8-9th Feb 2017, Opotiki & Whakatane

Leadfoot over, and it was off to Whakatane to get some tweaks to the Van - the wonderful Paul and Coastal Motorhomes is the ONLY guy worth going to for Camper/Caravan issues - we've learnt the hard way! - he makes his own motorhomes at his workshop, so what he doesn't know is nothing (!)

Jobs completed, we camped overnight at the nearby Opotiki NZMCA. This is one of those  - what I call - 'genuine' New Zealand towns...friendly and not too many tourists....

View from the edge of Opotiki - with a beautiful stretch of beach..

The town itself is quite run-down with little in the way of jobs in this area, that's no surprise. The shops are a diverse collection of old-fashioned haberdashery-type places, clothes and sportswear. There's even an organic cafe/deli which makes a create use of the old butchery that it's located in. 

We had dinner at the nearby RSA, which was excellent and a very modern, comfortable building with friendly staff. Always good value at these places - something like $15 for 3 generous courses...

There's a lot of graffiti and evidence of poverty surrounds the place which could be described as a bit 'desolate' in areas - especially this walk (about) from the town Rugby grounds through the sand dunes to the beach. To the right of this photo is a patch of ground that used to be landfill, but 10 years ago was 'returned' to 'nature'. How sad that this will inevitably have to be dug up in the future: tyres and plastics just do not 'return' to the environment - especially on a beach - without help or removal!

Ironically, whilst at the NZMCA park, a guy from the local Maori Trust came round with his truck full of Glyphosate for spraying the 'weeds' around the area. (which actually needed a strimmer). The sun was out, the breeze was blowing IN towards the campsite where we all had our doors and windows open, dogs outside. The guy with the hose was in shorts and T-shirt, no sign of any PPE. His mate driving the truck was looking relaxed and window open "she'll be 'right" attitude...

I did say a few words to them - told them how concerned I was for their health and that of their whanau too. But I think it fell on deaf ears. It's their managers who need to be held responsible after all - asking them to do a job without the proper training or equipment...

Ho hum. New Zealand will learn from the rest of the world's environmental mistakes - eventually perhaps.