Tauranga to Whatuwhiwhi

On Sunday 20th April we set off from Taurunga to go onto the Coromandel Peninsula but first we stopped off at Waihi, a gold mining town with an open cast mine still in operation. We walked round what looked to be the crater of a volcano some 250mtrs deep.We could see the equipment used far below but did not realise how big they were until we came upon one of the giant dumpers. It weighed 85tonnes & was about 5mtrs high. We went into the info centre & were told that from every tonne of ore excavated 3 grammes of gold were found. They still mine a million NZ dollars worth per week though.
We continued on up the east side of the Coromandel, an area of great natural beauty, with areas of rolling downs & farmland mixed in with forested mountains. We stayed at Coromandel Town which, again, was a gold mining community in past days & whilst there went on the only narrow gauge railway in NZ up to the wonderfully named Eyefull Tower viewing point. We also went to the Waiau Waterworks which is an out & out fun place for everyone with strange contraptions all worked by water. It also has a playground with flying foxes, water cannons, flying bikes etc. I had a go on the Flying Fox & promptly fell off. Pat has the pictures but they will not be published here. Before we went to Waiau we spent a rather wet morning touring round the peninsula to the north of Coromandel where the roads get narrower & narrower, the terrain is more rugged & then the tarmac surface gives way to unmade gravel. Going north to Colville was OK but the return via Kennedy Bay was up into the clouds on unmade roads with plenty of mud. The van looked a mess but still in one piece.
Afterwards we started off down the west coast road towards Thames & then on to Auckland on the Pacific Coast Highway with the rain falling heavily at times. We hit Auckland at the start of the rush hour. Great! There is only one road connecting the country above Auckland with that below it and we were on it not knowing where we were going. The jams were nearly M25 level. One good thing - the rain cleaned the van.
Thankfully we made it to Tekapuna Beach where we booked a couple of nights at a site next to the sea. From here we could either get into the City directly by bus via the Harbour Bridge or get a bus to Devonport & then get a ferry across the harbour. With a day pass we found we could go in one way & come back the other. We did our normal circular bus tour of the city to get our bearings. There is an Antarctic Experience which shows the experiences of the first explorers (Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen etc.) which was very good.
There are also colonies of different types of penguins, kept in sub-zero temperatures as near to Antarctic conditions as possible, which can be seen from a ‘snow-cat‘.
The following day we visited the Auckland Museum in which a whole floor is devoted to the NZ military & the wars in which they have been involved. Very moving. Even more so as Friday is Anzac Day.
Another section features volcanoes & the fact that Auckland is surrounded by them. It is not a question of if but when one or more blows. Probably not in a lifetime or two but they are being monitored very closely anyway.
We also went up on Mt.Eden, one of the volcanoes which surround Auckland, from which we had a good view over the city including Eden Park, home of the All Blacks. We missed going to Sky Tower, the highest building in Auckland at 1000ft. from which it is possible to do the highest Bungy Jump in NZ or alternatively do the Sky Walk, a walk on a circular platform round the outside of the tower with only a safety harness for support. We can do those on our return.
Thursday night was crazy. Bars that were previously closing down at 9pm suddenly had queues to get in at 11.30. It was like MK on a Saturday night. It was, of course, the start of holiday week-end.
Friday 25th was Anzac day & thinking there would be little or no traffic we left Auckland to travel up the west coast. Fools that we are. It was like a bank holiday at home on the roads. Anyway we wanted to get as far as Matakohe where there is a museum dedicated to a species of tree, the Kauri, which until recently has been disappearing from the wild through burning or lumbering. They are now protected. Kauri timber recovered from dead trees that have been lying in swamps for up to 40 thousand years is still being used for making furniture the wood is that hard. The oldest living tree in NZ is believed to be around 2000 years.
Saturday we set off further up the west coast highway to see the Kauri trees in the Waipoura Forest. We saw the first & second largest trees in NZ & although we took pictures they do not do justice to them. They are awesome, to use a common Kiwi expression.
Further along the road we came to the beginning of 90 mile beach, actually only 52miles, which runs to the northern most point in NZ. Although the road runs the length of the peninsula the way to do it is to drive along the beach. However, we had been told when we first picked up the van that this was a no-no. The only way to do it is with a tour. The weather was closing in so we decided to give it a miss. It’s only a beach. Just as well as the heavens opened & it tipped down for most of the night.

