Like a Hurricane*

28 February 2010
When we set off for this trip we knew it was going to be an adventure. Little did we know we would experience an earthquake in Guatemala, floods causing a national disaster zone in Peru and now a potential tsunami in New Zealand on the day we sail across the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton.
When we left there was already a heavy swell, which would cause most Channel crossings from England to France to be cancelled. The declared tsunami alert meant that we can’t sail up the narrow Tory passage (some might say that is a blessing) and had to go up the much wider North passage, which will added an extra hour to our 3 hour crossing time. We saw several news reports on the boat which explained that the expected tsunami, which is actually a series of waves rather than just one wave, was only expected to be about 1 – 1.5 metres. On the crossing it felt like it was happening around us however an update on the news-channel said it wasn’t expected to arrive where we were bound for another half an hour after we arrived. Hastings and Chatham had already experienced their first waves. Good job you’re on high ground Sue and Graham!
However once inside the Queen Charlotte’s Sound the sea was like a mill pond and the views of the numerous islands were very beautiful.











As usual the disaster predictions were as hyped up here as they are in the UK so we feel even more at home. We arrived safely in Picton, which is a pretty little port with only 330 permanent residents and the view from our motel room is spectacular. Sitting on our balcony at 7pm sipping a glass of merlot (plum, bramble and spice with a subtle tannin profile) in the glorious evening sun, sorry to rub it in to the folks back home, this is what winter should be like.

Te Papa

27 February

Another beautiful sunny day in Wellington – we were told it has been the hottest February day for over twenty years and what is even more amazing is that there was hardly any wind until about 4.30pm when a very welcome cooling sea breeze arrived.
We spent the morning at Te Papa, The Museum of New Zealand – a huge purpose built six-storey building (if you include the roof terrace sculpture park) that celebrates everything NZ. It is full of state-of-the-art technology with bright exhibits in dim galleries. The technology is adult-friendly so there is a huge amount to keep everyone occupied. The exhibits start with the creation of Zealandia and it’s possible to experience a volcanic eruption on screen and an earthquake aftershock while standing in a house. There are sections on dinosaurs and the evolution of plants and birds unique to NZ and skeletons of sea-mammals as well as the preserved body of a colossal squid caught by a fishing trawler off the coast a few years ago – if it had been served in a restaurant the calamari rings “would have been the size of truck tyres”. The galleries then move on to the arrival of man, first the Maori people and their art and culture and then the arrival of Europeans and our imposed culture. The exhibitions finish on the fifth and sixth floor with art and sculpture from mostly NZ artists, although once again some nice pots from Shoji Hamada and Bernard Leach.
Once outside the gallery we spent a long time watching the Dragon Boat racing (another annual event), as well as Dragon and Lion dances. The thrilling final of the boat race was won, hardly surprisingly, by the NZ Army Dragon Boat Team.


We had lunch in a waterside brew pub and, optimistically, tried some different beers – it was all ice-cold, fizzy, metallic-tasting, gnats-pee and quite expensive, we shall stick with wine. The most exciting part was when a large sting ray glided past in the shallow waters below the dock.

Another dinner by the waterside and farewell to Wellington, tomorrow (Sunday) we sail to the South Island, Tsunami warning permitting.

Spem in Alium Nunquam Habui*

26 February
We heard it raining during the night and the morning dawned grey, quite cold and, of course, windy. Shock, horror: Gregg in long sleeves and long trousers.
We walked through the city to the cable car, doing a bit of window shopping on the way (Chris certainly feels she needs different clothes). The shiny red cable cars built in 1902 go up a steep one-in-five incline to the top of a peak. We took one of the numerous paths and set off down the hill through the Botanic Gardens – a huge collection of native trees, shrubs and flowers with sculptures dotted around the park – including one by Henry Moore. There are also formal flower beds and a huge rose garden with over 300 varieties but this being towards the end of summer they were past their best. At one side of the rose garden is a large glass house with tropical and temperate zones, it also houses the inevitable café where the much-used phrase “two flat-whites, please” was used yet again. Of course by now we were regretting the long sleeves as the sun was out and it was getting very warm.

