Any Port In A Storm

Tuesday

Sherry has had a welcome respite in the mornings this week. Ro and Barnaby are in swimming lessons at Baywave, and with Sherry hobbled, Craig has been taking the boys so Sherry can keep her leg elevated and take it easy. This afternoon, however, cabin fever got the best of her.

Paulette works at the Port of Tauranga, and suggested to Craig that he take Barnaby on a tour, so Craig invited Sherry and Ro to come along. Every year the port opens its doors to the public for a two week period. The guided tour is a unique opportunity to get an insider's view of New Zealand's largest port. Sherry thought the boys would be bowled over by all the huge, hulking dock loaders and cranes, but it seemed that she and Craig enjoyed the tour more than the kids! Ro and Barnaby were more interested in playing, and while Barnaby made a game of wearing his hat over his eyes and putting sunglasses on top of his hat, Ro put Sherry's knee brace on, claiming he was a Transformer.

The Mt Maunganui wharves are loaded with lumber and bulk liquid tanks

More than meets the eye

The Tauranga wharves are crammed with containers

Sherry learned that the bustling hub brings in NZ$45 million dollars annually, not to mention the revenue from the cruise ships that dock here seemingly every other day throughout the summer.

http://www.port-tauranga.co.nz/

The height of stacked containers creates controversy, as they block nearby residents' views of Mauao

We watched the boys this evening so Craig and Paulette could go see Avatar. Like us, they had tried to see it before but it was sold-out. Ro and Barnaby played well together for most of the evening, but when they finally started squabbling over the only operational Omnitrix, we knew it was time to put them to bed.

Barnaby & Ro in a peaceful moment

Lazy Days

Sunday

Sherry is grudgingly getting adjusted to life on crutches. Mark has been trying to get the blog caught up, as we're over a month behind. We were too busy doing stuff in November to keep up with the near-daily entries. Alas, when he tried to upload pictures from our trip to Northland from his camera to the laptop, the computer locked up and he lost half of them. Aigghh! Most of Thursday night was spent trying to retrieve them off the corrupted SD card. He finally resorted to buying photo recovery software, and it worked, only losing a dozen or so pics out of a few hundred. Whew!

Friday, Sherry took Ro to the library (thank God for semi-scary nature videos) and classmate Gareth's birthday party. Sherry kept the car that day so they could get around, so Mark took the bus home from work. He stopped off in Tauranga's City Centre to do some shopping on the way home, and while waiting at the bus station spotted one of the ED "regulars" acting in his usual bizarre state, walking up and down the street, muttering and cursing to himself.

Since our apartment is in the heart of the action on Pilot Bay, The Anchorage was inundated this weekend with triathletes in town for the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman. There were so many people using our elevator that it overheated and broke! Sherry was not pleased.

http://www.halfironman.co.nz/main.cfm

A security guard and her dog watching the bikes and the sunset

Triaftermath

Fortunately, Mark only saw a few triathletes in the ED at work yesterday. It would have been a lot worse if the weather was just a few degrees warmer. Sherry and Ro spent most of the day at the pool. She couldn't get in the water, but plenty of kids came and went throughout the day to keep Ro entertained. With her leg finally comfortable as she reclined in the sun poolside, Sherry half-heartedly tried to convince Ro to leave his fun and games to watch the finish of the race down on the street, but no dice. When all the triathletes showed up to soak their aches away in the spa tubs, Sherry found herself drowning in pitiful glances and having to explain the story of her injury over and over. She has since distilled it down to: "sports." 'Nuff said.

Tough way to get some R&R

Since today was Mark's only day off in a long stretch of shifts, he took Ro to the park and let Sherry relax. Entertaining Ronan on summer holiday is tough enough for her normally, let alone hobbled. As soon as they were out the door, Sherry fell asleep on the couch. Meanwhile, Mark and Ro tossed the Frisbee around Coronation Park, making a game of trying to clear difficult obstacles (e.g. the pond, huge bushes). The disc actually made for an excellent tadpole-catching device, but Ro preferred to use his hands.

