Travelling

14th November 2009 A beautiful morning for a walk! Although we haven’t rushed things as we’ve travelled, sometimes it’s nice to abandon the car and have a relaxing day exploring by foot. We booked in at Hahei for 3 nights to give ourselves some time to explore the beautiful Cormorandel Region and today we discovered just how idyllic it is here. We started at Hahei Beach and followed the winding path up and down around to the lookout at the top of the hill. From here there are stunning views of all the volcanic islands out in the bay, a truly wonderful sight and not as commercial as the Bay of Islands. ...

11th November 2009 Time to explore Rotorua, famous for its sulphur smell, thermal springs and Maori culture. We headed to Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland which is part of a Scenic Reserve and has the largest area of surface thermal activity in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. This is a highly active volcanic area in the North Island of New Zealand. The Wai-o-Tapu Reserve is literally covered with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud, water and steaming fumaroles (vent in Earth’s crust). The area is associated with volcanic activity dating back about 160,000 years. ...

10th November 2009 After yesterday’s disappointing weather which prevented us from doing the Alpine crossing we woke up this morning to a glorious day - typical! I’d been thinking about doing a skydive for a while - something which had been brought back to the surface again after chatting to a guy in Hamilton a couple of days ago who had done one in Taupo. He raved about how great it had been, and it turns out that Taupo is one of the cheapest places you can do it. And we just so happened to be passing that way this morning. I’d already decided which of the three operators to go with, so we called in there about 10:10 this morning, to find that they had some slots free on the 10:30 flight. There were two drop heights available - 12,000 feet or 15,000 feet. Someone we met on the rafting day yesterday had recommended doing the 15,000 foot one as you get an extra 15 seconds or so of freefall, so that’s the one I opted for. With the decision made it was off to get kitted up, meet the guy who was going to be my tandem and board the plane. ...

8th November 2009 This morning at 6am I donned the welsh jersey for a trip to the pub to watch the All Blacks play Wales in Cardiff. It seemed really strange to be in a pub that early (and felt a little too early for a beer, so we settled for a cooked breakfast and coffee instead). I sang the anthem, albeit quietly since I was the only Welsh supporter in the place and got very excited when I saw the goat! The match was excellent, a really exciting game from start to finish with Wales really taking it to the Blacks and playing with immense passion right up until the final whistle. I think on reflection a beer would have helped calm me down instead of the 2 cups of strong coffee which only fuelled my nerves - I felt truly exhausted by the end. ...

9th November 2009 Originally we were planning to walk the Tongariro Pass today, reputedly one of the best one day hikes in New Zealand, however, the weather was against us, with low cloud and rain showers. So we needed an alternative for the day. This morning, we took a short walk along the Tongariro river in Turangi, a town which is the self proclaimed trout fishing capital of the world. There were a few fishermen out searching for the trout, which are plentiful in this lovely river. ...

7th November 2009 A slow start this morning as we’re in Hamilton for a couple of nights and everything we want to do is very nearby. A five minute walk away from the hostel is Hamilton Gardens. We headed here after breakfast and after being given some pointers of things to look at by the very helpful lady at the information desk we made our way into the gardens. We started in the Feature Gardens, which are made up of a number of different showcase gardens from around the world. These started with a very Zen Japanese garden, following onto a traditional English garden with wide boarders and quite wild planting. ...

6th October 2009 Up and about early this morning to a beautiful day. It had been raining hard in the night which seemed to have cleared the air and the day was looking promising, which was good news as we had a long drive ahead of us from Kaihu right down to Hamilton. We attempted to finish the jigsaw puzzle over breakfast but failed, so left it for Rachel and Claire to hopefully complete. ...

3rd November 2009 Today we go even further north, up to Henderson Bay which was the nearest place we could get to Cape Reinga. We set off from our lovely hostel quite late, calling in to get food and petrol on the way out of town (we’re not sure where the nearest supermarket will be up north!). We made a short detour along Whangaroa harbour, calling in at Tauranga Bay for a spot of lunch. Unfortunately the weather is still a little changeable so we had a short shower while we were here, but were still able to enjoy the peachy pink sand. From the road, we enjoyed some lovely veiws over the Cavalli Islands scattered off shore. ...

5th November A fair old drive on the cards today, to reach Henderson Bay we had driven up the east coast, so to get back down south we wanted to travel the west coast which is supposed to be wilder and more savage than the east. John at the hostel had told us about a small car ferry that crossed the Hokianga Harbour from Kohukohu to Rawene, and besides saving us some travelling time going round, this seemed like a fun thing to do, so we weaved along snaking moutain roads to catch the midday ferry. ...

2nd November 2009 Apparently the best way to see and experience the Bay of Islands is from the water, so this morning we were up early to catch a 50 foot catamaran from Paihia for a days sailing and dolphin spotting. The weather this morning was quite chilly and overcast when we reached Paihia, so we were wrapped up warmly for the first part of our sail. ...

