Thursday 30th April

We are due to leave this beautiful spot at Opoutere this morning. but before doing so I just had to publish a photo of the view we had over the creek from the hostel whilst eating our breakfast outside.

I spoke to the only other 'hosteller' his morning and he said this place closes tomorrow for 6 months. Boy, were we lucky!

After having our ‘breakfast with a view’, we loaded the car and left that little bit of New Zealand paradise - only to find some more.
We drove north on State Highway 25 as far as Whenuakite then took a detour to visit ‘Cathedral Cove’, near Hahei. I had heard of this place before and pictures of it are used for Coromandel Peninsula publicity. It was a lovely clear day with a few clouds, which was lucky because I knew I would want to take lots of photos. On arrival at the car park, we thought we were there - wrong! We discovered it was a 45 minute walk to the cove so after sustaining ourselves with coffee and carrot cake muffins we set off.
It was a beautiful coastal walk through bush and was very steep both up and down in places, but on arrival at the cove we decided it was worth every puff and step! What a place. Completely unspoiled, unlittered sand, blue sky and blue sea with white crashing waves. The ‘cathedral’ itself was huge - not just a cavern in the rock but an arch shaped tunnel joining two beaches. Awesome!

And I do have to mention the loo!! It was a new wooden building, up a flight of steps and although it as a chemical loo and a little bit smelly - that didn‘t matter at all because there was a huge picture window opposite the seat overlooking the pohutukawa trees and beach - the best ‘loo with a view’ I have ever been in! (On the subject of loos I have to report that neither of us had to take a night-time walk last night at the hostel, thank goodness!)
We stayed at the cove for about half an hour, strolling along the beach and soaking up the atmosphere. There were a few other people there, but not enough to spoil it.
After the long walk back we headed off in the car again to Whitianga for lunch. All the roads we have been along on this peninsula are very scenic - we either drove over mountains, drove in pretty valleys between them or drove along the beautiful coastline. Whitianga was a nice coastal town - the usual straight, wide streets and covered pavements There were expensive looking boats moored in the estuary, and long sandy tree-lined beaches with a backdrop of wooded hills. Some of the coastal houses literally had the beach at the bottom of their gardens - lucky owners!
From there we headed westwards towards Coromandel town, over the top of the northern end of the Coromandel mountain range - a very steep and twisty road both up and down. We are booked in ‘The Admiral’s Arms’ for two nights. The accommodation consists of 4 or 5 bedrooms - we have a twin room - and there are shared bathrooms and a nice clean shared kitchen and TV lounge. The snag? This is a pub and we are over a large bar and tonight is karaoke night! The other couple staying here have been here before and assure us it will not be noisy. Time will tell ….
Today has been a fabulous day and the Coromandel Peninsula has more than lived up to my expectations - it is beautiful here.

28th and 29th April

Wednesday 29th April
This morning we left the comfort of Judy’s unit and once again hit the road heading north. Our destination is Opoutere on the east coast of the Coromandel peninsula. I drove the first 100km to Tauranga where we stopped for ‘morning tea and scones’ at the home of a friend of Terry. Kerrye and Pat were neighbours of Terry when they lived in Auckland. Kerrye and Pat took over the care of Terry’s beloved cat. Sophie, when she left Auckland so there was a somewhat emotional reunion on arrival. Tauranga is a big town (city) on the coast and is very hilly. On leaving there we drove on to the small town of Waihi - a gold mining town. We stopped a while and walked up to look down into the Martha Gold Mine - the biggest hole in the ground I have ever seen.

I kept a lookout for a few discarded gold nuggets but was not fortunate enough to find any! There is also the remains of a huge mine pump house. (I must ‘google’ Waihi when I get home as I am sure there is some interesting history to read about).

