Up at 6am to get ready. Lift arrives at 6:50 with bag to borrow. Pack and go by 7. Easy drive to the airport, with Dad only attempting to kill us once.
Breakfast at Fly Cafe. We check in around 8:30 and go through customs. International customs is like a Disney ride. Little tiny door into a big warehouse full of lines of people waiting. I had to take my belt off (stupid monkey) and Katie lost some hand cream to the anti-terrorist gods.
One and a half hour wait. We look around the shops and read.
Uneventful flight. TVs in the back of each seat with on-demand movies. I watched "X-Men: First Class" (because I didn't care if I missed bits of it) and the first half of "Life In A Day", and Katie watched "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" but didn't take much of it in.
Walk up to Telecom booth at exit of airport to buy a prepay SIM for my phone. They direct me to Vodafone as the 3G signal Telecom uses isn't compatible with my phone. Vodafone's is though, no problems.
We take the Airport Express bus to the Langham (pre-booked). It takes a different route to usual due to a bus-and-six-cars accident on the motorway. I fiddle with the phone trying to get 3G working, sending some SMSs to family.
Langham tried to up-sell us to a better room for $50 extra a night. Already paying a lot so decline. Room pretty sweet anyway. Third floor, very very similar to the room we had in Adelaide's Grand Chancellor, only shiny and well looked after instead of stuffy and worn out. Huge comfy king bed.
We order room service while I chat with Vodofone help line trying to get 3G going. Eventually give up, use the hotel WiFi ($10 per hour) to get online and find my answer on a user forum (had to manually setup the APN). Food expensive but lovely. I have a shepherds pie, Katie has beetroot risotto. We have some Langham branded beers (Larger and Honey Ale). The Honey Ale is nice.
Look through the provided what-to-do pamphlets and think problem Museum tomorrow with a walk through the Domain.
Thursday, 8th March 2012
Auckland
Wake at 7:30. Didn't sleep too badly, bed comfy but pillows are awful. Lots of drunken yelling and screaming outside overnight.
Breakfast is included with our room so we wander down to the Number 8 restaurant. Similar to the Langham in Melbourne with a buffet and chefs ready to make waffles or an omelette on demand. We have bacon and eggs.
It's raining, very happy to have bought rain jackets before we left. Best purchase ever. We ask the concierge for directions to the museum and they give us a map and draw instructions on it. Very helpful.
We walk across Grafton Bridge past a pretty cemetery and across the freeway, past the university to the Domain.
We walk down Lovers' Lane Walk and back up Centennial Walk. Both amazing slices of forest in the middle of the city. Loved it, even in the rain.
Make it through the wind and rain to the museum. Coat check-in the wet raincoats and wander around. Huge old building, where museums should be. Huge range of exhibits, with an obvious slant to islander history and culture. Leave about 1:30 and walk over to the Windergarden Cafe for lunch. I have Pepper Lamb, Katie has Squid. I have Speights beer. Food is proving expensive...
Walk around Windergarden glass houses. Lots of amazing plants. I'm constantly frustrated by my lack of memory of plant names, but it means I'm always surprised by the freaky plants.
Walk to Albert Park, past the university Clock Tower to the Art Gallery. Look at the first few floors of the Art Gallery, then wander off for coffee. Decide not to go into Degas to Dali exhibit.
Before we left I looked up the brewery bars in Auckland. We walk to the first, Shakespeare's Tavern. Only one brewed beer on tap, White Lady Wheat Beer. It's lovely. The bar itself is small with pool tables and cricket on the TV. Appears very old.
Walk down to the water and along the red fence, the up to The Brewery on Britomart. Much better range of brewed beers on tap (up to 10?). They also have a tasting paddle (4 x 120ml beers). It seems New Zealand doesn't have any beer size standards. They have the concept of a "half" which is almost a pot, their standard size being a little smaller than a pint, but the size varies by pub. I have a "pint" of Old Fort dark ale.
Next up just down the road toward the water is Macs Brewbar, which appears to be a chain. Their decor is terribly cheesy. Place is full of suits. I have a Mac Great White beer but don't much like it. We wander back to Britomart for dinner but decide against it. We walk back up Queen Street looking for food but end up back at the motel.
We have pizza for dinner at the bar attached to the Langham (accessible for guests via corridors lined with conference rooms). Nice enough.
At 9pm the drunken yelling starts...