After the Botanic Gardens we walked through the old cemetery, which, like Wellington was founded in 1840. The stories on the headstones reflect the growing pains of a colony – poor sanitation, lack of welfare, fire, racial tensions as well as the growing prosperity of the city. Many of the oldest graves are no longer visible because the grave markers were made of wood which has rotted away. As the settlement prospered, more permanent materials were used and it is noticeable how many people were living into their 80s and even 90s. We sought out a few graves. The first was that of Samuel Duncan Parnell (1810-1890), a carpenter, who is credited with creating the eight-hour working day. Arriving from England in 1840 where working days were far longer, he caused a stir when, contracted by fellow passengers to build a store, he insisted that his days should be eight hours work, eight hours relaxation and eight hours sleep. Other carpenters supported his demands and the eight-hour working day was born! The second was that of Henry Edmund Holland (1868-1933), originally Australian, he was a painter and decorator by trade who became leader of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1918 to 1933. He wanted to be buried on a windswept cliff and at that time his tomb would have overlooked Wellington city and harbour – today that view is totally obstructed by high rise buildings. The tomb is marked by a very striking sculpture of idealised figures and is carved from Carrara marble by Richard Goss who also designed the Cenotaph sculptures.
We then went on to the City Gallery which houses a changing collection of modern art and also has a lovely café where we had lunch. Today is the first day of the NZ International Arts Festival and as part of the festival the gallery has an installation by Canadian artist Janet Cardiff called ‘A Reworking of The Forty-Part Motet’ for which she recorded each of the parts separately (but singing in unison) and they are played back through forty speakers strategically placed throughout the gallery. The speakers are arranged in an oval so that we were able to feel the sculptural construction of the piece by Thomas Tallis – it was possible to walk around the gallery and ‘through’ the forty individual voices. We could hear the sound move from one choir to another, jumping back and forth, echoing each other and then experience the overwhelming feeling as the sound waves hit us as all the singers were singing together. A truly beautiful, tingle-down-the-spine experience.
A walk back to the hotel along the waterfront made us realise that Samuel Parnell had started a trend – the bars and cafés were full of people and there were several groups of young men jumping off the dockside into the water. This is Friday and it’s not yet 4pm; perhaps POETS day is a big thing here. And writing of poets, there are lines of poetry in various places along the waterfront as well as a DIY poetry board as part of the festival.
In the evening we went to an altogether different performance; this was ‘Transports Exceptionnels’ by dancer Philippe Priasso who performed a dance duet with a large mechanical digger! Performed to the dramatic voice of Maria Callas the ‘dance’ is an intimate seduction between man and machine – don’t laugh it really is. Flesh meets metal in a tender give and take – the power and grace of a relationship has humour and honesty, poetry and industrialisation. G thought it was magnificent; C thought it seriously weird.

Last night we had dinner in the sky overlooking the city, tonight we had dinner by the waterfront – another excellent meal. On the way back to the hotel we caught a brief part of another Festival performance. Vladimir Ashkenazy was conducting the NZ Symphony Orchestra in an inevitably sold-out concert which was being relayed live to a giant screen in Civic Square but as the performance was of Mahler’s Symphony No.8 which neither of us is very fond of, we didn’t linger.
The Festival goes on until 21 March and has some wonderful events, including a concert by Calexico; a performance of ‘Eleven And Twelve’ directed by Peter Brook; a play about a Council flat in a tower block in the Walworth Road and a performance by Luna to 13 of Andy Warhol’s famous screen tests – all of which we shall miss.
We have warmed to Wellington, although the people are not as friendly as all the other places we have been in NZ – a bit full of their own self-importance. Despite the charm of much of its Victorian and Edwardian architecture it is, unlike many other places in NZ, a city firmly planted in the 21st century and consequently has a gritty side to it.

