Day 25 - Big day today - J got an early start by going for a walk on what seemed to be a fairly smallish beach, but just kept getting bigger the farther out he walked - turns out Pakiri beach is huge and another good bet for surfing... grumble, grumble... Is also home to an endangered bird that looks a bit like a fat sandpiper and walks like a mini frankenstein (or maybe penguin).
...And so we took advantage of the second day of nice weather and we drove in circles, or so it seemed - at one point we drove 15 minutes west and then 15 minutes east (with a good mix of north and south thrown in) to find
we had covered a net 100 meters (all of that just to get to the other side of a stream) - I guess that is why someone invented the 4x4! Anyway, need to find out why no one lives along this coast at Tomarata. Back in the town of Leigh, it was just the same as we remembered: the general store was there and we think we even located our friend Jack's old house, although the neighbour house seemed to have grown and, of course, there were a thousand or so new neighbours... not quite the tiny hamlet it once was... the countryside and views were just as fabulous however - and the hole in the wall was still there. Omaha Bay is starting to look like super expensive suburbia for weekend surfers...but again, a really 
nice beach and likely good surfing as well. And an amazing view of the islands from the enormous beachfront. Saw a couple of properties with identical houses and found out it was a 'kit' for $250k. Found one property comparable to the one in Tinopai but on this coast it is nearly twice the price. Back in Warkworth - remember that quaint little town we visited some time back - well you don't want to be there at 4:30 - OMG! It's as bad as Auckland! Small towns should not take hormones without doing some restructuring and rethinking of the roads. Luckily, Sandspit is a 5 minute drive away and has a really nice campground on the beach. They have built it into a kind of miniature Heritage Park with tiny old buildings with great displays (a boarding house, auto mechanic, theatre, general store, hardware store, dressmakers shop, chemist shop, brewery, etc) and fun stuff to keep the kiddies (and adults) out of trouble like kayaking, golf, chess, skateboarding, petting zoo 
with donkeys and sheep.
J's rant: Speaking of kids, you really have to feel sorry for the kids today who have the urge to hot rod, but for some reason, think a Mazda3 is a good starting platform. It would probably be a bit funnier if it weren't a bit pitiful...and I'm pretty sure the kids don't understand why the 'old' folks all have that bemused grin when they drive by ...another generation gap. OY!...kids these days....
...And so we took advantage of the second day of nice weather and we drove in circles, or so it seemed - at one point we drove 15 minutes west and then 15 minutes east (with a good mix of north and south thrown in) to find
we had covered a net 100 meters (all of that just to get to the other side of a stream) - I guess that is why someone invented the 4x4! Anyway, need to find out why no one lives along this coast at Tomarata. Back in the town of Leigh, it was just the same as we remembered: the general store was there and we think we even located our friend Jack's old house, although the neighbour house seemed to have grown and, of course, there were a thousand or so new neighbours... not quite the tiny hamlet it once was... the countryside and views were just as fabulous however - and the hole in the wall was still there. Omaha Bay is starting to look like super expensive suburbia for weekend surfers...but again, a really 
nice beach and likely good surfing as well. And an amazing view of the islands from the enormous beachfront. Saw a couple of properties with identical houses and found out it was a 'kit' for $250k. Found one property comparable to the one in Tinopai but on this coast it is nearly twice the price. Back in Warkworth - remember that quaint little town we visited some time back - well you don't want to be there at 4:30 - OMG! It's as bad as Auckland! Small towns should not take hormones without doing some restructuring and rethinking of the roads. Luckily, Sandspit is a 5 minute drive away and has a really nice campground on the beach. They have built it into a kind of miniature Heritage Park with tiny old buildings with great displays (a boarding house, auto mechanic, theatre, general store, hardware store, dressmakers shop, chemist shop, brewery, etc) and fun stuff to keep the kiddies (and adults) out of trouble like kayaking, golf, chess, skateboarding, petting zoo 
with donkeys and sheep.J's rant: Speaking of kids, you really have to feel sorry for the kids today who have the urge to hot rod, but for some reason, think a Mazda3 is a good starting platform. It would probably be a bit funnier if it weren't a bit pitiful...and I'm pretty sure the kids don't understand why the 'old' folks all have that bemused grin when they drive by ...another generation gap. OY!...kids these days....
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