Places

This week has taken us down to Christchurch area, onto the Banks Peninsula at Akaroa and then back south and inland to the Southern Alps, taking in Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki. Before we came to Dunedin we took a side trip out right into the Southern Alps, to the neighbourhood of New Zealand’s highest mountain, Aoraki (Mt Cook). Now we are in Dunedin, a windy southern town with lots of Scottish connections, preparing to do some volunteering, which you’ll hear about next week.

Weather

It’s been mostly sunny with some intense wind and rainstorms in the mountains! It’s a lot cooler down here than in the North, especially at night. Also very windy when driving which makes for an interesting time when our high-top van acts as a sail.

Activities

If you look at the Banks Peninsula on a map, you can see the hilly, green terrain that flows down to meet the ocean in various natural bays – it looks idyllic, and it is. We stayed at Onuku farm hostel, which was as far as you could drive along the road until hitting the end of the line. Chubby chickens, misfit sheep and one ram with giant horns wandered around the field where we parked the van. There were posters for kayak rental, or a boat tour to ‘swim with dolphins’ for $130. Kelly really wanted to see dolphins, but the boat seemed a bit much and she had heard from another traveller that they had managed to see the dolphins on a kayak. We decided to give it a go, and the next day awoke at 7am to head down to the sparkling water. It was a perfect blue day, but the rather severe German lady at the hostel had warned us that the dolphins had gone out of the bay and into open sea, so we weren’t likely to see them. Still, the sunshine buoyed our spirits and we paddled out – not 15 minutes later Lucas caught sight of a telltale dark dorsal fin on the water. There were dolphins around! A pod of 3 started coming towards us, swimming right up to our kayaks and beneath them. The one other couple with us, Brits Sophie and Howard (who we then bumped into twice later at two different locations!) said that if you ‘play’ with them by paddling around, slapping the water, even making some noises underwater, you are more likely to hold their interest. And interested they were – they seemed to love following the kayaks around, surfing under our bows. We even jumped in the water, and watched as they sailed by, turning sideways to look at us, not a foot from our outstretched hands! There were more and more dolphins as the morning went on, and Kelly even saw one leap fully out of the water, almost 2 meters up. We were both so overwhelmed with joy, we couldn’t stop getting excited every time they swam under and around us in what seemed a friendly, curious way.  It was a truly special experience and we feel so lucky to have it.

Driving the ‘tourist road’ from Akaroa back to the mainland was a blast. The high, steep road gave us great views down at the bay where we had seen the dolphins.

We drove cross country and finally saw the big mountains and blue lakes for the first time, did some wild camping and hiking across grassy hillsides, that you can read about below. We  free camped at an absolutely stunning spot on the shores of the cerulean blue Lake Pukaki, and partook in a popular but brutally windlashed hike at Aoraki (Mt Cook). You can drive right up to the ‘V’ in the mountains where various glaciers have their terminus, and then hike a 3-hour return to the ‘Hooker Lake’, at the end of which is a glacial lake with huge chunks of rock-dusted ice are floating, having fallen off the end of the glacier. Unfortunately because of this easy accessibility, and the differing weather conditions between the bottom of the trail and the top, there were a LOT of people who were very unprepared for the whipping, icy windstorm at the top. We saw Europeans in jogging shorts and sneakers, and Chinese grannies in velour track pants and fluffy hello kitty hoodies all heading to the top, where Kelly felt the chill even with layers, a down jacket and a waterproof shell. They were not having a good time. We realised (again) the importance of being prepared, you never know what the mountains might throw at you!

Food

Yesterday we bought enough mussels for both of us for just over $4 (2 GBP) at the supermarket, and cooked up some garlic cream sauce again at our holiday park in Dunedin. So good – and such great value. We must eat more! Dry January is still ticking away boringly. We put white wine in the sauce – all the alcohol burned off, ok?!

Highlights

The hike through the hillsides east of Lake Tekapo was a great spontaneous adventure.  We just showed up to a parking lot and managed to fill our backpacks to the brim with camping supplies, water and food, then made our way up into the hills, climbing and climbing and climbing.  We found a beautiful flat little spot to pitch our tent next to a rolling creek just in time to watch the sunset over the golden hills.  While this was happening we also saw A WILD WALLABY (?!). The big mountains of New Zealand were lit up in the distance, and the sky was almost completely clear.  The near full moon came up over the hills beside us, and the stars were brilliant.  The next morning we awoke, forded the river, and found our own way back down the hills, route-finding along the way.  We hiked the nine kilometres back down to the car, with one more river crossing that Kelly considers a blunder, so you can read about it below.

Blunders

 

Although Kelly enjoyed walking off the trail in the golden grass, she was not impressed by the route back to the van at the bottom of the hill being blocked by a ring of thorny bushes. Lucas gamely found a way through, but it still seemed rather prickly and uninviting to Kelly, who looked around in vain for a better way. It seemed like the spiky shrubs were going to have to be faced head on, so she wrapped up in her jacket and made an awkward bid for freedom through a little hole. A few scratches later and she was through! Lucas said: “You wanted an adventure, you got it.” Kelly said: “…”

Wildcard

While we were hiking back from the glacier lake at Mt Cook, Kelly looked up to a pile of moraine and squinted… There was a figure on top of it. Stomping his way up a steep unmarked trail… with nothing less than a SWORD strapped to his back. She quickly beckoned to Lucas to check that her eyes were not deceiving her. Was that poles, or a sword? Lucas confirmed it was a sword, and we decided that if we were somehow able to find a wizard costume and get to the top of the hill before him, it would probably be the best prank ever to reveal ourselves to him and give a bit more credence to whatever epic fantasy life he was living out in his head. Good for you, mate. What a legend.

I have left the photos big on this blog because they are great pics. Do you like it or do you prefer them smaller?

Places

We are on the South Island! It’s been a week of big movements for us – we’ve come a long way. We started by driving from Taupo to Napier, where we picked up some supplies, and on to a remote free campsite at Kairakau beach. We then drove on to a spot about halfway between there and Wellington, where we stopped and camped in a free spot by a clear, cool river. The next day took us to Wellington, where we parked up in a marina and spent the weekend happily exploring this very cool city and meeting friends, old and new! On Monday we had an ungodly 4:15am wakeup to get the Cook Strait ferry over to Picton in the South Island, and headed west to Nelson.  From Nelson we moved south through the mountains, weaving our way between lakes, rivers and some pretty jagged peaks.

Weather

It has been mostly hot and sunny, although we experienced some of Wellington’s famous winds – they are ripping! Our ferry crossing was a little cloudy and some rain welcomed us to the south, but it looks good for the next week or so although the nights are colder now (this makes Lucas quite happy).

