A beach and a cottage

 

It was a beautiful clear blue sky that greeted me when I opened the curtains.  T was still hunkered down in her bedroom so I decided to go for a walk to the beach which I had been assured was only 15 minutes’ walk away.  Indeed it was!

 

The beach was a beautiful strip of light grey sand still showing the effects of the storms that have blighted this region over the past year.  There are still significant amounts of forestry slash. 

Wainui Beach

 

The beach is renowned as a premier surf beach said to be the best in New Zealand.  When I got there I stopped to talk with a guy who had a camera set up to take photos of the local surfers.  He said he was doing it make up a surfing calendar.  He had motorcycle with a trailer which he said he took all around NZ following the surf breaks. 

Riding the waves

 

The sea was full of black wetsuit clad surfers bobbing up and down on the waves before they launched themselves onto breaking wave.  They were all ages.  Further along the beach from where I was some people had constructed a pavilion made out of the slash.  It looked reasonably sturdy given that it had nothing physical like nails or rope holding it together.  Someone had even set up a Christmas tree inside it.  Not only were there surfers, there were beach walkers and the girlfriends of the surfers, the latter were absorbed in watching what was happening to their partners on the water.   

 

After breakfast I called into the local café to get a cup of coffee.  It is a vegan café so the milk for my flat white was oat milk but I had a choice of others.  The coffee was rather good.  The food offerings didn’t look too bad either. 

 

T’s deceased son’s cottage is very cute.  Very old and in need of someone who wants a rather large renovation job.  It was good to do a bit of manual work like digging out things.  Such activity doesn’t happen when you live in a flat.  The closest one gets to such exercise is potting plants or herbs, which is not the most physical of activities.  My job was to dig out a couple of planter boxes and then to clean some windows that were covered in some gritlike stuff that seemed embedded into the glass.  With heat rising it was rather difficult to keep the water on long enough for the cleaning materials to do their thing. 

 

After some lunch back at the AirBnB I took my bike on a ride into Gisborne.  It was rather nice being on a manual bike again.  The trail was concrete so  it was easy riding on a route that was very flat. Almost nothing like it in Wellington except for going around the bays .  The cycle path took us from Wainui Beach to the port area.  The area around the port is rather pretty in an industrial sort of wa and is full of restaurants and cafés .  I kept following the cycle path and it took me to Waikanae beach which was not quite as nice as Wainui.  Several kite surfers were taking advantage of the northeasterly wind.

Looking toward the port

 

Commerating the beginning of colonisation

Waikanae Beach looking toward the port

Captain James Cook first landed in New Zealand looking for food and supplies.  It was not an auspicious beginning with Cook mistaking a haka for aggression and killing a number Maori before going back to the Endeavour and sailing further up the coast where they landed and were able to get water and some food. There was another statue to him on Kaiti Hill but that was controversial and I think it was removed some years ago.  It was not even a likeness of him.  Not sure the current one is either. 

 

The ride back to the AirBnB was a bit more energy inducing due to a brisk head wind.  The exercise was good and I like seeing the neighbourhood at a slower speed than driving. 

I sat in the shade reading for the rest of the afternoon.  We went to a restaurant called Works for dinner.  It is in the port area and was an old warehouse or something before being repurposed.  The food was ok with T having the pick of the dishes, a pork loin with a slightly hot sauce and interesting vegetables.  Unfortunately, my main of snapper was dry and slightly overcooked.  Everything was crisp and quite tasteless.    It was a disappointment. 

Ringside view of the action

Girlfriends and assorted supporters