Tuesday - Cape Reinga

After a late night for me (staying up to book a course at the Festival of Quilts this year, and having to cope with a 12 hour time shift) we were up bright and early this morning for a trip with Sand Safaris to Cape Reinga.

We were picked up exactly on time at the bottom of the road, then made a few more picks up before we arrived at Awanui, and the Kauri Kingdom. Our guide, Senni, gave us a Maori welcome, then told us interesting facts about the area as we drove towards Cape Reinga.

Maori beliefs tell us that the spirits of those who have died make their way north, up the Ninety Mile Beach, to Cape Reinga where they go underground to make their journey back to Hawaiki, using the roots of the ancient kahika (the tree on the side of the rock) as steps down to the water.

Cape Reinga is the site of the northernmost lighthouse, though not actually the northernmost piece of land. It is the place where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean collide in a constant pattern of confused waves. And it is the end of State Highway 1, the road that runs the length of all of NZ.

Leaving Cape Reinga our bus drove south until we turned onto a sandy road/river and made our way towards 90 Mile Beach.

Along with several other buses we stopped at the huge sand dunes near the top of the beach, and were instructed in the gentle art of sand boarding. Clutching small body boards we walked to the top of the huge dune, then slid down! I only made it up a small dune, then decided it was an activity not helped by back problems.

Mick had two slides right from the top, and loved it, but decided walking up again was just too exhausting.

We continued down the shallow river until we reached the beach proper and then drove south for around 50kms. 

The sand was hard and flat, and our driver averaged about 90kph, much to our surprise. Even out of season there were lots of vehicles on the beach, though most were going south as we were because of the tides. There was almost no flotsam or jetsam on the beach, nor any of the big dead tree trunks we had seen on most other beaches. Just flat, hard, empty sand.

We did a stop for photographs, then drove to where a road entered the beach and we were able to leave it. Our driver was a bit worried as the sand there was slightly soft, but we made it back onto a tarmaced surface with no problems. Then it was back to Kauri Kingdom for the bus to be washed, and for an ice cream!

A great day out, and very good value for money - our lunch of beef, chicken, chips and salad was included, all for $55 per person.

Back at our bach we finished the lasagne from last night while watching the sunset. Not so dramatic as last night, but this time watched over by a certain mouse!

Tomorrow we move on to Hokianga Harbour and the Kauri Forest.

Monday - hills and beaches

A leisurely start before a relaxing day. Time to enjoy the lovely place we are staying in!

We drove up to a look out point above Ahipara first thing. We could see isolated showers blowing in over the sea, which was the situation for most of the day.

The view in both directions was pretty amazing, and we could see the group of houses in which we are staying.

We then drove down to Shipwreck Bay, just at the end of Ahipara, and the last beach on the Ninety Mile beach.      The evidence of the shipwreck was pretty small, one lump of metal sticking up out of the sand looking a bit like a lonely periscope.

It is possible to drive round the headland at low tide, helped by the flat section of rock, reinforced by the locals with cement in places. It's mainly for the fishermen and surfers, but we enjoyed the walk.

After a while we enjoyed a snack whilst watching the surfers and gannets. Much to my surprise I managed to take a photo of a gannet diving into the sea after a fish.

By the time we walked back the tide was far enough out for us to see the remants of the ship wrecked vessel, and for Mick to demonstrate his ability to walk on water!

Leaving Ahipara we stopped at Kauri Kingdom for a bite of lunch, and to walk up the staircase which is carved out of a single tree trunk of swamp Kauri. The stump is 11.5m in girth, and very beautiful. These swamp Kauri are 25 to 40 thousand years old, preserved in the swamps around the area.

After lunch we drove to the Karikari peninsular and walked up Puheke, an old volcano close to the beach. A hard walk up, but luckily not too long.

More wonderful views of beautiful, deserted beaches!

Final stop of the day was further round the peninsular at Maitai Bay where it is possible to stand in one spot and see two separate bays. You can just see them in this photo, one on either side of the headland.

Then it was back to the bach, picking up supplies en route.  For the first time we have a good oven and baking dishes, so I was able to cook a lasagne for the first time in nearly 3 months.  And we had another nice sunset!

Sunday - Treaty to treat

We left Auckland to drive north this morning, but it seemed a very long while until the feeling of being in a big city with lots of cars on the road gradually died away.  Our first stop was at Te Hana to see the arts factory there. No photos, but we came away very impressed with the huge and wonderful carvings made by Kerry Strongman out of swamp kauri wood.

