New Zealand – 12th Nov 2008 - Day 20

After a quick, home made breakfast, John popped down to reception to sign out booking in form. Don, the owner had us down of the three nights, as we had asked if it was OK to consider staying a third night if we wanted too. He announced that as far as he was concerned, we were saying three nights and if we did not, he would charge us for three anyway. John explained that the third night was an option, but he said that he would still charge us for the third night, which we did not want. John asked him to try and resell the third night if possible. He said it was an outside chance.

We were picked up at 8:50am by our Kayaking tour company, The Sea Kayaking Company (see: http://www.seakayaknz.co.nz/ ). After the standard safety check, we got into our two man Kayak and headed off. The sea was quite calm, so we crossed the bay to the first headland. Wow. What a row! It lasted about one hour of fast paced rowing. We crossed a few other bays and by the time we had reached our resting spot the clouds had faded away and the sun was peeping out.

We stopped at a small bay and dragged our kayaks onto the shore line. Our tour leader, Jane, brewed up some tea and coffee and offered us some great tasting cake.

After half an hour, we were back in the sea and heading towards our lunch stop. The sun was now out in full force, we rowed for another hour and a half, stopping to view some seals and bird life on the way.

We reached our lunch stop. A wonderful, empty, golden sanded bay, with clear waters and no wind.

We ate our lunch in the blazing sun with our fellow adventurers, thee German lads and a couple from Canada. After a while, John decided that this might be his only chance to swim in the sea, so in he went. It was very cold indeed, but he managed to swim for five minutes!

Drying off was another matter altogether. The walk to the top of the island helped. After a twenty minute walk we reached the top of our tiny island. The views from the top were amazing. This is the most beautiful part of NZ to date. Numerous, picture post card sandy bays, mountainous back drops and azure green sea. Wonderful!

We re packed the kayaks, dressed up in all our kit, took a few photo’s, and rowed to our final destination. However, as we approached the final bay, we all joined up in a raft formation and tied a sail to two ors and sailed our way into the bay. Fiona and one of the German lads held the sails bottom edge, whilst John and the Canadian girl held the sail high on their ors.

Once at the final bay, we awaited our water taxi back to our B&B resort. We had been actively Kayaking for over five hours. At times the sea was quite choppy, it was great fun. The Sea Taxi managed to load 9 kayaks and 8 people into the water taxi. Mad! Once back at our bay, the water taxi (See: http://www.aquataxi.co.nz/) , pulled the boat with all of us in it, up onto the quay with a tractor. The tractor then drove us all in the boat, back to the water taxi car park. It was certainly strange driving along the road, in a boat!

We arrived back at our B&B, only to find that Don had now sold our third night to someone else. Bad News! We had now decided to do a 6 hour hike, so needed the room!

We called into another B&B in the same town (next door). Luckily, they had a room free, so we booked it there and then.

We popped down to the local store, checked out some stuff on the internet, bought some food and returned to our Chalet. We took some stuff to the launderette and then sat on our veranda with a glass of wine and our dinner, crisps and dips!

We watched some TV and went to bed happy and tired. What a great day. Wonderful scenery, great weather and good company.

New Zealand – 11th Nov 2008 - Day 19

After a good nights sleep, we had a quick breakfast and headed for Kaikoura for our Dolphin Encounter. The weather was looking good with a few clouds and lots and lots of blue sky and sunshine. At last!!

We drove through some stunning scenery, snow capped mountains with green rolling hills and beautiful bays with sparkling blue water.

As neared Kaikoura, we began to see seals leaping about in the clear waters. We stopped the car for a good look. Half an hour later we were in town visiting an internet café so we could book hotels for Sydney and check out the Helicopter Glacier trips at Franz Josef.

We arrived at Dolphin Encounter (see: http://www.dolphin.co.nz/) for 12.30, checked in and walked down to the bay opposite to take some photo’s of the surrounding mountains and bay.

They called us into the wet suit area, handed out two piece 10mm suits, headwear, snorkels, masks and flippers. After squeezing into them, we sat in a small auditorium where they showed us a video about the sea life in the area and some tips on how to behave when swimming with wild dolphins. They kept ramming home the message that the dolphins are wild and not fed, so there was always a chance you would not see any. Our expectations were definitely being lowered!!

They loaded us on to the coach and we realised there were only eight swimmers, including us, and approx. twenty people who just wanted to watch dolphins from the boat.

We travelled over calm water, in the blazing sun, for about 25 minutes before we were called to the back of the boat so we could put our head gear, snorkels, masks and flippers on. They then moved us to a platform at the back of the boat where we waited for the signal to slid into the water. Our feet dangled in the water and the water was freezing cold.

Suddenly the signal to get in went off and we both got in quick. Immediately we were surrounded by dolphins. According to the skipper we were swimming with a pod of 150. There were so many and they were swimming within inches of us, looking into our eyes, darting under our stomachs and legs and leaping into the air. This went on for twenty minutes. Fiona and l continues to make squeaking noises as the crew told us that this would encourage the dolphins to stick around. We both stuck our heads out of the water for a few moments just as five dolphins leapt into the air together just in front of us. At times there were six or more swimming with us, mimicking our movements. They are quite large but were always smiling at you. Not once did you feel threatened being in the water with so many huge mammals. They were just magical.

