Snorkeling and Hiking

Feb 25 – Cathedral Cove

Our plan today was to snorkel at Cathedral Cove. We headed up around 10am and already the parking lot was packed. We ended up parking down the hill a little on an empty lot. I was a little worried at first about parking there but then about 6 other cars pulled in beside us so I figured we'd be fine. We walked down to Gemstone Bay which has a little snorkel track. There were buoys set up for you to follow. We hopped in the frigid water and started swimming. We saw a ton of snapper. They were actually following us around. We saw quite a few other fish too. We were quite chilly at this point so we started swimming for shore. I looked up and Beau was swimming full tilt in the wrong direction. Turns out he saw a ray and swam after it taking video. We warmed up in the sun for a bit and then Beau decided to go out again. I decided against this because I was still cold. While Beau was out I had a brief chat with a couple and it turns out the boats will fee the snappers which is why they were following us around. They were hoping to get fed. Beau came back out of the water and we decided to head out. The sun had been in and out from behind the clouds and didn't look like the clouds would be clearing. We parked down at Hahei beach and had some lunch. Then we casually walked into the holiday park we had stayed at last night and borrowed their showers. Once we were nice and clean we headed to Thames. In Thames we stopped into the i-Site for a little info on the Pinnacles hike then went to the grocery store. We headed into Kauaeranga Valley and set up camp at the DOC site right before the start of the hike. We had bought venison sausage to have in our dinner and I wasn't a big fan. It had a very strange texture. Beau tried to get a fire going but the wood was quite damp and our fire pit had a permanent grill on it which impeded his efforts. One side of it was a flat metal plate so the smoke just kept blowing in our face. We gave up on it and headed to bed. We hope to be up early so we can get a reasonable start on our hike.

Some Snapper

Feb 26 – The Pinnacles

We had planned to get up relatively early this morning but it was so chilly outside our sleeping bags that we put it off and didn't get up till about 8 am. After having breakfast we got our hiking stuff together and set off at about 9:30am. It was as beautiful day. The track started off fairly steep. It was a bit over grown too. There was some very rocky sections and a bit of water was running down the path. We crisscrossed some rivers and along the way there were some historical information sign post. This area used to be a huge kauri forest but in the early 1900's it was almost totally deforested. The track we were hiking was once used to by pack horse to bring supplies into the loggers. In some areas there were carved stone steps. I'm not sure if they had been warn down like this from the horses or if they were man made. We also crossed a few little suspension bridges that cautioned only 1 person at a time. The track was pretty forested for the first 2/3s until we hit a stop called Hydro camp. Then it opened up and we could see some of the scenery around us. It was pretty spectacular. We also got a glimpse of the Pinnacles peak which looked a little daunting. We reached the Pinnacles Hut by about noon. You can camp over night at the hut which we would have done if we had done a little more research prior to the hike. We set off for the peak after a little break and snack. It was a lot of up hill climbing, about 542 steps to be exact. Once you had completed the stair master there was some more up hill but it was similar to rock climbing. There were ladders to get up some areas and bars that had been secured into the rocks to help you over some of the steeper bits. It was intense! At the top there was an incredible view. You could see either side of the Coromandel Peninsula. We enjoyed our lunch up at the top in the sun shine. Then we started the descent. Man were my knees aching by the time we got down. Back at the hut we took a little detour to a historic kauri dam. The loggers built many of these dams to help send the logs down stream. Apparently about 20% of logs were destroyed in these log drives. We took a slighlyt different track at Hydro camp down Billy Goat Track. Some how we ended up going up hill again! Even though we couldn't see the mountains anymore parts of the forest were quite interesting. There were many palm trees growing, it was hard to believe that we were in a mountain range in New Zealand. We finally made it back to our camp around 4:45pm so we had a 7 hour and 15 minute hike in total. We were hot and sweaty so we went for a rejuvenating dip in the river. It was pretty brisk but felt amazing on the feet. It was really nice to rinse all the sweat off too. We made another fairly interesting dinner of just whatever there was. We'll probably never be able to recreate any of these meals but for the most part I'm not disappointed. The sun had set so we had another stab at having a fire tonight. We used a different fire pit that had a removable grill. We enjoyed a lovely campfire some some drinking chocolate and chocolate chip cookies before we bundled up for bed. It was another very chilly night.