Birthday*

February 25 2010
Happy (Special) Birthday Christine
Another yummy breakfast before saying farewell to Ruth and hitting the road for our drive to Wellington, most of it through undistinguished countryside with little sign of habitation. We passed through two “Scandinavian” towns which were new areas opened up for colonisation in the 1870s and NZ sent out a call for rugged folk – Danes, Norwegians and Swedes answered the call and a few stayed to face the hardships of the clearing and settling the land. Norsewood has the “Norsewear” factory which produces outdoor clothing with a reputation for producing hard-wearing woollen socks but as we’ve been wearing sandals for such a long time we didn’t feel in need of them – although by the time we reached the next “Scandinavian” town of Dannevirke it had turned much colder and had started raining heavily. On past the Tui brewery (by and large NZ beer is light and fizzy and not at all to our taste – we’re sticking with the wine); and writing of wine here is another item for your next pub quiz – the seventh largest winery in Australia produces more wine than all of vineyards in NZ put together.
We reached the Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre in time for lunch in their very pleasant café and as it had stopped raining we decided to go for a walk through the small amount (actually several thousand hectares but small by 19th century standards) of lowland native forest that is preserved there and try to see some of the most endangered native (and world’s rarest) birds that they attempt to save, breed and reintroduce into the forest. They have blue ducks (they took a different turn on the evolutionary path from all other duck species in the world), hihi, kokako, kakariki, takahe and of course kiwi. All of these are in very generous sized cages in thick foliage so are difficult to spot, but we did manage to see quite a number and a chat with one of the wardens confirmed that the strange birds Chris had seen earlier on the trip were indeed kaka – large bronze coloured parrots. There is also a nocturnal kiwi house where we were able to get quite close to two kiwi.
On through more small settler towns which have a very Victorian feel to them – we managed to restrain ourselves from visiting the Toy Soldier Museum, The Fell Locomotive Museum and the Cobblestone Museum as well as “Stonehenge Aotearoa” a full-scale replica of Stonehenge built of concrete and classified as “garden ornament”! We soon reached the magnificent forested slopes of the Rimatuka Mountains where the road twists and turns with some hair-raisin bends. The Rimatuka Range was widely used as location sets for Lord Of The Rings so we passed Rivendell, The Fords of Rohan, Helms Deep and Minas Tirith before arriving in Wellington in the mid afternoon and returning the hire car (sorry, we do of course mean Shadowfax) to Avis.
Trailfinders had told the hotel we booked through them that today is Christine’s birthday but they hadn’t put any flowers or chocolates in the room – instead they have upgraded us to a ‘Vista’ room on the eighth floor with a balcony overlooking Wellington Harbour. And on a very sunny day l;ike today that is an excellent birthday present.
Wellington is, by NZ standards, a big city (pop: 400,000) but is hemmed in on one side by the sea and on the others by huge hills. It has a good blend of historical and modern architecture that encroaches the shoreline which has beaches of a sort, marinas and restored warehouses turned into apartments and restaurants. All of this is overlooked by Victorian and Edwardian weather boarded houses (some small one-storey affairs, others large villas) which climb the steep hillsides and are reached by steep stairways or narrow winding roads. One final thing to say about Wellington is that its weather is very changeable – we were told that it can have four seasons in one day but whatever the season, it is windy!
We tried to book a table for Christine’s birthday at a restaurant that our friends Louise (originally from NZ) and Garvin had recommended but it was fully booked, as were three of the other top restaurants in Wellington. Slightly despairing we tried a fifth and came up tops. Great meal, great wine, service not quite up to scratch but just one word from Victor Meldrew and everything was put right and we got free brandies at the end of the meal.
Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes; it was a very good day.

Cousin Caterpillar*

24 February 2010
A lovely breakfast on the deck at our Green House on the Hill B&B where our hosts Ruth and Jerry have created a little haven for Monarch butterflies (and their various stages of development) before spending the morning finishing off the Art Deco walking tour, just wandering along the streets in the sunshine in such an amiable town was so relaxing.


In the afternoon we took a wine tour around some of the Hawke’s Bay wineries. The tour we took was with a character named Vince who was both knowledgeable and amusing and he took us to four of the “boutique” wineries: Askerne Vineyards; Abbey Cellars; Salvare Estate; and, Unison Vineyard. By the end of the afternoon we had tasted 29 wines, all of them having their own wonderful characteristics but for us Unison was by far the best of the four and when we said that we thought their wines were the nearest we had tasted to French wines they took this as a great compliment – we subsequently discovered that Jancis Robinson rates it as one of the new great vineyards; what good taste she has! We bought some bottles to see us through the next few days as we intend to be doing some celebrating.

Too sozzled to drive anywhere for dinner so ordered a delivery pizza from Hell (yes that really is the name of the company), they answer the phone by saying ‘Welcome to Hell’ and the pizza comes in standard boxes with a twist, you can make the boxes into coffins ‘for your remains!’

New Dawn Fades*

23 February 2010
Last night over dinner we realised two things:
1. We are now over halfway through our r-t-w trip
2. When every day is like Sunday (“what day is it?”) we forgot to celebrate our 25th Anniversary of being together, so we turned last night’s dinner into our celebration meal
Got up early-ish this morning to go for our long walk only to discover that the whole of Tongariro was under a thick blanket of fog and to make matters worse Chris has developed an awful cold. Undeterred we went down to breakfast in the hope that by the time we had eaten the fog would have lifted. At breakfast on the table next to us was one of those Americans that gives the whole population a bad name – sounded like he was from Texas if our memories of ‘Dallas’ are correct – and he talked in a very loud drawl that everyone in the restaurant couldn’t help but hear, and he talked and he talked – can’t understand why he was so obese as he never seemed to pause long enough to eat anything...
The fog didn’t lift nor did Chris’s cold so we decided to move on. After about 5km of driving we came to a halt as the road ahead was blocked by about 500 sheep being herded to pastures new, we couldn’t help but laugh watching them bounce up and down as the dogs kept them moving (slowly) along to their destination.

