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10/12/99 Day 2 on Snow Cloud It's good to have a ready-made answer to that most sign-posted of questions: What's your favourite moment on holiday? The Snow Cloud. No loud techno music pumping, no jokes about women driving, no packed lunches that would've been rejected by even MacDonald's as being too plastic. Just a yacht, a few fishing lines, Chris (and June)'s wonderful home cooking, a stiff breeze on the way home that kept the boat at a bracing 140 degree tilt... sorry if I'm starting to sound like a tour book. We opted for a second day after becoming disgusted once more at the way tourist companies rush their charges around like cattle from beauty spot to beauty spot. This time, it was our much-anticipated visit to 90 Mile Beach in the far North which suffered. Sure, we got to see some 50,000 year-old trees - at an Ancient Kauri Kingdom Shopping Mall. Sure, we got to see NZ's most Northerly lighthouse, at Cape Runga, and to stand in awe at where two oceans meet (the Pacific and the Tasman Sea: it's obvious from all the crests and eddies) - for five minutes. Sure, we tried out our feet and bottoms at sand tobogganing on some handily placed dunes - twice. Sure, we got to drive down 90 Mile Beach (NZ's widest official highway) - where we fell asleep, from the relentless pace. The day wasn't exactly improved by my choice of five times battered fish from a Chinese restaurant (I'd been wondering why it was so cheap)... Although our final destination, of Taurangi Bay campsite, right on a beach in the Bay Of Islands, where the wind howled and waves roared all night, I would recommend to all. Hence our change of plan. (No drive through the vast golden sand dunes of Hokianga Harbour, or to see Kelly Tarlton's creaking Shipwreck Museum at Dargaville, or 20 minute climbs up volcanoes at Tokatoka Peak.) This time, we visited a different island where Chris chiseled oysters off a rock for my lunch time aperitif, and no one opted to snorkel. Charlotte caught several fish on her hand-line (a golden snapper, a blue cod, three smaller snapper). I contented myself with catching the largest fish (snapper) of the day, which struggled and writhed and damn near took my arm off as I reeled it in. Chris again filleted and cleaned them on board. (All this for $50 each - an 11 hour trip. Contrast with one-hour flights that cost almost $200, and our two-night yachting expedition in Cairns, fun though it was, which cost $300 each.) We had fish for dinner and breakfast. |
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