Auckland to Uretiti

Yes folks, we have finally moved. With everything done on the van and car, along with a weather window coming up, it was time to leave Peter & Wendy’s. We can’t thank them enough for having us to stay on past our housesitting stint, it was just so lovely and quiet and relaxing. After a farewell cuppa, we were soon on our way north. But first a stop at the gas station for LPG and fuel.

It should have been a quick 5 minute exercise, I left Roy to fill up whilst I went across the road to the bakery for a pie to have later on, it’s been ages since we’ve had a good bakery pie and the ones at Dairy Flat Bakery are very good. When I got back to the van, Roy and the attendant were having a struggle with filling the LPG, it simply would not work, she tried resetting the pump, tried the other side of the pump, reattached the nozzle at the van end, kept on trying to squeeze the nozzle but it just simply would not work. After quite some time, she decided to head inside the garage to see if it could be reset from inside, she soon returned to say that they had had a power outage earlier in the day and the pump had not reset itself. Now it’s working!

We were soon on the new motorway north which eliminates going through the notorious bottleneck in Warkworth and what a feat of engineering it is.

New road cut through hills.

Once we exited the motorway we were on the road through the Dome Valley, however, this was much slower than usual as the whole road seemed to be lined with road cones with road works going on spasmodically along the way. It wasn’t much better when we got to the Brynderwyn’s either with major repair work going on here. The Brynderwyn Hills are a Ridge that extend east to west across the northern peninsular and signify, to me, the gateway to Northland.

Major slip repairs at the base of the Brynderwyn’s .

That’s another slip in the distance mid photo, which extended across the road and down the other side

The other side of the slip

Once at the top of the hills you get an expansive view over Bream Bay and the Whangarei Heads, however today we got no view as a rain front was heading through blanketing all in front of us with low cloud and rain.

We arrived at Uretiti to warm welcome from Adrien, ‘choose where you want to park’ he tells me, however, most of the beach front of the camp is out of bounds due to the continued flooding and semi permanent lakes now formed which don’t look like dissipating any time soon.

We chose a spot to temporarily park whilst we unhitched the car to go and have a look for a good parking place. Our preferred spot is now inaccessible so we have to look elsewhere however it didn’t take us long to realise that the options were few and far between.

We then proceeded to became a couple of “those” campers, those who just could not decide on an agreeable spot, we must have moved about a dozen times before we finally agreed on the best place to park and in which direction to take advantage of the sun, keep out of the prevailing winds, keep away from other campers, and find somewhere relatively level.

Parked safely, that’s the office just up behind us on the right.

Once we were settled and had a bite to eat and a cuppa, we went for a walk around the camp and down to the beach.

Looking down onto the camp road which had to be raised above water level late last year

That’s the shower block on the right

They’ve dug a ditch to try and drain some of the water

This corner of the camp road used to have a lot of trees and shrubs creating a very private parking area, the trees and shrubs rotted after sitting in water for long periods and have been removed.

Very steep beach access, left picture is looking down to the sea and on the right is looking back up

Same corner, different angles. We’ve never seen flooding here before.

The coming weekend is a long weekend here in NZ, and we expect a lot more people into camp over the weekend. The public holiday is Matariki, the celebration of its first rising of the Pleiades star cluster in late June or early July. This marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar. Pleiades are acknowledged in many cultures worldwide and are also known as the Seven Sisters and in Japan is known as Subaru, hence the logo on their vehicles. Unfortunately cloud cover stopped us viewing the rise of the stars but I’m sure over the next few days we may get a glimpse…..if I’m up early enough!

The whirlwind ends

Alex, Ian, Callum and family have returned to the UK, in fact as I write this they have just landed safely in London. But first a recap of the last week before they left. They arrived back in Auckland on the Tuesday and we met them at their AirB&B at Tindalls Beach, a spectacular property which overlooked Manly and Tindalls beaches. I had dinner sorted for them after their epic week or so in the south. But first a few pics of their South Island trip.