Learning to throw a Frisbee


The inevitable result

Catching tadpoles with some Maori girls

Barnaby came over to his dad's place around tea-time, and he and Ro spent the remainder of the evening joined at the hip, with Paulette's daughter Caitlyn (3) in tow. Mark and Craig took the boys fishing at the Pilot Bay pier after dinner. Craig supplied the fishing tackle, while Mark supplied the Speight's. The whole process of assembling your gear, baiting your hook, and casting into the bay captivated the boys...for about five minutes. The Maori teens leaping off the pylons into the water were too much of an exciting distraction.

Most left-hand drives are American classics


Ro learning to fish


Don't cross his line!


Watch this!


Sadly, only Mark knew how to whistle the Andy Griffith theme song

Cure For The Summertime Blues

Wednesday

It was a good thing Mark had today off before heading back for a heavy three weeks at work. Sherry is still in quite a bit of discomfort when moving around, and nowhere near ready to attempt driving yet. So, Mark dropped Sherry off at New World to replenish our pantry (she prefers shopping alone), then took Ro for a play at his school nearby. The climbing frame was empty, but the pool wasn't. A few little girls were splashing about, while a couple of babysitters sunned themselves nearby, and Ro was content to just watch them from the monkeybars. However, when his classmates Reuben and Spencer showed up, he looked longingly at the cool, inviting water, wishing he had brought his togs.

Ro doesn't mind this sort of summer school

Can you imagine an American elementary school having a swimming pool? If so, could you imagine the students being allowed to wander onto campus and use it at will on summer vacation, with no official supervision? For free? Life's a lot different when fun isn't constrained by liability concerns.

Can I go swimming, daddy? Puh-leeeez?

Mark felt bad for Ro sitting dry on the sidelines, so he let him strip down to his shorts and hop in the pool to splash around with his buddies, knowing full well Ro would complain of being cold and wet when he got out. With Mt Maunganui traffic the way it is these days, there was no time to go back home to fetch his togs before Sherry finished her shopping. Ro wasn't in the pool two minutes when he [accidentally] caught a boogie board to his face; Mark could see the tears welling up, but they never came as Ro sucked it up in front of his mates. With no sunscreen handy to put on Ro's pale Irish skin, Mark limited his time in the pool and soon told him it was time to go pick up Mum. Ro wasn't happy about getting out, especially when he didn't have any dry clothes to put on, but the car was plenty warm from the hot sun so it became less of a big deal once out of the ocean breeze.

Get outta my way!

Spencer & Ro chillin' while Reuben swims nearby

Ro is fascinated by Sherry's gimpy predicament, if a little less than sympathetic. He commandeers her crutches regularly to play "laser man," and is reluctant to give them up when she needs them back. After dinner, Mark took Ro down to our pool to give Sherry a break and a chance to relax in peace. Her efforts at taking a bath were a comedy of errors. No pictures, sorry. Meanwhile, Ro and Mark bounced a beach ball around with some kids in the pool for nearly two hours, trying to keep it from hitting the water. From the pool, they could see the Dawn Princess pulling out of port, her passengers waving goodbye to everyone lining the pier and Pilot Bay Beach.

Enjoying the watermelon we lugged home from Northland

Three-legged Tramping

Tuesday

We all slept the sleep of the dead last night. As we ate a quick breakfast in our room, one of the motel's resident cats calmly strolled in as if he owned the place. Ro was a bit scared after getting scratched by it yesterday and perched on the coffee table, staring down at the cat devouring a bowl of milk Sherry gave it. As he shaved and showered, Mark was amazed that Sherry didn't kill herself in the shower last night, slipping on the slick stainless steel floor.

Betcha the cat knows every guest gets a free carton of milk (for tea) on check-in

On our way out of Kaitaia, we stopped along the bustling main drag so Sherry could get an elastic knee wrap from the chemist, and Mark could get some cash from the bank. Ro wanted desperately to go with Sherry (figuring his chances of a lolly were better with her), so she let him, soon regretting it. Once Mark was out of earshot, Ro told her he had to poop, so she had to search far and wide on her crutches for a toilet. She also picked up some herbal pills that would supposedly prevent motion sickness, knowing we'd have to drive through the Mangamuka Gorge again.