Friday, 9th March 2012
Auckland
Up early (7), breakfast buffet again (waffles and omelettes with toast this time).
Zoo today. We walk to the bus stop but we've just missed one, next is 40 minutes away so we start walking. Quickly into outer suburbia. We wander off the bus path without realising it and end up waiting for nothing. Check on the phone to see where to go and walk down hill to the correct stop. Next bust still 20 minutes away so we decide to walk all the way to the zoo, cicadas serenading us the whole way. It is warm but not hot, low 20s.
We pass the Transport Museum and get passed by a tram on the way to "St. Kilda" (it's a ride). We watch the Pacifica Festival set up in Western Springs park. A couple of people are on segways.
Auckland Zoo is huge. Most of the animals have lots of room. Rain holds off most of the day. We get to see a Kiwi. Amazing animals, just two powerful legs and a head with a long beak. They run surprisingly fast. Very old chimp (57 years), the last chimp in the zoo. Get to watch the big male Tiger be fed. Great day.
We walk back to the bus stop and again we've just missed our bus. Walk for a bit but decide to risk taking another bus. It takes us almost all the way back to the hotel. Sore feet, lots of walking.
We walk down Symonds Street to Britomart to The Brewery for dinner. I have Fish & Chips, Katie has Tuna. Both excellent. We both have a 4 beer tasting paddle. Gold Rush, Old Fort, Anchors Aweigh, Witful, Element 5, 69 Seasons. Old Fort and Anchors Aweigh are the best.
We take the free Langham shuttle back to the motel. Exhausted.
Saturday, 10th March 2012
Auckland to Paihai
Up at 7 again. Breakfast. There is confusion over toast.
We walk to Beach Road via Symonds Street and Alten Park to APEX Car Hire to pick up car (pre-booked). We booked full insurance so pickup is easy. Toyota Corolla sedan 2010 (auto). I went with APEX because they had excellent consistent reviews on TripAdvisor and they were the only car hire company I could find that could guarantee the car model. I wanted a new model with air bags and an auxiliary plug for my MP3 player. Unfortunately it is dark-grey. A few scratches from rocks around the wheels. Otherwise nothing wrong with it. Turns out it does have a USB plug for MP3s (something I simply couldn't confirm online beforehand).
We drive back up Symonds to the Langham to checkout and get bags.
Go for a drive around Auckland. Struggle to find anywhere to pull over. Drive around the Domain, find a petrol station. The tires on the hire car are very low (14psi!) so pump them up. Drive Symonds > Welesley > Grafton > Park Road > Domain > Titoki (Petrol station) > George > Carlton Gore > Park > Grafton > ? > Kitchener > Bowen > Princes > ? > Customs > Freeway!
Driving unusual car not too bad. Toyota feels a bit cheap. Everything plastic and rattling. Toll road kiosk to the North very busy, lots of people in line. Machine not taking notes. Lots of complaining. The toll road is fairly new I think. You can buy a ticket online and they seem to be pushing that by making the kiosk as annoying as possible. You put your rego in and it looks up the details, asking if it has the right car model. $2.20.
We stop at Waiwera? to take the head rests off the back seats and fix the dash lights (dim setting buried in some hidden setup, weird car). Uneventful drive to Dargaville. Very pretty area, lots of one lane bridges. Dead possum road-kill very common. Pass a heap of bikies stopped somewhere around Makakohe. They catch up with us while we're stopped at Dargaville. We stop for lunch (cheap pie at a Dairy). Huge fast flowing river at Dargaville full of boats moving against the current. We notice a crack in the windscreen of the car and call the hire place. As we have full insurance they say it is fine. Annoyed I missed it when I picked it up.
Drive to Waipoua Forest. Long windy road edged with trees. Turn to visit the visitors centre but its a bit of a waste of time, although a map there was helpful to tell us where the big trees are (and a toilet is always good). Further down the road we find the first of the big tree walks, "Father of the Forest". $2 donation to the Lions Club security guys and wash our shoes. Lovely boardwalk to the tree. The boardwalk is there to protect the roots of the trees. Huge, probably used to be larger. Looks as if it broke in the middle some time many years ago. Take a photo for some American tourists, fishing for a Happy Birthday ("its my birthday camera") but they don't get one. On the way back to the car we follow a side path to the Four Sisters.
A bit further down the road we get to the "God Of The Forest". Much more impressively large, but not as wide.
