Note to self: avoid bus trips

After Bea and I had had our little road-trip I rejoined R&E in Auckland with a shiny hire car and we headed north. The others wanted to get to NZ's furthest point north to match the trip they'd made to its furthest point south late last year (for which they'd had to travel miles along gravel roads in Chuck Norris). It was basically a box-ticking exercise.

En route north we stopped for two nights in Whangarei, Northland's biggest town - not that that's saying a lot really. It's pretty small. We were planning to eat at the smorgasbord restaurant opposite the hostel, having been reassured by our landlady that this worthy establishment stayed open late (we'd arrived at about 8.30pm). Of course in true Kiwi small-town style it was not open late, and was closing as we arrived. So we jumped in the car and hurried into town before all the restaurants in Whangarei shut, and found the Thai place also recommended by our landlady. Luckily it was still open, and they let us in, and we had a rushed but excellent meal in about 30 minutes. By the end they were closing blinds and tidying up around us but, well-fed, we didn't really mind!

After an "admin day" (translation: we didn't do very much) the next day we headed up the coast a short distance to go diving off the Poor Knights Islands. R&E had kindly decided originally that they would snorkel with me, as I can't scuba. However we found out that scuba-ing was barely more expensive, and anyway the snorkellers go on the same boat, so they went for the scuba dive and I happily snorkelled. Jacques Cousteau called the Poor Knights his favourite dive spot in the world, and the clear waters are packed with fish of all kinds. In particular the islands are known for their stingray - three weeks before our dive, a huge group of stingray had gathered and were promptly attacked by a pod of orca that steamed through for the ultimate all-you-can-eat feast.

We weren't quite so lucky as to see a sight like that, but the snorkelling was good. There were lots of colourful little fish and some less colourful big ones, all swimming around the volcanic formations underwater. On both dives I saw a stingray, which had me spluttering in excitement and made me swallow water! They are really majestic fish, whether they're lying still on the sandy bottom or gliding through the water. R&E saw one swimming close up and were thrilled - otherwise they were mildly pleased with the day rather than elated, being jaded veterans of the Milford Sound.

We had enough time in the evening after the diving to continue on our journey north. We'd chosen a hostel from our BBH Guide that sounded pretty good - Kahoe Farms Hostel, in Doubtless Bay.



Kahoe turned out to be really lovely, by far the nicest hostel I've stayed in so far. We had a warm welcome and were shown to beautiful sunny rooms - simple, but clean and positively luxurious compared to some hostels we've been to! There was a deck in the garden looking out over green hills with cows grazing in a pastoral sort of way. The owner Stefano, an Italian immigrant who is football-crazy, made us pizza and pasta which we devoured while sitting outside. It was pretty perfect.

The next day was less perfect. We had booked seats on a tour to Cape Reinga and Ninety-Mile Beach, the traditional combination for tourists to the Far North. Our bus was a rickety 4x4 affair and our guide/driver tried his hardest to give interesting snippets but did manage to repeat himself a lot and offer a lot of half-information. By the time we reached the cape R was hopping mad with frustration and informed us that "this is the worst thing we've done in NZ". E basically agreed but between us we managed to calm him down a little, enough for a photo at the lighthouse.





Box ticked.

Back on the bus we drove to a nearby beach for lunch amid the hordes - every bus tour, and there are lots, follows the same agenda. After that it was over to the beach, first for sandboarding on the dunes. The dunes are incredible. They're very high, and are beautiful golden sand which is perfect for sandboarding. You walk to the top of a slope (this is hard work and several of the people on our bus found it very hard work) and then you lie on your board and slide to the bottom. It was totally exhilarating; though predictably R&E found it less exciting than I did, being the hardened NZ tourists they are.



However I think we all agreed that sandboarding was the highlight of the day.

Afterwards came a long drive down Ninety-Mile Beach. Of course the beach isn't actually this long, being more like 90km, but why change a good name? The drive was made longer by several stops and a completely inexplicable detour through some sandy bits, which I think was mainly designed to show off the 4x4-ness of the bus.



Needless to say we were very glad to get to the hostel that evening, where we mostly collapsed and washed sand out of our hair.