Next stop was Whangarei for the Vodafone shop, to try and find out why our last top up of the phone seemed to have failed. No good answers, so we put more money on the phone. At least it is working now.

Third stop was the public toilets at Kawakawa to see (and use) the facilities created by Hundertwasser. Great place, and a very interesting use of bottles encased in cement to form windows.  Hundertwasser lived locally from 1971 until his death in 2000, and he used broken tiles and found objects, as well as bottles, in his creation.

Even better was the unexpected appearance of a steam train that came past, right down the middle of the street!!  Apparently it only runs for about 5km north, but it was so nice to see, and smell, the steam!

We continued north to Paihia where we had a delicious, tho' expensive, ice cream, and a wander around the town. A cruise ship was in, and there was an interesting craft market by the main road. Lots of tourists everywhere, and several people swimming in the sea, probably the first time we had seen this since we've been in NZ.

Driving a few kms more we stopped at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, just in time for a guided tour. This was the first time I was allowed to take photos inside a Whare (Maori meeting house). It was interesting that the carvings at the sides of the hall represented all the northern tribes, and only the ceremonial chair/throne came from the southern tribes. The Treaty House (where the Waitangi treaty was devised, written and signed In 1840) was built in 1833. By the early 1900s it was deserted and being used as a cow shed, and was only saved in 1932 by being privately purchased, then given as a gift to the nation. This was also when the Whare was built.

Our tour, by a very amusing man called Solly, finished at the huge waka in the grounds. It can take up to 160 people and is used every Waitangi Day. Sadly we ran out of time, and our guide had to let us out of a side gate as the main entrance was locked.

We carried on driving around the east, then the north, coast, passing the turn off to Cape Reinga and the ninety mile beach, before turning south to reach Ahipara where we had booked a bach for the next three nights. This has to be our nicest bach yet!! We had picked up some fish and chips in the village, and arrived in time to eat them on our terrace watching the setting sun. We have a luxurious lounge, enormous terrace and a well equipped kitchen, not to mention the views, all for a very reasonable price.

Saturday - sailing on an America's Cup boat

We left Te Aroha this morning en route to Auckland. We took the coastal route, skirting the west coast of the Firth of Thames.

We got to Auckland about 11.30 ready to check out where we should be for our trip out for a match race between two America's Cup boats. A quick lunch, then we popped into the maritime museum just acros the quay.

The two boats being used for the afternoon's racing were very similar boats from the 1995 race and a later one. They were exactly as used in the racing, with the exception of a smal side rail for safety and the additional of an engine for getting in and out of the harbour.

On our boat we had four crew and 13 passengers, the other boat had more passengers as there was a large group of tourists who all elected to be in the same boat. Each boat had 4 grinder posts, each operated by two people, for driving the three main winches. These could be used to hoist the main sail, or to adjust the main or jib sails whilst racing. It was the passengers job to operate the grinders under instruction from the crew.

Having agreed a course with the other boat a marker was dropped to mark the starting line. The race start time was agreed between the boats, with each having a 10 minute countdown during which the boats manoeuvred for position to get the best start.

We sailed two legs either way over the course, using a cruising chute on the downwind section. That was when the crew got a chance to relax; the upwind section was a mass of commands to operate the grinders to get the most speed out of the boat whilst tacking. 

I'm not sure what speed we achieved, possibly 12 knots, but we were certainly the fastest boats in the harbour!

Everyone got to operate the grinders at some point, though I have to admit that it felt more like trying to keep up with the speed of the handles than really contributing any force on the occasions that I tried.

During the race there was a lot of tactics involved, and a lot of very close encounters with the other boat, at high speed.  Each boat was constantly trying to get a small advantage out of the wind and the heading they chose, and using the rules of priority to gain an advantage by forcing the other boat to give way.

 I'm pleased to be able to say that our boat won the race!  Not that easily, but finally very convincingly.

We sailed on for a short while in the harbour, whilst those who wished had a turn steering the boat.  One of the features of the boats which impressed us was the turning circle of the boats, they could turn 360 degrees in their own length.

After the sailing we drove to Robert and Stella's house in Auckland where we are staying for the night. A delightful meal and chat, then it was time for bed!

Friday - going to The Beach Hop

Robert and Stella departed this morning, and we decided to go to Whangamata to visit the Beach Hop. We had no real idea what it was all about, but we had heard several mentions of it, and seen a poster advertising it as a Rock 'n Roll Festival.

Subsequent research showed it to be a get together of 1950 and 1960 cars, predominantly American.