Pics are Pat & toy dumper, 2 of Coromandel & Us in Kauri Forest

Picton to Tauranga

We stayed overnight in Picton in what must be the smallest site in NZ. It was in the middle of town & there was a pub nearby so all was not lost. The pubs all show the Super 14 Rugby matches on Friday & Saturday with 2 or 3 matches shown live on each day. The only reason they don’t show more is that some are on in South Africa in the early hours of Sunday NZ time.
Still we got down to the ferry terminal early Sunday for the 9.50 sailing only to be told that it would be delayed. The Picton to Wellington crossing, we are told, can be one of the roughest so we started to look concerned. After all the weather was sunny with hardly a cloud to be seen.
We needn’t have worried. The crossing was as smooth as it could have been & we arrived in Wellington in the early afternoon.
We booked into a site on the edge of town & then got a bus back into the centre where we went up on the cable car to get our bearings. We arranged a tour round the city for the following day which turned out to be quite informative. One of the things we learned was that the building of Wellington is based on San Francisco, both cities being situated by a bay, on a hill, on a fault-line. The reason that many Wellington & NZ buildings are built with timber not brick is because timber stands up better to earthquakes, brickwork tending to crack.
We were also told that the good weather was coming to an end & that rain was forecast. We left Wellington that afternoon & headed north. We didn’t realise just how soon the rain would arrive. It poured and we made a short journey up the west coast to Otaki Beach where we stopped for the night. The site was one of the few that had a restaurant & bar so we stayed there & watched the rain fall.
The next morning it was still showery so we set off further northwards. The further we went the heavier the rain fell so we stopped at Wanganui for lunch. While there the rain stopped so we booked ourselves on a paddle boat steamer up the River Whanganui. The steamer was built in London in 1899 & worked on the river for nearly 50 years before being withdrawn from service, needing a new boiler, & eventually sank in 1952 at her moorings. There she stayed until 1993 when she was salvaged by volunteers. In 1996 restoration work began in earnest & by 2000 the vessel ’Waimarie’ was fully restored.
After the trip we continued on our way until we reached Hawera where we stopped for the night. By this time there was one thing that dominated the landscape, Mount Egmont aka Taranaki. This extinct? volcano rises from nothing to over 2500mtrs and stands out like the mountain in the film ’Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. It is also, like most things are out here, a National Park & is reckoned to be NZ‘s most picturesque & most climbed mountain though not by us.
More our level was the water tower in Hawera at 150ft. The tower had hardly been completed in 1914 when an earthquake caused a 2’6” tilt. This was corrected & in 1932 neon lights were erected around the top as a memorial to the pioneers of the district. It was billed as NZ’s tallest lighthouse.
After Hawera we continued around the coast, with Mount Egmont always in view, to New Plymouth. We booked into a site on a cliff top & listened to the wind howl. We took a walk round the town’s Pukekura Park which contains an open bowl for concerts, a cricket ground & an organic brewery as well as being beautiful in it’s own right, covered as it is with temperate rain forest.
It was our wedding anniversary so we decided to have an Indian meal but, as usual, Pat got half-way through hers and had to give up.
We continued northwards the next day & arrived at the Waitomo Caves at which there is normally black water rafting but due to the heavy rain this had been stopped as had tours round some of the caves. The main cave was still open, however, & we went round. From here we had intended to go on up through Hamilton but as the town was expecting up to 150000 people for the V8 car races at the week-end we changed our route and went on to Cambridge for the night to & then to Tauranga. Before arriving we passed through the town of Matamata which has now become known as Hobbiton due to the fact that the opening sequences of the first & the closing scenes of the last Lord of the Rings trilogy were shot here. Time for another tour, at the end of which, a demo of sheep-shearing & Pat got to bottle feed one of the lambs.
After arriving in Tauranga, an area of approx. 100000 people, on Friday evening we phoned our ex-publican from Rose & Crown, Mr Alan Bonham, & arranged to meet the following day.
Saturday lunch-time Alan picked us up & took us back to his & Lil’s house for lunch & we spent the afternoon talking about the old times & how the village has changed in the 20 years, 17 spent in NZ, since they left the pub.