Never too wounded to do a little shopping

Ro did fine through the gorge, since he was riding in the front seat. Sherry was stretched out across the backseat, and didn't do so hot. Even though Mark took it slow and stopped several times for her to recover, she ended up blowing chunks soon after we left the gorge. She was in abject misery, and missed out on seeing much of the gorgeous pastoral farmland rolling by, with seemingly endless wildflowers along the roadside. She figured her problem was taking her pain pills on an empty stomach, and needed some grease to set things right, so we stopped at the Waterline Cafe in Kohukohu. Sherry had the big bowl of hot chips she was craving, Mark had a roast lamb sandwich, and Ro a margherita pizza.

Ro overlooking the Mangamuka Gorge

Guy stuff

The queen in her backseat throne

As we ate, we enjoyed the view over the river and the perfect summer weather. Ro played with an Indian boy who had a flimsy plastic sword that at some point ended up hitting Ro in the back. Whether it was an accident or on purpose we'll never know, but Ro promptly let the kid's bemused mother know he was not pleased. There was a pier nearby at the War Memorial, with some Maori boys jumping off the top of a shelter at the end. Ro looked at them enviously; he's come a long way in a short while with his swimming, but the prospect of a 4m dive would probably scare him to death. Sherry got to talking with a couple from Wellington on a bicycle tour of the area. She was encouraged by the fact that the man had torn his ACL twice and was now biking without any surgery.

Deep in conversation

Waiting for lunch in the warm sunshine

Cooling off with style

Ro hangin' with the local crowd

We got to the Hokianga Ferry just in time, as it was offloading the last of its cars coming the other way. This was Ro's first ferry ride that we could recall, and he liked the novelty of driving on and off a boat. The ferry dropped us in the little picturesque town of Rawene, but alas, we didn't have time to explore it. Ro and Sherry soon fell asleep as we drove through some truly beautiful countryside towards the coast. Mark stopped briefly to savor the stunning vistas at Opononi and Omapere Beaches, but knew better than to wake up Sherry and Ro prematurely.

Exploring the ferry

Enjoying the ride to Rawene

As Mark checked out the Omapere shoreline...

...Sherry & Ro sawed toothpicks

Wildflowers abounded everywhere

Ro woke up as we reached our destination: the Waipoua Forest. Here stands the only virgin Kauri forest left in the world. After first plying Ro with an ice cream to set his mood right, we walked the short distance into the forest to see the largest Kauri tree in the world, Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest). Then we drove a little ways down the road to a remote dirt parking lot to see the rest of the forest highlights. There was a security guard sitting in a minivan who was there to deter car break-ins, so we had to slip him a $2 coin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathis_australis

The lord's stately crown

Ro trying to get as high as Tane Mahuta

This walk was quite a bit longer than the first, but Sherry was a real trooper. In fact, most of the time, we were waiting for Ro to catch up, not Sherry. She's looking forward to the "Linda Hamilton Terminator arms" all this crutch walking is going to give her. She even improvised pads for the crutch handles by wrapping some of Ro's t-shirts around them with rubber bands. Near the cluster of Kauri trees known as the Four Sisters, we met Donnie and Steph, an American couple. Steph took one look at Sherry and asked, "Surfing injury?" When Sherry explained how she hurt it on the dunes, Donnie exclaimed, "Wow, I didn't know anyone could actually get hurt doing that!" He immediately realized his faux pas, but we all had a good laugh.

