Southward Bound

We have now landed on the South Island following a smooth sailing, 3 hour crossing on our large vehicle ferry from Wellington to Picton, via the Queen Charlotte passage which was very scenic on a perfect day. But first, a few comments on our North Island finish.
We last left you in Napier on the east coast, a very nice city re-created in 1931 following a devestating earthquake. The art deco architecture was very prominent in our walk around the city. We also found time to visit several wineries in the popular Hawke's Bay region. From there we drove south to Martinborough which is becoming well known for it's wines. The wineries were small but had friendly hosts that we chatted with while enjoying their white wine varietals. The town square was a short walk from our "for sale" hostel which could have used some easy maintenance and staging to help justify the $400K asking price........but we were on vacation and didn't own the property so we stayed in our happy place.
Our final stop was in Wellington, at the south end of the North Island. We toured the National Museum (Te Papa) which was a beautiful, inter-active showpiece with lots to see and do over it's 5 floors. We also stopped by Apex with our rental car to have a few minor things checked out and when we returned to pick up the car they had a newer and better one waiting for us, so that was a nice treat especially with 3 more weeks to go on the more challenging terrain of the South Island. While waiting for the car we took the Cable Car up to a hill overlooking the bay and downtown 'Welly' for some great views. We had a picnic lunch, paired with a Martinborough wine, and then toured the Botanic Gardens which included a lovely rose garden with over 100 varieties.....a few of which even Rhonda was unfamiliar with :-)   Our only error in judgement might have been procuring a return ticket on the cable car since the garden walk was downhill. It was more exercise climbing back up the hill but I suppose that is the same thing as paying money to join a fitness club. We were also a little distressed to find our guesthouse was 25 km's from the downtown area in a suburb called Plimmerton but when we arrived it was all 'smiles'. Our room was wonderful as were the common areas, and it was right across the street from the ocean in which we had a refreshing swim (on a hot day). The bay that lay right in front of us had a fabulous sunset that evening and we could see the distant shore of the South Island. The next morning we hiked up Plimmerton Bay hill for some exercise and great views. We then stopped for lunch at the highly regarded local fish & chip store owned and operated by a hard working Greek couple where I was able to practice my 4-5 words from the Greek language. It was the best fish & chips I have ever had. Efharisto!
We are now in Nelson and enjoying another beautiful seaside city (45,000 people). Rhonda was feeling a little under the weather this morning so we passed our plans to drive to Abel Tasman NP for a sea-taxi / hiking experience and remained closer to our spacious guesthouse which was a former mansion and has great views of the city and harbour. We walked around most of the city enjoying the sights, including the Queen's Gardens, the River Walk, Christ Church Cathedral, the Cottages from 1860, the pretty downtown area, the harbour front parks and finally the Founders Historical Park which thankfully had a brewery on site to quench my thirst.
Tomorrow morning we will drive along the Buller River and gorge area, out to the west coast, where we will start heading further south (and closer to Antarctica).

Napier - art deco Theatre

Wellington

Wellington - Cable Car

Rose Garden

Plimmerton Bay- from our hostel

Nelson - our Fellworth House stay (top 100 heritage homes in NZ)

