The Catlins aka the deep south

We got to Dunedin without a fully formed plan of where our journey would take us from there on. Dunedin proved to be not quite as interesting as our (at times rather over enthusiastic) guidebook would have us believe, and so we found we had time to detour to the bottom of the south island and the catlins coast.

The catlins is a sparsely populated bit of farming country that has only had a fully paved road (just one) running through it for a few years. The coast here is spectacular though and there were sufficient other diversions for us to dawdle along in the car for a couple of days. The weather was pretty extreme though, with a strong southerly wind whipping up the sea to a swell of about 5m at times, and attracting some expert surfers (or just plain nutters?). so much for lounging about on beaches spotting dolphins; camping was also out of the question. the place we stayed at in Okawa even had electric blankets - and we were glad for them!

The deep south of the south island was settled mainly by scots - apparently giving the locals a slightly different accent from the rest of new zealand. however the most amusing cultural feature i noticed was the inclusion of deep fried "moro" bars on the menu of a chip shop in Balclutha. there are no mars bars in new zealand but this was the closest you could get. it was hard not to admire the way that the locals appeared to be keeping their scots heritage alive!

Robin

South Island adventure begins...

After a day spent chilling at H & K's in Auckland, while Hannah sorted out some portfolio stuff (and I made sure my Australian visa was valid, whoops almost forgot!) we flew to Christchurch on the South Island of NZ on the 13th Feb. We booked a (rather dreary) backpackers hostel in the city centre for two nights and despite the intense rain on the morning of Friday the 15th Feb we were glad to pick up the hire car we'd booked and get on the road. Eschewing the charms of dolphin watching at Akaroa (on the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch) because of the weather, we got onto State Highway 1 and drove south across the Canterbury Plains.

The hire car deserves a mention - an 11-year old Mitsubishi Lancer imported from Japan with nearly 200,000km on the clock. It performed admirably, despite getting a nail in one of the tyres on the first day, and numerous dings and cracks in the windscreen the next day thanks to an inconsiderate wally overtaking us on a stretch of gravel road - gee thanks.

Hannah says that I should compliment her on her driving skills by the way.

Anyway after a couple of hours we arrived at the small town of Oamaru (actually they're all small down here) which was once an important port but has been in decline since then - the 1880s or thereabouts. It was surprisingly nice with a couple of colonies of penguins to go and bother. We stayed in a cozy little hostel with a log fire and no TV. By about 9pm the guests were all sitting in the lounge reading their books and papers - nice but extremely soporific. We guessed if there was any action to be had in Oamaru, it was somewhere else.

The next day we continued south, visiting the Moeraki boulders - odd spherical geological formations on the shore of the Pacific - before continuing to Dunedin for the night. Dunedin is gaelic for Edinburgh and the city looked very scottish. No fried mars bars though.

Robin

Waiheke Island

Our main reason for going to the 'hippy' island of Waiheke was to meet a couple of Robin's distant relatives. His dad's cousin Barry - or Bazza as we like to call him now - and sons Rakesh and Rahaan (spelling?). Who was indeed a bit of a hippy in days gone by. His sons are named so as he used to live in India, and even ran a 'Freak Bus' between London and Kolkata. Quite impressive. Barry gave us a grand tour of Waiheke's rolling hills and beautiful bays before taking us up to his mansion sized house (self built) high up overlooking the township and off in the distance Auckland city. Lunch was great, as we were given a healthy chinese meal cooked by his wife 'Tracy' whose real name we could not possibly hope to spell.

This was all very nice but by the time we got off the ferry back to Auckland we were ready for a drink. Which was handy, as we'd arranged to meet our friend Marc (the Irishman from the Santiago waitlist debacle) and his brother for a beer. A very nice time was had too. Hamish met us, drove us home and we got fush and chups for tea.....two days in a row, but isn't fish healthy?

Hannah

Northland - Bay of Islands

After returning from the Coromandel we chilled in Auckland for another couple of nights then loaded up 'the rhonda' for a trip north to the province immediately north of Auckland, imaginatively titled 'Northland'.

