Today we woke up to a rainy, blustery day! The tail end of Cyclone Lola that devastated parts of Vanuatu a week ago, has been lashing the north island for over a day now. Vanuatu is an island chain in Melanesia, east of Australia and 2,931 km (1,821 miles) generally north of New Zealand. We were safe and warm in our apartment and we put the time to good use. We booked the last part of our long adventure, the route back to Bend, via “The Canadian” train from Toronto, Ontario to Vancouver, BC! We had to get the tickets about 11 months ahead of time to ensure we could get a bedroom cabin for the 4 night journey across the vastness of Canada! We added 2 short train rides from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Montreal, Quebec, and from there to Toronto! To truly cross the continent!

Then the power went out! We had no Wifi, no TV, no oven, etc. So we cooked burgers on the gas grill! And we still had cold beer in the fridge! We roughed it for about 4 hours, then the power came back on! Whew!

Our usual view obscured by rain! Too wet to even walk to the edge of the garden!

We got up early in order to go to a local pub to watch the Rugby World Cup Finals, starting at 8am! Twin Pines Manor is an older historic building a quick 5 minute drive from where we’re staying. It would have been a nice walk but a storm came in and it was raining and windy! They had a Halloween party last night so it was well decorated! We joined the locals who were excited and welcoming.

Robert sidled up to the historic swamp kauri bar top and ordered a beer. The proprietor made sure he had a tall one, so he wouldn’t have to miss any of the game by getting up to get another beer!

If you look closely you can see ghosts in the background!

Unfortunately the Haka was not enough to rouse the All Blacks to win the game. They lost 11-12 to the South African team, even though the Springboks didn’t score a goal. They got all 12 of their points on penalty kicks, so basically the All Blacks gave the game away.

The day before the storm that is supposed to be wet and windy! We did some shopping to fill the fridge before the storm comes, and for snacks during the Rugby World Cup Final on Sunday! We finished the day with a walk around Paihia, probably the last time before we leave on Tuesday, Halloween. We walked up a set of stairs we’ve noticed before, but never explored, and got a great view!

The wharf to the right has the dock for the ferry to Russell and docks for the scenic cruises to the islands and Hole in the Rock. The helicopter will fly out to Hole in the Rock also, but land on top too! For more $$$$!

The staircase is just to the right of “Paihias Wee Toilets” and goes up the hill behind the building. The toilets are worth a picture too!

I think they were going for the Hundertwasser image. I just love the stainless steel toilets on the roof!

We stopped at the Tipsy Oyster for some oysters and beer, and again I forgot to take a picture of the oysters before we ate them!

So here’s a picture of a little diorama on the bar, cute little oysters!

Across the street, along the beach, are a line of towering pohutukawa trees I mentioned before. We spotted a few of them beginning to bloom, a harbinger of a summer-like Christmas!

We’ve seen the buds on lots of the pohutukawa we’ve seen on many beaches, but never imagined they would be this red!

Timelapse of last evening. We enjoyed cocktails in the garden as we watched the evening unfold!

This morning we got up early for a wonderful sunrise. We jumped in the car and drove down to the beach to get a cappuccino and chai latte early, and watch another sunrise as the sun emerged through the clouds. It was the most sun we saw today, the clouds built up and eventually we had rain.

The first sunrise above the bay.

The second sunrise at the beach, with our morning wake-up drinks!

Robert looking relaxed, bathed in the morning light!

Today was a glorious sunny, warm day. We decided to stay close to home and revisit the wonderful Coastal Walkway, after getting our cappuccino and chai latte at That Coffee Bloke’s van!

The BOI was blue and calm.

It was low tide and as we approached the area closer to the water we could see rocks with remnants of oyster and mussel shells, and an interesting seaweed (I think) that looks like strings of beads.

There was also a beautiful marble nestled in a hollow in the rocks that caught my eye.

We continued into Opua and rested up a bit before heading back. We took a detour onto the Harrison Reserve trail for a half mile, just to cool down in the damp forest. It was hot in the sun, exposed along the waterfront.

It’s a jungle in there!

We eventually emerged and walked the boardwalk over the mangrove forest (swamp?).

At low tide the grass or stick like growth in the mud flats are actually peg-roots or pencil-roots of the mangrove (manawa in Maori) plant. They allow the trees to breath since their main roots are underwater.

We concluded our 5ish mile walk in town, seeing more historic sites; first Christian Church built, first ship launched, etc, etc. All from the perspective of the newcomer Europeans of course! The stone Anglican church, I don’t think it was the ‘first’, was impressive.

But the huge tree to the right was way more impressive – to me anyway!

I believe this is a pōhutukawa, also known as the “New Zealand Christmas tree, New Zealand Christmas bush, and iron tree, it’s a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family that produces a brilliant display of red flowers…” (per Wikipedia). We haven’t seen them in bloom yet, but they tend to be huge impressive trees along beaches.

The blobs hanging from the branches are aerial roots! I guess that means it can get pretty foggy or humid around here!