The Central Coast and Hunter Valley

June 4 – Central Coast

We awoke to sunny day for our exit from Sydney. Pretty typical that the weather on the weekend is the pits but Monday is gorgeous. We navigated our way out of the city without trouble and headed down the highway to the Central Coast. Our first stop was into the Kariong info center which is the gateway to the Central Coast. We stopped in the city of Gosford for some gas and groceries before continuing on the Terrigal. In Terrigal we found some waterfront bbq's and grilled up some yummy chicken wraps. We then had a walk up to the look out where in the distance you could see some whales. They were too far away for the camera to get a picture but we kept seeing bursts of spray. We had a little walk around the reserve before hopping in the van and heading up to The Entrance. We arrived in time for the daily Pelican feeding. I'm not entirely sure why they do the feeding whether it's for conservation or a tourist gimmick. It does however allow them to keep an eye out for injured Pelicans. The feeders noticed one in particular had what looked like stitches in his lower beak and it looked very inflamed. They couldn't get him in close enough to see what it was or to grab him so they could help. It quickly became apparent that it was a type of fishing hook when the poor pelican got hooked onto another one. The one pelican tried to fly away and dislodge the injured one but was unable to. Two of the women doing the feeding jumped into the frigid water to untangle the two birds. They got them untangled and the uninjured one flew off. They got a hold of the injured bird and brought him back to shore. Turns out it was a gang hook and had pierced his pouch in several places. They were going to take him to a vet to have it removed and get him some antibiotics. After all the excitement Beau and I took a walk along the waterfront and then back into to town to look for a new watch for me (mine fell off yesterday) and a bank machine. We didn't have any luck on either front so we headed to a holiday park just up the road at Canton Beach. There we made stir fry for dinner and had a cuppa of Milo.

Terrigal Beach, where we had lunch

The Lookout

Overlooking the coast to the south of Terrigal

Pelican Feeding

Poor mister pelican

Awesome Moon Rise, turns out there was a partial eclipse that night

June 5 – Hunter Valley

It was windy when we woke up but we had a little change of pace and enjoyed some crumpets for breaky. We decided to head inland to the Hunter Valley since the day was a bit gloomy and there is nothing like some wine tasting to brighten it up. We went out on a limb and stopped into one of the first wineries we saw, Ernest Hill Wines. They charged a small tasting fee but we enjoyed a chat to the owner while having a taste of their wines. She gave us some tips on other wineries to check out while we were there. Next we popped into the visitors center where we got a good map of the region and were assisted but a very unenthusiastic girl. Back in the van we made some guacamole for lunch to have with some yummy tortilla chips. Our next stop was Peterson House which was once called the Champagne House but since you aren't allowed to call sparkling wine Champagne unless its from the region in France they had to change the name. Obviously they specialized in bubbly which Beau and I haven't really drank much of before. We tried a couple of red sparkling wines and while they weren't bad it was just strange to have a chilled, bubbly red wine. Our host was actually a Canadian woman from Victoria who had also lived in K-town for about 10 years. Small world ehh. On site there was also Hunter Valley Chocolate Co. They had all sorts of delicious looking chocolates but they cost way more than I would ever spend. There were a couple of samples but they were just boring dark, white and milk chocolate. For our next stop we drove across the street to Hungerford Hill Wines. There we had a lovely tasting. Fortified wines are very popular in Australia and Beau is acquiring quite a taste for them. As birthday treat we bought a Liqueur Muscat but obviously he has to wait a couple days before he gets any. The winery had free Wifi so we had a quick check of our e-mail and while we there we also got the down low on a brewery tour. We still had an hour before the tour so we jumped up the road to Ballaboureen Wine Co. We had a nice tasting there as well. On site is also an outlet for Pukara Estate which is an Olive Oil and Vinegar company. We tasted all sorts of flavour olive oils including a yummy garlic one and hot chilli one. We passed on the vinegars though as it was getting close to beer time. We headed down to the Hunter Beer Company and got a tour of their small yet successful operation. We also got to try three different beers a kolsch, a whit and a third. I tried an India brown ale while Beau tried the Bock. They also had some interesting types like Sour Cherry and a wine beer which was almost like a fortified beer. We had been chatting with a couple of girls from Sydney through out the tour so we joined them at the bar for another beer. I tried a Ginger Beer which I really liked and Beau had the Coco Mama, it was like a stout. We talked with the girls about our travels and then we all decided we were hungry so we got some pizza. It was pouring down rain outside and then it hit me... we left the roof vent open in van...doh!! Beau ran out and closed it and had to mop up a bunch of water. Fortunately nothing was damaged just wet. We talked with the girls till about 9 and then went our separate ways. We did however get their contact info in case we come back to Sydney. We drove out to the village of Broke along a bumpy wet road to a free campsite. Luckily when we arrived the rain had stopped and the trees around sheltered us from the wind.