A visit to the old home town of Oamaru, where they forgot to take any photos at our old home (I’ll include a couple below from the Lodge’s web page) and a stop at Moeraki

Our previous home, in Oamaru, Pen-y-Bryn Lodge, where both Antony & Alexandra spent their teenage years.

Fun in Queenstown with family and friends.

On their return to Auckland they spent time seeing some of the sights of the city, including the museum. Alex and I went down to Antony’s one day to sort through her stuff we’ve been keeping since she left home, you know, all those important things like photos, memorabilia, games, toys, books and other bits and pieces. We did well to get through most of it in a few hours.

Sarah and her boys came for dinner one night, it was lovely for the cousins to meet up and for Callum to have the boys to play with. I took a couple of hazy rubbish photos of the evening.

“Dinner with the Webbers

Playing at the beach

Friday and we got to have Callum for the day before they fly home on Saturday. We had lots of fun playing games, walks to the beach and lots of laughs, but then it was time for us to take him back.

Last day spent with grandma and grandad. We loved spending time with Callum, he is such a delight and a credit to his mum & dad.

The weather forecast was not great with another heavy lot of rain predicted so we decided that we would probably stay with Alex for the evening as we weren’t sure if we would be able to get out of the camp ground if the road flooded. But first we all went out for dinner, Antony joined us as did Matt & Claire, but boy did we get drenched just making the short distance from the car to the pub.

At dinner, photos taken after Antony had left to escape the downpour!

I don’t think I have ever experienced such torrential rain before, not even in the tropics, we were so pleased we’d made the decision to stay the night out of the camp. We had warned the campers before we left of the weather warnings, the rangers also told them, a few chose to stay. We understand that some did leave as the deluge started, just the ones in vans remained. Anyway, we had a lovely dinner, played a game of pool before heading off to the house for the night. Tomorrow would be an early start.

Mum helping Callum play pool with Claire looking on.

We were all on the road by 8am, the hire van had to be returned and we all met at the airport where they quickly had their luggage checked in and their boarding passes issued. Antony joined us and we all headed upstairs to have breakfast. Before too long they were ready to head through security, saying goodbye is bloody hard no matter how much we prepare ourselves. No photos were taken at this stage, I don’t need to be reminded that they were leaving!

Time for us to head back home, both feeling very flat and drained we were soon back at a very full camp.

We tracked their flights via a web site and knew when they landed safely in Kuala Lumpur. A quick message to them between flights and soon they were on their way to Heathrow. We heard from them as they landed safely and are in the taxi heading for home.

We can now start to plan our next trip over to see them as we are missing them already.

Cyclone Gabrielle

We have had lots of messages and phone calls from friends and family checking to see if we were ok which has been really lovely and we do appreciate the calls and messages. We are just fine and have come through it all without any issues. But who else jumps out of their skin when that awful, blaring, warning siren suddenly goes off on your phone with a Civil Defence alert? It certainly gives me a wake up!

We had been warned of the path of Cyclone Gabrielle and the projected rainfall and winds we could expect so we were well informed and prepared. We tend to watch the weather patterns and forecasts probably a little more closely than most folks and take appropriate precautions to keep ourselves safe. With the next storm warning issued, we made sure that if we have to move from our current parking spot we can a) make the move quickly and b) know where to move to.

After the last storm we are still parked on hard ground (a concrete pad) on the highest point on the camp and have taken on advise from those in the know that we are in a safe place. We checked the topography, geography, and the direction of projected winds. We also formulated plan B, C and D should the need arise.

Sunday 12th February, we had a bit of a break in the weather early in the day so headed out in the car with the portable waste tank to empty, we then topped up with fresh water, checked supplies and hunkered down for however long it may be. Mind you, I bet we looked like right Wally’s as we were walking around and around the van with compasses in hand figuring out if we were parked in the right position to be head on into the wind so as not get buffeted around too much. So far so good. But we know that the worst is yet to come.

The view out of the back window before the wind really started!!!

We also waited and waited to see if Alex & co would be able to fly out of Auckland to Christchurch early afternoon after spending a few days around Tauranga and Rotorua. After a few delays they finally got away and we were relieved to hear from them when they landed safely in Christchurch. Shortly afterwards we heard that they closed Auckland Airport for all domestic flights then subsequently International flights.