A home and a job!

I will catch up with this blog shortly - I have to write about visiting Cape Reinga and Northland, missing out on the Tongariro Crossing, a short sojourn in the Marlborough Sounds and successfully completing the Tongariro Crossing!

In the meantime, the good news is that I have a flat and a job. Both are in Wellington. The flat is a cosy one-bedroom and the job is at a weekly education magazine. It should be fun, and I shall enjoy settling down after six weeks of travelling. It's lovely to hang clothes up in a wardrobe!

Auckland and environs

We arrived in Auckland the day after Waitomo. The city seemed incredibly big and busy after the peace of NZ countryside, and I got nervous all over again as R coped with the horrid weaving stop-start traffic coming into Auckland. It just wasn't fun!

R&E instantly set about trying to get rid of their van at the backpackers' car market. That meant I didn't see an awful lot of them for a few days. Luckily timing was ideal and my rowing friend Bea was visiting from Oz prior to her parents arriving for an NZ holiday. So Bea and I went off to be tourists whilst R&E were van salesmen.

We definitely got the best of the deal! Our first visit, in Bea's little rental car, was to the pretty suburb of Devonport where there are amazing views over the city.



We didn't spend an awful lot of time there though as it was raining and didn't look like it was going to improve much. Instead we headed west for sunshine and surf at Piha Beach.



Piha is a nice little place that is entirely set up for surfers and nobody else. You can't swim because there are really dangerous rip tides, and I wouldn't imagine it would be a very good place for inexperienced surfers either as the surf is complicated, breaking with awesome force in a different way with every new wave. It's pretty impressive to look at though and we enjoyed having a picnic on the beach and watching the surfers.



After lunch and a paddle we got back in the car and drove along more windy roads to Karekare Beach. Poor Bea, driving, also felt a little carsick. Karekare was worth the effort though. Jane Campion used the beach as a location in The Piano (when Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin arrive with the piano on shore) and it lives up to its cinematic reputation. It was wild and almost deserted, and we felt like we had it to ourselves. The black volcanic sand made for some rather pretty patterns and we both indulged ourselves with arty shots:







Like many places in NZ, Karekare has significance for the Maori and there was an elaborate pou near the beach, and near the car park. When we arrived we spotted a newly-wed couple getting their photos taken by it!



Back in Auckland that evening we indulged in pizza and cheap bubbly by the harbour - a lovely way to end a nice day!

We decided not to drive the following day, instead doing a bit of Auckland. I went to an exhibition at the Auckland Museum about the colonisation of the Pacific by waka, or outrigger canoes. Thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating to find out how the early Polynesian settlers travelled thousands of miles in these slender vessels to colonise new lands. Walking through the Domain afterwards Bea nearly trod on a weta. She was reassured to learn that unlike Aussie insects the weta isn't harmful and looks worse than it is.



At the weekend we drove to Hamilton to see another rowing friend, Lucy, who's living in NZ with her Kiwi rower boyfriend and working. We timed the visit exactly right as we managed to be there for an end-of-season rowing party involving togas (aka cheap sheets) and lots of beer. It was good fun, the Hamilton rowers were incredibly welcoming, and we enjoyed catching up with Lucy. She drove us down to Lake Karapiro the next day where we watched a couple of races in the NZ national trials and we reminisced about rowing at home. I miss it! Looking forward to getting on the water here as soon as possible.

The last day of our little road-trip was Monday and we ended up in Raglan, another surf paradise but one a little more built-up than Piha. Bea was keen for me to try surfing but by the time we'd got to the surf school office it was too late, so we just walked down to the beach instead. Actually it was a good thing we hadn't wasted money on surf lessons because the waves were very small and it might have been a bit dull. I'll learn elsewhere. However like Piha the beach itself was very pretty. We got in touch with our younger selves by cartwheeling along the beach.



Back in Raglan we hired kayaks for an hour and paddled around the estuary, where there are curious limestone formations with little caves to explore. Unfortunately neither of us had a camera, but they were well worth looking at with weird structures and shapes galore. Fish and chips finished off the day before we headed back to Auckland and parted, Bea to find a room for the night and me to meet R&E.