June 6 – Hunter Valley to Port Stephens

Last night was supposed to be an awful storm but I think we got luck and the bulk of it missed us. After some breakfast and guitar we headed over the the BlueTongue Brewery in hopes of a tour or tasting. We were disappointed on both fronts though as the beer is no longer made on site and the tasting was a little steep. We popped across the street to the Binnorie Dairy and had a little cheese tasting of some locally made cheeses. There was also Tuscany Wine Estate so we decided to check out their selection. I thought their wines were underwhelming and at first I thought it could be because I'm getting a cold but Beau had the same thought too. The lady who helped us was also not very helpful and any time I asked a question it was answered with well it depends on your taste. Our next stop was Mistletoe Winery which had been suggested to us on several occasions. They had some very nice wines including the only white fortified wine in the valley. As a part of their wine shop they had paintings and sculptures from local artists for sale on display. It is nice to see locals helping locals. We continued on the Tintilla Estate Wines and Olive Grove. We got to try some different types of olives as well as a yummy olive and wine spread. I really wanted to get a jar of the spread but at $16 a jar it was a little out of our normal grocery budget. They also had some nice wines to taste. We headed out of the Hunter Valley and into the town of Maitland. We got some gas and then made naughty chicken wraps for lunch. They were naughty because we bought McD's chicken bites and some fries and put them in wraps with tomato and avocado, the chicken not the fries. We went into the library in town for a little bit and Beau got his site updated. It had been raining on and off all day and was starting to rain more on than off. We hit the road to Port Stephens and Jimmy's Beach Caravan Park. We arrived at the park about 5:20 and the office was already closed. The guy answered the door though, gave us a bathroom key and said see me in the morning to pay. Okay, very trusting guy. It was raining quite heavily but there was a break in the rain for a little bit so we were able to heat up some canned stew in that time. It continued raining on and off all night and was quite windy.

The Great Ocean Road Part 2

April 17 – 19 – Back to the real world

We picked up Monique and Ingo from the airport and our two weeks of alone time was over. They had a pretty good trip in Tahiti but had a few bumps along the way with stuff breaking. Their return was timed very well though because we started work training this week too. Training was painfully boring and also not all that informative. We are going to be working at an inbound customer service center for a program called Flybuys. Which is a shopping rewards program through a grocery store. Training just reminded me how much working sucked.

