Nov 2019 - New Zealand

We spent some time exploring the South Island of New Zealand some ten years ago (where did the time go?) and we always promised ourselves that we'd do the same for the North Island.

Well, it was time to make good on that promise, but constraints from Karen's working situation meant that we were limited to just twelve nights over there so we trimmed our plans to go and see the top half of the North Island with a further promise to explore the bottom half at some future date.

This is what we did . . . . . . . .

Thursday 7th November 

We had a late flight arriving in Auckland near midnight and we had booked a hire car and an AirBnB.

Before we got to pick up the car we had some fun with bio-security and our boots - they needed to be checked for mud with its concomitant risk of bringing in some disease. Given the all clear we trundled off to the car hire pick up and we eventually got to the Airbnb at 2am

Our host was a garrulous old bloke who wouldn't leave us alone, but we had a decent sleep and an OK light breakfast

Friday 8th November

We head north and stopped off at a shopping centre in Albany to buy a phone SIM. That went easily enough, but we ended up losing Karen's phone somewhere in the shopping centre, probably leaving it on a table at Muffin Break where we grabbed a coffee. 

So we continued north on a long drive to a quirky Airbnb in Omapere which is on the edge of the Hokianga Harbour. The drive took us through some protected forest areas and the road was twisty and gorgeous - loved it!

What a lovely place it turned out to be. The apartment was the ground floor of someone's house and it was set in an unruly but beautiful garden.

We took a drive out to buy some beer, wine and food and grabbed an early night.

Saturday 9th November

Waking at a reasonable time we breakfasted and then headed off to the forest to see the Lord of the Forest Tane Mahuta - a giant kauri. This tree features in lots of Maori stories and it is truly magnificent. 

Driving along the shores of Hokianga Harbour we came across some gorgeous views and a nice little walk.

 Before we left Omapere we called in again at the shop to buy some provisions and grab a coffee at the little cafe when this ute pulled up.

It had a goat on the back of the ute - a little different to the dog that an Aussie would have!  :) 

From there we headed off across from the west coast to the east to Paihia and the Bay of Islands

Nice drive and not too far, but with some lovely countryside - some places didn't look too prosperous though.

Got to the motel and all good - once we were settled in we went for a walk around the town and grabbed a couple of beers at Good George before heading back for something to eat.

Sunday 10th November

The Watangi treaty grounds was our destination for today and it turned out to be a highlight for the trip.

Once you've paid your entry fee everything was free to access from the museum (with some original documents!) to the cultural performance.

We loved it and would recommend it.

Here's Karen, all kitted out for a day's walking around the place - we needed to be prepared as it is surprisingly large.

The cultural performance started off with the ritual Maori challenge.

We then went into the meeting house and were entertained by this troupe.

The detail on the carvings was impressive.

This grassy area is where the treaty was actually signed and it overlooks the gorgeous Bay of Islands

 Part of the grounds is devoted to housing a huge "waka" or war canoe.

This thing seats120 paddlers plus the steerer and the timekeeper. An amazing piece of work - it gets put out on the water once a year on Waitangi Day.

We headed "home" afterwards and sipped a beer before walking into town to dine at Charlotte's Kitchen. Reputedly the best restaurant it town it did us proud.

Monday 11th November

We normally do our own thing on holiday and drive ourselves - and we already had our hire car - but this time we were feeling just a little lazy and we booked ourselves on a bus trip to Cape Reinga which is the most northerly point of NZ.

It was a bus trip, but pretty comfortable and (for me) it was an opportunity to look around and enjoy more of the scenery than the road ahead.

We had a few stops of course - the first being for morning tea at a place called Weipapakauri where they drag old kauri trees out of the swamp (wei = water, papa = land and kauri = well, a kauri - so land and water together mean swamp so the name means swamp kauri). Anyway, these trees had been growing some 45,000 years ago when a meteor caused a tsunami which flattened them and buried them. All these years later they can dig them up and the wood is still in excellent shape. They make furniture and "things" out of this wood and sell it at suitably inflated prices. One table we liked, and it was a fairly simple but well made dining table, was NZ$29,000 for instance. Still, what price something that old and exclusive?

No photos of that place, but we did stop off at a small coastal hamlet for a lunch of fish and chips - locally caught and delicious.

These pics give you an idea of how beautiful the inlet was.

Eventually we reached the top and walked to the lighthouse there.

Apart from being able to say we were there I can't say that it was especially memorable, but it was nice. Until it started raining anyway :) 

Below is a picture of where the currents in the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.

Back on board the bus and we headed off along the Ninety Mile Beach. It's actually just 56 miles (88 klms) long as Captain Cook estimated it incorrectly, but it is still a loooong beach.

At the top of the beach we stopped for some sandboarding fun.

This is our bus on the beach. It is just a 2WD vehicle, although it does have a diff lock, and that alone should tell you how firm the sand is. 

Tuesday 12th November

Continuing the tourist thing we decided to go on a cruise around the Bay of Islands and out to see the hole in the rock.

We were lucky with the weather (although it was cold enough) and we sailed off to check out the beauty of this place - and it is beautiful!