We're in the Kitchen

.....a large one with stoves all around us. Things are simmering, some are boiling, yet there are no temperature controls that we can adjust on any of the stoves. That is the feeling one might get travelling around the centre of the North Island where there is geothermal activity going on everywhere. It is a nice region to visit but some day the kitchen is going to have some extreme Gordon Ramsey temper tantrums. It is only a matter of time.
Since leaving the lovely east coast beaches we have ventured into this 'steaming' area. Our first stop was at Rotorua, with a well earned nickname of the "Sulphur City", evident in our walkabout in the city parks and along the shore of Lake Rotorua where stinky steam was rising out of the ground in numerous places. On another day we ventured out to Waiotapu where a 4 km walk took us through many colourful pools, boiling mud pots and small geysers. Their prime geyser is showing it's age, only going off once a day now at 10:15 am.......and even then with some assistance......the park claims that organic soap does the trick but I'm thinking they use Viagra to satisfy the large tourist crowds that show up daily to see the 20 metre high geyser. Having recently seen the larger and non-perfomance-enhanced Old Faithful in Yellowstone NP, we chose to do morning hikes in a Redwood Forest (1901 plantings) and a short walk to Crater Lake at Rainbow Falls before venturing over to the Waiotapu geothermal park when all of the tourists were departing. It was a more relaxing way to see nature at work and wonder about what her future plans are.
The next day we drove over to Waitomo to see a few of their famous caves. Spellbound and their guide, Norman, provided a wonderful tour for us (and 8 other visitors). We spent 45 minutes in the first cave, walking for over 100 metres (it was pitch black after the first 20) and then boarding a rubber raft to float further in along an underground stream. Once our headlamps had been turned off and our eyes were well-adjusted to the darkness, we could see that the cave ceiling was filled with Glow Worms (similar concept to fireflies). It was an amazing sight and reminded us of the spectacular Milky Way view that we had in the Pantanal in Brazil. The second cave had fewer Glow Worms but plenty of stalagmites and stalactites visible during the 250 metre walk in. There were many other caves in the area, caused by the shifting Pacific and Australia plates and the power of water massaging softer rock, but these two were impressive.
Yesterday we arrived in Lake Taupo, the fiery heart of the North Island lying in a caldera formed by one of the earth's biggest volcanic eruptions 26,000 years ago (that they claim made Krakatoa look like a 'pimple'). There have been many more eruptions since then, the most recent one happening 17 years ago. Our original plan was to do a highly rated hike in the National Park south of here (Tongoriro Crossing) but some volcanic rumbling 3 months ago has closed most of the trail so we will find another strenuous hike elsewhere to test our resolve.
As we set out this morning to explore the Taupo area, we stumbled upon the morning set-up for an afternoon speed boat race in the lake so we shortened our visits to several places in order to return on time. Our first stop was Huka Falls......lots of volume but only a 10 metre drop. Then we checked out the Honey Hive and Meadery (good honey, average mead) and finally, the Aratiatia Rapids which are created when water is released from the dam several times a day (count down clock) and then watching the small gorge below fill with rushing water creating extreme rapids downstream. There were more thermal-active parks to see in the area, including a geothermal power plant, but we passed on those having seen enough of Hell's Kitchen recently. We had a picnic lunch on the Lake Taupo shore while watching the entertaining speed boat race. The 60 mile race (12 laps of 5 miles) kept the large boats in range most of the time (loud, huge spray) and the leader all race long made a critical error on the final turn and narrowly lost the race to the defending champion for an amazing finish.
Tomorrow morning we will head back to the east coast, stopping at Napier which was wiped out by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in art deco style. It is also the start of the wine trail (Hawkes Bay).

Back relief in the Redwood Forest

Champagne Pool

Extinct ostrich-emu like remains in the Caves

Mt. Ruapetu in the background of Lake Taupo (still active for skiing and eruptions)