Monday 13th. We were buffeted quite a bit by the winds last night and I have to admit not much sleep was had. Before darkness fell we walked around and made sure everything was either stowed away or lashed down and we could move if we needed to quickly. Should we reposition the van to be head on into the wind? After much discussion we decided to stay where we were even though we knew that we would be slightly side on into the winds for the first part of the night but then the wind direction was due to change and we would be head on into the wind. And indeed that is what exactly happened and it was much more comfortable without the rocking and rolling. However we woke to find that our hot water wasn’t working, we trust that it is due to the fact that the gas water heater is on the side of the van that is facing directly into the wind and rain. Fortunately we can make use of a hot shower on site so we won’t be too smelly!! But we do have to get through the flooded road out of the camp.

Top: Roy testing the depth of the water before
Bottom: Bruce came along to lead us through

The “road” leading back into the camp

Tuesday 14th. We now wait for the full impact of Gabrielle to bring more rain and wind over the next 24 hours. The news around the country is not great with major slips and flooding everywhere. We woke to find that although we had lots of rain, we did not get the intense flooding we had a few weeks ago. Yes, we still have flooding but it has been the ferocity of the winds that has been the real issue with giant swells and rough seas carving away at the beach and sand dunes, as well as bringing down trees and branches everywhere. We can now hardly see out of any of the windows due to the salt spray. Once the worst is past we shall have to wash the van.

Debris covered beach

Wednesday 15th. The worst is over, hopefully the winds will die down shortly and we can take stock. We have come through all this very very well and we thank our lucky stars that we have no damage, we are warm and dry, we can get on and do things. The park has been closed since Monday so everything can be assessed with access, tracks, trees and livestock to be checked as well as the flooding everywhere.

We washed the van of all the salt that had been deposited by the strong winds, what a difference, we can see out of the windows now, the salt was so thick on the windows that it looked like we were in the midst of a great fog!!

Desalinated van and car

We then ventured out to the dump station and the laundromat to get all the washing done, two necessary jobs that can be done just 5 minutes from the park. On our return we tried the hot water again to see if we could get it to work, lo and behold, it works!! Amazing what no rain and less wind will do.

Later, we had another job to do, put up tape on now dangerous access points to the beach which have been seriously eroded and undercut by the seas. Roy had checked out all the usual access points on his walk along the beach earlier in the day and he offered to put up the warning tape, to remove one more job that the already very busy Rangers had to do.

Eroded beach front access and undercut sandbanks.

Wednesday evening, and the wind has dissipated to a slight breeze. It is so quiet without the roar of the winds, the crashing seas and the sound of branches breaking and trees creaking & groaning in the wind.

Our hearts go out to all those people and communities who have lost loved ones, homes, possessions, access to power, communications and roading. I don’t know how they cope with the devastation both physically and emotionally. This storm has been unprecedented and will have a lasting affect on us all. Stay safe everyone, and look out for each other.

Whirlwind few days

We were all set and ready for the off early on Saturday morning with our first stop at Simon’s to pick up a car seat. On the way to see Simon we travelled through the streets of Epsom, the streets were lined with furniture, carpets, furniture and other detritus the aftermath of the floods. Peoples homes were waterlogged, I cannot imagine having to deal with the physical damage never mind the emotional, financial and mental anguish that comes with this type of disaster. It was a very sobering sight to see.

We had morning tea with Simon and Maria, and caught up on all their news. Fortunately they escaped major flood damage, with just a couple of small leaks from overwhelmed guttering is they had the misfortune to suffer. But we were on a mission, we were meeting up with Antony at the airport, ready to greet Alex, Ian and Callum along with Ian’s parents Chris, Barry and brother Matt from their long journey from London.

Callum running to meet Grandma & Grandad, closely followed by Mum, Dad and grandad. Chris & Matt had already come through.

