This was built when sea transport was the only means of access to the town.  When lined up with another marker on the beach, it signaled the approach lane for vessels coming to tie up at  the old jetty.

Historic shipping marker

Small Opunake Lake was a very pretty area indeed, making one want to sit quietly and enjoy the view.  And what could be nicer to do this than relax on this purple mosaic bench seat, commemorating the Coastal Singers of Opunake, who were around from 1983-2017

Opunake Lake

Awnings seemed to be causing problems, and members were happy to help.  Buddy lent a helping hand when Ron and Averil’s awning was reluctant to retract.  And Mike took a large drill to fix Leo and Patricia’s awning when the centre strut fell down.  That’s what it all about, offering a friendly hand when needed.

Pesky awning problems

After three nights here we are moving on, next stop – Stratford.