We can't believe the weather at the moment it is lovely.
After taking Totty out I made a picnic and we set off to Tauranga to the opening of the new harbour bridge which has been completed ahead of schedule and under budget! We parked in the main car park, which was free today and joined the very long line of people to wait for the park and ride that would take us to the bridge. The idea was you could walk across the bridge between 10.00 - 2.00 today before it opens to traffic tomorrow. There were so many people walking across from both sides. As always in NZ there was a mobile coffee van so we didn't have to go without our morning coffee. It was a lovely atmosphere and because of the good weather a very good turnout. The bridge runs parallel to the old bridge which was opened in 1988 but due to increased traffic is not able to cope at peak times and in the summer when the traffic to The Mount is greatly increased. After walking both ways we got the bus back to the car park.
We then set off to Oropi for one of the walks in our new books we picked up last week. Oropi is a small village in the hills behind Tauranga and is only 20 minutes away. We drove along a sealed road before going onto an unsealed road and found the little car park by the road side. Jon had told me there were toilets there, as indicated on our map. The toilet was a shed with a chemical loo in it and very smelly but I had to go!. Dogs are not allowed in this area as it is a Kiwi conservation area. Poison is put down to kill the possums and it is very dangerous for dogs. We set off up the track which was very steep and hard going in places and it was all through very dense bush and were very glad the track was well marked with red triangles. We only passed one man, who told us it was worth it once we got to the top, and a couple other than that and the birds singing it was completely peaceful. It did take 45 minutes and the man was right, the views at the top from the wooden lookout were wonderful. You could see as far away as the snow covered mountain of Ruapehu ,which is more than 100 miles away and it looked lovely. You could see over to the coast at Whakatane and White Island and Whale Island. It was so beautiful up there and we sat and ate our picnic on the lookout in the sun and you couldn't hear a thing or see a road or a car.
The walk back down was via a ridge and it was much steeper but going down is always much easier! Back at the bottom we really knew we had been for a walk as our legs were very wobbly and our feet hurt but it was a lovely walk.
We thought we had better take Totty out as soon as we got back in case we couldn't move again once we sat down. She had a good run in the park and chased her ball enough to tire her out so we then went back for a well deserved cup of tea and a rest.
We had a nice roast beef dinner tonight, I always seem to plan a roast on a hot day!
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