They flew straight through from London with just a change of planes in Kuala Lumpur, and they were remarkably fresh. Callum was apparently a little trouper, he slept 9hours on the first leg, and another 3 hrs on the second leg so he was raring to go. They had a shuttle organised to take them to the car rental place not too far away, although the van that they had booked was not available so they had two cars in the interim to be returned on Monday to then exchange for a van. By the time we were finished at the car rental place, we were on our way in convoy to their AirBnB rental in Manly, Roy and I led the way with their two cars following and Antony coming along later.

Their rental property was right on the waterfront at Manly, they were quickly settled in, showered and changed and ready to relax. I had organised a quick, light easy dinner for them all, we ate, caught up on their trip and left them to get an early night.

Sunday and everyone was coming to us at Shakespear for a family BBQ lunch which I had sorted. Everyone seemed to arrive at around the same time, first Alex and crew, then Jacky & Chris arrived closely followed by Simon, Anita and Maria. Antony soon joined as well.

The crew

Playing and talking

Competitive petanque…sibling rivalry never stops it seems!

The diggers and trucks donated by Wade & Lindsay were well used too

After a lovely lunch, Alex & Ian announced that earlier that morning on Manly Beach, Ian had proposed! Yes, he even got down on one knee! What exciting news, we are so happy for them, they are a great couple. Bubbles were drunk in celebration and it topped off a fabulous day. We also so lucky with the weather, the sun shone all day as the sunburnt bodies later attested even though sunscreen was liberally applied and we sat in the shade of the gazebo.

The happy couple!

Monday and the exchange of vehicles had to be completed as well as a trip to MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) for the day, Antony met them there and they all had a great day out. I had organised dinner for them for when they returned and Alex’s friend Claire & Matt came to join us for the evening.

Dinner on the deck

Tuesday and it was Grandma and Grandads turn to have Callum for the day whilst everyone else went off to see the sights of Auckland City.

First stop, toilets, then playground followed by an icecream at Gulf Harbour watching all the boats in the Marina.

Putting together Lego-style sets we had collected, this was a huge hit and kept Callum amused for a good couple of hours. He was very good at putting it all together, very patient – grandad wasn’t too bad at it either !!

Lunch time and Callum wanted to help grandma, he took on the job of grating the cheese, and a great/grate job he did too!!

Grating the cheese

However, the highlight of the day was getting to ride in the tractor with Ranger Bruce, and drive the tractor. Bruce was brilliant at showing him what to do and let him control the levers to lift the forks. They were moving my garden to our new parking spot and it was done with great accuracy.

Tractor driving.

The end of the day and we were meeting everyone at the house for dinner together. By this time Callum was tuckered out, we had to keep him awake for the 5 minute journey home. After dinner Callum had perked up a bit so it was then jigsaw puzzle time, he just loves jigsaw puzzles and he is soooo good at them, he quickly polished off a 100 piece Wasjig puzzle with very little help from us.

Jigsaw ninja!

Now they are off on their next NZ odyssey, whereas we prepare for the next cyclone 😬.

A state of emergency

Real time update:

Many of you will have heard or read in he news about the State of Emergency that was declared in Auckland overnight, Friday 27th January, with the heavy and relentless downpours and strong winds. You will be pleased to hear that we fared very well, although the same cannot be said for other campers. Most left or did not come on Thursday and Friday before the rain started, we had had plenty of warning form the weather office so we were somewhat prepared.

However, we were not prepared for the amount of rain we had, it just kept on coming. Most campers abandoned wet tents and went home but there were the odd few who stayed on.

Roy and I spent most of Friday keeping everyone updated with reports, and helping people when they needed assistance. Of course that meant getting very, very wet, raincoats just didn’t cut it, we got soaked through our coats and ended up changing clothes three times before we figured we should just put the wet clothes back on to go outside.

This is the view to the back of our site, the top picture is the creek overflowing it’s banks and rising quickly, it got much higher than this, but this morning it looked like to bottom picture. At the base of the bottom picture you can see a couple of stakes, the first one nearest the fence line is where the water came up to, the second stake was our ‘let’s watch carefully’ indicator, and then there was a third stake closer to the van which was the ‘let’s get out of here quick’ sign.

