Day 64 - ... Come to an End

Friday, December 6th, 2013

Our very last day and we planned to make the most of it. We packed up ready for our evening flight and left our bags at the hotel. 

We walked the 15 minute route to the quay to catch the 'Hop-on Hop-off' tour bus that promises stops at Auckland's 14 most famous sights. How disappointed we were to see not one, but two, cruise ships in for the day! Fortunately, extra buses had been organized to accommodate increased volume, so our experience was fine.

The first picture here is of the Auckland city skyline taken from our first stop at Marine World.  Auckland has the highest rate of boat ownership of any city in the world.

We changed buses at the museum to do an outer loop and hopped off at Mount Eden where other passengers climbed another 300 meters to view the city under blue skies! We, on the other hand, were still on a mission to find that passionfruit pulp. We headed down Mount Eden and, only a 15 -20 minute walk away, found the distributor we'd been looking for ever since the shopkeeper in Taihape told us about it. We enjoyed browsing the fine imported foods in this place - Sabados - hidden in an industrial head office area of the city. We found the 'Fresh As' brand of freeze-dried sliced and powdered fruits and picked some up - passionfruit for me and feijoa to take home for Kyla.

Shopping done, we headed to Eden Gardens, another Hop-on-off bus stop, and continued the sight-seeing route until Parnell Village area caught our attention as a good stop to find a late lunch. 

Following lunch and more browsing, we discovered that it would be quicker to walk back to our hotel than to wait for the bus and see the remaining 2 sights. 

Back at our hotel we relaxed with a beer before our shuttle collected us for the airport. We'll have a 13.5 hour flight leaving at 8 PM Friday evening, arriving in Vancouver at 12 PM Friday noon!

Tina and I will part ways at Vancouver. I'm off to my brother Ken's place for a couple of days and then to Kyla's for a couple more days' visit before heading home. Both Ken and Kyla and their families have moved into new homes since I've been away, so I'm looking forward to checking out a couple of new-to-me neighbourhoods.

Day 63 - All Good Things...

Thursday, December 5th, 2013

The ducks that spend hunting season on Hiwi's property every year were flapping their wings against our door demanding breakfast this morning, despite the pounding rain. The deck and driveway area between our sleeping quarters and the entrance to the house are a continuous flurry of bird life. The many quail and ducks are regular guests but there are always other bird varieties around to sample the seed and pellets Hiwi provides. The front deck is the area to see native pukeko and the protected weka and kiwi. It's a large area of native bush where they live, but both the weka and pukeko have learned to emerge from the safety of the bush to enjoy treats Hiwi drops to them.

The Pukeko picks up an entire slice of bread with its huge feet, places it into its mouth and carries it away.

The Weka is rare south of here but we saw many killed on the roads in this part of NZ. Although we sometimes heard the kiwi screeching during the night, we never saw one here.

The heavy rain continued all night and we woke up dreading our drive south in this weather. Waiting out the rain was not an option - we'd already delayed the car rental return. So we said our final good-byes, got away fairly early and took it easy - visibility was very poor at times.

We had turned in the car and were in our Auckland hotel room by 2 PM. Now we had 28 hours to explore the city before our shuttle to the airport. 

We headed out to see what we could on foot. Our hotel was conveniently located near the quay and the shopping area of Queen Street. Once we were too exhausted to explore any further, it was time to find a good martini and dinner. How lucky we were to find both almost as soon as we decided what we wanted! The martinis were almost perfect and the lamb meal was scrumptious! Our last dinner in New Zealand was just as wonderful as our entire holiday here!

Day 62 - Our Last BOI (Bay of Islands) Day

Wednesday, December 4th, 2013

The clouds have pocketed the entire North Island now and the rain is coming down in buckets with no sign of relief until well after we leave :(  It would be perfect day to stay in pj's with a good book - but it's our last day here.

We enjoyed our morning visiting with Hiwi and her friend Willie before heading off, first, to visit my sister-in-law Novi who describes herself as the hunter-gatherer of the family. She likes to spend her time fishing, gathering shellfish and creating beautiful craft items out of smooth stones and shells.

Next, we headed to an internet access provider downtown to buy time to post a blog. I've been there before and it's pretty difficult to post even one blog in the 50mb available to purchase at a time. Posted one, downloaded email and that was it.

We browsed the museum and then headed to the famous Duke of Marlborough for lunch. The "Duke" is the oldest hotel in the area, built during the whaling days in the early 1800's when Russell was known as the "hell hole of the Pacific". This, now elegant, hotel was a grog shop and whore house for most of its life, burning to the ground three times and rebuilt following each destruction until it finally had to apply for a liquor licence and changed its name to what it is today. It's now an award winning establishment for its food and service and I'm sure the wonderful setting on the bayshore has contributed to its status. After lunch we purchased wifi time with our cup of tea and I was able to post 3 more days on the blog - much better service here!

We finally faced the wet weather again, borrowed umbrellas in hand and completed visiting sights on our list before picking up some wine and heading back to Hiwi's for dinner and more visiting with my 3rd Russell sister-in-law, Necia, who joined us for the evening.

We burned the midnight oil chatting until Tina and I finally gave in to fatigue and retired for the rest of the night. Those sisters and Willie continued chatting, singing and ukulele-playing until the wee hours! That's now 2 nights of singing we've missed because we can't keep up to those Knowles's!

Day 61 - Bottom and Top

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013

Today we headed to the top of the North Island. We were advised not to drive the famous 90 MIle Beach as it is tricky and dangerous - if our rental car gets stuck there we'd have to buy it! So we hopped the Cape Runner bus for their day trip.

The weather forecast has not been good for our last few days in New Zealand so we weren't surprised to wake up to heavy rain and winds. The trip today was great, though, and the rain stopped for a few hours while we were walking down to Cape Reinga lighthouse and then later, during our picnic lunch.