Back on the move again and by the time we reached Taupo the fog had lifted and the sun was beginning to shine. Coffee and a little shopping later (two new T shirts for Chris) we got back on the road with the intention of reaching Napier earlier than planned.
Our destination in Napier is another B&B booked over the internet; this time it is a vegetarian B&B called The Green House on the Hill and it wasn’t until we were trying to locate it on the map that we realised its address – 18 Milton Road. How spooky is that?
Arrived in Napier in time for a late lunch and immediately liked the town. It’s on the coast, has a wonderful Mediterranean climate (of course the sun is shining), has a completely Art Deco centre, re-built after the original town was completely destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1931, and, of course, it’s slap bang in the middle of Hawke’s Bay wine region.
Along the seafront it has a boulevard called Marine Parade, which would be at home in any British seaside town. It even has a pebbly beach and floral gardens. The Art Deco Society (set up to preserve the buildings) produce a self guided walking tour and we did part of the walk in the afternoon and will complete it tomorrow. Talk about British seaside town in the 50s, all the shops and cafes close at about 5pm even Starbucks had closed by 6!
Dinner in a very good Turkish restaurant (thanks David and Emma) where we were able to bring our own wine with no corkage charge.

From Shack to Chateau

22 February 2010
In the afternoon we continued on to Tongariro National Park – a huge area of striking scenery which became a World Heritage Site in 1991 because of its unique landscape and cultural heritage. In the centre of the park are three huge volcanoes which rise dramatically from a plateau of grassy tussocks. These volcanic areas were used as locations for Emyn Muil, The Plains of Gorgoroth, Mordor and Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films but on a sunny day like today it’s hard to feel any of the threat portrayed in the films, although even today the cone of Mount Ruapehu (2797m) is wreathed in mist and shadow and there are still one or two patches of snow left on the areas of deep shadow.


The volcanic activity forecast for it today is level one ( low – the highest is five) but it is still very active, it last erupted in 2007 when it sent huge rivers of mud (known as lahars – this blog will really come in useful for your next pub quiz) down the side of the mountain.
Our hotel for the night can only be described as surreal; in the middle of this huge expanse of stunning countryside stands a huge 1929-built brick chateau called, rather unimaginatively, Chateau Tongariro.

All ever so over the top (what Gregg’s mother might have called “piss-elegant”) with large draped and chandeliered public areas including a lounge with a full-size snooker table. What makes it even more surreal is that within these gracious portals are numerous guests wandering around wearing shorts and hiking boots/sandals with backpacks– yes, we really fit, although the restaurant does ask that guests dress “appropriately” – at dinner there was a couple wearing authentic 1920s dress even to Madame having a “flapper” hat; must say that we are staying in some interesting places in NZ – stay tuned for more.
We did a short walk this evening – the Whakapapa Nature Walk which show the different plants that grow at different altitudes and, almost inevitably includes a trip to some waterfalls/rapids.

We will be doing a longer “tramp” tomorrow morning – unfortunately even on a four-month trip we don’t have time to do the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which climbs a number of volcanic peaks, or the infamous three/four day Tongariro Northern Circuit, one of NZs great walks – perhaps this can be Barry and Gregg’s next walking challenge? Perhaps not, too many opportunities for “detours”, they’d never be seen again.

Walking In a Thermal Wonderland

22 February 2010
A short way south of Rotorua is another geothermal area called the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland; refusing to be put off by the name we spent a morning walking around the wonderland. It all kicks off at 10.15 each day when the Lady Knox Geyser shoots about 10m in the air – it’s 10.15 every day not because of some precise geothermal clock but because a guy puts flakes of soap in the geyser spout at that time every day! It has something to do with reducing the surface tension of the cold water that resides above the superheated water well below ground, once that is removed the hot water gushes forth for about an hour. Without the soap flakes the geyser would gush unpredictably about every 12 to 24 hours and that really wouldn’t be a crowd-puller. Putting that to one side the rest of the area is very interesting with a path that meanders through a series of small lakes of boiling water that have taken on the colours of the minerals dissolved in them, manganese purple, sulphur yellow, green antimony etc. There are a number of volcanic craters, some formed by eruptions some by the collapse of the thin crust into the heaving mud chasms below; sulphur caves and graphite ponds (a.k.a The Devil’s Inkwell). There are two quite spectacular features: the Artist’s Palette pools – a panorama of hot and cold pools and steaming fumaroles, each bringing a different colour to the area; and the Champagne Pool, a circular blue-green fifth of a hectare cauldron of bubbling hissing water, wreathed in swirls of steam with a beautiful ochre-coloured petrified edge, the water below the pool is heated to a phenomenal 230C; where the water leaves the pool it creates beautiful silica rippled patterns. There were also the inevitable pools of boiling mud with their very satisfying sounds which one little French girl we came across called “petite ploop-ploop”, a good description but we thought it sounded more like when Gregg makes polenta, without the swear words as it bubbles up and burns his hand.
We then went on to Huka Falls where the full flow of the Waikato River (one of NZ most voluminous at 400tonnes of water per second) funnels into a narrow gorge and thunders over rocks creating a maelstrom of whirlpools and eddies. The waters are used to cool the nearby Wairaki geothermal power station. When this was first inaugurated a use for the still-warm water from the power station was sought and someone came up with the idea of farming tropical prawns. It is possible to visit the farm (but we didn’t) and learn about a day in the life of “Shawn the Prawn” and at the end of the tour feast upon Shawn’s rellies! We had a cheese and avocado salad picnic and some different but equally delicious plums – these were yellow, very juicy and the variety is called Omega.
Forgot to mention on a previous blog that Rotorua has a “European-style Bistro” called Lewisham – we didn’t have the heart to tell them.

