The Innlet north of Collingwood

From Punakaiki I made a sidetrip to Kaikoura driving via Lewis Pass this means that I managed to drive over all alpine passes on the South Island. From Kaikoura onwards I visited the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in Blenheim before continuing northwards to Golden Bay. From Kaikoura to Golden bay you drive through Nelson and alongside the Abel Tasman National Park. Which is once again a nice scenic drive crossing Takaka hill to drive into the Golden Bay area.
 
The Innlet is a backpackers 10 kilometers north of Collingwood, nice and quiet in the middle of nowhere close to the beach. At the first evening the guests decided to visit the Mussle Inn which is just south of Collingwood. The local pub has some good homebrewn beers, a really special one with a chili inside the bottle, next to that it was a really good evening. The next morning
still a little bit affected by the beer I went for a walk to Wharariki Beach which has towering arches. However during my first visit they were not visible due to the fact that it was high tide. After checking out the tidal times at the visitor center i walked to farewell spit and once again the beach was deserted not even footprints. By the time I reached the car it was almost low tide and I returned to Wharariki beach to admire the Arches. While walking along there was a group who spotted a baby seal. Once again a really nice encounter with the local wild life.

After all the walking of the previous day I decided that the 3rd day would be a more relaxed one. Visiting the chocolate shop at Collingwood and having a nice lunch at the Mussel Inn. In the afternoon I was so tired that I even slept a couple of hours. Before discovering 'The Web' which is like a big hammock but using a net instead. The local stream flows under the web so you can really relax just listening to the water. After discovering this I enjoyed it every day at least once.

In the evening we had a pot-luck dinner to celebrate the return of Jonathan one of the owners, he had been sailing to the cook islands and back. This is a great way of getting to know the other guests as well. In the evening one of the guests explained the basic sitting position for yoga and the plan was to visit the local yoga class the next evening. But before that we were supposed to go search for mussels and go kayaking.

The search for mussels ended up in the discovery of a beach similar to wharariki beach but unfortunatelly no green lipped mussels. And the kayaking was being replaced by a visit to a salmon farm to catch a salmon for the evening BBQ. The Wof'ers (workers on organic farms, working to pay for the stay and food) at the innlet were really fond of backing. On one day Dan the Man and Nathalie made fresh pita bread and the next day they and  made fruit cake. Everyone once again joined in for a joined BBQ this time.

Dahlia (the manager) mentioned that it would be a good idea to book the kayak trip at the abel tasman park. When contacting them it turned out that the trips would only go out on friday instead of thursday and that the 3-day one was fully booked, as such I booked the 2-day trip.

Now I am at an other backpackers near Motueka and on friday morning I will head towards Marahau to start the kayaking adventure.

Pancake Rocks and Punakaiki

The drive up to Punakaiki was one passing a couple of towns. The first stop was at Hokitika, a town consisting of mostly crafts shops at which of course you can buy Pounamu (New Zealand greenstone). Spending my lunch break there was really nice but it was not necessarily a town to spend a lot of time. 

One thing I did purchase was a iphone radio transmitter. In New Zealand radio coverage is not guaranteed everywhere to be honest there are really long stretches at which you cannot receive any radio station at all. Now initially I bought some (2) CD's however after having listened to them a dozen times that became boring as well. But now with radio Iphone driving dinstances became a pleasure again.

The next stop was Greymouth the nearest city up north at which the train of the tranz alpine express stops. It is a nice town but not extremely exciting.

Driving further to Punakaiki presented some beautiful coastal scenery before reaching the actual pancake rocks area. Although not being able to visit there at high tide the views are still really nice. 

The backpackers I chose to spend the night was a series of houses build and completely surrounded by bush. It also provided access to a walkway straight to the beach. So in all this was a great spot to spend the night. Once again meeting nice people and playing a game of regenwormen. 

Glaciers and the Westcoast

On Monday evening Nathalie mentioned that she had to work and as such would not be able to join for the walk to Roy's Peak. Taking that into consideration it was a good day to travel to the west coast. 

Leaving Wanaka provided a nice scenic drive towards Haast (1st settlement on the west coast). A short stop at the blue pools turned into a nice hike. The pools supposed to be a half an hour return trip. Which in hindsight was even less, however after walking for at least 45 minutes I did not see something which resembled pools. In the meantime some other tourists joined as well for the quest to seek the pools. Eventually it turned out to be much closer to the carpark then expected. The pools are really nice and the water is extremely clear you could easily spot trouts swimming in the streams.


Haast is just a small settlement which provided a nice stop over to have lunch. Driving towards the Glaciers was another nice trip. A stop at Fox Glacier was nice although there was a little bit of rain. Travelling from Fox Glacier to Franz Josef Glacier was a small challenge with a lot of curves.


The next day at Franz Josef was a nice clear blue sky day, and the perfect day for a daytrip up the Glacier. After getting all the proper gear (mountain shoes, cramp ons and a good raincoat) we left by bus to the glacier parking. During the next hours we walked up a number of paths created by the guides. The initial ascend was pretty steep. The next part on the ice was challenging and awesome. During one of the optional activities (crouching through a narrow piece of ice) one of the group members got stuck resulting in an extended break to free him. This allowed us to enjoy the magnificent views and also refill our bottles with fresh glacier water. After walking through an ice cave we started the descent, which took another 2 hours. In short the trip up the glacier was great, and the clear weather conditions only happen once every 2 weeks so we were incredibly lucky. 

Thursday was a travelling day again towards Punakaiki at which the pancake rocks are located.

