Matakohe to Opononi

July 8, 2009

I posted the article on the 9th because I haven’t had internet access until now. Yesterday I didn’t even have access to an outlet so today I have to write two articles. I’ll start with yesterday (July 8) and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMANDA! Also, I may edit this later if I have forgotten major details. I’m at a packpacker and the wireless isn’t working for me so the employee just hooked my laptop up to the pc’s so I’m getting internet for free. Not in my room though so I don’t have my camera etc.

We woke up at the Holiday Park around 7:30 am and poor Raven was so cold during the night that she couldn’t sleep well. I of course slept like a log. We had found a praying mantis in our room the night before and Raven put it outside. Today it was still where we left it, looking weak and hungry so Raven moved it to a bush. I named it Mathilda, even though that’s more appropriate in Australia. We got ready, I took a shower and we packed up to get out of there. We weren’t impressed with the kitchen facilities there so we ate at a café instead. Sooooo nice having someone else make breakfast for us for once. We finished breakfast and headed out on the road towards the north.

Soon after getting into the car we came to a town that had a restaurant called Eutopia. It was all made out of this molded concrete and the main building was in the shape of a seagull. Of course I took pictures! It had these great little rooms where you could sit and have coffee and the main area looked like a yurt. We had Elderflower Cordial (think St. Germain warmed up, Daveeed) and relaxed for a while. We then stopped at a Dutch cheese shop and stocked up on groceries and walked to the library to see if they had wi-fi. Nope, they didn’t even have internet.

We stopped again soon and went to a nursery full of local, organic plants and produce. I took a bunch of pictures of a fantail, a little NZ bird that has a tail that fans out. I kept taking pictures and the darn bird would fly away before the camera would click. It was kind of funny and I finally did get some pictures of it.

We decided to aim next for Dargaville. It took a few hours to get there and we were determined to find a library with internet connection because we were feeling a bit out of touch with the world. We drove into town and first found the public gardens. It was a bit cold but we braved the rain and cold to walk around and see the different features. My favorite was the scent garden and even though it’s the dead of winter the garden was flowering, which was wonderful. We went into this building called the fernery and there were these three teenagers inside who were asked where we were from (with our lovely accents). When we said Seattle, they responded “Why on earth are you in Dargaville.” Hee hee. We then went to find a place to have lunch. We settled on a café called “Blah, Blah, Blah” and I think the name speaks for itself. Like most NZ cafés, the food was delicious. We had a creamy vegetable soup with an amazing whole wheat foccacia bread. We then stopped at an ATM, where some lovely person had thrown their fish and chips at the ATM so that it was covered in ketchup. Ewwww! We then walked around trying to find the library. We had to jump back into the car and did come across it. Apparently, they’ll be getting wireless in a couple of weeks and in the meantime, it meant ½ hour of free internet time. I typed fast!

We finally left Dargaville around two and had to drive north so that we would have time to see the kauri forests and get to Onoponi before dusk. We chose the farm hostel there because they advertised organic produce and amazing views. Well, it took us a long time to get to the forest and we didn’t really have time to stop to see the great trees. We did try to stop once and walked onto the path only to find that even though the sun wouldn’t be going down for a couple more hours, the forest was too dark for pictures.

We followed the GPS towards the hostel and had to turn up this gravel road in the near dark. The GPS then said we’d arrived at our destination in the middle of the road when there wasn’t anything around. We decided to continue on the scary road and did come upon the hostel. It was lovely but primitive. There were no outlets in the entire building and the place was heated by a wood stove. There was electricity so we had a fridge and lights and a gas stove to cook. They also had a cat named Tui, who took a liking to me and became my blanket for the evening. She kind of reminded me of Chloe and instantly made me feel guilty. Scary cat lady. There were other backpackers at the complex in another building and they snuck in to use our bathroom. Grrr, stay away! I went to sleep at 9:30 and apparently Raven had a conversation with the landlord about them but I was out cold and didn’t hear.