They arrived a bit later, full of glee for having managed to sell their van just minutes before they had to leave the car market. Unfortunately it went at a knock-down price, and there's now some lucky tourist driving around NZ in Chuck Norris and hopefully having a good time. We headed north; that'll be the next post.

Caving and glowworms in Waitomo

Going back in time again - now I'm in Wellington flat-hunting I have a little more time to catch up with what we did several weeks ago!

After the Whanganui we drove north to Waitomo Caves, nominally a small village but actually a collection of things for tourists to do. The village is built around its famous Glowworm Caves, discovered in the 19th century by a couple of guys who thought they'd see where the rivers flowing underground went. Inside the caves they discovered that the roofs were sparkling with lights - thousands of glowworms. From then on tourists have flocked to the caves to explore and marvel at the pretty creatures. We discovered that glowworms are actually the larvae of a small fly, and although they're pretty they're also carniverous and lure unsuspecting prey in through the light, which is generated from bodily waste. Lovely.

The day we arrived in Waitomo was sweltering, so we spent a lazy afternoon having a couple of beers in the holiday park and playing chess. Overnight it rained, and we all slept in; though it wasn't as though there was anything to do!

The day's big activity was our caving trip, with the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company. We'd picked something that looked a bit adventurous and involved abseiling, caving, and blackwater rafting (otherwise known as floating down a river in an inner tube). In the event it wasn't particularly adventurous, but it was a lot of fun. First we had to get kitted out in wonderfully-flattering wetsuits, helmets and little white wellies:



Then we got taken to the cave, and taught how to abseil:



After that we went underground, abseiling down a 30m hole into the cave. I was surprised at how not-scared I felt, given my dislike of going over edges of things. Our guide Dan insisted on taking photographs every step of the way, but it did mean we got a record of the caving!

The underground tour took us down passages into a deep cave with plenty of glowworms hanging from the ceiling. They looked really beautiful, glimmering away up there. Close up we could see the silky threads they use to catch their prey, also glimmering. We floated and then scrambled and tried climbing, and also did a bit of swimming. There was one wall in particular none of us managed to negotiate in the way we were supposed to, and all of us fell into the river. Thankfully the wetsuits kept us relatively warm, although without gloves fingers tended to get a bit chilly!

After a couple of hours underground we emerged into the daylight, and were taken back for showers, soup and bagels.

In the evening we met up with one of our caving group for drinks and a few games of pool at the Waitomo Caves Tavern, a happening sort of place which kicked us out at 11pm!

From Waitomo it was on to Auckland - more of that tomorrow.

Wet and windy in Whakapapa

Here we all are - me, Mum, Dad, R & E - in Whakapapa Village in Tongariro National Park. Thanks to E's diligent collection of vouchers on the back of supermarket receipts we got half-price bedrooms at the historic Chateau Tongariro, which is supposed to have a fantastic backdrop of Mount Ruapehu. Instead we have a fantastic backdrop of wind, rain, and sleet. We can't see a thing, it's cold and miserable, and our planned Tongariro Crossing has been rained off. We're hoping to go for a shorter walk this afternoon if it stops raining as it was supposed to be a bit clearer this afternoon. Lots of people who were going to do the Crossing now appear to be heading for waterfalls instead!

Nevertheless it's nice to be having our first family holiday in five years. Mum and Dad arrived on Monday, a bit jet-lagged from their long flight. I dragged them round the National Maritime Museum in Auckland during the afternoon, as I wanted to see it anyway. Boats! We ate at the revolving restaurant in the Sky Tower in the evening where the rain held off enough to get great views of Auckland-at-night, and our waitress managed to be utterly incompetent throughout the meal. And Mum left her umbrella by the window, only to discover later on that it had been on the part not moving and we had revolved past it four or five times in the course of the meal.

More will come later, once we've hit Wellington and I'm static for a bit looking for a flat and internet is cheaper!

Canoeing the Whanganui

After New Plymouth it was time to do something a little more relaxing, so we headed across to Taumaranui on the Whanganui River. The Maori say that the Whanganui was created when Taranaki left the central mountains and stormed across country, and the river is the longest in NZ. It's beautiful, too; winding through leafy limestone gorges with masses of green bush on the banks.