This is why women are the ones who give birth

Sherry with her four sisters

Sharing a laugh with fellow Yanks

Sherry started to wear out on the way to Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest), as the path wound downhill far into the woods. She told Mark and Ro to go ahead and she caught up later. A passerby looked at her determinedly struggling along and said, "You're brave!" Although this Kauri wasn't as tall as Tane Mahuta, it was even more impressive because of its girth that rivaled even the biggest California redwoods. When Sherry finally reached it, she collapsed on a bench, her knee swollen and throbbing. On the way back, she figured out that by adjusting her crutches to be longer, she could swing through them instead of shuffling along, halving her number of strides. Once back at the car, she poured herself a congratulatory mug of wine, mostly to take the edge off the pain.

You mean I have to walk BACK, too?

The Hills at Te Matua Ngahere

You're almost there, mummy!

Oh, yeah! Believe it!

The road out of Waipoua Forest heading south was nearly as winding as the Mangamuka Gorge, and Sherry got to sample her wine again, but in a much less pleasant way. We were all famished by the time we reached Dargaville, but the restaurant pickings were pretty slim. A walk-up fish & chip shop called Fast Foods, at a desolate crossroad, looked to be the most popular place around. Sherry was craving more grease to settle her stomach, so we stopped there. While waiting for our food, a couple approached Sherry, telling her they saw her fall on the dunes yesterday and asked how she was doing. They also vividly remembered Ronan, as the woman turned out to be one of the helpful ladies who guided him over to us. "He's hard to forget," admitted Sherry.

Sherry enjoyed the best veggie burger she's ever tasted - no fake hamburger patty, just a bunch of thick-cut veggies with hearty slices of beetroot, pineapple, and a fried egg. Mark had some pretty decent fish & chips, and Ro had a hot dog (i.e. breaded sausage on a stick). It was served with another bit of Kiwiana: a can of Wattie's Tomato Sauce (i.e. ketchup). We ate outside at a picnic table as cars kept coming and going, with seemingly the whole town getting takeaway for dinner.

Mmmm...fried snapper

We continued south as the sun sank towards the horizon. Prior to her injury, Sherry had planned to stop and climb Tokatoka Peak, an ancient volcanic lava core that dominates the landscape between Dargaville and Kaipara Harbour. We figured if we could tire Ro out with a little exercise, he might sleep all the way home, so we stopped despite Sherry's infirmity. Sherry stayed in the car as Mark and Ro headed for the summit. It was akin to climbing a stepladder for twenty minutes. Ro scampered up the steep track, happily hopping over paddock fences and forced to climb on all fours in places. He was in kid heaven, with the dirt covering his clothes to prove it! Around every bend he'd see the path continue sharply upwards and exclaim, "Holy crap!"

We made it, daddy!

Ro stands triumphant

The top of the peak was only a few meters across, with steep drops all around, but the panoramic view over the Wairoa River couldn't be beat. We thought about waiting for the sun to completely set, but feared the trail would be too dark, so we headed down while there was still a hint of light in the cloudy sky. Ro was a little scared climbing down, as his jandals didn't give very sure footing on the slippery dirt, so he mostly rode down the steepest parts on his butt.

Waving to Sherry down below

Sherry's view of Ro & Mark on Tokatoka

Ro is becoming quite the shutterbug

Sunset over the Wairoa River Valley

We stopped at the waterfront in Ruawai for a pit stop, and told Ro he could play on a nearby playground until Sherry had finished her business. Then we cut east across the Northland peninsula towards SH1, passing endless dairy farms and fields of kumara. Ro and Sherry were sound asleep by the time we crossed the Harbour Bridge into Auckland, missing out on the view of the spectacular night skyline. Mark figured there would be a gas station open somewhere between the southern outskirts of the city and home, but he didn't figure it would be as far as Waihi. He nearly ran out of gas in the Karangahake Gorge and coasted into the BP station on fumes.

One last play before sleep

Riverfront in Ruawai, near where the Wairoa joins Kaipara Harbour

Ro had a good four hour sleep by the time we arrived home, so he actually tolerated being woken up pretty well, and fell right back to sleep in his bed. Mark brought a few wheelbarrow loads of stuff up from the car while Sherry set about putting things away, then we set Sherry up on the couch so she could keep her leg elevated. The knee was getting more swollen, and she was glad for a fresh ice pack as she drifted off.