It's pretty evident in the picture below that the wind didn't cease - we were lucky not to be blown off the Cape! We were fighting the wind during our walk and had to brace ourselves, legs firmly planted and spread, while taking photos. The sea is turbulent here because it's the place where the Tasman Sea, to the west, meets the Pacific Ocean.

Here we are just 6059 nautical miles from Vancouver.

After a picnic lunch at Tapotupotu Bay, our driver drove down a non-tidal stream onto 90 Mile Beach - which isn't 90 miles at all, but 90 kilometers. It was misnamed at some point. The beach is a legal highway in New Zealand for the period 2 hours before and after low tide and the speed limit is 100 km/h. 4 wheel drive vehicles are recommended and experience and skill is required in quite a few spots. Our first stop after entering the beach was the sand dunes when our driver, Simon, hauled out a bunch of toboggans so we could climb and slide down the dunes! Everyone, old and young, who tried it had a great time. Tina and I chose not participate, as we had no desire to get sand everywhere inside our clothing - we had quite a few hours of travelling ahead of us today.

Here is Tina on a stop about mid-way down the beach. We drove 70 km of the beach today.

Our last stop of the tour was at the ancient kauri museum/store/cafe where we saw pieces of giant kauri trees that have been buried for many thousands of years. It is believed that some kind of event, such as a huge tsunami, flattened kauri forests between 40 and 50 thousand years ago. New forests eventually grew over the areas and the timber and gum harvested. These ancient, giant trees have been perfectly preserved and are now being extracted and used to make furniture and specialty items. Kauri is a beautiful wood and live forests of this native tree are now protected from logging.

The photo illustrates the size of the ancient trees. This one has had a staircase carved into it.

We returned to our car late afternoon and traced yesterday's route along highway 10 back to the Bay of Islands and Russell where Hiwi and her friend, Wiremu were waiting to hear about our day over dinner.

We have now been from the bottom (Stewart Island) to the top (Cape Reinga) of this beautiful country and I guess it's just about time to go home :(

Day 60 - Another Northern Road Trip Adventure

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

Tina and I left Russell around 10 this morning for an overnight trip north. With our gas tank near empty, we programmed the GPS to get us to the closest petrol station after leaving the Opua car ferry. Well, little Ms Garmin gave us a real scare as she took us off the highway into the Opua Recreational Forest Reserve on a very narrow, twisting and mountain-climbing gravel road. We knew it wasn't right, but decided to stick with her as she read only 5.4 km before a turn-off which we hoped would take us back onto the highway. Well, after those 5+km finally ended, there was no turn, and the road went on. She decided that it'd be another 18 km and we thought that she didn't recognize where we were! We hadn't seen another vehicle or building and the road was getting worse, so we carefully manoeuvred around and headed back the way we'd come, hoping our fuel would last. It all worked out okay but, darn it all, that GPS can be so helpful sometimes but has let us down more than once! It was much later that I discovered that the only reason Ms Garmin has been letting us down is because her settings were incorrect - MY mistake! She had been programmed not to take u-turns (hence our huge detour in Hawkes Bay) and I have now programmed her to avoid future unpaved roads. 

After fueling up, we headed along the scenic northern route to the Mangonui wharf where we stopped to sample its "world famous, award winning" fish and chips. The fish (Bluenose) and chips were fabulous and we were not disappointed. Following lunch we browsed the shops on the Main Street waterfront and then drove up to the Rangikapiti pa site on the edge of town to experience the marvelous 360 degree view and imagine the area 150 years ago as a village compound strongly defended from this vantage point.

Our last stop in Mangonui was to check in with my niece, Natissa, and her daughter, Janna, who were hard at work in their commercial laundry. They took some time from their labours for a quick visit and catch-up. 

The last leg of today's journey was to Kaitaia where we stayed the night in preparation for our trip to the top of the Island tomorrow.

Day 59 - Russell

Sunday, December 1st, 2013

Here's my beautiful sister-in-law who is responsible for encouraging me to come down-under this year.  Thanks, Hiwi!

Russell, a small town with a permanent population of about 900 people or 1200 including holiday home-owners, was the first capital city of New Zealand. The residents have managed to keep their town free of big buildings and the commercial feel of Pahia and has a wonderful, relaxed island feel. During the 'silly season' the population of this place can balloon to 30,000.

This morning Tina chose to attend a service with my sister-in-law, Necia Shortland, at Christ Church Anglican, the first church in New Zealand. I dropped her off and made my way up to the cemetery to pay my respects to departed loved ones. The cemetery has one of the best views in the area with views of the sea on both sides of the peninsula. 

Later, we wandered around town visiting shops and listening to wonderful live music performers at a park set up for a family day celebration. We eventually found ourselves at the Russell Bowling Club where Hiwi had been working since early this morning preparing lunch for participants of a bowls competition. We had been invited for lunch - and what a lunch it was!! There was a spread of local delicacies like I've never seen before -  mussel fritters, crayfish, fresh oysters, kina (sea urchin), 3 kinds of fried fish, chips, ham, chicken, roast kumera and pumpkin, and salads galore followed by exotic fruits and desserts. I never saw the desserts as I returned to the table for seconds of oysters and kina. But a piece of custard apple was a nice finish - I've been on the hunt for custard apple for many, many years. Oh, it's so good to be back!!

We watched a bit of the bowls competition and then left in time to join a historical tour of Russell. Tina and I were the only guests on this one-hour tour and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing the history and seeing the major sights of this town.

Following the tour we set out to revisit sights that piqued our interest as well as to get a photo of the Knowles family home (a heritage building) on the beach.

Once my feet gave out (I should never tour in sandals) we headed back up to Hiwi's place for another great night of wine and visiting.