Matauri Bay Holiday Park

We've just spent two days at yet another exquisite campground on this gorgeous peninsula. On the short drive here we passed deciduous trees dropping leaves and turning gold in the autumn light.

Our camp spot again is right on the water.

The grounds outside the kitchen are planted with a pleasing array of mature native plants.

There's a trek right here--straight up a high hill--to view the memorial to the Rainbow Warrior, the anti-nuclear Greenpeace ship that was bombed by the French in 1985 in Auckland, killing one person.
The Rainbow Warrior was refloated for forensic examination. She was deemed irreparable and scuttled at 34.9748°S 173.9349°E in Matauri Bay, near the Cavalli Islands, on 12 December 1987, to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary.

The beach outside our window beckons us for walks and is always telling a story. This man worked with his daughter for more than an hour on her beginning surf skills. It seems everyone in NZ has a wet suit (adorable little kid wet suits hang on clotheslines everywhere) and knows how to surf. With so much ocean everywhere, it's a rite of passage. After one last brava ride on a small wave, she upright all the way, they hugged it out and headed in.

Sweet dreams, campers.