Mud, Glorious Mud*

21 February 2010
Today we decided to go for a walk around the Blue Lake (Tikitapu) and the Green Lake (Rotokakahi) but when we got there at 10.00 the mist from Mount Tarawera (another volcano which last erupted in 1886) had come in over the lakes so they were the Grey Lake and the very Grey Lake. If the sun had been shining they would have been iridescent from the minerals that are dissolved in them.

So instead we went for a walk through the Redwood Grove. The redwoods were experimentally planted about 100 years ago to see which species would grow well in NZ for future forestry. The redwoods grew 3 times faster than in their native California and very impressive they are too. Fortunately the paths were well sign posted so we didn’t take any detours. When we emerged from the forest all the cloud had cleared and it was another beautifully sunny day.
We went onto the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve and took a long walk past glooping pools of boiling mud, sulphurous streams and a couple of spectacular geysers. The reserve also has a nocturnal house where it is possible to see kiwis (the birds not the people) and we managed to spot one.


Back to the Love Shack and out onto the lake in Kayaks! Obviously made it safety back as we are blogging this followed by another evening on our deck overlooking the lake – after so many evenings spent in restaurants it’s so lovely for Gregg to cook our own dinner.
As an aperitif we had a glass of Villa Maria Marlborough Pinot Gris 2009 with “wonderful aromas of spice and ripe pear and a luscious dry palate exhibiting baked apple complemented by a rich harmonious finish.” With dinner we had a bottle of Villa Maria Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 – “a wine of pristine quality - an intense and concentrated vintage overflowing with aromas of passion fruit, lime and gooseberry.” Very nice.

Rotorua

20 February 2010
One of the reasons we are staying in The Love Shack is because most of the hotels/motels in Rotorua are of the anonymous chain variety, the other reason is that we read about the ‘bad egg’ smell that permeates the town. On our way in this morning we smelled the place long before we got there! Hydrogen sulphide drifts up from natural vents in the thin crust that typifies this region – everywhere there is evidence of volcanism. Two examples are quite amusing: shore nesting birds on the lake don’t have to nest sit as the earth keeps their eggs warm and graveyards are built in tiers above the soil level because traditional grave digging is likely to unearth a hot spring. The underworld looms large in place names – there are no end of “Hells” this and “The Devil’s” that, so much so that it prompted George Bernard Shaw, when he visited Hell Gate thermal area, to say “It reminds me too vividly of the fate theologians have promised me”.

Rotorua is also the name of the large lake where the town is situated. It’s a pleasant place to wander around with much of the architecture being Little Britain, including half-timbered, neo-Tudor buildings – even the tourist information has a mock-Gothic clock tower. The town grew up in the way it did because it fitted in with the boom in spa-towns of the Edwardian era. The spas here were claimed to treat almost every disorder from arthritis to alcoholism and nervous disorders to ‘sexual incontinence’ (whatever that is). So in for a penny, in for a pound (well NZ$20 actually) we went along to one of the modern-day equivalents, The Polynesian Spa. It’s a very pleasant, mostly open-air complex with lakeside views and views of the super-heated steam rising from the ground. There are two bathing areas one a large pool with slightly alkaline waters which is big enough to swim in and a second which is made up of a number of small pools called the Priest (or Radium) Pools – so called because a RC priest claimed the waters as having healing properties. The water in these pools is quite turbid having lots of minerals, it is also is acidic. The temperature in the various pools is written on a sign next to them. We started off in the lowest at 39c! When we had warmed up we moved into the 40c and then entered 42c, where we lasted all of 5 minutes before moving back into 39c, which then felt quite cool. We think Gregg's hope of it doing away with the need for his knee replacement was over-optimistic, but we greatly enjoyed it nevertheless.














We then had an excellent lunch in a bustling deli-cafe called Capers – thanks for the recommendation, David and Emma.
In the afternoon we visited the Okere Falls Scenic Reserve where we walked along the river getting glimpses of waterfalls and the river churning over large rocks. The walk ventured through some native bush with, inevitably, ferns and tree-ferns - some of them over 20 metres tall, really wonderful. We watched some people white water rafting and kayaking over the falls.














When we were coming to New Zealand Louise, a New Zealander from our allotment site, said that when people visit NZ they often try to do too much and that we should take time to just sit. That’s exactly what we did this evening back at the Love Shack, enjoying visits from a variety of birds (still haven't managed to find the Ladybird Book of NZ Birds)sitting late into the evening and watching the moon rise over the lake.