After twenty minutes, they called us back onto the back of the boat and maneuvered the boat towards a second pod. Within a few minutes we were back in the water again, swimming with the pod. After another fifteen minutes we came back on board to change out of our gear, dry off and get changed. They gave us hot chocolate to warm up, however, the gear was fantastic and we did not feel the cold too much.

On the way back to base, we came across another pod of dolphins with young as well as a colony of seals. At one time, we hit a spooky bank of sea fog but for most of the trip the weather was perfect. What an amazing experience, made all the better because they do not encourage the dolphins in any way. They simply wanted to swim with us out of curiosity. Once back at the centre, Fiona purchased a T-Shirt and we were back in the car for our five hour journey to Motueka near Abel Tasman.

The journey was fine with some more stunning scenery, however we had to go through the mountains to get to Motueka and as we got higher, the clouds came in and the rain began to fall, again. We are still amazed at how local the weather can be in NZ, sunny in one place and raining just a few hours down the road.

After four hours we hit Motueka, but couldn’t find the Motel. After logging back onto the Laptop, and looking up the details, we realised that our Motel was in fact in another location. A town called Marahau, 19 kilometers away! We stopped and asked a wee girl how to get their and her directions were spot on. We arrived at our B&B for about 8pm, after an almost 5 hour journey. They had left the keys in an envelope, taped onto the reception door.

We settled into Marahau Lodge (See http://www.abeltasmanmarahaulodge.co.nz/) , munched a salmon salad and watched Mission Impossible III on the TV. Luckily, the Motel manager had contacted the company with whom we have booked a days Kayaking around Abel Tasman, tomorrow. They will be picking us up from here at 8:560am, which means we do not have to travel 19 kilometers back to town.

New Zealand – 10th Nov 2008 - Day 18

At 3.30am, John’s head was brimming with things we wanted to say to BA after having been put through the mill the previous evening by their alliance partner Qantas.

At 4.00am John got out of bed, wide awake and began writing an email to BA. At 4.45, he went back to bed, only to get up again at 5.15am to add some finishing touches, by which time it was 6.30am and Fiona had risen.

If you think the met office weather forecasts are poor, you ain’t seen anything yet. In NZ, it seems almost impossible to get a forecast anywhere near reality. Today was supposed to be good, but pulling back the curtains revealed a day of light rain, steel grey skies and wind.

After a spot of breakfast, we filled the car and headed down to the port to catch our ferry to Wellington on the South Island.

Once on the ferry, we found a comfy window seat and settled in with a cup of tea and coffee. After five minutes, we were told that the area we were sitting in had been reserved for some children, so we had to move to the other side of the boat. By the time we found the lounge, it was almost full. We found a couple of seats and settled back in.

John slept for most of the three hour journey, having not had a full nights sleep. We arrived at Wellington just after 11.30am. The weather was awful. Cold, windy and raining.

We found the local supermarket, purchased goods for a couple of days and visited the visitor info centre. Yet again, they did no have any maps for the famous local trek, The Queen Charlotte trek. They always seem to want to sell you an official tour which in this case was $62 each. Due to the weather, we decided not to do it, as the whole area was in thick cloud.

Instead, we headed out of town to another info centre and a found a hiking area on one of their maps. We found the hiking area and set off. The walk was so akin to the Pentland Hills above Edinburgh, it was spooky. There were Scottish thistles, sheep, cows and wind. Just like Scotland.

At one point, we thought the wind might blow us off the side of the hill. The weather here was better than in Wellington, with just a few drops of rain in the wind and a few hints of sun. We found our way back to the start, jumped back in the car and drove to one of Fiona’s favourite NZ Vineyards, Villa Maria.

The vine tasting was free of charge and they were all delicious. We ended up purchasing just one bottle, but could have bought the lot. It turns out that the export over 30% of their total yearly production to the UK.

We drove back into town ,listening to our iPod through a clever devise that lets you play your MP3 device through the music cassette system. Decent music at last.

We found our Motel which is wonderful. Brand new huge rooms, with a great kitchen, huge beds, massive flat screen TV, DVD player and a massive DVD library. Perfect,as the weather in Wellington was still not great.

We logged onto the internet, checked some local activities out and watched some DVD’s over a glass of wine.

New Zealand – 9th Nov 2008 - Day 17

It’s not often you get woken up at 5 in the morning by a helicopter out side your room, however, this is exactly what happened this morning. Well, sort of. This lovely B&B is surrounded by vines. should the air temperature fall below 5 degrees, these vines need to be kept warm, otherwise they will get damaged. In order to keep them warm, they fire up these huge propellers on tall steel towers which blows warm air over the fields. When John opened the lounge windows to see why the helicopter wasn’t taking off, he realised that the noise was coming from one of these propeller heaters, directly opposite our room.

Nothing would block out the sound. Just when we were about to get up and make tea, they stopped! Wonderful. We jumped back into ebd and slept until 8am.

At breakfast we met a whole host of people. Three from Poland, then the four English, followed by two Germans.

We finished breakfast, paid and started our drive to a place called the Putangirua Pinnacles at Cape Palliser, about an hour from the B&B. We walked up the river bed and into the forest. It was a steep uphill climb, but well worth it when we arrived at the viewing area for the pinnacles. They comprise hundreds of rock spires, eroded by the weather. Some areas look like an open cathedral. The walk was supposed to take 4 hours, we killed it in 2.

