Coromandel

The Geyser

Te Aroha

We drove from Turangi to Coromandel  stopping off at Te Aroha– a nice compact town with Edwardian soda baths and a geyser!  The Coromandel is a peninsula about 1.5 hrs drive from Auckland.  We were to stay in a studio apartment below the owner’s property. It overlooks the sea- quite a beautiful spot.  

Lots of wine to drink!

The week began to get strangely full of coincidences after that.  Jill and Harvey (their son in law plays guitar in “The Datsuns” for all you metal fans out there) the owners,  invited us for dinner with their friends Harry and Sue.  Their surname was “White” so two Sue Whites at the table!  Harry and Sue came to NZ about 35 years ago, he is a GP/ beef farmer and she is a teacher- yes you guessed it a special needs teacher!   It gets worse.  Her mother lives in Stoke St Milborough about 10 miles from where we live and used to live in Bridgnorth.  She did some teaching In Lye in Dudley and her husband worked at Dudley Road Hospital.  They kindly invited us to visit and look around their farm which we did- an awesome spot in the middle of the bush.  The world is a very small place, I’ve discovered.  How’s that for synchronicity???

A 9 metre circumference Kauri tree 1200 years old and over 40 metres tall.

Another strange occurrence when having some lunch in Auckland before the RWC final.  We saw Ozz Clarke get off the coach and go into Sky Centre with a party of people.  Steve said wouldn’t it be funny if a certain ex rugby star came along and low and behold 5 mins later I spotted him emerging from the building!!!!

Steve's new friend!

The final was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed at a sporting event.  Thousands and thousands of people in Auckland dressed in All Black colours and costumes- we were wearing our England shirts of course!!  The fan trail to walk to Eden Park was littered with entertainment, art events and bypassed the protesters against corporate greed who we stopped to chat with. 

The nation expects !

Protesters join in

Pre match nerves in Auckland

Fire dancing outside Eden Park

A lone french supporter

      The match was lost by the French who on the day were the better team.  We were shouting “Allez Les Bleus” as we felt we should support the northern hemisphere team and the French supporters were outnumbered heavily.  I sat next to a French fan and assured him my support was only for “Aujourdhui Seulement!”  When one of the All Black supporters behind started swearing with some vitriol about the French I put on my best Mumsie voice and told him if he couldn’t say it in French and give the guy next to me the right of reply he shouldn’t say it at all and that what he said wasn’t in the spirit of the game or the RWC!  He was OK after that.   Great event! 

Before the game!

We have since tried to have some quieter days, visiting beaches on the Coromandel and just soaking up the sunshine and sea air. It is quietly beautiful and grows some very good mussels. 

We did a gorge walk at the Karangahati Gorge which involved a 1Km walk though a tunnel which was part of an old goldmine.  The engineering skills involved in building in this difficult terrain at the start of the 20^th Century amazed us. 

Hahei Beach

This whole trip around NZ has been the most amazing experience of my life so far.  This is a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people I have ever met anywhere in the world.  The RWC was a triumph for the whole nation.  NZ is idyllic but it also has its problems like all nations.  I was surprised to read in the national paper that it has the 5^th highest rate of child abuse in the western world, a child dying about every 5 weeks as a direct result of this and the second highest rate of teenage pregnancies behind the USA.  I guess all countries, however beautiful have problems.

Farewell and thanks New Zealand.  It has been remarkable journey; if I had visited here 30 years ago I know I would have stayed.  I will definitely want to come back.

Off home now via Sydney, Hong Kong and Wolverhampton Bus Station!!!

Turangi

Tongiriro River at Turangi

We drove to Turangi  30 miles south of Taupo to do a week at a timeshare. The Tongariro National Park just south of here- the first in NZ to be designated when a local Maori chief gave it to the nation to save his sacred lands from being broken up, settled or spoiled- has three volcanoes.  Mt Ruapehu erupted in 1996/1997 and again in 2007 disrupting the skiing which takes place on its slopes for two seasons. The landscape was the setting for the scenes from Lord of the Rings that showed Mordor. 