Kiwi Food

Not that easy being veggie in NZ, because lots of meat and lots of fish on menus but also lots of dairy and lots of eggs so OK up to a point but surprisingly few vegetables – even though there are numerous road-side stalls selling fruit and veg, where we stock up, especially on apricots and plums (both very much in season at the moment – some red-fleshed plums, variety Doris, we had yesterday were so succulent), also avocados, peaches, nectarines – so we are not going hungry but kiwi fruits are not in season again until April. We have also bought some Tim Tams (see Phil, we do as you advise) and some New Zealand Marmite – very different from both Vegemite and UK Marmite(softer, sweeter taste) but Chris still HATES it! One item that we find over and over again on menus is fish and chips – they are ubiquitous and range from ‘greasies’ (the colloquial name) to ‘catch of the day, lightly dipped in our own beer batter and fried to perfection with thrice-cooked hand-cut chips made from specially selected potatoes and served with our home made tartare sauce’ but NEVER any mushy peas. Ice cream is something of a Kiwi institution especially a variety called Hokey Pokey* and very good it is too – almost equal to Italian standards, which is very high praise from us indeed.
One thing that doesn’t appear on any menu though is possum – must be because it doesn’t taste good otherwise we are sure it would be eaten as New Zealanders have an almost pathological hatred of the creature – so much so that even the most dedicated Green will have a pair of possum fur slippers! All the souvenir shops have possum fur scarves/hats/blankets usually with labels exhorting one to purchase because in so doing one would be helping to rid the country of its most reviled creature. Possums were introduced (familiar story) from Australia in the mid-19th century and it is now thought that they number in excess of seventy million and cause untold damage – eating their way through 21,000 tonnes of vegetation every night and carrying bovine TB. There are now so many possums that hunting (a bounty is paid for each possum skin) barely has any effect so the government is forced to spend NZ$100million a year on possum control (usually by using a poison called 1080 – a substance banned in almost every other country in the world).
Perhaps we could start a similar campaign in the UK to get rid of that vile creature the grey squirrel? Grey squirrel-fur slippers to ward off that cold winter anyone?

After The Gold Rush*

19 January 2010












Drove a little way up the Coromandel Peninsula today to do a couple of walks – one to Cathedral Cove, a beautiful beach dissected by a huge white cliff that has a rock arch like the nave of a cathedral – hence the name (getting a bit fed up of cliffs with holes – think we’ll skip them in future). We also went to Hot Water Beach – a beach that has hot springs beneath the sand and where people go, dig a hole in the sand and sit in it (can’t see the attraction ourselves as at 11.00 the weather was already very very hot – we got our wish for sunny weather). This custom happens two hours either side of low tide and as we were there at nearly high tide, we just had to believe the guide book – but there were places by the beach that hired out spades.
A stop for morning coffee (still excellent coffee shops in the most remote places – all selling their own version of carrot cake – a NZ institution) before driving on through Waihi, a town that was the scene of a huge goldrush in the 1890s – by 1908 it was the fastest growing town in NZ. Today it’s a sleepy place with one opencast gold mine on the edge of town which is desperately trying to prove it’s ‘green’ credentials – difficult considering the amount of cyanide used to extract gold. However the town has another importance; it was the scene of the Waihi Strike of 1912, a violent clash between the downtrodden miners and the mine owners, which helped to galvanise the labour movement in NZ and led to the formation of the Labour Party.
We reached our destination in the late afternoon: another place we found on the internet, called The Love Shack. It’s a small wooden cottage right on the shore of Lake Rotoiti, we have use of kayaks to go the local store (fantastic place selling organic fruit and veg with a cafe in the front and a beer-garden out the back). We have a deck to sit on and look at the lake – we’ve had visits from numerous birds including two black swans (must get a guide to NZ birds so that we can find out the names of all these birds we keep seeing). The shack is fairly isolated and is surrounded by a huge variety of tree ferns and ferns – including the national emblem the silver fern. It is idyllic. The owner showed us around and gave details on how to use the kayaks and rowing boat and said farewell as he is off to Auckland for the weekend to go to Top Gear Live – Jeremy Clarkson is just a s popular here but we’re quite happy to stay put.