We said we would call on them again when we returned south.

Pics are Mt.Egmont, Us on our anniversary, Pat in Hobbiton & Alan, Lil & Dave Bonham

Franz Josef to Picton

Sunday 6th April we woke up to another beautiful sunny day.We are staying on a site underneath the glacier. What shall we do?? Silly question! We go to book a helicopter flight to both the Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers for later that day. (Another of Pat’s must do’s). She is right, of course, it was my first flight in a helicopter & it was brilliant. After flying up to Franz Josef & getting in close up to the ice we went on to the Fox Glacier & landed on it. The glacier is some 40mtrs. deep & is moving 9mtrs per month but unlike other glaciers this one is growing. The views were fantastic, needless to say.
After landing we set off for Greymouth further up the west coast where we stopped for the night. We had already been here before when we came from Christchurch on the Trans Alpine Express so we didn’t go into the town centre. Instead we visited a place called Shantytown, an open air museum, which recalls the Westlands coal & gold mining past. Coal is still very important & a lot of what is mined is exported. Later that day we moved on further up the coast to Westport stopping on the way at Punakaiki to view the Pancake Rocks & blow holes which are best seen at high tide when the sea spouts into the air through the holes. We arrived at low tide. The rocks themselves are so-called because of the way they appear layered like thin pancakes.
On Tuesday we went first of all to Cape Foulwind (no jokes please) Lighthouse for a short cliff walk.
The cape was named by Capt. Cook because he almost ran aground here and the name has stuck. Then on to Tauranga Bay where there is a permanent colony of NZ fur seals which, at this time, are rearing the pups that were born earlier in the year. Although we were some distance away at the cliff top we could clearly see the pups which had all been tagged to trace their movements. There are colonies of these seals in South Australia although they are native to NZ.
We then set off for Nelson stopping on the way at the Buller Gorge, near Muchison so that Pat could have another go at crossing a swing bridge this one being the highest in NZ. It may be the highest but it didn’t swing as much as the one at the Blue Pools. On we went to Nelson where we stopped for two nights to take it easy although we did do a sightseeing trip on an old London Transport double-decker bus.
Thursday we left Nelson to go into the Abel Tasman Park & Golden Bay. What Pat didn’t tell me, she says she didn’t know, is that this involves going over Takaka Hill aka Marble Mountain which means going from sea level to nearly 800mtrs. up & up for what seemed like forever and with my love of driving on high roads I wasn’t feeling too happy. Still, the views from the lookout at the top were something else. She then tells me that this is the only road in &, therefore, the only road out. Great!
We eventually stopped at Pohara Beach Holiday Park which, as the name suggests, is by the sea from where we went on to Farewell Spit the furthest northern settlement on South Island. This part of Golden Bay is on a migratory path for birds from Alaska, Russia, China, SE Asia, Indonesia & Australia & seems to be home to thousands & thousands of Black Swans.
We also visited the Waikoropupu Springs (Pupu for short) the largest spring in Australasia & the fifth in the world. It is reckoned to have the clearest water of any. The equivalent of 40 bath tubs of water come up through the ground every second.
Saturday we drove back over that hill to Nelson & then on to Picton where we are booked on the ferry to the North Island on Sunday.
Pics are of Fox Glacier, Pancake Rocks & View from Takaka Hill