Lake Taupo is also an old volcanic crater which when it erupted in 186AD caused the formation of the largest lake in NZ.   The beaches surrounding it are covered in pumice.  The whole area is quite heavily Maori.  Meeting  houses with ornate wooden carvings around the doorway are sited within communities and signs are in Maori and English.  Generally the Turangi area has an air of being populated with a lower socio -economic profile; the first time we have seen this on the trip.  It had a “Second Chance” type adult education unit prominently in the middle of town. 

Huka Falls

We went to see some of the sights north of Taupo which included the Huka falls; a rather spectacular waterfall which is nearly horizontal but funnels five  Olympic sized swimming pools per second through the channel of rock.  We went on to look at the geothermal features.  These are gaps in the rocks that channel steam and water from fumaroles and bubbling, rumbling mud pits-amazing, We’d never seen anything quite like it. 

Fumaroles near Taupo

"Boiling" Mud Pits

The precarious nature of NZ as a shaky piece of land perched on top of the pacific plates which are constantly moving was really brought home to us.  We watched a very moving film about the recent Christchurch earthquake.  How people live with the worry of this on a daily basis I can’t imagine.  Their resolve and resilience is humbling.

A highlight of this week has been a white water rafting trip 7 miles down the Tongariro river, a spur of the moment idea which I hoped I wouldn’t regret!  I didn’t.  Despite an arthritic hip, Steve came too and suffered no ill effects; we both thought it was a truly amazing experience.  It involved getting kitted out in wet suit gear, a Grade 3 river (out of 5), a good looking young local raft guide called Yak ( short for Kayak), 50 rapids to negotiate, scenery that you can’t access any other way, viewing an endangered species of Blue Duck, getting totally soaked, almost falling out, hitting the rock face of the cliffs by the river, paddling like mad and lots of screams usually from me.  Fantastic fun!!!! 

We are still following the rugby too but oh that was so not a red card offence from Alain Rolland.  Wales were robbed.  I just hope France turn up and play some decent rugby in the final. 

Off to the Coromandel now for our last week in NZ. 

Wellington/ Napier-North Island

The drive to Picton was very picturesque.  It lies within Marlborough Sounds, reminiscent of fiords in Norway.  Many houses cling to the hillsides and are only accessible by boat-quite idyllic.  After a night at the Backpackers hostel (Steve’s idea) – a weird place run by two elderly ladies who had definitely seen better days- like the building -we caught the 8am ferry to Wellington.  Hire cars are not allowed to cross so we had to organise all of our luggage between us.

Marlborough Sound views

The crossing was uneventful, the sea calm (Steve was still queasy, bless him!).  Having picked up the hire car in Wellington – a rather nice Toyota Corolla- we set off to see `Ta Papa”  Museum of New Zealand.  As it is half term here it was heaving with families.  We saw some very interesting displays on the geology of NZ and the real Webb Ellis trophy on display but neither of us felt it was as good as the Otago Museum in Dunedin.

Wellington at night

Wellington is the capital but it was a shock after the calm and quiet of South Island.  Lots of cars, high rise buildings and people.  We’d almost forgotten what that was like.  The next day we drove to Napier stopping off at the Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre a conservation project run by the Department of Conservation to return native birds at risk of extinction back to the wild.  We have both become rather attached to several native species including the Tui and the Takahe-a parrot like bird with lovely orange underwings.  We saw a brown kiwi; the centre takes eggs and hatches them before returning birds to the wild.  Kiwis are very vulnerable to predators as they don’t fly.  Only 10% of eggs laid hatch and survive. 

Napier was our destination, a delightful town full of art deco buildings built after the devastating earthquake which hit in 1930. It has some lovely gardens one of which contained a carillon which played old WW2 songs like “Pack up your troubles”, “Singing in the Rain” and “Bye Bye Blackbird”!! 

