New Zealand North Island

  Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Sunday, March 1, 2009

TUESDAY 20 JANUARY 2009 - DESTINATION WELLINGTON (NORTH ISLAND) -

Awoke at 4am after a few hours sleep in our campervan on a council-run car park in Picton, and drove round the corner to the ferry terminal. We boarded the "Arahura" and set sail at 5.45am. We crossed the Cook Strait and
reached Wellington at 9am. After checking into a "proper" campsite (with all mod-cons) we ventured into the city centre. Walking down the waterfront we came to the "Te Papa" - the national museum which houses
displays of pre-European Maori culture and fine art. We enjoyed a good few hours exploring the five-storey building. Wellington is New Zealand's windy city and as per the guidebook is, "buffeted most days by air funnelled through the Cook Strait and its force amplified by the wind-tunnelling effect of the city's high-rise buildings".
 
The next day we walked along Oriental Parade (Wellington's most elegant section of waterfront) and parked ourselves on a white sandy beach, set in a lovely bay. We gazed across the harbour at the city and at the swanky houses (some of the city's priciest houses are to be found in this area). Many of the houses are stacked into the steep hillsides, which in turn tumble into the harbour. The houses at the top command the best position and views.
That evening was very warm, so we had a picnic beside the Te Papa museum.




Before leaving the windy city we met up with a work colleague who is on secondment in Wellington. It was good to see a familiar face and we enjoyed chatting about her work and lifestyle in New Zealand.
 
We then drove 370km north to Taupo. It was a beautiful drive - dense forests and gentle sloping hills. Tall pine trees lined the approach road into Taupo. The town lies slap in the centre of the North Island and is slung around the northern shore of Lake Taupo. We skirted the lake and "free camped" at a campsite left to the world by a person who liked backpackers! It was basic (compost toilets and no water), but it was free! In fact we spent four nights there because there were adventures to be had:



(i) We sailed round the lake on the "Barbary" sailing ship - it is said that in 193 Errol Flynn won Barbary in a card
game. The weather was perfect - hot sun and blue sky dabbed here and there with cotton wool clouds and pierced by mountain peaks dusted in icing sugar. The captain hoisted up the sails and we cruised to Acacia Bay, Rangatira Point and Mine Bay. At Mine Bay we saw Maori rock carvings - modern yet stunning depicting the image of a man's face, lizard-like reptiles and female forms draped over the rocks. We swam in the cold, but refreshing water of Mine Bay.
 
(ii) We trekked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which lived up to what the information pamphlet says, i.e. "challenging - takes approximately 7 hours - provides an opportunity to experience some of the most scenic and
active volcanic areas of the Tongariro Park". It took us 8 hours (we did a detour and climbed the Tongariro Summit - 1967m) and we climbed over lava flows, crossed a crater floor, skirted active geothermal areas and passed the beautiful and serene "emerald" and "blue" lakes. The steep descent to the vivid emerald lakes was precarious. The ground gave way at every step, so much so that we soon found ourselves ankle deep in volcanic ash. The technique was to dig in your heels hard and fast. The forbidding volcanic areas were used as film locations for Mordor and Mount Doom in the Lord of The Rings trilogy. Mount Doom with its cone of red and black scoria looks awesome. It was a long and arduous day, but worth it.



(iii) We visited Huka Falls meaning "great body of spray". The sheer power of 400 tonnes of strikingly blue
water per second plunging over a 10m shelf is deafening.



(iv) We watched the A1 GP motor-racing. We found a good spot on the grassy embankment and watched the sprint race. Ireland was in poll position and after 15 rip-roaring laps won. GB finished in 13th position. The KIWI
driver Chris X was driving "Black Beauty". The main feature race started at 3pm, but we were entertained by the opening ceremony including: driver parades, the Haka Challenge, skydivers, areoplane acrobatics. The main feature race was over 50 laps - Switzerland finished 1st, Ireland 2nd and Portugal 3rd. GB and NZ finished way down the line!
 
Just one final thing to say about Taupo - it's got super superloos with hot showers. They were a godsend for us "free campers"!
 
DESTINATION
COROMANDEL PENINSULA - MONDAY 26.01.09 - We were looking forward to seeing this "mountainous, bush-cloaked interior fringed with beautiful surf and swimming beaches, basking in a balmy climate". First though we stopped off at Orakei-Korako - geyserland and caves, aka the Hidden Valley and billed by some as possibly the best thermal area left in New Zealand and one of the finest in the world. Scenes form the BBCs Natural History series, "Walking with Dinosaurs" were filmed here. We took a short ferry ride across Lake Chakuri and started our journey through a valley of bubbling hot springs, geysers, mud pools and a sacred cave. We saw "Diamond Geyser", so called because of the way it shatters its water jet into millions of droplets, which sparkle like diamonds in the sunlight. The colours and composition of "Rainbow" and "Cascade Terrace" are unbelievable. Some parts look like slabs of thick brown treacle toffee, some like dollops of sticky orange marmalade and some like dishes of massala curry sauce! The "Te Kapua" (the Golden Fleece) is beautiful. It stands 5m high and is 40m long and is a fault scarp formed in 131AD by a massive earthquake about the time when the worlds greatest recorded volcano at Lake Taupo was last erupting. We also came across the "Artist's Palette" - one of the most dangerous and unpredictable areas on the resort! The colours are fantastic - browns,
greens, yellows, oranges and pinks - hence its name. The "Ruatapu" (Sacred Lake) is one of only two geothermally situated caves known in the world. "Waiwhakaata" (Pool of Mirrors) rests at the bottom of the
cave. You are invited to put your left hand in the water and "wish". Providing no one, but yourself ever knows what you have wished for your wish is guaranteed to come true. Towards the end of the journey we heard strange
gurgling noises - boiling pellets of thick viscous mud being expelled out of the ground. It was like a child's game where egg-shaped heads pop up at random and you have to hammer them down again! The path
back to the jetty took us through New Zealand's lovely 'Pongas" (tree ferns) and silver ferns (one of New Zealand's emblems).

