We're on the the road again part two
For some reason the blog machine failed to let me continue so I have had to start again.
Eventually the receptionist said that we should register and come back and sort everything else out tomorrow.
We declined this offer and pressed on until peace was declared, the booking was found and we were upgraded from a garden view room to an ocean view room. All is well that ends well. The expedition manager even apologised to the receptionist for declaring war and open hostility.
We ended our day with an Italian meal in Fiji and made our way wearily to bed. It was an Italian meal or a Japanese meal as these were the only restaurants open, just in case you were wondering.
Sunday 31 March 2013
We're on the road again.
Had we realised it was the Easter weekend we would have stayed at Andy and Sally's until the Easter holiday was over, but as there was nothing we could do about it we were forced to travel on Good Friday. Sometimes when you plan six months in advance you miss the really easy things.
After a quiet breakfast Philip and Sally drove us to the airport and we ar Ives in plenty of time, I have to say I have never seen Gisborne airport so busy, a plane. Full of people were waiting to get away for Easter, and two plane loads were waiting for relatives to arrive for Easter.
The plane was a few minutes late but we were ready, Andy joined us at the airport but as were delayed by ten to fifteen minutes said he had to make his farewells and go back to work. I think he was fighting back the tears. Eventually our flight was called, you could write,the flight was called ,because it was the only one. Then there were tears from Rosemarie and Sally and we all knew something very special had come to an end.
The flight to Auckland was smooth and we were a little late but as we had thre hours to waste it was no problem to us. The nice people at Gisborne had put our bags through to Fiji so we didn't have to collect them and we strolled from the domestic terminal to the international terminal.
In the terminal the expedition planner and chef do combat decided to take on the whole Fijian rugby team who were jumping the queue, despite giving away. About two and a half feet in height and several stone in weight she expressed her anger in no uncertain terms and jumped in ahead of quite a large chp, well he certainly towered over me. She was helped in her battle by the check in desk assistant who was desperately trying to get the rugby team into the right line but who was failing gloriously. I think Rosemarie should have been put in charge of queue formation at Auckland airport there is a definite vacancy there and she seems to have all the necessary skills and aptitude for the job.
The flight to Nadi was very bumpy and we were served a chicken sandwich for lunch. I have never tasted anything quite like it, it was however helped down with a very strong gin and tonic. Perhaps the cabin crew had been warned not to upset the expedition manager.
Our arrival at Nadi airport went smoothly and everything was going fine until Rosemarie went off to get a Fijian SIM card. The problem here was that we wanted the the travel company to rearrange our transfer back to the hotel from the first of April to the twelfth of April. This didn't seem to go down very well but part of it appeared to be our complete inability to get our argument across. Eventually after several minutes discussion the light bulb went on in the tour operatives head and she said she would send an e mail to the relevant person.
We were then introduced to our driver, Andy, and we loaded our bags into the back of a minibus and set off. Andy was a cheerful soul full of conversation and with a pleasant wave or a honk of the horn to everybody and every thing. He insisted in shouting"Bula" to every horse, dog or cow that crossed our path. He did tell us that his house had been destroyed in the cyclone that had hit Fini in January and that he and his family were living in a tent. Two hours later we arrived at our hotel. For the first hour we were able to see something of Fiji, which is very green and obviously very poor but the second hour was in darkness.
By this time we were very tired. The expedition manager was not ina particularly good mood at this point, and our registration proved to be a bit traumatic, the original four day say was found easily enough but our booking through a web based company could not at first be found. We drew up outr trusty iPad and showed the email to her and using the reference number she found the booking, the receptionist, then demanded, stupidly I thought that we print off the page and give it to her. This did not go down well with mission control, I was suddenly faced with a complete diplomatic incident. We were asked to log on at a terminal in reception and forward the emai to the receptionist, what is it about tiredness that makes you lose all of your marbles. First of we couldn't find the email and then once we had it on the screen we could've work out how to forward it. This was duly achieved but only with a modicum of good grace from the expedition manager, who kept telling me over ahow
Stupid the receptionist was
Had we realised it was the Easter weekend we would have stayed at Andy and Sally's until the Easter holiday was over, but as there was nothing we could do about it we were forced to travel on Good Friday. Sometimes when you plan six months in advance you miss the really easy things.
After a quiet breakfast Philip and Sally drove us to the airport and we ar Ives in plenty of time, I have to say I have never seen Gisborne airport so busy, a plane. Full of people were waiting to get away for Easter, and two plane loads were waiting for relatives to arrive for Easter.
The plane was a few minutes late but we were ready, Andy joined us at the airport but as were delayed by ten to fifteen minutes said he had to make his farewells and go back to work. I think he was fighting back the tears. Eventually our flight was called, you could write,the flight was called ,because it was the only one. Then there were tears from Rosemarie and Sally and we all knew something very special had come to an end.
The flight to Auckland was smooth and we were a little late but as we had thre hours to waste it was no problem to us. The nice people at Gisborne had put our bags through to Fiji so we didn't have to collect them and we strolled from the domestic terminal to the international terminal.
In the terminal the expedition planner and chef do combat decided to take on the whole Fijian rugby team who were jumping the queue, despite giving away. About two and a half feet in height and several stone in weight she expressed her anger in no uncertain terms and jumped in ahead of quite a large chp, well he certainly towered over me. She was helped in her battle by the check in desk assistant who was desperately trying to get the rugby team into the right line but who was failing gloriously. I think Rosemarie should have been put in charge of queue formation at Auckland airport there is a definite vacancy there and she seems to have all the necessary skills and aptitude for the job.
The flight to Nadi was very bumpy and we were served a chicken sandwich for lunch. I have never tasted anything quite like it, it was however helped down with a very strong gin and tonic. Perhaps the cabin crew had been warned not to upset the expedition manager.
Our arrival at Nadi airport went smoothly and everything was going fine until Rosemarie went off to get a Fijian SIM card. The problem here was that we wanted the the travel company to rearrange our transfer back to the hotel from the first of April to the twelfth of April. This didn't seem to go down very well but part of it appeared to be our complete inability to get our argument across. Eventually after several minutes discussion the light bulb went on in the tour operatives head and she said she would send an e mail to the relevant person.
We were then introduced to our driver, Andy, and we loaded our bags into the back of a minibus and set off. Andy was a cheerful soul full of conversation and with a pleasant wave or a honk of the horn to everybody and every thing. He insisted in shouting"Bula" to every horse, dog or cow that crossed our path. He did tell us that his house had been destroyed in the cyclone that had hit Fini in January and that he and his family were living in a tent. Two hours later we arrived at our hotel. For the first hour we were able to see something of Fiji, which is very green and obviously very poor but the second hour was in darkness.
By this time we were very tired. The expedition manager was not ina particularly good mood at this point, and our registration proved to be a bit traumatic, the original four day say was found easily enough but our booking through a web based company could not at first be found. We drew up outr trusty iPad and showed the email to her and using the reference number she found the booking, the receptionist, then demanded, stupidly I thought that we print off the page and give it to her. This did not go down well with mission control, I was suddenly faced with a complete diplomatic incident. We were asked to log on at a terminal in reception and forward the emai to the receptionist, what is it about tiredness that makes you lose all of your marbles. First of we couldn't find the email and then once we had it on the screen we could've work out how to forward it. This was duly achieved but only with a modicum of good grace from the expedition manager, who kept telling me over ahow
Stupid the receptionist was
Thursday
A day for the master packer.
The day started with yet another trip to the travel agent. I now know this office like the back of my hand and can describe the chips on the desk and the scratches in the paint . The purpose of this morning's meeting was to pay for the tickets to England. Having established a price we went to the bank to widraw the money as Andy had Sally's card in his pocket at home.
Sally then withdrew the required amount in cash and back we went to the travel agents all of 200 yards away.
The money was counted and the deal was done. I have to say Sally seemed very excited indeed. We then went to the Warehouse, a bit like Quality Seconds and bought our self some rocks goes for the princely sum of nine dollars a pair.(£4.50). These were purchased because the coral shore in Fiji is very sharp and Sally's friend Judy thought they might be useful.
Another and final trip to the supermarket followed, all of us forgetting this was Maundy Thursday and as the shop were to be shut over the Easter weekend, mass panic buying was taking place with the whole world and their dogs.
Back home for lunch, where Andy appeared to be very confused about what was happening and then the master packer swung in to military mode and with SAS like efficiency packed both the suitcases and the rucksacks.
I have to say I was very impressed, my job whilst this was going on was to download another 2000 photographs onto our memory and to make sure that Andy and Sally had a copy of all the photos we had taken whilst we were with them.
When Andy returned from work we walked to the Gisborne Wine Centre where we had some lovely Gisborne wines and a mixed platter. Gisborne wines were very good indeed.
The walk home was a little sad and we all retired to bed with that final day of the holiday feeling.I have to say here that Andy and Sally's sofa bed had been causing my back all sorts of problems as it is so soft, I asked Andy for a couple of boards to put under the mattress and this was my second night of the "new" bed. I slept much better and my back no longer ached, so who could ask for more. I only wish I had asked for the boards before.
A day for the master packer.
The day started with yet another trip to the travel agent. I now know this office like the back of my hand and can describe the chips on the desk and the scratches in the paint . The purpose of this morning's meeting was to pay for the tickets to England. Having established a price we went to the bank to widraw the money as Andy had Sally's card in his pocket at home.
Sally then withdrew the required amount in cash and back we went to the travel agents all of 200 yards away.
The money was counted and the deal was done. I have to say Sally seemed very excited indeed. We then went to the Warehouse, a bit like Quality Seconds and bought our self some rocks goes for the princely sum of nine dollars a pair.(£4.50). These were purchased because the coral shore in Fiji is very sharp and Sally's friend Judy thought they might be useful.
Another and final trip to the supermarket followed, all of us forgetting this was Maundy Thursday and as the shop were to be shut over the Easter weekend, mass panic buying was taking place with the whole world and their dogs.
Back home for lunch, where Andy appeared to be very confused about what was happening and then the master packer swung in to military mode and with SAS like efficiency packed both the suitcases and the rucksacks.
I have to say I was very impressed, my job whilst this was going on was to download another 2000 photographs onto our memory and to make sure that Andy and Sally had a copy of all the photos we had taken whilst we were with them.
When Andy returned from work we walked to the Gisborne Wine Centre where we had some lovely Gisborne wines and a mixed platter. Gisborne wines were very good indeed.
The walk home was a little sad and we all retired to bed with that final day of the holiday feeling.I have to say here that Andy and Sally's sofa bed had been causing my back all sorts of problems as it is so soft, I asked Andy for a couple of boards to put under the mattress and this was my second night of the "new" bed. I slept much better and my back no longer ached, so who could ask for more. I only wish I had asked for the boards before.
Wednesday
A trip to the coast.
The day started with another trip to the travel agents, this time to see if Sally could get a ticket. She had decided that she would accompany Andy to England for the wedding. This was duly achieved and yes she could get a toilet on the same day for the same price. Both tickets were then put on hold for twenty four hours. A whole lot of secrecy went into this. After buying the tickets we had to takeAndy's lunch out to him as he had forgotten it. He rang us to say thank you and Sally used the opportunity to tell him she would be coming to England as well, he did seem a bit dumbstruck.
We then drove to Mahia to have lunch on the beach and the three of us had a great day out. Lunch on a picnic table overlooking the ocean and a post prandial stroll along a deserted beach.
All too soon we had to head back to pick Andy up from work at five o'clock.
We had arranged to the Andy Sally and Philip out for an evening meal to say thank you and Sally had phone the Wharf restaurant to make a reservation.
We walked to the restaurant and were shown to a table, when booking Sally had been told they were starting a new stone grill range, but when the menus came there was no sign of it.we asked where it was to be told they didn't do stone grilling at all, at which point it transpired that Sally had booked an entirely different restaurant. The Wharf took great delight in telephoning the other restaurant to tell them we would not be turning up. The meal was Ok although they charged us six dollars for some extra bread and none of us felt we would be rushing back there.
A trip to the coast.
The day started with another trip to the travel agents, this time to see if Sally could get a ticket. She had decided that she would accompany Andy to England for the wedding. This was duly achieved and yes she could get a toilet on the same day for the same price. Both tickets were then put on hold for twenty four hours. A whole lot of secrecy went into this. After buying the tickets we had to takeAndy's lunch out to him as he had forgotten it. He rang us to say thank you and Sally used the opportunity to tell him she would be coming to England as well, he did seem a bit dumbstruck.
We then drove to Mahia to have lunch on the beach and the three of us had a great day out. Lunch on a picnic table overlooking the ocean and a post prandial stroll along a deserted beach.
All too soon we had to head back to pick Andy up from work at five o'clock.
We had arranged to the Andy Sally and Philip out for an evening meal to say thank you and Sally had phone the Wharf restaurant to make a reservation.