Canyoning in Wanaka

Wanaka offers almost a similar amount of adrenaline raising activities. One of them being canyoning. Due to weather a tandem skydive was not possible. The tour left quite early at 9.00 and we drove for 45 minutes into the Mount Aspiring national park to the canyoning site. The drive in itself was already rewarding, with beautiful scenery of the Matukituki valley. 

The first thing to do was to get the right gear,  wetsuits thermal underwear and gloves. We had to climb up the mountain for about an hour and then the adventure started. The first thing to do was to abseil a 8 meter passage. Unlike the abseils I have done in Europe these ones did not have smooth vertical walls. However the first one was easy and we ended up in the first pool. Now there were 3 options, either a jump or a slide or abseiling into the next pool 12 meters down. We all chose the slide option and to be honest i was a bit scared, but it all happened so quickly and i do not regret it at all.

After a couple of more abseils we ended up at a section were you could slide into a couple of pools. And the next section offered some nice jumps as well. Due to the wetsuits the cold water was not really a problem, and due to the small group size 4 + instructor we never had to wait long. The last few slides offered the option of going face down into the pool, which was exciting as well. However at the end of the tour (we spend 3 hours in the canyon) I really started to feel tired. When leaving the canyon we used a rope swing which was a nice one as well. All in all it was a great experience and I will do this again in europe. 

After reaching the base camp again we had a nice lunch, and then drove back to town. By then it was 5 o'clock and I was really beat. To be honest it took me most of today to recover, and I do have a couple of sore arms. But it was well worth the experience.

The plan for tomorrow depends largely on the weather, either we go for a nice hike (Rob Roy peak track). Or I travel to the westcoast, which seems to have nice weather on wednesday.

Te Anau, Manapouri and the Sounds

When leaving Dunedin Te Anau was the next destination, requiring quite a drive. The backpackers I chose was half way in between Te Anau and Manapouri. It was a nice remote deer farm with a number of cottages and a stunning view. This was a good location to visit Te Anau at which I booked an overnight trip to Doubtful Sound. 


In the evening I ran into Dennis and Sheila again. They are a dutch couple i met the first time at Lake Tekapo, then i met them in Oamaru and now in Te Anua. We played a couple of games of regenworme with some other backpackers and enjoyed the evening.


The trip to Doubtful Sound left Manapouri at noon to return the next day. The trip includes a boat trip across lake manapouri and then a bus ride to Deep Cove. The actual boat trip on the sound starts from Deep Cove. 

During the trip you could participate in one of the activities. My choice was to go kayaking. Unfortunately the weather could have been better, but a little bit of rain was actually a nice added challenge. After a nice cup of hot soup the tour continued to the Tasman sea. There we saw a seal colony and another rare penguin. 


While returning to a safe branch of the fjord the crew prepared the buffer dinner. This was a really good meal, and the desert was fantastic as well. In Oamaru I enjoyed the first tasting of fruit crumble and after having it a second time i am a complete fan. 


In the morning we woke up early since the ship started it's main engines already at 6.45 to start the return journey. Breakfast ended at eight which meant we could spend the rest of the morning to enjoy the fjord. The weather had improved and appart from some winds it was almost a blue sky morning.

Before returning to Deep Cove and ultimatelly Manapouri we spend the time to enjoy the beautiful scenery as much as possible, even seeing a couple of native dolphins. 

In the afternoon I initially wanted to visit Milford Sound however due to fatigue i changed the plans, spending another nice quiet evening in Te Anau.
 

Dunedin

After leaving Oamaru my next destination was Dunedin. This is a city initially designed by Scottish immigrants. You can see this in many of the older buildings. The weather in Dunedin is sometimes also Scottish resulting in more rain then usual in new zealand. Next to this it is a university town with the oldest one in the country. 

Spending a couple of days there was nice. I visited the local cadburry factory which improved my knowledge of the chocolate making process. According to the Guiness book of records Dunedin also has the steepest street in the world, which was a nice challenge to climb.

The train station is a nice building, and i will upload a foto once i have a better wireless connection. 

Oamaru

Travelling south my next destination was Oamaru. While travelling in that direction I passed a Salmon farm. Which produces the best quality of salmon due to the fact that the water is so cold that no bacteria can exist. The salmon is exported to Japan to supply the sushi restaurants. At Lake Tekapo I visited the local Japanese restaurant as well to taste the salmon. In short I bought a piece of Salmon fillet at a real bargain price. 

Arriving in Oamaru the backpackers was really nice and i was really tired, so I slept during the afternoon. In the evening there was a lucky pot dinner, this was really good, everyone prepared a dish and then all dishes were joint to have a feast. Some New Zealand guys made mussels with a coconut gravy, then a Malaysian girl prepared chicken, and I prepared the salmon, we also had pasta salad and we had a really good desert called orange and banana crumble with a ginger crust and a nice cake.This was also a really good opportunity to mingle with the other backpackers. 

On the 2nd day in Oamaru i visited the town, which is known for its Victorian buildings. Visiting an old style (19th century) dutch bakery. In the evening initially a BBQ was planned however due to weather it became again a really nice joined dinner. Having steaks and sausages from the local meat plant. Some local guys working there explained that this was the first meatplant in the world to ship frozen meat and as such has an excellent reputation abroad. So all their meats are being exported, mainly to England. 