 

After lunch in the grounds of a timber yard (nice wooden benches), we drove North to Whitianga. Once again the scenery was stunning - green rolling hills and forests rising steeply. A row of slender trees stood tall and
straight, their branches sweeping upwards and tilting backwards ever so slightly, resembled a chorus line just about to burst into the can-can. We were very close to the location of HOBBITON from the Lord of The
Rings Trilogy. All film sets were supposed to be destroyed after filming, but bad weather stopped the dismantling of seventeen hobbit hole facades. We decided, however, not to take a tour of the place because the guidebook states that "the set retains little of the pastoral English feel created for the film".
 
In Whitianga we treated ourselves to a campsite with all the mod-cons. The following
day we walked for 40 mins along a hilly coastal track to Cathedral Cove - a long and sheltered sandy beach. We
shuffled barefoot in the sand and passed under a giant rock arch, which revealed another idyllic beach. On the way back we visited Sting-Ray Bay (a secluded cove) and Gemstone Bay (a rocky beach good for
snorkelling). The sun was still high and hot, so we sunbathed on nearby Hahei beach.
 
DESTINATION WHANGAMATA - where we were 'beach bums' for three days! En route we stopped in Opoutere and crept 'hobbit-like' through a forest carpeted thick with fallen pine needles. We emerged at Ocean Beach - a 4km long stretch of white sand flanked on either side by green forested cliffs. We got to Whangamata (a long straggling and single-storey resort town) and set up camp at Wentworth Valley, a DOC campsite 7km south west of the town, but in beautiful surroundings.  



DESTINATION AUCKLAND - Saturday 31.01.09 - we dallied in Whangamata, Judith bought some earrings, we did our laundry and some food shopping before Dan changed a flat tyre on the campervan. Soon we were on our way and drove by the Firth of Thames (different from the Thames that we are used to!). We camped overnight at an 'informal' campsite at Omana Beach (20km from Auckland). The elderly owners were amazed that we had got through the gates because they should have been padlocked! We hadn't committed a crime and happily paid our dues. The following day we drove to Howick and got a warm Welsh welcome from Dan's cousin Jackie and her husband Chris and their lovely daughters Naomi (9yrs old) and Keziah (8mths old). We met Gwyneth and Dylan and had a fabulous lunch at the SKYTOWER, which dominates Auckland city
centre. At 328m it is New Zealand's tallest building and was built in the 1990s as a symbol for the city in the run-up to the millennium. We visited the observatory decks, which offer superb views over the city. We saw two huge impressive cruise ships docked in the harbour. Parts of the observatory decks have glass floors where we walked tentatively. The SKYTOWER is the venue for two adventure activities: (a) THE SKYJUMP - where you plummet 192m to the ground with a cable attached to your back. Not for the faint hearted and not for us! (b) THE SKYWALK - a stroll outside round a 1.2m wide walkway, 192m above the pavement. You are attached by a safety line to a rail above your head, but there are no handrails. Judith was tempted, but didn't have enough confidence in her sense of balance! 



After lunch the weather changed dramatically - it was minus 5! We were stood in an ice bar sipping cocktails from chunky ice glasses. We were kitted out in warm coats, boots and gloves. We stood in the bar for 30 minutes and admired the ice sculptures (reindeers, penguins, elves, father Christmas and a wolf's head). Somehow Naomi managed to blag two free drinks from the barman and she is only 9 years old - no such luck for us adults!



The next day we parted company with the campervan . We spent the afternoon at Goat Island and had a picnic lunch on the rocks overlooking the beach and the clear water. On the way home we came to a thick forest and in its midst there perched a beautiful treehouse restaurant. It was built round the the trunk of a redwood  and looked liked an onion or the shell of a hot air balloon that had pierced the top of the tree and came to rest on its trunk. We watched enviously the diners as they feasted - we couldn't get a table - there is a waiting list of 500!
That night we slept in a child's den in a neighbour's garden. It was great fun.
 
We spent our last day in Auckland visiting more sites, including, one tree hill where we got a panoramic view of the City of Sails, the Auckland War Memorial Museum - a huge place renowned  for its unique collection of Maori and Pacific treasures. We experienced a Maori cultural performance - an entertaining glimpse of
maori culture through song and dance. This included the "HAKA" dance (the bulging and eyes and protruding tongues signifying a sign of defiance). Apparently the HAKA was used in battle during the Second World War. In the evening Judith and Naomi kayaked at Howick Beach - a hop, skip and a jump from Jackie's house. The water was surprisingly warm - like falling into a tepid bath when the kayak stunts went wrong! Our last supper with our kind hosts was a delicious BBQ.




DESTINATION
AUSTRALIA - Wednesday 05.02.09 - We left New Zealand with a "bang" - well nearly. Judith was apprehended at customs when her small rucksack tested positive for explosives! She was questioned and it didn't bode well when she mentioned her 5 month trip to South America. The sniffer dog was called for - he sniffed, but wasn't interested, so Judith was allowed to go! Judith later recollected that her bag had come into contact with explosives in Bolivia, i.e. a stick of dynamite, which we bought for the miners in Potosi a few months ago!
 
Eventually we boarded the flight to Sydney. Maybe one day we will be lucky enough to return.
 
We landed in Sydney and got a flight to Perth. We sat next to two campanologists (bell-ringers). They looked familiar and when they said  their names we thought they rang a bell!!! (Blame Judith for that joke).
 
G'day for now. We will see you later in Western Australia for some Kangaroo Capers.