 

Activities

We had a couple of friends that lived in Wellington that we were able to meet up with.  They showed us typical Kiwi hospitality, showing off the beauty and culture Wellington has to offer. A group of new friends we hiked with had all been employed by Weta Workshop  – the legendary special effects company behind Lord of the Rings, and they had worked directly on the Hobbit films (as well as that, they had previously worked in Sydney on Harry Potter! (Kelly geeked out over this and felt like they were important people.) We did a couple of hikes through the greenspaces of Wellington, climbing some mountains to get a good look at the city and the fantastic beaches and hills around it.  It really amazed us that you could go on legit hikes all while being more or less inside the confines of the city.

Because the streets are so steep, the architecture in Wellington is unique for just about every house and building; they use the shape and the topography of the landscape to design each building accordingly.  It makes for a very pretty town.  We also got to watch a concert in the botanical gardens there (yes, we still love botanical gardens) with Kelly’s high school friend Roz and her beau.  It was at night and they had a psychedelic light show on through the park which provided for a very whimsical setting.  We also took the cable car up to the top of town for a very cool view.  As you can tell, we really liked the city and hope we can come back sometime.

We’ve done a lot of driving this week and it will be nice to slow down soon and do a few more activities.

Food

We met up with a friend of a friend in Wellington named Thomas, who invited us for dinner with his flat mates.  They were all just really bright, engaging folks, and they made us a dinner of corn on the cob which they bbq’ed with parmesan and lime, along with a nice stir fry and a fresh salad.  The conversation was engaging, and we left feeling like we had just left a house in the age before cellphones and internet, where roommates and friends would sit down to conversation and just talk with each other, sharing stories and swapping ideas.  It was a real friendly atmosphere and the dinner was great.

Highlights

We loved getting to see Wellington through the eyes of locals. We also went to see a really fantastic exhibition at the Museum of NZ in Wellington, which is a great resource in itself. It’s free, as museums should be, and they had a special exhibit on the ANZAC involvement in the Battle of Gallipoli. It was a very well presented narrative, with lots of technology used to communicate the terrible nature of the conflict to us. They also had huge, ultra-realistic sculptures of soldiers and other historical characters, lit dramatically with their voices projected eerily in the room. It seemed like the giants would come alive any second – Weta workshop, the film company, had made the poignant models especially for the exhibit. We came away from it thinking that it seemed like such a pointless waste of so many people’s lives; what a tragedy. Pretty bleak for a highlight we know, but interesting!

Blunders

We are still on a dry January.  That means not a drop of alcohol for the entire month.  We have now passed through the craft beer capital (Wellington) and the wine capital (Marlborough) without a drink to be had.  Some might say it is in our best interest to refrain from the drop, but right now it would sure feel good for even just a taste of beer.

Wildcard

Lucas has been trying to get his hands on a particular Canadian comic/graphic novel for Kelly for a while. While walking the hip and trendy streets of Wellington, we found a comics store – and they had the volume he wanted in stock! It was an awesome read and she is now seeking out the next one.

Places

We last left you at the New Year’s Day hangi food fest at Mason’s beach house. On January 2^nd we were due to depart, as our friends had already left to go to a wedding in the Philippines. Their parents, our hosts, kindly offered us an open parking spot and leftover hangi food until Lucas felt well enough to go. His earache was bothering him, so we rested another day and left on the 3^rd by way of the Manakau Heads lighthouse, which had an imposing view of the choppy waters and the sandbar beyond where a large ship was wrecked in the old days. We crossed the country East-West and stayed in Tauranga for two nights, and then Katikati, the ‘avocado capital’ of NZ, for another two. Having left Katikati yesterday we drove South, passing through Rotorua for its famed geothermal features and down to Lake Taupo again. We’re camped on the lake now, having just watched a gorgeous sunset over the water with the mountains behind, and the sky is now fading to opalescent orange, yellow and turquoise with a thin sliver of a moon.

Weather

We are full-on into Southern Hemisphere summer and it’s been extremely sunny over the last few days, getting up to 28 degrees. We’ve also had some pretty intense winds – we were watching Indiana Jones and the van was rocking from side to side, creating a kind of 4D cinema effect!

Activities

Kelly has been living her best beach babe life and has enjoyed swimming in the ocean at Mount Maunganui, as well as various creeks, rivers and lakes! Lucas has been less aquatic because of his ear, but has had time for a lot of guitar playing and song writing.

At Rotorua we got a taste of the famous geothermal wonders that this region is known for. The Maori have used the hot pools and hot mud for therapeutic purposes for hundreds of years and have many legends surrounding the sacred (and somewhat eggy) waters. As we didn’t want to pay entry into the bigger parks, we walked around a free park in town that still had some awesomely weird, prehistoric features. Hot, bubbling mud pools lay alongside steaming volcanic craters and pools. A hot stream lead to a boiling lake, fringed with brightly coloured algae. It was a sweltering day and even hotter near the water.

A 30 min drive outside of Rotorua found us at Kerosene Creek, another free natural hot water spot. This is a wild creek flowing through some forest, with a series of little waterfalls that happen to be around 38c – perfect spa temperature. It was a very strange feeling swimming up to a hot waterfall, that churned the water exactly like an electronic Jacuzzi. Nature is nuts!

Food

Near year, new us! We have started the year with a healthy bent, and have made lots of salads and vegetarian food. Lucas concocted some awesome vegetarian burritos, and as we are in the land of the avocado, lots of guacamole is also making an appearance. We’ve even made sushi! Also, brace yourselves because this is big news, we are doing DRY JANUARY. Wish us luck as we spend this month booze free, hoping our wallets and waistlines will thank us. We have already said about 10 times that a cold beer/wine would be great right now. We’re lasting okay so far but Kelly is feeling some trepidation about travelling to the South Island and through Marlborough (prime Sauvignon Blanc territory – help).

Highlights

We arrived at the freedom camping spot in Lake Taupo yesterday (for Kelly that was the third body of water she swam in that day), and loved the short little beach on the giant lake.  This morning we had to come back in for another lounging session before we packed up the van and moved on down the highway.  However, after an hour or so by the water it became apparent that we didn’t want to go anywhere else: so we didn’t!  We spent all day beachside, playing Frisbee, reading our books that we’re hooked on, playing guitar, and swimming (although Lucas kept his head above water and dry as he’s still recovering from an ear infection).  It was a near perfect day doing just about nothing.

Blunders

Lucas is still frustrated that our second battery that is dedicated to the cab isn’t working. We lose charge very quickly so our fridge is not being run full time.  Lucas brought it into a battery shop to get it charged, but it’s still giving troubles, so for now we need to use our groceries up fairly quickly to avoid spoilage.  In the whole scheme of things our problems are pretty darn insignificant aren’t they?