Speed Boat race on Lake Taupo

Hellhole of the Pacific

While doing our walkabout in Devenport we came across forts that were built prior to WW1 on top of both of the volcanic cones. One had a series of tunnels and disappearing cannons that dropped under cover automatically with the recoil of the cannonball blast. Very ingenious design but up until now an 'angry' shot has not yet been dispatched. It reminded us of Canada and our homeland security. We also walked by a large park where 4 cricket matches were going on.We sat and watched for a while but we didn't see anything exciting happening, not even a tea break. The majority of their fans were congregated in the concession stand patio where beers were being served. It would seem like the best way to 'observe' a match.
From Auckland we drove north to the Bay of Islands, a collection of small islands, sandy beaches and beautiful views. We spent two nights in Paihai and after arriving in the afternoon we walked up and down the main street along the beach checking out the nice shops and eating establishments. However, the 30C temperature lured us back to our hostel where our balcony had a nice cool breeze, a view of the harbour and cold refreshments. The next day we went to the Waitangi National Reserve and to the Treaty House where in 1840 the British convinced the Maori chiefs to sign an agreement that didn't work out as well for them as it did for the Brits (one can only assume that alcohol was involved in this land grab). Nevertheless it was the beginning of New Zealand as we know it today, although it took another 5 years of skirmishes before things settled down. Most of these battles took place in Russell which was just across the bay, and we took a short ferry ride to check it out. With ongoing battles happening between 1835 - 1845, it drove out the British elite for a while, and attracted criminals, felons and madames to Russell, who got away with just about anything while the British law enforcement troops were busy keeping the Maori's at bay, thus earning the nickname, Hellhole of the Pacific. Today it is a beautiful quaint seaside town with Victorian style homes. The locals still have fun with their heritage, celebrating with several Hellhole parties every year. It sounded like a lot of fun but we missed our opportunity by being there one day late.
After leaving the Bay of Islands we drove south down the east coast and then over to the Coromandel Peninsula, stopping in Whitanga at another hostel right beside the beach with balcony views once again. Yesterday we drove 40 km's south to Hot Water Beach where everyone created their own hot tub on the beach. A local showed us how to find a 'hot' spot by squishing your feet into the sand, 4-5 inches below the surface, and if you felt heat then that was your spot. It didn't take us long to find ours, and I started digging away. Being a novice at this I probably picked a spot a little too close to the ocean, and miscalculated the time it took for the tide to recede (low tide is the ideal time to be there), so a few rogue waves wiped out my efforts and I had to start over several times. In the end we were successful and even had a few spots in our tub were the water was extremely hot and would burn your skin if you stayed in that area for more than a few seconds. Quite remarkable. We then drove over to nearby Cathedral Cove where a 45 minute walk along a cliff top and then down to the beach led us to a nice water shaped arch and nice sandy beaches where we spent the afternoon.
We are now in Tauranga, further down the east coast of the North Island. Today we will do a short (1 hour) hike up to the top of a dormant volcano on their lovely coast, explore the town a little and drive an hour inland to Rotorua, known for it's natural thermal activity.



Devenport - Disappearing Cannon



Russell - not looking for felons anymore



Hot Water Beach



Cathedral Cove

From Up Over to Down Under

Kia Ora.
We have landed safely In Auckland after leaving on Wednesday and arriving on Friday morning. Our direct flight from San Francisco was on a 747-400 (400 passengers) travelling at over 900 km/hr, with excellent service by Air New Zealand, made the 10,500 km flight seem shorter than it was (12,5 hours). Somehow though, Thursday disappeared. Perhaps it had something to do with crossing the International Date Line. We are now 20 hours ahead of our Calgary friends (18 for Ontario) so if you want any tips on what is in your near future, we are your source.
After securing our rental car for the next month we drove to our hostel, getting used to driving on the other side of the road. Since it was too early to check-in (8 am) we did a short hike up to Mt. Eden (a few blocks away) which had a wonderful view of Auckland to help us get our bearings. Then we drove to the Fish Market (smaller and less busy than we anticipated), the Auckland Museum (Maori culture) and then to the Supermarket to pick up a few supplies (including some NZ wine). During our travels we discovered that Auckland does not have many straight roads which often change names, with lots of unsigned streets and roundabouts, making it difficult for my navigator to provide the necessary information to the driver. Meanwhile I was challenged with staying on the correct side of the road and remembering that the signal switch and windshield wiper controls were on the opposite side of the steering wheel. It was a humorous and good introducion to Auckland.
Starting to fade, we then checked into our hostel and proceeded directly to our bed even though it was only 1:30 pm.....apparently we didn't get as much sleep as we thought we did on the plane. After awakening a few hours later......we thought......we soon discoverd it was 8 pm.......so much for dinner........and which is why I am writing this blog just before midnight.
Tomorrow we plan to take an Auckland harbour cruise with a stopover at Devenport to do a 5 km walk / hike to visit the old fashioned suburb and two small volcanos. On Sunday we will drive north to the Bay of Islands.

Auckland - Downtown & Sky Tower

Mt. Eden view

Devenport volcanos (behind Museum)