Then we drove to Wellington via a place called Featherston. Fantastic drive, with wide green valleys, filled to the brim with cattle and sheep, with mountains in the distance. We drove up and over the mountain range into Wellington and found our B&B in a trice.

The place is well equipped but has a damp smell to it. Still, we can do our washing, cook in, connect to the web and watch Sky TV. The weather today was great, plenty of sun, quite warm and DRY!!!

After settling into the house, we headed down to town. Wellington is like many other big cities but it sits on a very large bay, which looked lovely in the sun. Fiona wanted to buy a summer dress for our stay at Hamilton Island, but after trawling 5 shops, we gave up.

We took the tram up to the town viewing point and then took the 30 minute walk back to the other side of town, giving us the opportunity to walk back through the centre to the car.

We popped back home, met our host, and watched the end of the All Blacks V Scotland Rugby. Not a good result for Scotland!! Kiwi’s were very happy, both due to the rugby and due to the Nationalist Party winning yesterdays general election. They have had the same party in power for ten years so seem to just want a change.

Fiona made a wonderful Spaghetti Bolognaise. With twenty minutes to go before dinner, John phoned Qantas Airlines to chase our Christchurch to Sydney flight change on the 7th of December. To our horror, the Qantas lady told us that they had now decided they could not change the flight, having already toldy us a week ago that they had. John explained in the strongest terms that this was not an acceptable situation. After being on the phone for over an hour and talking to various supervisors, John lost it big time. Eventually, they told us that, if we were willing to change our BA flight back to the UK to a Qantas flight, same class etc, they could allow the Christchurch – Sydney flights to happen. We agreed, as they also pre assigned us window seats on both flights, put us on the top club deck and said we would be able to claim all our BA miles. So now we are flying back to the UK with Qantus. Don’t you just hate BA!!

Dinner was had whilst talking to Qantus, so it was not the relaxed night we had hoped for. We also booked up our Kayaking and Dolphin safari for next week.

Fiona phoned pat to wish her a happy birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT!

New Zealand – 8th Nov 2008 - Day 16

Sun welcomed the day today. We were up at 6.30am as we wanted to get to our next destination and enjoy the sun they had forecast for today. We were out of the house by 7am and drove constantly until we hit the town of Martinborough.

We parked up, found the tourist info office, rented a couple of bikes, had a coffee and hit the wine route. It was not until we had been cycling on flat roads for almost an hour that we realised the gears on both bikes were not working properly. Fiona’s gears were in a poorer state than John’s. So, John being the wonderful husband he is, swapped bikes.

After half an hour we passed a farm where they were grooming some great horses. Within a few minutes, a wee Jack Russell dog had joined us on our tour. We tried to encourage him to go back back he was determined to join in the fun. An hour later he was still with us, running his legs off as we flew down hill. After an hour and a half we were getting worried as he seemed to be completely lost. John flagged a car down and asked the two ladies inside what to do. They eventually agreed to take the dog with them to the local vet, in order to find out where he had come from. Great little dog, with plenty of energy and a cheeky personality.

John became a little tired of the hills as his gears were not able to get him up the hills, so he had to walk the bike up.

After a couple of hours we came across some vineyards, but they were not open. We carried on until we found a vineyard which was open. The Te Kairanga vineyard (see: www. http://www.tekairanga.co.nz/ ), offered a $5 tasting menu which we both opted for. Great wines. We ended up purchasing one bottle and a couple of glasses. The weather was still playing up, with cold grey skies and a cold wind.

We arrived at The Old Manse (see http://www.oldmanse.co.nz/), our next B&B, for about 4.30pm. What a great place, huge lounge, big fire and sky TV. So, we watched the NZ version of Strictly Come Dancing, whilst warming up around the fire. Fiona inserted herself right next to the fire and decided not to move.

After NZ Strictly had finished, we showered changed and arrived back in the lounge for 6pm Happy Hour. We met the other four guests over drinks and finger food, all of them from the UK.

We went to a restaurant called est. Fiona had checked it out earlier and everything looked fine. We arrived at just after 7pm and the restaurant was already full. We waited 45 minutes for our main course to arrive. Fiona’s lamb was just warm and unimaginative. John’s duck casule was awful. Dry and with a piece of duck the size of a thimble. John complained to the waitress who apologized. The chef took half the value off of John’s meal. We were so annoyed we just paid the bill and left. NZ has not impressed us at all with food. Our local pub in Chaddleworth serves food far better than most establishments we have visited in NZ. They have the great looking places but the main reason for eating out, the food, almost always disappoints. Maybe the South Island will be better.

We came back to the B&B, watched a movie and went to bed.

New Zealand – 7th Nov 2008 - Day 15

After a good nights sleep (this B&B is the best so far), we opened to curtains to sunny skies. We turned on the TV and they were reporting the heaviest snowfall on the hills above Christchurch for decades.

After breakfast, we headed for the Panekiri Mountain Range where a place called Waikaremoana promised some excellent walking. As always, the journey took longer than we anticipated due to us hitting a queue in one of the mountain passes where they were laying new tarmac. Towards the end of the drive, we hit the infamous NZ gravel tracks. After three hours we found the visitor centre at noon.

A lady at the centre showed us a 6 hour hike and gave us directions to the start which we double checked. She did not seem to know as much as her colleague, who was on the phone. She assured us her directions were sound, telling us we would reach the lake in just over an hour.