We walked to the restaurant and were shown to a table, when booking Sally had been told they were starting a new stone grill range, but when the menus came there was no sign of it.we asked where it was to be told they didn't do stone grilling at all, at which point it transpired that Sally had booked an entirely different restaurant. The Wharf took great delight in telephoning the other restaurant to tell them we would not be turning up. The meal was Ok although they charged us six dollars for some extra bread and none of us felt we would be rushing back there.
Thursday 28 March 2013
Tuesday A day of jubilation and disaster
Behind the scenes there has been a great deal of secret planning to get Andy to Emma's wedding in England in June and the master planner has been very heavily involved. So in the morning we went off to the travel agent to book his flight. As it transpired we put his flight in hold for twenty four hours to see if we could achieve a better deal on the Interweb.
We returned home complete with passport form, as his passport had expired and when he returned home for lunch he was presented with a fait accompli. He was genuinely surprised and overcome. After lunch I took Andy back to work and drove the car home again as we needed it in the afternoon.
We needed to go to a supermarket ket to do some shopping and so we set off joyous at our success at stunning Andrew. I parked n the supermarket car park so that I and to back out at ninety degrees.
The shopping was successfully accomplished and on our return to the car we stowed the shopping and I set out to get the car out of a tight spot.
The blog has been very honest and this is the point where I castigate myself. As I started to reverse, Rosemarie n the back seat alerted me to a white car approaching from my left so I turned to keep an eye on that and in doing so reversed straight into a red car parked illegally behind me which I didn't see. So there I was devastated , we stopped to inspect the damage , a severely dented front wing and left a not to apologise and to leave our telephone number so that the the owner could contact us.In thousands of kilometres of driving this was my first incident and I was really upset with myself. In fact I was nigh on inconsolable. As Sally pointed out , no one was hurt, the car was parked in an illegal position, certainly not in an allocated parking space, and no one else in the car had seen it. None of that made me feel any better.
Meanwhile the test with New Zealand was going on and England were in a desperate position holding on for a draw.so on our return home we we watched that for a long time before heading off to Andy's place of work to join him and some of the residents for fine dining. I felt awful having to speak to Andy about the accident but he was very forgiving. We watched the last few balls of the test and England hung out for a draw, it seemed to me that the whole country had stopped to watch the last thirty minutes or so of an absorbing contest.
The meal was good although I was so angry with myself I didn't feel like eating and Sally gave me a good telling off. It is amazing even though I knew I was insured how low this incident brought me.
I didn't even pick up when we got home.
I have tried to be very honest about what happened here, and what I felt, it would be easy to have ignored this incident, and certainly there is nothing to laugh about in it. So I need to learn from my mistake and move on.
Behind the scenes there has been a great deal of secret planning to get Andy to Emma's wedding in England in June and the master planner has been very heavily involved. So in the morning we went off to the travel agent to book his flight. As it transpired we put his flight in hold for twenty four hours to see if we could achieve a better deal on the Interweb.
We returned home complete with passport form, as his passport had expired and when he returned home for lunch he was presented with a fait accompli. He was genuinely surprised and overcome. After lunch I took Andy back to work and drove the car home again as we needed it in the afternoon.
We needed to go to a supermarket ket to do some shopping and so we set off joyous at our success at stunning Andrew. I parked n the supermarket car park so that I and to back out at ninety degrees.
The shopping was successfully accomplished and on our return to the car we stowed the shopping and I set out to get the car out of a tight spot.
The blog has been very honest and this is the point where I castigate myself. As I started to reverse, Rosemarie n the back seat alerted me to a white car approaching from my left so I turned to keep an eye on that and in doing so reversed straight into a red car parked illegally behind me which I didn't see. So there I was devastated , we stopped to inspect the damage , a severely dented front wing and left a not to apologise and to leave our telephone number so that the the owner could contact us.In thousands of kilometres of driving this was my first incident and I was really upset with myself. In fact I was nigh on inconsolable. As Sally pointed out , no one was hurt, the car was parked in an illegal position, certainly not in an allocated parking space, and no one else in the car had seen it. None of that made me feel any better.
Meanwhile the test with New Zealand was going on and England were in a desperate position holding on for a draw.so on our return home we we watched that for a long time before heading off to Andy's place of work to join him and some of the residents for fine dining. I felt awful having to speak to Andy about the accident but he was very forgiving. We watched the last few balls of the test and England hung out for a draw, it seemed to me that the whole country had stopped to watch the last thirty minutes or so of an absorbing contest.
The meal was good although I was so angry with myself I didn't feel like eating and Sally gave me a good telling off. It is amazing even though I knew I was insured how low this incident brought me.
I didn't even pick up when we got home.
I have tried to be very honest about what happened here, and what I felt, it would be easy to have ignored this incident, and certainly there is nothing to laugh about in it. So I need to learn from my mistake and move on.
Tuesday 26 March 2013
Monday resting
Poor Andy had to go back to work this morning so we pottered around during the day. I went off in to Gisborne to get my hair cut and whilst this was taking place Sally and Rosemarie went shopping. This does not necessarily sound like a good idea.
I was told to introduce myself to the barber as Andy's brother in law and did just that. He immediately took pity on me and told me that no one deserved that fate. I in my turn asked him to cut my hair fairly short, this was possibly a mistake as he then went on to remove most of it from my scalp. Perhaps I should just have asked for a trim. It is always a bit worrying when one goes to a strange barber and in this case I do appear to have got exactly what I asked for literally.
Sally and Rosemarie didn't actually buy anything which was a good thing. We did go to a few more shops and the expedition manager did find a pair of shorts that fitted her and so they were duly purchased.
In the evening various friends came to Andy and Sally's to meet and greet us. I was allowed I to the kitchen to create a plate of salami and a tomato salad. The evening went very quickly and we all had a good time.
Two really quiet days like the ones we have just had are just what we needed. There is something about being constantly on the move which leads you to look forward to a day of rest and relaxation, I managed to finish a book that I didn't want to carry on any further.
One of the good things we did was visit the post office to send another parcel home. In fact we talked to a lady in the post office about the best way to do this and ended up purchasing a ten kilo box.
On our return we had the dubious joy of sifting through our worldly belongings and sorting out what we could send back to England. After the difficult decisions had been made the master packer then got on with stuffing the items into the box, Stuffing is not the word the master packer would use.
This is a job that requires high level skills, rigid self discipline and a high degree of organisation.
All of these were duly put into place and the box was packed only to discover that a couple of items had been left out. Such is life.
A lazy Sunday
With so much travelling under our belt we were ready for a lazy Sunday. Another late ish start followed by breakfast out. This is an Antipodean habit that we could easily get into. We sat at Gisborne Wharf in the bright sunshine enjoying bacon and eggs. The only fly in the ointment was that Andy wanted his poached eggs well done so our breakfasts all arrived apart from Andy's which didn't arrive until he went looking for it about ten minutes later.
After our very pleasant breakfast we headed off to Warehouse to get Andy some workshops and then made our way to the joys of Pak n Save which reminded the two of us of Norman's several years ago. Card board boxes piled high above narrow alleys of goods.
This was clearly to be a day of shopping as after the supermarket we drove to a farm to get some vegetables.
The afternoon was take up with the cricket and generally taking life easy before a dinner of steak cooked on the barbecue. All in all a relaxing day.
My views on the North island after our travels is that it it is very different to the South Island. The Bay of Islands was truly spectacular and one of our favourite places was the town of Russell. It had history in abundance, the town and the sea front was an easy walk from the campsite and the pub and the beer was good. Sitting on the seahore outside the pub watching two weddings processing down the esplanade to celebrate wil stay with us for a long time. We also liked the Coromandel peninsula and some of the beaches we have been on we have been fantastic.
The people have been very friendly and both us have been extremely well received everywhere we have been. There are still complete areas we haven't explored mainly because the expedition manager couldn't fit them in so I suppose that means we will have to come back again. Quelle domage.
With so much travelling under our belt we were ready for a lazy Sunday. Another late ish start followed by breakfast out. This is an Antipodean habit that we could easily get into. We sat at Gisborne Wharf in the bright sunshine enjoying bacon and eggs. The only fly in the ointment was that Andy wanted his poached eggs well done so our breakfasts all arrived apart from Andy's which didn't arrive until he went looking for it about ten minutes later.
After our very pleasant breakfast we headed off to Warehouse to get Andy some workshops and then made our way to the joys of Pak n Save which reminded the two of us of Norman's several years ago. Card board boxes piled high above narrow alleys of goods.
This was clearly to be a day of shopping as after the supermarket we drove to a farm to get some vegetables.
The afternoon was take up with the cricket and generally taking life easy before a dinner of steak cooked on the barbecue. All in all a relaxing day.
My views on the North island after our travels is that it it is very different to the South Island. The Bay of Islands was truly spectacular and one of our favourite places was the town of Russell. It had history in abundance, the town and the sea front was an easy walk from the campsite and the pub and the beer was good. Sitting on the seahore outside the pub watching two weddings processing down the esplanade to celebrate wil stay with us for a long time. We also liked the Coromandel peninsula and some of the beaches we have been on we have been fantastic.
The people have been very friendly and both us have been extremely well received everywhere we have been. There are still complete areas we haven't explored mainly because the expedition manager couldn't fit them in so I suppose that means we will have to come back again. Quelle domage.
Saturday 23 March 2013
Taupo to Gisborne
We were up at a reasonable hour knowing that we had a long drive ahead of us. There had been some talk of going out for breakfast but this was vetoed by the back bench committee and we finished our remaining pack of bacon with the last six slices of bread we had and some tomatoes. It turned out to be a very good breakfast.
The night had been somewhat spoilt by some noisy revellers who had kicked off at about two thirty am. However we were bright eyed and bushy tailed and after a little drive along the lakeside stopped to get some fresh bread for lunch and then headed off on the road home.
The drive out of Taupo was fine and we headed up towards Rotorua before turning onto the road to Murupara. This was a fairly boring drive along a flat plain through forests and onto the town of Murupara itself. We stopped there to visit the toilet and that may well have been a mistake. The town itself appeared to very depressed and the back seat committee refused to get out of the car at the toilets we found. I said if any one approached with a car jack they were to be repelled. However, with Rosemarie in the back of the car it would take a brave soul to try and steal the wheels.
The town had one of those odd feelings about it and Sally thought it was very much a drug town. Anyway off we set again with me at the wheel. Twenty kilometres further on the hard road surface ran out and we were driving on a dirt track.
Bear in mind now that this was one of new Zealand's major highways the equivalent of an A road in Britain. The road was narrow and wound its way up a fairly steep mountain, a safe speed to me seemd to be about 40 kmph and Andy agreed. We came across road works, where the road narrowed and at one point a "Give Way " sign which had been out up just before a blind bend to the right. Apparently I held oth hands up and exclaimed "Give Way, Give way to what? The back seat committee thought this was highly funny but Areed that they couldn't see a thing.
We averaged about thirty five kilometres an hour for the next two hours but eventually arrived at Lake Waikaremoana where were greeted with some beautiful views of the lake.
Luncheon was taken at a motor camp site by the lake in a rather cold wind before we headed off towards Gisborne.
The expedition photographer and naturalist was delighted with her day's work. We had seen horses, a small roe deer, wild goats, four hawks sat in the road, and some sheep. In addition we saw a feral cat a donkey and some llamas. The hawks were very camera shy and all of them flew away before we had a good chance to get a quality photograph of them.
We arrived back in Gisborne at about five thirty and had fish and chips for supper before all of us fell into our beds at a very early hour.
The regal tour part two was over, but all of us had had a great time.
We were up at a reasonable hour knowing that we had a long drive ahead of us. There had been some talk of going out for breakfast but this was vetoed by the back bench committee and we finished our remaining pack of bacon with the last six slices of bread we had and some tomatoes. It turned out to be a very good breakfast.
The night had been somewhat spoilt by some noisy revellers who had kicked off at about two thirty am. However we were bright eyed and bushy tailed and after a little drive along the lakeside stopped to get some fresh bread for lunch and then headed off on the road home.
The drive out of Taupo was fine and we headed up towards Rotorua before turning onto the road to Murupara. This was a fairly boring drive along a flat plain through forests and onto the town of Murupara itself. We stopped there to visit the toilet and that may well have been a mistake. The town itself appeared to very depressed and the back seat committee refused to get out of the car at the toilets we found. I said if any one approached with a car jack they were to be repelled. However, with Rosemarie in the back of the car it would take a brave soul to try and steal the wheels.
The town had one of those odd feelings about it and Sally thought it was very much a drug town. Anyway off we set again with me at the wheel. Twenty kilometres further on the hard road surface ran out and we were driving on a dirt track.
Bear in mind now that this was one of new Zealand's major highways the equivalent of an A road in Britain. The road was narrow and wound its way up a fairly steep mountain, a safe speed to me seemd to be about 40 kmph and Andy agreed. We came across road works, where the road narrowed and at one point a "Give Way " sign which had been out up just before a blind bend to the right. Apparently I held oth hands up and exclaimed "Give Way, Give way to what? The back seat committee thought this was highly funny but Areed that they couldn't see a thing.