The Pinnacles

Almost at the top

Crazy Climbing

The view

Feb 27 – North of Auckland

We had were pretty slow getting moving this morning, the tent was wet from all the condensation so we moved it into the sunshine to dry. After the usual breakfast (sans coffee press, it broke), clean up and pack up we headed back into Thames. We went into McDonald's to try to use their internet and got a coffee. The internet wasn't working well at this McD's so it took forever to check our e-mail. We then went to Pak 'n' Save and picked up some groceries and goodies for lunch. We went a park in town to eat our lunch which was cheese, crackers and smoked salmon pate. After our yummy lunch we hit the road and headed towards Goat Island again. We had a brief detour to get cheap gas. We reached Goat Island and were going to stay at the camp ground next door but it said Closed for a Private Function. So we had to go in search of another camp site. The next place we checked out cost way too much money so we vetoed that. We ended up a bit of a ways from Goat Island at a nice, reasonable holiday park in Mangawhai. There was a pool so we went for a swim but then it started to rain. So we got out of the pool, grabbed stuff out of the car for dinner and had a nice hot shower. There was a lovely covered patio area outside that we sat in while it rained and we started chopping stuff for dinner. It poured for awhile then cleared up for the rest of the evening. We weren't sure if it would rain again overnight so we opted for sleeping in the car.

Feb 28 – Goat Island Again

Turns out we could have slept in the tent last night since it didn't end up raining. We had breakfast and got reorganized with our snorkel gear handy. We drove back to Goat Island along the gravely road we took to get here. It took about an hour but it wasn't too busy at Goat Island when we arrived. We got set up on the beach with our camp chairs and sunned ourselves for a bit before getting wet. The water was pretty chilly but we decided against renting wetsuits. The tide was high so it was pretty easy to get in the water. We saw lots of fishes including large snapper, some goatfish, and several schools of some pointy nosed fish too. We got out of the water and warmed up in the sun some before heading up to the picnic tables to make some lunch. We had some nice tuna sandwiches on buns. After we headed back down but moved ourselves over to another spot where we went for another snorkel. We saw much of the same but got lucky and saw a ray. I was so excited I popped my head up and yelled at Beau to get his attention but then forgot to stick my snorkel back in my mouth so I ended up with a mouthful of water. We followed the ray for a short ways before the visibility became awful and it disappeared. We were happy with our two snorkels so called it a day and got rinsed off in the cold outdoor showers. We also got our equipment all cleaned off too. We were headed to Waitakere just west of Auckland and stopped into an i-Site in Orewa to get some info on where to stay tonight and the best way to get there. Unfortunately our maps suck and we made some wrong turns but McDonald's wifi came to our rescue and we Google mapped our way to Karekare, a tiny beach village south of Piha. We arrived shortly before sunset so headed to the beach to watch. We walked across some dunes and arrived at a huge black sand beach. I was having fun goofing around on the beach and we watched the sunset while snacking on some very spice Doritos. We went to our campsite and started setting up in the dark. We had been told there would be an honour box to drop our camp fees off in but there was no such thing just a sign that camping was by permit only. We were the only people there, it was dark so we figured we'd deal with it in the morning if a camp ranger came by. The mosquito were the worst we had experienced. We struggled to make dinner in the dark while being attacked by mosquito looking for their dinner. We made the strangest meal which was fitting for our last camping. We went to bed in the tent shortly after dinner.

Karekare Beach

The sunset at Karekare beach

Northland and Coramandel

We have been staying at basic campsites and using McDonald's internet to update our websites and check our e-mails.  You'll have to forgive us for the lack of continual updates.  We also are trying to charge all our electronics using a car charger.  It's amusing we were able to be more connected than in Asia.  I'll try to add pictures to this post at a later date, the internet is too slow to do it currently.