(later, in the south island, we also spent time in Southland and Westland, but we've yet to find Eastland...)

First stop was some snorkelling just offshore at Goat Island, where the quantity of fish to be seen is supposed to be amazing. Well it would have been, had there not been storms in the pacific, churning up all the water and reducing visibility to about a metre. Bah, we thought (well I did, Hannah didn't even get in the water - to be fair it was a bit chilly) and drove on.

Just before the Bay of Islands we paused at Kawakawa to visit the famous 'hundertwasser toilets'. They are some public loos. Designed by an austrian called hundertwasser. They are Kawakawa's claim to fame. We left within five minutes. (to be fair, they were probably the nicest loos we visited in the whole of NZ, and this is a country that likes a clean loo).

We camped at Paihia for two nights at a little site next to a secluded beach directly on the Bay of Islands. On the first morning we awoke to the sound of rain on canvas (well, composite plastic sheet at least) and promptly didn't show for the dolphin-watching tour we'd booked (ha ha - foolish tourism operators - if you'd taken my credit card number we would have showed!). As it was, the weather improved and we took a ferry ride to the pretty little town of Russell (once the capital of NZ, unbelievably), got a dose of history and culture innit at the Waitangi treaty grounds, and booked an all-in catamaran sailing, dolphin swimming, island snorkelling, and sausage eating trip for the next day - which was awesome. The dolphins, however, were not prepared to let us swim with them as they were feeding. No problem, a fair few (a joint pod of about 30) swam alongside the cat and performed a few dips and dives. Fab.

On the way back to Auckland we stopped for Fush & Chups in a nowhere town called Wellsford. The chip shop was decorated like an old english tea room, run by a Chinese woman, and we ate our dinner watching a huge Maori guy polish off his egg & chips. (sorry, eegg & chups).

R & H

The Coromandel

First of all, apologies to those reading this almost as frequently as we are.... we're now about 2 weeks behind on our blog posts and trying to catch up when we can! Who would have thought it, but internet access is far less frequently found (and far more expensive) here in NZ than in South America, so ever since we left the 'home comforts' of Hamish & Kirsten's pad in Auckland it's been a struggle to keep up.

Anyway... after the Tongariro crossing we went up to the Coromandel peninsula with H&K for a night, staying at a family friend's bach in posh Pauanui, followed by a night of solo camping at a place called Cooks Beach, where as there were almost no other campers we just had some rather curious ducks for company (curious in that they wanted to eat our dinner, not that they were weird looking or something).

On the way to the Coromandel from the Taupo area we passed through some real nowhere towns - a real taste of rural New Zealand! The most redeeming feature of a place called Te Aroha, for example, was its slogan, printed under "Welcome to Te Aroha" on the sign as we drove into town. "Get into hot water", it said (there are thermal springs there, and presumably possibilities for some as-yet-undefined silliness... otherwise the slogan wouldn't work). We also drove through Paeroa, which is the home of Lemon & Paeroa, a fizzy drink that has been "world famous in New Zealand... since ages ago". You get the picture.

Pauanui was the haunt of NZ's millionaires during the 70s and 80s, and is still an exclusive resort town (more of a big suburb really) of expensive looking 'real estate'. It has a great beach but the weather when we there was rough so no swimming was to be had (in fact we called barely walk along the dunes for the wind). We did however get some good 'fush & chups'.

A day later and further up the coast we visited Cathedral Cove (stunning scenery) and Hot Water Beach, where thermal springs bubble up onto the beach at low tide and you can dig a hole and sit in it and warm yourself. You do of course have to share that hole with a coach load of germans but we guessed that was part of the fun.

H & R

Tongariro Pass

The Tongariro Pass is listed in the Lonely Planet as one of NZ's best one day hikes - one that is not too taxing on those of us who are less that fit, even if it is 17.5km long.

