Paua Patties in Pakawau

This morning we reluctantly left our favourite POP (with a promise to return) and headed on toward the end of the road. We stopped at Milnthorpe Park on the edge of the Parapara Inlet, where a large tract of land has been revegetated with native forest. Mandy was driving today, and as we headed into the Park (down a narrow unsealed road) we rounded a bend to find a huge rubbish truck hurtling towards us in a cloud of dust. We managed to tiptoe past it with our mirrors intact, but had to breathe in!
Within the Park, several kilometres of tracks wind their way through the bush past a variety of interesting sculptures and out to various beaches and viewing points around the inlet. After a couple of hours (and another promise to return – Charlie is very keen to try fishing there) we pushed on through Collingwood to tonight’s stop at Pakawau.
This POP is now a café, but used to be a small school, and we are parked on a large flat grassy area that would once have been the playing field.
One of the Betneys’ neighbours is Syd Eru, an ex-NZ rugby league player. Simon had taken a load of firewood over to him yesterday, and this morning his partner turned up with a tray of snapper fillets and three large paua. Charlie and I have just had paua patties for dinner and they were delicious.Read more