Feb 1 – Forest Giants

After dreams of kiwis danced in our heads we woke up to a fairly nice morning. We headed on out of our Trounson forest park and on to Waipoua Forest. This forest boasts the largest two kauri trees in New Zealand. We stopped at a look out but didn't really know what we were looking at besides a lot of trees. We continued on to the visitors center to find out where we should be going. After consulting their forest map we set off again. Our next stop was to see an area of young kauri trees. The younger trees were tall but quite skinny. I guess they fill out as they get older. Our next stop had several different trees to see. The first was called the Four Sisters and was actually 4 separate trees who's bases had fused together. The next stop of the walk was Te Matua Ngahere, the Father of the Forest. He is the second largest kauri tree in New Zealand but is also the widest with a 16.41m girth. He also has a volume of 208.1m3, a total height of 29.9m and a trunk height of 10.21m. He's huge!! On this walk we could have also seen the 7^th largest kauri but after seeing the Father of the Forest we didn't think it would measure up. A short drive later we stopped to see Tane Mahuta, the Lord/God of the Forest and the largest kauri. He has a volume of 244.5m3, a total height of 51.5m, a trunk height of 17.7m and a girth of 13.8m. He was gigantic. I wish the pictures could properly capture how immense these trees are. Unfortunately due to the delicate and shallow nature of the kauri roots you aren't allowed too close to the trees. We continued our drive and stopped for lunch at a picnic spot outside of the tiny town of Omapere. Slightly further on was Hokianga Harbour and there were some spectacular views from the top of the cliffs overlooking the harbour and town. Shortly after we continued driving we stopped to pick up a German girl hitch hiking. She was headed to the Far North too. We were taking the scenic drive and took a small car ferry across the Hokianga river at Rawene, We continued north for awhile and dropped our passenger off at a hostel in Henderson Bay. We checked out the beach there and had a little walk along it. This is a silica sand beach and if you shuffle your feet through the sand it squeaks! We made it to the DOC site just slightly south of Cape Reinga. We set up, had dinner and a nice walk along the beach. Beau had stuck up conversation with our neighbors who were Kiwi-Americans. They had been skin diving and caught some abalone. Unfortunately they had run out of gas to cook with but we lent them our stove and we got to try some of there sea food. It was soooo good, like a seafood steak. Yum!!! We talked with them for awhile and they got Beau into the hunter-gatherer mind set so we'll see how that goes in the future! It was a lovely clear night with a very bright half moon.

Te Matua Ngahere, Father of the Forest

Tane Mahuta, the Lord/God of the Forest

Henderson Bay

Feb 2 – Cape Reinga

The day started off beautiful with sunny clear skies. We had breakfast and hit the road to see Cape Reinga while the weather held. Cape Reinga is most North-West point of New Zealand, just a little bit east is the most north point. It is also a spiritual point for the Maori people as they believed all souls had to pass through Cape Reinga to reach their spiritual home land. Here is also where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. Apparently on rough days the waves can reach 10m high, but our day was very calm. The views were breath taking with bright blue sky, puffy white clouds and turquoise waters. After taking tons of photos we hit the road and went to check out some sand dunes. We went to see the Te Paki Giant Sand dunes. They were huge definitely not expecting to see desert like sand dunes in New Zealand. Looking in one direction all you could see was sky and sand but turn around and there were green forests. You could rent boogie boards to slide down the hills but after our not so cool experience of sand tobogganing in Vietnam we decided against it. We walked along the dunes for a bit in a small stream. Beau was hoping to reach the sea but it was actually quite far away from where we were. So we headed back to the car. We drove to a 90 Mile Beach access and actually drove onto the beach. We took advantage of our little beach site and had lunch. We drove back into Kaitaia to pick up some groceries and borrow some internet. We also bought two camp chairs from the Warehouse since we had nothing to sit on last night. We head out to the Karikari peninsula to a DOC site there. The cicadas were super loud but our spot ended up being relatively shelter and quiet in comparison to most. We enjoyed a mug of wine with our steak stirfry.

Us at the Light House at Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga Lighthouse

The Dunes at Te Paki

90 Mile Beach

Feb 3 – Happy Birthday to Me

I started my 25^th birthday with an icy cold shower. Okay it wasn't that bad, it was nice to feel clean. Our plan was to go wine tasting today. We hit the road and found a winery right off the get go. Our first winery of the day was Karikari Estates where we shared a tasting platter of 5 wines. This is the north-most winery in New Zealand. The way they did it was a little unfortunate though because they had us sit down outside and brought us out our platter with a laminated wine info sheet. The view was spectacular but we missed being able to talk with the wine server. Their wines were good though but we didn't buy any. We continued on to our next stop which was an area called Kerikeri, it has most of the wineries in Northland. Our next winery was called Fat Pig Vineyards. It had decent wines but the proprietor was lacking some in the personality department. Personally, I would have thought the woman would be happy to tell us about her winery and how it started, but it was like pulling teeth. Their grapes were grown on the property but the wine was made in Kerikeri, nothing more than that. We did get to try our first port which was very nice. Our next winery, Marsden Estate Winery, was very different than the last two. It was more upscale but they had unlimited free tastings and very nice wine. The girl helping us was quite helpful but a little busy with helping a new girl in the restaurant. If we had had wine storage and more money I would have bought wine from them. Our last winery, Cottle Hill, was very good all around. The proprietor was an American who sailed over to NZ in '92 and opened his own winery. He was very helpful with his wines and also talked to us about things to see in NZ and catching yours own seafood. We did buy a bottle of Chamboucin which I think was one of the first times we tried this variety but it was delicious. He also gave us a tip for some nice Fish and Chips for lunch. We stopped for the Fish 'n' Chips in Paihai and ate them on a bench by the ocean. Once into the town center we had a little wander around. They had a little craft market going on in the town square but there wasn't too much of interest. We also checked out a dive shop and were very disheartened to learn it was $229 for two dives. A little out of our budget right now, I think we'll save it for Australia. We were trying to decided whether to head over to the town of Russell but it wasn't all that nice out so we decided against it. We headed down to the Whananaki DOC site which was actually about 30km from the main road but was a lovely seaside setting. My birthday dinner was a poor mans chilli but turned out okay, especially with our nice wine to accompany it.

