Two old wrinklies with two west highland terriers Traveling New Zealand

Another day in the life of Dogonit

We moved to NZMCA Erickson in Napier and spent a week settled in on the metal parking area as we were not certain how solid the grassed area was (we had experienced slipping in our last RV). It didn’t take us long to set up home and ready to enjoy the cyclesways.

We met some interesting folks in Erickson (although most tended to ‘admire’ us from afar as we are one of the largest 5th Wheelers in New Zealand) and enjoyed our stay at the park. Our first cycle trip was longer than we originally anticipated; we cycled from Erickson Rd along the beachfront towards Westshore via the Port and back along a cycle causeway through Napier. Suffice to say the areas of my body north of my knees and south of my waist were making themselves known to me as it was well over 30km.

We stopped along the way to give Mac and Rose some playtime in the parks and they rollicked and rolled in the grass and played ball. On our return we enjoyed happy hour and al fresco dining before relaxing for the rest of the evening.

The next day we headed towards Clive for a pub lunch in lieu of our 44th anniversary dinner at Church Rd Winery as their outdoor dining was closed and we didn’t want to leave Mac and Rose on Dogonit for a long period. We really enjoyed the scenery on the route to the Clive pub and again stopped regularly for Mac and Rose to play a while.

It was interesting to come upon the Maori version of Stonehenge; a setting of Maori carvings depicting the journey of the sun and star compass; absolutely beautiful. I guess that’s the nice thing about cycling is the wonderful scenes you can come across.

Another ride to Pakowhai park for a picnic the following day meant that we covered all of our cycling goals; I really love this park and Mac and Rose go nuts once we drive over the cattle stop.

We were advised that the oven parts had arrived at our US Post Box and ordered a few extra US plugs, an anode for the water heater, a hamper that fits inside our laundry hamper for easy transport if we need to use a laundry (has handles and can be carried like a backpack), and a treat of a pair of sketchers each as they were only $40 each which makes them a cheap buy.We seem to be creature of habit because once the parcel arrived in NZ we had it couriered it our favourite location in Havelock North and headed back there. It was like Christmas morning when the parcel arrived and now we have a fully functioning oven again so a win/win for Dogonit.

We had a mystery situation occur yesterday when Rod arrived home from doing a gas fillup and he headed over to our lovely neighbours, Sue and Bruce to look at their CB radio while I completed my craft project of waxing/polishing wooden letters spelling Dogonit. He came back and we were going to pick up some two-sided tape but couldn’t find the truck keys………suffice to say that we spent hours searching a 10 sq mtr radius again and again but to no avail. Luckily we had a spare and we subsequently contacted a locksmith to arrange having another key cut.

Having completed my craft project and finally gotten the double-sided tape, Rod has put up my Dogonit sign, see below

We are still currently in Havelock North but that is due to the bout of bad weather that hit the North Island and would have made travelling intenable. I have been wanting to pick up some fig molasses from the Figgery Cafe but so far have been unsuccessful. It seems it is a very popular product and so with our departure delayed we went to the Hastings market to see if they had some; sadly we were again disappointed as they would not be preparing more until Wednesday. The market was worth the visit; we would certainly go again. Some amazing products, including homemade icecream in waffle cones.

I contacted the Figgery Cafe again in the hopes that they may have a bottle of molasses and they were very accommodating and have advised that a bottle will be waiting for me mid-afternoon, I gotta say that it is most delicious as a dipping sauce with olive oil and fresh bread……mmmmmm.

We intend to move on tomorrow as the weather is supposed to improve and continue heading southward.

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