NEW ZEALAND PART 6.

NORTH ISLAND 23/12 - 04/01

We spent a day in Wellington, which was the first city we had visited since Christchurch, so it was an opportunity to do a little Christmas shopping as well as exploring. We both liked the city but wanted to move on before Christmas so we departed in the evening leaving the excellent museum for our next visit!?

Fran takes time out to smell the roses in the botanical gardens.

As we were leaving it was quite warm and the bars were spilling out onto the pavements with office workers celebrating the start of their Christmas holidays, which run to 2 or 3 weeks as it is mid-summer. Although we were on holiday ourselves we felt strangely envious and I think the first little pangs of 'Christmas homesickness' started then. 

On our way North from Wellington we passed the Tui brewery. I only mention this because their profits increased sharply during our month in NZ.

We decided to go northwest from Wellington and stay near Napier, on Hawke Bay and in the middle of one of the major wine producing regions, for Christmas. We found a good campsite and cycled into the harbour area of Napier where again the bars and restaurants were doing a roaring trade the evening before Christmas.

Our very own Christmas tree. (I just hope the NZ Department of Conservation don't see this.)

Presents beneath the tree - no wonder our luggage had been so heavy round China and Australia.

The green tinsel gives the cab a festive look.

Christmas day was very strange, not least because when we woke on Christmas day those at home were still enjoying Christmas Eve. Nobody on the campsite seemed to be entering into the spirit, and jovial greeting of "Happy Christmas" was met with the standard "G'day."

We cycled into the harbour area again in the afternoon but everywhere was either closed or only open to those who had booked Christmas lunch. We made the most of it and Fran cooked a really good Christmas lunch, but for the only time on the trip we both wished we were at home. 

Making the most of a rather quiet Christmas.

On Boxing day morning we continued our travels and, after phoning the girls to wish them a Happy Christmas evening at Mark and Jane's, we ended up in Rotorua. It is the most remarkable place with an almost overbearing smell of sulphur. (The guide books call it the scent of sulphur) There are mud pools and sulphur vents all over the place, with steam rising from most of the gardens where it is used to heat the house and to cook with.

This hill is not on fire but steam is seeping out all over it.

A steam oven in the camp site.

A mud pool in the camp site grounds. The steam bubbling through is super-heated deep underground with temperatures exceeding the normal 100*C. There was a stream alongside with signs warning you not to go paddling for this very reason.

This is a Maori church in which services are conducted in both English and Maori by a Maori minister. Note the 'graves' are above ground to protect them from the ever present underground heat and steam.

The day after Boxing Day there was a big race meeting in Rotorua so we stocked up the backpack with refreshments and cycled to it. It wasn't exactly Ascot but it was a really fun day out.

The race course viewed from the stands.

Studying the form.......

......her chosen horse is lead out to the track....

.....and wins by a length.....

.....queueing up to collect her winnings.....

....whilst my horse just doesn't seem to have got the hang of it !

We continued North and paid a visit to Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. Here there are 2 hot springs that rise just below the level of the beach, and if you dig a hole in the right place at low tide it will fill with hot water. We had been told you can then relax in the hot water with a glass of wine. Perhaps you can in low season, but in high season about a million other people have had the same idea and are all vying for a spot to dig their hole in the right place, so we left them to it.

All prepared to dig a hole but we couldn't get close to the right area.

We left them to it.

We then drove up to the North of the island, which meant driving through Auckland. This gave Fran the opportunity of honing her large vehicle driving skills in heavy and fast moving traffic.

Traffic going our way is confined to one rather narrow lane to cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

100% concentration.

 

A very pleasant lunch at the roadside North of Auckland.

Our destination was the Bay of Islands, which is very popular at this time of year and turns out to be where young New Zealanders from Auckland like to come and drink themselves senseless at New Year. 

This part of New Zealand featured in some of the events surrounding the sinking of the "Rainbow Warrior" in Auckland Harbour in 1985 by French foreign intelligence agents. It is a fascinating story, which is well documented on the internet for those who are interested in the details of a relatively modern, verified black operation. 

These beetle like things were all over the fence posts behind our van. They are actually the empty shells of Cicada nymphs. They crawl out of the ground, up a post then the back splits open and a cicada bursts out leaving the empty shell attached to the post.

We had advertised our bikes on the internet but Fran placed this advert on our windscreen to try and drum up local interest in the camp site. We did have one caller who turned out to be the camp security officer who was probably checking out if we were pikeys selling stolen goods.

This is the best way to see the bay.

There are many islands of varying sizes and little coves where you can drop anchor and have a picnic. It reminded us of boating around the East coast of Corfu last summer.

Our next stop was Waipu, which is on the East coast about half way between the Bay of Islands and Auckland. It is renowned for its very large Scottish contingent, who's descendants landed here in 5 ships in 1850. The highlight of their year is their Highland Games gathering which happened to take place on the day we arrived. 

In fact it wasn't coincidence as we had seen the games advertised in a newspaper and thought it might be fun. We tried to book a camp site in advance but because of the games, and it being high season on the coast, everywhere was booked up. We phoned a motel, called the 'Clansman',  and asked if we could park up overnight in their car park, and the really nice couple who run it immediately offered us the use of a paddock behind the motel free of charge.

Ensconced in the Clansman paddock

The games were great fun with piping, drumming and dancing competitions along with the traditional field events which involved a lot of tossing of very heavy things.

 

Drumming competition NZ Scottish style.

  

The heavy weight competitors await their next tossing event.

Tossing a very heavy metal weight over a cross bar then moving swiftly out of the way as the very heavy weight lands with a thud where you had been standing.

The last dump of our trip. Fran had mellowed in her attitude towards dumping by now and was quite happy to do the grey waste.

As close as we got to Auckland city centre on our way to return the van to the depot near the airport.

We returned our van in tip top condition and it was very strange to see people entering our home of the last 4 weeks without our permission, and then crawling all over it to check we hadn't broken anything or were planning to walk off with a frying pan.

Sadly we had had no response to our advert for the bikes, and my backup plan to sell them to a bike shop in Auckland was doomed to failure as it was Sunday and they were all closed. So we had to leave them at the campervan depot for them to dispose of, which was very sad.

We had booked a hotel near Mount Wellington and I was really looking forward to the luxury of staying in a 4* hotel after 4 weeks on the road. I soon suspected I had made a big mistake when it turned out to be miles away from the airport, although the internet description had it down as an airport hotel. When the receptionist bruskly told us the restaurant and bar were closed for renovation but that there was a McDonalds nearby, my fears were reinforced. When I discovered there was no lift and we had to carry our bags up threadbare stairs to the third floor my fears were confirmed. When I discovered the loo had not been cleaned I went ballistic.

It was our first duff hotel booking after 2 months of travelling so I suppose that is not bad, and by the time we left for the airport the next morning Fran had calmed me down and the receptionist was charming, having been rather alarmed by my reaction the previous day.

We both enjoyed NZ greatly, and if we were ever to return it would be to the South Island where the pace of life is slow and it is like I imagine England was 60 or 70 years ago. We would take more time to allow for long walks and to see everything the island has to offer, preferably in good weather, without feeling we had to rush on to the next place.