Wildcard

We tried out a new style of camping this week, a real trip back to nature.  We drove by a sign called KatiKati Naturist Park… with the tagline ‘for clothes free recreation’. Why not? We showed up and promptly ditched our clothes.  Was it awkward? Well, not really. We got used to it pretty quickly, and managed to spend a day really evening out our tans.  Highlights would probably be Lucas playing a game of large (the pieces only) outdoor chess with an old man.  Talk about sizing up the competition.  It was also alongside a beautiful large river rock creek, which had many eels ranging from one foot long to three.  You could put your toes and hands in the water and the eels would come up and nibble on you.  Counter to the way they are often perceived, the eels are actually quite cute, and as far as we could tell harmless to humans.  They can live for up to 100 years and migrate very long distances at the end of their lives back to the rivers they were born in.  Kelly grabbed her snorkel mask and went snorkelling with them in the creek (yes she was as naked as they were).  It was a fun experience that we were glad we tried out, and in the end, the bottom line, is that it is something we could get behind if it ever rears its head again, and they’ll have us back. Bums. |_)_)

Some regular readers will have no doubt realized that this update is over a week late.  You’ll have to excuse us for our holiday from our…. er, holiday.  As you will read ahead, we had a nice relaxing time over the holidays.  Lucas came down with an ear infection that slowed him down (but not on New Years), and we come into the new year relaxed and ready to explore more of this great country.

Places

We started our Christmas holidays with a trip up to Lake Taupo for a lakeside camp with our friend Brodie. Then a quick jaunt over to the west coast for a few days of surfing and boozing with friends. Followed by a cruise back up to Auckland for Christmas with friends and their family, and then the remaining time around New Years at our friend Mason’s family’s oceanside cabin (called a bach here) for some beachside relaxation.

Weather

It’s getting sunnier and sunnier, although at Xmas there was a huge rainstorm and on Christmas Eve we were called in to move the huge marquee onto the patio, as the grass had become too waterlogged!

Activities

At Taupo we viewed a powerful waterfall called Huka Falls. It drains Lake Taupo, and a few hundred metres upstream from the falls, the Waikato River narrows from approximately 100 metres across into a canyon only 15 metres across – this creates an icy blue, formidably powerful gushing sluice that you wouldn’t want to fall in – it was quite a touristy place by our standards, and not our favourite stop.

We didn’t stop at any of the thermal vent walks around Taupo because we were on our way to Raglan – hippy enclave and surf bum town – to meet some old friends of Kelly’s from her days living in Hong Kong. Vinny was volunteering in the garden at the eco-retreat we were staying at, in exchange for room and board, and Katie and Johnny are on an extended honeymoon where they will live and work for a year, similar to us. It was good to see all three of them, and Mason even joined us from Auckland for a sunny all-day ‘Jungle Juice’ drinking session (Lucas made the aforementioned fruit punch in a bucket, it was lethal!). The next day Brodie and I did a tough 1.5hr yoga class, which got us sweating! Then we did a bit of surfing – you can’t come to Raglan and not surf – but the conditions weren’t great. It was still good to be in the water though, albeit busy. It’s a popular spot. The town itself is full of very hip, cute boutiques selling handmade jewellery and eco-friendly homeware, as well as the obligatory surf shops and Bali-esque brunch cafes. It was a very pleasant town and we did some last minute Xmas shopping there.

After Raglan it was back to Auckland for the Xmas festivities! Brunch at Mason’s parent’s house in the morning, following by a nap and then over to his aunt and uncle’s place in the countryside for a LOT of sparkling wine and a huge pot-luck Christmas dinner. We bought some baked yams and a Caesar salad as they requested something ‘Canadian’ (?!).

The next day we were lucky to be invited to the Hart’s ‘Bach’ (a bach means a beach house or cabin and is short for ‘bachelor’s). Their bach is located at Orua Bay at the Manakau Heads, and is a stone’s throw from a sandy beach which looks out onto the green rolling hills across the huge natural harbour. We were promised that good fishing abounded in the harbour, and Mason took us out on their fibreglass 4-person boat to try our luck. Sure enough, we all got some snappers on our line – although some of them we put back, because they were undersized. Sometimes they can get snapper over half a metre long – we were in the boat when Mason’s dad hooked one the next day! Lucas learned how to fillet the snapper, so you can make the boneless fish into curry or anything you want.

Another main activity of the last few weeks has been drinking – New Zealand has some pretty great craft beer, so we’ve been working our way through all the IPAs, APAs and pale ales that we can try. New Year’s Eve was spent in a very kiwi manner – drinking as much as we could, playing games (we had a spikeball tournament, which Kelly won with her team partner Cooper, a 15 year old cousin of Mason’s), and generally making merry. Mason’s family has a ‘nudie run’ traditional where all the men run down the sandy road to the sea after midnight – sans clothes. Lucas somehow managed to get the timing wrong and had stripped down to his birthday suit a bit early, much to the amusement of the other party-goers. Brodie and Kelly, not to be outdone by the men, decided that they wanted to perform the inaugural WOMEN’S nudie run, so hid behind a car until the dudes had passed them by and ran into the water behind them for maximum stealth! Kelly even noticed some bioluminescent in the water which was sparkling pale blue. Lucas thinks she had just had too much champagne (but it actually was there, ok!).

On New Year’s Day we were treated to a family tradition of the ‘hangi’ – more on that later in the food section. The Harts hosted over 30 people and it was very social.

Food

This was a couple weeks filled with some great, great food.  Our first culinary adventure was Christmas Brunch, a fine meal we had with friends on their back porch, while we made the most of a brief break in the pouring rain to get outside.  We had hollandaise sauce, streaky bacon, ham, asparagus, all sorts of great fruit, poached eggs, and of course Christmas champagne and orange juice.

 

Shortly after that large meal, we had a Christmas dinner just outside of Auckland in the countryside.  It was far and away the most diverse Christmas dinner we have ever had, with not just the traditional fixings of ham, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots (although they were all as fantastic as ever), but also salmon, and fresh prawns, burritos, kumara (New Zealand Yams … which Lucas made with a caramel sauce and roasted pecans and walnuts).
There were many great desserts, but in typical Lucas and Kelly fashion, we were far too full from supper to get to try them.

 

Our next highlight meal was the fish we caught while at Mason’s bach.  Almost every day for a week we would go out in his small boat. Waiting for the high tide to reach so there was no current as the harbour we are in gets some pretty treacherous current. Then we would drop sinkers with squid on hooks to the bottom and wait usually less than a minute for a red snapper to either eat the bait or get hooked.  And speaking of getting hooked, once we got these beautiful little fish home, we would do them up in the hot smoker with salt, herbs and spices… and boy, have we been hooked on that.  Each day we would usually catch 8-10 on average, for a group of 8 of us.  These smoked fish were a fantastic treat to snack on.

The last culinary delight (until you get to the wildcard of course) comes from New Years Day. We had the pleasure and luck to be invited to a traditional Maori Hangi, a New Zealand feast that is cooked in the ground.