The next day I woke up with a slight hangover and as such slept a little bit more then usual. In the evening it was time to do some Pengiun watching. In town there are 2 options to view penguins, the blue penguins are commercial and cost 20 dollars. However the yellow eyed penguins can be seen for free.While going there I was lucky enough to see a penguin come ashore, and later on even one going towards it's nesting site up the hill. A local guide explained that this year only 7 couples were breeding and that the yellow eyed penguins could not be bread as easily as the blue ones. He actually started the blue penguin watching site with 14 couples and now there are 280. After retirement he started to offer tours to visit the nesting sites, however now this is considered to be to intrusive. In the evening we played regenwormen, it was a really good decision to buy the travel version. I have enjoyed playing this game already quite some times in NZ. 


The next morning I woke up sick (sore throat) having a bad night of sleep, and having to visit the toilet to frequently. So most of the day i slept and in the evening I took some asian girls to watch the penguins. And again we could see a penguin near it's nesting site, this time even closer then the previous day at  distance of only 2 meters. 

Today I am doing my laundry and we will visit the Moeraki Boulders and tomorrow I will travel to Dunedin to continue my trip of the South Island.  Honestly the backpackers in Oamaru is so far the most relaxed one yet at which i stayed. It is an old estate from 1880 and the people here are all really relaxed and most of them are WOF'ers. Woofing is working on organic farms. Which is working a couple of hours a day and then you receive 'kost en inwoning'.

Mount Cookiemonster

Day 2 at Lake Tekapo was again a day with clear blue skies. So I started the day with a morning walk to visit the famous church at the lake. It's nice but not that impressive. 

It was a perfect day to visit Mount Cook. Driving to Mount Cook was just stunning, Lake Pukaki is marvelous certainly with the mountain background.
Mount Cook Village is not that interesting, and the food prices are a little bit over the top. But then again the views once again are manificent. We (I ran into Chloe again) decided to do one of the walks there the Hooker Valley track (4 hours) and this was given the sunny day a really nice walk. Crossing 2 swing bridges I conquered my fear to use them. The reward was to see a lake in which broken parts of ice from the glacier were still floating. On the return trip we also visited Kea Point which provides a nice view on a mountain lake as well. In short it is really difficult to describe the beauty of the scenery. My tip just go there!
Mount Cook is called Aoraki by the Maori people, and they also mentioned that the mountain has a face. And indeed you can see some big peaces of snow resembling eyes and a nose and a mouth.

At the backpackers meeting nice people is really easy. Most of the visitors are laid back and relaxed people. At the first evening I met a nice dutch couple and during the second evening I met 2 relaxed Israeli guys.

That is actually the beauty of staying at backpackers you meet so many interesting people.

Bob de Bouwer

Leaving Arthur's Springs I continued the alpine crossing heading for the Otira viaduct. Descending Arthur's Pass was a great experience as well. Actually In the end I visited Arthur's Pass 2 more times before actually heading towards Darfield. The first time i forgot to refill the tank of the car, which resulted in an additional visit just to make sure I did not run out of gas.

The return from Arthur Springs towards Wybe's place was even better then the day before the weather had improved, it was warmer and this time no clouds at all, in short a clear blue sky. Which presented plenty of good kodak moments, as such I stopped numerous times. 

On the return trip from Arthur's Pass I visited Wybe once more. In return for using his washing machine I helped him during Sunday to do a number of chores on his farm. Which was really a great experience, learning all kinds of new things. Starting with driving a mini lawnmower tractor to trim most of the grass in the garden area. Next to that we moved his office and to properly prepare it ground had to be moved by using a big tractor with a frontloader. In short I had a really good time doing things which I would have normally never done in the Netherlands.

Today Lake Tekapo was the destination, and traveling past Methven and Mount Sommers was kind of dull since all the mountains were hidden by a lot of clouds. However crossing the next ridge into the Lake Tekapo valley the weather was super again. Clear blue skies once more and a fantastic view of the lake. I will stay here for an additional night to visit Mount Cook.

One of the things you encounter on New Zealand roads a lot are one-way bridges, these are actually quite a phenomenon. The bridges are usually already build before the road was widened and as such one side has preference of the other. 

Christchurch

Finding the backpackers in Christchurch was kind of a challenge. The GPS navigation map for New Zealand lacks proper navigation on house number level. Combined with a large number of one-way streets in the city center you have a nice mix for a stressful drive. Anyway after finding the first backpackers it turned out that they did not have a dorm bed available, luckily however they contacted a colleague and they had room for the night. After an extensive drive from the Banks Peninsula, it was nice to enjoy a quiet evening at the backpackers. 

In the morning the weather was less then fine, it was raining a lot. So that meant that I could do some of the activities which I was postponing for a while. At lunchtime the weather the weather improved significantly which allowed me to walk into downtown Christchurch and see most of the important sights. 


During the afternoon Wybe called to confirm our meeting in the evening. As such my plans changed since i could spend the night over there. While driving there the GPS once again messed up and i ended up 12 kilometers north of Wybe's place. However after driving down the street I finally made it to his house. He lives in a rural area with the next neighbour at about a kilometer. It is a really fantastic spot in between Arthurs Pass and Christchurch. We chatted and enjoyed a couple of Grolsch beers and some Whiskey, in short it was a good evening. 


The weather once again improved in the morning, clear blue sky and an amazing view towards the southern alps. At lunch time i left for Arthur's Pass.  But prior to heading into the mountains Wybe recommended buying some Pies in Sheffield (voted the best Pies in NZ) and the Pies were really good. Driving up the first pass was impressive but the scenery continued to be stunning all the way to Arthur's Pass. 

After climbing up to Porter's Pass I made a number of scenic stops before arriving in Arthur's Pass Village. One of the stops is a popular spot for bouldering (kind of free climbing on sandstone rocks).  


Tomorrow I will drive a little further westwards and then return to the central south Island.