Te Anau to Franz Josef Glacier

We arrived in Te Anau later on 28.3 by which time the sun was shining again. Built on the second largest lake in NZ Te Anau centres mainly on the tourist industry with hotels, camp sites & souvenir shops all close to the shoreline. The main purpose of our being here was to book the trip to Milford Sound which we did for the next day.
The coach ride to Milford goes north from the town the whole length of Lake Te Anau through river valleys & up into the Fiordland National Park. The scenery is, as ever, stunning and then we arrive at the Homer Tunnel which leads into the Sound itself. The driver asked us to close our eyes as we left the tunnel.
Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw. It seemed as we though we had entered into a granite arena thousands of feet in the air surrounded by walls of sheer faced mountains. Then we looked down & saw the road zig-zagging beneath us disappearing into rain forest. What a view!
Then to the boat trip itself which saw us sailing down the fiord with waterfalls, some as high as a 50 storey tower block, cascading down the sides almost on top of us. (The fiord is that deep that the boat can sail right to the edge). We had hoped to see dolphins but saw only a few fur seals lounging on some rocks.
The morning saw us sailing further along the fiord out into the Tasman Sea in the hope of finding the dolphins but it was not to be. Still we did get some good views of the Sound as the sun came up.
We got back to Te Anau at Sunday lunchtime & were off again to see the Glow-Worm caves but they had to be seen in absolute silence & no photos allowed.
Monday 31st of March! My birthday! So what did we do? We visited a power station. Not just any power station. This was the Lake Manipouri hydro-electric station situated 2km down a spiral road under a mountain. When it was built they also had to build a road out to the sea to bring in all supplies. Because there is no space for vehicles to turn round under the mountain all the heavy equipment & machinery was bought in on trailers & reversed down a 1 in 10 hill to be unloaded. Apparently 6 hours was a good time for this.
Tuesday saw us moving on to Kingston where we had a ride on the Kingston Flyer, an old 20’s steam train, and then Queenstown, home of the bungee jump and any other lunatic sport you can think of. So after we booked for one (Ha Ha only joking). The most energetic thing we did was go up on the gondola overlooking the town to watch the jumpers & also the paragliders on yet another glorious day. We also saw kiwis for the first time in the bird park. This only because the park had reversed the bird’s time cycle keeping their enclosure dark in the daytime so that they would be awake.
In the evening we sailed across Lake Wakatipu on the vessel TSS Earnslaw, which was built at about the same time as the Titanic, had dinner at a sheep ranch & then watched an exhibition of sheep dog handling & sheep shearing given by a shepherd with a similar line in patter to Jethro.
Thursday saw us on our way again this time stopping at Arrowtown & Cromwell, two former gold mining communities, where you can still find gold if you are lucky before going on to Wanaka. We booked a full day Lord of the Rings tour for the following day.
Friday we did the tour starting at 9am & getting back at 6pm exhausted. In between we visited approx 25 locations where filming had taken place including retracing our steps to Arrowtown & Queenstown.
The day started fine but ended with us high over Queenstown & the wind blowing & the rain falling. A fun day nonetheless with the party of 6 playing with replicas from the films & dressing up in cloaks.
We spent Saturday on the road travelling first through the lush green forested Haast Pass. On the way we stopped at the Blue Pools, a Kiwi must see. The only way to reach them is by crossing a swing bridge which is just a few planks tied with ropes & it really does swing. Then south along the coast road to Jackson’s Bay, the most southerly inhabited point on the west coast. We had been told that we might see dolphins & penguins here but again we were disappointed. After returning to Haast we went north to Franz Josef Glacier to stop for the night.

Pics. of Milford Sound from Tasman Sea, Paragliding over Queenstown, Genuine NZ Roadsine & me at Blue Pools