The Adventure of the Blowhole

Like my spelling my time keeping with this blog is never going to be accurate! Last weekend we took the van for a try at some winter camping. I packed a ridiculous amount of blankets, Adam brought a camping electric cable and a heater, as we'd not managed to find a gas heater for the van. We headed to Muriwai Beach, not that far from Auckland but a world away. I written about our visits before and it has been on our minds for while to spend a night in the motor camp here. We arrived Saturday afternoon, the rain had started in short downpours but stopped for us to walk the expansive beach in sunlight. Admiring the huge numbers of kite surfers and watching the sand kite thingies whizz past us.

We ate early and well and then stayed warm and snug as the wind and rain howled around us outside. It howled and blew, we rocked and swayed so put the roof down for the night and snuggled into the bed and blankets (we did use the heater to make sure it all worked but it really didn't get that cold).

We woke Sunday morning to blue skies, sunshine and a fresh calm day, we could see folks were already on the beach so off we went. A paddle and a stroll along the beach early morning is hard to beat it has to be said. We headed round to the rocks, meaning to walk up to the ganet colony, but were side tracked by the blowhole. Despite our numerous previous visits we've never ventured down to it. I am foremost a coward so why would I. Obviously today was the day, I braved the smooth wet rocks, the crashing waves and stood admiring the power of the sea and the beauty of the rocks. I did not get wet, but the same could not be said for Adam. I had then the title for my blog post, which had been playing on my mind over the trip but had not become more exciting than 'a nights camping'. So there you have it. Not really winter camping, but we mean to take the van out again over the midwinter solstice in a couple of weeks.