DAY THREE, HEADING HOME

Good Morning!

Well, let's launch right into my 'review' of Black Sands Pizzeria in Oakura.

We arrived with high expectations, having been advised they were the best pizzas in New Zealand!

WRONG.

There was a VERY limited choice.

You could 'build' your own pizza, but were only allowed ONE meat, ONE cheese and ONE vegetable choice to go on it.

So we chose from the menu.  Which was still basic as fuck.

We got a Chicken/Brie and Cranberry sauce pizza and a Ham, Mozzarella and Mushroom pizza.  Both had a smattering of tomato sauce as a base.

And seriously, THAT'S all that was on them.

ABOVE:  They were done in a wood fired pizza oven, which made no difference to how damn tasteless they were.  The ham was clearly the shit you buy from the supermarket, sliced and in a plastic box.  The Chicken was dry and tasteless too.

So.  Clearly we will NOT be going there again.

I asked for a Diet Coke, she said they didn't have Diet Coke, but they did have Coke No Sugar.  So I got that.

ABOVE:  Another disappointment.  I hadn't checked what BRAND the 'coke' was.  That shit was awful, so I ended up drinking...

ABOVE:  Stew's Peroni Lager, which was a darn sight better than that 'Coke'.

So, there it is.  Our first real disappointment during this weekend away.

Back to today, we shall be leaving fairly early as we have booked an excursion on our way home.

On our way home, we are stopping south of  Otorohanga, and going to Waitomo Caves!  We shall be there for a few hours.  

Stew went there as a child, I have never been there at all.

So an adventure for both of us.

A little bit excited to be doing something totally new!

Right, better go.  We need to be on the road by about 8, 8.30 am.

5.30 pm.  We have been home about two hours.

Had time to unpack.

Stew's been on the phone to his work place, sorting out some issues that have come up since the entire country went into Covid Traffic Light RED.  😖

I've had some computer issues downloading my photos from today.  It's taken me well over an hour to get them edited.

But they are done now.

So here goes:

ABOVE: The Three Sisters rocks at Tongaporutu.  We would have liked to walk to them along the rocks/beach, but it was too slippery.  

ABOVE:  The biggest BOBBINS I've ever seen!

When we had to stop for roadworks, the driver jumped out to check his strops, so I took a photo.  I told him he had lovely big bobbins, and he laughed at me.

From here on in.. photos of inside the Glow Worm Caves at Waitomo:

ABOVE: The spiral walkway down into Ruakuri Cave.  You were allowed to take photos in this one.

ABOVE: The glow worms blue lights.

It looks like a starry night sky.

ABOVE: An actual glow worm and it's threads, which are to catch insects with, just like spiders do.

ABOVE: Stew inspecting the huge metal pipe that was drilled 65 metres down from the surface, to get concrete down into the caves for the paths!

Looking up you could see the sky 65 metres above.

ABOVE:  YES!  I am smiling.  I can do it!

ABOVE:  A Stalagmite.  NOT at all rude.  Nope. Not at all.

ABOVE:   Another one.  

ABOVE:  My favourite photo, of the boat we drifted along in to view the glow worms in The Glow Worm Cave.

ABOVE: We played at being tourists, and bought a shirt each.  Not of the Glow Worms.  More like crazy sheep head.  😖😊😂

And that's it for our lovely three day weekend.

We really had a most enjoyable time.

It was more about experiences this time, rather than 'shopping'.  I didn't even seek out any fabric shops!

Maybe our next trip away ?  lol

It's now nearly 6 pm, I've been sat here for well over an hour and a half getting this up for everyone!

So .... say Hi!

9.25 pm:  Well, Stew and I have had a very quiet evening.  Had some odds 'n' ends for dinner.  

Been watching TV, catching up on Facebook/YouTube/Instagram.... why the hell do we have all these social media time wasting sites?

And why do we all get sucked into them?  *sigh*

Time to sign off, and will probably go to bed early tonight.

Kinda tired.