It started in 2001, with about a thousand people attending. By 2005 there were 45,000 people visiting. Nowadays there is a total liquor ban in the streets, and a large police attendance, all apparently welcomed by the organisers. Sadly, today was a grey and dismal day with rain or drizzle the entire time we were there. 

Whilst we were wandering up and down town numerous cars passed and re-passed us in the street as they cruised up and down. Shops were full of period clothes and memorabilia. We stopped in Beach Hop Central and bought a tee shirt. As soon as they realised we were from the UK Mick was given a VIP pass to hang round his neck. 

Further down the road a local campsite was full of period caravans, all due to be judged for top of the show at some point. The final judging between the five best cars, two best bikes and three best caravans will be held by popular vote on Sunday.

There was also a sizeable contingent of hot rod and custom cars of all sorts, though these were out-numbered by the genuine old cars. There were fantastic paint jobs, to rusty looking wrecks, with everything in between.

It was hard to judge the number of cars there, but going by the traffic jams in the street, and the 3 to 4 kms of tailbacks of cars trying to get into/return into town, we estimated we must have seen 600 to 800 cars. The organisers do say it is now the largest event of it's type in the Southern Hemisphere. 

One of the main events for the Friday was a convoy of cars to Onemana Beach, about 10kms along the coast. We drove out there, but everything was packing up as we arrived. One couple had just got married in the middle of all the cars, all in period costume, and were having the official photos taken on the beach!

We left there planning to drive to Broken Hills and do some walking, but the weather seemed to be getting wetter, and the cloud lower, so we gave up the idea and drove straight back to our lodgings. As soon as we got within 20kms the sun came out, and the roads were dry.  Apparently they had seen no rain all day.

Mick is now doing the laundry while I plan out the next few days of our trip. We're off to Auckland tomorrow, then driving to the most northerly bit of NZ on Sunday.

 What ground clearance??

Thursday - the Karangahake Gorge

Today we visited the Karangahake Gorge, a site redolent in disused gold mining equipment. We visited old power stations, now just a pile of concrete foundations peppered with rusty iron, old stamping work sites, now a mess of plants with odd pieces of ruins peeping through the greenery and old mines, fenced off with rusty gates.

As always DOC have done a wonderful job of adding in paths and information boards, though some of the bush growth needs trimming before all traces of the old works disappears. We could explore some of the old mine tunnels, though a torch was a near essential accessory.  

Most of the old mine workings and sites were along a steep sided gorge by the sides of the Waitawheta River. In it's hey day over 2000 people lived and worked in this gorge.

After exploring as much as we could in the gorge we had sandwiches for lunch, then walked the Rail Tunnel Loop on the other side of the Ohinemuri River. This involved a walk through a 1km long tunnel, before a lovely winding walk alongside the river.

I took loads of photos, as always, but I didn't always get the results I expected when I asked the others to pose!

 Our next stop was the Wakino Tavern for an ice cream, then Robert took us to Wahia.  This is the site of the Martha Gold Mine.  Originally worked from 1887 to 1945, it was reopened in 1987 as an open cast mine, right next to the centre of town.  It extracts about 3g per tonne of rock mined, and produces about one million dollars worth of gold a week.  The scale of the works was quite awesome, huge trucks were tiny dots in the distance.

Back at our lodgings we all had fish and chips for supper, washed down with wine (sparkling, white and red in stages) before an earlyish night.  Tomorrow Robert and Stella drive north for a wedding while Mick and I have one more night in this area.

 Try spotting the people and trucks in this picture!

Wednesday - Te Aroha

We drove back down the Coromandel peninsular this morning heading south to meet our friends Robert and Stella in Te Aroha. We all arrived within minutes of each other at The Nunnery, our home for the next two nights.

We checked in, then wandered off to find some lunch. The local cafe was having some work done, but still served a pleasant meal. 

We sat in the sun with drinks and food catching up with news. Then drove to Wairongamai Valley to see the Piako tramway remanants.

The gold mines in the hill needed a method of getting the ore to the bottom of the hill for processing, so the council decided to build a tramway consisting of three inclined sets of rails, linked by a series of flat sections. 

The trail up was quite long and winding on the way up, with occasional views through gaps in the trees. When we got to the inclined plane section of rails we decided to walk down - it turned out to be a lot steeper than we had expected!

We followed the line down till it flattened out, then walked down a much gentler track back to the car.

In the evening we wandered into the town centre, and found an Indian restaurant, and had a delicious meal.