Sunday 6 November 2016

Calm and tranquil; no fireworks in my world last night. At this little location there are four other camper-vans with me tonight but, there is so much space in this freedom camping area that it feels like I’m totally solo. Hamilton Gap is down a dead-end road on a very windy, black West Coast.

This morning it was already windy with intermittent heavy rain. Between showers, I threw my doors wide open and, for a change, lay in my sleeping bag for longer than normal, reading my book and managing to concentrate on it for nearly one and a half hours. Then I braved a really cold campsite shower that certainly had the effect of waking me up!

Back on the road out to the lighthouse at Manukau Heads, I sat and stared at the Bar, studying it for a while from a sheltered seat in the sunshine. But an empty stomach and the urge to drive and have a closer look, encouraged me to head off to a few of the Manukau Heads and many different bays, none of which made me feel comfortable as I kept seeing the Sky Tower. As I was sitting eating lunch, I got a call from Nat to say “Hi, where are you?” and “Do you fancy a visitor?” That I did for sure, so we planned to meet back in Port Waikato. Off I drive to spend some time with Nat for the day and then to stay with friends in Port Waikato for the next day or two.

Here I am, walking among the sand dunes, listening to the Port Waikato waves, played against the background noise of kids having fun on the flying fox in a nearby playground and just generally enjoying the company of others. Freshly-made Raglan sausages for dinner. Time to talk about the coastline and the waves; also a bit of time in front of the TV watching Country Calendar and some programs about the ocean. All in all a wonderful weekend, largely thanks to so many friends.

My smiles today:
A really cold shower!
Discovering so many great bays I never knew existed.
So close to home, yet still so far.
Kids playing on a flying fox.
Watching Country Calendar.
The prospect of fishing and white-baiting in the next day or so.
Visiting friends.

My thoughts today:
Breathe in inspiration and trust yourself. The answer is “Yes, you can!”

Goodnight from Red and friends.

Ma Te Wa.

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