Akaroa and the Banks Peninsula

On tuesday the weather had changed again for the worst. It seemed to be another rainy day, perfect for traveling from Hanmer Springs to the Banks Peninsula (Okains Bay). The Banks Peninsula is a must see in New Zealand, it has some fantastic bays. The backpackers double dutch was recommended by both Wybe and Geert and Brenda, and to be honest it is a real gem. (Ton if you are still reading my blog then this should be a nice stop from sleeping in a campervan.) I can really recommend this hostel, it is actually more like a small hotel instead of a hostel. In the end I was the only visitor that evening. 

Prior to sleeping I went for a walk on the beach to see the sunset and the walk was rewarding since i found some fantastic Paua shells.

The next morning i visited the local museum, this turned out to be an interesting visit. I met a Maori wood carver, and he explained the differences in styles and how to distinguish them and link then to the tribe and the area of the country. Next to that the museum has a fine collection of Maori historic items. 

Another thing which you really have to experience is the Summit Road. This is a scenic road over the tops of the ridges surrounding the peninsula. The views are simply stunning, and are well worth spending some additional time on the road. 

Hanmer Springs, Spa Time!

Hanmer Springs is a mountain resort mostly for the people of Christchurch. In winter skying is one of the main activities, and in summertime the local Spa is a popular with tourists. Waking up an seeing the beautiful weather i decided to stay one more day and check out the Spa. 

The Spa has a number of hot pools some with thermal pools. The pools are similar to the Spa in Rotorua (I skipped that one). Initially I thought that the pools had all kinds of different colors depending on the minerals, but this is not the case. The pools are really relaxing and in the evening is was more tired then usual.


The Hostel owners Geert and Brenda are a nice dutch couple who lived in NZ for a number of years now. I started to chat with them about imigration and they invited me for a cup of tea. We enjoyed discussing this subject for the better part of the afternoon. Geert works in IT as well and he had some good pointers regarding which companies to contact. 

Next to that i ran into some dutch girls as well, so that evening there were more Dutchies then Germans, which was nice for a change.

Leaving Kaikoura and travel to Hanmer Springs

The next day in Kaikoura the plan was to head for Hanmer Springs. But prior to driving in that direction I had a nice chat in the kitchen area. A guy also staying there had an unrecognizable accent. He (Wybe) however turned out to be a Frisian already living in New Zealand for the last 10 years. We chatted about al kinds of subjects and he recommended a backpackers near Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. After drinking a cup of coffee and exchanging e-mail and phone number he invited me to visit him. Most likely on thursday I will drive to his ranch. 

The seal colony i visited the previous day by bike had a viewing point which I still wanted to check out. Being there it turned out to be the start of a walkway around the peninsula. The weather was great so I decided to do the entire walk. In total it took me about 2.5 hours and halfway I enjoyed a nice Paua sandwich. I can really recommend doing this walk in case the weather is nice. 


As a result of the walk my trip to Hanmer Springs started later then initially planned. The road from Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs is a nice scenic road and has a couple of climbs with a lot of curves. The 125 km can be driven in under 2 hours. You pass through a largely deserted valley (no actual villages at all), which is hard to imagine coming from the Netherlands.

South Island Arrival & Kaikoura

On the 23rd I left during the morning to catch the 12 o'clock ferry to Picton. The trip on the ferry was nice and a welcome rest from walking and site seeing.

Yesterday the first trip on the South Island when leaving the ferry was south to Kaikoura. This town is known
for the opportunity to watch Sperm Whales and dolphins. Prior to arriving in Kaikoura i visited a seal colony
north of town. It was fairly easy to find a backpackers and to be honest the one i found is great. And the hosts are the nicest people. Based on their recommendations I had 2 wonderful meals of seafood. Yesterday it was a nice Indonesian interpretation of the local seafood (mussels, scallops andshrimps). Today I enjoyed a BQ'ed crayfish at the beach.

When I woke up the weather was absolutelly stunning, and while going outside I was in awe by the beautiful scenery. While arrivingyesterday evening the mountains where covered in clouds, today with hardly any clouds in the morning it was the best view so far. The day itself was amazing as well, due to my late arrivel I could not book a seat for the Whale watching. However with some luck I was able to board the second boat via the waiting list. The Whale watching was magnificent we did see a 14 meter Sperm Whale and on the return trip to the harbour we ran into a large pack of dolphins. Using a borrowed bicycle to travel to the local Seal Colony I combined the trip with the lovely lunch BBQ.    

Wellington and Kapiti Coast

When leaving Napier the Dutch Shop near Hastings was a nice for a change. I really liked buying some Chocomel and Cassis.The rest of the Journey southwards was less attractive once again it rained for most part of the day. Around lunchtime i passed through Danverkirke a town founded by Danish immigrants. After driving for most of the day i was happy to see parts of blue sky again on the south east coast of the north Island.

Maria and Paddy are living in a town called Raumati South, and a couple of more nice towns in the area have Maori names. Paraparumu and Paekakariki. One thing which is kind of big in New Zealand is growing your own vegetables, Paddy and Maria also have their own vegetable garden. On the first evening we went shopping for some local cheese (kapiti coast, name of that region).
They are quite famous for some of their blue cheeses, which we combined with a desert wine I bought at one of the wineries.