We then drove on to Opoutere, where we were booked into the YHA. Our accommodation is half of a little hut set among tall trees. Like the previous hostel it is very basic but clean - twin beds and a small table, that is all. The only snag is that if we need the loo in the night it will be walk by torchlight to the main building. Nothing more for me to drink this evening I guess!

We did not bother to stop off for supplies on the way, thinking we would settle in first, take a look around the area then perhaps go and get a takeaway or eat out. But we were foiled! There is absolutely NOTHING here except a few houses and beautiful scenery and bush walks.

We took a walk though a nature reserve which opened out onto the most fabulous unspoiled beach I have ever seen, with offshore islands. It was real paradise.

We were the only people there and all we could hear was the pounding of the Pacific waves on the shore and the call of the birds, especially the distinct call of the Tui.

Dinner tonight will be eating what remains in our food box - a couple of toasted slices of not so fresh bread, a tin of salmon with mayo, fruit and yoghurt! Good for the diet I suppose. I blame Terry of course!


Tuesday 28th April
Today we had a quiet day taking advantage of staying in Judy’s comfortable little apartment. A day with no driving was welcome. We just pottered around and took a short visit into Whakatane to do some shopping and to have a brief look around. It is a lovely coastal town. We had a walk along the beach during the afternoon. This house is tucked down behind the sand dunes so the beach is right on the doorstep. It is completely unspoiled - no buildings or promenade, just sand, trees and driftwood. It probably looks much the same as it did when NZ was discovered! There are some interesting looking offshore islands and it was a shame that the weather was cloudy so the scenery was not very photogenic.

Monday 27th April

Gisborne is the first city in the world to see the sunrise and although I wake early I resisted the temptation to get out of bed that early too see it! Breakfast this morning was made in the large shared, but very clean, kitchen where others were also preparing their own breakfasts.

There are 2 beaches in Gisborne - Katai Beach where Cook landed and Waikanae Beach (the same name as Terry’s home town down on the Kapiti Coast) which is a very large bay lined with Nofolk Island Pines and other trees and has a wonderful backdrop of mountains.

After an early start we left the hostel to go to Waikanae Beach to see the statues of Captain Cook and ‘Young Nick‘ - (Nicholas Young, who was Captain Cook‘s cabin boy and who was the first person on board HM Bark ‘Endeavour‘ to sight New Zealand) - it got too dark to see them yesterday evening.

It gets dark around 6pm here and darkness falls very quickly.
Gisborne is a very nice town with wide palm tree lined streets and has a real ‘holiday’ feel to it. Both beaches here, especially Waikanae Beach, are very popular with surfers. The weather has been very warm for an autumn day - temperatures in the low to mid 20’s

We finally left Gisborne at around 1030 for Whakatane. Here ‘Wh’ is pronounced ‘F’ so it is pronounced ‘Fock-a-tarnie’ (no comments please!). The distance was just over 200km, about 50km of which was a fabulous drive through the Waioeka Gorge - a twisty road following the Waioeka River which cuts between very high bush covered mountains. The temperature dropped dramatically there and it rained but it was nonetheless quite an experience to drive through.

While here we are staying at the home of a friend of Terry’s - another Judy. But she is not here at the moment as she is visiting her son in Perth, Australia. She is kindly allowing us to stay at her house - a new 2-bed ‘granny annex’ adjoining her daughter’s house. It is right by the sea and in a lovely situation.

Sunday 26th April - In the Footsteps of Captain Cook

We packed up and left Napier for Gisborne at 0930. After about an hour we stopped for coffee then drove on to Wairoa and had a picnic lunch by the large estuary of the Wairoa River. Again we had a lovely scenic drive through mountains and yet again there was not much traffic.

