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Oct 20
Fri

A deserted beach, a hot experiment and the first breakdown

Although it's raining continuously, I walk from the campground to Karikari Beach in the direction of Cape Karikari. At first I pass blooming Manuka shrubs. Then, in front of the wide beach which is bordered by dunes, the landscape turns into something similar to a heath. There's only me and I put a stick into the sand to mark the way back. Rain stops falling. The beach is white at the shore and black behind. On the way there's a Pohutukawa tree as big as a house, many shells and rugged rocks at the end of the beach. Some scenes from Jane Campions The Piano were taken at Cape Karikari, and because of the weather and the grey but clear light I'm in a movie-like mood. I've been walking for 1.5 hours when I begin to double back and follow my own traces in the sand. No one except me has been here.

Karikari Peninsula Karikari Beach · more Karikari Peninsula pictures more pictures

Meanwhile, Ralph has been playing soccer with Harry (7), who's sitting in our car now and taking photos. He laughs at the word Gummiball which is the German word for rubber ball and sounds very funny to him. He wants to show me an experiment in their bus. I want to go swimming first but it doesn't take long because the water is bloody cold! So I go to see Harry in the Bedford bus. The family show me how they live there. The bus is very cosy with photos on the walls. I feel honoured to be so welcome in this sphere of personal privacy. Ted is sitting at a table working at his typewriter, a birdcage next to him. Willingly, he gives place to the experiment. Harry asks Sally to boil some water. Then he starts building an unconventional construction with a shell hanging at a cord from the ceiling over a cup of hot water. Letting go of the cord he lets the shell bump into the hot water: a bungee jumper, jumping off the Sky Tower and plunging into a hot volcanoe! «He's studying volcanoes at school» Sally tells me with a twinkle in her eye and the whole family makes fun of bungee jumpers.

They tell me about the advantages of the Bedford bus (for example being relatively independent because of the big capacity of the water and waste water tanks). I ask if it is normal that water comes up the plughole in our shower, although the waste water tank can't be full. By no means – Ted wants to get Britz on the phone for us. Ted and Sally come with me, now we are sitting in our bus. It takes Ted some time to get the person in charge on the phone. Then he is told our problem is one which can't be possible and though he tells them the tank can't be full yet they recommend to empty it – that's all the advice we get. We decide to do that at the next camp site because this one has no dump station.

Ted and Sally give us some tips for our journey, tell us about the delicious green-lipped mussels in Blenheim where they used to live, and their daughter's address there in case we need some help. We have enjoyed their company and saying goodbye is sad and a little difficult. We hug each other and exchange addresses.

Karikari Peninsula – Harry Harry · more Maitai Bay pictures more pictures

We move on to Kaitaia (the last settlement of any size in the far north) and buy some things we need there. Further along SH1 a bad smell develops in the car. There's waste water in the shower again and someone is honking their horn at us. We stop to see what's going on. Grey water is running out of the campervan! We can't do anything, so we drive to the next camping site Wagener Holiday Park / Houhora Heads where we get help from the friendly host couple. He instantly begins figuring out the problem with the tank. What a nuisance: it isn't actually full but something is stuck. It must have been in there before we got the vehicle because we neither took a shower nor threw anything in there.

I ask his wife if she can make the phone call to Britz for me because it's difficult for me with the New Zealand accent on the phone, and I haven't got the vocabulary to explain our problems with the car and the tank. She tries to get Britz on the phone but there's no one in the office who can help. It's a long weekend and near closing time so we shall try again tomorrow morning at 9 o' clock. Great support. The tank is emptied, the plughole sealed up and the stench is out of the car. There's nothing more we can do so we go for a stroll. The campground is awesome! Green and spacious, with huge trees and palms. There's a boat ramp at the shore. The water comes in gently and there's an island. At the campsite is the Wagener Homestead Museum with a beautiful old garden. We go to the restaurant, which is situated in the campground, and have a decent chicken curry. We feel quite weary and fall asleep early.

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