Kiwi baches

What do you think of when reading the above?

For me, the kiwi bach is a ~3 bedroom smallish kinda house which had an outside hose/shower for getting the sand off, a 14″ or 21″ TV for the rugby, the old furniture from the family home, and wasn’t worth much more than the family car. If one was really lucky, there was also a water tank, and the constant reminders that water was scarce (hello – there’s an ocean full of the stuff right there!).

There was also a small to medium boat for fishing and other water activities, several packs of cards, and enough board games to keep the children of a small african nation occupied. How things have changed.

The ‘baches’ these days at Mount Maunganui, Pauanui, Waiheke Island, etc aren’t quite what they used to be. This has come up in conversation with a few people lately, but this was brought about by looking at the pics of the place friends bought at Pauanui; all 8 bedrooms, 3 floors, 2 LCD TVs, bar (ok – some change is good) 4 car garage, 4 1/2 bathrooms of it.

“Getting away from it all” doesn’t really seem to mean leaving that much of the comforts of home at home. However; I have found salvation. Between Christmas and New Years we went down to spend some time with Dad at Bowentown, which is just south of Waihi Beach.

It is still very much a coastal town with the houses and people one would expect to find in a typical NZ beach town of yore. There were real summer baches, tents, caravans, kids playing frisbee (yes – me!), people wandering all over the show making new friends, and everyone was really pleasant and nice.

notes:

1. Yes, we did have an LCD TV at Bowentown, but it wasn’t like a 42″ Sony.
2. Yes, there was wireless internet at the Bowentown camping ground – darn wireless ISPs….
3. Yes, I know those of you who’ve been down to Pauanui and The Mount with us in the past are laughing over your drinks right about now – but that was all for the purposes of research, you see!