We arrived in Gisborne around 3.30pm where we were booked into a YHA Hostel for the night. It was very basic but clean and we had a private twin room with bathroom. After registering there we went to Kaiti Beach in Gisborne - the landing place of Captain Cook when he discovered New Zealand on 7th October 1769.
We met some interesting people at the hostel including a lady who lives in Bracknell, quite near to me in the UK. When researching her ancestry she discovered she had a Maori grandfather and has since visited New Zealand several times and found and met relatives. She regularly attends weekly Maori gatherings at New Zealand House in London and I intend to keep in touch with her and go to one of the meetings with her - probably when Terry is in the UK with me as she would find it interesting.,

Saturday 25th April

Today is ANZAC Day.
We spent the day in Napier - known as The Art Deco City. It is a quite large city and port, situated at the southern end of Hawke Bay on the east coast, and suffered a devastating earthquake in 1931. The city was completely rebuilt in the 1930’s. Art Deco was popular at that time and the buildings echo that style and are really colourful and beautiful.

During the morning we wandered around the streets looking at the pretty buildings. It seems such a shame that the old Art Deco facades have been spoiled by 21st Century shop fronts and large garish signs, but that’s progress I guess and the buildings are, after all, shops and offices. One building in particular caught my eye:

After a snack lunch at our motel unit we went out again in the car to the top of Napier Hill. Before the earthquake this hill was all that there was of Napier and it was an island. The surrounding seabed rose 2-½ metres and allowed Napier to expand and have it’s own airport.

Friday 24th April

Today we left Masterton at 0930 and headed for Napier. Not far along Highway 2 we came to the Mount Bruce Wildlife Reserve which had been recommended to us. We stopped there for coffee and took it out onto the deck which overlooked a Takahe (pronounced tack-a-hay) enclosure - a very rare and almost extinct native New Zealand bird. The numbers have now increased to 225 and we were lucky enough to see two of them. They are about the size of a large chicken and were a beautiful blue/green colour with red legs. It was thought they were extinct until a couple were rediscovered in the 1940’s. I felt very privileged to see them.


The journey to Napier was around 230km and it was my turn to do most of the driving today. Driving is very easy here as the roads are usually very quiet outside towns.
We arrived at the Gardner Court Motel , where we checked in for 2 nights, around 3.30 after a leisurely drive which included a stop for lunch at Waipukurau.

Thursday 23rd April

Today phase 2 of the ’big trip’ started. After leaving Terry’s house in good order for the house-sitter we departed at around 1pm for Masterton. It was a journey of just under 100km, the first 30km of which was over the Akatarawa mountain range and Tararua Forest Park. The road was very twisty and steep in places. We were advised by the local AA office NOT to take that route because of the condition of the road but - us being us - decided to give it a go! And we were very pleased we did. Not only was it the most direct route but it was beautiful and the scenery - in the gaps between the trees - was stunning. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the top of the climb and sat and looked over miles of bush to the coast beyond.

We had coffee at Greytown on the way. That was a nice little town, with lots of old colonial style buildings and, in the churchyard, the biggest tallest Eucalyptus tree I have ever seen with a trunk which must have been nearly 10ft in diameter.
We arrived at the Chanel Court Motel in Masterton around 4pm. Motels here are great - we have a 2 bed ‘unit’ with kitchenette complete with cooker, microwave and fridge, shower and loo. I remember from my previous visit how good the motels in NZ are and they are such good value for money. This one is $NZ90 per night - $NZ45 each - roughly just over £15. Can’t be bad. We bought remaining food from Terry’s house with us and cooked our own dinner - tuna/mayo jacket potato and for pud - a real ‘Kiwi’ kiwi fruit - lovely!

21st April

Today is going to be a 'doing chores' day - getting Terry's house ready for our departure and for her house-sitter to arrive. So there is not much to blog at the moment.

I have created a map of the route north we are taking from here in Waikanae to Auckland. We leave here tomorrow and the trip will take around 10 days including various stopovers. I shall be visiting parts of the North Island that I didn't see when I was here in 2006:

17th - 20th April

We have not been doing very much these few days. It’s good to be relaxing and recharging batteries before things kick off when we leave here on Thursday and head north to Auckland. The weather has been quite good, although on Monday it was blowing a cold south wind and it rained occasionally. The evenings and early mornings tend to be chilly and one of the first things I did after arriving here was to go to the local ‘op shop’ (second hand shop) and buy a warm dressing gown!

