We packed the car with the board, the chilly bin, the tent borrowed from my boss and the airbed borrowed from some friends and of course the wetsuits and all the usual camping items that we thought we would need and headed off up State Highway 1.
The plan was to see what the time was when we got to Hawera and then see if we had time to carry on to New Plymouth or if we should stay somewhere around there for the night. Eventually we glimpsed Taranaki in the distance - covered with snow and quickly disappearing in cloud.
By the time we got to Hawera it was about 6pm and we decided to look for a campsite that had space and somewhere close where we could get some dinner - we didn't have a camping stove with us! We headed up Route 45 in order to find a campsite.
The first campsite had space but was in the middle of nowhere and there was nowhere to buy food, no cafe and no pub so we carried on to Opunake. This time there was a gorgeous surfing beach, a nice looking pub but no room on the campsite. The third campsite at Oakura had one pitch left and there was a pub about 15 minutes walk away so we stayed there.
We got the tent up without too many arguments despite the increasing humidity - those clouds we spotted earlier over Taranaki were getting very close and it was getting really unbearably muggy. Trusting my boss I hadn't bothered checking the tent before we left so I was a little bit concerned when I realised that it really was only a 2-person tent - the airbed did fit in but it touched the sides of the tent on all four sides... considering how hot it was - still about 18 degrees c at 7pm we started to realise that it was going to be a rather uncomfortable night. Well we did what any Brit would do... we went to the pub.
Unfortunately in an effort to get fit in January Steve and I have both given up alcohol and got some rather strange looks when we asked for a coke and a lemonade in the pub. Probably due to the number of people in there watching the rugby 7's - England were playing, typical! We had a nice meal and a nice walk back to the campsite trying to avoid being bitten by all the mosquitos.
We did sit outside for a while until it got too dark and then we went into the sauna-like tent. The only torches we had were the little ones on our 'phones so the fairy lights that I had pinched from our Christmas tree and that are battery operated came in handy; they were wrapped around the inside of the tent so that we could find it again after visiting the facilities in the middle of the night.
The weather did not improve. It was too hot to sleep and at about 3am when it had just about cooled down enough to sleep it started to rain. If I hadn't known otherwise I would have suspected there was someone outside the tent tipping buckets of water over the tent it was that loud and heavy. Again I should have checked that the tent was waterproof before we left Wellington as a drip occurred after a few minutes of the heavy rain. That kept us awake until about 6am when it settled into a steady drizzle and we finally got about 3 hours sleep.
Needless to say the next morning we were not happy bunnies and were on the point of giving up and going home. The rain carried on so we packed up the tent and headed for New Plymouth thinking that if nothing else we could get some surfing in and then perhaps get a motel for the night instead of more camping.
Well as luck would have it the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and the surf was too choppy and blown out for Steve to risk damaging his board again. The only beach with anything like decent surf had rocks everywhere and we would have smashed ourselves to bits if we'd tried to surf around them. So with everything soaking wet and both of us thoroughly dispirited we got back in the car and headed back to Wellington. The rain stopped when we got to Otaki - 1 hr from Welllington. Typical.
A few things to remember when you go camping (you'd think we'd have learnt by now)
1. check the weather forecast
2. take a torch
3. some form of alcoholic beverage is a must even if it's just to help you sleep!
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