Day 43 Kerikeri to Omapere 31st March 2011

It was a lazy start to the day, not surfacing until after 08.00 as we were in no great hurry to be anywhere today.  It was good to have spent four nights in one place, but after breakfast it was time to pack our bags into the car and move on to pastures new.  Today we are heading for Omapere, which is over on the west coast, just at the entrance to Kokianga harbour.  Omapere it not famous for anything in particular, but our reasons for staying here are firstly it is on the way to the forests that contain the oldest Kauri trees in NZ, which are allegedly massive and secondly we met the sister of the owner of the B&B where we are on the Taieri Gorge Railway in South Island and she naturally recommended it to us. 

We departed Kerkeri and made our way into Piahia to pick up a small wooden Kiwi as a souvenir, which ordinarily would not be a problem.  However, as we are entering Australia, they have very strict rules about bringing in any flora or fauna, so we had to make sure we bought the kiwi from a shop that could supply a certificate to verify that the wood has been properly sterilised, otherwise we may have had a problem getting it home.  From Piahia we headed cross country to the Hokianga estuary, which is a substantial natural harbour, but just seems to lack any boats.  On one side are high grass covered hills with beautiful emerald green grass and on the other side of the water are towering sand dunes, which in the summer are ideal places for sand tobogganing.  

We stopped for food at Oponini, right on the edge of the boatless harbour and ate our packed lunch, with the sun straining to break through the high cirrus clouds. 

After lunch we drove on to Omapere and parked up on the top of a headland overlooking the harbour.  We walked around the headland and sat down on a bench soaking up the sun as it periodically broke through the thin high clouds.  By then it was time for afternoon tea, which was taken at a nearby cafe with equally stunning views over the sea.  From there it was time to go and check in to the B&B, which has the most incredible location right on the beach, looking out to the estuary and the Tasman Sea.  The B&B is as excellent inside as its location is stunning outside and the couple that run it are superb.  Definitely a good recommendation even if she was a relative.  This photo was taken from the beach!

As I write this blog I am currently sitting on the veranda looking out to sea and listening to the waves lap up onto the sandy beach below.  Tonight we are pushing the boat out and going just a few kms down the road to a small pub for dinner.

Tomorrow will be a very easy driving day, as we are only going about 90kms down the coast.  It’s wind down time now as we are into the last week of our time in New Zealand.

Day 42 Cape Reinga 30th March 2011

Another early start as we were being picked up at 07.50 again for our trip to Cape Reinga.  Showered, shaved, breakfasted and waiting at the end of the drive, the coach rolled in just a few minutes late.  We were the second to last pick up and the coach was already pretty full, so seats right at the back were the only ones available.  Funny isn’t it; when you’re one of the last to be picked up and most people have been on the coach for 45 minutes or so, they look at you as if you’ve been keeping them waiting for those same 45 minutes.  In reality they kept us waiting, albeit for just a few minutes.

Our driver and guide for the day was a Maori guy called Huey, or leastways that is what he was politely known as.  Fortunately Huey had not been taught by the same Italian driving instructor as most of our other drivers.  Unfortunately, he did suffer from verbal diarrhoea, which is a terrible affliction for a tour guide.  To make matters worse, he had a delightful Maori accent merged with a Southern United States drawl and the net result was dire.  It was just after 08.15 when he sung us his first song of the day and then rattled on continuously for the next 30 minutes until we reached our first stop of the day at the Puketi Kauri Forest.  His local knowledge was excellent and he was extremely informative about the Kauri trees, but his terrible jokes, stories and inane banter just spoiled his act.  The Kauri trees in this particular forest were allegedly between 300 and 600 years old and were massive.  Fifteen minutes later and we were heading for Ananui and our morning tea stop.  The cafe at Ananui was also the local carving and wood turning workshop specialising in using wood from the Kauri trees.  Many of the exhibits were absolutely beautiful and there was a magnificent dining table and 6 chairs for a meagre NZ$19,000 (£8500).  Refreshed with tea and muffins, we were on the road again, this time heading for an attractive little inlet at Houhora for a very early lunch.  Having said that, some of the early pickups on the coach had been going since 07.00, so they were probably quite hungry by now.  Houhora was about an hours drive from Ananui, so the muffin had time to digest a little before we attacked our pre ordered BBQ lunch and Huey didn’t miss the opportunity to inflict another song on us.  We sat outside to eat our BBQ and watched a bunch of guys fishing from the jetty. In the 45 minutes we were sat there, one chap landed two quite substantial fish from the inlet.  He must have considered them good catches as he had his photograph done with them.

Wined and dined, we were off to Cape Reinga a further hour North, which was fine as we were not driving today, but regrettably Huey had not run out of stories or jokes.  Having said that, he did continue with some excellent local facts about the area as we drove along.  Eventually we arrived at Cape Reinga, which has huge significance to the Maoris as it is the place that the spirits of the departed leave the land and head for their origin in Hawaiki. Wherever they die, their spirits pass up the country and along 90 mile beach and then out through Cape Reinga, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.  At this point the two oceans meet in a turbulent cauldron of white foam, which is clearly visible.

The views from the top of the rocks overlooking the lighthouse and the adjacent Te Werahi Beach are just stunning and on a clear day it is apparently possible to see 57 kms into the distance. 

 The weather today had been pretty good on the way to the Cape, but a cloud layer had just moved in as we arrived.  However, it made no difference to the visibility as there was a haze on the horizon blocking any long distance views.