On the day of New Years Eve, some folks took the tractor to a neighbours and collected firewood and some manuka bush to burn.  We then dug a big pit in the yard.  On New Years morning we got the fire going hot with lots of big pieces of steel way in the bottom.  Meanwhile, many hands in the kitchen were busy preparing all the food, taking all the leaves off of big cabbages and wrapping 2 lamb legs, 1 corned beef roast, 2 pork roasts, and 2 chickens, along with many Kumara (those New Zealand yams), cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. Once the food was covered in cabbage leaves they were covered in wetted cloths and placed into metal baskets.  After about 4 hours the fire had heated up the metal to sufficient temperature. Then we moved the remaining burning firewood out of the way and used shovels and rakes to get the heavy (and very very hot) metal over to the hole, were it was carefully arranged to allow the metal baskets to sit on top. The baskets were placed in, and then burlap sacks which had been soaked all morning were placed on top.  Then the earth from the dug up hole was placed on top, but before it was completely sealed off, about 10 litres of water was added to the hole to steam the feast.  Finally, one cheap beer was emptied into the hole and it was fully covered with dirt.

Then the hard part came… the waiting.  After about four hours the hole was dug up, the sacks moved out of the way and the metal baskets removed.  What came out of the basket was perfectly cooked, steamed meat and veggies, which had a wonderful earthy smell and taste to it.  The feast provided more than enough food for the 36 people present, and we had a great evening just eating and playing games by the fire and telling jokes and stories.  We both felt very lucky to get to take part in such a famed New Zealand ritual.

Highlights

We’d say our highlights for the last few weeks was partying with Brodie, Mason and the Harts – they were all so much fun and really made our Christmas and New Year’s here something special! The famed kiwi hospitality is very genuine. There was a lot of questionable language and even more questionable dance moves. We also enjoyed hanging out with Wiremou, Mason’s aunt’s pet goat, who was a bit of a character and had hair like an aging Rastafarian. Hanging out with her old friends was fun for Kelly, and we have since met up with them again yesterday in Tauranga.

Blunders

It was a rainy drive from Taupo to Raglan so Kelly turned the lights of the van on… Of course, in the excitement of arriving in a premier surf town, she left the car lights on. When we came back from our wander into town, she tried to start Harley up but couldn’t get a peep out of her… Kelly turned to Lucas and said “I’ve done a bad thing.”

Brodie and I then tried to push the van down the street, helped by a kind passerby, and the van was resurrected by Lucas. Thank you and sorry…

Wildcard

While in the surf town of Raglan, we met up with an old friend of Kelly from Hong Kong named Vinny.  He had been in Raglan for a while and tipped us off to a beach with mussels a half an hour drive south of there. Sceptical, yet intrigued we drove down when the tide was nearly all the way out.  We found a beach just full of them, and the four of us collected about 120 for a dinner for 8 people that night.  Brodie made a wonderful sauce out of white wine, cream, onions, garlic, and shallots, and Kelly, Lucas and Mason had the arduous task of scrubbing and cleaning all those mussels.  It turned out well worth it in the end, as those mussels in a pot, and our friend Andy’s wonderful rice salad, along with some fine bread and butter were the best meal we have had in New Zealand by far as of yet (Lucas wrote that line, then asked Kelly if she would agree and she gave an enthusiastic nod).  We have almost planned another trip over there just to have more this month.

Thanks for staying with us, fine reader.  We hope to keep this thing more regular so it’s more digestible for you next time.  Happy New Year, and all our love and best wishes for the future,
Kelly and Lucas

 

Places

This week covers Wednesday 12^th to the following Wednesday – it’s a few days late as we have been busy on the road with our guest vanlifer, Brodie! We started off driving south of Auckland to Matamata, where Lord of the Rings comes to life at the Hobbiton movie set. We then headed east to Mount Maunganui and Whakatane, both beach towns with a laid back vibe. We followed the coast all the way around to the East Cape to see the ‘first sunrise in the world’, and after hitting Gisborne drove inland to hike Lake Waikeremoana. From there we travelled a little further down the coast to Napier and Hawkes Bay, the wine capital of the North Island. We covered a lot of ground!

Weather

It was sunny all week! Brodie has brought the warm weather along with her.

Activities

When we left Auckland with Brodie we had no idea what we had planned for the day. Brodie suggested Hobbiton – the movie set from Lord of the Rings – and we knew we had to go. All three of us are Lord of the Rings geeks and I was pretty much beside myself when we were waiting for the tour bus to take us onto the huge sheep farm that Peter Jackson’s team scouted for the film back in 1998. The verdant, gently rolling hills suited the fictional world of the shire perfectly. We were part of a tour group of about 30 people, with a guide who takes you around the site and shows you where various famous scenes were filmed (we saw the pine trees where Gandalf first arrives – “You’re late.”). The ‘hobbit holes’, where the characters live underground, have incredible attention to detail – you look in a window to see little jars of relish and pickles; one garden has a honeycomb in a pot and faux honey pots for sale. There were immaculate vegetable gardens contained within miniature fences and stiles. Some of the homes are built 90% to the size of people, and some of them much smaller – this is to give the illusion of the actors being much bigger than the dwarf-like hobbits. One particularly memorable detail was that all the mailboxes were beautifully painted and then weathered to look old! It was a dream come true for Lucas, Brodie and Kelly to step foot in the magical world of one of their favourite stories.

We then hit up a free camp spot close to Mount Maunganui (‘The Mount’ to locals) which turned out to be a hidden gem. We parked up at the Kaiate Falls carpark and followed a mini-hike trail to some dramatic, triple-level waterfalls. Further down, another deluge of water pooled into a grotto of mossy cliffs and fern fronds, with the biggest rope swing we’ve ever seen. It was late in the day when we arrived otherwise we might have been tempted! Unfortunately, some local youngsters had also discovered the spot and made us feel very old by keeping us awake all hours of the morning – we left just past 4am to catch the sunrise up Mount Maunganui!  This was Lucas and Kelly’s first time waking up before 4am for a long time and took some time before Lucas and Brodie were at the same level of consciousness to keep up with Kelly’s seemingly endless enthusiasm, even before morning coffee has been had.

We had heard that the view from the Mount was best at dawn, and as we puffed our way up the hill we were passed by hosts of very sporty looking joggers, who looked like they hit the summit daily before work. In fact, Mt Maunganui seemed to consist of mainly fit and healthy people living a California-esque beach lifestyles – Kelly and Lucas could see themselves spending some time there if a job was available!

 

Our second hike was yet another dawn hike.  After hitting up the northernmost point of the country less than a month ago we now had an opportunity to go out to the easternmost point of the country. We once again got up at 4am, and in the dark packed up our campsite along the beautiful dune shores outside of Te Araroa. After a short drive along some clay cliffs, we got to a trailhead in the middle of some paddocks. After a sweaty 800 stair climb we came out at the lighthouse that marked the eastern most point just in time to witness the sun come up over the Pacific and softly light up the green hills behind us. After this hike the gang all agreed they’d had enough 4am hikes for the rest of the week.