We'd hired two canoes. I had a little yellow kayak to myself, while R&E had a Canadian canoe for two in which all our stuff was loaded. We were hoping to stay in huts during our three-day trip but had to take a tent in case the huts were full or we didn't make them. Then there was food, a couple of boxes of wine, and so on!

On our way down to the drop-off point we encountered a small problem - a hole in the road! A road crew were trying to put pipes in the road and instead of digging up half of it so that people could get past, they'd dug up the whole width thinking that nobody would be using the narrow gravel track. Wrong! One of the guys came across and informed us it would probably be two hours before we could pass. I was fuming, but R&E - more used to Kiwi roads by now - sat back resigned. Luckily they decided the bottom of the hole was too soggy to do anything with, so they filled it up again and we were off in just 20 minutes.

The trip went well, and we alternately paddled along perfectly-flat stretches of river, negotiated baby rapids, or drifted on the current. I only fell out once, and R&E didn't fall out at all. We made both the huts and spent time with the six other travellers on the river those days, a British couple and four Danish guys. On day two we visited the Bridge to Nowhere, built when they wanted to build up the area (the plan failed). It was all fun and nicely relaxing, though we also felt we'd done some exercise for once!

Heading north

We left Wellington on the Saturday after I arrived, when R&E had to leave their flat because the lease ran out. By the time we'd loaded the van with all our stuff it had gone midday, but we still planned to make it all the way to New Plymouth in one run.

Luckily the weather was good and the van behaved itself as we headed northwards, stopping just once in the small town of Mercer for a snack in a surprisingly nice bar - surprising, because it wouldn't have been out of place in London and yet here it was in the middle of rural NZ.

It was getting towards evening when we turned inland to head through Stratford with Taranaki on our left, enabling me to get some good shots of the mountain (there's one in the first post below). Shortly after that we reached New Plymouth and checked in at the holiday park, pitching the tent next to the van. The lady in the office told us that there were lights on in the town's park so we headed along the coast walk in the dark to try and see them, and get a bite to eat. But even though it was Saturday evening all the cafes and bars had stopped serving food by the time we eventually arrived, and we were all a bit tired and hungry. We ended up in Burger King and didn't see the lights!

The next morning we headed back into NP to meet a friend of mine, who gave us a tour of the town's main attraction, Pukekura Park:



We hired a boat and had a bit of a row, which was fun. The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting over a beer or two, very pleasantly!

Monday morning dawned bright, which was lucky because we were heading up Taranaki. There was just a small ring of cloud around the summit when we set off at about 9am, kitted out with everything needed for the day's climb.



Taranaki is not a mountain to be underestimated, and you're supposed to sign a Department of Conservation intentions book before heading out. We did, being about the eighth group off that morning. The first bit of the path was absolutely fine, with a steady climb upwards and some spectacular views across to the central mountains of Tongariro National Park.



Then it got steeper and steeper and worse and worse, with a huge long steep scree slope to negotiate followed by equally steep rocks. A lot of the time I was using my hands as well as my feet, and we slipped back every few steps losing some of the height we gained. Plus it was hot, despite the altitude. We'd been climbing for ages and were still not at the summit when the altitude got me, making me feel exhausted and breathless. After a rest and another attempt at continuing I gave up, much to my chagrin because I really wanted to make it to the top! Instead I gave my camera to R and he carried on, while E and I turned back to start the descent. This was actually worse than the ascent in some ways. We slipped and slid down the scree. I kept falling over and was covered in dust and grit with stones in my boots. It was really not fun, although R&E did enjoy the sliding! E and I waited near the bottom of the scree for R to come slipping down after his summit success, and we slowly made our way down the mountain.

Arriving back at the start some nine hours after we began the climb, we discovered that we were still the last group to have signed the intentions book despite several other parties coming up behind us. Crazy.

We got back to New Plymouth tired and dusty and starving. Fish and chips filled the hole and lying down in the tent helped with the tiredness, but a hot shower was the best thing of all!