Thursday - home again

We got up at 3am on Wednesday and were, thanks to Robert and Stella, at Auckland airport by 4am for a 6am flight to Sydney, flight time only 4 hours. We then had an 8 hour wait at Sydney for our next flight to Singapore. Fortunately we were upgraded to World Traveller Plus for this 8 hr flight which took off at 15.30 local time.  The upgrade was very nice, much better leg room but the video system wasn't working. A quick 2 hour transfer at Singapore, then off on the final 13 hour leg to London (also in World Traveller Plus, but we had booked that one).  We flew on an A380 for the first time, amazing space and so quiet. We arrived at Heathrow at 5.30am this morning, having been travelling for 37.5 hours - New Zealand is a long way away!!

Another 3 hour wait at Heathrow for our bus, and we finally got into Donington at about 12.15 today. Home again, and now in the throes of unpacking.  Holiday over, but what a great time!  We'd recommend NZ to anyone.

No more regular updates of this blog, though I might put up a few more photos later when I manage to sort them all out, I've taken about 9000 in all.  We have trips planned later this year to France and to Norway so I might start blogging again then - watch this space.  Thanks for reading!

Mick and Linda

Tuesday - final day

Our final day in Auckland, and NZ, and Mick and I opted to visit the Auckland Art Gallery. We caught the bus in from Robert and Stella's, then walked through the centre of the city to the impressive gallery. Similar in some ways to Montreal's Museum of Art, it is a well thought out combination of an old building and a very modern one. The columns and canopy at the entrance are made from Kauri wood, and link the building from the city at the front to the large park at the rear.

We took a guided tour of the gallery, which was excellent, then continued looking at the various galleys of both traditional and contemporary art until we realised it was time to leave.

We walked back to the bus station by way of Albert Park at the rear of the building where they had some magnificent trees. Then it was onto the bus and back to our hospitable hosts.

 We have had a wonderful time in NZ and have met many great people!  We've seen some fantastic places and done some glorious walks.  We shall miss NZ, but it is time for home and family.  Alarm set for 3am tomorrow, ready for our 6am flight.  So thank you again to our hosts for the last four days, and adieu NZ.

Monday - Rangitoto

Mick and I, with Robert and Stella, took the ferry this morning to Rangitoto Island, the site of the most recent volcano in the Auckland area. It erupted about 600 years ago forming the island by leaving a pile of volcanic rock in the harbour. Nowadays it is a pest free area, with no permanent residents, just a few holiday homes round the edges of the island.

There are a number of walks on the island, and we took the summit walk. The lower stretches of the island are still largely composed of volcanic rock, with the occasional plant among the black rocks.  You can see the volcano summit in the distance here.

As you climb higher on the island the amount of vegetation gradually increases, and the views over Auckland harbour get better and better. It was a busy walkway with lots of couples and families enjoying the last of the Easter weekend, and a wonderfully sunny day.

By the time we were half way up the visible rocks had all but disappeared, and the vegetation was thick and healthy. Interestingly it is only about 10 years since the possums were eradicated on the island and the vegetation has thrived ever since.

At the summit of the climb you can see into the crater of the volcano, though this is just a large depression full of trees and shrubs. No water accumulates in the crater as the rocky surface is so porous.

At the very top there was a lookout with views 360 degrees round the harbour. There were also a surprisingly large number of wasps! We had a picnic lunch at the top, then set off to find the walk to the lava caves.

Lava caves are produced when the outer lava flow solidifies, but the inner section remains fluid, then drains out before setting, leaving large tunnels behind. We found a small tunnel, then followed the path through a much larger tunnel. Tree roots hung down in places, and we needed a torch to see (photo taken with flash!). The rocks being so new were very abrasive, and we were very careful not to fall or trip in the darkness.

Back at the bottom of the island we had time to visit one of the old holiday homes, now preserved as a museum. It was full of items we remembered from our early days, including lots of teapot cosies.

We took the boat back, but then got off at Davenport for a look round the shops/galleries and to find an ice cream.

 As the clocks changed here yesterday it was getting towards dusk as we returned into the city.  We drove back to Robert and Stella's home, and enjoyed a very nice meal before a welcome retirement to bed.  Not a long walk today, but quite a lot of hill climbing in hot sunshine.

No plans yet for tomorrow, but as it is our last day in NZ we know that trying to pack our bags for the return flights is going to be part of it.