We averaged about thirty five kilometres an hour for the next two hours but eventually arrived at Lake Waikaremoana where were greeted with some beautiful views of the lake.
Luncheon was taken at a motor camp site by the lake in a rather cold wind before we headed off towards Gisborne.
The expedition photographer and naturalist was delighted with her day's work. We had seen horses, a small roe deer, wild goats, four hawks sat in the road, and some sheep. In addition we saw a feral cat a donkey and some llamas. The hawks were very camera shy and all of them flew away before we had a good chance to get a quality photograph of them.
We arrived back in Gisborne at about five thirty and had fish and chips for supper before all of us fell into our beds at a very early hour.
The regal tour part two was over, but all of us had had a great time.
New Plymouth to Lake Taupo
We got away fairly early but not before Andy had bought a cold box off some English people who were heading home that day. They were asking fifteen dollars for it but Andy beat them down to ten, this was quite a good price seeing it included six cold blocks.
The problem for us was fitting the new addition into an already crowded boot. This required careful planning and several attempts to get it right. However eventually a careful plan evolved and we were able to get everything in, mainly by the simple ruse of collapsing the material cold box we had and putting the stuff from that into what the New Zealanders charmingly call a chilly bin.
We had planned to go and see some caves but before those we decided to visit some famous gardens in New Plymouth. We found the gardens easily and spent some time walking around the Great Lake and then we looked at the fernery and the begonia house, where the blooms were fantastic. All of us agreed we would rather do that than spend some time afternoon.
The stroll we had took over an hour and we had to make a decision to press on. Well Andy and I thought we were pressing on but the joint navigators decided we should visit a walkway at Waitara, a little town , about ten miles out of New Plymouth, along the coast.
We had to stop at a garage to get some petrol and asked the attendant the way to the walkway, she almost fell about laughing. She pointed us in the general direction of the beach and was still chuckling when we left the garage. We found the beach and enquirer about the walkway again. The surfer we asked pointed out to us a rough path through the bush which we declined. We drove along the sea front and eventually found a boardwalk which ran from the sea front to the river mouth and along the river into the town. As it was of no length we decided not to walk it and carried on tot look for the white cliffs walkway ten kilometres further along the coast. This proved equally elusive although we did get to the beach at Oanero, where we found a little road that drove through a golf course and ended up at a semi permanent camp site on the beach front. We walked down onto the beach and took some photographs but couldn't find the white cliffs walkway. At this point we decided to look for a rock formation called the three sisters, but unfortunately they were hiding as well and so well were they camouflaged that we were unable to verify their existence.
The drive along to Mokau was interesting and firmly spectacular. We stopped in Mokau to get a pie and took them as takeaways down to the beach which again was composed of black sand. It was hot again and we enjoyed our stop.
We drove to Te Kuiti and having decided not to visit the caves drove a quiet road to Mangakino, stopping for an ice cream on the way, this was a drive through remote countryside mainly sheep grazing and very small villages. We drove into Mangakino because two friends of Andy and Sally's came from there. We were singularly unimpressed with the town. The drive form there to Taupo was short and we began the search for a motel, we found we liked the look off on the lake front and Andy, with his great diplomatic skills was sent in to reception to negotiate. He returned saying that had a room for three hundred dollars overlooking the lake or one at the back for two hundred dollars. We decided the cheaper one would do us. We sent Andy back in to complete the deal and then had to follow the receptionist to our room. We went out of the motel into a back street and at this point all of us wondered where we were going. We were led to what looked like a house and were more than delighted when it turned out to be a veritable palace. There was a huge hall and bedroom with a queen bed in it down stairs along with an en suite bathroom. There was also a huge lounge with a single bed and a sink and kettle. Upstairs there was an enormous lounge with a balcony, a dining area and another bedroom with a queen bed and en suite bathroom. This was clearly the best accommodation we had had in two weeks travelling.
After unpacking the car we walked into Taupo, had a drink in a pub, where the staff needed lessons in friendliness. We then strolled through the town and stopped to look in several closed shops. Again good planning paid clear dividends.
We made our way back to the house and sat on the balcony, where we watched the sunset over the large area of lake we could see and then had a tea of food which had been left over, a steak salad with avocado, tomatoes and cheese and biscuits to follow. Who could ask for more?
We got away fairly early but not before Andy had bought a cold box off some English people who were heading home that day. They were asking fifteen dollars for it but Andy beat them down to ten, this was quite a good price seeing it included six cold blocks.
The problem for us was fitting the new addition into an already crowded boot. This required careful planning and several attempts to get it right. However eventually a careful plan evolved and we were able to get everything in, mainly by the simple ruse of collapsing the material cold box we had and putting the stuff from that into what the New Zealanders charmingly call a chilly bin.
We had planned to go and see some caves but before those we decided to visit some famous gardens in New Plymouth. We found the gardens easily and spent some time walking around the Great Lake and then we looked at the fernery and the begonia house, where the blooms were fantastic. All of us agreed we would rather do that than spend some time afternoon.
The stroll we had took over an hour and we had to make a decision to press on. Well Andy and I thought we were pressing on but the joint navigators decided we should visit a walkway at Waitara, a little town , about ten miles out of New Plymouth, along the coast.
We had to stop at a garage to get some petrol and asked the attendant the way to the walkway, she almost fell about laughing. She pointed us in the general direction of the beach and was still chuckling when we left the garage. We found the beach and enquirer about the walkway again. The surfer we asked pointed out to us a rough path through the bush which we declined. We drove along the sea front and eventually found a boardwalk which ran from the sea front to the river mouth and along the river into the town. As it was of no length we decided not to walk it and carried on tot look for the white cliffs walkway ten kilometres further along the coast. This proved equally elusive although we did get to the beach at Oanero, where we found a little road that drove through a golf course and ended up at a semi permanent camp site on the beach front. We walked down onto the beach and took some photographs but couldn't find the white cliffs walkway. At this point we decided to look for a rock formation called the three sisters, but unfortunately they were hiding as well and so well were they camouflaged that we were unable to verify their existence.
The drive along to Mokau was interesting and firmly spectacular. We stopped in Mokau to get a pie and took them as takeaways down to the beach which again was composed of black sand. It was hot again and we enjoyed our stop.
We drove to Te Kuiti and having decided not to visit the caves drove a quiet road to Mangakino, stopping for an ice cream on the way, this was a drive through remote countryside mainly sheep grazing and very small villages. We drove into Mangakino because two friends of Andy and Sally's came from there. We were singularly unimpressed with the town. The drive form there to Taupo was short and we began the search for a motel, we found we liked the look off on the lake front and Andy, with his great diplomatic skills was sent in to reception to negotiate. He returned saying that had a room for three hundred dollars overlooking the lake or one at the back for two hundred dollars. We decided the cheaper one would do us. We sent Andy back in to complete the deal and then had to follow the receptionist to our room. We went out of the motel into a back street and at this point all of us wondered where we were going. We were led to what looked like a house and were more than delighted when it turned out to be a veritable palace. There was a huge hall and bedroom with a queen bed in it down stairs along with an en suite bathroom. There was also a huge lounge with a single bed and a sink and kettle. Upstairs there was an enormous lounge with a balcony, a dining area and another bedroom with a queen bed and en suite bathroom. This was clearly the best accommodation we had had in two weeks travelling.
After unpacking the car we walked into Taupo, had a drink in a pub, where the staff needed lessons in friendliness. We then strolled through the town and stopped to look in several closed shops. Again good planning paid clear dividends.
We made our way back to the house and sat on the balcony, where we watched the sunset over the large area of lake we could see and then had a tea of food which had been left over, a steak salad with avocado, tomatoes and cheese and biscuits to follow. Who could ask for more?
Wanganui to New Plymouth
Another hot and sunny day dawned and we were up and off fairly early having decided to take the coast road. We did have to go back into town to try the dress on, which highly unfortunately did not fit.
We found the coast road fairly easily,but it proved to be a misnomer as it really didn't go very close to the coast at all.
We did find a lunch spot at Opunake on the beach. The spot was lovely but was spoilt by a cold wind and some local youths drinking on the beach in a no liquor spot. In the afternoon we visited several small beaches all uninhabited and at one narrowly missed seeing some Orca whales. We were told three whales had been seen from the beach swimming a few hundred yards out. However we were unable to see them at all.
We did find a pair of flip flops for Andy on one beach apparently abandoned by their previous owner.
Andy was truly delighted that they were his size. We arrived in New Plymouth and found our room fairly easily.
The excitement began when we had to find a supermarket to get necessary supplies. The expedition navigator got a bit teasy with Andy when he wouldn't follow her directions, but we did eventually find a supermarket and after that an outdoor shop for Andy to investigate.
The next thing was for all of us to find the beach so that Andy could go fishing. This required directions from the receptionist on the camp site and we found it very easily. Sally, the expedition manager and me all went for a walk along the famous New Plymouth boardway, which isn't a true boardway at all, being made of giant concrete slabs.
We started by walking east away from Andy and after a kilometre or two we retraced our steps and walked back to see Andy, before walking westward back to our campsite. This took as slightly longer than we had thought due to the paucity of the map provided. We eventually found our way home worrying that Andy might have given up fishing and returned before us. Luckily he had not.
Another good meal and a bottle of wine followed by a fairly early night marked the end of a really pleasant day.
Flemington to Wanganui
We left Flemington fairly early and headed off to Palmerston North to see Sally's niece and her partner. Rex had drawn us a map of the route using back roads on the back of an envelope and we used this to find our way.
Our first stop was at a woollen factory shop in Norseman where the expedition manager managed to us two nice Marino tops fairly cheaply.Andy bought some socks and Sally and I got nothing!!!
On to Palmerston North where we found Hannah's workplace fairly easily and then picked up her partner, Tracey before heading off to a bakery for lunch.
In the bakery, the expedition nutritionist said that we could all have pies and so we did. The pies were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye and we headed off to Wanganui where Andy negotiated a good deal for a motel suite close to the centre of town.
In contrast to yesterday the day was hot and sunny and after we had unpacked we headed off for a trip up a hill in an escalator built in 1916. It cost us two dollars each to go up and two dollars each to come down. The view was worth the cost and Andrew and I went up another tower to make the view even more spectacular.
After the hill we decided to drive off and look at the coast which proved to be slightly elusive. Not nay was it quite difficult to find but there was also a dreadful smell the beach with black sand was nothing to write home about.
After the beach we had the obligatory tour of the shops in Wanganui and the expedition manager found a dress she felt she needed to try on. As with all careful planning we had of course arrived when the shops were shut. However she was so taken with this dress that she resolved we would have to go back in the morning and try the dress on.
Back to the motel we sat outside n the sun enjoying a beer before starting to prepare tea. We needed too run the oven on but none of us could work out how to light it and Andy had to go and ask the receptionist who came back with him to show us idiots how to so it.
A good tea, a good bottle of wine and we were ready for bed. Another wonderful day in North Island.
Napier to Beth
Apparently we didn't have too far to travel today and therefore we had a fairly leisurely start. We drove into Napier and went up Napier Hill to look down on the town. We did get a spectacular view of the harbour and the container port and watched a train full of logs arrive. After this we drove down to the town and wandered around the shops for a while looking mainly in second hand shops for a waterproof coat for Andy. We did buy some rolls for lunch and then made our way out of Napier heading for the Greenfield's shopping centre where we had been assured there was a very good sewing shop.
This was important as the expedition manager had decided that she wanted to do some cross stitch to while the hours away. The next hour was spent looking for a suitable cross stitch pattern, which we eventually found.
By this time we needed somewhere for lunch and found a suitable picnic table near a river. This was a delightful spot that was only spoilt by the driving rain and the cold wind. Again I was put in a dangerous situation as this was a tsunami flood area and there were warnings all over the place. Andy's put the car at ninety degrees to the table to stop the wind and we all sat huddled up eating our sandwiches.
As you can imagine this was a fairly quick lunch stop and we headed off to Hastings where we had a good look around the shops in the rain. What sort of town is it that has hanging baskets that a six foot man can walk into? The flowers were very pretty but also quite dangerous for tall people.
More second hand shops were dutifully investigated and no waterproof was found.
We did spend some time in a hunting and fishing shop where Andy thoroughly inspected their stock of fishing gear.
After Hastings we set off to Waipukurau to see Sally's sister, Beth, who was looking after her grandchildren . At Waipukarau we visited yet another second hand shop which was not a second hand shop at all, we felt it had been represented as the "best second hand shop in NZ".
Beth had had a hard day teaching and when her daughter Rachel came home, we handed over child are responsibilities to her and headed off to Beth's house at Flemington about fifteen kilometres away.
We had a really pleasant evening with Beth and her husband Rex before heading off to bed.
