Monday, April 20, 2015

To Oakura

Our destination Sunday was Oakura, just south of New Plymouth on the west coast of the North Island. En route, we shopped for petrol, food, and booze and also checked out a warehouse store for some rubber boots.

I should have a recurring feature entitled "All the nice people in NZ who stopped when they saw we were looking at a map/or were just interested in something." At the bottle shop, I was enchanted by the artwork on this cider.

The proprietor came over and said: if you like that you should see this.

Not sure I have the story entirely straight, but the woman who owns the blue bach (pronounced "batch," meaning holiday home) possibly did the artwork and it's being used on this triple-distilled vodka NZ sparkling water drink.

A big bit of local in a store rife with international brands.

Looks like a fine location too.

We made our way through Oakura and beyond, taking a hard right toward the water. Note the position of Mount Taranaki in green. It or one of its lesser mounts shields the beach where we're staying from cold southerly winds (oh, upside down NZ, where cold comes from the south!).


A tiny cottage awaited us in Oakura, lovingly designed and situated with several others on a bluff over the water.



Steps away, a path down to the Oakura beach.


What's this? The owner of Ahu Ahu, chagrined that she and her husband hadn't been here when we arrived, delivered a plate of freshly caught snapper filets. Add one more to the fish list. (Honestly, did I mention how lovely the people of NZ are?).

Good eating

And a very good day.








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