One very unusual thing that we did whilst at the Cape was to plant a native bush, as part of the plan to reintroduce native species to the area in order to thicken the bush, which will firstly help to stabilise the ground and secondly enable indigenous wildlife to be reintroduced to the area.  We got a certificate showing the co-ordinates of where we planted it, so we can Google the area and keep an eye on its progress.  Anyone coming here in the future, please let us know and you can go and see if our shrub is thriving.  If it dies, they allegedly will replace it with an identical shrub free of charge, not that we will ever know, unless Google get fantastic resolution on their images.

Having snapped everything in sight and planted our shrub, we boarded the coach for the sand dunes at Te Paki, which are accessed by driving down a stream in the 50 seater coach!!  Once at the appropriate point the driver stopped the coach and got us to take off our shoes and socks.  We then got off the coach and he opened the luggage compartment to reveal a shed load of Boogie Boards, which are short plastic surfboards, modified by having a veneer of shiny, hard plastic stuck to their bottoms in order to give them less friction on the sand dunes that we about to toboggan down.  Huey led the way up the sand dune and we followed like a stream of ants.  Boy was it hard work climbing the dune, even some of the younger members of the coach party were struggling and stopping half way up.  Like any climb, once you stop behind someone, its jolly difficult to get going again, especially when the sand keeps giving way and you slide back, passing where you last stepped.  I passed one old chap who was wheezing like an asthmatic dray horse.  I was really hoping he wasn’t going to peg out as I didn’t fancy giving him the kiss of life; come to think of it I just didn’t fancy him full stop.  It may have been a different story if it was Helga from Germany, just ahead in the queue. 

 Maureen was in charge of the camera as I entered second childhood and hurtled down the sand head first on the boogie board, still trying to catch my breath from climbing up. 

 It was over in a flash, top to bottom in just a few short seconds.  That was my lot, I couldn’t face that climb again.  Then I remembered what fun it was to come down, so I attacked the dune again.  Surprisingly, I made it to the top without stopping, but still gasping.  Back onto the board and down I came, but this time the person before me had decided to linger and admire the view, so evasive action had to be taken, namely dig your toes in the sand to steer  out of the way.  Comfortably missing him, it was time to dig both feet in to avoid going into the stream at the bottom of the dune.

Back onto the coach and off we went heading down 90 Mile beach for the next 52 miles.  As we went down the beach there was evidence of cars belonging to drivers who had not heeded advice and become stranded then buried in the sand by the rising tides.  The coach drivers have to be specially trained for quite a considerable time before being allowed to take passengers onto the beach.  We now understand why we had such an early lunch; it was obviously to catch the tide at the right time in order to drive all the way along the beach. 

 Of course those of you who have been here will know that 90 mile beach isn’t 90 miles long!  What I can’t understand is that there are all sorts of views as to how long the beach really is.  With today’s technology, why can’t someone measure it very accurately and end the speculation as to how long the beach is?  Some say 50 miles, some say 75 miles and Huey insists it’s 64 miles.  After a thrilling experience driving along the beach, we turned off and returned to Awanui for afternoon tea and then it was time to head for home bringing to an end a super day to Cape Reinga.

Day 41 Kerikeri - Bay of Islands Day 2 29th March 2011

We have only had to use an alarm a couple of time during the whole time we have been away, but this morning was an early start as we were being picked up at 07.50 to be taken to Paihia in order to catch the ‘Cream Tour’ around the Bay of Islands.  It’s still called the Cream Tour as in 1927a ship was used to collect the milk and cream from the dairies on the islands and deliver empty churns.  Some aspiring person thought that the growing number of tourists would like to go on the boats and even more revenue could be made on these daily runs.  When the boats stopped collecting milk as the dairies closed down on the islands, it was seen fit to continue the routes, but just for tourists; hence the Cream Tour.  Even today, the tourist boats are used to deliver the mail and essential supplies to the islands, just as they are in Marlborough Sound and Abel Tasman in South Island.

As we left the motel unit and walked to the entrance to the campsite, there was just a hint of rain in the air, but the clouds were definitely breaking up.  Our driver picked us up just a little after 07.50 and we were in Paihia by 08.30 for a 09.15 departure.  So with a little time to kill and the rain ceasing we stood on the jetty and watched the tour boats come and go along with the dive and fishing boats.  At 09.15 we boarded the boat and before long we were on our way to Russell on the opposite side of the bay to pick up a couple more passengers.  Part of the trip was to go dolphin watching and for those who wish to part with more of their hard earned, they could swim with the dolphins.  As we left Russell the captain, who was a lady; our second on this holiday, said that dolphins had been sighted not too far away and we would head for them straight away.  Those who were going to swim with the dolphins went off to get changed into wetsuits etc.  In the meantime off we went to find the pod of dolphins.  I guess these skippers know exactly where these various mammals and animals hang out, as we found a substantial pod of dolphins within a few minutes and they soon gathered round the boat.  The skipper lowered the boom net, something that  can only be described as a giant net hammock over the side that was suspended between two poles extending from the side if the boat.  Into this hammock jumped the paying swimmers and hanging on for dear life, off we went amongst the dolphins. 

Then they were cast into the ocean to swim freely amongst the dolphins.  Unlike the parks in Florida and other similar places, these are wild dolphins and you are not allowed to touch them, even if you could as they contract diseases very easily and the NZ conservation dept forbids any such action.  They also do not allow skippers to put people into the water if there are baby dolphins in the pod as their mortality rate is as much as 40% before reaching maturity, so the last thing they need is human viruses to reduce it even more.  