Apparently we didn't have too far to travel today and therefore we had a fairly leisurely start. We drove into Napier and went up Napier Hill to look down on the town. We did get a spectacular view of the harbour and the container port and watched a train full of logs arrive. After this we drove down to the town and wandered around the shops for a while looking mainly in second hand shops for a waterproof coat for Andy. We did buy some rolls for lunch and then made our way out of Napier heading for the Greenfield's shopping centre where we had been assured there was a very good sewing shop.
This was important as the expedition manager had decided that she wanted to do some cross stitch to while the hours away. The next hour was spent looking for a suitable cross stitch pattern, which we eventually found.
By this time we needed somewhere for lunch and found a suitable picnic table near a river. This was a delightful spot that was only spoilt by the driving rain and the cold wind. Again I was put in a dangerous situation as this was a tsunami flood area and there were warnings all over the place. Andy's put the car at ninety degrees to the table to stop the wind and we all sat huddled up eating our sandwiches.
As you can imagine this was a fairly quick lunch stop and we headed off to Hastings where we had a good look around the shops in the rain. What sort of town is it that has hanging baskets that a six foot man can walk into? The flowers were very pretty but also quite dangerous for tall people.
More second hand shops were dutifully investigated and no waterproof was found.
We did spend some time in a hunting and fishing shop where Andy thoroughly inspected their stock of fishing gear.
After Hastings we set off to Waipukurau to see Sally's sister, Beth, who was looking after her grandchildren . At Waipukarau we visited yet another second hand shop which was not a second hand shop at all, we felt it had been represented as the "best second hand shop in NZ".
Beth had had a hard day teaching and when her daughter Rachel came home, we handed over child are responsibilities to her and headed off to Beth's house at Flemington about fifteen kilometres away.
We had a really pleasant evening with Beth and her husband Rex before heading off to bed.
Thursday 21 March 2013
The Gannet trip
We drove down to Napier and tried to book into Kennedy Park, talk about coincidence, but we were too early. The purpose of the day was to go to Cape Kidnappers to see the gannet colony. So having been refused entry to the holiday park we drove up to the site of the tour and had our lunch at a picnic table on the beach.
This was a windy lunch and after watching Andy fish for a while we headed off to get our tickets.
This proved to be another dangerous trip , much in keeping with many other trips we have been on, I am required to do dangerous things, like stay in a tsunami flood area or cross a major road four or five times just for the sake of it.
The trip to the gannet colony involved a nine kilometre trip along the beach on a trailer attached to a tractor. The trip started at low tide but even then we had to go in and out of the sea and get our feet wet. It was quite exciting. At the end of the nine kilometre trip we had to climb a huge cliff to see the gannets on their nests. As we arrived on the top of the cliff we were met by a seventy mile an hour wind and we had paid for this!!!! Personally I felt the whole trip should have resulted in me getting danger money.
Luckily for us at this point the sun was shining, but as we arrived back on the beach to catch the tractor home it started to rain. This was the first time it had seriously rained all the time we had been in NZ. We needed up sat on the trailer holding a blue tarpaulin firmly over our heads. The expedition photographer took about three hundred photographs of the gannets which is par for the course. It was a little difficult to work out how to hold on to the tarpaulin with one hand and the safety rail with the other. This was fairly hard but I also had to look after the expedition photographer and stop her falling off the trailer in her eagerness to take photographs.
On the way back to the starting point of the trip we came across a broken down quad bike on the beach so the tractor stopped and we ended up towing the quad bike and its two occupants along the beach as well. If we had not done this the quad bike would have been lost at the next high tide!!
The trip took four hours in total and we arrived back at seven fifteen, there then followed a race to get back to the camp site, 20 kilometres away before eight o clock when reception shut. We managed this but of course had had no meal so we enquired if the restaurant on site was open. We were assured it was but were told we had to go to it immediately, as if they had no customers they would shut down. We dropped our worldly belongings off in our room and raced to the restaurant to find all the lights turned out. I managed to find an open door and started shouting and the two teenagers, apparently in charge, told us the restaurant was shut but we could, have take always. As a result we all ordered fish and chips and having had a beer whilst we waited took our meals back to our room to eat.
We each had two little bits of fish and a mountain of chips. Still we were fed and the bottle of wine we shared made sure we went to bed fairly contented.
We drove down to Napier and tried to book into Kennedy Park, talk about coincidence, but we were too early. The purpose of the day was to go to Cape Kidnappers to see the gannet colony. So having been refused entry to the holiday park we drove up to the site of the tour and had our lunch at a picnic table on the beach.
This was a windy lunch and after watching Andy fish for a while we headed off to get our tickets.
This proved to be another dangerous trip , much in keeping with many other trips we have been on, I am required to do dangerous things, like stay in a tsunami flood area or cross a major road four or five times just for the sake of it.
The trip to the gannet colony involved a nine kilometre trip along the beach on a trailer attached to a tractor. The trip started at low tide but even then we had to go in and out of the sea and get our feet wet. It was quite exciting. At the end of the nine kilometre trip we had to climb a huge cliff to see the gannets on their nests. As we arrived on the top of the cliff we were met by a seventy mile an hour wind and we had paid for this!!!! Personally I felt the whole trip should have resulted in me getting danger money.
Luckily for us at this point the sun was shining, but as we arrived back on the beach to catch the tractor home it started to rain. This was the first time it had seriously rained all the time we had been in NZ. We needed up sat on the trailer holding a blue tarpaulin firmly over our heads. The expedition photographer took about three hundred photographs of the gannets which is par for the course. It was a little difficult to work out how to hold on to the tarpaulin with one hand and the safety rail with the other. This was fairly hard but I also had to look after the expedition photographer and stop her falling off the trailer in her eagerness to take photographs.
On the way back to the starting point of the trip we came across a broken down quad bike on the beach so the tractor stopped and we ended up towing the quad bike and its two occupants along the beach as well. If we had not done this the quad bike would have been lost at the next high tide!!
The trip took four hours in total and we arrived back at seven fifteen, there then followed a race to get back to the camp site, 20 kilometres away before eight o clock when reception shut. We managed this but of course had had no meal so we enquired if the restaurant on site was open. We were assured it was but were told we had to go to it immediately, as if they had no customers they would shut down. We dropped our worldly belongings off in our room and raced to the restaurant to find all the lights turned out. I managed to find an open door and started shouting and the two teenagers, apparently in charge, told us the restaurant was shut but we could, have take always. As a result we all ordered fish and chips and having had a beer whilst we waited took our meals back to our room to eat.
We each had two little bits of fish and a mountain of chips. Still we were fed and the bottle of wine we shared made sure we went to bed fairly contented.
Wednesday 20 March 2013
The weekend.
Joy of joys we were allowed to sleep in until eight o clock. After breakfast we were off to the local farmers' market which was almost over by the time we got there.
By the time we had got home David had rung to invite us all to lunch at a local winery. Andy took this as s signal to go and get the car washed and I volunteered to go with him. So far so good, until we got to the car wash and realised that neither of us had any money. After the return to the garage I realised I had had my credit card with me all the time so I could have paid the first time around.
As a result we had to return home to get some money and by the time we had done this David and Zoe had arrived to take Rosemarie to lunch, so off we all went to the winery where we had a fine meal.
The afternoon passed fairly quickly and in the evening we headed off to Lee and Jane's for a barbecue , which was really nice.
The evening was pleasantly warm, and having been attacked by bugs the night before I was well prepared this time having applied insect repellant before we left.
Lee did a really good job with the meal and we had a great time.A lovely evening with family.
Sunday dawned and we spent a quiet morning before heading of to the airport to see David and Zoe off at 12.30.
Having arrived and paid for our parking we learnt that Zoe had misread their email and that they had missed the plane. Several phone calls alter they were rebooked onto different flights, and we headed off into town to have lunch together which David very kindly bought.
After lunch we headed back to the airport again to say goodbye to David and Zoe for the second time and we were there to ensure that they finally left. Airports are very soulless places and to spend so much time there on a weekend is not good for us. There is nothing like being at an airport when there is no one else around.
The afternoon passed peacefully and we had a lovely barbecue in the evening before heading for our beds. A fine weekend.
Joy of joys we were allowed to sleep in until eight o clock. After breakfast we were off to the local farmers' market which was almost over by the time we got there.
By the time we had got home David had rung to invite us all to lunch at a local winery. Andy took this as s signal to go and get the car washed and I volunteered to go with him. So far so good, until we got to the car wash and realised that neither of us had any money. After the return to the garage I realised I had had my credit card with me all the time so I could have paid the first time around.
As a result we had to return home to get some money and by the time we had done this David and Zoe had arrived to take Rosemarie to lunch, so off we all went to the winery where we had a fine meal.
The afternoon passed fairly quickly and in the evening we headed off to Lee and Jane's for a barbecue , which was really nice.
The evening was pleasantly warm, and having been attacked by bugs the night before I was well prepared this time having applied insect repellant before we left.
Lee did a really good job with the meal and we had a great time.A lovely evening with family.
Sunday dawned and we spent a quiet morning before heading of to the airport to see David and Zoe off at 12.30.
Having arrived and paid for our parking we learnt that Zoe had misread their email and that they had missed the plane. Several phone calls alter they were rebooked onto different flights, and we headed off into town to have lunch together which David very kindly bought.
After lunch we headed back to the airport again to say goodbye to David and Zoe for the second time and we were there to ensure that they finally left. Airports are very soulless places and to spend so much time there on a weekend is not good for us. There is nothing like being at an airport when there is no one else around.
The afternoon passed peacefully and we had a lovely barbecue in the evening before heading for our beds. A fine weekend.
Tuesday 19 March 2013
Wahai to Gisborne
Up at a relatively early time for a long day because we had decided to go down the eastern coast back to Gisborne. We all packed in the car and had handed the key back when Andy, innocently asked if Sally had taken the fish he had caught that morning out of the freezer.
By way of explanation, Andy had got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing on the beach and had caught a fair sized red snapper. After the obligatory photographs of big male hunter with prize catch the fish had been gutted, a ceremony I was invited to attend and then placed in the freezer to make sure it was cold enough to travel.
Anyway, Andy thought Sally had packed it but she hadn't and if we had got much further the fish would have been left in the freezer.
We had to park the car and Andy raced off to reception in a manner similar to Usain Bolt retrieved the key and rescued the fish. Peace and calm were restored in the car.
The first part of the journey although interesting was fairly routine. We stopped for a pie in Opoteke and enjoyed both that and a cake afterwards. It is hard to believe that the national dish of New Zealand is the humble meat pie, which comes in all sorts of flavours. Steak and onion, mince, steak and bacon, steak and cheese to name a few. Interestingly we parked next to a cockroach control van and had a joke with him about whether or not he was often asked to park at the back of food premises. The driver had only stopped for his lunch.
The afternoon drive back along the coast was glorious.the sun shone, we had an ice cream and on the way home we stopped to see David and Zoe and Lee and Jane.
We only stayed there for a short visit as we had to shoot off to Gisborne to get fish and chips, the fish was enjoyed by everybody and we retired to bed exhausted.
Up at a relatively early time for a long day because we had decided to go down the eastern coast back to Gisborne. We all packed in the car and had handed the key back when Andy, innocently asked if Sally had taken the fish he had caught that morning out of the freezer.
By way of explanation, Andy had got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing on the beach and had caught a fair sized red snapper. After the obligatory photographs of big male hunter with prize catch the fish had been gutted, a ceremony I was invited to attend and then placed in the freezer to make sure it was cold enough to travel.
Anyway, Andy thought Sally had packed it but she hadn't and if we had got much further the fish would have been left in the freezer.
We had to park the car and Andy raced off to reception in a manner similar to Usain Bolt retrieved the key and rescued the fish. Peace and calm were restored in the car.
The first part of the journey although interesting was fairly routine. We stopped for a pie in Opoteke and enjoyed both that and a cake afterwards. It is hard to believe that the national dish of New Zealand is the humble meat pie, which comes in all sorts of flavours. Steak and onion, mince, steak and bacon, steak and cheese to name a few. Interestingly we parked next to a cockroach control van and had a joke with him about whether or not he was often asked to park at the back of food premises. The driver had only stopped for his lunch.
The afternoon drive back along the coast was glorious.the sun shone, we had an ice cream and on the way home we stopped to see David and Zoe and Lee and Jane.
We only stayed there for a short visit as we had to shoot off to Gisborne to get fish and chips, the fish was enjoyed by everybody and we retired to bed exhausted.
Monday 18 March 2013
Oweira to Waihi
After a night of traffic interrupted by noisy lorries we were up at seven for the long journey to Waihi.
We stopped on the way at Thames , a town at the foot of the Cormandel where we went to a quilting exhibition. The exhibition wasn't very special but the people were extremely friendly and the expedition leader seemed to have a fine time. She was loing for a cross stitch to do but we couldn't find one.