Feb 4 – Whangarei and Waipu Caves

After another slightly dissatisfying breakfast of oatmeal and coffee we got talking with our neighbours. They were a middle aged couple from near Tauranga and gave us some more tips on where to go in the area. We headed out from the DOC site and went down the road a little further to check out a pretty nice surf beach. We watched some surfers fight with the waves to get out to sea and catch a few waves. We headed back to the highway and down to Whangarei. We wandered around the town some a checked out some shops for a Kiwi charm for my birthday. We also looked at the town basin and bought a delicious curry wrap from a street vendor. We picked up groceries, gas and propane so it was an expensive day. A little ways down from Whangarei was the town of Waipu which had some glow worm caves we had been told to check out. They were incredible! And free! We had to wade through some streams and duck under rocks. It was like looking at the stars except under ground. There were so many of them that it was light enough to see each other without our flashlights. It was amazing and free :) There was a DOC site right off the highway that we pulled into after the caves. It was super windy but we were able to find a good spot with some shelter. We also used the tent as a wind block for the camp stove. We cooked up some yummy pork meat balls with garlic chilli sauce and pasta. Our location didn't actually turn out to be perfect since we were setup next to a group of teenagers. They weren't too loud but they did leave a mess of garbage to blow around and for the birds to eat. Idiots.

Feb 5 – On to Coromandel Penninsula

As we were finishing eating our breakfast it started to rain some, not wanting to pack up a wet tent we scrambled to get the tent down and out of the rain. Of course as soon as we had heaved the last of the pieces into the back seat the rain stopped. It did allow us to finish our coffee before we properly packed up the tent up sans rain. We drove down to Goat Island Marine Reserve which is supposed to have really good snorkeling. The place was packed but it is a Sunday. It was also windy and cool. Beau looked into renting us some fins and wet suits but was told the visibility was very poor today. The glass bottom boat trips were also cancelled for the day. It was suggested to us to return when the winds were not blowing from the north or north-east. We continued down the road and made a short detour when we saw a winery sign. We went down to Helios Winery that was run by an older gentleman. We talked with him for some time about his wine making operation and about the micro light aircraft he had. We got back on the road but hung a Louie when we saw another winery sign. This one was quite expensive to do a tasting but had a Fill Your Own Bottle deal going on for $10 so we filled the one bottle we had in the car. We stopped into one last winery that was directly off the highway and shared a lovely tasting from a very flamboyant guy. We also got a chance to taste their port as well which was very nice. We were about ready for lunch so we followed some signs down to a regional park and had tomato soup and crackers for lunch. We drove onwards down past Auckland and went to check out Hunua Falls. The falls were pretty nice but again the place was packed with people since it is a long weekend. We had a brief walk and took a few pictures. Next stop was the city of Thames for the night or rather a DOC site just out of town. We found the DOC site and set up at a camp site right next to a “BBQ” or as we call it a fire pit. We had our first camp fire in all of NZ and it was lovely. It kept us nice and warm although there were a few moments of rain to keep us on our toes.

Hunua Falls

Feb 6 – Super Bowl Monday

As we all know Beau is an avid football fan so watching the Super Bowl was kind of a big deal. We headed into Thames and found a bar that would be showing the game. We had a little time before kick off so we hit up a McD's for some free wifi then went into the Warehouse and bought ourselves some snorkeling fins. They are nice and short so packable and still helpful when snorkeling. We were running late for the game now and missed kickoff but we settled into the bar with a beer and some wedges. Beau was happy with the outcome of the game, if his team couldn't win then the team that beat them had to. Afterwards we went to the Pak 'n' Save for a few groceries and then drove to Coromandel Town. This was a VERY twisty narrow drove. I definitely took it slow. We arrived in the town and were looking into Holiday Parks. It was a painful $18/person but they had full facilities, showers were 50cents. We got set up and had our first hot shower since leaving Auckland! It was glorious. We also had a full kitchen to cook in, power for the computer and watched some of Avatar. We didn't get to finish the movie though as the room got closed down on us. We hunkered down in our tent for a good nights sleep, it was a little chilly out.