Brodie found an online report of a natural waterslide out in the sticks, and Harley took us up through the winding hills right to the top of the slide.  We bought a boogie board and an inflatable tortoise (although it may have been a turtle… Kelly will probably correct me) to slide down the awesome slippery slope.  We took many fun runs, but unfortunately Brodie slammed her posterior on our last ride of the day and had to suffer a tender tushie for the hiking we did over the next few days. We decided to leave the inflatables at the waterslide for future adventurers to enjoy.

Another great adventure with Brodie was a trip inland and up into the mountains, where we booked a night at a hut on one of the Great Tracks of New Zealand, the Lake Waikaremoana Great Track.  We intentionally picked the hardest hike, starting at lake level and climbing up to over 1150m above sea level, where our large hut sat on the edge of the escarpment that teetered along the south edge of the lake.  Our legs were tired from all the uphill, but not as tired as they would be the next day as we went back down to lake level.

In Napier, we admired the pastel-painted 1930s Deco buildings, wonderfully looked after and bordered by palm-tree lined streets. It is completely different architecturally to everywhere else we’ve been, due to being razed by an earthquake and rebuilt during the heyday of Art Deco design. The oceanfront boardwalk had a spa and pool complex that would have looked inviting on a warm day (it was a bit chilly that morning). That afternoon came the activity that Kelly has been most excited for: yes, wine tasting. We vineyard-hopped all afternoon, from the oldest winery in NZ (Mission Estate), which was housed in a grand colonial style building, to a small, organic winery called Moana Park where we tasted a great variety of tipples, including a cloudy sparkling wine and a delicious Merlot-Malbec that Lucas and I bought a bottle of for our Christmas dinner.

Food

We decided to treat ourselves in Napier, the quaint-but-hip ‘Art Deco’ capital of the North Island. After perusal of the internet Kelly decided on Pacifica, a seafood restaurant that was voted one of NZ’s best last year. After our big hike, it felt good to treat ourselves. We started off with some great cocktails, Lucas, missing ‘Caesars’ back home (Canada’s Bloody Mary), had a tomato-based tequila drink, and the girls chose bubbly. We were served a beautifully presented 5-course tasting meal, with some highlights being the delicately smoked warehou fish mayonnaise appetiser, as well as crunchy polenta-crusted gurnard with thinly-sliced marinated squid ‘noodles’ underneath. Needless to say we are on a strict food budget for the next little while!

 

Highlights

Our highlight this week was some awesome surfing at Ohope beach near Whakatane (pronounced fa-ka-ta-nay). We rented some boards from a nearby surf shop and hopped over the nearest headland to ‘New Zealand’s Favourite Beach’ – complete with some smooth, fun, intermediate-friendly waves. Kelly started out with a 9’ board and Lucas had a 6’ short board and we both managed to catch some great rides. Brodie borrowed the longboard and had a blast catching some waves too – a memorable day in the sun and the brine! We are hoping we might be able to surf this week in Raglan but the conditions might not cooperate.

 

Blunders

No blunders this week! Woohoo!

Wildcard

After another full day at the waterslides, and with Brodie’s backdoor bruise, we stumbled upon a hot springs on our drive to our campsite that night.  We went in and did the hike up roughly 400m from the road through a dense forest of palm trees called nikau palms. As we got away from the road the sounds, stresses, and signs of the current world dissipated away, until we came around a corner to the springs themselves, gently lit up by the soft sunlight whispering through the trees, and the calm splashes of the stream echoing through the grove.  There were three pools and we had them to ourselves.  We soaked in wonder, feeling fairly sure that we had slipped into another world with gods and goddesses, magic, and mortals.  We soaked for long but not nearly long enough and each walked down individually feeling physically and spiritually refreshed as we came back into the current world.

 

Places

This week took us to the beachside bay-studded wonderland of Tutukaka, jumping-off point for the Poor Knight’s Island dive, across to the estuary village of Tinopai, and then back to Auckland for some time with our friends Brodie and Mason. Brodie just finished teaching on Friday for the long holidays, and she is going to spend about 11 days travelling around with us in the van. Mason is still working so he’s not able to come. We have a tent which she is using, and one of these nights Lucas might take a turn in it, as he is missing life under canvas (and, possibly, a bed to himself!?). We took the time in Auckland to figure out some storage solutions for the van, and Lucas brought them into reality with his creative and practical skills!

Weather

Finally we’re getting a bit more sun. We are slowly building up our suntans but making sure to slap on the SPF as the sun here is very powerful. It’s been very windy, and that meant some big swells when we were on the ocean!

Activities

Last Tuesday we bit the bullet and paid the small fortune required to go scuba diving in this country – it was worth every cent, more on that in this week’s highlights.

When staying in a little community campground in the harbour village of Tinopai, we parked our campervan just a metre from the sea wall, where about a foot of water would lap at high tide. One afternoon we glanced down and there was an eagle ray cruising around, almost directly below the van! What a cool sight, right in our backyard. Looking out for sea life remains one of our favourite activities here in the North Island.

When we got to Auckland, Mason and his family were kind enough to host us.  They welcomed Lucas to fully utilize their woodshop/garage in the backyard. Lucas took the rest time to make a shelf, a spice rack, and a moveable bookshelf, as well as getting in an oil change, fluid top up, car wash and some mucking about with our fridge system that we’ve had some trouble with.  Lucas was happy to get to utilize some fine woodworking skills again. 🙂

While Lucas got his craft on,  Kelly managed to do a little bit of Christmas shopping, with moral support from Brodie. Sorry for family and friends far and wide, you might get a card that comes a little late! Apparently the mail here takes a long time, and for an international Christmas delivery the date has long passed.

This Tuesday (yesterday) we were in Auckland with some down-time and decided to pay it a visit on Brodie’s recommendation. We were impressed! The enclosures seemed big enough, and well taken care of with suitable habitats for the animals, who looks in good condition. The zoo also takes part in numerous conservation efforts, including supporting Cheetah Outreach, a centre in South Africa that Kelly visited with her mum and sister! We saw everything from the giants of the savannah, giraffes, to the cheeky and characterful meerkats, and tiny ‘little blue penguins’, native to New Zealand. A highlight was when we returned to visit the lion enclosure in the cooler afternoon, the snoozing big cats had woken up. One male with a luscious mane was stalking around, and a few times he looked right at us. With just a stretch of water between us, it was an intense moment. He even gave us a roar. The cheetahs were beautiful too, and quite active. And in the dim night time section of the zoo, we finally laid our eyes on the elusive kiwi!

