Great Barrier, the long version

I'm not entirely sure why I decided I wanted to go to Great Barrier Island, but I'm glad I did. I got up very early on Thursday and had a relatively uncomplicated journey down to Auckland, arriving in plenty of time to check in. The baggage allowance of 15kgs turned out to include hand luggage, so after ditching a few kilos of stuff I was a mere 9kgs over. Actually it only cost me $13.50, which isn't too bad.

The plane carried six passengers and the pilot and was a bit squashed. It was unfortunately cloudy until the very last minute, when we broke through the cloud to see the island below, green and rugged.

I hadn't planned much beyond arriving on the island so it was lucky that the island's shuttle bus was there and able to give me a ride down to my accommodation. Fiona, the driver, was Scottish and said she'd arrived on Great Barrier eight years ago while travelling around the world. She was supposed to stay for a month, but ended up calling her mum and telling her the journey was over as she'd “found paradise”. On first sight the island was certainly impressive, all rolling green mountains and white beaches with crashing turquoise surf.

Nobody was in at my B&B, Pigeon's Lodge, but there was a note on the door and keys in the door to my unit. I flopped and read through the information folders, deciding eventually to wander down to the nearby shop and see if there was anything edible for lunch. There wasn't, really, but sandwiches were advertised and sandwiches were shortly forthcoming as the shop owner made me some to order.

After a bit more thought I resolved to hire a car in order to be independent. There is a bus that does a run up the island every day, but only once and if you miss it you're stuck. Hiring a car meant I was able to do what I wanted, stop for photos, and also get out for dinner (there was nowhere to eat out closer than 3km away). The very sweet lady in the car hire place let me have two days plus a few hours for the cost of two days, so I was quickly mobile in a little Toyota and tootling down the road that goes as far south as you can go.

I looked at nice views and had a couple of short strolls, then was virtuous and did the nasty hill sprints I was told to do for rowing. Ugh. Dinner, a bit later, was in the Irish pub (there's always an Irish pub) which wasn't actually terribly Irish but did serve a superb piece of snapper and a nice chocolate brownie.

On Friday I was served breakfast on my private deck, all very civilised, and then got in the car and headed north. Via a few short stops for photos and a brief side-trip for a view down “Windy Canyon” I eventually reached Port Fitzroy where there's a little shop. Dumping the car there I set out for a tramp. It had been trying to rain and still looked as though it could so I carried waterproof trousers and jacket and an extra layer, all quite unnecessarily as it turned out.

Really I should have driven to the start of the tramp as it took me a good 40 minutes to run out of road – not that it's busy road, but it was driveable. The track I wanted to take is being repaired, but close scrutiny of the notice indicated it was nominally open, so I went for it.

The walk began very pleasantly, through bush alongside a stream, but after a bit got steeper. There was a bit of a scramble where the track basically vanished for a short distance, and later more scrambles up rocks and very steep bits. En route I stopped to look at the remains of a kauri dam – these were built in the early 20th century for the timber company that was logging kauri from Great Barrier's forests. They built these enormous structures across the river, felled the trees, and let them float down until they were behind the dam. Then they tripped the dam and let the logs float downstream. Not many survive but the one that does is very impressive.

After about two and a half hours of tough walking I got to the bottom of some steps. Apparently, 860 steps, straight up to get to the summit of Mount Hobson/Hirikamata, 621m above sea level. I thought they were never going to end! I also thought I was reasonably fit but was huffing and puffing and dripping sweat by the time I finally, exhilaratingly, got to the top. The cloud had completely cleared and the views all around were spectacular. Unlike many viewpoints Hirikamata is really and truly the highest point on the island, and thus the highest point for some miles, so you can see in all directions – right across to Rangitoto in Auckland harbour, in fact. It felt very good to have reached the top!

After a break I started down a different track, although there was another long steep flight of stairs to contend with. This track had evidently been repaired recently because all the steps were in brilliant condition. A bit further down it got slightly slippy and I fell quite hard (but without injuring myself) before I found a stick to help me the rest of the way. I'm so bad at downhill and by the end of the walk was plodding a bit with sore feet and legs, but the track was also very pretty, through a number of different sorts of woodland with some good views back towards the summit.

Eventually I made it back on to the road and about 800m from Port Fitzroy was picked up by a kindly truck driver – hitching is very acceptable on Great Barrier as everyone knows everyone. Leaving your car and house unlocked is also fine. I realised when I got back to my car that I'd left the windows open the whole day, but it didn't matter (also, I was carrying all my valuables!)

