It's cool out this a.m., windy, cloudy - still didn't get rained on tho!
Went into Orewa and spent time at the beach there flying the kite, taking pictures, riding around town. Had a feast here last night! Pulled a picnic table over to our tent. found some old dry wood, made a fire in the bbq they provide - cooked up lamb steaks, broccoli, had a loaf of bread, galic butter, pate! What a life! Played with the cloth frisbee, terrorized a couple of ducks - actually we fed them (greedy little duckies) a ton of bread, then, unexpectedly, Jim made a grab for one of them! That suprised 'em! After that, we were both too on the brink of insane laughter, and the ducks sensed it a wouldn't come as close. Finally I gave in to my bird-dog instincts and took after them (waddling as fast as they could!) - Jim joined in, and finally they took off in flight - and, other than flying over once, we haven't seen 'em since!
Jim has walked over to a nearby phone booth to try to call Paul about wiring us some money for the car. How our trip will change if this all comes thru! Much more will open up to us and time will become less critical! I'm eager to do some trout fishing in Rotorua!
Today we'll have to break camp. Well no doubt see more exotic, secluded places, but this has been a fine first camp site!
I'll back up to the days just before we left to come down. On Thursday, the 29th, Deb, Paul, Jim & I rode around Mercer Island (the bike loaded with all our stuff) - it was a very pretty ride. (sunny too) - and a successful test run. Don't recall what we did for dinner that nite - Jim worked more on the bike at Paul's till about 2:00 A.M.
Friday we went into Seattle and got our banking business easily out of the way... later Jim came back into town for more errands - I stayed at Deb's and she and I had a great talk, laughing, joking around, getting ready for the Halloween party, which got started at about 8:30. J. & I went as bicycle tourists - lots of great costumes, and lots of fun! Lots of partiers!
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
- As in Canada, prices are considerably higher on most things - eating out is dear - put, multiplied by .6, it puts it into perspective. Cheapest beer we've found so far was at the Orewa Pub -$3.00 for a small pitcher. Also, suprisingly, the lamb steaks we bought last night came to just over $3 (for 4 steaks!) - cars are expensive, clothing & shoes (as we heard from Luke at the warehouse liquor outlet) are quite pricey.
- Toilets could use considerable improvement - American ones are much better!
- Gas is very expensive
- People seem to be quite un-selfconsious about approaching strangers and striking up conversations - many love to give advice! Pat, one of the older men we met at the Orewa Pub, strongly advised us to hitchhike instead, saying we could leave our stuff with him, and adding that if his wife didn't have the flu, we could sta few nights with him free!
- Dogs aren't very friendly at all! Aside from a Welsh Corgi, a couple of Whippets, adn about 5-6 Dobermans, I've seen mostly MUTS!
- It's hard to find taverns/pubs - just a place to go in for a brew! We had to ask in Orewa, and the pub was on a back-stret. Much more common are coffee/tea places, and spots where you can get "takeaway" food. Buying beer at the outlets is also expensive - about $10 for a six-pack, $17 for a twelve pack -OUCH. We were able to find wine for "only" $6.50 -$7.50/bottle but $17, $24, etc. was more common at the wine shop.