 These dolphins were the regular bottlenose variety and were not quite as lively as the Dusky variety we saw off Kaikoura with the whales, although one or two did oblige with a couple of jumps out of the water.  After their paying swim they were called back into the hammock and then onto the boat, whilst we headed off to the next stop.  Because of the cyclone that has been lingering around, the sea had quite a good swell running and although there were no ‘white horses’, once we were out of the shelter of the islands and into the open ocean, the boat did start to move around a little. We were heading for the ‘Hole in the Rock’, which was right at the end of an outcrop where the islands start.  Normally the skipper will take the boat through the hole in the rock, but as there was a significant swell running and therefore huge amounts of white water, it was not possible to do so, but we did get pretty close.

Once back in the relative calm of the islands we went alongside at Urupukapuka island for lunch and a stretch of the legs.  Fully refreshed from our packed lunch, we were soon off and almost immediately came across one of our favourite birds that we have come across in NZ – the little blue penguin.  One solitary bird was flapping around close to a flock of cormorants, then without notice, down it goes looking for food. 

 Of course the problem is, you have no idea where it will resurface, so it’s easily lost in the swell.  We cruised round numerous other islands, each with its own history attached to it and well recited by the skipper and crew members. 

One more bit of water torture was to be endured by anyone wishing to be trawled along in the boom net alongside the boat, but this time at high speed.  There were four willing volunteers who jumped into the net and stood up, pulling the net up on each side, so they were like a filling inside a wrap. With the victims Holding on for double dear life the skipper pulled back the throttles and off we went with the human cargo skimming through the waves alongside.  Slowing to a stop the victims changed to holding the front of the net and that was the skippers sign to pull harder on the throttles and do her best to dislodge the victims from the front of the net. 

Partially successful, the young lady victim lost her grip with one hand and repeatedly disappeared under the water forcing skip to call an end to the cabaret.

With everyone back on board we headed off for the final few islands and returned to Paihia around 4.30, just in time to be collected and returned to our campsite after what has been a most enjoyable day. 

Day 40 Kerikeri 28th March 2011

HORAY  - we’ve woken up and it’s not raining!!!!

A cloudy start to the day, but at least it’s not wet, so we finished showering and breakfast before heading down to Piahia to book our trip round the Bay of Islands tomorrow and to Cape Reinga on Wednesday.  As we are going to take the coach to Reinga and along 90 mile beach, we have decided to extend our stay here by another day.  That means we will not have to be searching for accommodation late into the evening on Wednesday.  So with the tours booked and a bit more of the kids inheritance spent, we drove just a couple of kms along the road to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.  We opted to take one of the conducted tours with the entry, but had to wait about 45 mins for the next one. That gave us time to read a bit of history before getting some morning refreshment and a piece of banana cake.

The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of modern New Zealand, signed between the British Government and the Maori chiefs.  At 11.00 on the dot a delightful Maori lady presented herself as the tour guide and as there were only five of us in the group, it was destined to be an interesting session.  Like most of the guides we have had, she turned out to be equally as knowledgeable and passionate on the subject she was presenting as all the others.  It turned out that she was directly related to Tamati Waaka Nene, one of the original Maori chiefs who signed the treaty back in 1840.  After some initial history, we went down to the massive Waka or war canoe located at Hobson’s beach. 

 The canoe was launched in 1940 to commemorate the centenary of the treaty signing and requires a minimum of 79 paddlers to get its 8 tonnes of Kauri wood moving.  It has a capacity for up to 120 paddlers and has allegedly reached an astonishing speed of 35 knots.  The waka is only launched once per year now and that is on Waitangi Day, which is 6^th February.  From the Waka we headed up to the Maori meeting house or Whare, which was also built for the centenary celebrations.  Every Maori tribe has a main meeting house that is specific to that tribe, but the one at Waitangi was built to represent all the Maori tribes.  Inside, the individual tribes are represented by the wood carvings, the tukutuku or read panels and kowhaiwhai or painted rafter patterns.  Before entering the Whare, it is customary to remove your footware as a mark of respect.

From the Whare we passed across the lawns to the Treaty House which is where the Waitangi Treaty was drafted by James Busby, the then representative of the Queen who had been dispatched to New Zealand to clean up the nearby town of Russell, which was nicknamed the Hell Hole of the Pacific.  It gained this name as it was a trading port where sailors would settle shipboard disputes, usually after drinking too much rum at one of the many hostelries or arguing over women at one of equally numerous bordellos.  The guide left us at the Treaty House, not because she knew nothing about it just that this was another payable option, which none of us had elected to take. 

From the Treaty House we returned across the lawn to the perimeter path overlooking the bay and walked back to the visitor centre and car park to eat lunch.  From here we headed back into Paihia, parked up and caught the Ferry across to Russell.  Although the sun was frequently shining through the clouds, the wind was blowing fairly hard and was whipping up a few white horses on the sea.  After just 20 minutes we were pulling up alongside the jetty in Russell, a pretty little port, which is home to New Zealand’s oldest church. 

Built in 1836 by local settlers, this cream weatherboard building is very simple by comparison to other similar establishments, but has some amazing embroidered pew cushions.  We wandered along the sea front stopping at the Museum, which amongst other things has a one fifth scale model of James Cook’s ship, Endeavour.  From there it was onwards to the fascinating Pompallier building, which was once the headquarters of the Catholic religion in the Western Pacific.  Originally built as a printing works for the French Roman Catholic Bishop, Jean Pompallier, it even had a tannery to produce the leather for the bookbindings.