Food

At Mason’s family’s house we had cooked up another lamb leg, again finishing it on the BBQ with rosemary, butter and of course garlic.  Another treat was fresh oysters which you can read more about in our wildcard below.  A new treat for Lucas was heading out to a Szechuan restaurant in Auckland, which Lucas had never had before.  Kelly ordered up four different dishes, each of them unique, but all of them spicy.  We had a beef jerky dish, a cucumber salad dish, a noodle dish, and a dumpling dish.  Every dish was quite spicy, and Kelly and Lucas had to drink lots of water.  It was  Lucas’ first experience with the unique tingling sensation in the mouth and on the lips of the Szechuan pepper. Yum.

Highlights

Imagine a glittering, undulating wall of fish, each single one six inches, but tessellated in a gigantic, moving curtain that towers above you. That was the sight that greeted us on our second dive in the ‘Blue Mao Mao Arch’ at the famous Poor Knights Islands. But how did we end up 16m underwater, 26km offshore at a rugged set of uninhabited islands off the coast of New Zealand? When Captain Cook first sailed these islands, he named them – and no one really knows why they have such a bizarre name. Our captain gave us a few ideas – apparently they look like a knight lying on his side if viewed from a certain angle. They are uninhabited because of a Maori dispute over the pigs that Captain Cook dropped off there centuries ago. Other tribes grew envious of the island tribe’s pigs, and an attempt to get them by a mainlander resulted in a massacre. Consequently, the Maori put a ‘tapu’ or curse on the islands, declaring that no one could live there. Since then, it has been turned into a marine reserve. It’s said that Jacques Cousteau dived the islands and put them in his top 10 best dives in the world.

After a stomach-churning rollercoaster ride in 2 metre swell out to the islands, our boat threaded its way through the channel between the islands into calmer waters. We passed through a giant, towering sea arch, over 50 metres high, which acted as a gateway to the sheltered, more shallow waters of the islands. The water was a deep, cold blue. Unlike a coral reef, we got no hints of what lay below until we suited up, strapped on our BCDs and tanks, and jumped in. Looking down through our masks, we could see a myriad of blue fish swimming by our feet, and a colourful carpet of kelp below, waving in the current. It was stunning! As soon as we dropped down Kelly spied a stingray flapping its wings in the weed, but it skimmed off before Lucas got a look. Our first dive was like flying over a forest waving in the wind, with so many fish hidden in the seaweed. Tiny, neon nudibranchs (sea slugs) were to be found on the rock walls, as well as moray eels in little nooks, and black angelfish that wouldn’t be out of place in a tropical reef. There’s a reason for this – The East Australian Current (or EAC, made famous by a certain chilled-out turtle in the movie Finding Nemo) brings warm water up to the islands, allowing tropical species to live here in the summer months. Hence the colourful fish. We saw kingfish working as a team to hunt smaller fish. Another fish looked like it was wearing leopard print – it’s called a leatherjacket. The dive was called “Magic Wall” and there was so much to look at on the rocky reef walls.

After some hot chocolate and soup to warm us up on our surface interval, we went down again in the afternoon and dived the aforementioned ‘Blue Mao Mao Arch’. This was our favourite as we had the experience of diving through the huge school of Blue Mao Mao, Kelly stopped a sting-ray, did a ridiculous underwater dance to try and get Lucas’ attention, and he glimpsed it too. It’s actually very difficult to get someone’s attention underwater when they’re not looking your way – which is why you can sometimes see entirely different things on the dive than your buddy! Lucas and Kelly stayed down with the instructors while other members of our group went to the surface, as we had used less air than them. We did our safety stop and played with a sea urchin. If you touch them softly they don’t hurt you, and have little suckers that struck to Kelly’s hand like Velcro. Lucas looked unimpressed, probably remembering his foot injury from one of its brethren.

With our love for diving reignited, we retired for the day with our minds full of the magic of the deep.

Blunders

While at the quaint little campsite in Tinopai Kelly suggested that we go for a walk up to the wharf at the end of the peninsula. She asked Lucas if he wanted to bring his fishing rod and he claimed that it would be too complicated so we left without it (you can probably guess where this is going). We took a nice stroll through the town to the wharf, where a tidal flow was rushing swiftly along the shoreline.  We ventured a gaze under the wharf and saw a medium sized eagle ray.  Then in the waters beside it we spotted a giant shape moving.  It was a very big Kingfish, over a meter in length, easily resting in the current.  We watched in wonder as it moved in and out of the shade with ease.  Kingfish in New Zealand are one of the loftiest dreams of the local anglers; they are massive, delicious, and put up a great fight.  And the one we saw will keep fighting for at least another day, because Lucas left his rod back at the van.

Wildcard

Lucas went walking down onto the mud flats of our camp almost immediately when we arrived in Tinopai.  He had an oyster hunch.  After meeting a friendly old lady on the beach he learned a couple tricks to harvesting the delicious creatures.  He got a bucket of about a dozen of them and brought them up to camp, and after a few too many mishaps with a kitchen knife and a flathead screwdriver, a neighbour came over and Lucas started to get the hang of shucking them properly. He served them up raw with lemon, a little pepper and some hot sauce, and man oh man, they were delicious.

Places

This week took us to the Northernmost point of New Zealand*, Cape Reinga, to remote camping at uninhabited Spirits Bay, then down to the giant sand dunes of Te Paki at the Northwest tip of New Zealand. The sun came out for a sundown surf in Ahipara, a town at the base of the famous 90 Mile Beach (actually ‘only’ 56 miles long). From there we drove to Waipoura Kauri tree forests (some of the only native forest left here), zipped through a hamlet called Donnelly’s Crossing (give us a wave, Dave), and finally wended our way back to the more sheltered East coast for snorkelling in one of Tutukaka’s many bays. There’s a lot to share this week, so stick with us!

 

*almost – there are remote islands further north

Weather

Still raining like hell, especially in Ahipara! Luckily we get periods of sunshine every now and again and it’s about 20 C in the day. We’re hoping for some more consistent sun soon…

Activities

We learned so much about New Zealand’s past at the Treaty of Waitangi museum, as well as seeing a Maori performance (including a bit of the famous haka war dance!). Then, we departed north.

Driving the long spit of land to Cape Reinga felt very much like the road to nowhere. It reminded Kelly of Land’s End in Cornwall, as slowly the sea was encroaching either side of us until we were on the cliffs at the end of the line. Huge sand dunes lay to the West, the product of ancient volcanic eruptions and powerful winds and currents blowing the sand out of the sea and onto the land, where they continue to be reshaped by the weather. As we neared the lighthouse that must have been the relief of many sailors crossing the wide Pacific, we could see the churning ocean, boiling with many whirlpools and capricious currents. This is where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific ocean. It is also an important place for the Maori (I am finally spelling it right) people. They believed that when they died, they would follow a Spirit Road across the centre of the North Island, a road that follows the ridges of the land and ends in the sharp rocks and crashing waves of Cape Reinga. The souls would descend into the underworld from a huge rock, still visible today, disappearing under the whirling currents and pulled back finally to their Polynesian homelands in the East. There is a very old Kauri tree gripping onto that rock, and the roots make stairs down into the ocean for the spirits. It is quite a sobering place.