April 20 – To Apollo Bay

Today we were supposed to have a short day of training. As usual things did not go according to plan. The trains were running a little late in the morning so we didn't arrive as early as we'd hoped. The day was pretty useless though we spent some time waiting for our computers to get unlocked. Then we did some silly training and we sat around some more. We eventually got signed into a training version of the program we were doing but the rest of the systems were down so we couldn't really see too much. We had been promised a pizza lunch but as 1:15 rolled around we had to boot it out of there since we had to catch a train to Apollo Bay at 2pm. We went to the train station and bough our tickets and then asked them to best way to get to Southern Cross station to catch our V-Line Train, assuming these people would know best. The sent us up to one station, North Melbourne, to come back down to Southern Cross. We got off our train in Southern Cross and booked it to where we thought our train would be, the platform was not printed on the ticket. We arrived at our platform as the train was pulling away. It was so frustrating. We had to wait 40min for the next train and would miss our connecting bus to Apollo Bay. We weren't going to get to Apollo Bay till about 8pm now. When our train did arrive it's first stop was at North Melbourne! I don't understand why the stupid woman that sold us the ticket couldn't have told us that!! (We also could have walked faster that the train took). The stupid woman also sold us a ticket for the next day and the ticket guy gave us a hard time about it too. Not impressed with my day. We had about 2 hours to kill in Geelong before we were able to catch our bus. We arrived in Apollo Bay around 8pm and called the mechanic. He picked us up in Dotti and then we went back to the shop to get the payment sorted out. It was nice to have Dotti back! In Apollo Bay though there was a music festival going on and the holiday parks were all at peak rates! We were disgusted with a $50 campsite. We ended up parking in a grassing parking area with a few other camper vans. The down side of this was that we were parked next to other vehicles that drunk people were sleeping in. We were woken up around 1am by the crazy chick in the next vehicle banging on the windows of her partners car, yelling at him over the phone and letting air out of his tires. It was not a restful night.

April 21 – The Twelve Apostles and Gibbons Steps

After our not so restful sleep we woke up the an overcast grey day. It did not look like it was going to be a promising day. We had some oatmeal and tea for breakfast and then picked up a few groceries at the overpriced Apollo Bay IGA. Fortunately by the time we headed out the skies had cleared and the sun had come out. We started our drive and made it past Bimbi park this time. Our first stop was a look out along the side of the road. It gave a very nice view of the coast line. Our next stop was Gibbons Steps, obviously this was a stair case but it lead down to the beach. We got a pretty close look at one of the lime stone formations but I don't think it was technically part of the Apostles. We had a nice walk along the beach in the warm sand before heading back up the car. We continued along to the Twelve Apostles. There was a huge information center and parking lot. While parked we made ourselves some lunch in the van. This was much easier to do than it had been in the car. We then walked down to the Apostles viewing platform. The view was amazing but the sun wasn't in the greatest position for taking pictures. The place was also packed with Asian tourists. We felt like a minority. I think I enjoyed the Gibbons Steps more since there weren't many people on the beach and you could get all kinds of different views. After the Apostles we headed to the Loch Ard Gorge. This area was named after a ship named the Loch Ard which crashed on the cliffs near by back in the late 1800s. The gorge was very nice and there was a few different and gorgeous views to be had. By this time we were feeling a little foot sore and had had quite a bit of sun. We decided to call it a day for checking out the coast. We had talked about going down to London Bridge but since the bridge part collapsed in the 90's we figured it would be a similar sight to the ones we had just seen. We decided to head up to Colac to spend the night there. Once in the town we headed to the information center and a very sweet and helpful lady gave us all kinds of information about the area and things to see and do. We decided to drive up to the Red Rock Scenic Reserve since it was still pretty nice out. The scene at the top wasn't all that great and it was a actually a little bit hazy. This area claims to be the youngest volcano in Australia. We headed back down and checked into a motor camp. Unfortunately we forgot our golden rule and didn't really check it out too closely before paying for a night. Not quite sure what we were thinking since the camp was right next to the highway. They also only had an outdoor kitchen with no stove, fortunately the BBQ had a burner on the side. We made ourselves a soup concoction for dinner and then watched a movie called the Decendants. The movie wasn't really what we expected, it was a bit of a tear jerker and a drama. After the movie Beau had a bit of a headache so he went bed while I read for a little bit.

Gibbons Steps

The 12 Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge

April 22 – Back to Melbourne

We meandered back to Melbourne and stopped into a brewery and a winery. The Otway Brewery had some very nice beers and we picked up a couple of whit's for Ingo. They were pricey but were very nice. We tried to go to some wineries on the way back but only 1 out of 3 we tried to go to was open. They wine was okay but nothing specially. We pulled into an empty motel parking lot and popped the top to make ourselves lunch. We arrived back into Diamond Creek and Beau went off to badminton with Ingo while I was lazy at the house. Tomorrow is our first day of work.