We set off through dense forest, up quite steep tracks. The wind was, as ever, chilly and the track wet under foot. After a while the ever present showers kicked off, falling as sleet at times. Howere they did not last long and the dense forest afforded us some protection.

After an hour and a half of rapid walking we decided we had been sent the wrong way. After a couple of hours we met a group of Kiwi hikers coming down the track. They informed us, with some concern, that we were going up to the lake on the hard track and therefore we would probably not make it back to the information hut until after 6pm.

We carried on up the steep track, stopping for water and fruit on the way. We eventually hit lake Waikareiti at 4.30. It had been a hard hike and, due to the thick forest, there had not been muck to see. The North Island has a great deal of forest walking which gets a bit boring after a while as they have no indigenous animals to speak of. The famous Kiwi flightless bird comes out at night. That’s about it!!

The lake was very pretty, with crystal clear waters. We came across a hut where walkers can rest. There were boats you could row on the lake, but they were all chained up. We began the descent back to the info hut, reaching it for 5.30pm, knocking a full hour and a half off the official time. At the base we met a local guy who had his hunting rifle over his shoulder. He was off to find himself a deer for dinner.

We drove back to B&B in record time, with Fiona doing a very good impression of a rally driver. Once back, we showered, had a very nice ham and chicken salad, watched TV and went to bed, happy and tired.

New Zealand – 6th Nov 2008 - Day 14

fDuring the night, we were woken by very loud cows, mooing at levels we had never experienced before. It sounded like they were in our room! Two of them started at 4am and continued calling to each other until day light. Fiona managed to sleep through most of it, but John had a harder time.

The sun was peeping out of the clouds at breakfast, however, Barbara warned us that snow had been forecast over the mountains where we had planned to go hiking. It turned out that Barbara had separated a mother and calf the previous day and it was these two who were responsible for the endless mooing. She thought it was funny!!!

The Tongariro crossing is a famous 6 hour hike, offering breathtaking views and today was the only day we could hit it. We went to the visitor centre and it became obvious that the weather was too cold. Winter had returned, it was -6 at the top and snowing hard. Sods law! She showed us some other walks near by, that would be OK, so we opted to do them. We went to a sports shop where John purchased a par of extra warm outdoor trousers. They look almost wooly, are not that fetching but do the job. Fiona also purchased another pair of walking shorts.

Whilst at the visitor centre, we used the phone to cancel our planned B&B and book another, as now, we will be driving to a Town called Napier, due to the weather. There is not point staying in this area as the weather is not supposed to improve until Saturday

As we drove to the start of our walk the weather closed in big time. The heavens open and snow began to fly in all directions in the string wind. When we reached the car park, everything was covered in an inch of wet snow and heavy sleet was falling.

We waited for the weather to clear, dressed in our warmest walking kit and headed out. Within 5 minutes the snow had retuned, forcing us to run for cover, into someone’s porch. After 20 minutes, we set out again, only to be hit by more snow, rain, sleet and cold winds. We gave up, walked back to the car feeling very fed up and decided that all we could do was to begin the drive to Napier.

We stopped off at a sports shop in Taupo to purchase some waterproof trousers as both of us had soaking wet legs within five minutes of walking today. We plan to do more hiking, what ever the weather, so these will most probably come in very handy.

We also visited Woolworths, which in NZ, is more of a supermarket chain. We bought enough for two breakfasts and two dinners as the next B&B has a self contained flat with a full kitchen and you can opt not to have breakfast, which makes it cheaper.

The drive to Napier, took another couple of hours and offered some spectacular scenery. Very alp like, straight out of the Sound of Music or Lord Of The Rings, most of which was filmed in many areas of NZ. The weather also perked up and the sun began to shine. We passed areas of mini mountains, covered in deep green grass, some of which reminded us of Austria.

Our next B&B is called The Grange (see: http://www.thefarmstay.com/) We have the self contained lodge, so we can do as we please, which will be nice. It’s great to meet people on your travels, often it’s what makes a visit memorable, but you can grow tired of meeting new faces every day, it’s good to occasionally be antisocial, especially after two days of our last hosts Barbara and Ray. Lovely, warm people, but my lord could they talk and talk and talk and talk…………………….

We arrived at The Grange at 5pm, but could not find anyone to show us our lodge. We eventually found the son of the lady who owns the place. He was still cleaning our pad, so we went down to town for a wander. This town is supposed to be full of Art Deco buildings. We found a few but were not that impressed with Napier. We are sure it would look and feel better in some summer heat.

We headed back to The Grange for 6pm. This place is so much nicer than the previous B&B. It is clean, warm, very large and has great views over the vine yards and down to the bay.

Tonight the showers have just about died out and they are promising a slow improvement tomorrow and into the weekend. Today has been the worst weather so far. The southerly half of the South Island is having heavy, heavy snow and some of the coldest November temperatures on record.

New Zealand – 5th Nov 2008 - Day 13

Rain, rain, rain!! Did it rain last night and it was still pouring this morning. The wind was also up and it was chilly, again!!

After breakfast with Ray and Barbara, we drove to Waimandu, near Mount Tarawera where they have a great deal of volcanic activity and Lake Rotomahana, created after a huge eruption in 1860.

We began our walk down to the lake, which is supposed to take two hours. The clouds kept rolling in and the rain was heavy at times. We reached the lake after an hour and a half.

