Mt Maunganui – Saturday 16 May
We woke early to a warmer morning – 16 degrees inside. We were off for the morning to watch Wyn’s grandson playing rugby in Mt Maunganui. We were confident we could find our way around without Nev the Nav, and found the park without any trouble. It was easy enough, it was well marked by cars parked everywhere for miles. It looked like every family in the Bay of Plenty was there for rugby and soccer and netball. We were lucky to fluke a car park, and were in plenty of time to find the right field and game. It was sunny and warm by this stage – a lovely autumn day. It was quite an exciting game between two teams of primary school age. There were some good skills evident, and the kids were obviously well coached. ‘Our’ team won but there were lots of tries scored by both sides.
With the weather being so good, we decided to go for a walk, and ended up taking a track up to the top of Mt Maunganui. There is a maze of tracks, and some of the worst signposting I have ever seen. At one junction of four tracks, there was a sign giving the destination of only two of them and we spent a while trying to figure out which two! There were great views all the way up, and wonderful views from the top. There was a good breeze from the north west, but it was a warm one. It was providing good updraft for several model glider flyers – radio controlled unpowered gliders. There was almost nothing to explain the maori history. A short section of the track was described as “historic stone steps” with no explanation of their history. It was about 3pm by the time we got back to the bottom, and it was a struggle to get past the ice cream shops and cafes.
We made a beeline for the New World supermarket, in the hope they would have a better breakfast cereal selection. No such luck! But we did find some ingredients for late lunch as well as a nice quiche for tea. A day at Mt Maunganui wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Bayfair mall, where I found some books for the winter library. Then it was back home to Katikati, tea and TV, and Green Wing.
Sunday 17 May
We had put ourselves down to work the whole day. This means getting up to start at 7.30am. I was packing all day, sometimes steady and sometimes busy. Wyn was switched around through the day so had a variety which was good. Later in the afternoon more rain came and it was still raining when we finished at 5.30pm. We watched the last Green Wing episode of the first series, and now have to find out if the next series is available. Despite having seen many of the episodes before, they are still as preposterous and surprising and funny as before.
Monday 18 May
Today is today. I’ve actually caught up with this blog to where today is today. Today is another morning out the back of the packhouse in Katikati. Most of our neighbours will have started at 7.30am. The morning has been cool and overcast, but now the sun is out and things are drying out. The forecast is for rain later on, but sun for now is good. Writing this up has been slowed by listening to a fascinating interview on National Radio telling the story of a US woman who was raped in 1984 and the man she identified who was convicted and spent 12 years in prison before DNA testing cleared and freed him. It was a story of the risks of memory and identification, and also a story of the power of forgiveness. It was also another example of how much better real issues are covered by radio than TV. TV insists on making the most of everything and sensationalising and showing everything, and seems to raise more questions than it answers. TV often seems to leave issues in the middle. I am often surprised to find after an ad break that the story was finished before it. Radio allows more time, and allows stories to be told, and provides more insight and leaves less questions.
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Above: Pudong, Shanghai in 2014
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