Napier and Tongariro

Feb 17 – Napier

We slept late this morning and were the last to leave the campsite. We weren't in a rush so that was fine by us. We drove towards Napier and turned off at the first winery we saw. Esk Valley Estates was a very large winery. The guy who served our tastings was very friendly and we got to try quite a few different wines. They were pretty good but nothing caught our fancy. We headed into the town and took a nice walk along the harbour. Then we went into the town center which is known for it's Art Deco buildings. We saw quite a few people dressed up strangely and as it turns out it is Art Deco weekend so there were tons of 1930's cars about and many people were dressed in 30's clothes. We was quite an interesting day to be in Napier. I went into a cool bead store that had tons of beads but they were pretty overpriced. I did pick up a couple of Paua Shell pieces. We had a wander around the town center and stopped in to Opossum World. Opossum World was interesting... they had stuffed birds and showcased their songs while stuffed opossums were stealing their eggs. I guess it was bringing attention to the negative impact that opossums have on the native birds of New Zealand. There was internet in the town center so we checked on the weather in Tongariro and it turned out only tomorrow was supposed to be nice all week. We decided we needed to take advantage of this little window of opportunity. We stopped into Pak 'n' Save for some groceries then started the 3hr drive to Tongariro. Our drive turned into a torrential down pour with a little bit of thunder and lightning thrown into the mix. This gave me heart palpitations thinking it would be like this tomorrow. We arrived in Tongariro National Park around 7pm and started the arduous task of finding transport for the crossing. There were a few options that took you from the hostel to the start of the crossing, picked you up at the end and took you back to the hostel for $30pp. We eventually, after stopping into 3 different places and calling two others, found a company that will take you from the car park at the end to the beginning and you just walk back to your car for $25pp. We had the ingenious idea of dropping one of us off at the start then the other taking the car to the end and grabbing the shuttle back so we only have to pay for one way. After sorting that we went to the DOC site nearby and made a late dinner. The rain was letting up though so it was looking up for the weather tomorrow. I guess we'll find out at 4:30am when our wake up call is.

People dressed up for Art Deco Weekend

One of the many old cars

Feb 18 – Tongariro Alpine Crossing

The alarm going off at 4:30am sucked! We got our little packs organized, lunches ready and headed out in the dark. While we drove to the start I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches for our breakfast. Once at the beginning we decided I should drive to the end since I had been looking at the map and knew more or less where to go. I drove speedily to the end to make it in time for the 6am pick up. The shuttle was there when I arrived and I was able to snag one of the few parking spots. Once in the van I ate my peanut butter and banana sandwich and chatted with the an older American couple. We waited a few extra minutes so another couple could climb aboard. They were Canadians too. We arrived back at the beginning just as the sun rose around 6:45am. It was quite foggy out and we couldn't see too much of the landscape yet. We started our walk and the landscape was quite barren, with scrubby bushes and volcanic rocks. The clouds were covering the mountains and that made me a little apprehensive about the visibility but luckily as we walked the sky started to clear. It started off with a fairly benign incline until we hit Soda Springs, after that it was very uphill. There were numerous stairs until we reached the foot of Mt Ngaruruhoe more commonly known as Mt Doom. Many of the clouds had cleared by this point but there were still some moving over the mountains and obscuring our view. All you had to do though was wait a few minutes and the scene changed into a spectacular picture. From Mt Ngauruhoe we walked cross the south crater. The crater looked very alien and barren much like the lunar surface. The sun had popped out at some point and had us cooking in our layers. Shortly after shedding some we were layering back up as a very frigged wind was blowing. We had a very vertical climb to the highest point of the crossing at 1887m. We had ascended 800m from our start point. The view up there was incredible. Beau and I balanced our handy dandy bending leg tripod on the sign and got a picture with us and Mt Doom. You can take side trips to the top of Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Tongariro but I felt that a 6-8 hr hike was plenty without adding on a couple 2-3 hr side trips. From the the red crater, the top, we descended a slippery scree slope to the Emerald Ponds. The ponds are amazing shades of green due to their high sulphur content. They are also geothermal and not safe for swimming. We headed across the central crater to the Blue Lake. The lake was a lovely turquoise blue. There was only a brief up hill then most of the rest of the hike was down. There were a crazy amount of switch backs that zigged and zagged you down the other side of the crossing. Most of our hike down was through scrub land again with some larger plants thrown into the mix. At one point the whole ecosystem changed and it became rainforesty with ferns, mosses, trees, puddles and mud. It was pretty wet in so we were dodging lots of mucky spots. After descending over 1000m we finally reached the car at about 1:15pm. We had taken lunch with us but never felt like stopping for it, we did have lots of snacks though. We slumped into our camp chairs, shucked our shoes and had our lunch. Man did it feel good. We decided to head into Taupo and made a scenic look out stop along the way. We stopped lake side at one picnic area and went for a much needed swim. It was refreshing. While trying to get into town there was some sort of charity relay race going on all along the highway. It slowed down traffic some but it was good to see so many people out although I don't know what the relay was for. We checked out 4 different motorcamps in town and were shocked and appalled at all the prices. We settled on the cheapest one which didn't have a free pool or spa but showers were included and that was the main thing for us. We had some dinner and got cleaned up, the shower felt very good. We got to watch the finale of X-Factor Australia which we had started watching in Christchurch.