On the second day Paddy told me how to drive to the Paekakariki train station since travelling by train is easiest to go to downtown Wellington. That day the weather was nice with quite some sunshine. As such it was a good day to use the cable car up to the botanic gardens and then stroll back into the Wellington centre. Before meeting up with Maria at the station I walked down from the docks towards the Te Papa museum. Once again Maria cooked a lovely dinner with brocolli and feta cheese, I will copy the recipe in december.
In NZ it is quite common to have a desert afther dinner the most popular ice cream in New Zealand is called Hokey Pokey. Which is a kind of vanilla icecream with some sugar sweets inside. It is similar to L&P worldfamous in New Zealand. In the morning i was introduced to a typical Scottish breakfast called Porridge which when served with honey is really nice.

Day three had a rain forecasts so it was a good day to visit the museum, I can highly recommend. Close to the museum the Cuba street district is a good option as well. Lot's of good restaurants and interesting shops. I actually accompanied Maria on her trip to work, and the commuter trains are still ok, at the time when she leaves for Wellington. In the evening Paddy gave me a nice
introduction into Whiskey. He has quite a collection of Scottish single malt Whiskies. And the second one i taste was really nice, when I leave for the Netherlands I will try to buy one of those.

Napier, Art Deco & Wine Tasting

Napier has suffered from an earthquake in 1931 which ruined most of the inner city. As such the majority of the buildings were rebuild within a 2 year timeframe. All using a similar build style, art deco. On a daily basis you can have a guided tour showing all the Art Deco specifics. I joined in on the morning walk and the weather was fine, the sun was up early.

Wine tasting was set for the afternoon. We left from the I-site (local tourism office) and visited a number of wineries and the stunning Te Mata peak. The Te Mata Peak was the absolute highlight of the day, the 360 degree views from the top are marvelous, and with the best weather possible you could see extremely far.

Mission Estate was the last winery we visited and the oldest of New Zealand.  
After having visited 4 wineries and having sampled a large number of different types of wine it was nice but there was not one particular wine which i really liked.
Apparantly according to experts the Hawksbay wines are really good however the tourguide also said that even though a wine has won a price YOU have to like it. There was no wine which did it for me.


In order to cope with the wine I visited a Turkish restaurant for a nice meal. And to be honest it is really recommendable yesterday i enjoyed a falafel durum and today I ordered the Lamb and Chicken Iskender which is a really nice full course meal.To sum up Napier was definatelly a good stop on route to Wellington.

17th of October Leaving Rotorua for Taupo

Plan A was to visit the Kiwi encounter in Rotorua, this is actually right next to the luges and mountain 'kabelbaan'.
However then I had to wait more than an hour because the next show/visit to the kiwi's was fully booked, so no Kiwi's today.
Instead of Kiwi's Whakarewarewa village was the next on the list, this is an actual Maori village and one of the better maori shows. The town is nice and you can watch one of the bigger real geysers as well. (The geyser in Wai-o-Tapu is activated by using some kind of washing powder.)
Next to that I chose to have a Hangimeal, this is the traditional Maori way of
preparing food. They either use stones heated in a fire or the thermal heat to cook meals. As such no fat is added and they do not add a lot of seasoning as well. The meal was nice but i do prefer the euro/asian method of cooking.

While leaving Rotorua for Taupo I decided to visit the 'Hidden Valley' as recommended by Katia. And to be honest this was a really good experience, it was the 3rd geo termal site i visited and i can recommend to visit this one and skip the Wai-O-Tapu one.

The last stop before arriving in Taupo were the Huka falls (see picture). These are kind of rapids and the water is pushed through a gorge which is quite spectacular.

When I arrived in Taupo the weather was not the best, so i will not be able to book a skydive tomorrow. Which makes tomorrow a perfect travelling day towards Napier.

Rotorua has a nice smell

While arriving yesterday in Rotorua the weather was once again NZ's best, rain for most of the day. After site-seeing the CBD (central business district) i went to the backpackers(BP) which is also recommendable.

The evening was nice meeting all kinds of different people, guess what there was even an eindhovenaar. Anyway after a good night sleep, the weather had improved considerably and it was time to check out the geo thermal wonders around Rotorua. From a commercial point of view the BP owner recommended the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal parc. And if the weather would have been better the  Waimangu Valley was also a good (read better) one. So guess what when I arrived at the thermal parc the weather was really nice, some sunshine some clouds but more important no rain. And seeing the fact that both parcs where south of Rotorua and on the same highway i decided to visit the Waimangu Valley as well. And to be honest this was given the weather far better then the other one. First of all far less tourists, and much more beautifull scenery. BTW the picture is taken at the valley.

Rotorua itself is nice as well and has some historic buildings and a polynesian spa which I will visit later on or tomorrow morning. Now back to the heading 'die lucht'refers to the sulfuric gasses which are a result of the thermal activity.
It smells like rotten eggs, but luckily after an hour or so you start to get used to it.

At the first parc I met the first 'limburgers' and they mentioned that skydiving is cheapest in Taupo. That will be on the itinerary for the weekend. I wanted to do the skydiving however i was not shure where to do it. Initially i wanted to save that for Queenstown on the South Island but i might as well fit it in for Taupo.

Whakatane and White Island

Apparantly the aftermath of my synusitis resulted in a nice 'verkoudheid' which took me 2 more days to stay inside most of the time. However on a particularly nice day we went out to visit one of the prime spots to get an overview of the Whakatana area. One of the sites to visit is the active volcano on White Island. Initially i booked a ticket to visit the Island on monday however after some carefull consideration i have cancelled my ticket and will visit the island in december. Then i should be fine again and the weather will be better as well. Whakatane is actually a really nice town and the surroundings are stunning even compared to Gulpen. 