The drive back to Tryphena took well over an hour, via the restaurant I was planning to eat at which recommends booking. They didn't seem that busy but I told them I'd be back and hurried to my B&B for a lovely shower.

At the restaurant the couple and their elderly mother who had been on my flight out were there, so invited me to join their table. That made for a pleasant meal with nice conversation, which was good after a day alone in the bush when I'd only seen two other people the entire time. I had another nice chat with Jim and Anne who own the B&B when I got back there before finally crashing.

My last day was a bit slower, thankfully, as my legs are really quite achy! I did a bit more tootling about in the car, looking at one of the surf beaches; and a short walk along a bit of the Tramline track, which follows the route of the tramline built by the timber company to pick up the logs they'd floated downstream. There was another short and easy walk (I did it in trainers, boots would have been a joke) to the Kaitoke Hot Springs, a natural hot stream running through the forest down to the Kaitoke Swamp. For a while I had the glade all to myself, and luxuriated in the warm water listening to the birds singing and the water bubbling away until a family arrived and broke my solitude.

Annoyingly I had some time to kill, even after I'd filled the car up with very expensive petrol and had a milkshake, so drove a little way to a beach I hadn't visited and wandered there for 20 minutes until it was time to catch the tiny plane back to Auckland. It was a glorious day so this time the views were incredible, and I even saw a whale.

I'd considered getting the bus into Auckland but in the end couldn't be bothered. It's not like I like Auckland very much. So I whiled away the hours at the airport with a shower and very slow duty free shopping and then messing around with pictures on my computer and blogging. Remarkably time passed quite quickly, and as I write it's only half an hour until boarding and then the interminable journey back to wet, windy London.

(And as I post it's half an hour until boarding again in Hong Kong … getting there!)

Great Barrier Island

I'm on Great Barrier Island, which is the largest island in the Hauraki Gulf but has just 650 inhabitants. Lovely and quiet (although has mosquitoes, so I'm trying not to scratch my bites). I was slightly badly-prepared having not booked a shuttle from the airport or a hire car, but there was a shuttle lady there who took me to my accommodation and a hire car place just down the hill from where I'm staying so I later went there and got one. Spent the afternoon driving the roads south as far as I could go - some nice views - and then doing the hill sprints I was told to do by my coach! Am feeling virtuous and ready for a nice meal at the local pub, where it's open mic night. :) Off tramping and exploring tomorrow.

Baby waterfalls

As promised I did the waterfall walk today. Although everything else I'd read had said 6km from Waitangi the sign said 5km, and there were markers each km. The round trip was still probably near 16km, counting from the hostel! It wasn't a very hard walk though, a nice track through bush and across a boardwalk through a mangrove swamp. The waterfall wasn't very big either but was a nice enough place to stop, take a few photos, eat a banana (couldn't see the rumoured cafe) and walk back from.

In town I visited the library where there was an appalling art exhibition - some overly-Photoshopped photos and bad paintings, Dad and I together could have done much better - and an interesting "history room" with photos from Paihia's history and some folders detailing the development of the town. That was a nice backdrop to visiting the pretty little stone church, built by the descendants of the first missionary to be based here, Henry Williams. I wandered around the graveyard and marvelled at the yellow pohutukawa tree by the road. All the pohutukawa are starting to come out. Paihia is going to be stunning when they're all in flower.

Having some time to kill I rented a kayak for an hour and had fun combatting the waves and wind round the little islands just out in the bay. It was good to be on the water. Then I repacked my bags, sorting out stuff I don't need for the final couple of nights as I think they're going to tell me my suitcase is too heavy to fly to Great Barrier. I've packed it in a separate bag inside the case, ready to whip it out if need be. Then dinner - I've been pretty good this trip and have eaten "in" a few times, plus a couple of bbqs at Kylee's and a cheap Thai in Wellington, so these last days I'm splashing out on proper dinners, expense be damned. Tonight's was lamb shank and a sticky date pudding. And an Otago Pinot. Nice.

Up early, to drive to Auckland to catch my plane. Am terrified I'll get stuck in traffic so am leaving plenty of time.

Waitangi

I had a proper lie-in this morning. My Cambridge hostel had a high window without a curtain so I woke before 7am every day when the sun got up. Today I slept until 8 and then dozed for a while longer.