Mt Doom/ Mt Ngaruruhoe

Emerald Ponds

Blue Lake

Looking down on Lake Taupo from the Crossing

A pretty waterfall near the end

East Coast and Gisbourne

Feb 14 – Pacific Coast Highway

Lucky for us that we slept in the car last night, it meant we didn't have to struggle with drying the tent this morning. I was lucky enough to be up in time to snag the one shower while Beau lolly gagged about in “bed” and ended up missing out. After breakfast of oatmeal, we added cereal to it for some texture and the berries, we packed up then went for a short walk along the beach behind our campsite. The day looked promising but it just wasn't quite there yet. I was driving today and we had a few nice spots to stop for pictures while on our way. One beach was very tempting to stay longer at but we decided to keep moving instead of chilling for a bit. In Opotiki we went into the i-Site to get some info on the Pacific Coast Highway. This is the long way to go around to Gisbourne taking 6hrs to go about 330 km if you drive without stopping. We had some nice spots pointed out to us on the map and then we were on our way. Our first photo stop was a school some very nice carvings on the outside. We made multiple scenery stops along the way as well. One in particular was in Whanarua Bay where we stopped at Pacific Coast Macadamias and tried their double chocolate macadamia nut ice cream. We then drove down a one lane hill to a beach. It claimed to be the most beautiful bay in NZ. It was nice but I'm sure we've seen prettier. Our next stop was a quaint old church in Raukokore. It made a lovely scene on it's own little point. Our next stop was Lottin Point which had a very interesting drive down. We went through sheep pastures and had to watch for sheep running across the road then down a twisty turny road to the water. We climbed over a bunch of the larger rocks there and were hoping to see some muscles but no such luck. This apparently isn't a bad spot for snorkeling but we didn't go in. We were driving along and spotted a sign for a water fall. We decided to go check it out even though it was an awkward spot to park and we had to traipse through a field together. My what a traipse it was, the field was really wet and our feet got muddy and wet. YUCK. The waterfall was pretty but the walk did nothing for my temperament. We started the look out for a place to stay around Te Araroa the closest town to the east cape. We were under the impression there were two campsites around but could only find one. Looks like the other closed up shop. We checked in to a basic holiday park but they did have free hot showers! We opted to sleep in the car again since the ground was quite wet and the sky was threatening rain. We over ate at dinner time with way too much pumpkin fried rice. It was also a little dry so I don't recommend it!