Whakatane

Traveling from Hahei to Whakatane was quite a drive. We passed through Tauranga and visited Mount Manganui which safeguards the Tauranga Harbour. Climbing this mountain was a nice change from driving, and it was a challenge as well. Chloe decided to continue her trip from Tauranga so i dropped her of near one of the backpackers in the Tauranga center. The last leg of the trip was to Whakatane

Yesterday i arrived in Whakatane at 18.00 to visit the relatives over there. Aunt Paula an aunt of my Mothers and her daugther Ina and husband John.
It was really nice to see the relatives over here. Ina prepared a lovely meal in the evening.

Today we had a nice shopping trip into Whakatane, the weather was not really that nice (again lots of rain). I bought another piece of Icebreaker gear, kind of a merino wool fleece sweater replacement. To be honest i really like the Merino wool clothing, and Icebreaker is producing a nice range of those clothes. So by the time i return to Europe i will have a nice collection. I can really recommend them for any outdoor activities, the only drawback compared to artificial fibers is the time it takes to dry the woolen clothes. You cannot tumble dry them and they tend to take a bit more time to dry than cotton clothes. But the advantages outweigh the drying time. You can actually wear the woolen clothes a number of days and they still do not start to smell. Which is one of the big advantages when travelling since drying can be a little bit dificult in backpackers. I sometimes even use the car as wash dryer with the AC on that works quite nicely.

White Island is an active Volcano on a small island outside of Whakatane, and I booked a trip there on monday so if the weather is suitable i will be traveling towards the island.

Hahei 7th of October

Luckily the shop is open early, time to buy some bread. In New Zealand the available bread is mainly toast bread.
And a typical New Zealand breakfast would include toast with some kind of marmelade and or bacon and eggs. Both are not necesarrily my favourites.

So I have come up with a alternative solution. In most supermarkets you can buy hummus and a particular good brand in New Zealand is Lisa's, they sell all kinds and i really like the one with kumara, second to that a one with tomato is nice as well. Actually all variaties from Lisa's must be nice, and I will try out a number of them during the rest of my trip. Next to the hummus nutella is also available, and once in a while salmon is nice too.

So much for breakfast, today I started by travelling to the ferry landing. The ferry transfers people to Whitianga, you would pronounce this as Fittianga. All 'WH'are actually pronounced as an F.

That is most i can recommend about Fitianga, it is like a kind of 'Renesse' in the Netherlands mainly focussed on tourism and not very authentic. The one thing i can really recommend is the Monk Street Market, they sell really good cheeses and a lot of other delicious organic products. Next to that they also sell a number of 'authentic Dutch' products like beschuit or stroopwafels and pepermunt.  
 
From Hahei towards the ferry landing shakespeares point provides nice views and a walk towards lonely beach. When i visited i was not lonely there were others as well.

In the afternoon we went to Hot Water Beach (see picture), which is nice to view humans perform group behaviour. At 2 small spots hot gasses mix with water and it is actually quite strange to walk in cold seawater and your feet are in hot sand. To actually participate in the digging was next to impossible because there were quite a number of people trying to create their own little hot spa. Anyway it was nice to watch them for a little while. The next stop was the surf beach next to the hot water beach. This was an almost deserted beach, but to be honest that was a nice change from the crowded hot water spots.

To top of the day we visited the Cathedral Cove a 2nd time, and honestly this is 10 times better then the hot water beach. This time we also took the side trips to stingray beach and gemstone beach both are really recommendable as well.
During our second visit the tide was a less lower than the previous visit which allowed for a nice walk to the other side of the cove. It is really an amazing peace of beach. In case Teus is reading this as well this could be a spot
to ask a particular question ;-).

Coromandel Peninsula

While leaving Thames i made a mistake so we made a small detour. Anyway after returning via Thames we continued to Coromandel Town, this is a nice scenic drive along the shoreline of the peninsula. Via the Rough Guide we found a nice cafe to have lunch, it was an organice cafe and they had good fruit juices and a nice Dahl. Via the 309 route (second option to cross the peninsula) we travelled to the east coast. It was mainly a gravel road however if you have time then that is no problem at all.

The owner of the Thames backpackers explained that Whitianga is very touristic, focussing on richer kiwi's who buy holiday homes over there. Hence it might not be the best spot to visit, however it is good for shopping. So we travelled straight to Hahei, which is close to both the hot water beach (tomorrow's destination) and Cathedral Cove which we already visited today, and maybe tomorrow again. Chloe (a french girl) joined for the ride toward Hahei today.


Tonight all shops in Hahei already closed early so the meal was kind of a combination of the things we had bought earlier. So we had couscous with guacamole and yellow kiwi's. Yellow kiwi's are really nice, i can really recommend them. 

Thames or a rainy day in New Zealand

The first day in the Coromandel Peninsula started with continues rain. And it has not yet stopped. So the main question is what to do on a rainy day in New Zealand. Well after finishing grocery shopping there is not so much to do. So planning the next few days (the weather will improve!!). After talking to the owner of the backpackers the plan to visit Whitianga is changed. Whitianga is a kind of 'valkenburg' which can easily be skipped. The next destination will be Haihu close to the Cathedral Cove and the Hot Water Beach. 



  

Day 2 in Ruakaka and traveling to Thames

In the evening Adrian and Rian proposed to visit the Pizza Barn in Waipu. This is the best pizza place on the entire north island. To be honest i can really recommend the pizza's and certainly the pizza desert. Which is to say the least just incredible.

In the evening the biggest boxing fight of the century (at least in new zealand) was on. Adriaan was invited to watch the match at his neighbour Bruce. So we went there in the evening and prior to the main fight a number of smaller fights were shown. Besides that we also watched parts of the cricket match between the UK and Australia.