As the sun was now shining, we decided to forgo afternoon tea and opt for an ice cream instead;  fruit flavoured so it would count towards the five a day and complement the banana cake from this morning.  We sat on the harbour front eating our ice creams and waited for the ferry to take us back to Paihia.

Early start tomorrow as we are being picked up at 07.50 to go on the island cruise.  The weather forecast is looking good at the moment, but the sea may be a little rougher than usual due to this cyclone that’s still hanging around.

Day 39 Whangarei to Kerikeri 27th March 2011

Last night was the first night that we have stayed in a roadside motel since coming to N Island and boy was it noisy.  Not just the passing traffic, but also from late night revellers staying at the motel.  It was perfectly clean and tidy, cheaper than most of the Top 10 places we have been staying at, but there was a noise price to pay.  The Top 10 campsites are generally tucked away just out of town so there is no through traffic and fairly strict rules about making noise.  The site we are on for the next three nights is a classic example.  We are a couple of kms from the centre of town and off the main road, so we cannot hear any traffic.  We are also nestled in a small valley surrounded by trees, with just the birds twittering.  We’re here for three nights to explore the Bay of Islands and we may also take in Cape Reinga as it seems a long way to drive in just one day.  We think we’ll let someone else do that.  It also means that we can get driven down 90 mile beach as hire cars are not allowed on it.

Surprise surprise it was raining when we ventured out this morning, not as heavy as the past two days, but still wet.  We went into the basin at Whangeri as it is supposed to be a bit of a haven for yachts during the summer months, hiding from the summer cyclones in the Pacific.  It also has some interesting French/Victorian architecture, now posing as trendy bars and cafes along the basin.  Whilst it was wet and grey, at least there was some visibility today, so the camera did get a bit of action.  As it was wet, we decided to take a trip round the clock museum in the centre of town, which is based on the collection of timepieces that belong to a Yorkshire gentlemen called Clapham.  Over a period of time he both made and collected timepieces that ranged from very quirky homemade, through to antique European up to modern day clocks.  What made it more interesting was that as we were the only couple in the museum, one of the receptionists came round with us and gave a presentation on the history of Clapham’s clocks and his collection.  Again, you got a feeling that she was passionate about these clocks and wanted to share her knowledge with whoever would listen.    Clapham’s quirkiness did not stop at clocks as when he built his first house in NZ, on the top of one chimney he built a steam boat, so that in the winter smoke came out the funnel of the steamer.  On the other chimney he built a steam train, again with smoke coming out of the funnel in the winter.  We spent a very leisurely hour or more admiring the clocks and his engineering capabilities.  This is another of those places that is a must to visit.

Soon it was time for morning coffee, taken at one of the trendy cafes surrounding the basin in Whangeri.   After coffee we drove off to look at Whangarei Falls, which were in full flow thanks to the heavy rain.  I guess there has to be a silver lining somewhere.  Then we were back on the road again heading for Kerikeri.  We decided to stop off at Paihia as this seems to be the centre for all the cruises and trips around the Bay of Islands and is also the very close to Whiatangi and the Treaty Grounds, which we intend to visit over the next few days.

Just as we entered Piahai, we stopped at a small bay, parked up and had our lunch overlooking some of the islands.  Whilst it was still spitting with rain, we did have better visibility than we have had for a couple of days, so quite a few of the islands were in sight.  After lunch we went into the town and visited the information office, which as usual, gave excellent advice on trips, where to go and what to do.  We wandered around in the drizzle, eventually surrendering to it and got back in the car to go to our second waterfall of the day at Haruru.  These falls were not as high as the ones we visited earlier, but were much wider, making them that much more impressive.  It was then time to head for the campsite at Kerikeri.  We found the site reasonably easily and checked in.  The unit is clean and comfortable with a good view over the valley and the rest of the site.

Once settled in, a cup of tea and a dunk under our belt, we headed out again making for the Stone Store and Kemp House the oldest stone building and the oldest house in NZ respectively, which were just a short drive down the road.  

Stone Store

From here we did a short circular tour round to see what goes on in Kerkeri.  This would appear to be another major fruit growing area, plenty of kiwi fruit, but also some slightly more exotic varieties than further south.  Back to the campsite via the supermarket to charge up with dinner for the next few days and to check the lottery ticket as it was NZ$25million this week.  You have to have at least four lines, but at a cost 2.40, it was definitely worth a punt.  Unfortunately, the kiosk was closed so we couldn’t get the ticket checked, so we may be millionaires, but we won’t know until tomorrow!

Day 38 Coromandel to Whangarei

The blog earlier in the week was the longest and today’s is going to be the shortest!!

When we went to bed last night the rain was still going from the day and it carried on all through the night and all day today until about 5pm. 

