2 Day Get-A-Way

On Friday morning we packed a bag, jumped in the car, and headed north. We drove up the east coast to the Karikari Peninsula to play golf at the Carington Resort. Well, Dave played golf, Jill just played around. It was a great day for golf, sunshine and a cool breeze. There were only a couple other groups on the course because it is still a little before season starts, so we really enjoyed our time. After golfing, we drove to Kaitaia, found a hotel, and settled in. We ate dinner and walked around a bit in town. It was a great stay except the sirens that went off at 2:00 A.M. This crazy loud siren blares across town for about 45 seconds waking us up. Then 10 minutes later the siren goes off again. Jill being the worrier can't get back to sleep over worry that something is wrong. Tornado? Tsunami? Earthquake? What does it mean? So Jill googles it while Dave sleeps. Apparently it is their fire station alarm. They have a volunteer station, so the alarm sounds and the local volunteers know to head to the station. We found out the next morning, a gas station was on fire. We really think they should come up with a more modern way of doing things, but hey I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Saturday morning we went on a quad bike adventure. If you have ever seen the Anthony Bourdain No Reservations show where he goes to New Zealand, there is a segment with the exact guy that was our guide. It was a two hour guided tour on 4-wheelers. We went thru quite an array of terrain. Forests, muddy tracks, sand dunes, and beaches. We both have riden plenty of four-wheelers in our past, and we both agree that this was by far the most awesome four-wheeling ever! We had a blast. Our guide was really awesome and we were the only ones on the tour, so everything was tailored to us.

It was pretty crazy the slope of some of the huge dunes we were going down. Kinda scary at times. Adrenaline is good for the soul. Dave got a little crazy with donuts and horseplay. He actually tore the muffler off of his quad on accident going over the rocky terrain on the ride back. Those quads take a beating for sure. Fortunately for us, we didn't flip our 4x4's like Anthony Bourdain did. What a great experience! We are for sure doing that again!