We stayed at the remote campsite Spirits Bay, which was around half an hour away, down a gravel road. The campsite is just behind a huge, sweeping beach, backed by green headland dotted with wild-looking horses. The sand was a beautiful shade of pinkish gold as it was made up of tiny discs of multi-coloured shells. Lucas wanted to go fishing, so we clambered up onto some exposed rocks at low tide, and cast a line in. The water was clear and we could see fish in the depths, but then as we were watching a HUGE, 1 metre wide ray swam past, followed by a second one shortly after. We had hardly recovered from the awesomeness of the rays, when a 1.5m silver shark swam slowly by the rock we were standing on. Kelly nearly had a heart attack from excitement / shock, it was so beautiful to see such a big fish!

After our night in Spirits Bay we began to travel south. But before we worked our way down the coast, we jumped over to the northwest corner of the country where the Great Sand Dunes are.  When we arrived at the sand dunes we were surprised at the size of them, the rolling hills seemed to just disappear in the horizon, and the outlines of people already there seemed to be just small blips in our foreground.  We travelled up the hills, but a punishing wind was picking up the abrasive sand and blasting our bodies, feeling like thousands of little cuts all at once.  We climbed one very steep hill, and when there was a momentary lull in the wind we jumped down it, boot skiing along like a fresh powder day.
When we arrived at Ahipara, a quaint little surf town on the southern tip of ninety mile beach, it was raining cats and dogs and it really didn’t seem to want to let up.  The surf didn’t look good when we arrived and we feared we would have to wait for bigger waves down south before we scratched the surf itch.  However on the second day the winds righted themselves and lined up towards the beach.  We rented boards for an evening session and by some great luck the rains ceased and the sun even poked its way through the clouds from time to time.  We rented 8 foot softboards and put on our full wetsuits; surprisingly the water felt quite warm.  We just kind of felt in the zone and were getting up on (the albeit small) waves for the entire session.  It felt great to be surfing in the water together again, feeling the wash hit you and the sunshine light up the crest of the waves.  We went to bed that evening feeling like we were still rolling through the ocean waves.

South of Ahipara we drove down country backroads, winding our way through paddocks and little patches of mountainy forest.  The landscape up in the north can be a strange blend of tropical palm trees, native grasses, and coniferous trees like pine.  It feels like someone took the west coast of Canada, and the jungles of Bali and mixed them in a blender.  We took a car ferry south, somehow avoiding the fee to ride it as the busy operator missed our car. We then jutted back out to the west coast, and followed the coastline down until we got the The Waipoura Forest.  We drove the very windy road through the thick forest, with vegetation creeping right up to the edge of the road at every turn.  We got to a stop in the forest and took the opportunity to go for a walk.  We had read that the biggest trees in all of New Zealand were located within this forest and we hoped for a chance to maybe see one.  Within minutes of leaving the road we turned a corner of the trail, and present beside us was the widest tree either of us has ever seen (and we’ve seen the redwoods in California and the old growth cedars, sitka spruce and douglas fir in British Columbia).  It was 17.5 meters circumference around its base.  An absolute unit of a tree that looked straight out of Lothlorien from Lord of the Rings, or Endor from Star Wars.  Each large tree seemed to have a personality, as the limbs and knots high in the trees lend themselves to anthropomorphizing. The whole forest seemed peaceful and serene, like these ancient trees (some are well over 2000 years old) were sentinels watching over the shrubs below.

That evening we took a strange detour off of the main road, to a place called “Donelly’s Crossing” that just barely met the threshold to make it onto our little map.  Lucas was interested in finding it due to his brother in law Dave’s family name of Donelly. The town itself consisted of a bridge across a creek (the bridge was paved, the road on either side was not). Lucas snapped a picture to send to Dave, and then we kept ambling on.  Somehow we stumbled upon a campsite right on the edge of a Kauri forest, although it was really just more of a glorified parking lot.  There was a paddock for bulls right next to our campervan, and they made the loudest noises, fighting amongst themselves, but thankfully trailing off once it got dark.  It was pouring down so hard we thought the car might wash away, but around midnight we donned on our rain jackets, got our headlamps, and headed into a loop trail in the Kauri forest near our camp.  As soon as we got into the forest, the rain mostly subsided; the large Kauri trees were protecting us from the rain and the wind we could hear beating down far above us.  We ambled down the trail, and it was magical.  Our lights would illuminate a small patch of the forest and as our heads would turn suddenly we would light up this massive Kauri tree that would be right beside us, as if an elephant just snuck up on us.  Kelly was the first to spot something just as magical.  She told Lucas to turn his headlamp off, and when both of the lights were  out we began to see the darkness transform into constellations of bright blue fairy lights.  It was the glowworms coming out.  They were incredible; little patches of light scattered here and there amongst the giant ancient Kauris.  We heard a Kiwi’s call shriek out through the forest, and for a moment we were lost in a different time and place.  It was a wet, cold night that will stay warm in our memories.

Food

A cheery chap called Mike, who we met at a free campsite, had told us about the ‘Best fish and chips in New Zealand’ at a place called Mangonui. We decided to give it a try for lunch and we were not disappointed. Even the Cornish girl in Kelly was impressed. The catch of the day, Hapuku, was a firm white fish enveloped in a light, frothy batter along with two tasty battered scallop morsels. The chips had malt vinegar (as they should). But the piece de la resistance was a bowl of green lip mussels in garlic and white wine sauce. We wish we could eat it everyday!

Honourable mention: We bought some monkfish from the store and Lucas BBQed it with rosemary caper butter, which was surprising and delicious. We are thinking we might like to do a farmstay or homestay where we cook for a family. They would be in for a treat.

 

Highlights

Seeing the shark and the stingray at Spirits Bay was a memorable highlight for Kelly. We also loved the surfing in Ahipara and are improving our technique!

Blunders

When we were on the blustery road to Cape Reinga, Kelly had her window open. She was sitting minding her own business when she felt a twinge on her left upper arm. Looking down in horror, she saw a very confused, angry BEE had just stung her. As her arm began to throb, she laugh/cried to Lucas “I’ve finally been stung!” In all 30 years of her life this is the first time a bee or a wasp has ever taken up arms against Kelly. It swelled up pretty badly and she ended up looking like Popeye for a couple of days with a huge bicep.

Wildcard

Once upon a time, there was a tiny hamlet called Totara North where the clock had stopped. There was no grocery store, no post office, and no gas station. But there was the weirdest hillbilly bar either of us have ever seen (that’s saying a lot coming from Lucas).

