The fabled Fish and Chip shop at Mangonui on the Karikari peninsular

The fabled Fish and Chip shop at Mangonui on the Karikari peninsular - March 1999 We continued along the main coastline down to Mangonui, a historic port and eventually stopped at a commercial camp site within sound of the surf at Taupo - vintage equipment, some the like of which we have only seen in settlers museums but very cheap ($7 each). At least it was manned - the first one we looked at Hihi Beach had a sign "shop and office open when the fishing is bad - find yourself a site" maybe it is the end of the season. The feline saga continued at Taupo - here we were accosted by a friendly and very solid ginger cat who was determined to share our lamb and steak off the red devil.

In the morning we returned to look at Mangonui, a pleasant fishing village but now full of tourist shops and house agents. It does have however have a fabled fish and chip shop which also sells fresh fish. We had Blue Nose and chips for an early lunch - you select the pieces you want and they weigh and cook them. They are absolutely fresh, you can watch them being gutted, filleted and passed straight through to the counter. We also bought some John Dory and Hapuka to take away - John Dory is arguably one of the best of the New Zealand catches - it looks like a flounder but swims almost upright. They also smoke fish so we had some smoked Kingfish and Gemfish.