Having seen a few islands and been amazed we headed out towards the Pacific and the Hole in the Rock.

Guess what - it's a hole in the rock!

On the nearby island there is a lonely looking lighthouse

After spending a little time gauging the tidal flow we motored the boat through the Hole.

It was quite exciting actually, and when we got to the other side we spotted another hole in a rock - more of a window actually.

We motored back towards town and stopped off at one island (Otahei Bay) that had some facilities and we headed off for a walk around the island and then a beer at the cafe before jumping back on the boat to head back.

We enjoyed the trip out and we stepped off the boat at the "Hellhole of the Pacific" as it was known - Russell.

There we sheltered from the rain that had blown in and had a couple of beers in the pub. :) 

And later that day, as we headed out for something to eat we called into a beachfront bar that was pretty nice.

Wednesday 13th November

The Bay of Islands sojourn ended (sadly as we loved it) and we trundled off to drive to Pauanui on the Coromandel Peninsula. This took us back through Auckland, but the trip was easy enough.

We got there in plenty of time to walk around town & the beach and see what there was to see. Which wasn't much to be honest. 

There were a few small shops and restaurants and a sports club which is where we ended up having dinner. We had expected it to be a cheap place to eat (especially as it was "roast night") but that wasn't the case. Still, the people are pleasant and friendly.

Thursday 14th November

Up early and we decided to look around the Peninsula and we drove to Whitianga. 

While this is a bigger town it wasn't exactly an exciting place although we did take the ferry across the river and do a bit of a walk around. The pictures below tell the story.

We, of course, ended up sitting in a pub and we ate some slow cooked brisket sliders. Magic :) 

On the way back to Pauanui we saw a sign pointing to a waterfall. It was about a kilometer and a half each way so not a big walk, but the peace and quiet and the splendid little waterfall were great.

Friday 15th November

We had booked ourselves on a boat tour out of Whitianga to check out the coastline so we headed back there quite early to meet the tour there.

This was our little cruise boat :) 

The cruise took us along an amazingly eroded set of coastal cliffs with sea caverns and small beaches - check out the pictures:

The one below is reckoned to be James Cook's profile - he landed here in 1769

The picture below is of Cathedral Cove.

Remember Prince Caspian and the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe?

Check out the tour boat in this picture - we'd be heading inside there soon!

And when we got inside we found a shoal of Blue Mau Mau just thrashing around - gorgeous.

Once off the boat we went of a drive and then walk to see some of these cliffs from the top.

And yes, we took a cut lunch with us :) 

Hot water beach was another stop off on the way back. This place has a thermal spring bubbling through the sand. In the direct line of this spring it is far too hot to even stand there so the idea is to go a little way off to one side, dig a hole and let it fill up with a mixture of hot and cold water and flop around in your own little spa.

The digging is the hard bit - shifting more than a metre of wet and hard packed sand is hard work! 

It was a fun day though.

When we got back we found that a bird had built a nest in the screen outside our bedroom window and was rearing three chicks.

I managed to get a pic of her sitting on the nest.

Saturday 16th November

We left Pauanui with some fond memories although it was a bit too quiet for us and we headed off to our AirBnB at Rotorua.

We got there after a short drive and checked into a small place on the shore of Lake Rotorua.

The place had bikes to  ride and canoes to paddle and was very comfortable.

We decided to grab the bikes and head into town which was Ngongoraha to see what it was like. Not very affluent is probably the best way to describe it so we decided to contribute to the local economy by buying drinks at the local pub.

Now - have you seen the movie Once Were Warriors where the hero Jake drinks at a pub full of Maoris? Well that is what this place was like - we felt comfortable enough, but definitely outsiders.

So after riding home we stooged around before heading into Rotorua (some 6 klms away) to walk around the place and in particular one of the parks before heading into the CBD to enjoy probably the best beer I have ever tasted and a nice dinner at the Pig & Whistle.

What was the beer? It was Moa's White's IPA. Recommended. 

 The park had some boiling thermal pools and some bubbling mud pools - check it out!

Sunday 17th November

Today was a busy one that started with a gondola ride up Mt Ngongotaha and a walk around the tracks up there.

This is a view of the city of Rotorua

Mt Tarawera is the small hill in the middle of the lake.

We left Rotorua and its horrible sulfurous smells and drove out to the Blue Lake. The walking track around it was about 6 klms long so a decent walk but not crippling.

Once we'd done the walk and had an ice cream at the cafe we headed back into town for another beer at the Pig & Whistle. 

Monday 18th November

Our last full day here and we'd booked a tour of Hobbiton. We drove ourselves there with some trepidation - it had rained all the way there and continued to rain while we were there.

All in all though, it was worth it and we'll watch those movies again as soon as we can. 

Come and take a walk through Hobbiton with us. 

The tree above Bag End is actually not real and was placed there to match Tolkien's description.

The pub - The Green Dragon :) 

Once we left Hobbiton we decided to call into a bit of a walk to a waterfall on the way home.

Check out this mad bugger!