We had a Skype call with our daughter Sarah this morning and set out from Coromandel just a few minutes before 10.00 in the pouring rain.  It was our intention to drive down the other side of the Coromandel Peninsular to see the old cars at the Beach Hop Festival.  As we drove over the hills to the east coast the rain was sheeting it down and with the wind blowing, visibility was very limited.  That meant, just like yesterday, anything worth looking at was not going to be seen.  When we reached the coast it was no better, the sky and sea just merged into one grey mess.  Anyone who has rushed out and purchased shares in camera memory card companies because of my prolific snapping had better sell them quick as I have not taken a single picture since leaving Coromandel this morning. That’s how bad the weather has been. We have not even stopped in a dodgy cafe today to give us something to write about.  We did however stop in Whitanga for refreshments and were advised by the staff in the information centre that we would never get parked in the town where the cars would be and would be better off heading straight towards Auckland.  We decided to take that advice and diverted back across the peninsular to make our way towards Auckland, then about 160Kms North up to Whangarei.  Just as we arrived here the rain stopped for the first time in two days.  Just for a change tonight’s forecast is for heavy driving rain, which should ease off by tomorrow lunchtime.  The problem appears to be a tropical cyclone has parked itself to the North of NZ and it’s having disastrous effects on the weather here. 

Tomorrow we will be heading off to The Bay of Islands to stay for three days and hopefully enjoy the alleged spectacular scenery around the islands.  Here’s hoping!

Day 37 Rotorua to Coromandel 25th March 2011

Tea in bed again this morning and a short lie in before showering, breakfasting and packing the car.  One of the great benefits of not having the campervan is that you do not have to dismantle the bed and assemble the table before you can do anything.  It gives a valuable few extra minutes in bed.  Also not having to go to the shower block saves some time, although I do sometimes miss that early morning interaction with life.  Not often, just occasionally.  By 09.15 we were heading away from town following the North side of Lake Rotorua towards Tauranga.  We had only been going for about 15 minutes when the drizzle started and by the time we reached Tauranga it was fully formed rain.  We stopped briefly to pick up dinner in one of the huge supermarkets in town before following the coast round Tauranga harbour to Katikati.  As you drive through this part of the country, you soon realise that this is Mecca for kiwi fruit growing, with field after field of them and associated mega processing plants. 

Using our natural ability to find unusual cafes, we saw a sign for Katikati Heritage Museum and cafe.  Not for one second believing that the two were actually one, we turned off the main highway and into the car park of the cafe, which was of course also the heritage museum.  As soon as we turned into the car park, we saw the pile of what can only be described as junk surrounding the cafe.  There were old tractor bits, farm implements and numerous other bits of unidentifiable tot along with a collection of rusting old bicycles all to be passed before gaining entrance to the cafe.  As we entered – empty – just like previous bizarre cafes we have visited recently.  Then an aging lady popped out from the back and warmly greeted us, just like Arkwright in ‘Open All Hours’.  We were in her catchment area, just like a pair of flies heading towards a Venus Fly Trap.  We had the intention of having a cup of tea and a coffee; she had other thoughts.  Within seconds we parted with NZ$21 for a toasted egg and bacon sandwich and a giant slab of carrot cake as well as the tea and coffee.  She was such a friendly person enquiring about our holiday and where we were going, what we were going to do etc.  Little did we know that this was valuable ammunition for her to extract further dollars from us.  She informed us that the Coromandel Peninsular would be mega busy this weekend as there was a beach festival of old cars which always attracted thousands of people and anyway, the forecast was for heavy rain all weekend, so we wouldn’t see anything. 

Having eaten the food and drunk our beverages, we were just about to leave, when the offer of a tour round the museum was tossed onto the table.  We politely tried to decline, but she started the high pressure sales pitch – did we know what was growing in the fields around us?  How can we drive through somewhere without knowing something about the local history and local Maori culture?  The fact that we had been to a Maori evening the previous evening cut no ice with her, she was talking local; around Katikati.  Then came the ace card, her 81 year old husband.  You just knew there was no way out so we surrendered to the half hour tour of the ‘museum’.  She offered not to charge us if we didn’t think it was worth it, so there was absolutely no return now, plus it was pouring with rain so we would not be missing ant coastal scenery. 

It would take ages to cover all the history that this old lady imparted on us, but it is safe to say she knew her stuff and most importantly she was madly passionate about it, which made it all the more compelling and interesting.  About 10 minutes into her presentation, 4 other people turned up, two of whom had just moved into Katikati from Ireland and the others were Kiwis.  The old lady’s eyes lit up, an opportunity to convert new locals.  This blog would go on for hours if we covered everything about the museum, but the fact that much of the European history is associated with Irish immigrants at the turn of the century, it made the new visitors perfect fodder for her.

The entire contents of the museum had been purchased from the estate of a couple who had died in a car crash and turned into museum exhibits over about 10 years.  As we had entered the cafe for our tea, I said to Maureen, when does a pile of junk become a museum.  I think the answer to that is when you have someone as passionate as this old lady who can pull all the junk together into one complete story.  This museum contained an amazing collection of Maori and Irish historic artefacts as well as an unbelievable collection of memorabilia dating from the turn of the century through to 1960’s/70’s.  The collection of cameras alone would have probably put any other museum’s collection to shame. 

 Nancy on the pump organ with two early gramaphones

Nancy demonstrating an early 3D viewer

 Just as we all thought that we were finished, she announced that there was more upstairs and ace popped up again to take over the upstairs tour and presentation.  He was every bit as passionate as Nancy, his wife and he was so proud to pass his knowledge of the hundreds if not thousands of exhibits in the museum. 

The device that Norm is holding is for removing sheeps tails.  It basically gets almost red hot and burns the tail off without any blood loss as it seals it at the same time.

The half hour tour was in fact one and a half hours of pure passion and worth every penny of the entrance fee, which we willingly all paid.  This place is a must to visit if you ever come to New Zealand.  Unfortunately, neither of the two old folks will last forever and it makes you wonder what will happen to all the exhibits, when they pass away, because without their knowledge, it could easily become just a pile of junk.

