I know it’s shocking but after three months in at the marina in Opua, Legacy is going to leave the dock! We’re going to head out to cruise the Bay of Islands, Great Barrier Island, the Coromandel Peninsula, Auckland and eventually, Tauranga. We’ll take about three or four weeks to get to Tauranga where we’ll stay for a month or so before we sail to Fiji (early May).
There may be fewer posts for awhile as we’re not sure what kind of internet access we’ll have while cruising the islands. When we get a connection, we’ll post some stuff. -Rich
We feel baaaaad to be leaving Opua but we’re looking forward to new adventures.But at least we won’t go hungry! Glad we have a station wagon.
After our trip to Tauranga we had about 2 more weeks on land before we’d be leaving Opua to do some cruising. We made the best of that time, doing some of the things I’ve already blogged about.
Now, it’s time to wrap up the Northland section of the blog. I have the final From the Car gallery from Northland New Zealand made up of all the pictures I liked but that never fit with previous galleries. Here they are.–Cyndi
It has taken me a long time to get around to doing a blog post about Paihia eateries because we so seldom ate there. We mostly ate either in Kerikeri or on the boat, and many of the places we did eat in Paihia were covered in our fish and chips blog post. There was a Thai place we’d go to occasionally called Amazing Thai, and that was good, but the portions were pretty small.
Before I wrap up writing about our Opua time, I do have some Paihia places we tried that I’d like to mention.
The first spot is called the Upper Deck. It’s upstairs, overlooking the street and waterfront beyond, and it serves a variety of food, including Mexican food. We went for lunch and were disappointed to find most of the Mexican entrees are served at dinnertime. We did spot chicken chili nachos on the lunch menu and ordered those. The verdict: I would call this less the cuisine of Mexico and more the cuisine of the American happy hour, but sometimes this sort of food hits the spot. I would like to go back and try one of the dinners.
Looking out over the balcony of Upper Deck. (Paihia, New Zealand)A plate of chili cheese nachos (Paihia, New Zealand)
Another place is called Hansen’s Cafe (I think). It’s in the building near the pier, and it’s a very simple cafe that serves pizzas along with basic food. We went early for breakfast one morning and had toasties (toasted sandwiches) with egg and cheese. We sat on the back patio area and the early morning view of the shore was beautiful. The toasties were good; we never did try the pizza.
Sitting out on the back porch of Hansen’s Cafe (Paihia, New Zealand)The amazing early-morning view from Hansen’s Cafe. (Paihia, New Zealand)
We finally ventured to Jimmy’s Rib Shack near the end of our Opua stay, and we had to admit that while they were not the best ribs we’ve had, they were surprisingly good. If you’re in the mood for ribs, these will satisfy that yen. (Sorry, we have no picture of this place)
The next place is called The Waterfront Restaurant and Bar. We didn’t actually try this until the end of April. We were far south in Tauranga by then, but we came back to attend a cruising seminar, and the proprietor of our hotel recommended this place. We’d noticed it before, but it has a sort of upscale, touristy look that never attracted us. That day, the recommendation and the fact that we could walk there from the hotel made us decide to go.
We went in to find this beautiful canvas-covered patio full of fire features. There were fires in pillars, and two tables had fires in the middle of them. It was beautiful, and they helped keep the area warm on that chilly fall night. We ordered dinners, splitting a chicken dish in mushroom cream sauce and their famous basta pasta, a meat sauce with cheese on pasta. This was accompanied by glasses of remarkably good pinot noir and toffee pudding for dessert. We were both really, really impressed with the food. In fact we can agree that it is right up there with the best dinners we’ve had in New Zealand. If you’re staying in Opua and want a nice dinner out, make a beeline for this restaurant. It’s a nice place and while not cheap, it’s also not particularly expensive and better than a lot of other places with similar prices. –Cyndi
The Waterfront Restaurant and Bar turned out to be a favorite. (Paihia, New Zealand)
Every year Opua hosts the Opua Regatta, a summer festival, and the highlight of this event is the dog races. But in these races, dogs don’t race around a track, they swim about 100 yards from a floating platform to shore. Also, these aren’t specially trained dogs: these are your average, everyday household pets.
I will start by saying most Kiwi dogs live near the water and are used to running and playing on the beach or by a lake. Most of them swim, often when chasing and retrieving a stick thrown in the water.
That said, this is not quite what they are used to. Here, they are ferried out in a dinghy to a platform from which several dogs will race at a time. By race, I mean they are picked up by their owners and when the whistle blows, deposited into the water, involuntarily. At this point some confusion ensues for the dogs, and hilarity ensues for the people.
Most dogs sort out what they’re supposed to do when their people call to them from shore. They’ll head that way, swimming side by side with the other dogs. Some dogs get confused and swim off the wrong way, or back to the platform. Some dogs realize it’s a competition and decide to chase off the competitors before they get to shore. It’s usually a combination of all of the above and it’s highly entertaining.
When the winners of the first rounds are established, those winners will race each other in the final round. This year there was one clear winner, a dog who’s probably done this before and clearly loves to race and win. Everybody has fun. Well, maybe some dogs have more fun than others, but it’s great fun for the audience! –Cyndi
What’s a quote from Cool Runnings have to do with sailing the Pacific? Nothing really, it’s just that we ask each other a related, very unlikely question these days: how did we die? “Cyndi, do you remember?”
We don’t remember. We have no traumatic memories, but we must have died because clearly, we are living on the other side now. I know I’ve raved about New Zealand a lot here. Maybe we should change the name of this blog to something like “New Zealand Visitors Bureau” but I can’t help it. I’ve never been anywhere that makes me wonder how I died (and why the heck they let me in heaven).
A drive north spawned the question today. It was beautiful. We drove a scenic loop near Whangaroa harbor. After a short drive, we took a walk in an amazing kauri forest.
I hope the other side is this nice for all of you. -Rich
It looks beautiful in the picture and the picture doesn’t do it justice. (Click on the picture for a larger image.)A giant kauri tree. It took a panoramic shot to attempt to capture this giant. (Click for a larger image.)