We also could not find a bakery to get some rolls for lunch even though we walked around the block for a while. Andy decided to take matters into his own hands and went back into the quilting exhibition to ask one of the ladies to recommend a bakery. He and Sally then went off to find it in a completely different direction to the one we had originally set out in.
We had decided to travel around the Coromandel peninsula and the next thing was to find a lunch stop. After refusing several picnic tables I being at this time the driver, found a bench next to the sea, where wer put our blanket on the ground and Andy went fishing. I was given some grief by the expedition manager for not finding a picnic table and lo and behold when lunch was over, we travelled 150 yards down the road to find a picnic table cunningly hiding behind a tree invisible from where we had had lunch.
The drive around the Coromandel was beautiful apart form one logging truck which tried to force us off the road on a bend in a very narrow section. My manager was all for having serious words with him, but as we had had to come to a grinding halt, he had continued on his merry way without a cre on his mind.
We had decided to have an ice cream on the way but Andy who was driving by now filed to find an ice cream shop in any of the towns or small villages we passed through. So we eventually drives in Waihi and Andrew almost fell over himself in his rush to get down the beach to fish.
We n packed and went to join Andy on the beach where we watched him fish for a while. I had to return to expedition HQ as I was getting cold. Andy did catch a little fish, but it was upsetting ly too small and he had to put it back.
We had a great piece of steak for tea, a couple of bottles of wine and spent a convivial evening chatting, enjoying listening to the sounds of the crashing surf. Who could ask for more?
After a night of traffic interrupted by noisy lorries we were up at seven for the long journey to Waihi.
We stopped on the way at Thames , a town at the foot of the Cormandel where we went to a quilting exhibition. The exhibition wasn't very special but the people were extremely friendly and the expedition leader seemed to have a fine time. She was loing for a cross stitch to do but we couldn't find one.
We also could not find a bakery to get some rolls for lunch even though we walked around the block for a while. Andy decided to take matters into his own hands and went back into the quilting exhibition to ask one of the ladies to recommend a bakery. He and Sally then went off to find it in a completely different direction to the one we had originally set out in.
We had decided to travel around the Coromandel peninsula and the next thing was to find a lunch stop. After refusing several picnic tables I being at this time the driver, found a bench next to the sea, where wer put our blanket on the ground and Andy went fishing. I was given some grief by the expedition manager for not finding a picnic table and lo and behold when lunch was over, we travelled 150 yards down the road to find a picnic table cunningly hiding behind a tree invisible from where we had had lunch.
The drive around the Coromandel was beautiful apart form one logging truck which tried to force us off the road on a bend in a very narrow section. My manager was all for having serious words with him, but as we had had to come to a grinding halt, he had continued on his merry way without a cre on his mind.
We had decided to have an ice cream on the way but Andy who was driving by now filed to find an ice cream shop in any of the towns or small villages we passed through. So we eventually drives in Waihi and Andrew almost fell over himself in his rush to get down the beach to fish.
We n packed and went to join Andy on the beach where we watched him fish for a while. I had to return to expedition HQ as I was getting cold. Andy did catch a little fish, but it was upsetting ly too small and he had to put it back.
We had a great piece of steak for tea, a couple of bottles of wine and spent a convivial evening chatting, enjoying listening to the sounds of the crashing surf. Who could ask for more?
Ruawai to Oweira
The morning started with an inspection of the milking parlour at Paul's farm, luckily all the cows had been through it and we were treated to viewing without any animals. This was a huge circular parlour which could hold something like 75 cows at a time.
We also got to look at the new slurry pit which was being dug which was about the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
The parlour was not the highlight of the day however. Next we were off to the kumara(sweet potato)
Packing plant where Sally's niece showed us around, we saw the washing plant, the grading room and the packing process. Sally's father had been one of the first to grow kumara, however at the end of a scintillating tour we weren't even given any free samples. However we were given some pens and some recipe sheets, which was very kind of them.
Onwards to the kauri museum with an entrance fee of twenty five dollars each.this didn't sound very interesting but in fact held us spellbound for almost three hours. The history of the kauri tree and its valuable gum used in varnish Lino and paint was extremely interesting. One of the exhibits was a boarding house with different rooms showing different occupations, dentist, doctor, gum buyer etc.
One room was taken up with digging the Kauri gum out, another as a saw mill and there were several interesting gum exhibits. the gum looks very similar to amber one of the expedition manager's favourite gemstones. Luckily we didn't buy anything.
Outside of the museum we visited the pioneers' church and an early school. All in all avery interesting trip. As we were running late we had a pie in the cafe opposite the museum, which was OK but that is about all.
The trip to Orewa was fairly quick and we booked ourselves into the Hibiscus Palms motel.We had a walk along the beach and went to the supermarket for some much needed supplies, before Matt and Hayley came and joined us for the evening. We all went for a Thai meal which was also a little disappointing, in that it had no heat whatsoever. All in all this had been a pretty bad day for food.
We all returned to our motel room and spent some time chatting on our verandah, before Matt and Hayley went home and we all retired to our beds.
The morning started with an inspection of the milking parlour at Paul's farm, luckily all the cows had been through it and we were treated to viewing without any animals. This was a huge circular parlour which could hold something like 75 cows at a time.
We also got to look at the new slurry pit which was being dug which was about the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
The parlour was not the highlight of the day however. Next we were off to the kumara(sweet potato)
Packing plant where Sally's niece showed us around, we saw the washing plant, the grading room and the packing process. Sally's father had been one of the first to grow kumara, however at the end of a scintillating tour we weren't even given any free samples. However we were given some pens and some recipe sheets, which was very kind of them.
Onwards to the kauri museum with an entrance fee of twenty five dollars each.this didn't sound very interesting but in fact held us spellbound for almost three hours. The history of the kauri tree and its valuable gum used in varnish Lino and paint was extremely interesting. One of the exhibits was a boarding house with different rooms showing different occupations, dentist, doctor, gum buyer etc.
One room was taken up with digging the Kauri gum out, another as a saw mill and there were several interesting gum exhibits. the gum looks very similar to amber one of the expedition manager's favourite gemstones. Luckily we didn't buy anything.
Outside of the museum we visited the pioneers' church and an early school. All in all avery interesting trip. As we were running late we had a pie in the cafe opposite the museum, which was OK but that is about all.
The trip to Orewa was fairly quick and we booked ourselves into the Hibiscus Palms motel.We had a walk along the beach and went to the supermarket for some much needed supplies, before Matt and Hayley came and joined us for the evening. We all went for a Thai meal which was also a little disappointing, in that it had no heat whatsoever. All in all this had been a pretty bad day for food.
We all returned to our motel room and spent some time chatting on our verandah, before Matt and Hayley went home and we all retired to our beds.
Friday 15 March 2013
Russell to Ruawai
We were up relatively early and started on the road to see Sally's family on her home farm.
Our first stop was at Waitangi where the Maoris first signed a treaty with the British. This now a national site and was free for Andrew and Sally as New Zealand residents, but cost Rosemarie and I 25 dollars each.it seems to me that this is an oppressive tax on foriegners. The site is massive and beautifully looked after with magnificent views of the Bay of Islands. We visited the Maori meeting hall with some of the finest carvings we have seen anywhere in NZ. We also saw the official British residence set up now as a museum, which was really interesting. We walked down the hill to look at the longest war canoe in the world and then set off on the road again. This whole trip took about two hours and was very interesting both historically and in terms of the scenery.
The weather was good and we stopped in the forest to see Tane Mahuta, a giant Kauri tree in the forest. This tree is huge about a hundred feet around its girth and over a 120 feet tall.
We also walked down to see the four sisters, some slightly smaller kauri trees. These trees are very impressive and are lucky to have survived the logging of the twentieth century and now they are almost national icons.
The drive through the forest was interesting and we made good time to Paul and Tina's house where we had a really pleasant evening with them and Peter and Jacky as well was Pam and herm partner and Tony and his partner who spent most of the evening outside.
All too soon it was time to go to bed.
We were up relatively early and started on the road to see Sally's family on her home farm.
Our first stop was at Waitangi where the Maoris first signed a treaty with the British. This now a national site and was free for Andrew and Sally as New Zealand residents, but cost Rosemarie and I 25 dollars each.it seems to me that this is an oppressive tax on foriegners. The site is massive and beautifully looked after with magnificent views of the Bay of Islands. We visited the Maori meeting hall with some of the finest carvings we have seen anywhere in NZ. We also saw the official British residence set up now as a museum, which was really interesting. We walked down the hill to look at the longest war canoe in the world and then set off on the road again. This whole trip took about two hours and was very interesting both historically and in terms of the scenery.
The weather was good and we stopped in the forest to see Tane Mahuta, a giant Kauri tree in the forest. This tree is huge about a hundred feet around its girth and over a 120 feet tall.
We also walked down to see the four sisters, some slightly smaller kauri trees. These trees are very impressive and are lucky to have survived the logging of the twentieth century and now they are almost national icons.
The drive through the forest was interesting and we made good time to Paul and Tina's house where we had a really pleasant evening with them and Peter and Jacky as well was Pam and herm partner and Tony and his partner who spent most of the evening outside.
All too soon it was time to go to bed.
Wednesday 13 March 2013
Off to the far North
Another bright day and we were up with the late larks to make the trip up Cape Reinga to the very northernmost point of New Zealand.
I should have mentioned in my last blog that several people seemed totally bored by a trip we took yesterday for wich they had paid fifty pounds and that a couple actually seemed to sleep all the way through it. One Asian girl in particular huddled down with her hood up and seemed to sleep most of the way. She had to leave the boat when we got to the island but once we were back on board went back to sleep again.
The drive up to the Northern Cape took a little longer than we had thought. In fact it took us about four hours including a stop to get bread for lunch and petrol. Andy had asked someone in the campsite how long it would take and they said two and a half hours so we were obviously doing something wrong.
The Cape itself after miles of windswept desolate countryside was worth the drive. The coast line scenery was fantastic and the sun shone for us. I imagine it to be a fairly desolate place if it is pouring down with rain and and a gale is blowing.
The Maoris have declared it a sacred site and ask people not to eat and drink there a request blissfully ignored by some people we saw who were busily making their sandwiches on one of the benches.
We walked up a hill overlooking the site although Andy refused to do this as he had walked up two hills the day before and then we went out to the obligatory lighthouse, all in the most brilliant sunshine.
By the time we got back to the car it was time for lunch and Sally said she remembered some tables a little way back down the road. About half a mile out of the site we saw a picnic table, but this was rejected as being unsuitable and down the road we went. Unfortunately the tables Sally had remembered were in a private campsite and so we continued driving for another two hours. I declared this was extremely cruel to those in the party who were feeling hungry.
We eventually found two tables on a grassy site but as we approached them Andy decided that he would drive by then to see if there was anything any better a little further up the road. I started to write my letter of complaint to Amnesty International at this point. There was nothing better and we were forced to return to the two tables we had found. I did tel, Andy , in no uncertain terms that if these tables were now taken he was in deep trouble. Luckily for him the tables were still free, and we enjoyed a late "high tea".
We drove back another way to the expedition base and surprisingly got there in about tow and a half hours but really we didn't care as we had seen some spectacular scenery.
By the time we arrived at HQ our friends Julia and Fran and arrived and we went off in search of them. They didn't know that we were on the site and the plan was for Andy to go up to Fran and call her name out. This worked very well and standing back as we were we could see the puzzlement in her face as she hugged Andy and started to ask I'm how he knew her, she then saw me over Andy's shoulder and called Rosemarie and I "bastards". The same modus operandi worked with Julian as well. He had seen nothing of waht had happened to Fran as he was in the communal kitchen cooking their dinner, so in Andy went and started speaking to Julian , before dragging Julia out to where Rosemarie and I were waiting, in his own words., he screeched like a schoolgirl.
We all separated to have our dinner before Julian and Fran came to our room for a few glasses of wine. As it was a wonderfully warm evening we all sat outside having a merry time until at 10.34pm another camper came to complain that we were making too much noise, it was four minutes after the curfew time so we moved into our dining room and carried on for a little bit longer. We all had a great time.
Another bright day and we were up with the late larks to make the trip up Cape Reinga to the very northernmost point of New Zealand.
I should have mentioned in my last blog that several people seemed totally bored by a trip we took yesterday for wich they had paid fifty pounds and that a couple actually seemed to sleep all the way through it. One Asian girl in particular huddled down with her hood up and seemed to sleep most of the way. She had to leave the boat when we got to the island but once we were back on board went back to sleep again.
The drive up to the Northern Cape took a little longer than we had thought. In fact it took us about four hours including a stop to get bread for lunch and petrol. Andy had asked someone in the campsite how long it would take and they said two and a half hours so we were obviously doing something wrong.
The Cape itself after miles of windswept desolate countryside was worth the drive. The coast line scenery was fantastic and the sun shone for us. I imagine it to be a fairly desolate place if it is pouring down with rain and and a gale is blowing.
