Happy days

Wow! I really should have blogged sooner, this post may be a long one…

We arrived in Auckland to be greeted in the airport by our friend Tom, and he took us straight to their church to pick up Lisa, his wife (both Lisa and Tom lived with us for a short while in Rockstone Lane). They then drove us to Whakatane, a coastal town where Tom’s lovely parents Liz and Robert live on their dairy farm. We were warmly greeted and made to feel really at home there, with a beautifully made bed, hot showers, a fish and chips dinner and great conversation! The next day Tom and Lisa showed us around the little town of Whakatane and the nearby Ohope, a village with a gorgeous surfers beach. We had a huge icecream there. New Zealand does food very well! We met Tom’s sister Hannah on the way back at a pretty cafe called the White House(absolutely nothing like the bar of the same name on Above Bar Street!). We spent the afternoon looking around the farm, watching Rob milk the cows and riding the quad bike, fun! Liz made sure we were very well fed with roast lamb for dinner!

The next day we took a very choppy boat ride out to White Island, the most active volcano in NZ! I felt sick within minutes of leaving the harbour and proceeded to throw up twice on the journey out there. I took great pride in my silent, neat puking, especially when surrounded by somewhat more vocal and messy pukers. The crew were amazing, running around with sick bags both new and used, and washing the deck clean of regurgitated breakfasts. White Island is a submerged volcano with only the crater showing above sea level. There is a huge gap in the side where you can walk onto the crater, where you will see hot steam billowing out of yellow sulphur rimmed vents, bubbling mud pools and green/blue lakes with negative acidity! The eggy stench of sulphur is inescapable, and when one has spent two hours almost vomiting, it doesn’t exactly help matters…That said the island was incredible, to walk through the crater of an active volcano is other worldly and strangely beautiful. We left Whakatane and drove to Auckland that night.

We stayed with Bruce and Maude, Lisa’s parents, in Auckland for a couple of days while we looked for a car. Lisa’s sister Krysta and brother Dan also live at home and it’s a lovely, lively household full of love and laughter. Again we were made to feel right at home, such kindness!! They also have a kitten, Ruby, who I’ve already mentioned, and she is delightful if a little scratchy at times! After various emailings/phonecalls/texts we viewed a car and it looked good, so we bought it. During our time in Auckland Tom took us to the nearby Bethels Beach, a black sand beach with rugged cliffs and stormy seas. We also took the bus into town one day, which was so strightforward it was beautiful! We went up the Sky Tower which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, and saw amazing views of Auckland City and around. Also had some very good coffee, joys!

The next day we set off in our newly acquired station wagon, bought an air bed and some cooking stuff and set off to the North! Our first night was AWFUL. After driving all day we found a place to park on the side of a gravel road in the middle of nowhere as a last resort as it was getting dark. It was a very hot day and it didn’t cool down overnight, we wanted to open windows but couldn’t because every time we did, we’d hear more mosquitoes coming in to eat us! Apparently the police pulled up at one point and shined a torch in Adam’s face, then drove on, I was asleep by this point but Adam was awake until about 4am. The next day we drove to a nearby beach to cook breakfast and were both thoroughly miserable at the thought of 3 months of nights like that. We prayed and decided to aim to camp at the free Department of Conservation campsites, to get there well before sunset and to set up our air bed in good time as well so we could shut the car then and keep out the dreaded bugs!! Since that hideous first night things have been sooo much better. We spent our first week camping in the far north of the north island, staying in a lovely basic campsite by a stream. We washed in and got our water from the stream, went to 90 Mile Beach (which is actually more like 90km long) and visited Cape Reinga, the furthest accessible point north, where the South Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. It was amazing at Cape Reinga as you saw the sea get whipped into a frenzy of strange currents and crashing waves at the “Meeting Point”. Near Cape Reinga was also Te Paki giant sand sunes, which were giant! We climbed them and felt like we were running from Jafar in Aladdin. After our time in the northlands we made our way back down to Maude and Bruce’s place for the night to say hi and do some washing! On the way down we stopped in Waipoua Forest to see some big Kauri trees!

We then headed for the famed Coromandel, where New Zealanders go on holiday, so it must be good. We were planning to meet Tom and Lisa down there at the weekend. Our first night was spent in an overpriced campsite in the Kauranga Valley where we had to stay as this was where one of the walks started that we planned to do the next day. We met a lovely French lady called Sophie at the campsite, she was travelling on a bicycle around the north island. She joined us for a hearty chilli dinner and offered us her spirulin (mould), telling us it is “good for health, good for the stomach”. It was mould and it tasted of nothing, but we politely tried it. The next day was spent walking through forest along vertical tracks that can be more accurately described as small streams littered with ankle-breaking rocks. And then came the rain – we were thoroughly soaked to the skin, then only had a river to wash in afterwards. That evening we made our way to Cook’s beach, stopping for a well earned hot chocolate in Paihia on the way. We arrived at the bach (holiday home, pronounced “batch”) mid evening and made some dinner (re-heated hearty chilli) and did a jigsaw puzzle. This was highly satisfying and made us feel right at home. The bach is situated right next to the beach in a sleepy little place away from the main tourist activity. The next day we rested our aching legs, started another puzzle and awaited the arrival of Tom and Lisa. When they arrived (with a coolbox full of great food) we headed straight for the beach, had a swim and followed Tom into a cave only accessible via the water. It was amazing inside, a roofless cave where some fool-hardy youngsters jump into the not-so-deep water below. We then had a barbeque with some massive steaks. A good afternoon.

Tom and I went swam around to Lonely Beach in the morning in somewhat choppier sea, it was just around the headland and was actually not so lonely, there were people who’d used the more traditional (walking) method to get there. Very lovely though. In the afternoon we went to Cathedral Cove, where we were told the beginning of the new Prince Caspian was filmed. Really should watch that film again, can’t remember it at all. Cathedral Cove was surprisingly busy as it is a 45 minute walk downhill from the car park. There were people everywhere, but it didn’t detract from the amazingness of the cathedral-like archway and the clear blue sea with big waves! Our favourite beach so far, if it wasn’t teeming with people! The next day we were awoken by a siren at 7am which I jokingly suggested might be a tsunami warning. Turns out it was – we were then woken up by a banging on the window, we went outside and heard the locals chatting about a big earthquake in Chile, that we were on standby for a possible tsunami! We listened to the radio to find out the seriousness of the situation and were relieved to hear that non of the Pacific Islands had had anything to worry about. By the afternoon it was said to be not really a problem so we went down to a little harbour to see if we could cross on the tiny ferry to Whitianga. When we got there the ferry wasn’t running as the sea level was too low. As we watched, the sea came back up to high tide level within 20 minutes, and then back down again within another 20 mins. Pretty crazy to see but we were assured we were safe. Tom and Lisa left late afternoon to go back to Auckland for work on Monday morning, and we stayed another night. Then we left for Whakatane for another couple of nights with Liz and Rob, Tom’s parents.

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