Maori carved school

Whanarua Bay

Raukokore Church

Lottin Point

Waterfall

Feb 15 – East Cape

Beau and I both woke up pretty early this morning, around when the sun was about to rise, we thought of going up the the East Cape Lighthouse at this time but opted to go back to bed. It's apparently one of the first places to see the sun rise. We did get up later on and after showers and breakfast we headed off to check out the lighthouse. Turns out we should have taken advantage of the pretty nice weather this morning and gone early because it started to rain once we hit the car park. It was a bit of a hike to the lighthouse and it was raining fairly heavily so we decided against it. We drove the scenic, gravel twisty 20km back to Te Araroa and reconnected with the highway. We drove for a bit and then stopped at St Mary's Church. From the outside it just looks like your average church but inside was completely Maori. The walls were covered with Tukutuku woven flax panels and intricate carvings. It was incredible and a taste of what the inside of a marae would look like, a traditional Maori meeting house. We popped into the town of Ruatoria in hopes of an ATM but alas while they boasted a bank there was no ATM. We were getting peckish so at Tokomaru Bay we stopped by their historic wharf and ate our lunch. I was hopping to take a nice picture after we had finished eating but typically it started raining hard again. I should know better then to expect the weather to hold out for me! We had several torrential down pours while we were driving and our wipers had a hard time keeping up. We had some other plans for the day but with the bleak weather we decided against the Cooks Cove walk and snorkeling around Tolaga Bay. I was really disappointed since these two activities had been suggested to us. We got into Gisbourne and headed to the Wine Center so we could get a map and some information on the wineries in the area. Afterwards we thought to have a coffee in a nice cafe while using the internet. But we ended up being redirected to McDonald's to get wifi. We got money, groceries, coffee and wifi then headed to a holiday park for the night. We stayed at an okay priced one with a lounge and kitchen facilities. We had bought a frozen pizza for dinner and watched some tv while charging our various electronics. It was kind of rainy still so we slept in the car again. We met an older Canadian couple in the lounge and it turns out her brother lives in Brockville! Small world ehh...

East Cape Light house, the most eastern lighthouse in the world

St. Mary's Church

Maroi wall carving

Feb 16 – Gisbourne Wine Tasting

Breakfast today was a breakfast sandwich on a cheese bun but without the cheese. We eventually got our selves packed up after watching the news. There was a Green Stone shop I wanted to check out where you can see the stone carvers at work. Unfortunately there weren't any carvers carving while we were there but they did have some info on the process of carving jade. We went back to McD's to do some more updating although again I ran out of bandwidth! We then went wine tasting. Our first stop was Bushmere Estates and it was amazing!! It was a $5 tasting fee and we tried about 7 different wines. The wines were really nice but they also had food parings with most of the tastings. It was really interesting to try the wine then eat the food and see how it alters the wine. Their Vidal went amazingly with blue cheese! We bought a bottle of their Gewurztraminer which was nicely chilled then wrapped in bubble wrap in hopes it'll still be nice and cool later. We moved on to another winery and were disgusted by their tasting prices. It was $15 for 5 wines and they served them to you on a platter so I doubt you would get the same experience. We left after we used their facilities. Our next stop was Kirkpatrick Estate Winery. We were served by the proprietor and wine maker. The guy bought the winery about 8 years ago and his wine maker, who still works for him part time, taught him the ropes. He is also looking into breaking into the Canadian wine market. Beau and I shared a tasting and while his wines were quite nice we didn't buy anything since we already had our bottle. We drove down the road a little ways and then Beau took a sharp left down a road towards the ocean. We ended up at a peaceful little ocean lagoon. It was gorgeous. We ate our PB&B and had a nice walk on the beach watching the little crabs scuttle about. Later on we stopped at another beach which wasn't as pretty but still very nice. A guy was fishing off the beach and his grey lab was romping around. We ended up at a lake side DOC site that was pretty but not well maintained. The grass was super long and it looked like it might rain again so we opted to sleep in the car. There was a covered picnic table area that was great to cook under and was right next to the lake. It was very peaceful with the lake, the ducks and the black swans. It had a very Huntsville feel to it. Beau and I finished dinner while it was still day light so we played a game of crib but by the time we finished we were having trouble pegging in the low light and it was getting chilly.

Our first beachside stop

Our second beach stop

Our lakeside campsite.

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.

Camper Van Travels!

I know it feels like I've been neglecting my blog but the problem has been finding free internet. None of the campsites have it free! It sucks but we've found a nice pub in Queenstown for lunch with free Wifi. I'm a little disgusted that we could get free wifi all over Asia and here they care $5 for an hour. Pfft not paying that thank you very much! Ahh well who would have thought we'd be less connected in a Western country.