We stopped in at the ‘Old Gum Store’ while staying at a free campsite nearby. We were looking for groceries, but the Old Gum Store neither sold Gum, nor was a Store. It was a compendium of strangeness that only the kiwi countryside could supply. A sign proclaimed that it was ‘Games Night’ that very afternoon, so we decided to stay. The walls were covered with giant models of sea creatures, yellowing photos of trophy fish, cabinets of junky figurines, and, inexplicably, some moose antlers over the door. We tried to order a craft beer at the bar but the bartender, who looked like she could benchpress Lucas, seemed disapproving or confused at our millennial needs, so we settled for a cider.

Meanwhile, the party was getting started. A motley crew of around 8 middle-aged people who looked like they might be found in the dark corners of Walmart were assembled to play for prizes such as cake, mystery booze, off-brand perfume and a giant hunk of pork. With nothing to lose, we paid our few dollars to be signed up to the lucky draws in the hopes of winning big. Unfortunately, lady luck was not with us that day. Lawrence, a hefty unit of man in camouflage and a baseball cap, won two cakes but decided to donate one to us with a grunt and a (Friendly?) hand wave. We were very thankful but nevertheless decided to cut our losses and leave our strange new friends behind.

PLACES

We’ve been based around Auckland again this week, as we were focussed on closing the deal on our van! We had 3 excursions – the first being a day trip to Hamilton to look at a van and a detour to the botanical gardens (more on that later), the second to Karekare beach back on the west coast, and the third was today, when we have finally left Auckland in the van and have driven down to Kaiaua (How is that pronounced? We don’t know), a coastal village on the east coast – officially marking the start of our road trip! We intended to drive north, but our spare battery is being charged by ‘Battery Bill’, a lazy alliterative mechanic who didn’t get it done on time for us to leave today… so we’re sticking a little closer to Auckland and will drive up through tomorrow to pick it up.

WEATHER

The weather was pretty good… until today – the day we were preparing to leave on our trip, of course! It seems a cold front is coming in and as we were packing up the van we had thunder, rain, and even a hailstorm! We are hoping for slightly better weather for adVANturing this week. Fingers crossed! It’s cosy in here through and we do have a portable chess set.

ACTIVITIES

Van purchasing! It’s the biggest thing we’ve both ever bought in our lives! We were glad to see the back of the fast-talking geezer who sold us the thing (looking at you, KEN), but once the deal was done we were the thrilled owners of a cute little home on wheels. Her license plate is HLQ so we’ve christened her Harlequin, or Harley for short. She has a leather bra that you can see in the photo and may or may not be a classy lady. It remains to be seen.

Clubbing! We had our first Kiwi night on the town in Auckland last Friday, got dressed up fancy with Mason and Brodie (I had to borrow Brodie’s clothes) and hit the bars in Ponsonby, a hipster area of downtown. A few cocktails later we hit up ‘Family’ gay bar and karaoke, and although we didn’t get on stage, we sang along with the bangers as they came up on screen… 2am cheesy chips afterwards was a highlight.

Beach trip! We all piled into Brodie’s little car and drove to Karekare beach, which was not far from Bethell’s beach, where we were the previous week. The highlight of that trip was a gorgeous waterfall fringed with palms that wouldn’t look out of place in Thailand or Bali! After a misadventure in some of the smaller pools (see this week’s Blunders!), we checked out the main falls (huge!), but didn’t hang around there too long as there were some teens blaring bad music (we must be getting old). We went out onto the sand, which is black, sparkly and volcanic. I made the fatal error of not wearing shoes and had Lucas not rescued me with a donated flip flop, I would have certainly singed my soles. Once we got onto the damp sand we played some spikeball – B & M are quickly becoming formidable foes.

Frisbee golf! We have left Auckland, and decided to hit up a free camp spot in Kaiaua… On the way we passed a regional park and Lucas made a quick detour to check it out. Little did we know it had a DISC GOLF COURSE! Which is like golf, but with Frisbees, so way more fun. Lucas is the only one of us who actually has a chance to get par though, Kelly is lucky if she doesn’t lose the disc in a bush. We didn’t know there was Frisbee golf in NZ though, so that was a cool thing to stumble upon.

FOOD

After our day in Karekare we were invited to our friend Mason’s parents house for a Sunday afternoon barbeque.  Mason’s parents cooked everyone up succulent lamb and tender chicken, Brodie cooked one of the meanest potato salads this side of the pacific, and many New Zealand ales and ciders were emptied to battle the warm spring afternoon sun between games of spikeball on the grass.

HIGHLIGHTS

In the week we made a trip south to the city of Hamilton to view a lead on a van we had high hopes for.  The van ended up being little more than a rusty potpourri of parts, dirt, and cobwebs, but after a test drive that we were pleasantly surprised the car didn’t die on, we decided to cut our losses and head out to the Hamilton Botanical Gardens.  Kelly was secretly scared to admit that she liked anything that her mother loves, and Lucas was skeptical of any trees growing with straight roots, but to both of our surprise, we were encapsulated by its splendour, beauty and whimsy.  It had large secluded gardens from some of history’s greatest greenthumbs: Italian Renassiance gardens with mathematical precision, Chinese gardens with dynamic lighting, a shout out to a New Zealand classic novelist in the Mansfield Garden.  All in all there were roughly 20 different unique, beautiful landscapes that made you feel like the whole rest of the world had disappeared.

BLUNDERS

For the second Sunday in a row, Lucas made a sacrifice to the cold waters of these southern isles.  As we were travelling along the creek that fed Karekare, we had to boulder along the edges of the canyon to avoid the deep pools below us.  As Kelly was making a video to try and entice a friend to come travel with us (there’s an open invitation to all of you), Lucas hung out over the water below.  Lucas reached for a hold to his right and as he did, his new sunglasses fell off his shirt and into the water below him.  Nearly as fast as those sunglasses dropped, so too did Lucas’ clothes.  He dove into the freezing pool, and promptly surfaced with a yelp.  As his scrotum retreated into the depths of his chest cavity, he searched the water below. But alas, to no avail (like the go pro last Sunday) he lost another piece of equipment to the frigid waters here.

WILDCARD

As we finally made it out of the city Lucas kept our new home lumbering along the winding, often steep country roads.  Kelly navigated and when pots, pans, and all other assortments of noise makers flew around in the rear, she climbed back and adjusted.  After one particularly tight turn, Lucas turned beet red.
“There’s something back there I think you should see”, he said as high pulled a sharp u-turn.
“What was it?” Kelly asked, knowing that he wasn’t one to mince words.
“I think… I think I just saw a Peacock. Do they… do they like live here?”
Sure enough, there was a band of Peacocks hanging around in a gravel pit on the side of the road, and we would see many more before the day was through.

As we write this in our fold down bed in the back of our new home, the waves of the ocean are every so slightly washing into the shore beside us.  We get the feeling this will be a deep first slumber before many great adventures in our new wheels.