Mark Smalley

Monday, 21 Mar - Paihia
Bit of sporting news on TV last night. A rugby player made a very nasty high tackle on an opponent and could be facing a life-time ban. It's not his first misdemeanour, having being banned for what adds up to a whole season during his carriere. Some footage of some of his other incidents was shown, graphically illustrating the clipping below:
"Controversial Wests Tigers winger John Hopoate has been suspended for 12 weeks after being found guilty by the NRL Judiciary of poking his fingers up the anuses of three North Queensland players.
Accused of one of the most bizarre charges in the history of rugby league, or sport in general for that matter of fact, Hopoate was officially found guilty of 'unsportsmanlike interference'. "

At 0915 our 3 hour cruise of the Bay of Islands (www.dolphincruises.co.nz ) sets off. Within an hour some Bottlenose Dolphins have been sighted. About 6 to 8 of them swim around the boat, ducking under the bow and generally playing about. At $62 for the cruise that's only twice as much per dolphin as our Hapuka fish last night. And of course they're not fish, they're mammals, so a higher price is justified. This half hour with the dolphins was certainly the highlight of the morning. Without them I'd have been a bit disappointed, not that the islands - there are 144 of them in all - aren't worth seeing but 3 hours is more than enough for us.
A couple on the boat reminded us of our friends Edwin and Sheila in England, except that Edwin hasn't got a wooden leg.

It's a warm sunny day with a few innocent clouds, about 23c according to the forecast but feels warmer.

We get off at Russell and walk up and down a hill to get to Long Beach, which seems a bit of a misnomer, considering it's presumably competing with 90 mile beach. Marijke goes for a swim but I don't get further in than knee height seeing as a shark devoured a swimmer in Australian waters yesterday. Can't be too carefull with these matters.
This peninsular town, a $5 ferry ride away from Paihia, fills a couple of hours of the day and then it's back to the hotel for a freshen-up.

The room has been freshened-up as well and that reminds me of one of life's unanswered questions: what happens to the two-thirds used rolls of toilet paper that get replaced by fresh ones? Are they sent to developing countries? Does the employee of the week get to take them home? I asked at reception but no joy on this one, he didn't even know that it happened. Asked him the kiwi question and also got the usual "only in the zoo" answer.

Give neighbouring Waitangi a drive-through visit, stopping briefly at the Waikokopu Cafe where unfortunately, because there's some interesting stuff on the menu, they are shutting up shop at 1800, so it's back to Paihia for a meal. Dory and chips at the same place as last night, eaten outside, followed by 2 ice creams from next door ($16).

With 1990 km already clocked up, tomorrow we set off for an afternoon and an evening in Auckland for our last night before flying to Melbourne on Wednesday.

posted by Mark Smalley @ 5:11 PM