Eventually we broke away from Arkwright and were on the road again heading towards Waihi, where we stopped for a very late lunch.  It was decision time.  Should we go to Coromandel or leave the peninsular alone and head towards Auckland?  We decided to go for the peninsular in the hope that the rain would leave off and we would get to see some scenery.

We arrived in Coromandel about 5pm having seen almost nothing of the scenery as it was still raining!  Unfortunately, the weather forecast on tv this evening is for two days of rain, so we may miss a lot more scenery between here and the Bay if Islands, our next targeted stop.

Day 36 Rotorua 24th March 2011

Warning - toilet humour returns at the end of this blog.  Don’t go there if you’re easily offended – You have been warned!!

This is also the longest blog yet, so go and put the kettle on you’ll need a drink to get through it.

Yet again we awoke this morning to no internet access, which was a shame as we were scheduled to Skype our other daughter this morning and we couldn’t.  I went to the office and they immediately phoned the internet service provider who confirmed that some of their servers were down on North Island.  The service on N Island has been terrible compared to the relative ease we had in South Island, yet their servers were based in Christchurch amidst all the chaos of the earthquake.

In trying to access the service this morning, it has gobbled up all the time I bought yesterday, despite the fact that I never got logged on.  Anyway, Hopefully normal service will be resumed before tomorrow morning, when we will try to Skype again.

Otherwise, it was a brilliant weather start to the day, lovely clear blue skies, perfect for sightseeing.  After breakfast and ablutions, we were off into town with the first stop an old Anglican church, which is in the middle of a Maori community.  Rotorua is not a huge city and its streets are pretty much a grid system, so navigation is less of a problem here than it has been elsewhere.  Straight to our destination, parked up and we were the only tourists around – perfect for those Kodak moments.  Inside the church was quite a revelation as it was entirely a Maori theme, with everything in wood carved in Maori patterns and all the walls were bedecked in traditional Maori weaved panels from floor to ceiling.  The most striking feature was an etched glass window, which featured Christ in a Maori cloak and if viewed from the pews made it look as though he was walking on the lake, which was just outside the window.  Very cleverly thought out, we’ve never seen anything like that before.

Across from the church was a traditional Maori meeting house, which we were not allowed into as you have to be invited into such premises.  All around, there was steam shooting out of the ground, even from some drain holes and little pools of water were bubbling away in odd corners.  Quite bizarre.  We wandered round the edge of the lake and saw another meeting house, which was in use by a large number of people, but we couldn’t work out if it was a funeral, wedding or what, but it definitely wasn’t a group of tourists.  From Ohinemutu, where the church and village was, we followed the road round Lake Rotorua to the Government Gardens, which houses the old Bathhouse, now Rotorua’s museum and gallery.  A fantastic piece of pseudo Victorian architecture which was, as its name implies, the place where people came from all over the world to ‘take the water’.  It was also where soldiers came to recuperate after the wars.  Instead of taking the water, we took the morning tea and coffee with date scone and mixed berry muffin, all adding to our 5 per day.

After morning refreshment we took the tour round the museum, starting with a super little film about how Rotorua was formed from its Maori culture perspective.  Before you went in there was a warning about the film possibly being unsuitable for small children, but that was all.  The film starts with a bit of history of the bathhouse opening and how people came from all over to soak in the mineral, hot water.  They showed someone down in the bowels of the building opening a door into one of the pipes leading into the ground and the film went from old Victorian scenes into computer animation of a fireball racing up the pipe and loud thunderous music kicked in.  At the same time all the seats jolted about as it there was an earthquake.  Very cleverly done, but completely unexpected.  Anyone of a nervous disposition or had just experienced a real quake could easily have passed away. In Disneyland they would have to have 10 foot high notice with a list of every ailment known to man and if you go into this film show, you might die.  Out here it’s different, they don’t seem to have too much time for political correctness.  Once the heart started again, the rest of the film was informative and pretty good, even if it did appear to be made to a tight budget.  Still what was not spent on making the film was definitely made up for in the cost of making the seats move around.  Top marks to whoever thought it up.

After the museum we parked up on the lake front and ate lunch whilst watching the busloads of Japanese tourists hop off their coaches snap the lake with their iPhones or massive telephoto lenses and in some cases both.  After the obligatory pictures of the lake and each other, in various poses, they were back on the coach for the next destination.   With my desire to snap everything in sight, perhaps I was a Japanese tourist in a previous life.  From the lake front, we returned to Government gardens to snap the Bathhouse and surrounding buildings, whilst at the same time keeping a watchful eye on the games of bowls that were going on.  By now it was late afternoon and we had booked to go on a Maori cultural evening, departing at 5pm, so it was back to the motel to get ready.  Whilst Maureen put some washing on in the laundry, I downloaded the days photos on to the netbook.

We were picked up outside the campsite and after a few more hotel pickups, we were taken to the downtown office of the company providing the tour to pick up the remaining passengers and pay for the evening.  Yet again we were offered a discount as senior citizens.  We must be starting to look old.  We were also briefed on various aspects of Maori culture that should be respected during the various evening proceedings.  Our driver, Sonny, was absolutely brilliant, with a wicked sense of humour. That is until he informed everyone that on the way home, every different nationality on the coach will be expected to sing a ‘local’ song.  We all thought he was probably joking. One of the coach party was volunteered to be our chief at the greeting ceremony and when we arrived at the venue, just out of town, we were ushered into an area where the greeting would take place.  We were asked to remain silent and not move around whilst the event took place as a matter of respect.  As the first warrior took to the floor the cameras started to click away, that is everyone but mine – the battery had just run out!!!  There was a spare in my rucksack, but that would mean moving around.  Bugger the protocol, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I rekon I could have won a gold medal if battery changing was an Olympic event.  Before most people were lining up their second shot I was back in action. 

