Winterless North 3 ~ the stormy part

It sounded stormy. I peeked out the curtains and saw that it was. Goodie.

I am a storm ghoul. I love bad weather… y’know, provided I am warm and well fed, etc. (That wasn’t the case in the aftermath of a spectacular storm a couple of years ago!)

Despite the positive slant on the good weather disappearing, it did throw plans into disarray. The intention had been to drive up to Paihia and meet my friend Janice for lunch as ordinarily we live about 800km apart. Even if Cyclone Pam was keeping herself a good distance off the mainland, she was still an unknown quantity and the forecast was pretty grim. Janice and I settled for a catch up on the phone instead.

So Mike and I trundled inland to Whangarei for coffee and food (in that order) and took the opportunity to stop for a closer look at the old dry stone walls lining the road.

Constructed mainly by Dalmatian immigrants over several decades from the 1850s, they’re a fascinating throwback to the region’s agricultural beginnings when the land had been laden with volcanic rock. And in places still is.

A good chunk of the rest of the day was spent checking out the beaches. It was gloriously wild. This was at Matapouri Bay, contrasting with the idyllic scenes from the day before.

And with the big waves comes the surfers.

By the next day the worst had passed. It was time to go home in any case so we drove back to Auckland Airport, stopping here and there to see the storm residue.

‘Winterless North’ may have been a bit contradictory but it gave an already great weekend a bit of extra spice. We ditched the Flying Poo, who, despite its name, was unable to fly us the rest of the way home.