Casting Pebbles On Some Sandy Beach*

18 January 2010
Long drive today from Northland to the Coromandel Peninsula, most of the day was grey with frequent drizzle and only brief snatches of sunshine, however the temperature was still above 20 degrees C . but the tree ferns seem to thrive in this and we saw whole hillsides full of them as we crossed the Coromandel mountains. The drive was longer than anticipated for a number of reasons: the maximum speed limit is 100kph, this drops to 50kph or even 30kph at the vaguest sign of any habitation (and Kiwis are SO law-abiding); most of the roads are single carriageways so overtaking is very difficult; bridges over the numerous rivers are so narrow vehicles can only cross in one direction at a time; a massive road improvement programme is going on but instead of doing one stretch at a time they are doing short stretches every few miles each with its own manually operated stop and go signs; and, bloody slow lorries. We were stopped by the police on one occasion – the policeman was “sorry” to have stopped us but he just wanted to check that we had our seat belts on, when he saw that we had, he thanked us and wished us a safe journey and happy holiday (SO like the boys in blue back home)
We eventually reached our destination, unloaded the car into our motel room (notice how we have gone from the five star Langham to boutique B&B to Motel called Pacific Palm Resort – actually it’s really good as we have a sitting room, kitchen and two bedrooms – perhaps we should have invited some of you to come along too) and headed for the beach. Pisceans paddling and beachcombing – we couldn’t be happier; well perhaps we could, if there was just a little more sun.

Had a lovely dinner in the NZ equivalent of a bistro, nice food, good wine but what we hadn’t realised when we sat down was that the Whangamata (pronounce Fanga-m’t-AR) Chapter of the Roy Orbison Fan Club was in town and we ate listening to all those great RO songs we know and love (and several we don’t).

A Forest*

In the afternoon we took a picnic and headed for the west coast (North Island) is quite narrow up here. At first the scenery was very pastoral and could have been Hobbiton in the Shire. Gradually the mountains began to rise and the tree cover became thicker (a bit like the woods in The Hobbit where Tom Bombadil lived but we can’t remember the name). We reached our destination of the Waipoua Kauri Forest where three-quarters of all the surviving mature kauri trees grow. The Kauri ranks alongside the sequoias as one of the largest trees in existence. Individual trees can live over 2000 years, reaching 50 metres in height and 20 metres in girth. The Maori used mature trees for their war canoes but when the Europeans arrived they felled the trees in large numbers to make sailing ships. We did three walks to see some of the larger trees including New Zealand’s mightiest, the 2000 year old Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) it rises 18 metres to the lowest branches which are covered in epiphytes. The other walks took us past numerous big trees to Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest) the second largest tree and finally onto the ‘Four Sisters’ relatively slender kauri all growing close together. We are sure the Ents in the Lord of the Rings film were based on these trees. The walks through the forest were interspersed with very thick undergrowth and magnificent tree ferns as well as a large variety of ground growing ferns.
Tasted a number of different wines before, during and after dinner. Tasting notes: they’re nishe, vewy nishe.

Dolphins*

Wednesday’s plan had been to visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and drive up to ninety mile beach but all this water and two Pisceans cannot be easily parted so we booked a boat trip around the Bay of Islands. The scattered islands and clear blue waters was the cradle of European settlement in New Zealand starting with Captain Cook who anchored here in 1769. We set sail (not really an appropriate term for the eco-fuelled catamaran we were on) and before long we encountered our first pod of bottle-nosed dolphins who come into the fish-rich warm waters of the bay to feed. They swam near to the boat and rose out of the water – no matter how many times we see them we absolutely adore the thrill – and no matter how many times we see them we try to photograph them and have a few black specks or clear water to show – this time a few are identifiable as dolphins. Later on the cruise we saw another larger pod who were ‘corralling’ a huge shoal of fish in order to get their food for the day – quite an amazing sight but once again no photos of any worth.


We did some more sailing around the bay and went to the far eastern side to see the Hole in the Rock, a natural tunnel through Piercy Island which our skipper Annie decided to try and sail through even though there was a swell of about 2m. After much hesitation and getting the position absolutely correct she took us safely through – very exciting for us but probably something she does several times a week. We then landed on Urupukapuka Island (where Zane Grey, author of bestselling cowboy books and avid angler set up a fishing resort) and walked up one of the hills to get a good view of the bay before strolling along the beach, getting back on the boat and returning to Paihia. Even though there was a scattering of cloud throughout the morning we both got sunburnt on our faces despite wearing SPF20 and having had a lot of sun exposure for past couple of months – it shows how depleted the ozone layer is down here. It’s off to the pharmacy for SPF50 tomorrow.

Are You Ready For The Country?*

We picked up our hire car in Auckland and headed north, over the harbour bridge and into the subtropical Northland which separates the Pacific Ocean from the Tasmin Sea. We drove through some stunningly scenic landscapes (will try and do a Flora and Fauna blog entry later) – some of it very reminiscent of Scotland. This was confirmed when we drove through a delightfully quirky village named Waipu which has an Aberdeen granite monument raised by some Scottish settlers in the mid 1800s when they formed a strict Calvinist community based on farming and forestry.
On to Whangarei (pronounced Fahn-ga-RAY) a laid-back down-to earth town with a slightly more upmarket/upbeat riverside area called the Town Basin, where several sleek yachts were moored, we had lunch and went for a shortish walk to Whangarei Falls where a broad cascade of waterfalls over 25metres of black rocks – very scenic with surprisingly few people around as evidently these are the most photographed falls in NZ!