After the greeting we followed the chiefs into the Maori village and saw various skills and games that were taught and played by the forefathers of today’s tribes.  It was quite well done, slightly touristy, but definitely acceptable.  From the practical skills, we then had the formal acceptance of the visitors by the traditional rubbing of noses between the tribal chief and our honorary chief.  This was followed by Maori music and dancing and of course the Haka.  Again, good quality entertainment and how the women, all of ample proportions, managed to swing those white balls on bits of string without knocking each other out amazed us both.

Then it was time to eat dinner which had been prepared in a Hangi.  Hot rocks are placed in a hole in the ground, then the meat is placed in metal baskets, with the veg on top, then the desert on top of that.  It’s then all covered with wet cloth, followed by wet hessian.  The whole lot is covered with soil and left to cook for several hours.  Dinner was then served and it was absolutely delicious.

After dinner the coach drivers and waiting staff did some impromptu singing and the evening came to an end.  Very enjoyable, educational and very entertaining – all in all a good evening.

As soon as we were on the coach and moving, Sonny carried out his threat and announced the first country to get up and sing.  As we went through the different nationalities on board the quality of singing varied from bad to absolutely chronic.  I don’t mind presenting to an audience of any size, but I cannot sing and it was now our turn.  Oh shit!  We went to the front of the bus and gave an animated rendition of ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ Sonny liked our tune and so did the bus load of Jonny foreigners.  When we got to the second chorus of tooting the horn, sonny did just that, much to the amusement of the passengers.  On the third chorus when the wipers go swish–swish-swish, Sonny turned on the wipers.  We stopped there whilst we still had the crowd with us and received a hearty round of applause.  Sonny took over the singing, once all nationalities had done their bit and started with ‘Coming round the mountain’  at this moment we were just coming up to a small roundabout and he went round it three times to the music.  This was considered really funny by everyone and he was milking it for all he could.  Eventually we started to drop off passengers in reverse order of collection and we were back indoors by 9.30 after a great evening and one we will remember for a long time after our musical?? Interlude.

Finally, whilst going round the shop in the Maori village we came across this product.  For 61 years I have always managed with a bar of soap, but perhaps I’ve been missing out?  Anyone know if this works better?

Day 35 Lake Taupo to Rotorua 23rd March 2011

Firstly today, I realise that there are some followers who are taking the time to leave comments on this blog – thank you.  However, I have not yet worked out how to reply to you on a personal basis, so I shall do my best to reply to things within the blog.

Today has been busy since before breakfast, even before showering or even getting out of bed, as we had a skype call with our daughter before we got out of bed this morning – sad or what!  After doing the necessaries and packing our bags, we were on our way into central Lake Taupo to complete our photographic tasks, pick up a couple of items from the shops and head off towards Rotorua and the bubbly mud.  The sun was trying hard to break through the thick cloud, but it made for easy driving in the subdued light.  Within a short time of leaving Taupo, the sun had won over the cloud and it was turning into another great day.  It wasn’t long before we had arrived at our first thermal area and were heading for the entrance.  We seemed to arrive at the same time as just about every Japanese tourist in New Zealand as well as another 5 coach loads of miscellaneous tourists. 

We were just too late to see the Geyser being induced to shoot water high into the air, but never mind, plenty more to see.  As expected, the air was thick with the smell of Sulphur Dioxide – rotten eggs smell to the non chemists – as we commenced the walk through the thermal area.  Passing craters with hissing, steaming water and black sludge billowing from their bottoms, we were soon into small sulphurous vents spewing fumes from their small gaps and depositing yellow stains around their openings.  Before long we were at the Artists Palette, a small, shallow lake with numerous different coloured blotches on the surface, created by different chemicals leaching through the bed of the lake and just sitting on the surface. 

Next to that was the Champagne Pool which was a larger lake full with boiling water bubbling away like champagne and spewing pungent steam into the atmosphere.  There were more areas of small black pools bubbling away with black sludge called the Devils Inkwells.  More pools of gurgling, steamy water and sludge followed before coming to a bright green pool alongside some deep smoking craters just by the exit. 

We decided to eat our lunch before finishing off the visit with a trip to the bubbly mud pool about 2km down the road.  Personally, I find the bubbly mud fascinating.  It’s like watching rough seas crashing against the rocks; you can waste so much time just watching it.  By now it wasn’t just the ground that was steaming; the camera was also going quite well.

We had been recommended another thermal area to visit by the biking cafe owner in Taupo and the owner of the Motel we stayed at in Christchurch.  It was about 10 Kms towards Rotorua and on our way.  We turned off the main road and drove for about 6kms inland, passing some fantastic rolling hills covered in brilliant green grass; they looked almost artificial.  We were soon at the entrance to Waimangu Thermal Valley, billed in the Rough Guide to NZ as sharing the tussle for Rotorua’s crown for best thermal area with Wai-o-Tapu, where we had just been.  The entrance fee was even more expensive than the previous attraction, but as it had been so highly personally recommended, we thought no more of it.  That is until we were about 15 mins into the park and had seen very little sign of thermal activity, compared to the previous park.  After 30 mins we were wondering if we were on candid camera, as there was very little thermal activity.  I have seen more bubbling water when I pass wind in the bath than in this place.  It’s the first time that we felt as though we had been fleeced since arriving in this great country.  We walked the full length of the thermal area and to be honest, it was most underwhelming.  If any of you are thinking about a visit to NZ, make a note not to visit Wiamangu Thermal Valley for at least another million years, until it matures.