 And in the evening we went to a Maori Village cultural experience.

This would have been better if we hadn't seen most of it up at Waitangi, but it was OK.

The chief welcomed us and sent his warriors out to ritually challenge us, or our chief anyway.

The rest of it was a walk around the village being shown how they lived before being entertained at a hangi for dinner.

After all this we had to head home and we did so with some regret. We love NZ.

Especially the Whites IPA  :) 

Labor Day long weekend - May 2019

What do you do when you can string together 5 days away from the office? That's right. you hitch up the caravan and head off somewhere.

This time we headed to the Border Ranges Nat Park - less than 100 klms away from us, but still far enough for it to be a complete change of environment.

So, we set off mid-morning on Thursday and headed for Beaudesert and Rathdowney and then the Lions Road over the ranges. That road was a bit of an interesting one as it twists and turns and we came across quite a few uphill sections that were rated as a 19% incline. The turbo in the Pajero was working overtime on those!

When we got through the border and into NSW we found similar declines ahead of us that gave the brakes something to think about, and just before we reached the Nat Park we saw a sign (for people heading north) indicating that the Lions road was not suitable for caravans or trailers - a shame we didn't have a similar sign on the QLD side!

We finally arrived to find a wet, muddy and dismally dark camp site with nothing but clouds above us. On the positive side, the place was well laid out and the facilities and all fire pits were clean and ready for use.

We set up and then went for a walk along the Rosewood Loop. It was wet and slippery and constantly dripping so we cut the walk short at the Palm Forest Walk, checking out the creek and the spot where the old cedar getters carved their names into the rock that they used as a loading platform for the cedar logs.

It was not the most pleasant walk although that was down to the weather and not the place, so we retired back to the van, lit a fire and cracked the first beer/wine of the day.

The next day, after a leisurely start, we decided to take a drive along the road through the Park and check out some of the sights.

We drove upwards, ever upwards, and soon found ourselves driving through the cloud on a surprisingly grippy and well maintained dirt road, It's a dense forest with walls of tress either side that occasionally break open for a view, and the first one we checked out was the Pinnacle.

After a gentle uphill walk of about 200 metres we popped out at what is a stunning view, Well it would be if you could see anything - the cloud we drove through, mirrored by clouds above us sandwiching us in mist, just covered everything most of the time. Occasionally a hole might open up to allow us to see something below, but mostly it was just like we were floating in the clouds.

The view to the left

The view to the right

And a panoramic shot of a few tree tops and clouds.

The paths were all pretty good (slippery tree roots prevailed in some areas though) and this gives you an idea of what they looked like and the denseness of the forest.

So we drove on to the Blackbutt Lookout hoping to have better luck there.

and the answer was no - if anything it was even mistier and muddier.

I'm not sure what the lasting impression might have been, but it wasn't of the view! 

We thought then that we would try for something even higher to see if we could get above ALL the couds and we headed towards the Border Loop. This walk is right on the QLD/NSW border and is as high as you can get around here. The air had cleared of cloud/mist and. although the sky was still concrete coloured, we headed off on a walk. We got maybe 100 metres when it started to rain and then it got heavier so we returned to the Pajero as quickly as we could and only just got inside before it seemed like the air was mostly water and the wind whipped it around.

We gave up on the walk.

Somewhat disheartened we drove to the nearest town, Kyogle, to check out the pubs and enjoy a couple of drinks out of the mist before heading home to watch a movie while it drizzled outside before stepped out (as the rain stopped) to light another fire, cook dinner over the fire and relax.

The weather forecast we had seen before we left had Saturday as an even more miserable day so it was a pleasant surprise to find that it was sunny and nice so we headed out to do a few more of the walks around the Park.

The first of them was called the Red Cedar Loop so we trundled off. It may have been sunnier outside the forest, but it was still wet and muddy inside it, but the occasional shafts of sunlight lifted our spirits and we walked on happily.

We found the tree which is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and it is pretty impressive. Check out the pics below:

One thing that a rainforest always has in abundance are fungi and this was one of the most unusual.

From the Red Cedar Loop we continued round to the Brindle Creek walk to see the stands of Antarctic Beech trees.

The walk itself was not especially exciting (more dense rainforest), but the creek was a magical place.

That was enough for the day and we went "home" to relax and chat.

Sunday was another gorgeous day and we decided to repeat the walks of the Friday, but this time without the clouds and the pictures below sow what it looks like when the sun is shining. 

The above is the view from the top of the camp site.

Yep - this is the Pinnacle Lookout and you can see the whole of the volcano's caldera with views across to Mt Warning (the original centre of the volcano) and beyond that to the Pacific Ocean.

The Blackbutts Lookout gave a similar view, but from a lower perspective - doesn't the top pic of Mt Warning look like a sleeping person's head? 

So what else to do but head off to Kyogle (via a different track than before) and celebrate the sunshine and the success of our walks with a beer/wine.

On the way we came across the sign below outside the township of Wiangaree - it seems that the local aboriginal people are the "Gullibul" mob.

Monday morning and we packed up and headed home. It's been a nice break.