I long to be under the sea, in an Octopus’ garden ...

Well, tomorrow is Ron’s birthday – I have been scheming to try and get him in one of two places for more than one day! So far I’ve failed miserably! The reason I wanted him to stop in one of these two places, was so that we could have a special day out (a whole day, not one where we’re “moving house”). The two places were Coromandel Town or Mt Maughanui. Why those two? Well, because you can go on a trip and swim with dolphins! Although we’re only here in Mt Maughanui for one night, our next stop is two nights in a motel not far away (also in honour of his venerable years!) So if we get packed up quickly (current tent and content removal time about 20 mins!) we should be able to catch our boat in the morning and go and find Flipper and his friends! I guess by now Jenny will have ceased to speak to both of us! She loves dolphins!
Our last 2 nights have been spent in two Family Parks Campsites. This is a bit like a club which you join for $NZ40 – about £16 - £18. Then you get the chance to book ahead from one site to another, and you get a 10% discount.
The numbers added up very much in our favour, as the sites are on both islands, and often in the place we want to visit. So we’re $NZ40 down, but already $NZ 4 up on tonights accommodation!
They’re about the sort of standard we’re used to in caravan club sites, but with swimming pool (used to cool off this afternoon!) , Kitchen etc and very helpful staff – when we went in to find out where the boats for the dolphin trip left from, she offered to phone them for us and we got it all booked there and then! The only slight problem..this trip doesn’t include lunch. As we’re travelling very light, we hadn’t bought tomorrow’s lunch yet, and the boat goes at 9 tomorrow. Hmmm technical hitch. However, a wander along the road from the campsite found both a little supermarket for lunch, and a liquor store for a bottle of beer to go with supper! Result!
What is the world coming to,eh? Cooking on an electric cooker using a Trangia saucepan, with a glass of beer in one hand. Ooh It’s a hard life!
The other reason we joined this club is for the internet access. The norm seems to be $NZ1 for 250MB, which is OK for checking the odd email but useless for the blog. The sites charge $NZ8 per hour with no limit on a high speed connection. Obviously we’re still looking for free ones as well!