March 24- this day there isn't much to say. Cec got done with work at 4pm and we drove for around 6 hours, counting a stop at subway for dinner, to Rotorua. For the past 2 days we had been hearing about this terrible storm that was going to come through, winds of 60mph, blowing rain, people even stopped coming to the emergency department! We stopped there because we were hoping the next day to drive to Tairangi for a dolphin swim tour, and because we would be driving past 5pm, a lot hotels/motels close their front desk and turn in for the night. Anyway, the tour was canceled due to bad weather. A rain front came through creating swells that made it unsafe. That's the THIRD dolphin swim tour we've tried to get on, but bad weather is bad weather. We stayed at the holiday inn- seriously a great hotel. Some of the best beds and pillows we've experienced, we both slept like petrified logs.
March 25- We got up and headed to the cathedral cove walk. It's a 2.5 km hike/1.5 miles that takes about 1.5 hours round trip. Why? Like many things in New Zealand it's got some character. It's rated easy as far as difficulty, but there are some rocks you need to climb over and there is a massive mud river you need to navigate- yes I said mud river. It had rained pretty continuously for the last three days and a trail that would have been easy in normal dry weather now turned into a goopy, slushy mess! It's a clay type of mud too. I ended up on my butt! Cec and I had tennis shoes on and they we're slippery and heavy with mud. We were confused why so many people didn't have shoes on walking in ( in nz, not wearing shoes is common) but this was a larger number than normal. It was the mud! Cec and I had to clean them off in the ocean when we got there.
(Great start views)
(Cec washing the mud off his shoes)
(Apparently falling rocks are common)
(The famous cathedral cove)
(We are having a really good time!)
Once our shoes were washed off (and in my case my pants too!), we walked the beach and through the cove. Lovely! Then headed back. Cec actually walked back barefoot because of the mud. I tried, and failed.
(Look at cecil's bare feet!)
Luckily, the next stop was hot water beach. Unfortunately, we had a hiccup getting there. I took a turn to sharp and hit a curb :(. Luckily it only bent the edge of the car rim. Unlucky, our hub cap feel off! Some guy went to try to steal it off the road less than a minute later! Regrettably Cecil had to run after the truck barefoot on concrete! Needless to say he was ticked … but all's well that ends well. Car is ok and the hubcap is on. After that hiccup was dealt with we got some lunch and rented a spade/shovel at a local cafe.
Why did we need a spade you ask? It is called hot water beach for a reason! Described by Wikipedia "
Its name comes from underground hot springs which filter up through the sand between the high and low water tidal reaches". Yes, before you ask, we did plan to come at low tide. We shared a hot pool with another group. I was even able to sit there because no sand mites were there to trigger my allergies!! (For anyone who didn't know I have trouble with beaches because I break out in hives from the mites that live there). So typically you show up around low tide and follow the other people with shovels to the area where the hot springs are below the sand. Then you start digging! sometimes if you dig too deep, you get scalding hot water that comes up and burns your feet! But once you find that sweet spot of hot spring that is just right, then you keep digging and literally build a little wall around your man made hot tub.
resting in our man made hot tub
(Since it was so hot there were no insects! I cant remember the last time I sat on a beach!)
After that, we headed to a B&B and got a shower. We had never stayed in a bed and breakfast before so we thought we would give it a try. Since it was good Friday, we didn't have many dinner options and ended up eating Chinese lol. End of a great day!
March 26- we ate our B&B breakfast with a couple from Singapore and our hosts (and their dog!) interesting conversations ensued! Notably, again we are asked about Donald Trump!! Everyone in New Zealand asks us constantly because they can't understand how Americans can vote for a guy like that.
Anyway, then we headed to Baristacats, a cat cafe in Auckland. This was a little adventure in itself because the cafe was off of Queen Street, but the entrance was tucked away in an alley! We got to play with kitties for an hour then walked around Queen Street. We got a snack and then saw a ton of people in this place called snowman.
(Cec saying goodbye to the B&B's dog)
(One of the cats at the cafe)
(A couple of the cats were quite playful!)
(This was one of the only places we've seen screens on the windows.... to keep cats in!)
Snowman is a Korean food import. They shave frozen milk , kind of like shaved ice but milk. We went it because it was packed with people, but most of them were speaking Korean, so we figured, why not?! Then they cover said shaved milk in something like Oreos, fruit, green tea, etc. It took forever! Literally we waited an hour after ordering. It was also one of the strangest things I've ever eaten. Sweetish, but mostly a texture thing. Like cold coconut pretty much. After that, we headed to one of the local game stores and looked around. It had a lot of war game stuff as well as Asian miniature builds, like anime mechs suits.