Easter Sunday - museums

We visited two museums today, MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) and the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

MOTAT started with a big display of aircraft, including this funny little plane developed for crop dusting. After about two hours there we moved onto the other MOTAT site to see cars, trams, steam engines etc.

The two halves of the museum were connected by a tram system, which also stopped at the zoo. As we neared our destination the heavens decided to open, and it rained heavily!! We ran for cover when we got off, and were then trapped in the pump house until the rain eased off slightly. As it was Easter Sunday a lot of the events were designed for children; great for them but less for us to see. The display of bicycles was particularly interesting, and they had a number of interesting old cars.

About 2pm we moved onto the War Memorial Museum, which had three floors of exhibits about NZ. We only managed to see about 70% of the ground floor before  closing time.

The exhibit about the Pacific Island population, and their migration to NZ was extremely interesting, especially as a lot of the information was new to us. And it was fascinating to see the similarities, and discrepancies, between the various languages from each island group.

I really enjoyed the decorated bark cloths, or tapu, of which they had an extensive collection.  The collection of Maori items was also one of the most extensive we had come across, but was basically the same sort of things as we had already seen elsewhere.

They also had lots of NZ work from the Arts and Craft movement, but I was only half way through that when they sounded the Last Post and threw us out.

A tiring day, though full of useful Information.  

Tomorrow we are back to walking, with a trip up the Rangitoto extinct volcano just across Auckland harbour and visible from our bedroom window.

Saturday - Auckland

This morning Mick was up fairly early and, with Robert's help, returned our trusted steed of the last 8 weeks. 

After breakfast we set off on a tour of Auckland and the area to the west of the city. First stop was the local viewpoint at St Heliers Bay. Then we drove round a few more bays before going to One Tree Hill, one of the many parks on volcanic remains in Auckland.

From the top of the hill (which no longer has a tree on top!) we had splendid views over the city in all directions. After a coffee we set off for our next stop.

At the Arataki visitor centre we posed in front of the view, before looking at the views towards the west. Because there are two large harbours on both coasts, with Auckland in the middle, there is a point where the mainland is only about 400m wide!

Lunch was at the railway cafe at Seddon enjoyed by all of us, and the local sparrow population.

Our next stop of the day was on the west coast at Muriwai Beach. Very interesting rocks and a gannet colony scattered over the cliffs.

We spent an enjoyable period of time watching the young birds getting ready to fly, standing at the very edge of the cliff and madly flapping their wings. Two birds took their maiden flights while we were there, disappearing into the distance.

We could also see surfers far out in the waves, mainly waiting for the 'perfect' wave.

Down at the beach we watched sand yachts, kite-surfing, paracending, kite-skateboarding and people generally enjoying themselves.

Finally we drove back to Auckland City and stopped briefly at the Savage Memorial, and watched the sun set over the high rise buildings of central downtown.

Friday - the Kauri Museum

We tidied up our kauri built cottage, packed the car and left on the final stage of our journey round NZ. We drove south on SH12, back past the Waipoua forest and the big trees en route to Matakohe and the Kauri Museum.

As we neared the north end of the Karipara harbour we passed Mount Tokatoka, a most peculiar shaped mountain. We didn't have time to climb it, but apparently the view is well worth it.

Several people and all our guide books had said this was a worthwhile museum to visit, so we had allowed ourselves lots of time to look around it. They were right, it was a really well laid out and interesting place. This section through an old tree shows the dates relating to it's growth, showing when significant historical events happened in NZ. Other rooms showed how kauri had been used as an end product, how it was cut down and sawn up and numerous photos of the people involved. Life size mannequins, each based on a real person, showed how people lived in the late 1880s and early 1900s.

Here you can see a longitudinal slice through a kauri tree, and it's cross section on the end wall. The black and white rings show the sizes both of the big trees we had seen, and some of the largest trees ever found which no longer exist.

The largest recorded specimen was known as The Great Ghost and grew in the mountains at the head of the Tararu Creek. An historian said that the tree was 8.54 metres in diameter, and 26.83 metres in girth. It was consumed by fire around 1890.

We were in the museum for well over four hours, and could have stayed longer! (we did have lunch as well).  When we finally emerged we drove south to Auckland, back to Robert and Stella's house.  Drinks in the upstairs little lounge with a wonderful sunset, followed by a delicious meal, then bed.  

