14 – 15 November: New Plymouth to Picton via Ferry
On 14th November we took the Surf Highway (Highway 45) along the west coast out of New Plymouth and headed south. Stopped for the night at an unremarkable town called Levin. Next day headed to Wellington and the ferry to Picton. It was a calm, 4 hour crossing full of empty, smelly livestock lorries.
11 – 14 November: New Plymouth, NZ.
On 13th November Alan had a days guided trout fishing on one of the Taranaki rivers. A great days fishing with six fish landed despite the windy conditions. Best Brown Trout was 5lbs and best Rainbow was 6lbs. New Zealand lived up to its reputation as the best Brown Trout river fishing destination in the world!
Whilst Alan was fishing, Caroline spent the day exploring New Plymouth by bike and climbing the mighty Paritutu Rock – a 158 metre high remnant of a volcanic crater (with spectacular views).
vertical.
On the evening of 12th November we had dinner at Hiran and Pretheeva’s house in New Plymouth. Pretheeva is the sister of our (Alpaca) neighbour, Anila. We had a great evening and a lovely meal and were lucky enough to meet Anila/Pretheeva’s mother.
On 12th November we ran around the Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. The park has some lovely Japanese water features and is famous for being one of the sets for the film, The Last Samurai.
On 11th November we drove from Otorohanga to New Plymouth along the wonderful State Highway 3. The best driving road so far!
New Plymouth is dominated by Mount Taranaki and can be see from miles around. It is the second highest mountain in New Zealand’s north island. We stopped in the town and hired a couple of bikes and rode part of the town’s coast path, including the spectacular Te Rewa Rewa Bridge.
7 – 10 November: Rotorua and Tongariro, NZ.
On the 10th we travelled north west to Otorohanga and the highlight of the tour so far – a Kiwi sanctuary! The birds live inside with natural lighting, climate and vegetation. The lighting is reversed so that these nocturnal animals are awake during the day. We were lucky to see them as they sleep 18-20 hours a day! We had a good view of two of the birds.
The birds breed and, once sufficiently grown, are released into a protected wild environment (areas protected from rats etc).
On the 9th we ran in the Tongariro National Park. The 9.75 mile route took us from the Whakapapa campsite to the Taranaki waterfall and then onto the volcanic lake called Tama Lake. An amazing route with spectacular volcanic features. The ascent was nearly 400 metres so we were a little jaded at the end but it was definitely worth it!
On the 8th November we visited some geothermal areas. The first was the Waiotapu Geothermal Area which included the slightly disappointing Lady Knox Geyser. However, the rest of the Waiotapu area was worth the visit. Not having had our fill of geysers, mud pools, hot flowing streams and sulphur gas… we visited and bathed in the charming, non-commercialised Kerosene Creek. We then drove to the Whakapapa campsite at the Tongariro National Park.
Drove from Coromandel along the northern side of the peninsula. Decided to give Hot Water Beach a miss. Spent the night just north of Rotorua in a campsite on the shores of Lake Rotorua
5 – 7 November: Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, NZ.
Hired sit-on top kayaks and paddled about 5 miles to the edge of the neighbouring headland. Fished for a while but no luck.
Lovely six mile run along the headlands and woodlands. Saw the famous Kauri trees which were decimated in the 170/1800s when the British navy felled them for masts and spars.
Exciting drive along the western side of the Coromandel Peninsula: narrow road with hairpin bends. It would make an ideal motorcycle route. Staying in the campsite at Long Bay just north west of Coromandel town. Our pitch is at the water’s edge facing directly west so fantastic sunset views. Fished the rocks near the campsite and caught one small yellow fish, possibly a Snapper.
Spoke with one of our fellow campers, a New Zealander, who asked us where we were from and then said “Get up at the sparrows fart to go tiki-touring in the wop-wops….”. After she has translated this for us she then dais “Do it while you can – shrouds do not have pockets!”
2 – 4 November: Paihia, Bay of Islands, North Island, NZ.
On 4th November we left the site at Paihia and headed towards Coromandel. On the way we spent the morning deep sea fishing out of Paihia. We caught a Parrot Fish and a number of Red Snapper.
On route to Coromandel, we stopped for the night at Drury just south of Auckland at the Murphy’s Law (Irish) pub. It wasn’t very Irish but did have a decent overnight camping facility.
The place was full of other tourists…
29 October – 1 November: Auckland
On 1st November we collected our hired motorhome. Surprised to find it was a UK manufactured Auto-Trail model. It is a similar layout and size to our own Adria Coral motorhome. The three year old hire van has covered some 97,000 miles but is still going strong. We drove 100 miles north to the Bay of Islands to stay at a campsite at Paihia.
On 31 October we visited the Kelly Tarlton’s SEA LIFE Aquarium. Apart from the many fish, there was a great display of Scott’s Antarctic hut with all the gear and provisions. The highlight for us were the King Penguins. Some great views of them nesting and swimming. In the late afternoon we met an ex-colleague of Alan’s, Andy Ryan, who emigrated to New Zealand a decade ago. Interesting discussions where we learned of the high cost of living and low salaries in New Zealand.
On 30 October we met with Alan’s school friend, Graeme Tremlett, who lives in a suburb of Auckland.
29 October: bouncy flight from Singapore landed us in Auckland rather jet-lagged.