We had decided to return to the Northland area for our final 5 weeks in New Zealand, on the way we thought we would stop into the Golden Owl hostel again, at the old Gold mining town of Karangahake. On the way up to our hostel Em & I thought it would a good idea to seek advice on long term storage of our van, passing the garage that did our service why not pop in and ask him? We dropped in say hello and ask his advice, advice he gave without a second thought but even better he has offered to ‘look after’ not only the van but Kite buggy & Surfboard the whole works; when asked why his only answer was “I’ll get to service & W.O.F it for you, so why not” We are going to pay him for the storage, but this works out great for us and him; and if he uses it while were at home he’ll pay for the running cost incurred etc’ so we all win. Even if we don’t take him up on the offer, it’s just a show of how friendly the NZ ‘ers are. We arrived at the Hostel in high spirits; this could work out good for us! We had a good night at this hostel a few weeks ago, so thought a 4 night stay would allow us to think over Mike’s offer of storage and clear up the cost and stuff before we move on. Time to forget the van for now, we were planning a day of walking around the Gorge tomorrow so after getting some tips from our host we headed to bed; but forget the van talk? How could we, this could mean we could keep it all here until our next trip out in 9 months; yes Em & I have decided that some way we are coming out here again to holiday, work or live?????????? The following day was so hot, but we had planned a walk so a walk we were going to do; we set of earlier than planned to avoid the afternoon sun. BOY, we are so glad we did; hot wasn’t the word for it ‘scorching’ was. We both arrived back at the hostel after a 5 hour walk, broken and thankful that it was all over; even though we took fluids with us we polished of a 2.25 litre of Coke within 30 min’s of being back. NEVER AGAIN! Em had read that a Surf comp was being staged in the next bay over from us in Whangamata, so we decided to head over to see how it’s done by the pro’s; the waves are HOW BIG! That days comp’ was called off after the morning session; waves were so big; not in their height but in the depth and ‘heaviness’ of them. You get wiped out by one of them and you know it, the Lifeguards were desperately trying to stop people from even going in to the water; let alone stay between the flags. We enjoyed the mornings session, watching them paddle out was hard enough; but to see them take a wave so easily is something to be seen.
