A Bonus Day

 What's better than going away on a weekend rally?  Taking an extra day to get there - that's what.  Four of us decided to head away on Thursday, a day early, just because we could.   There was the lay by we were looking for, a little before Turakina.  But we had whizzed past almost before we realized we were there, had to go further and turn around, drive back along the busy road and turn around again, before finally reaching our goal.

Lunch stop

Our traveling companions Owen and Helen were just passing Himatangi, they told us, so we settled down to eat our bacon sandwhiches and await their arrival.  They had further to travel than us, and when they arrived, we had another cuppa and welcomed them.  

Our stop for the night was a new one for us all, Koitiata Camp Grounds, reached by turning off the main road at Turakina, and traveling about 8km down the road to the coast.  This camp is in two parts, an area with non powered sites across the road, and about eight power sites in the main area.  This is an older camp and getting longer modern caravans on site took a bit of an effort.  The fees are very reasonable, being $16 a night  for a powered site.

Here for the night

We were parked beside an older lady who lives full time in her motor home.  She was 94, she told us, and had just passed her drivers licence again, she proudly informed us.  How wonderful.  There was also a family camping in a couple of tents, who had been very noisy the previous night, a local lady warned us.

Two Leisurelines and an Auto Sleeper

The grand tour around this little village didn't take too long, but was still quite interesting.  driving around,  up and down the few streets, then we stopped at the beach.  Cell phone reception here is very weak, and there is a platform on the beach to climb up to and hopefully get a stronger signal.

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Cell phone reception area

Kai Iwi Beach

There was an interesting sperm whale vertebrae in a case on display close by.  This sperm whale was found on the beach around 1950.  

Sperm Whale vertebrae in a display case

Back in our respective vans during the evening, the peace was shattered with loud voices shouting and swearing, a car alarm going off time and time again.  What on earth was happening?  Our traveling companions didn't seem to be involved, so we kept to ourselves, and the noise finally died down.  In the morning we discovered that the police had been called, and the family was moved on from the camp.  Apparently the demon drink was involved in the fracas, and we were told that the family had been evicted from a previous camp - my goodness, what a way for a family to live.

After a leisurely morning tea we moved on too, stopping at a very interesting local church on Turakina Beach Road.  This modest little church had a couple of beautiful etched glass windows, and an extensive old graveyard.

Can you see the etched windows?

Our next stop was on SH3, Turakina Antiques and Collectables.  After years of driving by, towing the caravan behind, Owen wanted to stop and check it out.  That was fine with us, so we stopped too.  The hardest part was crossing over the busy road as cars and trucks whizzed by at 100km, we waited for a break in the traffic and scurried across.

This place was huge inside, room after room choc full of crystal, silver, fine china, and some furniture.  Cabinets were packed full with crockery and china, there were several large dining tables with large place settings, and cabinets full of other collectables.  All quite beautiful, but nothing jumped out to say "buy me".  These beautiful items for sale needed a large colonial home with big rooms to show them off.  A lot of us have downsized to smaller homes these days.

A peek inside the antique shop

Back in the cars, and we headed for out stop for weekend, Kai Iwi Beach, where we will be joined by our caravan club buddies for a rally.