Ahipara

Further North still we headed for Ahipara. With the heavy winds we hoped the Southern end of 90 mile beach would provide a little protection. We followed the directions to a basic camping ground in our guide. It was a little odd, after driving down a dirt track we came across a ground with no sigh outside and in the office window sat a huge Maouri in his underpants. We were just about to turn around, thinking we must have pulled into someone's house my mistake when a lady came out and told us that we were in the right spot, collected the fees and off we went to choose a spot, as we were the only ones there we had plenty to choose from. They had a lot of wild pets, mainly kittens and puppies, the puppies mummy was a feisty thing, and would nip you if your arms were in her reach. We drew the curtains and purposely dehydrated ourselves enough in order not to have to leave the van until the following morning.
The next morning, as always, the place seemed a lot less creepy and with no surf we decided to take a walk around the beautiful headland. Mummy Dog, which we nick names Stinky, insisted on joining us. We told her she could as long as she was friendlier and she seemed to agree, so off we went. It's a good, long walk around the headland, apparently on its day there a several waves that link up around the headland making it the longest 'left' ridable wave in the Southern Hemisphere. Stinky followed us the whole way, but away from her own back yard she was a different dog. So timid. She never strayed more than a metre or 2 from our side and when we came across another person or dog she would hide between John's legs, nearly sending him flying. After a lovely walk we returned to the camp-site. Stinky returned to her confident self and started to terrorise some new campers on her turf.