(the snowman store was PACKED!)
(Cec about to dig into our orea snowman)
By this time it was time to go head to our appointment to get our keys for our air BNB stay. We rented an apartment right on the wharf downtown, for half the price of the Hilton nearby. Now, this turned into a disaster. Let's start with he fact that our host, Becky, asked us what the latest we could pick keys up was. We said five but we had dinner reservations at six. The day before, we got a message she would be out of the country and he friend would meet us. Cec texted the chick at 4:34 and she said she would get on her way(what?? She should have left to meet us) so she was ten minutes late. Then she didn't know how to open the lock. By the time we got in it was about 5:30. We ran back to get the car to move it from where we were paying in a garage to the parking space. The jerk in the apartment next door parked in the middle of two spaces (we didn't knew that at this point) so the next THREE hours were spent with Becky messaging cec and the apartment manager calling . We ended up having to buzz that guy and ask him to move his car. He was a jerk about it but we got the space eventually. It made or wonderful dinner have a small black mark… needless to say the place is great. Spacious, comfy and what was expected with a great price, however we are hesitant to try air B&B again. The hassle level was through the roof and you risk subpar experiences.
(View from our Air B&B)
(Inside our air B&B)
Let me say though, dinner was amazing. We ate at wildfire, a Brazilian steakhouse. The pork- specifically pork skin was spiced perfectly and tender inside. We ate so much amazing meat!! Then we had some great desert and managed to not lose any buttons on our pants!!
(They had these wooden sticks, if green was up food kept coming, if red was up you were saying "no more food" )
March 27- we went and got the ferry to Rangitoto Island. Described by Wikipedia "Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. The 5.5 km wide island is an iconic and widely visible landmark of Auckland with its distinctive symmetrical shield volcano cone rising 260 metres (850 ft) high over the Hauraki Gulf.[1][2]Rangitoto is the most recent and the largest (2311 hectares)[3] of the approximately 50 volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field.[2]
(Here is the start of the summit stairs, yes it is 30 minutes of stairs)
We booked a "4WD Road Train" tour rather than walk the summit track to the top, we were tired lol. What is this thing I speak of? It's a tractor that pills a wheeled encased trailer we sit on. The commentary was great and we got to just sit back and enjoy there unique landscape (see below). They stopped at the summit steps and we got to climb to the stunning summit (347 steps). That was enough for that day!!
(Here is our "train")
(The entire island is sharp volcanic rock that somehow still has trees.... go NZ!)
(View from the summit, see the video HERE)
(Selfie!)
(Famous red and white lighthouse in the bay with auckland in the distance)
We caught the ferry back and split some ramen at this side street ramen bar! You know it's good when you're the only Americans there!! Then we went to the maritime museum. Really good displays about everything from early Maori days, European exploration, immigration, boating, and sports/yachting.
(yummy noodles)
(Cec really enjoyed "driving" the ship in the museum)
(One of the coolest areas discussed immigrants and travel. We each got a person and found out what happened to them.... mine became a famous rugby player)
(they even had the yacht that won the world championships)
After that pleasant trip, we went to the grocery store- which was closed. Why? It's a holiday and everything reopens on Tuesday (two days). New Zealand is big on public holidays. It is nice and annoying at the same time. We found a convince store open and hot soup and rice. Not a perfect meal but it worked. Then we hung out in our air B&B apartment and watched the sunset, read and basically relaxed.
March 28- we stumbled out of bed after a terrible nights sleep. Mind you we were right by the wharf, and we were both almost asleep when all of a sudden.... three very loud ship horns blared. It was so loud the windows rattled, our glasses fell off of the nightstands, and the walls shook! Apparently the cruise ship was leaving Auckland and its protocol to sound the the horn to let people know they are leaving. Thanks... got it! The bed was terribly hard and uncomfortable, the city was loud and we kept being woken up by everything from drunks screaming to traffice accidents and people arguing 5 stories below. We got some breakfast and loaded the car up and stared our drove to northland.