When the main fight started everyone placed bets. And since i did not know anything about both boxers (David Tua (already retired) and Shane Cameron (the new guy) John gave me some pointers, so i placed my bet on David Tua.
After a little bit more than 1 round David Tua won the fight by a Mike Tyson style knock out. Actually the fight should have been ended already at the end of the first round. Shane Cameron did not stand a chance so his profesional career is most likely over. I guess you could call David Tuayson. Anyway due to this quick victory the end result proposed by John was among the winning results, so i won 28 dollars.



The next morning we discovered that I was missing my car keys (i drank only 3 beers). Luckily they were found at bruces around lunch time. Prior to leaving is was even allowed to feed little Keagan for a couple of minutes. Guess what feeding a baby for the first time that was really special. Apparantly i looked quite worried, but then again how often does it occur that you can feed such a little beautiful baby. After saying goodbye to Vaughn (Adriaans son) and both Adriaan and Rinda I left for Auckland, to extend the rent of the car which went fine.

A navigation device is really usefull so i am using my Garmin for car navigation purposes now. I did extend the rent of the car untill mid december at a favourable rate. And after quite a long drive (from Ruakaka via Auckland to Thames) i am happy to arrive just in time at the local backpackers. Tomorrow I will start my visit of the Coromandel Peninsula.

BBQ kiwi Style !!! then a weber looks like childsplay ;-)

Mrs. van der Veeken with her medals

Whangarei and Ruakaka

Thursday I visited Sien van der Veeken, she is the lady I met at Schiphol during the delayed departure. She lives very close to the Whangarei Rugby field, and she showed me around town. Whangarei is one of the biggest cities north of Auckland.

Mrs van der Veeken is a world champion in athletics at the master games in Finland. I will post a picture in which you can see her with all her medals.


We visited the Whangarei Falls and the war memorial, which is build on top of a mountain and has a spectacular view. On thursday evening  we were invited for a genuinie Kiwi BBQ at her daughters house. Her grandson Joel is an expert diver and he catches crayfish with his bare hands an other fish by harpoon. It was a lovely meal, with really nice company.

On friday my trip continued to Ruakaka which is 30km south of Whangarei, to visit Adriaan & Ryan Strydom. I met Adriaan at the B&B in Auckland, at that time his wife was in the hospital giving birth to their second son (Keegan). Vaugh is their oldest son (3 years old) he is a real nice energetic boy. He explained parts of rugby to me, and he also explained that South Africa has won the tri-nations tournament, and



Yesterday Adriaan showed me the sites around Ruakaka and we visited the local pub in the evening. BBQ'ing is part of the New Zealand lifestyle and Adriaan has a huge gas operated BBQ which replaces his Weber coal BBQ. Honestly the Chicken was superb, and I also learned a nice recipe for asparagus bread. Will try that the next time we have a BBQ in the Netherlands.


Today we went to the visitor's center at the Ruakaka Oil Refinery, this is where Adriaan works as a fire fighter. The refinery is one of the few in the world to be able to process lower grade crude oil. Actually the instructional video was really interesting and to me the factory resembles DSM/SABIC in limburg. But instead of producing plastics their main product is fuel, diesel and kerosine.

 

To be honest all the coastal scenery i have seen so far in New Zealand is fantastic. And lot's of kiwi's own their own boats and all out doors activities including fishing are part of their lifestyle.

Pictures, Rainbow Falls (near Keri Keri)

Pictures, Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Pictures, Cape Reinga

Pictures, bay of islands

Tsunami Warning

Apparently a Tsunami has struck the Samoan Islands today. This was breaking news in New Zealand, and a Tsunami warning was issued for the large parts of the west coast. Paihia being a coastal town is protected by the bay and all of its islands. So in the end the biggest waves hit the East Cape and where less then a meter high, and the waves hitting Russel / Paihia were even less. So luckily nothing bad happened here.


This morning I had booked a trip out in the bay (of Islands) to visit the hole in the rock. The trip was not canceled but due to safety we could not go out to visit the hole. We did see quite a number of nice islands in the inner section of the bay. So if someone is considering to move to New Zealand this is by far the nicest place i have seen so far. On the return trip it allowed me to visit the Town of Russel as well. It's a nice town opposite of Paihia and one of the oldest settlements in New Zealand. It's more upmarket then Paihia and has some nice old wooden houses.


Yesterday evening i joined in at the local poker tournament at which i enjoyed a nice glas of Grolsch (yes they do have decent dutch beer over here!). Eventually I finished 3rd overall (12 participants) playing against some seasoned veterans (elderly couple). Poker was a lot better then watching a girl flic at the hostel. Anyway I have seen most things in and around Paihia which means that tomorrow i will be heading south to visit Whangarei and while traveling in that direction i will stop over at the most famous toilet (Hundertwasser) in New Zealand at Kawakawa.
  

And onwards by Car

When we left on the 26th the weather in opononi was once again 'very nice'. However by the time we (a german girl Steffi joined) reached Kaitaia it looked a little better. Traveling together sounded like a good plan then the both of us could pay attention to drive on the left hand side of the road.

The plan was to stay at the Pukenui backpackers but before going there we had a nice meal at the fish and chips shop in Mangonui. This was my first time of Fish and Chips and to be honest it could not have been fresher.

The hostel in Pukenui also had a group of Germans. Actually i have not yet spend an evening at a hostel without germans so far. And I guess this will remain the same for the rest of the trip. Well what can I say, in europe you meet plenty of germans and apparantly they also really like New Zealand. Now i can brush up on my daily german ;-). 