The Maoris have declared it a sacred site and ask people not to eat and drink there a request blissfully ignored by some people we saw who were busily making their sandwiches on one of the benches.
We walked up a hill overlooking the site although Andy refused to do this as he had walked up two hills the day before and then we went out to the obligatory lighthouse, all in the most brilliant sunshine.
By the time we got back to the car it was time for lunch and Sally said she remembered some tables a little way back down the road. About half a mile out of the site we saw a picnic table, but this was rejected as being unsuitable and down the road we went. Unfortunately the tables Sally had remembered were in a private campsite and so we continued driving for another two hours. I declared this was extremely cruel to those in the party who were feeling hungry.
We eventually found two tables on a grassy site but as we approached them Andy decided that he would drive by then to see if there was anything any better a little further up the road. I started to write my letter of complaint to Amnesty International at this point. There was nothing better and we were forced to return to the two tables we had found. I did tel, Andy , in no uncertain terms that if these tables were now taken he was in deep trouble. Luckily for him the tables were still free, and we enjoyed a late "high tea".
We drove back another way to the expedition base and surprisingly got there in about tow and a half hours but really we didn't care as we had seen some spectacular scenery.
By the time we arrived at HQ our friends Julia and Fran and arrived and we went off in search of them. They didn't know that we were on the site and the plan was for Andy to go up to Fran and call her name out. This worked very well and standing back as we were we could see the puzzlement in her face as she hugged Andy and started to ask I'm how he knew her, she then saw me over Andy's shoulder and called Rosemarie and I "bastards". The same modus operandi worked with Julian as well. He had seen nothing of waht had happened to Fran as he was in the communal kitchen cooking their dinner, so in Andy went and started speaking to Julian , before dragging Julia out to where Rosemarie and I were waiting, in his own words., he screeched like a schoolgirl.
We all separated to have our dinner before Julian and Fran came to our room for a few glasses of wine. As it was a wonderfully warm evening we all sat outside having a merry time until at 10.34pm another camper came to complain that we were making too much noise, it was four minutes after the curfew time so we moved into our dining room and carried on for a little bit longer. We all had a great time.
Dancing with Porpoises
We were up early to go on the cruise around the Bay of Islands we had booked and down on the quay in Russell waitIng for our boat at nine o clock. The boat was of course a fashionably ten minutes late and arrived full of passengers from Pahia.
We set off into the bay sitting at the back of the boat. The expedition photographer decided to stand to one side taking another thousand photographs and I reached for my fleecy to protect me from the wind.
About ten minutes into the cruise the Captain announced he had spotted a pod of dolphins and for the next quarter of an hour we cruised slowly alongside the twenty five or so porpoises that were dancing and leaping in the water.
We carried on cruising until we reached the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbour and then we were all instructed to sit down whilst the boat took us out to look at the "hole in motel rock", which was bout three hundred yards out to sea. The ocean was like a huge washing machine and I for one was glad that we had been told to sit down. This was fine until the expedition photographer demanded that I stood up to photograph the event. I ended up doing the dance of the drunk landlubber unable to take a step in any direction and trying hold to find anything to hold onto with one hand whilst taking photographs with the other.
The dance of the washing machine was soon over and before long we were back n the tranquil waters of the bay.There followed a visit to a island where we dropped off for a hour. It was a bit like being marooned.
The captain had told us there was an excellent walk up a hill to the right of the quay where we had been deposited and we all set off like intrepid explorers to climb the hill. The view was in fact wonderful a huge panorama of part of the Bay with several islands clearly visible.
We had been given clear instructions about the time we had to be back on the boat and we made sure we were there on time, after all we did want to be left there.
The boat took us back to Russell and we were by this time so thirsty that we repaired to the pub for some liquid refreshment, which truly hit the spot. A short walk back to the campsite for lunch and then we were of to Flagstaff Hill. This gave us another huge vista of the bay.
Down back into Russell we went to Pompallier house , a French Catholic mission station which was very interesting. It had one of the first printing presses in New Zealand and printed religious tracts for the Maoris .I was a little annoyed that we had left our National Trust Card at home because had we had it we would have got in for free.
The day ended with a trip in the car to Longbeach where we relaxed in the late afternoon sun and Andy went fishing. There was great excitement when he eventually caught a fish and great disappointment when it was under the legal length limit.
A good supper and some conversation over a bottle of wine ensured a fine end to the day. There are not many days
We were up early to go on the cruise around the Bay of Islands we had booked and down on the quay in Russell waitIng for our boat at nine o clock. The boat was of course a fashionably ten minutes late and arrived full of passengers from Pahia.
We set off into the bay sitting at the back of the boat. The expedition photographer decided to stand to one side taking another thousand photographs and I reached for my fleecy to protect me from the wind.
About ten minutes into the cruise the Captain announced he had spotted a pod of dolphins and for the next quarter of an hour we cruised slowly alongside the twenty five or so porpoises that were dancing and leaping in the water.
We carried on cruising until we reached the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbour and then we were all instructed to sit down whilst the boat took us out to look at the "hole in motel rock", which was bout three hundred yards out to sea. The ocean was like a huge washing machine and I for one was glad that we had been told to sit down. This was fine until the expedition photographer demanded that I stood up to photograph the event. I ended up doing the dance of the drunk landlubber unable to take a step in any direction and trying hold to find anything to hold onto with one hand whilst taking photographs with the other.
The dance of the washing machine was soon over and before long we were back n the tranquil waters of the bay.There followed a visit to a island where we dropped off for a hour. It was a bit like being marooned.
The captain had told us there was an excellent walk up a hill to the right of the quay where we had been deposited and we all set off like intrepid explorers to climb the hill. The view was in fact wonderful a huge panorama of part of the Bay with several islands clearly visible.
We had been given clear instructions about the time we had to be back on the boat and we made sure we were there on time, after all we did want to be left there.
The boat took us back to Russell and we were by this time so thirsty that we repaired to the pub for some liquid refreshment, which truly hit the spot. A short walk back to the campsite for lunch and then we were of to Flagstaff Hill. This gave us another huge vista of the bay.
Down back into Russell we went to Pompallier house , a French Catholic mission station which was very interesting. It had one of the first printing presses in New Zealand and printed religious tracts for the Maoris .I was a little annoyed that we had left our National Trust Card at home because had we had it we would have got in for free.
The day ended with a trip in the car to Longbeach where we relaxed in the late afternoon sun and Andy went fishing. There was great excitement when he eventually caught a fish and great disappointment when it was under the legal length limit.
A good supper and some conversation over a bottle of wine ensured a fine end to the day. There are not many days
Monday 11 March 2013
North again.
After a leisurely breakfast we were off to Russell through spectacular scenery and along the back road up the coast.
It was a really wonderful journey along cliff tops and through the hills to the beautiful port of Russell. We had already booked a cabin at the Top Ten site in Russell and we were able to book in immediately. After unpacking we walked into Russell and looked at the oldest church in New Zealand, which was lovely.The church was a clinker built building and had a really special feeling about it. We wandered around the shore line and had a drink in the Duke of Marlborough, the oldest licensed working pub in New Zealand.
There were two weddings going on a round us at two different establishments and we had great fun looking at the brides and the guests. At this point we walked off to find some fish and chips and the first establishment turned us down saying they would not have a table for an hour. We went to Sally's restaurant and had a wonderful meal. Sitting there looking at the sea and the quay was magical.
After dinner we walked back to our room and enjoyed a glass or two of wine before retiring for the night.
It strikes me that Saturdays are the same around the world a day of weddings and drinking made even more pleasurable by the heat and the setting sun.
After a leisurely breakfast we were off to Russell through spectacular scenery and along the back road up the coast.
It was a really wonderful journey along cliff tops and through the hills to the beautiful port of Russell. We had already booked a cabin at the Top Ten site in Russell and we were able to book in immediately. After unpacking we walked into Russell and looked at the oldest church in New Zealand, which was lovely.The church was a clinker built building and had a really special feeling about it. We wandered around the shore line and had a drink in the Duke of Marlborough, the oldest licensed working pub in New Zealand.
There were two weddings going on a round us at two different establishments and we had great fun looking at the brides and the guests. At this point we walked off to find some fish and chips and the first establishment turned us down saying they would not have a table for an hour. We went to Sally's restaurant and had a wonderful meal. Sitting there looking at the sea and the quay was magical.
After dinner we walked back to our room and enjoyed a glass or two of wine before retiring for the night.
It strikes me that Saturdays are the same around the world a day of weddings and drinking made even more pleasurable by the heat and the setting sun.
Saturday 9 March 2013
Travelling North
We were up fairly early so the master packer could finish transferring our stuff for the next week into
one suitcase.
After a leisurely breakfast we started packing stuff into the car around Andy's fishing gear. This was duly achieved and we were off through the gorge out of Gisborne heading North. In the gorge right by the site of the last massive land slip we came across a lorry driver who had broken down, his radiator had blown. There was no mobile phone coverage there so we agreed as soon as we were out of the gorge that we would use our mobile to phone his boss. Our good deed for the day.
We had lunch in Cheddar Gorge with the sand flies and several Maori men who came for a swim in the river.
Andy and I were sharing the driving and in the late afternoon I had the enormous thrill of driving on the motorway through Auckland, and we went over a huge bridge there.
We arrived in Oweira where we had planed to sat the night at about seven thirty. Believe it or not there were no vacancies in any of the hotels or motels there and after a fruitless search we were back on the road again to Weiwera where we eventually found a motel.This was seven or eight kilometres from our first choice of town.
The search was then on for an evening meal so we headed back to Oweira to find a restaurant , we found a supermarket and got the supplies we needed before starting our crusade to find food. We first found a fish and chip restaurant and when we went in they told us they had run out of fish. So the expedition manager had seen another one on the main road so we headed off there. As we arrived we met two Brits leaving the premises who told us the shop was in the process of closing and had refused to serve them.
We then spent several minutes searing for somewhere else before finding a shop which sold pizzas, as it turned out we were their last customers before they shut as well but at least we had a rest to take back to our motel room . Oweira is a seaside town on a beach and yet you can't get fish and chips there after eight thirty? Almost like Cornwall in the winter.
Almost as soon as we had eaten a huge wave of tiredness swept over us and we all went to bed .
We were up fairly early so the master packer could finish transferring our stuff for the next week into
one suitcase.
After a leisurely breakfast we started packing stuff into the car around Andy's fishing gear. This was duly achieved and we were off through the gorge out of Gisborne heading North. In the gorge right by the site of the last massive land slip we came across a lorry driver who had broken down, his radiator had blown. There was no mobile phone coverage there so we agreed as soon as we were out of the gorge that we would use our mobile to phone his boss. Our good deed for the day.
We had lunch in Cheddar Gorge with the sand flies and several Maori men who came for a swim in the river.
Andy and I were sharing the driving and in the late afternoon I had the enormous thrill of driving on the motorway through Auckland, and we went over a huge bridge there.
We arrived in Oweira where we had planed to sat the night at about seven thirty. Believe it or not there were no vacancies in any of the hotels or motels there and after a fruitless search we were back on the road again to Weiwera where we eventually found a motel.This was seven or eight kilometres from our first choice of town.
The search was then on for an evening meal so we headed back to Oweira to find a restaurant , we found a supermarket and got the supplies we needed before starting our crusade to find food. We first found a fish and chip restaurant and when we went in they told us they had run out of fish. So the expedition manager had seen another one on the main road so we headed off there. As we arrived we met two Brits leaving the premises who told us the shop was in the process of closing and had refused to serve them.
We then spent several minutes searing for somewhere else before finding a shop which sold pizzas, as it turned out we were their last customers before they shut as well but at least we had a rest to take back to our motel room . Oweira is a seaside town on a beach and yet you can't get fish and chips there after eight thirty? Almost like Cornwall in the winter.
Almost as soon as we had eaten a huge wave of tiredness swept over us and we all went to bed .
On to Gisborne
There was no need to get up early so we luxuriated in our hotel room for a while. We eventually made our way to breakfast which was a fairly dismal experience at 9.30.
On the way back to our room we checked our taxi to the airport had been booked and found out it had been booked fifteen minutes earlier than we had thought. Back to the room and the final packing was completed by the master packer and before we knew it we were in reception paying our bill and boarding the awaiting taxi.
At the airport one of our suitcases was over the limit and we were back in the familiar territory of unpacking our cases in public and rearranging them. This has become a part of our lives and whilst we detest the whole process we have to live with it. The very nice lady at the check in added insult to injury by placing a vivid orange "heavy" sticker on both of our suitcases.
We had to wait for an hour in the airport and decided to do this at the gate indicted on the departure board. This seemed fine until ten minutes before the flight when over the tan not it was announced the gate had been changed from fourteen to eight. This necessitated a long walk back to the new gate where we had to wait a few minutes before boarding our plane.
The flight up to Gisborne was excellent and Andrew and Sally were there to meet us. There were tears in Andrew and Rosemarie.'s eyes as they stood there hugging each other.