Suddenly the sun came out and we were able to sun bathe for 40 minutes on the jetty. With blue skies above us and the sun shining, it was warm. What a delight! The boat left for a 40 minute tour around the volcanic lake. However, once underway, the clouds and wind came back and we had heavy, heavy showers. Luckily, the sun peeped out again when we arrived at the geysers. One of them shot up unto the sky on time, the other just whimpered. Still, they are vey impressive and the smell is quite something.

Boat trip over, we began the walk back up to the visitor centre. Most people take the bus back to the top, but we were determined to walk the steep trail. One section of the trail consisted of high wooden steps. The steps went on for over then minutes but we were rewarded by the most magnificent views of one of the volcanic lakes. In the sun, the steam from the lake was swirling round, making the most amazing shapes. It looked so prehistoric. We sat on one of the viewing benches for 15 minutes, taking in the weird views.

We made our way to the top, purchased John a new NZ hat and drove back to our B&B. Ray was there to welcome us back and to offer us a glass of wine. We declined, came back to our room and planed the next 3 days.

John popped over to their house and used their broadband to up lift these entries to the blog and to use their phone to book our next B&B’s. By using a local phone card we can do all this phoning for just 2 pence a minute.

CNN just reported that Obama has won the presidential election. FABBY!!!! Lets hope he can undo all the bad that Bush has managed to create over the past 8 years. Some task!

New Zealand – 4th Nov 2008 - Day 12

Rain greeted us this morning. All the Americans had left the previous day. Leaving just the two of us. We ate breakfast with Robin, our host discussing our planned NZ itinerary. Robin has travelled extensively over NZ, so her comments were well worth it.

We had begun to suspect that 8 weeks in NZ, would be too long, especially as the good weather does not really arrive until January. Robin’s comments and suggestions confirmed our thoughts. After much replanning we decided to change our flight from Christchurch to Sydney so we could go to Hamilton Island. This island has good snorkeling and warmer weather as well as a host of other activities.

We phoned Qantas Airlines and much to our surprise, they agreed to bring our flight forward at no extra charge. We phoned Hamilton Island and they confirmed they could accommodate us for six nights.

However, when we phoned Qantas back to book the Sydney – Hamilton flights, the price had doubled. We searched the web and found a far cheaper alternative. So, after an hour of phoning we were booked in and all flights were changed. Now we return to Sydney on the 7th of December, fly to Hamilton Island for six nights, return to Sydney on the 14th of December, allowing us 6 nights in and around Sydney before flying back to the UK on the 20th of December.

Robin allowed us to use her phone card, which resulted in all the calls to Australia and the airlines costing next to nothing. We plan to get one of these phone cards as they allow us to phone both the UK and NZ at approx 2 pence a minute.

We said our goodbyes, jumped in the car and headed for our next destination, Taupo, via Rotorua. We are staying at Brackenhurst B&B 16km North of Taupo.

The weather was not great with rain and cloud. As in many other places we have visited this year, the early summer weather in NZ is very cold and cloudy!!! Many parts of the North Island look like England, so it’s really like driving through England on a cold, rainy day, a bit disappointing to say the least.

We visited a volvanic visitor park on the way, as we plan to walk there tomorrow, weather permitting. After a cup of tea/coffee, we drove to our next B&B, where we met our hosts, Ray and Barbara. Very hospitable people indeed. Within a few minutes of arriving, we had a glass of Wine and Beer in our hands and were chatting away.

We settled into our room and were about to make our evening meals when half the lights went out. Ray and Barbara’s freezer’s had also gone off. An electrician was called and within half an hour everything was back on. We watched a Harry Potter movie and went to bed, listening to the heavy rain hitting the tin roof. We don’t like tin roof’s.

New Zealand – 3rd Nov 2008 - Day 11

Breakfast was another jolly affair today with our American guests. Just the family of four were left today. They seemed disappointed with their evening meal the night before, so just as well we went to the Pepper Tree.

After breakfast, we said goodbye to team USA and drove to a local farm to try a spot of horse riding, NZ style. When we arrived we explained that we were intermediate riders. We mounted our horses and were off.

We had warned Fiona that here horse, Amber, was fast. He was not joking. After ten minutes, Amber decided it was time to fly. This was a turbo horse who was only stopped by the next fence and gate.

Johns horse was an altogether different story. Ziggy, behaved himself impeccably, shifting into gear when asked, but knowing when to stop.

Our leader, Jake, was a mine of information and gave us a detailed history lesson for the entire hour and a half.

After the riding, we headed back to our B&B via Smokey Joes, the local fish smoking establishment. They had a wonderful array of smoked sea life. We purchased, Salmon, muscles, tuna and Rock Fish. We intend to have salad for the next few evenings, so the fish will come in handy. Robin, our landlady, has offered us same fresh salad from her garden for our evening meal.

After a bite to eat, we dorve down to the local bay and met, Tony. He owns Tri Sail Charters, chartering a wonderful 11.2 mtr, multi hull yacht. We had chartered the boat for the afternoon.







What an amazing chap. He built the yacht himself, from scratch. IT took him four years to complete. After a quick safety check, we set sail. He was very happy to let us do much of the sailing as there were just three of us anyway.