In New Zealand summer time started on the 27th so the night was one hour less. We left early for Cape Reinga and the weather looked promising. To be honest it was a nice drive up to the Cape. The weather could not have been better, compared to the rest of the week.

The Cape offers you the most amazing view to see the joining of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea. There are clifs and beaches and sanddunes. Walking up the Sand Dunes was quite a challenge but the view was rewarding as well.

From the Cape we travelled to the South heading for the Bay of Islands. Eventually we arrived at Keri Keri. This is where we split again, by this time I was really glad about that.

On Monday I visited all the sites in and around Keri Keri, The oldest house in New Zealand the Stone house. there is also a copy of a pre-european Maori village called Rewa's Village, and the most impressive site where the ... waterfalls.

In the afternoon It was a short trip to Paihia my next destination, which is 'the' beach resort in the bay of islands. Just before reaching Paihia you can visit the 'The Waitangi Treaty grounds' a historic site at which the treaty between the British and the Maori was signed. Over there you can visit a beautifull Maori meeting house, and the treaty house.

I booked the full guided tour on tuesday morning, and luckily the weather was still ok. The tuesday afternoon however is really one more nice example of rainy new zealand. 

I will upload some pictures if I have access to WIFI with an unlimited upload.

Sinusitis

Apparantly the bad weather of the first 3 days is taking its toll. From thursday to friday I really had a bad night of sleep. Which resulted in a nice sinusitis. Yesterday I looked at all the options of continuing my journey. And continuing by bike is not the best option for the next few days.

Appart from the sinusitis, I also have to reconsider the travelling by bike in general. I honestly underestimated the New Zealand weather and countryside (steeper then expected). My travelling speed by bike is less then 60 km a day. During the cycling the main focus is to reach the nearest backpackers. Usually by the time i arrived at the backpackers I am exhausted. Now i know that this will improve over time. However my time in New Zealand is limited.

And when reviewing my priorities, then discovering New Zealand is the top one and travelling by bike is secondary to that. So taking the weather and the countryside into the equasion as well then the end result is that travellling by car is more suitable for discovering New Zealand.

Yesterday I could join Sue the owner of the Opononi backpackers for her grocery shopping trip to Kaihohe and Keri Keri. And while doing so i decided to rent a car for the next few days. Just to check out how the left hand driving is.

In all travelling by car will allow me to cover larger distances and save more time to see and do things.

Kauri Forest and Opononi

24th of september started at the campsite of the waipoua forrest. Initially i wanted to stay there another night. But the cabins are pretty basic, and i had some wet clothes which did not dry during the night. Besides that the weather was also nice in the morning so i decided to continue my travels up north.

When leaving the campsite it started of with a nice 7 km climb up to 386 meters. Kind of like cycling up the 'vaalserberg' but this time with 40kg of luggage, it took me about one hour.

Up on the mountain there are two main sites to visit the huge Kauri trees. Both have a spectacular view on some of the biggest Kauri trees in New Zealand. I managed to see the Tane Mahuta (largest living kauri) and the Te Matau Ngahere (second largest) and the Four Sisters.


From the forest onwards there was a nice downhill drive into Waimamaku then the cruising to Omapere and Opononi was fairly easy, except for one steep hill just before Omapere. This one is similar to the 'Cauberg' and with all the luggage I was not able to cycle all the way up.

By the time I reach Whakatane I really will reduce the number of kilo's of luggage. So I am already thinking about which things to leave there.


That last hill really cost me quite some energy. However the view from the top was a real compensation. Looking ahead the closest backpackers past Opononi would be in Kohu Kohu, which is another 30KM of cycling.


Luckily I decided to to stay in Opononi and guess what when i got my room it started to pour and it continued to rain for a couple of hours so it was a good choice to stay here for the night.

Tomorrow morning I will add some pictures to my latest posts.

Leaving Dargaville

Day 2 on the bike, after a good night of sleep in Dargaville the weatherforecast for today is not that great. Not that great means some rains are forecast and there will be a northerly wind. In short I suffered from a lot of headwind (= tegenwind in english). The headwind was even worse then on the 22nd, in fact on a steep hilly climb my average speed dropped to 6 km/h which is my absolute worst ever. I spend about 3 hours to on a 30 kilometer leg to visit Kaihu.


At the local Tavern i hoped to have a nice hot meal but unfortunatelly the cook was sick today. Luckily one of the guests recommended the minced meat and cheese pie, and these were great. From Kaihu towards the Waipoua Forest Camp grounds it is a 23 kilometer ride with some very steep hills. So we discussed all options on how to best cycle uphill.

Eventually 3 alternatives are available, one which the owner of the Backpackers in Dargaville recommended and another one only known by locals. But by the time i finished my 2nd pie Jack offered to drive me up the peak. Eventually he even drove me as far as the Waipou Forest camp grounds which proves once again the new zealand hospitality. This was due to the bad weather, it had started to rain continuously and the headwinds were fierce on top of the ridge.

At the camp site a number of cabins are available and luckily there were plenty available since it is not peak season.


The nice girl at the reception explained the difference between a 1 and 2 person cabin which resulten in 2 person cabin for 2 nights. It was a 300 meter walk from the reception to the cabin, and long enough to become really wet. Anyway the cabin is nice and dry, And since there is no TV nor internet i have plenty of time to write this story.


The actual ride is spectacular the countryside between Dargaville and Kaihu is simply stunning however due to the headwind I focussed mainly on my new friend the white line. In order to avoid problems with other drivers I stay closely to the white line on the lefthand side of the road. Due to the serious headwinds controlling the bike turned out to be quite a challenge.


Anyway i made it and that is what counts.