Coopers Beach

As the first few days of our holiday in New Zealand have been full of new impressions we now urgently need a break. Our plan for the first day here in “Oceandreaming” is just to chill. The weather turns out to be accordingly, we wake up to the sound of the pouring rain.

Unfortunately the water supply is complicated. There is no pump, just a tank filled with rain water. Water has to follow the rules of physics to find its way to the shower in the bathroom. Gernot is the first to take a shower and starts to complain at once because there is already no pressure in the pipes. OK, fine – back to nature. I start the experiment “take a shower in the rain” and just go out on the terrace nakedly to use these natural resources. It does not work, it takes minutes to become really wet. You would have to stand forever to sweep off the soap. This definitely is too cold for me. What means I somehow have to improvise with the little water dripping out of the shower head. 

After breakfast we take the whole morning to establish ourselves like home. Richard, our landlord with whom we only communicated via Internet and SMS so far, drops by for a minute. He is eager to also welcome us personally.

Going for a walk

Richard was born and raised somewhere around Golden Bay on the South Island of New Zealand but lives quite a while now here in the „Far North“. He is working as a caretaker and is responsible for some holiday cottages in this area. Our current residence belongs to a German living in Auckland and who uses the house only as a holiday cottage himself. He has made this domicile very cosy, the homelike atmosphere is obvious. There are fresh hydrangeas in the vase, the bed had been decorated with a hibiscus blossom.

Richard gives us good hints about the area – where to shop or about interesting places for excursions. Today we just go to the supermarket to fill up our supplies with fresh food.

Around noon the weather gets better, the sun comes out. We climb down the path from our own garden to the beach and take a long walk on the seashore, along the complete length of “Doubtless Bay”. There are not many other people on the beach. The whole bay is lined with Pohutukawas, the “New Zealand Christmas Tree”. A few first blossoms shimmering red and white already tell us how beautiful this is going to look on Christmas when the trees are fully blooming.

Just in time before the rain starts again we return to our cottage. We spend the evening with an old black-and-white film and reading. There is another day tomorrow.

Tour guide

Next day