He has done so much in his life including farming for many years. He now earns his keep chartering his yacht and doing various other seasonal jobs. For more info about his yacht, see: www.trisailcharters.co.nz/intro.html .







When we started our sail, the weather was partly sunny and quite warm. The wind was up and down like a yoyo, but this craft was happy to eek every ounce of power from the available wind. We were soon pushing 7.5 knots. Compared to single hull craft, these boats are so, so stable at speed. The cabins are huge and the even the toilets are superior to your typical yacht, with no smells and an electric flush!







As the afternoon continued the clouds rolled in and a keen but cold south easterly wind set in. We pushed 9.2 knots, visiting a very impressive muscle farm in one of the bays. They seed ropes with muscles then allow them to grow for a year on long ropes suspended by hundreds of buoys in the bay. They harvest an average of 14 tonnes of muscles every day. Some industry!







We visited dome great bays and learned a lot about sailing multi hull craft. Not so different but in some respects easier, especially has this beast had motorized main sails.

We returned to the bay for 5.30pm, cold but happy.





After showering and blogging, we had our smoked fish and salad and then settled down round the fire (yes it's cold tonight) and watched a filom called Whale Ride. Robins brother is very big in TV and Film and he directed this one which has won a heap of awards. See http://www.whaleriderthemovie.com/ for more info. Great film.

New Zealand – 2nd Nov 2008 - Day 10

In world war two, the Japanese were infamous for devising nasty forms of torture with which to inflict pain upon the enemy. Water torture consisted of dripping water onto the forehead for long periods of time. It sent you mad.

Last night Fiona and I experienced first hand a form of this torture whilst in bed. At three in the morning, Fiona had one of her waking turns, waking both herself and John up. After settling down, we realised it had been raining. It was then we heard the loud bang of water drops hitting our tin roof. The bang became louder and louder. After ten minutes we realised we were powerless to stop it. After half an hour we were distressed, after an hour, madness had set in. John tried jamming half the duvet and a pillow on his ear to stop the relentless noise. After an hour and a half, the rain stopped and we eventually drifted off to sleep.

We woke up feeling a bit drained. Still, the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to show itself. We joined our American guests for breakfast. Organic locally grown oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, home made breads and jams. Very nice. The Americans were all fired up about their impending election, so politics was discussed at great length. We also discussed the Royal Family, one of John’s favorite topics.

After breakfast, we jumped in the car and drove to our hiking spot. The roads were half tarmac, half gravel and very twisty. It was great fun driving rally style for one and a half hours.



We intended to walk from Fletcher Bay to Stoney Bay, a 7 hour hike. The sun was shining and the views on the trek were stunning. The waters around the coast are very clear and they sparkled in the sun.



We stopped at a look out spot, where we met an English couple. They had recently graduated from University. They were unable to get jobs in the UK, so they had decided to visit New Zealand for a year by working their way round on farms. She was from Newbury!! Whilst resting at the look out we saw a chap in a kayak, way down in the bay. The views over the bays were magnificent.



We reached Stony Bay in good time, but the clouds had moved in. We met the same chap who had been kayaking in the bay. He had rigged up a system, that allowed him to use a fishing rod whilst in the kayak. He had caught two snapper which he intended to cook for his dinner. He took this photo of us!



One the walk back we came across some cyclists who had travelled all the way from Coromandel and were heading for stoney bay where they intended to camp. That’s some journey!

Not far from Fletcher bay, we stopped at a deserted cove where Fiona rested in the sun and John paddled in the sea and around the crystal clear rock pools. A family of ducks were bobbing around on the calm waters, nibbling at some seaweed.



We drove back along the rally course and made it back to our B&B for just after 6pm. As we arrived the Americans were off to town for some dinner. They invited us to dine with them, however, they were just off and we were still in need of showers etc.

We ended up eating at the Pepper Mill restaurant in town on our own as we did not feel up to a full on American evening. However, we met an English couple in the restaurant who were on a three and a half month honeymoon. They gave us lots of tips for the south island and were interested to hear about our years travelling. They came from Cambridge.

We went back to our B&B, wrote this blog entry and retired, hoping it would not rain again!

New Zealand – 1st Nov 2008 - Day 9

We both woke up feeling a bit tired this morning. The previous days Tour de Arthritis, cycle event had taken it’s toll. Fiona’s legs would not stop twitching all night and her knees ached. John’s legs were fine but he had a poorly stomach after the previous evenings Thai meal in Auckland.

After a simple breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and began our drive to The Coromandel Peninsular, a two hour drive. It took us a wee while to find the correct slip road onto the N1 motorway but, once on, we were unable to find the N2. We stopped off at a petrol station for fuel, but the pump refused to work. John went into the pay booth. The lady grunted something and, hey presto, it worked.

We decided to purchase a decent map of NZ. Best purchase to date. We soon found the elusive N2 and continued on our way.

The weather was cloudy, cool but dry. We reached the peninsular after two hours and took a right turn at the town of Thames, for the hiking information centre, which turned out to be 12km away.

We have noticed a trend with NZ hiking information centers. Firstly they are always far further to get to than you thing. Secondly the are always manned by people who (a) do not hike, and (b) do not like giving out information! They are always lovely people and very friendly, but extracting useful hiking information from them is a challenge.

Our chap today was unable to offer concrete advise about which trails to take. However, after much encouragement he let slip information about a few trails and we decided to try one of these recommendations. We asked him if it was steep and he said NO!