(Look above Auckland and whangarei, there is an area called "bay of islands", we are there in paihia
thick black arrows: main trip, thin arrow: side trip to Cape Reinga)
(This was the view as we left auckland. I hoped a sign of good things to come)
Paihia is actually a pretty nice little resort town in the far north. Like much of the country it's gorgeous with its green backdrop on blue water edges. We went up so we could see the Whatangi treaty grounds. This is where a famous and controversial treaty was signed between Queen Victoria and the Maori leaders in 1840. Due to a translation difference there has been much controversy and complaints as the Maori ended up, much like the American Indians, screwed. The place had an amazing interactive museum with great displays,. There was a guided tour which took us to the three other major historic sites. First, to a war canoe created in 1940, it weighs 12 tons and needs a minimum 75 people to paddle it (apparently around 100 is better). Amazingly, they still launch it very February 6, which is Whatangi day in New Zealand. Then, we went to the flagstaff, which marks the physical location of the signing. After that waster treaty house, which was where James Busby lived. He was the governor sent by Queen to get the colony stabilized and enact some law and order to the colonists. The house had been restored and contained some cool information and reconstruction. Finally was a Maori meeting house. We got to see a cultural show inside as well. Quote from the information: "Meeting houses are symbols of tribal prestige and many embody a tribal ancestor. The head at the roof apex is the ancestor’s head, the ridgepole the backbone, the baseboards the arms with the lower ends divided to represent fingers. Inside the rafters represent ribs, and the interior is the ancestor’s chest and belly.". Also- "It stands facing the Treaty House, the two buildings together symbolizing the partnership agreed between Māori and the British Crown, on which today’s Aotearoa /New Zealand is founded.".
(Entry to the treaty grounds)
(the 40 ft war canoe!!)
(The flagstaff marks the location of the actual signage of the treaty)
(One version of the treaty that still exists.)
After that we had to head to check into our motel. The edelweiss hotel was clean but disappointing. Tight space, thin walls and no ac (which is normal ish here) or fan (that is more a problem) made it balmy. I got to take an evening run after I made down chicken salad for dinner. That was super pleasant!! After that, it's time to head to bed we had a fishing trip in the morning!!
March 29-
The morning started before daybreak, cec and I met captain bucko (not a typo that's his name) for our fishing trip. We high tailed it out of the warf to the bay to first fish for our bait fish. This was perhaps the easiest fishing I've ever done. You drop your line in and there were so many fish, you literally caught multiples. Often the hooks weren't even in the mouths they just caught the fish on the way up or down!! After catching what seemed like hundreds of mackerel (was probably like 50), we continued on to the takeki reef. Very awesomely, we saw flying fish on our way there!! Looked so odd and out of place, at first we thought it was a bird!!
Anyway,
Captain Bucko positioned us carefully right were the bait ball was, and
over where the reef goes from shallow to very deep (over 50 m). We got
help with setting hooks and slowly learned how to fish for snapper and
kingfish. Within 15 minutes both cec and I had caught fish!! Cec caught
both a kingfish and snapper, I caught 3 kingfish, one being quite large,
and two snapper.Regrettably, I don't have pictures of Cec holding his
fish because he suddenly, and uncharacteristically, got violently seasick
and had to lay down, no photos were taken the first couple fish. Even
with even getting sick, both of us were super happy. I can't believe how
easy we seemed to catch such huge fish!!
(My largest kingfish! I caught 3)
(Our trip around was amazing in and of itself!)
(My largest snapper!)
(This was all the fish we caught, there were 3 of us fishing. Enough food to feed us for a week! The captain fillet the fish and anything we didn't want he gave to poor people in the area. A win win in my opinion!)
After we got back, we put our fish on ice and did laundry. My pants were covered in blood from the fish (worth it) and for dinner had our fish cooked by a local Chinese place, the King Wah. Seriously the best fried fish I've ever had, and the best snapper. We took a nice walk along the ocean and drove to local Haruru falls, then called it a night.... We had a somewhat early morning and another very big day tomorrow!
(seriously, the best fried fish we've ever had)
(Cec posing in the center of town on our walk)
March 30-
Today started early as I went for a run before out "Carino dolphin adventure" tour. The goal of the tour was to take your around the bay of islands and hopefully swim with dolphins. We were successful with one, and not the other. The boat itself was a large, well-kept catamaran. We went around the bay violins in a large circle, a lot of it done with the sale. Literally wind powered. Within the first hour, we came upon a school of dolphins about 30 to 40 large. Now, in order to swim with the dolphins they cannot be feeding, or have babies with them. Now this was made very clear to us when booking. Regrettably, they were both feeding, and had babies with them. Even though we didn't get to swim with them (makes this the 4th try), it made for a very entertaining thing to watch. They also got incredibly close to the boat. In fact, you could see them swim underneath the boat because the catamaran had netting that you were basically standing on. They were jumping in and out swimming and you could even see some of them have fish in their mouth. There were three babies that we saw.
(Notice there are two dolphins, and they were being quite active)
(We also saw different birdlife, like this ganet taking off)
(
(Note the baby poking out to say hi!)