Having walked quite a few Kms today we were shattered by the time we reached Rotorua and we still had to find some accommodation for the evening. We’ve ended up just a bit out of town at one of our usual Top 10 Motel Units on their campsite. So far they have been excellent units, fully equipped with a kitchen and a good selection of cooking utensils.

Whilst we were in Napier, famous for its Art Deco architecture, we saw this advertisement over a beauty parlour. Well we think it was a beauty parlour – could have been a barbers or hairdressers I suppose.

It hardly seems possible that we only have a month left of the holiday.  We will be leaving NZ from Auckland on 6^th April for Sydney and leaving Australia on 20^th heading for Hong Kong, arriving home on 23^rd.  The first few weeks seemed to go fairly slowly, but the last couple have simply flown by.  We try hard not to think about it.

Day 34 Napier to Lake Taupo 22nd March 2011

Today has been a day of two halves, just like one of Monty’s football matches.  This morning when we got up it was absolutely bucketing down with rain and the forecast for the journey to Lake Taupo was rain all the way.  A weather front was working its way down the North Island in a South Easterly direction dumping 100mm of rain on its way.  Yesterday evening, the internet service provider whom the Top 10 campsites use was upgrading their servers and normal service was to be resumed at 08.00.  Unfortunately, that did not appear to happen, so the emails and banking that we have been trying to do for the last few days still didn’t happen.

After breakfast we loaded up and set off to Napier town centre as there were some buildings etc that we still wanted to photograph despite the intense rain.   With the Kodak moments out of the way and refuelled we were on our way around 10.15.  The journey to Taupo was only about 150kms, but the roads looked as though they were fairly twisty on the map, which means it takes a lot more time.  In practice the roads had long sweeping curves as opposed to sharp twists and turns, which did reduce the average speed, but there were three other factors in the equation today.  1,  Intense rain. 2.  Road works, we never went for more than about 20kms without another set of road works.  It was like being back on the M25.  3.  Lorries – loads of the buggers.  Mostly stock lorries ferrying sheep and cattle around or lumber trucks returning to reload after taking wood from the mountains to Napier docks.

To break the journey we decided to stop for morning coffee exactly half way to Taupo at a truckers cafe right on the peak between the Maungaharuru Range and the Ahimanawa Range (hope you got those as we will be asking questions when we return), but that was a serious mistake.  Thinking it would be a decent cup of coffee in chipped mugs and a slab of bread pudding like Aunt Doll used to make, we were disappointed.  It was not bad coffee, but in paper cups and no cake.  The facilities were outside and basic and we were the only ones there – all bad signs.  On the way we did not stop for a single photograph until we reached Wiapunga Falls about 65kms before Taupo, almost a world record.  Despite the atrocious weather the falls deserved a photograph and the rain even eased for a while whilst we took the pictures.

 Moving on, we were about 20 Kms from Taupo and a clearly defined demarcation line started to appear in the sky between the black rain clouds and clear blue sky.  Most weird.  In the final approach to the lake, the weather turned from sheeting rain to clear blue sky in a matter of minutes, so by the time we got out of the car, it was warm and sunny with a great view over the lake.  The sun continued to beat down all afternoon, so we took advantage of it and had lunch on the lakeside, followed by a quick visit round the local museum,  art gallery and an ethnic garden that won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2004, which has been rebuilt alongside the museum. The museum & gallery were a bargain to enter as they are only the second establishment that we have been in that offers a discount to senior citizens.  The other being the Chinese Garden in Dunedin.  From the museum we went to Huka Falls just up the road for some more photos to stop the camera from rusting up.  Whilst the sun was still shining we then went to an area where there is a thermal power station and stopped for afternoon tea at yet another weird cafe.  This establishment was also up for sale and not really surprising as it looked very tired and was in need of considerable investment.  The owners seemed nice enough people and we soon got chatting with the man of the house, who it turns out had been to the UK on 4 occasions to race in the Isle of Man TT races and apart from his racing machines he also owns 4 old BMW bikes, two with old Steib sidecars.  The table lamps were made of old pistons and con rods welded together and the place was simply full of motorcycle memorabilia and general junk.  Outside there were chickens, ducks, peacocks, guinea fowl and all sorts of other birds, just wandering around.  It actually bought a new meaning to free range chickens as there was a couple of baby chickens wandering around inside the cafe.  How do we manage to pick these places?

We then want to Aratiatia Rapids, which is where there’s a hydroelectric power station and at various times of the day they let water through the dam gates and it runs through the rapids with tremendous force. Fortunately the water was coming through the sluices whist we were there so we saw the full force of the water in action.

By now it was late afternoon and we had to find this evenings lodgings, so we stopped the sightseeing and headed for ‘home’.   As we can no longer keep food in a fridge, we have to buy fresh every day; one disadvantage of no longer having the campervan!  That means we have to shop every day, which is definitely bad news.

Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow as we intend to finish our sightseeing here in Taupo and then head off to Rotorua for the sulphurous stench and the bubbling mud – we can’t wait.