Water started pooling quickly, and people decided to either move or leave.

Lakeside view. The tents you can see in the background were abandoned and left to fill with water.

There’s a road under there somewhere!!

I couldn’t take too many photos as my hands and phone became too wet, besides we were busy helping people.

We helped a lady in her pop top caravan out of the raging torrent that was the creek which couldn’t be contained in the underground culvert with the water heading overland instead. We pushed her wee caravan to safety out of the water which I must say was a rather nerve wracking affair as the water was knee deep and a very strong current, fortunately a strapping young man came to assist. Another caravan owner returned to find their caravan surrounded by a strong torrent of water, they got to move it just in time before any damage was done. By this time it was dusk and the rain had finally stopped. Our water level markers were telling us the water levels were dropping, so we could comfortably go to sleep.

This was the creek after it had become a torrent overland, at this stage it was the next morning when I took the picture and it had receded by at least 50%.

These hardy campers stayed on the higher ground. We moved our vehicle out ready for a quick getaway if we needed to.

The creek which is usually nothing more than a trickle, blew out a new exit to cope with the copious amount of water.

Saturday dawned with heavy rain falling again but by mid morning it had stopped, the clouds made way for blue skies and the sun shone. Campers returned to collect their sodden tents, the other campers slowly packed up allowing tents to dry in the lovely sunshine. By late afternoon we were all alone in camp.

We feel very fortunate that we were safe during the rain event, our hearts go out to all those people who have been flooded, lost their homes, cars and possessions and some people have lost their lives. Stay safe everyone, take heed of the forecasts and warnings with none of that “she’ll be right” attitude.

The forecast isn’t looking great for the next few days but we have our fingers crossed it will all be over mid week and the sun will shine for our UK family to arrive next weekend. Stay safe everyone.

Creatures of habit

It seems we are somewhat creatures of habit, looking back over the years we seem to have returned to Uretiti around this time of the year making the most of a bit of downtime before we head to Shakespear for the summer. However, this year it seems as though NZ has had a very wet winter and spring and as a result the ground is waterlogged with mini lakes forming all throughout low points at the DOC camp site.

Lakeside views anyone?

There’s a road under there somewhere

And another part of the road covered in water

The managers, Steve & Adrien have had the pumps running all day everyday to try and drain the water, however no sooner do they make some headway then the heavens open with another deluge.

The view from the bedroom window

Parked in our favourite spot hidden from view…on a sunny day!

This is the view from the bedroom window. After pumping water out for the day, the road is now clear….until the next rainfall.

Garry came up to join us for a week which meant we could venture out to do some fishing together.

No too many others on the beach

Good sized fish were caught

Fish chilling time

It wasn’t all fishing though as a couple of days I accompanied Garry on his forays down to Auckland. He had chores to attend to and shopping to get done, they were both very successful trips however the traffic on the motorway left us both happy that we don’t have to deal with that very often.

Garry proved to be a very prolific fisherman reversing the scoring tally from previous years when Roy topped the score sheet, just as well Garry is the sharing kind otherwise our freezer would not be looking as full as it is. And I won’t embarrass Roy here with publishing the tally 😜.

We visited Gary & Marg at One Tree Point to catch up with them. Along the way to visit them I finally took the opportunity to take a photo of the speed signs on the way into Ruakaka.

Can you read the speed signs? which one shall we take notice of?

How about now? Is that easier to read?

I don’t know what else I can say, except that this is not the only place along this road that many different speed signs occur.

Jim called in to visit on his way heading down the country and it was good to catch up with his news.

Roy and Jim

We seemed to have only the odd few hours, sometimes a day, without any rain and we really felt for the camp managers who were desperately trying to pump out all the water.

Top picture after the rain, bottom picture after pumping out water for a day.

After two weeks relaxing at Uretiti and with no let up in the rain forecast we decided it was time to leave. Hopefully summer will arrive shortly.

We say adieu, au revoir, see ya later Uretiti, we will be back.

