Fishing on the Thames

Yes - really - but this may not be the Thames you're thinking of.  This is the Firth of Thames........check the map out.  It's tonight's stopping spot :)

J & I walked this morning after coffee at Kua Kawhe as the skies looked like they would shed their rain virtually any minute.  They didn't, well, at least not until we'd decided after coffee that the skies looked better.  They were simply tricking us and not 15 minutes into the walk it began to rain.......we were pretty wet before we got back to the car but at least we were able to laugh.

After a dry-out, another coffee and some good chatter it was time to get under way.  I headed back over the hills I'd driven this morning and was horrified when not 10kms along the road, I hit a hawk. To be fair, it was actually him who hit me - he was in the ditch at the side of the road and as I passed him - thankfully not too fast as I'd just come through a small settlement - he got spooked and took off in a hurry straight into my passenger side windscreen.  I was horrified and quickly found a spot to turn around so I could go back and check to see whether he was injured on the road.  There was no sign of him at all - I can only hope that he hadn't broken anything and was just feeling a bit dazed from his mishap.  It did leave me feeling rather upset though :'(

Soooooo......not too much further past Coromandel town is this place.........a simple park-over on the roadside with about 4 other vans and the sound of the Thames (!) lapping nearby.