We decided to spend a day in the countryside for a change today, and took a train to Reedham on the Wherryman’s Way. We would have gone back to Surlingham to continue where we stopped last week, but it is a bank holiday here in England and the normal bus service is not running.
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Norwich Nooks and Crannies South
The second Nooks & Crannies walk goes to the south of the market, and is 2.5km in length. It starts at the Royal Arcade, which was opened in 1899 and is considered an Art Nouveau masterpiece. The glass tiling and mahogany shopfronts have been described as a ‘fragment of the Arabian nights’.
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Norwich Nooks and Crannies Northeast
The Norwich City Council has published a booklet describing three walking routes titled Norwich’s nooks and crannies. Today we walked the first of these, which is a 3.5km loop to the north east of the city market.
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Wherryman’s Way – Norwich to Surlingham
After my big mission yesterday I was hoping for an easy day exploring the city, but Felicity was keen to start walking one of the long-distant trails leading out towards the coast, so we spent another exhausting day of touristing. Wherries were barges with large black sails, used to transport goods up rivers to inland towns, and played an important part in the history of Norwich.
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Marriott’s Way
On our first full day in Norwich, Felicity went in to the university to begin work, so I took the opportunity to go for a bike ride. I ended up travelling over 65 kilometers, probably the longest ride I have ever done.
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Weekend in Shanghai
When we landed at Pudong airport and joined the long queue for immigration I was encouraged to see a sign saying that they process 98% of passengers within 20 minutes. We must have been in the 2% because it took over an hour to get to the counter, where we learned that because we wanted a 72 hour transit visa on demand we should have been in a different queue at the far end of the room.
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Moutainbikers steered off uni land in Albany – Stuff
But Abany Resident John Potter, who used to use the track twice a week, says users will be greatful for whatever the university lets them use.
“It’s their land, at the end of the day, they can do what they like,” he says.
Potter wants Auckland Council to allow volunteers to build more mountainbiking trails on unused park land.
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Maungaturoto and Mangawhai
Intimidated by the dire warnings about Cyclone Cook, we changed our plan to go away this Easter and were at home on Friday and Saturday. When it became obvious that the storm had almost completely by-passed Auckland, we loaded the kayaks on the motorhome and headed north on Sunday.
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Allansford and Great Ocean Road
Felicity is presenting at the 15th World Congress on Public Health in Melbourne this week, so we decided I would accompany her and spend some time checking out the city’s cycle trails. Our friends Marion and Elephant invited us to visit them in Allansford near the western border of Victoria for a few days beforehand.
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Ohiwa Beach and Uretara Island
There is a great free campsite at the mouth of the Waiotahi River, just south of Whakatane. After finding a good spot we went for a long walk down Waiotahi Beach to the south before dinner.
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White Island
For the last couple of days, our view has had White Island steaming gently on the horizon. We have both wanted to visit for ages, and even made a booking once, which was cancelled by wild weather. When we inquired at the Opotiki I-site yesterday and discovered that the conditions today would be as good as they ever get, we knew we had to head straight for Whakatane.
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Whitianga Bay
Felicity wanted to talk to the doctor at Te Kaha’s medical centre about student placements, so we stopped for half an hour to enjoy a cup of tea with her. She told us that our planned campsite at Omaio would be very busy because it is right next to the cemetery and a big tangi is happening. She suggested we could stay at her mother’s property a few kilometers further on.
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Maraehako
We had intended to camp just past Te Kaha, but before we arrived there we spotted some campervans and a bus down on Maraehako beach, and a small sign advertising a private camping ground. When we realised how beautiful the place was, we decided to spend $15.00 each and stay. It turned out to be money well spent – this is one of the best coastal kayaking destinations we have been to.
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Lottin Point
According to the Campermate App, Lottin Point is an unauthorised campsite, and risks an instant fine. We have camped there a couple of times in the past, so we thought we would drive out and have a look to see if there are any “No Camping” signs. There aren’t.
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Anaura Bay and East Cape
Because we were already inside the Eastwoodhills Abouretum when we woke up, we decided to have another walk after breakfast, and explore some of the areas that we hadn’t visited the day before.
This time we found an almond tree, which I have never seen before. The nuts (or more correctly seeds) were surrounded by a soft flesh similar to a peach or apricot, which are in the same family. Our nut collection is growing!
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Gisborne and Rere
It rained overnight at Morere Springs, but the sun was shining again by morning. We decided to hike the Mangakawa Track which climbs high above the hot pools before following the Mangakawa Stream back to the springs.
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Kopuawhara Stream and Mangaone Caves
When we first woke this morning, the sky was quite clear with an pink-orange glow. I was still drinking my bed tea when out to sea the sun popped over the horizon and shone straight in our bedroom window. It was obvious to both of us that it was going to be a kayaking day.
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Mahia Peninsula
With the weather looking pretty dreadful everywhere in the North Island, we decided to backtrack south after our friends returned home to Auckland. We are hoping that East Cape will be the first area of the country to get sunshine after the “weather bomb” finally passes over.
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Tolaga Bay Storm
Our friends John and Claude sent us a text to say they were camping at Tolaga Bay for a few days on their way back to Auckland, so we decided to join them. The woman at the campground warned us that a storm was on its way and that they were expecting gale force winds, but we had to stay somewhere so we booked in anyway.
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Toxic Lake Tutira
Although we visited Lake Tutira at the end of 2014, we decided to spend another night there and enjoy a paddle. We noticed signs on the way in warning about low water quality, but it wasn’t until we parked in a prime spot on the lake edge that we realised just how bad toxic algae can get in warm, still water.
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