Monday - Shopping day

 A leisurely start today so we can get the hire car at 8:30. After showering and doing our puzzles with a plunger of coffee we set off in the car for breakfast at the Koru Café. Same breakfast as yesterday since it is good value and sets us up for the day.

Then it was off to do the rounds of Tina & Co, the Arutanga mini-market and Baxter's Water World for our grocery shopping. The market on the waterfront was as before i.e. very little product but a nice friendly lady. We bought two ripe pawpaws for $1 each and a small hand of bananas for $5.

We now have enough beer (a dozen Corona and 6-pack of Heineken) plus Tonic for our Gin.  With those essentials sorted, we also bought sausages and chicken thighs and salad ingredients for a couple of nights meals and eggs, bread etc. for breakfast.

The following photo shows how big the lagoon is. The small island in the distance (Honeymoon Island) is where I tried a bit of Kite Surfing on our first trip here in 2014. Further to the left the edge of the lagoon is so far away you can't actually see the coral reef or the other small motu.

We stopped at the Avatea Café to book for dinner tonight now that we have the car. Then it was back to base to unpack and collapse with the heat pump on 18C! Today it's 28C and, with the humidity, feels like 31 so we are relaxing with a Heineken while we cool down.

The resident cat was waiting for us but hasn't moved even with our bustling about. He was also waiting on our doormat when woke up this morning.



Lunch was a tuna salad sandwich using a can of Tuna we brought with us and some of the Koru Cafe's fresh bread washed down with a couple of Heinekens.

Since we have the car we decided to try snorkelling near the Marine Research centre. This was not much good as the water was a bit too shallow and not many fish to see. Plus it clouded over and there was even a light shower of rain. We cut our losses and headed back to Ranginui's for a gin and I had another go on the Paddle Board.

Then it was off to Avatea for dinner. We had a fairly simple meal of three fish Tacos and a bowl of Ika Mata with the obligatory drinks. Miriam started with a Pina Colada and me a local beer. Then a couple of glasses of Matawhero Chardonnay to finish.



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