(The dolphins were very frisky, even doing some acrobatics for us)
After the dolphin excitement, we sailed to a island where you had the choice is to walk to the top of the island or to snorkel. Since Cec and I can't see without her glasses on, we walk to the island. I did swim in the water back to the boat after walking up, it was chilly but it was really nice :-). Sometimes I feel like a broken record, because like most things and Zealand, the view from the top was quite amazing. There were also a lot of birds on the island since it is a wildlife sanctuary. After that little trek, they had sausages and coleslaw for lunch and then we started to head back. It was such a nice day and it was a nice comfortable rocking boat.... Both Cec and I MAY have nodded off for a bit. We also got to meet some very interesting people from Switzerland as well as the UK.
(View from the top of the island in the bay)
(Our ride)
Once we got back from the dolphin experience, we ran to the hotel and I got a shower. Cec didn't need one because he hadn't gotten the water… And he packed the car with some salads that I had made. Why? Because we were about to do something a little crazy. We were going to drive to the very tip top of New Zealand in a place called Cape Reinga. It is literally the northernmost point on the island, and about 3 hours away from where we were staying. We drove like a bat out of hell and barely made it in time to catch the sunset. We only were able to really walk to the famous lighthouse on the tip and watch the sunset. Then, we turned around and drove the three hours back! Cec and I took turns driving and eating… but we'd accomplished our goal and got some fabulous photos!
(One of my favorite photos from all our time here, the sunset on the cape)
March 31-
We slept in a bit the next morning, then got up and headed back to Auckland. Why do you may ask? Because, number one, the game store would be open, and, number two, there's better food in Auckland then most other places. We ended up stopping into King of Cards and browsing and buying a couple games.then we went to Vietnamese restaurant. Now this is the first time I've ever had Vietnamese food other than pho. It was quite different. I've never had noodle broth that ever tasted like that. I don't even know how to describe it. It was spicy but not hot and the flavors were things that I didn't recognize. After a little walking, shopping and eating in Auckland, we drove to Hamilton. Basically, this was just a continent stopping point for us to crash before the next day. Our motel in Hamilton was amazing!! New construction, quiet, plenty of room, and even better... AIR CONDITIONING!! Didn't think we would need it since it is autumn here, but it was still quite warm.
One of the crazy things about Auckland is the incredible growth the city has had. With this growth comes traffic, so after were were done shopping and heading down south at 3:30pm, we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic! This was a first time this has happened to us here in New Zealand!
(Cec and I are ready to try our meals!)
April 1-
We got up and had to be on the road by 8:30 AM. We were headed to Waitomo which is a large tourist area that has underground limestone caves systems with glow worms in them. We didn't stay there, because quite frankly it's a small place and all the hotels and motels look like crap so we stayed in Hamilton which is bigger and nicer and cheaper but an hour away. Our tours at 10 AM. It got underway on time which is always appreciated.
The tour started with taking us out to a private farm, and then we had the option to take a short five minute walk down to the limestone caves, which we did. You could even see the limestone stacks that have been pushed up through different mechanisms around. It looks like engine walls but it wasn't. After walking to the caves we each got a little light at hats and went into the cave system. We got on a raft boat and the guide told us all about the glow worms but while taking us up and down the cave river and we all stared at the gloworms! No, this is not the first time you seen glowworm's in New Zealand but there were so many and they were so bright in this cave that it's the best experience we seen in glowworms!
After leaving the glowworm caves, we got to have tea and a toilet stop before walking the path to the limestone caves. There were tons of fantail finches all around and we got some great shots of those. They are one of my favorite birds in addition to the Tui in New Zealand. They are so cute with their poofy tails. Really hard to get a good picture of because they are so fast! Anyway, the limestone cave was extremely well-behaved and a beautiful cave. Lots of features in the ceiling and from the floor. There were water pools that were so still with the reflections and light. There were also an area that you could see the Moa bones that they found. Literally there were ancient know about in limestone. Moa were giant birds that were flightless kind of like giant Kiwis or big ostriches before becoming extinct a few hundred years ago. You can also see singles and bones of animals that it falling down through the sinkholes. Like cows and goats once we got out of that cave, we headed out and drove home. We ended up stopping at a brewery on the way randomly. And then we stopped in New Plymouth for dinner. We did the pub place because we wanted burgers. Sometimes you just want to burger :-) we got back late but in plenty of time to unpack her stuff and get to bed at a reasonable time. Sees had to work the next day even though he worked in the evening and we had a great vacation
(Me walking down the path (if you can call it that) to the glowworm cave)
(Cec is all helmeted up and ready to head in)
(The glowworm silk spindels)
(Inside the spellbound glowworm cave)
(A fantail posing for a sideview. they were all around us eating the bugs we kicked up while walking!))
(See him up in the tree? He's fully fanned out, hence the name)
(View from inside the limestone cave. Note the really nice path they had)
(The last leg of our trip back to Wanganui)