Well, if it had been any steeper you would have needed crampons and ropes. The first section of the trail kept crossing a river. Some of these crossings had not been used for some time, so we found our selves humping rocks across sections of crossings to complete the stepping stones.

Fiona hit upon the idea of using large sticks to help us up the steep banks and across the river. There were 8 river crossing points in all. Fiona lost her balance on one, getting a wet left foot.

The hike took three hours in all, very enjoyable and it stayed dry. Some of the forest firns were very colourful.

We headed to our next B&B, Jacaranda Lodge (see: http://www.jacarandalodge.co.nz/ ), stopping at the Pak and Save supermarket on the way to buy ingredients for tonight’s Carbonara.

The B&B is full of American guests and the plan is to watch the rugby tonight. Kiwi’s verses Auss. Should be a good game, as long as we can keep awake!

Robin, the B&B host is lovely. She gave us a great welcome, offered to do our washing for free and let us use the kitchen for free to boot. Within minutes off arriving, we had a cuppa in our hands. The gardens are well kept, packed full of fruit trees and home grown organic veg.

After dinner, we watched a film called “The Indian” with Anthony Hopkins. A true story about a Kiwi who, against all odds, broke the motorbike land speed record. Very enjoyable. After the film we helped Robin move the TV into the lounge so the Americans could watch the rugby. It’s not on until late and our room would have been to close and hence there would have been a lot of noise. Rain is expected tonight. Fingers crossed for a dry hike tomorrow.

New Zealand – 31st Oct 2008 - Day 8

Today marked the inaugural event of the Tour de Auckland cycling event. So, we had a quick breakfast where we told Karina all about our Africa trip as she is very interested in visiting the area.

After breakfast, we drive back to the Westin hotel, where we are staying tonight. We dropped off the car and headed to the Ferry Terminus to catch the 9am ferry to the Island of Waiheke, where the bike event was set to start.

There were no spectators or bunting, probably due to the fact that only Fiona and I were in the event!

We struggled to find the bike rental shack. Once located, nobody could be found to rent us some mountain bikes. After going back to the ferry terminus and then back to the bike shack, someone arrived and we rented a couple of bikes.

Fiona had decided that cycling to a place called Stoney Batter could be good, as there was good hiking to he had. So, we started our bike journey.

Within a few minutes we hit our first hill. It went on for a while before dipping down to the coast before going back into a steep hill. This pattern of steep hill with steep decline continued for three hours!



Some of the hills were so steep, they were both painful and very slow to climb. We eventually hit dirt roads which also went up and down, up and down. After three and a half hours, we decided we would not be able to reach our destination in time. We need to catch the 4pm ferry back to Auckland as we are meeting Fiona’s university friend in town at 6.30pm.

We sat down for a few minutes, ate some ham, took some pictures and then set off back. On the way back, Fiona thought it would be good to use a different coastal route. This route turned out to be even harder. We met up with some chaps who we had seen at the bike rental hut earlier in the day. They were from Singapore although one was American. They were faster than us, which really hurt!



We ended up at Palm Beach Bay, where we had a cup of coffee. We set off up the hills yet again. Eventually we had to get off the bikes as the hills were simply ridiculous.

We saw some wonderful feathered friends, a small bird with a bright yellow head and some brightly colored parrots, which we were far to quick for us to photograph.

We wanted to taste some of the local wines, but the vineyards were at the top of another huge hill. We just managed to climb it, collapsing in the wine tasting room of Cable Bay Vineyards. The wine lady was very understanding, giving us water to quench our thirst.

After regaining our breath, we tasted seven of the wines they produce. Very good indeed, so good in fact, that we ended up purchasing six bottles, four Rose and two Chardonnay.



The problem now was to get them back to the port. We managed to stuff the bottles into our back packs and set off down the hill to the port.

We arrived in time to meet the chaps from Singapore. There was nobody at the cycle shack, so we used our chains and popped the keys into the letter box. We jumped on the ferry exhausted. This island is NOT ideal for cycling at all. It is very pretty with some wonderful, new, contemporary houses being built in the costal areas.

We staggered back to the hotel, checked in and relaxed in the massive bath for as long as possible, before dressing and walking across Auckland to a Thai restaurant where we met Elaine and her husband Steve.

We had an enjoyable evening with them, catching up on 19 years for life. The last time we met was in a Chinese restaurant in Edinburgh, just before they left to live in NZ. They came back to our hotel for coffee where we chatted for ages. They eventually had to go as Elaine had to be in work for 7am the next morning.

Elaine mentioned that they would love to visit Europe, especially Italy, so we hope to see them again soon.

New Zealand - 30th Oct 2008 - Day 7

Sue and Steve gave us a tasty breakfast, Steve popped a CD full of some of his best photo’s into Johns hand on the way out. He has so many, some of which he sells during the winter in local art gallery’s.

We said our goodbye’s to Sue, Steve and Sheba and headed off to the west coast for some hiking. We really enjoyed our stay with them, especially the sailing: (See http://www.kingfishercharters.co.nz/) .

We stopped at a house high up in the forest to ask for directions, as the roads had become narrow, rally type, dirt tracks. Great fun to drive!

John went into the court yard to be met by two locals. The husband was about 7 foot tall and built like a lumber jack on steroids. His wife was much more impressive!