The camper van has been going pretty well. We've been a little cooped up lately because the weather has been brutal. It's been rainy and cold. I'm a little upset thats I've had pants and polar fleece on. There was even snow in the mountains one day! We are going on a massive three day hike tomorrow so cross your fingers we have good weather :S

 

Jan 4 – The Beach

Today, after a very leisurely start to the day, we hoped on the bus and headed to an area called Sumner to go to the beach. It was lovely and sunny out but unfortunately windy as well. There are some houses built on cliffs above the beach but you can see where the cliff has fallen away due to the earthquakes and actually taken part of a house with it. We also saw some of the concrete pads overhanging the cliff too. At the bottom of the these cliffs there were big shipping containers, I think to hold back any falling rock and debris. We walked along the beach, the sand was very hot but the wind kept things quite cool. The water was pretty cold too. People were sun bathing and swimming despite the wind. I think our blood has thinned because it did not seem warm enough to go swimming. We had a nice walk along the beach and on the promenade. There was a beach side restaurant and Beau's and my eyes almost fell out of our heads at the prices and they weren't necessarily out of line. We just are used to $1 beer and $2 meals. We had a coffee and a mixed appy plate. After digesting we saw a sign with some walking trails near by so we headed off in that direction but the trail was fenced off most likely due to earthquake damage. We headed back into town and stopped in at a store called The Warehouse, it's like Zellers. We did some recon on soft sided coolers and portable BBQs for when Mom and Dad come down. The rest of our evening progressed the same as most nights with dinner, walking the dogs and watching whatever movie is on TV, tonight was the Green Mile.

At the Sumner Beach

Jan 6 – Hiking in Christchurch

Beau has been bugging me to go hiking so we finally figured out how to get to the mountains. The day started off not so nice but once the afternoon rolled around the skis cleared. We took the bus down to the Halswell Quarry to start our hike. We hiked the Quarry and then turned east towards the mountains and the ocean. We hiked through some sheep farms and cow pastures while also hiking upwards. It was quite a ways but we finally made it to the coast. It was beautiful and windy. There were clouds forming as they came up over the mountains and us. It was really cool. We hiked along the mountains towards where we were catching the bus. We hiked for a total of 4.5hrs and had about 1.5hrs transit time. It was really enjoyable but we've been so lazy lately that I felt out of shape.

The view from the top of our hike over a bay

Jan 8 – Mom and Dad Arrive

Today Mom, Dad, Elaine and Shane arrive this afternoon. Beau and I spent the morning organizing ourselves. Cleaning and getting things organized to get packed up. Everyone arrived around 1pm and were starving. They hadn't had a chance to eat anything between their flight and picking up the RV. We went out for lunch at a pub around the corner from the house. We then went grocery shopping and

picked up some things for camping. The rest of the day consisted of getting the camper organized. Beau and I made dinner and we watched some of Die Hard 3.

Jan 9 – Drive to Abel Tasmin

After a hearty breakfast we finished cleaning and packing we were ready to go. We left the house around 10am, we had been aiming for 9. We headed north through Christchurch towards the north coast. It was a very pretty albeit windy drive. Two of the seats in the camper face backwards so are condusive to car sickness. I had no problems with all those windy bus rides in Asia but this one made me a little green around the gills. We stopped in Kaikoura for lunch and to check out a supposed seal colony there. There weren't too many seals but we saw a few and the view was super nice. We continued on our way with more twists and turns. We stopped in a town called Havelock and had some amazing steamed green lipped muscle from the Muscle Pot. It was really good. We ended up in Marahau. We arrived at our campsite and just had some salad for a late dinner. The campsite had a nice location near the beach but was very full.