Tomorrow the hire car gets returned, and we see more of the district around Auckland.

Thursday - beach, clams and trees

We slept so well we were in bed for 12 hours! When we finally were up our first port of call was the Kaipoua Forest visitors centre. We didn't find much information there, only photos stuck on a wall above our heads too high to see.  We did see what we think was a photo of our current lodgings before it was moved here. We then decided to drive further south to the Kai Iwi lakes, where we took the coastal path from Lake Waikere to the beach. The walk was mainly through cattle fields and over stiles until very close to the beach. 

 A lovely beach, and we only saw one other person the whole time we were there, and he went past close to the waterline on a small motorcycle. We had sandwiches for lunch, then discovered clams in the sand, so we gathered quite a few and put them into a bag ready to try later. They really do squirt at you as you dig them up.

 We drove north back to the forest, and went to the Kauri Walks area. An amazing section of forest, with large kauri trees in all directions. Walked to the Yakas tree first (girth 12.29m, trunk volume 133.2 cu m.), and gave it a hug. Then visited Cathedral Grove. The trees do almost seem spiritual, perhaps because of their age, and perhaps because they were there before the first settlers. 

Our next walk was to the Four Sisters trees, four large trees growing so close together their lower sections have virtually joined together at ground level. Our last visit on this walk was to Te Matua Ngahere, called the Father of the Forest (girth 16.41m, trunk volume 208.1 cu m). This is the second largest tree in NZ.

Finally we drove up the road to visit Tane Mahuta (girth 17.7m, trunk volume 244.5 cu m.) known as the God of the Forest, and the largest tree in NZ. Though it's not known exactly how old this tree is, it's about 2000 years old, and therefore was probably a seedling when Jesus walked the earth. It was already about 1300 years old when the first Maori, and therefore the first human settlers in this island, landed in NZ.

Back to our own kauri cottage, where we put the clams we had gathered into cold water to try and remove some of the sand from them. No cookbook, and no internet, so I cooked them the same as I would mussels, steamed in white wine with onion and garlic. All the shells opened with no problems, so I scooped the clams out, then added cream to make a chowder. Though they tasted OK, and the sauce was delicious, we obviously need to spend longer on the sand removal stage. Every mouthful was crunchy with sand, so we ended up just drinking the sauce. Still left a layer of sand in the bottom of the bowls!  We followed the clams with a pasta bake, with no sand!

Tomorrow we go to the Kauri Museum to learn more about these magnificent trees. 

Wednesday - across the Hokianga Harbour

We woke up to a beautiful day, and had breakfast on the terrace. 

Our drive south from Ahipara took us through some beautiful countryside, spectacularly lit by the morning sun, and with the grass almost glowing green after the recent rains.

Gradually the clouds started to appear as we drove south towards Hokianga Harbour. We stopped several times for photos, knowing that there was no hurry today.

We got to the ferry across the harbour at about 11.30, ready for the 12.00 crossing to Rawene. Most of the traffic was going in the same direction as us, so we had a full boat.

Rawene was a delightful place and we stopped for a coffee, a muffin and a delicious onion tart, topped with wedges of small sweet tomatoes and capers. Leaving there we drove through Opononi to Omapere where we stopped at the museum to see the videos made in 1956 about Opo the friendly dolphin who, for one wonderful summer, played in the harbour with children, boats and balls and became a national phenomenon.

A maori get together/fair was happening at the local school grounds next door, and we could hear them performing a haka, but decided not to intrude.

From Omapere we drove out to the Arai te Uru Reserve and Signal Point, where you could see the harbour meet the Tasman Sea. The sand bar across the end claimed 23 wrecks whilst the harbour was in use, and the dunes on the other side provide another venue for sand tobogganing.

We carried on driving south until we came to the Waiotemarama Bush Walk. The map was little help in working out where the path went, but we had about 15 mins up to a delightful waterfall, then another 30 minutes up to a loop track that went through a stand of kauri trees. Not big by kauri standards, these were still impressive trees, and it was so nice to see several in one area. At a guess this one was probably only about 500 years old. We'll be seeing and learning a lot more about kauri trees in the next two days.

Our home for the next two nights is a restored ancient kauri cottage, surrounded by flowers and vegetable gardens. It's simple and plain, and very quiet. No shower or internet, but a nice metal bath and a well equipped kitchen.

It also comes with it's own share of wildlife!