Te Arai

We left Auckland and headed northwards for a week or two before we get back into the groove at Shakespear for the summer. We decided to head to Te Arai, another one of the Auckland Regional Parks just south of Mangawhai.

The days drive, but of course it took us much longer than what Mr Google says.

The last few kms to Te Arai are on gravel road, which is usually not a bother for us but this road is probably the worst road we have ever been on, potholes like we’ve never seen before and in between corrugations that shook us to the bone. I think the last 10kms took us at least 30minutes. But once we got there, we relished the fact that we were once again by the sea.

Aaah, the view from the bedroom window. It’s so nice to be back by the sea.

Another view from the bedroom window

The path to the beach

A panoramic view of the beach

We settled ourselves in and relaxed for the rest of the day being entertained by the large number of surfers trying their luck in the rolling surf. The following day Garry came down to have a fish with us, as he lives not too far away on the outskirts of Mangawhai.

Roy and Garry contemplating the intricacies of fishing

Deep in conversation

My view, watching the rod!

Setting out the line

A couple of fish were caught but so was a lot of weed, so much so that after a couple of days we decided to hightail it out of there and head further north. On our last evening at Te Arai we could not believe the number of vans trying to get into the parking area, we have never seen it this popular before. On speaking to the others we discovered that most of them were German tourists. Ahhh, that makes sense of course, we’ve had two summers without tourists and they are now back to experience a kiwi holiday.

Our last night, when it seemed everyone wanted to be here….we’ve never seen it so busy here.

Off to try our luck further north, but where is summer? Hopefully it will turn up soon.

Filey, Flamborough Head and Market Weighton 4/4

Friday 9th September. We booked out of the B&B and were about to set off down the coast but first we had one more mission to complete as we had been told about a place in Scarborough to see if we could find Yorkshire flags. Finally we had success! What size flag would you like John? How many would you like? Shall I get you a selection? Be careful what you wish for you may just get a surprise or two, but surely I have now earned the accolade of being your favourite sister!!! You’re welcome.

Sue waving the flag

Our first stop along the coast road was Filey, a lovely little seaside fishing village which has a long stretch of sandy beach making it a popular holiday destination. We had a good wander around the main street, and I may have even purchased another flag(s)!

The road down the the beach…sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the beachfront.

Enjoying toasted Yorkshire tea cakes and coffee. Mum used to make these. Yorkshire curd tart was on the menu later in the day.

We then continued on our journey to Flamborough Head where we took a walk out from the lighthouse to the heads.

Flamborough Lighthouse

The view from the heads

And to prove that I was there!! And yes, it was very windy.

From here we drove through Bridlington where we heard the muffled church bells ring for Her Majesty. We learnt all about the etiquette and protocols around bell ringing as Martin is a bell ringer. From here we turned inland to head toward Market Weighton.

Pub in Market Weighton

This little village has a couple of claims to fame, one being the home of the tallest man in Britain. There is a life size statue in the centre of town carved from a large oak log.

Britains tallest man

Secondly it was the Home to Anne Lister (explanation below).

Plaque for Anne Lister

Next it was on to Glasshoughton as tomorrow is a family reunion for the Womersley side of the family, Womersley is Mum’s maiden name. We booked into our hotel and met up again to go on another wee trip down memory lane. That trip will be the subject of the next blog. Afterwards, it was time for dinner, there is not much choice in this area, especially within walking distance from the hotel. But we spied this (picture below) across the road…time to break our Wetherspoons no-go.

A blurry shot of the said establishment.

For a start, I think we were the oldest people there, it was huge establishment and very busy with lots of younger folk. We sat down and perused the rather large menu for our choices. I can’t remember what I had now, a curry I think from the photo, just shows you how memorable it was (not).

View from one side of the table

View across to the other side of the table

After another wonderful day we retired for the night. A huge thank you to Sue & Martin for taking us on an epic road trip, we ticked off so many things off our list of places to see and so much more. Your company was outstanding, we had a few good laughs along the way, solved the worlds problems and basically had a damn good time. Cheers, until next time.

