Waipu

  Thursday PM, 5th January.

On our enforced trip back down to Mangere we took advantage of the coast road instead of the main highway and came across Waipu. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful drive. As we passed through this trendy spot we noticed quite a few old tractors parked up so we had to stop and go for a look see. Obviously the first one to catch my eye was an old Fergie 35. Probably built in the very late 50's.

 The owner knew very little about the machine and so we had a good chat about it for 5-10 minutes. He only used it to tow his boat into the sea. 

He had recently paid NZ$800 for a new tyre and had the rear hydraulics fixed which had been seized up for ages. 

I told him that if he needed anybody to fix it for him i was available to come over from UK at short notice, any time. (As long as he pays of course). He said he would bear it in mind.

 Me with the MF35

 And he kindly let me have a go.(That's a Leyland in the background)

 So after the joviality of the tractors, we headed for the stunning beach. The sun was hot, as was the sand. Paddling was a pleasure. It reminded us of nothing at home.

 The beach stretched for a few miles and all in all there were very few people taking advantage of such a wonderful day. What a shame we were just passing through as we would have liked to stay here a couple of days.

Oh well,  back to the van.