Napier's finesse

We decided to visit a winery since this area of Hawkes Bay is renowned for it’s wine and I’m a bit partial to grapes in this form!  We went for lunch to Mission Estate and very good the Beef fillet and Lamb were too as was the Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.  This is the oldest winery in NZ housed in an old seminary.  Bought some Gewurztraminer dessert wine for Xmas after tasting a few others!  Cheers all!

Off to Lake Taupo tomorrow. 

Nelson

We arrived in Mapua a small community about 15 miles from Nelson at the top of the South Island after a 7 hour drive from the Glaciers in heavy rain.  The house we are staying in belongs to a Swiss family and is at the bottom of his garden with beautiful views over the estuary at Mapua.  Typically they were not in when we arrived but the door was open and they had left a message to just go in and “make yourselves at home”.  Can you imagine leaving a door unlocked in England!

The castello at Mapua.

Nelson is a laid back city as is much of this area.  Lots of artists and dreadlocks visible!!  It has a nice vibe which came to the fore when they began their Arts festival with a street masked parade and party.  The school entries for the parade did a fantastic job.  A highlight was the video projection on to the Cathedral which told the story of Nelson. They had a particularly good “street art” exhibition featuring some pieces by Banksy which I loved. 

Check out the knitted water fountain cover!!

Up the coast is the Abel Tasman National Park which can only be reached by sea taxi in the middle sections.  Amazing golden sand and stunningly beautiful beaches.  We had a lovely walk to a beach from Marahau to Coquille Bay near the south entrance for a picnic lunch. We had the beach totally to ourselves except for some gulls who followed us around. 

A picnic with the gulls!

The drive further north to Golden Bay involves a 16 mile trip up and over a mountain to Takaka-the only route.  This is a lovely boho town with lots of organic/ wholefood/ arty types.  Some ordinary folk too!!!  We ventured north to the most northern point of South Island and found an area of sacred Maori Springs where 40,000 litres of water per second bubbles up from underground springs. We drove along an unsealed road and walked to a remote beach on the west coast and saw some amazing rock formations. 

West Coast grandeur!

On the way back we stopped for dinner at The Mussel Inn which brewed their own beer-good too!   I had a chicken pie which in various guises a national institution in NZ!  Steve had the most enormous mussels I have ever seen. We came back for a second look to see the top end of the Abel Tasman with another beach picnic where we saw  a grand total of 4 other people on this beach!! 

Lunch by Golden Bay

This area has an interesting community in that Germans settled here in the late 1800s.  10% of the population of the area still speak German.  How weird is that? Alternative technology is very apparent here too.  Sawdust toilets in one of the cafes we visited.

 Tomorrow we are off to discover what North Island has to offer with a 4 hour ferry trip to Wellington.

Oh and we watched the rugby QFs.  England lost, enough said!!

The Glaciers

Lake Wanaka

We left Queenstown to drive the 5 hour trip to the Franz Joseph Glacier.  En route we stopped at Wanaka.  The scenery around the lake is beautiful and the town ( which fringes the lake directly behind the photo) had a laid back feel that I liked.  The route from here takes you past more awe inspiring mountain scenery through forest strewn mountains to Haast and then on through national parks to the glaciers. We encountered few cars in either direction on the way, four cars on the same side of the road constitutes a traffic jam in this part of the South Island!!  We got to the Fox Glacier and stopped to do the walk around Matheson Lake.  This is the picture on many NZ post cards.  The highest mountains in NZ are Mt Tasman (on the left) and Mt Cook (on the right) and they mirror in the lake on a good day.

Much needed green tea!

Lake Matheson

This is our attempt at the mirror effect. 

Saturday we woke to torrential rain.  BUT having decided we were going to do the glacier walks we did the glacier walks.  First up was Fox, we got wet!!  Glaciers are basically 20 metres of compacted snow which turns to blue ice and runs out at the bottom in a river as it melts.                                                                          

  

This is Fox.  Well the bottom of it.  An hour's walk to the base.  Glacial morain clearly visible for all you A level Geographers.