Back to Andrew and Sally's for lunch and then a walk into town to make a hair appointment for the expedition manager. I also needed a new pair of shorts as I had managed to rip a pair. We drove to the beach to have a look and then dropped Rosemarie off at the hairdressers. For some reason Andrew dropped her off at the back of the haridresser's about ten minutes walk away and then proceeded to drive around to the front of the shop within about thirty seconds. When I asked him why he had done this he dissolved into fits of laughter.
Whilst we were sat around waiting for the expedition manager to return the phone rang and it was Andrew's work to say that all the old people were sitting around waiting for their dinner as the relief cook had got confused and gone home thinking that fish and chips were being bought in. Andrew and I rushed off to the home and I was given the heavy responsibility of making two gallons of tomato soup. I also helped cooking bacon, tomatoes and oven chips, all in a professional kitchen.
Back home, catastrophe averted we had rost pork for tea and sat there chatting pleasantly until bed time. The master packer had to think about a little more about preparing for our trip North tomorrow and it was almost straight off to sleep.
There was no need to get up early so we luxuriated in our hotel room for a while. We eventually made our way to breakfast which was a fairly dismal experience at 9.30.
On the way back to our room we checked our taxi to the airport had been booked and found out it had been booked fifteen minutes earlier than we had thought. Back to the room and the final packing was completed by the master packer and before we knew it we were in reception paying our bill and boarding the awaiting taxi.
At the airport one of our suitcases was over the limit and we were back in the familiar territory of unpacking our cases in public and rearranging them. This has become a part of our lives and whilst we detest the whole process we have to live with it. The very nice lady at the check in added insult to injury by placing a vivid orange "heavy" sticker on both of our suitcases.
We had to wait for an hour in the airport and decided to do this at the gate indicted on the departure board. This seemed fine until ten minutes before the flight when over the tan not it was announced the gate had been changed from fourteen to eight. This necessitated a long walk back to the new gate where we had to wait a few minutes before boarding our plane.
The flight up to Gisborne was excellent and Andrew and Sally were there to meet us. There were tears in Andrew and Rosemarie.'s eyes as they stood there hugging each other.
Back to Andrew and Sally's for lunch and then a walk into town to make a hair appointment for the expedition manager. I also needed a new pair of shorts as I had managed to rip a pair. We drove to the beach to have a look and then dropped Rosemarie off at the hairdressers. For some reason Andrew dropped her off at the back of the haridresser's about ten minutes walk away and then proceeded to drive around to the front of the shop within about thirty seconds. When I asked him why he had done this he dissolved into fits of laughter.
Whilst we were sat around waiting for the expedition manager to return the phone rang and it was Andrew's work to say that all the old people were sitting around waiting for their dinner as the relief cook had got confused and gone home thinking that fish and chips were being bought in. Andrew and I rushed off to the home and I was given the heavy responsibility of making two gallons of tomato soup. I also helped cooking bacon, tomatoes and oven chips, all in a professional kitchen.
Back home, catastrophe averted we had rost pork for tea and sat there chatting pleasantly until bed time. The master packer had to think about a little more about preparing for our trip North tomorrow and it was almost straight off to sleep.
Thursday 7 March 2013
The trip to the North
It has arrived the day we had to leave Middle Earth and say goodbye to all the Hobbits, grateful that we had escaped the evil Auks and had not had too much trouble with Sauron.
The campsite in Picton is one of the best we have stayed at, lots of space and really good facilities.
We were up fairly early and finished the last bits of packing. The master packer had been busy the night before and had put most of the stuff in the suitcases, rather reluctantly I felt. Neither of us really wanted to part from Vanessa.
We had emptied the dirty water tank the night before and what was left was last minute cleaning and tidying, as well as throwing away all of the brochures we had picked up on our travels.
We gave one of our camping neighbours supplies we didn't want to carry and they were very grateful for what in effect was four toilet rolls and half a kitchen roll.
On the way out of the campsite we asked our neighbour to take a photograph of us with Vanessa just so that we would never forget.
We drove to the van hire depot and on the way filled Vanessa with Deisel. The lady at the office was charming and told us that very few vans were returned as clean and tidy as ours and then having completed the dreaded paper work we were off to the ferry port in the hire company's courtesy van.
In the queue for the ferry, still the same old Pride of Cherbourg,we stood next to an American couple who seemed to be carrying an old 78 rpm record player. Eventually curiosity got the better of me and I asked then if that was waht it was. It was indeed a portable wind up 78 rpm record player which they had purchased in a second hand store along with 12, 78 records.
This led to an interesting discussion and it turned out that he was a teacher and she was a social worker. They stayed with us for the whole voyage and he was very interested in my personal history and the talks I had given in Hobart and the one I was about to give in Wellington.
Imagine my surprise when during a lull in the conversation he opened the record player and wound it up and played one of the records. This made everyone around us turn to look and turned out to be one of the most surreal moment sof the trip , two people from Cornwall ,two from Longbeach California listening to a yodelling country and western record recorded in New Zealand in the the 1930's or 1940's no wonder everyone around us stopped and looked at what was going on.
The journey across the Cook Strait was windy but smooth and made all that bit faster by talking to interesting and interested people.
At the end of the ferry journey we had just enough time to catch a taxi to our hotel to have a shower and a cup of coffee before John came to pick us up to the us to the talk venue. This was a little strange, as I had never expected to be speaking in New Zealand, and my view was that John had been very brave to try and organise something in such a short space of time. This and the fact I hadn't seen my notes for three weeks , made me rather nervous,however, the talk went really well, I think, and so does my manager, about twenty five people turned up and we had a good hour and a half.
It must have been firmly alright because they have invited me back to talk again, if and when we return to New Zealand.
After the talk we had a walk around the harbour with John and Li his partner, before going for a pub meal with Mark as other historian joining us.
After the meal John and Li took us back to our hotel via the summit of Mount Wellington so that we could look at the city in all of its night time glory. It was a magnificent view on a very windless night which apparently is an oddity for Wellington which is known as the Windy City.
An interesting day and one that we both thoroughly enjoyed.
It has arrived the day we had to leave Middle Earth and say goodbye to all the Hobbits, grateful that we had escaped the evil Auks and had not had too much trouble with Sauron.
The campsite in Picton is one of the best we have stayed at, lots of space and really good facilities.
We were up fairly early and finished the last bits of packing. The master packer had been busy the night before and had put most of the stuff in the suitcases, rather reluctantly I felt. Neither of us really wanted to part from Vanessa.
We had emptied the dirty water tank the night before and what was left was last minute cleaning and tidying, as well as throwing away all of the brochures we had picked up on our travels.
We gave one of our camping neighbours supplies we didn't want to carry and they were very grateful for what in effect was four toilet rolls and half a kitchen roll.
On the way out of the campsite we asked our neighbour to take a photograph of us with Vanessa just so that we would never forget.
We drove to the van hire depot and on the way filled Vanessa with Deisel. The lady at the office was charming and told us that very few vans were returned as clean and tidy as ours and then having completed the dreaded paper work we were off to the ferry port in the hire company's courtesy van.
In the queue for the ferry, still the same old Pride of Cherbourg,we stood next to an American couple who seemed to be carrying an old 78 rpm record player. Eventually curiosity got the better of me and I asked then if that was waht it was. It was indeed a portable wind up 78 rpm record player which they had purchased in a second hand store along with 12, 78 records.
This led to an interesting discussion and it turned out that he was a teacher and she was a social worker. They stayed with us for the whole voyage and he was very interested in my personal history and the talks I had given in Hobart and the one I was about to give in Wellington.
Imagine my surprise when during a lull in the conversation he opened the record player and wound it up and played one of the records. This made everyone around us turn to look and turned out to be one of the most surreal moment sof the trip , two people from Cornwall ,two from Longbeach California listening to a yodelling country and western record recorded in New Zealand in the the 1930's or 1940's no wonder everyone around us stopped and looked at what was going on.
The journey across the Cook Strait was windy but smooth and made all that bit faster by talking to interesting and interested people.
At the end of the ferry journey we had just enough time to catch a taxi to our hotel to have a shower and a cup of coffee before John came to pick us up to the us to the talk venue. This was a little strange, as I had never expected to be speaking in New Zealand, and my view was that John had been very brave to try and organise something in such a short space of time. This and the fact I hadn't seen my notes for three weeks , made me rather nervous,however, the talk went really well, I think, and so does my manager, about twenty five people turned up and we had a good hour and a half.
It must have been firmly alright because they have invited me back to talk again, if and when we return to New Zealand.
After the talk we had a walk around the harbour with John and Li his partner, before going for a pub meal with Mark as other historian joining us.
After the meal John and Li took us back to our hotel via the summit of Mount Wellington so that we could look at the city in all of its night time glory. It was a magnificent view on a very windless night which apparently is an oddity for Wellington which is known as the Windy City.
An interesting day and one that we both thoroughly enjoyed.
Wednesday 6 March 2013
Off to the ferry.
Having had a fantastic time with the penguins we set off the next day slightly inland to see Mount Cook across a lake. The trip was really interesting seeing a vast limestone gorge and the Elephant rocks, so called believe it or not , because one of the rocks looks a little like an elephant head.
We had lunch with the van backed o to the lake looking across it to Mount Cook glistening in the sunshine. We camped the night at Fairlie which took all of ten minutes to walk around. We were going out for a beer but couldn't find anywhere we really liked , so returned to the van for a beer there. The next day was a long drive to Kaiakoura about 400 kilometres through some scenic countryside along surprisingly the "inland scenic route".
At Kaiakoura we were eventually defeated by the weather as rain set in for the evening. It could have waited until we were safely back in the van but no, it had to rain whilst we walking around the town and so we returned to the van slightly bedraggled. As we spent the night ensconced in the van dodging the rain there is not really a great deal to report. The expedition commander was a little disappointed that she had to wear her raincoat for the first time in five months. Secretly I think she was hoping she could get through the whole holiday without using it, but such is the high quality of New Zealand rain that she was forced into a situation where she had to put it on.
We are now in a situation where we have fallen in love with the Vanessa in all of her capricious moods and we don't want to give her up. It has been a strange relationship, we started out not really liking the size of her but as time has passed we have grown to love her and in the rain we have revelled in the space. As we get closer to Picton and having to give her back we are getting sadder and sadder. Tomorrow we have a 150 kilometres to drive to Picton and it will be a sad day.
Having had a fantastic time with the penguins we set off the next day slightly inland to see Mount Cook across a lake. The trip was really interesting seeing a vast limestone gorge and the Elephant rocks, so called believe it or not , because one of the rocks looks a little like an elephant head.
We had lunch with the van backed o to the lake looking across it to Mount Cook glistening in the sunshine. We camped the night at Fairlie which took all of ten minutes to walk around. We were going out for a beer but couldn't find anywhere we really liked , so returned to the van for a beer there. The next day was a long drive to Kaiakoura about 400 kilometres through some scenic countryside along surprisingly the "inland scenic route".
At Kaiakoura we were eventually defeated by the weather as rain set in for the evening. It could have waited until we were safely back in the van but no, it had to rain whilst we walking around the town and so we returned to the van slightly bedraggled. As we spent the night ensconced in the van dodging the rain there is not really a great deal to report. The expedition commander was a little disappointed that she had to wear her raincoat for the first time in five months. Secretly I think she was hoping she could get through the whole holiday without using it, but such is the high quality of New Zealand rain that she was forced into a situation where she had to put it on.
We are now in a situation where we have fallen in love with the Vanessa in all of her capricious moods and we don't want to give her up. It has been a strange relationship, we started out not really liking the size of her but as time has passed we have grown to love her and in the rain we have revelled in the space. As we get closer to Picton and having to give her back we are getting sadder and sadder. Tomorrow we have a 150 kilometres to drive to Picton and it will be a sad day.
Monday 4 March 2013
Motueka to Westport
This post is out of sequence because although I wrote it ,it was not published for some reason only the computer understands.
And so the travelling begins we were away late as I let Rosemarie sleep in. I had to get up at seven thirty but when I returned Rosemarie was peacefully asleep so I left her that way and we eventually got up at eight fort five. We bot felt a bit guilty, all this great country to see and both of us so tired. Still at least we felt refreshed.
We got away about eleven and stopped for petrol before heading off down a different road which took us away from Nelson. We passed through the most delightful valley which truly could have been Hobbit land. A beautiful winding river, hop fields, apple and cherry orchards and wonderful mountains looming in the distance.
We had lunch in a smal secluded grove under a few trees and felt very pleased with ourselves as we got to know the van and got to grips with camping again. This is a lifestyle we love, although we are not used to doing it with a three ton van in tow. Vanessa the van, to be blunt has seen better days and she is a little battered and bruised. On our first inspection we noted several dents that the guy who had inspected it had not put on his sheet. The copy we eventually got looks like someone has drawn all over it. She has done a 173000 kilometres and her engine may well also have seen better days, so it is back to driving school, double declutching , steering with both hands on the wheel at ten to two and keeping a very close eye on her rear as we negotiate corners.