Todays route

A Yorkshire Odyssey (2/4)

8th September Today was destined to be an epic day in more way than one. Hence this day is split into two parts, the morning and the next one will be the afternoon version. We achieved a lot in one day!

After breakfast at the B&B we set off for our tour around Scarborough chasing addresses where my great grandparents, grandparents and great aunts and uncles lived. This is the Coatham side of the family tree that we are following, my maiden name. We had planned our route the previous evening so we knew where we were heading and hopefully in a logical geographical order.

Longwestgate Street: The newer build at the front left was where Great grandad John & great grandma Elizabeth lived with 9 of their children (there was a further 5 children). The coloured terrace houses in the background would have been the style of house that was there.

From here we visited another property where John lived before he married Elizabeth.

St Martin’s Place: John lived here as a lodger. As an aside, we noticed a number of properties around here that had windows bricked up, we presume due to window tax although I feel this tax was imposed much earlier than these houses would have been built.

Hoxton Road: This small terrace property is where Great grandfather John and family shoehorned themselves into. John & Elizabeth and 5 children lived here.

The street view of Hoxton Road.

Westbourne Grove: this is the house where my great grandmother Elizabeth lived and worked in service before she married.

This street name is etched into my brain, as it was where grandpop Ernest and three of his sisters lived before we left England and was where I remember addressing many letters to.

16 Sherwood Street.

We had a good reminisce whilst looking at the street and wandering up and down. We talked to some of the residents and got a good feel of the area. Whilst we were standing in the street chatting away, we happened to glance through this snicket/ginnel (Yorkshire speak for a pass through or walkway between houses) and saw what we thought was a windmill. Shall we walk up the road and see what it’s all about? Sure, why not.

Peek through the snicket, and the Windmill – now a B&B

We ended up going in for a look at the windmill and were warmly welcomed in by the very friendly Irish owner and given a look around. What an amazing place and what a great job they are doing here. We shall definitely be staying here next time we visit Scarborough.

From here it was to visit the Rest Home where Great Uncle George, and two Great Aunties lived toward the end of their lives. It is no longer a Rest Home but a home for single men with mental health issues. Again, we were warmly met by staff and they spent quite a bit of time talking to us and explaining what they had done with the premises and the work they currently do.

Marina Lodge was Ravensmere Rest Home

We did visit another couple of addresses we had on our list but we are still checking that they are indeed the correct addresses for the right people in the right place at the right time. Our house hunting was over for the day so now time for some sightseeing.

From here it was along to the main south beachfront for a rest stop and to see the views.

Scarborough South Beach

It was time for me to complete my promise of having a Knickerbocker Glory at the Harbour Bar. This has been in operation since 1945, they make their own icecream as well as an array of sundaes and other delights.

Harbour Bar in Scarborough. Mission completed!

And yes, the Icecream delight was delicious and shared between three of us.

Scarborough street scenes

We also spent some time trying to find Yorkshire flags for a certain person, this mission looks like it may be a little more difficult than we had anticipated although Sue did find some Pontefract cakes for the said same person – you owe us BIG time John! Many thanx to Martin, the ever patient driver who stopped at every shop that looked as though it was a possible flag selling shop, we will have some luck eventually I am sure.

The afternoons tripping around will be the subject of next blog entry, it was an amazing afternoon so stay tuned.

How to float your boat …. and retrieve it

As you may have seen I have taken a few photos of boats being launched from the shore in New Zealand. Well, during our latest outing to Deal I saw how it is done there. There were several lovely clinker boats drawn up on the beach well above the high tide mark. In addition there were a number of fishing boats.

Two very nice clinker built boats

The following photos show the various aspects of drawing boats in and out of the water.

Firstly there is a long hawse run through a block anchored in the beach and attached to the boat

Next the hawse is run at right angles to a reel. The reel is driven by a four stroke small car engine, often through a gear box. An elegant solution to the problem of retrieving the boat. If you look carefully you will see a number of blue pipe sections in the middle background of the photo, these are used as rollers under the boat that is being retrieved. The shingle on the beach would otherwise produce a very high resistance to moving the boat.

An old unused reel and engine showing the setup including the gearbox and engine.