Eventually I got up, had breakfast and went along to Waitangi. It's a couple of kilometres from Paihia along the coast. Waitangi is hugely significant for New Zealanders as it's where the treaty that essentially founded modern NZ was signed, back in 1840, between the British and the Maori. The British didn't exactly hold to its terms, unfortunately, but it's used these days as legislation to determine land ownership and other Maori rights. The grounds where the treaty was signed now houses a marae, a war canoe and the house where the British Resident used to live with his family. And a big flagpole. I did a guided tour, which was interesting enough, and wandered around taking pictures for a bit afterwards. The Treaty House (the former residency) had a beautiful garden in full bloom with some gorgeous roses. The marae smelled of sweaty feet, although that might just have been me ... however the carvings were beautiful. The canoe was pretty awesome too, the largest waka in existence - it goes out every Waitangi Day.

There's a 6km walk to a waterfall from near Waitangi which I considered doing in the afternoon, but decided eventually to do it tomorrow in lieu of paying for a boat trip of some description - they're all hideously expensive and it seems daft to pay to swim with dolphins when I did that on my overnight Spirit of NZ voyage right at the start of my time in NZ, or pay to visit Roberton Island when I've been a guest of Jim and Terri who live there. The only really tempting trip was a sail on the R Tucker Thompson which is a locally-based topsail schooner, although I've also sailed these waters on Soren. So in the end I'm ditching the expensive trips and am going to walk to the waterfall tomorrow, which I think is a round trip of about 16km. Luckily there's a cafe at the waterfall so I don't need to carry lunch. :)

After a stop at the supermarket for dinner and a bit of procrastination at the hostel I drove to Opua as I was pretty sure Soren was still there. She was/is, but a little too far offshore to really hail her. I looked from the quayside and it was so very good to see her whole and healthy and seaworthy, when the last time I saw her she had a big hole in her side and no deckhouse.

So that was today. Fairly quiet, but the odd quietish day on holiday is, in my books, a Good Thing.

World Champs

It's a little funny watching international rowing at a place you know well, and remembering your own close races as two crews fight it out for a world championship gold. But it's nice too, particularly when there's a good atmosphere and the whole crowd is willing their crew on to victory.

Such was the World Championships at Karapiro.

I drove up from Wellington on Wednesday, leaving at about 9.30am after picking up my friend Kylee's rowing machine from another friend and somehow jamming it into my car. The drive was okay, although by the end I was pretty tired. Although I've driven the road to Cambridge from Wellington a number of times I've never had to do the whole thing myself. The mountains were pretty with snow and the weather was good, but nevertheless I was glad to find my hostel/motel in Cambridge. I went to Kylee's for dinner with the erg, caught up with her and other rowing friends, and finally crashed with great relief!

There had been a rumour that racing was starting early on Thursday so I got there in plenty of time – two hours beforehand, in the end! It was interesting watching the crews practice though and we got to see replays from the previous day. Racing eventually kicked off with semi-finals and proved to be of high quality. NZ's Mahé Drysdale gave everyone a heart attack by having issues with his official boat stickers before his semi, and then stopping the race a few strokes in. He was lucky the judges didn't disqualify him.

After lunch it was time for the adaptive finals and the first sign of the strong Kiwi support, for their single sculler Danny McBride. GB got its first medals – a gold for Tom Aggar, in a superlative display, and a silver for the LTA mixed coxed four just on the line. The loveliest moment of the day was when one of the guys in the Italian intellectually disabled four grabbed one of his crewmates; bunches of flowers, took his own and ran over to give them to the Italian girls cheering their silver medal. It was adorable.

I woke on Friday to rain which was continuing as I went to the course. Kylee got me into the grandstand for the morning session using her grandparents' tickets (there were loads of spare seats anyway) and I escaped the rain. By lunchtime the sun was out with a vengeance but the wind was also rising and there were more than a few mutters about the lanes being unfair as racing continued. Two more golds for GB, with dominant displays from the lightweight men's double and the women's quad, but disappointment for the lightweight women's double who never managed to get into the race, and the men's four who led before being rowed down by crews in perhaps more favoured lanes. They ended up fourth after a storming finish from the Kiwis.

In the evening I went to a dinner for Wellington Rowing Club at the Cambridge Raceway, where we always stayed for regattas and where a few people are staying this week.

On Saturday I missed the D/C/B finals at the rowing in favour of doing the Hobbiton movie set tour as it's really close. I had to sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell anyone about the tour as there's a risk of being sued, but suffice to say it was very good. Hobbiton being rebuilt for The Hobbit looks lovely. I got to stand under the Party Tree and look up at Bag End and really imagine being in the Shire. There's a lovely coincidence about the farm they chose – it's just off Buckland Road. The road wasn't named after Tolkien's Buckland (home of the Brandybucks) but after a Mr Buckland who settled the area over a century ago. How's that for coincidence?