They were very interested in John’s request for directions to the hiking areas. He warned John not to go too far into the forest, due to the numerous wild boars. He then showed John his mornings work.

A huge, freshly gutted, male boar was sprawled across the ground, his guts sitting in a neat pile next to his severed head. The knives glinting in the sun.

His wife was extremely proud of her husband. She was grinning from ear to ear, showing all three teeth! They gave more mixed directions, a few more wild boar warnings and wished John well on his hiking. Lovely, warm people who live off the land and don’t bother with dentists.

Half an hour later, we arrived at Waipoua forest, where they have some of the largest Kauri trees in New Zealand. They put Giant Redwoods in the shade. The walks were quite short, but the trees were magnificent, the biggest being 16.8 meters wide.





After almost two hours of forest walking, we jumped back into Brian (our very old Nissan estate) and drove to Matakohe, where they have a museum dedicated to the Kauri tree. This tree has extremely hard wood. They make a whole range of utensils and art from this stuff, most of which costs an arm and a leg.

We also drove through some pristine examples of NZ rain forest (including the rain). The tall fern trees are unique to this part of the world. At this time of year, some of the giant, hairy fronds are still unfurling. They look surreal.





After a cuppa, Brian took us south to Devonport, our next B&B stop. We are heading back to Auckland for Friday, so we can go out with Fiona’s old University friend Elaine Veale, who has lived in NZ for over twenty years.

We drove through heavy showers, arriving at Karin’s Garden Villa early evening. (See http://www.karinsvilla.com/). Karin comes from Germany and loves cats. It would have been good to know as John has an allergy to cats. Everywhere else in the area is booked out, due to the Auckland marathon on Sunday.

We are hoping to find better walking in this area. The hiking so far has been less challenging than we had hoped for. We both need the exercise, as we have put on weight over the last few months, which needs to be off in time for the 2009 skiing season.

Our initial impression of New Zealand? It is certainly a unique part of the world. A cross between England, Canada and the Aussie rain forests. The people are very friendly and everything is spotless and well maintained. The food is average and, due to getting almost three NZ dollars to the pound, it’s relatively good value for us Brits. Weather wise the best time to visit is February and March. We are still very much in their spring time and the weather is unpredictable. Outside of Auckland the radio stations are rubbish, unless you love Iron Maiden, Deep Purple or Cliff Richard. On balance, it is a good place to be!

We walked to a local pizza pad, recommended by Lonely Planet. Wonderful Pizza.

New Zealand - 29th Oct 2008 - Day 6

Having seen the weather forecast the previous night we were expecting clouds and rain today. So, yes, you've guessed it, the sun was out!!

We sat in the Sue and Steve's lounge updating the blog, before sitting down with a German couple who were very big in every way. We had heard the husband vomiting yesterday evening , not very pleasant when your reading your book, eating Bombay mix!

Anyway, he was not looking much better this morning and only had a cup of coffee for breakfast. His wife in the other hand compensated for his lack of eating and had everything going, and more!

Steve showed us the weather map which hinted at rain, but he was sure it would remain dry. So, we agreed to go sailing around the bay of Islands for the day.

Wed met Steve & Sue down at the quay. A couple for mates of theirs from Auckland had driven up for a few days. So Gary and Brenda joined us for the day. Gary is also a very keen yachtsman as is Brenda.



What a fab yacht she was. We were soon zooming out of the bay and into the open water, passing small islands on the way. The water was a mixture of blues and greens and very clear, if chilly this time of year.



Flash backs to our Greek sailing holiday came flooding back. However, compared to the sails on our much loved Greek yacht, Babette, the sails in this lovely were huge. Steve and Gary did most of the hoisting whilst Fiona and I directed operations!!!

After some tea and wonderful home made fruit muffins, we anchored off Army bay and walked up to the top of the Island and then down to one of the beaches, where Brenda began breaking off fresh oysters, cleaning them in the crystal clear waters and then quaffing them down. John also joined in the feast, but stopped after one. They tasted OK but nothing to write home about. Brenda on the other hand would have continued given the chance.



Steve had gone back to the yacht to fix a broken winch, so he came back to the beach in the dingy, picked us all up and took us back to the yacht.

Sue presented us with a wonderful lunch of cooked meats, cheese, home made bread, salad, fruit and various drinks.



After lunch we made our way back to Russell and still the sun was shining and the sky mainly blue.

The wind was up and we reached the harbour at 4pm. After taking our kit back to the B&B (Villa Russell), we took Sheba the villa doggy for a walk up to Flagstaff hill, a steep walk which offers great views of the bay and surrounding area. Sheba is a very strong doggy and on a few occasions she took John for a walk into the bushes down very steep banks. Man, is she strong!!



In the evening, we sat on Steve & Sue's porch watching Steve in a yacht race in the bay below. Every week 6+ people from the town have a weekly race in the bay. The wind was blowing hard and the angle of some of the yacht's was impressive.



As we watched the racing, the expected rain wandered slowly around the bay. It had been a great day, it was wonderful to get back onto the water again after our fun in the Greek sun.

We continued to watch the yacht race from the sun terrace. Steve and his mate easily won the race. They have a super yacht witht a racing hull. Steve has been saiing since he was in nappies, and it shows.

Tomorrow we leave the Bay of Islands and head south west to walk in Waipoua forest and then we head for Devonport for a days cycling on one of the lslands.