All in all it is good fun and we are very happy. After lunch we had to choose between whether to head straight to Westport or to go further south to Greymouth. Westport was the unanimous decision. We arrived via a magnificent gorge, named after the river Buller, think he was a nineteenth century general, found a good supermarket, marvelled at how much cheaper NZ is than Australia and made our way to our camp site, where we settled in, read for a while in the sun, when the sun goes in it does get cold, prepared our tea, a Chinese pork dish, gourmet cooking all around, washed up, read again and went to bed. I forgot to mention that we also had a walk on the beach which had grey volcanic sand like talcum powder. A deserted beach full of drift wood and us, one jogger, two do walkers and miles of windswept sand abutting a huge ocean, which led us to the discussion of where you would land if you sailed in a straight line off the west coast . We eventually settled on Japan. Isn't it good after four months travelling we can still have exciting and stimulating conversation.
This post is out of sequence because although I wrote it ,it was not published for some reason only the computer understands.
And so the travelling begins we were away late as I let Rosemarie sleep in. I had to get up at seven thirty but when I returned Rosemarie was peacefully asleep so I left her that way and we eventually got up at eight fort five. We bot felt a bit guilty, all this great country to see and both of us so tired. Still at least we felt refreshed.
We got away about eleven and stopped for petrol before heading off down a different road which took us away from Nelson. We passed through the most delightful valley which truly could have been Hobbit land. A beautiful winding river, hop fields, apple and cherry orchards and wonderful mountains looming in the distance.
We had lunch in a smal secluded grove under a few trees and felt very pleased with ourselves as we got to know the van and got to grips with camping again. This is a lifestyle we love, although we are not used to doing it with a three ton van in tow. Vanessa the van, to be blunt has seen better days and she is a little battered and bruised. On our first inspection we noted several dents that the guy who had inspected it had not put on his sheet. The copy we eventually got looks like someone has drawn all over it. She has done a 173000 kilometres and her engine may well also have seen better days, so it is back to driving school, double declutching , steering with both hands on the wheel at ten to two and keeping a very close eye on her rear as we negotiate corners.
All in all it is good fun and we are very happy. After lunch we had to choose between whether to head straight to Westport or to go further south to Greymouth. Westport was the unanimous decision. We arrived via a magnificent gorge, named after the river Buller, think he was a nineteenth century general, found a good supermarket, marvelled at how much cheaper NZ is than Australia and made our way to our camp site, where we settled in, read for a while in the sun, when the sun goes in it does get cold, prepared our tea, a Chinese pork dish, gourmet cooking all around, washed up, read again and went to bed. I forgot to mention that we also had a walk on the beach which had grey volcanic sand like talcum powder. A deserted beach full of drift wood and us, one jogger, two do walkers and miles of windswept sand abutting a huge ocean, which led us to the discussion of where you would land if you sailed in a straight line off the west coast . We eventually settled on Japan. Isn't it good after four months travelling we can still have exciting and stimulating conversation.
The Penguin Day
We drove from Dunedin to Oamaru specifically to see the penguins. The expedition manager had stated very clearly at the outset that she wished to see blue fairy penguins returning to the shore. As it happens Oamaru is one of the places this is guaranteed to be possible.
We arrived in Oamaru fairly early and mad our way to the blue penguin colony HQ where we purchased tow tickets for the evening show at £16 per head. My view was that they better be doing a very good cabaret act as well as swimming out of the sea for that sort of money.
We then set off for our campsite arriving just a little before the German stalking family and settled into our site. We had noticed in reception that we could catch a bus to the penguin colony and enquirer about the price which was $20 a head so we retired to expedition HQ to discuss the pros and cons. In order to make our minds up we we for a walk around the civic gardens in Oamaru which were beautiful and decided I passing that we would take the bus as we could leave the van parked up and plugged in. In addition Vanessa isn't too sure about being driven at night.
The advert said the bus left at 6.45pm but when I bought the tickets the lady daid that pick up would be at 6.30, as a result we had to rush both cooking and eating tea and in a most slovenly manner had to leave the washing up until we got back. We arrived at the designated pick up place on time but the bus was ten minutes late.
We then proceeded to travel around Oamaru picking up other tourists who were desperate for a sight of the blue penguin. On the way to the penguin viewing the driver stopped the coach outside two fine looking Victorian buildings and told the whole coach that these were fine examples of neo gothic architecture. Who was I to point out that they were in fact fine examples of neo classical architecture and that one had Doric columns and that the other had Corinthian. I decided to hold my peace.
We were then taken to see the yellow eyed penguins arrive home for their evening with the family.this entailed a five minute walk along a cliff top to a viewing area where about sixty other people had gathered. We saw three penguins and one of them was kind enough to cross the beach at a point where the expedition photographer could get a picture of it. When I enquirer how many penguins were nesting on this beach I was told at the last count there were twelve nests therefore we had see one eight of the total penguin population.
We were told to be back on the bus at 8.15 and I pointed out to the driver that when we. We had bought our very expensive tickets we had been told not to be later than 8.00 the driver assured me we would be in plenty of time. As it turned out we arrived at 8.30 after the show had begun, but luckily for us no. One had told the penguins and they didn't arrive for another twenty minutes. It was quite amazing to see, they arrive in a raft ,of about twenty ,out of the sea as though they had just been thrown onto the beach. They then make their way cautiously up the foreshore before crossing a narrow beach and disappearing into their nesting area. All of this is done in orange light as apparently penguins cannot see orange light.
All in all we saw about a hundred penguins arrive and disperse. Penguins are rather funny birds with a comical walk and a hilarious run at yet there is something very endearing about them, which I suppose is why so. Many people want to see them and of course it was makes them expensive to see. We then returned to the bus and were taken on a circular tour as we dropped other tourists off before getting back to our base and had cheeses and biscuits for supper discussing all the time our penguin experience.
We drove from Dunedin to Oamaru specifically to see the penguins. The expedition manager had stated very clearly at the outset that she wished to see blue fairy penguins returning to the shore. As it happens Oamaru is one of the places this is guaranteed to be possible.
We arrived in Oamaru fairly early and mad our way to the blue penguin colony HQ where we purchased tow tickets for the evening show at £16 per head. My view was that they better be doing a very good cabaret act as well as swimming out of the sea for that sort of money.
We then set off for our campsite arriving just a little before the German stalking family and settled into our site. We had noticed in reception that we could catch a bus to the penguin colony and enquirer about the price which was $20 a head so we retired to expedition HQ to discuss the pros and cons. In order to make our minds up we we for a walk around the civic gardens in Oamaru which were beautiful and decided I passing that we would take the bus as we could leave the van parked up and plugged in. In addition Vanessa isn't too sure about being driven at night.
The advert said the bus left at 6.45pm but when I bought the tickets the lady daid that pick up would be at 6.30, as a result we had to rush both cooking and eating tea and in a most slovenly manner had to leave the washing up until we got back. We arrived at the designated pick up place on time but the bus was ten minutes late.
We then proceeded to travel around Oamaru picking up other tourists who were desperate for a sight of the blue penguin. On the way to the penguin viewing the driver stopped the coach outside two fine looking Victorian buildings and told the whole coach that these were fine examples of neo gothic architecture. Who was I to point out that they were in fact fine examples of neo classical architecture and that one had Doric columns and that the other had Corinthian. I decided to hold my peace.
We were then taken to see the yellow eyed penguins arrive home for their evening with the family.this entailed a five minute walk along a cliff top to a viewing area where about sixty other people had gathered. We saw three penguins and one of them was kind enough to cross the beach at a point where the expedition photographer could get a picture of it. When I enquirer how many penguins were nesting on this beach I was told at the last count there were twelve nests therefore we had see one eight of the total penguin population.
We were told to be back on the bus at 8.15 and I pointed out to the driver that when we. We had bought our very expensive tickets we had been told not to be later than 8.00 the driver assured me we would be in plenty of time. As it turned out we arrived at 8.30 after the show had begun, but luckily for us no. One had told the penguins and they didn't arrive for another twenty minutes. It was quite amazing to see, they arrive in a raft ,of about twenty ,out of the sea as though they had just been thrown onto the beach. They then make their way cautiously up the foreshore before crossing a narrow beach and disappearing into their nesting area. All of this is done in orange light as apparently penguins cannot see orange light.
All in all we saw about a hundred penguins arrive and disperse. Penguins are rather funny birds with a comical walk and a hilarious run at yet there is something very endearing about them, which I suppose is why so. Many people want to see them and of course it was makes them expensive to see. We then returned to the bus and were taken on a circular tour as we dropped other tourists off before getting back to our base and had cheeses and biscuits for supper discussing all the time our penguin experience.
Saturday 2 March 2013
The German stalking family.
As well as rescuing old German ladies in the middle of the night the expedition manager has also been rescuing young German infants, well those ones that want to stray from their Mummies and Daddies and head for the main road. As we were sat in Te Anau we watched this young German toddler come strolling past our van and heading for the main gate, despite the language barrier Rosemarie was out of the blocks like a whippet and taking said German infant by the hand walked him back to his parents. Now Mummy and Daddy didn't seem all that concerned and Rosemarie was a trifle put out by their attitude as one can imagine, they scolded the young chap and just about managed to thank the tour manager.
Rather them than me!
From Invercargill we moved to Dunedin and there, taking over the kitchen for their evening meal, even though they have a huge motor home were the same family. They smiled rather weakly at us but refused to engage in conversation. We moved from Dunedin to Oamaru and lo and behold about an hour later the same family arrived. All well and good and at least they didn't try to take over the kitchen, but this morning as were leaving father had to sprint across the road to gather up one small male toddler just in case I ran him down, so maybe they haven't learnt their lesson at all and they may well be forced to take extra tuition from the expedition's health and safety manager!
The drive from Invercargill to Dunedin was interesting and we had great time. We saw a sea lion asleep on the beach and decided not to wake it. We saw several fur seals and on Curio Beach not only a petrified forest but even more importantly a rare yellow eyed penguin, who stood up for us pirouetted and immediately lay down again. A penguin laying down with his head turned away does not make for good photographs and the expedition's naturalist was not amused.
We did make it to the southern most point in New Zealand where the signpost assured us we were over 19000 miles from London. It was rather a tristful moment as we knew that we would now be heading North and homewards for the rest of our trip. Both of us were silent for quite a while.
We also some some marvellous waterfalls. All of these things were only achieved by using gravel roads which Vanessa really doesn't like and can only manage at atop speed of thirty kph. This is perfectly fine but it does ten to slow you down a bit and also make the van incredibly dirty. When we arrived at Invercargill it looked as though the van had just taken place in the Trans Sahara rally, you could not see out of the rear window at all.
All in all a grey day with a great deal of drizzle but some wonderful sights tinged with a little sadness.
As well as rescuing old German ladies in the middle of the night the expedition manager has also been rescuing young German infants, well those ones that want to stray from their Mummies and Daddies and head for the main road. As we were sat in Te Anau we watched this young German toddler come strolling past our van and heading for the main gate, despite the language barrier Rosemarie was out of the blocks like a whippet and taking said German infant by the hand walked him back to his parents. Now Mummy and Daddy didn't seem all that concerned and Rosemarie was a trifle put out by their attitude as one can imagine, they scolded the young chap and just about managed to thank the tour manager.
Rather them than me!
From Invercargill we moved to Dunedin and there, taking over the kitchen for their evening meal, even though they have a huge motor home were the same family. They smiled rather weakly at us but refused to engage in conversation. We moved from Dunedin to Oamaru and lo and behold about an hour later the same family arrived. All well and good and at least they didn't try to take over the kitchen, but this morning as were leaving father had to sprint across the road to gather up one small male toddler just in case I ran him down, so maybe they haven't learnt their lesson at all and they may well be forced to take extra tuition from the expedition's health and safety manager!
The drive from Invercargill to Dunedin was interesting and we had great time. We saw a sea lion asleep on the beach and decided not to wake it. We saw several fur seals and on Curio Beach not only a petrified forest but even more importantly a rare yellow eyed penguin, who stood up for us pirouetted and immediately lay down again. A penguin laying down with his head turned away does not make for good photographs and the expedition's naturalist was not amused.
We did make it to the southern most point in New Zealand where the signpost assured us we were over 19000 miles from London. It was rather a tristful moment as we knew that we would now be heading North and homewards for the rest of our trip. Both of us were silent for quite a while.
We also some some marvellous waterfalls. All of these things were only achieved by using gravel roads which Vanessa really doesn't like and can only manage at atop speed of thirty kph. This is perfectly fine but it does ten to slow you down a bit and also make the van incredibly dirty. When we arrived at Invercargill it looked as though the van had just taken place in the Trans Sahara rally, you could not see out of the rear window at all.
All in all a grey day with a great deal of drizzle but some wonderful sights tinged with a little sadness.
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