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| Sam on his perch |
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| Along the Way to Raglan |
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| Lemon Tree at our house - Cara Mia, Raglan |
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| Garden Sculpture, Raglan |
January 28
Today is “jump” day as it has started to be known – the day
where we move from one place to the next.
Today we are going from the east coast town of Tauranga to the west
coast town of Raglan. All of the tour
books and many of the locals say that once you go to Raglan you may never
leave. Interesting. There must be some kind of black hole there
that pulls people in and won’t let them leave.
Or, it must be that wonderful…take your pick. Raglan is featured in the
1964 classic surfing move called “An Endless Summer” which, of course, we
watched many times while still in Raleigh and
before embarking on our journey .
We have tried with no success to secure accommodations for the evening
either in Raglan or the larger nearby city of Hamilton. The summer break for NZ children is coming to
a close and this is a long weekend for them so many families will be taking
advantage and going on holiday around the country. Turns out next weekend is also a long holiday
weekend, so we need to be prepared. We
eat breakfast to clean out the fridge and pack up all of our things – which is
becoming an easier task as time goes on.
We get directions from the nice people at the office and we are
off. It will take about 1 hour to get to
Hamilton and then another 45 minutes –hour to get to Raglan. It should not be too mountainous along the
way, but the scenery is really beautiful.
Rolling green pastures raise up and down over the undulating hills and
are tinged with the dark green of pine forests.
There is almost always a streak of deep blue off in the distance,
signaling that we are never too far from the ocean. The clouds roll in and out
and we have intermittent gorgeous blue skies and then dingy grey ones. We arrive in Raglan around 2:00 and get the
car parked. Cute town with lots of
sidewalk cafes and people mingling around.
We spot a street sign - Volcom
Lane – and head off down the dirt path to a corner of surf shops. Even the
street markers are surfer related emblems!!
I make a purchase, for a change, and then we stroll around a little more
before realizing we need to get a hotel nailed down quick. We drive up the coast stopping at a couple of
Holiday Parks/Hotels/Inns along the way to Manu Bay. We see a group of surfers in the distance and
pull out to watch the action. After a
while we continue on our quest with no luck.
We drive further up the coast to Whale Bay and still no vacancy. We are told that in town there is an
information kiosk that can help us locate a place, so we return to Raglan to
check it out. The two ladies greet us
with a bit of consternation…..Saturday afternoon and no accommodation for a
group of five on a holiday weekend……good luck.
And, as it turns out, it is…………they indicate that there is a house about
10 minutes inland that sleeps five and the landlady, Vera, will be waiting to
show it to us. One catch…..it is a bit
pricey, but they suggest we go have a look and negotiate directly with
Vera. So we are off….our stomachs are
rumbling at this point, as we haven’t
eaten since breakfast, but we can’t forgo finding a place to rest our heads
tonight. We wind around numerous corners
until we find the marker for “Cara Mia”…..up, up, up a very steep driveway and
we are on top of a little mount at a quaint cottage perched on the top. Gardens and fruit trees line the driveway of
this little place and it is quite lovely.
All of a sudden, Vera pops out and greets us with a hearty
handshake. We like her immediately. She shows us around the cottage, which is
quite comfortable and we really want to make this work. Now the negotiations begin…..we get the full
price which includes breakfast and produce and eggs from the garden. We were told in town that is we did not have
the breakfast, that would reduce the cost by $10 per person per day. Sounds good to me, so I suggest it and she
says that will be okay. Super! This place has many things we have been
lacking for so long….a full kitchen, a yard to ourselves, a living room, and
many other amenties. Paulie and I unpack
the car and Vera takes the kids off on a tour of her mountain. We are starving while we are waiting for them
to return so we grab a half of a sandwich to tide us over. The kids get back and we all head back into
Raglan for lunch, except now it is 4:30 and we aren’t sure if lunch is still
being served. We find a restaurant this
is too expensive - (hamburgers $16)- so we keep looking and end up at another
Fish-n-chips takeaway place. Yum. It is now raining now and the café has no
indoor seating so we end up picnicking in the car. Afterward, we cruise through some shops and
end up at the grocery store to get our supplies. Since we have eaten such a late lunch, we
don’t anticipate much dinner for the evening, but we do stock up on our
breakfast items and chocolate. We get back home, everyone settles in and we
relax. Paulie and Sam put up their
hammocks on the ample deck overlooking her gardens. We re-charge our batteries (literally) and
get our devices ready to play. We watch
American Idol and a movie before getting to bed.