4th November Awoken this morning by a fabulous sunrise across the ocean which we can see from our room, a perfect start to the day. Consequently we headed out early to Cape Reinga, the point where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet, breaking together in waves. The area is considered extremely sacred by the Maoris and at the tip of the cape is a spiritually significant 800-year old pohutukawa tree - souls of the departed are believed to slide down its roots on their way back to their spiritual homeland of Hawaiki. As a result you are not allowed to eat or drink on the site out of respect. ...

30th October 2009 After our chat with Trystan last night we decided to extend our car hire until 19th November as it is just easier to get around by car, it also gives us access to some of the smaller and more intimate hostels which are a little more off the beaten track. Unfortunately we have to return the car to Auckland, but this also gives us the opportunity to take the train to Wellington, which is something we had wanted to do, but didn’t think we’d get the chance since we’d miss too much in between. So actually this way we get the best of both worlds. ...

1st November 2009 This morning we had to pack up and leave the little slice of heaven that was Little Earth Lodge. Definately one for the recommendations. We followed the Tutukaka Coast north to Matapouri Beach. We walked along the long stretch of sand, then followed a path through the long grass at the north end of the beach, this led us to a hole in a rock where we scrabbled through and clambered along the rocks on the other side to reach Mermaid Pool. This is a deep, natural rock pool with crystal-clear water flushed out by the tide. A group of lads with a rugby ball had been ahead of us on the path and were now playing with the ball near the water, when one of them inevitably had to go in and retreive the rugby ball he reported back that the water was as ‘cold as’! ...

31st October 2009 We were woken early this morning by the sun streaming in through the French windows which lead from our room directly onto the deck. A sunshine breakfast outside followed. Since the weather was so nice we decided to follow the river walk up to Whangarei Falls, reputedley the most photographed waterfalls in NZ. Starting at AH Reed Kauri Park we walked along the treetop boardwalk among the ancient and massive Kauri trees before following the river up to the falls. The foilage alongside the river contained a lot of ferns and yukkas that we would see in gardens back home. ...

29th October 2009 This morning we made the short walk from Parnell to the Auckland museum, about 15 minutes away. This museum houses a large number of Maori items, as well as having a Maori Cultural Show several times a day, which we purchased ticket for. We were summoned through to the main Maori exhibition by people dressed in traditional Marori attire where we were given a brief introduction and then led through to a small auditorium with a stage. ...

25th/26th October 2009 Attending church on a Sunday morning is something of a Rarotongan tradition. Each of the local churches welcomes the tourists to come into their morning service and listen to the wonderful Maori singing, followed by a feed at the community centre. The church we attended in Titikaveka was a lovely building built in the eighteen hundreds, the pulpit area was filled with local flowers and the windows were plain looking out onto the lush green hills behind. The church is a perfect square representing the fact that before God there is no colour or creed, simply human beings. The singing was superb and truly raised the roof and true to form I got quite emotional when they started (it’s something about choirs!). The entire service was conducted in Maori, apart from the lesson which was spoken first in Maori, then English. After the service, the Church secretary thanked a few special guests for coming, one of which was the Queens Representative on the Cook Islands, so we’d been at church with royalty (well almost!). ...

19th October 2009 Flying into Rarotonga at 5.30am, we saw a glorious dawn breaking over the horizon as we dipped below the fluffy clounds into Avarua (the main township). The airport hadn’t changed much in the 10 years since I last visited, you still pretty much land outside the terminal building and there was still a man with a guitar singing to welcome you and you still got garlands of flowers on arrival. ...

27th October 2009 After a good night’s kip at the SKylodge we walked 5 minutes up the road to a cafe to grab some breakfast. The weather is a bit of a shock here this morning, quite cold and windy, and by the time we’d had breakfast and got back to the hostel to get our bags it was raining - just like home. We caught the bus into Auckland downtown before switching to the the Link bus service to get us out to Parnell where we are staying for a few nights. ...

22nd October 2009 An early-ish start today, we caught the bus with Sophie who is also staying at the guesthouse, just before 9:30 and headed towards Avarua where we got off just next to the harbour ready to start our cross-island walk. The start was fairly easy going on tarmac roads, but this soon turned into a track, which then become a single file uphill climb through dense undergrowth. ...

24th October 2009 Saturday is market day in Avarua. The Cook Island’s Cultural market sells everything from seasonal fruit and vegetables, food ranging from waffles to meat cooked in the umu, the ubiquitous black pearls, pareu (sarongs) and t-shirts. One of the best things in the Cook Islands is that the people here are so laid back and friendly it’s lovely just to wander around the market and look at the stalls, there’s not the pressure to buy from the stall holders that you get in other places, you look, you say hello and if you want to buy you buy, if not, no problem. ...