We rose early on Monday morning and were taken by mini bus to the start of the 'tramp' within Tongariro National Park, with scroggin (a fruit, nut and chocolate mix provided by Kirsten) and sandwiches in hand. The walk started off as just that, along a gravel path on a gentle incline past alpine plants and moss. We crossed an ancient and flat crater, with massive volcanic rock boulders and were met with a tough climb.... up the side and onto the ridge of the extinct volcano. Huffing and puffing we continued up past spectacular and ever changing scenery of a volcano cone (Red Crater) and down a steep scree slope to aquamarine coloured lakes (Emerald Lakes), finally resting by a volcano crater lake for lunch. Rested and recovered the scenery changed from moonscape to grassy scrub as we made a long decent to the other end of the trail, which is within the 'bush' of fern trees and other lush greenery. The majority of the walk is in fact down hill, but the early part of the tramp was by no means the walk in the park that The Good Book made out. No matter, we all felt a huge sense of achievement as we conked out in the shade at the end the trail. We had managed the 17k hike in 6 hours and 20 minutes. Not bad for a pair of 30 somethings and Robin!

Hannah

Turangi and Lake Taupo

Kirsten's family has a bach (pronounced batch, a Kiwi holiday home) in Turangi, on Lake Taupo - a huge and beautiful body of crystal clear water in central North Island - where we stayed for three nights.

On Sunday the weather wasn't looking too promising, so we visited Taupo Hot Springs via Sean the Prawn's Prawn Park (don't ask). Taupo Hot Springs is a small natural spring spa/resort, with the added bonus of a fast water flume..... I think Hamish and Robin spent more time climbing the stairs and whizzing down the flume than floating in the warm 'medicinal' waters of the spa pools. A lovely time was had by all.

Hannah

Rotorua (or do I mean Roto-Vegas?). It stinks.

On the 03/02/08 all 5 of us set off for Turangi on the southern shore of Lake Taupo. Rhonda, Robin and I took a detour via the touristy spa town of Rotorua.

The town and surrounding area have become a tourist attraction due to the many hot-water springs, geysers and bubbling mud pools. We didn't go to the main attractions as it was late in the day and the prices were exorbitant, earning the town the moniker Roto-Vegas. But that is not the reason why the town stinks. The eggy pungent odour is caused by the sulfur that heats the water. Cue fart jokes.

We did check out the Maori village, with its meeting house or Marae and the many springs that bubble up in the villagers back yards, and the bubbling mud pools near to the town. The mud pools were very entertaining as the sulfurous gas that heats the water causes it to boil, so large splats of grey mud were popping, bursting and plopping all over the place. (Again, we are easily pleased).

Hannah

Rhonda the Honda

As well as giving us a base for the coming two weeks, H & K, lent us their second car. A family hand me down, Rhonda is an ageing Honda Accord with pop-up head lights and a water feature. We all love Rhonda.

In fact I love her as if she was my own. Well, she practically was for two weeks as I was the one in the driving seat. Poor Robin, he has been sitting in the passenger seat as my navigator (and will continue to do so for the rest of trip), for the last two weeks. No doubt he has been biting his tongue the whole way - a few ground rules were laid out before I even pulled out of the driveway......

Hannah

Auckland at last

How happy were we to arrive at Auckland airport? Very. It didn't matter that it was 4 in the morning and we needed to wait an hour and a half for Hamish to pick us up; the elation from just getting the flight was yet to fade. We said our fair-wells to Irish Marc, making plans to meet up with him in Auckland for a beer sometime in the near future, and were whisked 'home' to Birkenhead, in the North Shore area. Tired but happy.

We spent a couple of days catching up on ourselves and investigating central Auckland, which is beautifully situated on the bay. The downtown area is small and attractive, fanning out from the ferry terminal and an area known as the 'Viaduct' which is harbour-side, with offices and bars. While there we managed to fill ourselves on sushi - cheap and abundant, although often as likely to be made by Koreans as Japanese. Joy. We also bought a replacement camera. Double joy.

Hamish and Kirsten's little house is of a typical single storey, weather-board style that is fully detached. It dates from the 1930's (quite old for New Zealand) and stays lovely and cool in the scorching midday sun. It was a real pleasure to be their guests, entertained by Oscar, their very cute 9month old. Our stay made even more comfortable by the fact that their spare bed is the most comfortable bed ever, let alone on our whole trip! (Thanks H & K).