Time-wise I am still not quite in the NZ zone. I wake very early and tend to nod off in front of the television around 7.30pm in the evening (ok, I know - what’s new!) I will probably just get used to it then we take off for Canada where there is a 17 hour time difference to here and I will have to start adjusting again.

The Kapiti Coast area is really nice. On Sunday we walked up to a lookout point and had great views over the coast and local countryside.

It’s lovely being back in New Zealand.

April 16th

Today Terry and I took the local train to Wellington to see the 'Monet and the Impressionists' Exhibition at the Te Papa Museum. It was a great exhibition and the paintings were lovely to see. We had a lovely walk around the harbour from the train station to the museum. So far the weather has been very kind to me but it was windy there. I am told it nearly always is!

I visited the same museum when I was in Wellingon in 2006 so didn't go to any other part of it today. It is a really interesting museum, showing all aspects of life in New Zealand. The website is worth a visit:

http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/Tepapa/English/

Wellington is a lovely city - the home of the New Zealand Government. It is very hilly and some of the houses on the hills must have incredible views over the city and harbour.

The hour long ride on the local train is very scenic in parts as it runs along the coast. The journey from Paraparaumu to Wellington takes around an hour.

15th April 2009

We are spending a quiet day today here at Terry's house which is really lovely She was so lucky to have found it when she moved here to the Kapiti Coast from Auckland last August:

I woke up this morning feeling absolutely fine - not tired or jet-lagged at all. It did hit me last evening and I went to bed at 7.30pm and slept through until around 5.30am this morning.

We spent the morning having a walk along the lovely beach here at Waikanae:

Kapiti Island (a wildlife reserve) is on the right, and way in the distance ahead I could see the mountains of South Island although it is not clear in this small photograph. We then went to the local shops in Waikanae where I am pleased to report that Woolworths is alive and well - albeit a supermarket and not like the 'Woolies' we had before it's sad demise.

14th April 2009

I have arrived safely in Waikanae, just north of Wellington New Zealand, and am at Terry's house. The long journey passed really well and I do not at feel as though I have been travelling for something like 28 hours. Fortunately both long flights (London-Hong Kong and Hong Kong-Auckland) were night flights so after take-off and dinner the lights were dimmed and everyone went to sleep or settled down to watch a film of their choice (I think there were 80 films to choose from!) I changed my watch frequently so as to quickly get into the different time zones and I think that helped. We had just a short hour or so stopover in Hong Kong for refuelling and that was a welcome break.
The upgrade to Air New Zealand 'premium economy' was worth every penny of the extra cost. Lots of leg room and space and the food and service were very good. I was served dinner and breakfast on both flights, both meals consisting of several courses, and wine (as many refills as I wanted) came free! So that, together with a sleeping pill, helped me get some sleep and thus pass the time. I don't think I ever had a 'long' sleep, but just sort of 'cat-napped'. I watched 2 films - Frost/Nixon (or is it Nixon/Frost) - that was good. I also watched 'Doubt' with Meryl Streep and found it very boring and fell asleep so have no idea how it ended!
I had a 2-hour wait for a connecting flight from Auckland to Wellington but that time soon passed. It was about a 12-15 minute walk from the international to the domestic terminal and I really enjoyed that - having the chance to walk in the fresh air and move around a bit.
All flights were pretty much on time, and all in all the whole long journey went incredibly well.
The weather here today is beautiful, end to end blue sky and sunshine. The scenery during short flight over NZ from Auckland down to Wellington was lovely. NZ is such a beautiful country.
A few days R & R here now. I expect I will feel the time differences tomorrow - I am still on a 'high' and reality hasn't kicked in yet.