More driving, more scenic countryside, more native conifers and more tree ferns to arrive at our wonderful B&B – “Tarltons Lodge” on the hillside overlooking Te Ti Bay and the islands. We have a small self contained studio which has a huge window overlooking the bay but we also have a deck where we are now sitting sipping our cool Riverstones 2008 Sauvignon Blanc which has zesty and fresh kiwi and passion fruit flavours, complimented by a delicious crisp finish. We shall soon be wandering down the very steep hill into the village for dinner, where surely another bottle awaits...
(Last night’s tasting notes: a 2008 Dividing Ridge Pinot Noir revealed mild tannins (a result of the very warm summer followed by a cool autumn which was used to make this limited edition wine) and a wonderfully intense nose of cherries, herbs and dark chocolate. Brilliantly balanced palate is savoury with rich berry fruit. There’s a bit of sweetness to the fruit. Good complexity and density.)

Some photographs that didn't load earlier

Christine at the "Navel of the World" Rapa Nui

Childrens playground Rapa Nui style

No self harm, please

At the barbie, Rapa Nui style

Auckland

We have spent the day walking up, over and down Auckland. We started off in Karangahape Road (colloquially K’Road) a laid back street in the southern part of town where there are numerous cafés – we had some really good muesli and coffee – oh to have good real coffee again! All those places in central/south America that grow coffee but export it all serve some of the most awful stuff imaginable – it’s usually Nescafé instant, Peruvian concentrate or weak American ‘Joe’; one of the guys we met on our trip in Peru ordered café con leche in one place and got a cup made up of half concentrate and half Carnation milk – yuk! We got so desperate at one point that we even went to a Starbucks! Shock, Horror, Gregg in a Star*ucks. Auckland has good coffee shops on almost every street corner. K’Road has plenty; it was formerly an uptown residential area for prosperous 19th century merchants but it is now a decidedly raunchier part of town with music shops selling some really serious electric guitars, drum kits and saxophones (come ON Gregg) and one huge store specialising in vinyl discs (Gregg, do come on) as well as clothes shops selling budget designer wear and a huge range of Asian stores and restaurants – at one end there is a corridor of massage parlours and strip joints interspersed with mainstream nightclubs but at the time of day we were there it was not at all intimidating (or in the slightest bit interesting).
We walked past Symonds Street Cemetery, one of the city’s earliest burial grounds with different areas for Jewish, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Anglican and Roman Catholic faiths – the last two areas were largely destroyed by the motorway the city put through the area in the 1960’s. We then went to large park area called The Domain which has some formal gardens – one of them is called the Wintergarden and has two barrel-roofed glasshouses – one temperate and one tropical – filled with neatly tended plants. Behind this area is a fernery a dell with over a hundred different types of fern (most of them native to NZ and Australia) – we really enjoyed that.

The highest point in The Domain is crowned by The Auckland Museum with a Greco-Roman style portico entrance (built 1929). The museum has three floors; the ground floor is predominantly devoted to Polynesian (mainly Maori) artefacts but strangely there is also a section with 19th and 20th century items (mainly from the UK) including ceramics by Bernard Leach, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and others of the ‘great’ studio potters era, furniture from Liberty and design ‘classics’ such as an electric kettle. The middle floor comprises the natural history galleries and the top floor is called ‘Scars on the Heart’ an emotional exploration of New Zealand’s involvement in war. So the place tries to be the Auckland equivalent of the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, The V&A, The Imperial War Museum, The Geffrye Museum etc., all in one place and does not succeed in any area. We were very disappointed. Despite having some magnificent Maori carvings including a complete meeting house and a war canoe designed to seat 100 warriors it is all so badly displayed e.g. items behind highly reflective glass which has joins running right in front of some of the best exhibits, very poor lighting, thousands of the same item (there are only so many shell necklaces one can marvel at), terrible acoustics made even worse by numerous audio-visual displays competing with each other coupled with kids who didn’t really want to be there resulting in a headache-inducing cacophony.

Glad to be back in the parkland but by now the sky had clouded over and rain threatened, undeterred we continued with our walk, past the Art Nouveau Civic Theatre (Jools Holland playing next month) almost right next to a postmodern multiplex cinema and the 19th century civic centre on to the inevitable shopping centre, all of it dominated by the skytower – a-mid 1990s ‘spike’ that rises 328metres above the city with obligatory observation decks and a revolving restaurant at the top (no, we didn’t go there) – all-in-all a real hodge-podge of urban planning (or perhaps lack of planning) but an excellent veggie lunch and more coffee and we felt OK about it – especially as everyone is so informal and friendly.