This is Franz Joseph with the run off cave clearly visible.

In between Glaciers we went to a cafe for lunch.  Had whitebait patties!!  Not what we know as whitebait but estuary small fish.  Quite good too.  I was determined that the weather wasn't going to beat us so we went for the second glacier walk. 1.5 hrs round trip to Franz Joseph.  

A drowned and bedraggled kiwi bird!!!!

The next day was equally as wet.  We had a 7 hour drive up the west coast to Mapua at the top of the South Island.  No traffic so this went well.  We stopped off at Panakaiki Rocks.  Amazingly strange formations.  The rocks are arranged like stacked pancakes.



Interesting fact about NZ.  All of the bridges are numbered!!

Queenstown and around.

We have been a week in Queenstown – the adrenaline capital of NZ.  Not really our scene as the town is characterised by adventure activities – at exorbitant prices- and skiing but some totally awesome mountains around.  The receptionist at the time share is a welsh woman who moved over here 10 years ago to be with son and daughter at the age of 63.  She hasn’t lost her accent.

A highlight was the visit to Arrowtown – a small gold mining town that dates back to the 1860’s.  It had a Chinese community that settled there from Australia in the hope of getting rich.  These immigrants were at first welcomed then were somewhat persecuted later.  They worked hard hoping to send money back to family.  Steve tried his hand at gold panning at the Gold Mining centre; I think he was concerned his pension may not keep said wife in the manner to which she would like to become accustomed!!  He didn’t find any needless to say.  

An old cottage in Arrowtown

The Chinese living quarters in Gold mining days

Steve tries to up the pension!!

We borrowed bikes from the place we are staying and despite dodgy steering on mine managed a 10 mile bike ride around the Kelvin Heights peninsula near us.  Some beautiful houses en route. I WANT ONE!  More gold panning needed.

We went on the tourist trek up on the Gondola for views over Queenstown.  They were bungy jumping off the platform at the top.  I still don’t get that!!  Why would anyone want to do it??  I’m with Nick Easter who chickened out.

On our last day we drove to a remote settlement ,which until 1960’s could only be reached by boat: Glenorchy. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the views of the mountains were spectacular.  Intrepid tourists in victorian times would make the journey up on boats and then on upwards into the mountains on charabancs . Gutsy lot in those days!

Planking NZ style!!

Off to see some glaciers tomorrow.  

Fjiordland

Classic NZ road trip

Classic NZ road trip - well on South island- no traffic great scenery.  This was the route to Te Anau.  An overnight stop to allow us to visit Milford Sound.  This was also awesome.  The trip us was with a guide on the post bus.  He stopped at various locations to tell us about the natural environment.  Such as Manuka bushes only grow in NZ and they make great honey.  He brewed us Manuka tea en route with a mixture of Indian tea and fresh picked Manuka leaves.  Delicious!!

Milford Sound was amazing too.  How Capt Cook managed to find it is a mystery let alone map the fjiord area.  His maps and charts were used up until about 20 years ago.  

This is the road up to the Sound.  More pics to follow on facebook , it's too slow here to load any more!  The next day we did a 7 mile walk which even Steve managed through some LOTR scenery locations to Mananpouri Lake.  This was also beautiful and isolated.  We are now in Queenstown not a blonde or a dwarf in sight but very buzzy; it's a typical ski resort.  The mountain scenery is lovely.  Will blog more next week as I'm doing this in a chocci cafe and it's costing a fortune in hot choc!  No wifi at the apartment this week.  

The match was good we played better making less errors and practising some good backs' moves against pretty clueless opposition. Well attended too.  Sat right by two other Tigers fans who appreciated the Ben/ Manu try from the restart after half time. We drove to Dunedin from Queenstown a round trip of 7 hours for the day!