The tour ended with a sheep shearing demonstration, which I wasn't expecting to enjoy but did. It was quick and efficient. The shearer hauled out a gigantic wether (young male sheep), which surprisingly didn't fidget too much, and sheared it. Then he let out three lambs and let people bottle-feed them, which was a cute end to the tour.

Back at the lake it was heaving. I couldn't find anyone I knew, until after I'd had a pie for lunch and found a spare spot on the grass I discovered I was sitting next to someone I did know from Wellington. The wind had turned tail and was much more even than yesterday. The racing proved to be spectacularly good, apart perhaps from the pointless coxed pair event that kicked off the finals. The GB lightweight women's quad failed to show but the other four British crews in finals all medalled – the men's lightweight four holding off an exceptionally close field to win gold, Hodgy and Reed leading Murray and Bond all the way only to lose the gold in the last few strokes, the women's pair rowing a blinder to win silver, and Alan Campbell winning a solid bronze. The atmosphere when the Kiwi crews were racing was extraordinary. My little voice screaming for GB probably got a bit lost. But I had fun. It was nice to see the Kiwi rowers being treated like celebrities, just as the GB four was at Eton; girls screaming for Mahé and the pair and teenagers anxiously waiting for autographs.

On Sunday the crowds came back. I got there for the frankly slightly pointless C and B finals (Singapore versus Peru in the lightweight men's singles, woohoo) but the A finals were again superb. The Kiwis got off to a good start with a silver in the lightweight women's singles, then the British women's double won gold in commanding style. The men looked like they were going to emulate the women before the Kiwi double just stormed through in the last 400m; I've never seen a finish like it and the crowd went completely mad. The eights finished things off – the British women just finishing out of the medals while the men left things a bit late to catch up a superb German crew but did win silver.

I stayed for the closing ceremony, which involved prime minister John Key appearing to give the British team the team trophy (yay) and was followed by a Maori ceremony involving four waka (war canoes) and a mass haka.

In the evening it was back to Kylee's for another barbeque and then farewell to my Wellington friends. This morning I set off early for the drive to Paihia. I stopped in Auckland hoping to see the Soren Larsen come in from her voyaging, but no ship – turns out she's up here in Opua, for some reason, although moored out in the harbour so I haven't bothered trying to go and say hello because I only realised when I was out for a lovely run along the coast and by the time I'd have got there it would have been dinnertime. I might see if she's still there tomorrow. Otherwise I'm going to try and catch her in Auckland, before going home.

Paihia is wonderfully quiet and I'm in a lovely hostel. Had fish and chips for dinner. Mmm. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to Waitangi, which is just a couple of kilometres walk. Wednesday I might go for a walk, or possibly hire a kayak, or even both. I'll see how I go.

Still here!

Apologies for the lack of blogging, no internet access where I'm staying so no way of spending hours writing about what I've been doing.

Short version, to be followed by a longer one later this week: rowing, yay. Hobbiton, pretty. Suncream depleting quickly. Windy!

Springtime in Wellington

The sunshine has come out for my brief stay in Wellington - today has been absolutely gorgeous. (Don't worry, Mum, am wearing suncream).

I spent yesterday being a proper tourist. Mooched around the City Gallery for a bit; for once the modern art was actually worth seeing (well, most of it). Then I caught the ferry to Matiu/Somes Island which is a nature reserve. Once upon a time it was a quarantine station for people, then a WW2 internment camp, and then a quarantine station for animals. Eventually they closed the quarantine station down, after a little longer the Crown returned the land to the local iwi, and now it's managed by DOC. It's completely predator-free and full of birds and geckos and lizards. I saw loads of kakariki (parakeets, awfully cute but in the habit of flying away rather than posing for photos) and various other birds, plus lots of skink and geckos. There are tuatara on the island but I didn't see any of them despite keeping an eye out. Had a good walk around, explored the old quarantine station and the WW2 gun encampments, and then caught the ferry back to the city.

In the evening I met some rowing friends for dinner. That was nice.

Today I woke to glorious sunshine so after a yummy breakfast grabbed my camera and walked up Mt Victoria. Lovely views across the harbour today. Next stop was my former workplace, for coffee and a chat with my ex-colleagues, and then lunch with my old editor who is thriving in his new job (hurrah). Yummy lunch too, at a Hare Krishna restaurant. Bit of shopping, coffee and postcard writing, wander back to the B&B via the liquor store for wine to encourage me to self-cater a bit over the next week (this may be false economy as I spent $40/£19 on a Martinborough pinot noir, but you can't get a decent Martinborough pinot at home and I wanted some).

After that I read on the sun-soaked deck for a bit, backed up photos, and am generally chilling. Meeting friends for a run in an hour or so. Off up to Cambridge tomorrow.