A seal in Kaikoura

Family Photo

Jan 10 – Kayaking in Tasman Bay

Today we are going kayaking in Tasman Bay. We were up pretty early and had cereal for breakfast. We were supposed to be at the kayaking place for 8:30 but as usual we were running late. We had tried to contact the company the day before but for some reason the call wasn't going through. They had started the safety demonstration without us but fortunately we have all kayaked before although never with skirts. We had to demonstrate that we knew how to recover from a capsized kayak. We got through the safety course and were fortunately on schedule. We loaded the kayaks onto a trailer and hopped in a van to be taken the short distance to the beach. We got out in the kayaks and had a little more instructions from the guide and then we were on our way. We kayaked along the coast and then headed towards Stuart Island. We were hoping to see some seals, penguins or other marine lift. We didn't see much around this island but it was pretty none the less. We went around the island and north towards Adele Island. We pulled up on a little bit of sand and eat our sandwiches standing. It was high tide so there wasn't any beach to speak of. It was also quite windy. We got back on the water and went around the top of Adele Island. We saw some seals and seal pups! They were very cute but we still didn't see any penguins. We headed back towards the mainland and took a little break on a beach there. We then followed the coastline back towards our kayak pick up spot. The pick up point was tricky since the tide goes out very far so essentially the area is a big sandbar. We ran ground and had to pull the kayak in part of the way. We kayaked for about 5hrs and were very sore in the shoulders by the end of it. We got the kayaks back and got showered and warm. Then we tackled the task of trying to cook dinner on our little BBQ. The charcoal briquettes were slow to get going and never really got going well. Dinner cooked up okay with the help of the microwave. Beau made marshmallows over the tail end of the coals. We enjoyed some nice coffee and Baileys before bed.

Elaine and Shane in their Kayak

Mom and Dad in their Kayak

Kayaking in Tasman Bay

Jan 11 – Drive to Greymouth and wine tasting

It looked like it would be a lovely day when we woke up this morning. We had breakfast then left the camp ground. We stopped to buy a few groceries and got some directions for wine tasting. We went to three very nice wineries. The first was Neudorf Vineyards which was a very nice old looking wooden building. They had some lovely grounds and tasty wines. Our next stop was Kahurangi Estate, they had a lovely Merlot which is actually made from grapes from the North Island. Apparently merlot grapes don't grow well down here. Our last winery Woollaston Estates, it was a very snazzy winery. There was a little art gallery and some interesting sculptures outside. They too had some very nice wines and we splurged and bought a more expensive Pinot Noir. We finished with wine tasting and headed towards Greymouth. It was a relatively uninteresting drive. The scenery was nice enough and fortunately it was too twisty turny. We arrived in Greymouth and found a motor park to stay at. Beau and I made skewers for dinner and mashed potatoes. Our motor park was right by the beach so we had a little walk along there before jumping in the hot tub. It was nice on our sore kayaking muscles. It had started to rain when we went to bed. Some very loud thunder woke us up in the middle of the night too.

Jan 12 – Franz Josef Glacier

The rain didn't stop from last night, it was pouring when we woke up. We had breakfast then packed up again to hit the road. We had to do a big grocery shop again, 6 people go through food very quickly. After groceries we were headed towards the Franz Josef Glacier. We arrived at the glacier and had some lunch in the RV. Then we set off to do the glacier walk. It was pretty nice out at this time, but we made sure to pack sweaters and rain coats. As we walked towards the glacier, the view was quite nice but there were some clouds closing in on the top. Pretty soon the glacier was obscured and it was pouring rain. We got soaked. Mom headed back to the RV but the rest of us ducked under the rope and continued closer to the glacier for a better view, we were also hopeful the rain would let up. It did stop a bit and we were able to get some good pictures although the clouds never fully lifted from the top of the glacier. We headed back to the RV and were almost dried out when it started to pour again. We were only 5 minutes from the RV but we were absolutely drenched. Once back in the RV we got into some drier clothes and struggled to find space to hang all of our wet things up. We headed into the Franz Josef Village and checked into a motor camp. It was Elaine and Shane's turn to cook and Beau and mine to do dishes. After dinner and dishes we went out to a pub for a little bit to us the internet. The internet was free but the drinks were kind of expensive. It had stopped raining for a little while but it started up again when we went to bed.

The Franz Josef Glacier

Elaine!

The top of the glacier