Stop at Omaprere at a lookout. More Lions security. Incredible current rushing out of the harbour. We go for a short walk then get back in the car as it starts to rain.
Drive on to Paihai, there about 6:15. Check into Outrigger Motel (pre-booked). Room looks fine. Basic.
Go to the supermarket down the road and buy chocolate, Weetbix and milk. Walk to the shops along the shore and have dinner at Cafe Over The Bay. Calamari Fettuccine and Cajun Calamari. Both excellent.
New Zealand has "Countdown" instead of "Woolworths" (but still has the "W" shaped apple as their logo) and "Burger King", no "Hungry Jacks". All the drinks and ice creams are different brands and labels too. It's all like bizarro 90s Australia.
Sunday, 11th March 2012
Paihai
Wake at 7, tired. Mystery message on phone. Eventually figure out our pre-booked full day "Cream Tour" around the Bay of Islands has been cancelled due to weather. At the last minute we book the half day tour ("Hole In The Rock") and get a refund on the rest. Seems as if the half day cruise is very similar to the full day anyway, with just less time spent on the island.
Hole in the Rock cruise great. See dolphins early. Low cloud the whole trip with a bit of rain. Very high tide and sea a bit rough so can't ride through the Hole in the Rock but we don't miss it. See a school of trevally with seagulls feeding on them on the way back. Stop over on an island for lunch. Wander up the hill to the lookout, through sheep paddocks. Amazing view of the islands from the top of the hill. We buy the photo pack at the end of the trip.
Trip all over by 1pm, so back to room for coffee and to look at maps.
Drive to Haruru Falls to watch the worst-mother-in-the-world dangle her child practically over the edge.
Drive to KiriKiri and eventually find Rainbow Falls (not very well sign posted). Lovely walk down the hill to the bottom of the falls. Walk went for a few kilometres along the river but didn't have time to continue.
Drive randomly north along SH10 through Kaeo then take turn off following a "Tourist Road" (Whangaroa). Lots of hills along the coast, swapping between fog and coastline. Accidentally detour to Matauri Bay. Check the phone maps and get back on track, back to Paihai. Lots of one-way bridges.
Attempt to drive to the lookout past the Treaty Grounds but the road is unsealed so we drive back (5:30pm).
Back to motel for beer. Look up future motels on net.
Wander up the street looking for food. Pick some fish'n'chips, take them back to the motel to eat.
Monday, 12th March 2012
Paihai to Whitianga
Up at 7. Weetbix for breakfast. Check out about 9.
Drive to Auckland via SH1. Toll machine broken on the way back so will have to buy toll online. Lots of road works north of Auckland, must have driven through ten or more 30kmph unsealed parts of the main motorway. Frustrating. Amusing "new seal" signs, nice to see "End Works, Thank You" signs. Roads usually 50kph through towns. Sometimes 70, rarely see 60.
Get to Auckland Botanical Gardens around 1pm. Lunch. Buy toll online with my phone.
Lovely walk around gardens. Would loved to have done the full forest walk, the small part we did was great. Saw some dogs!
Leave around 3pm. Buy petrol and get back on SH1. Stop for cash and strawberry milk. On to SH2, SH25, SH25A to a stunning drive over the mountains on the Coromandel Peninsula, along east coast to Whitianga.
Whitianga lovely. Amazing view at the beach. After a bit of a drive around and a look on the phonernet we pick Ocean View Resort to stay in. Arrive about 6 but still has rooms. Puts us up in an amazing apartment (room 5, "just use one room and bathroom"). Great view from the balcony. Make most of the laundry facilities and do a load.
Front door of the apartment whistles like a banshee in the wind. Figure out how to make it stop by shoving some folded up paper in the gap to force the door gap shut.
On advice of owner we wander across the road to the local take away. Fantastic burgers and chips, eaten on the beach watched by disappointed seagulls. Beetroot. Everything in north New Zealand seems to have beetroot in it. Go back and have ice cream. Buy a bottle of wine (Shingle Peak Sauv. Blanc 2011) and drink it on the balcony.
Look up stuff to do tomorrow on the net. Originally intended to stay one night but decide to stay two. Book breakfast for the morning.
Tuesday, 13th March 2012
Whitianga
There was a drip-dripping coming from the hot water system over night, but it stopped by morning. Very clicky building, ticked and tocked all night as the temperature changed. Katie up early to watch sunrise (hidden by a hill but still nice).
Ask the owner for another night when breakfast arrives. Not a problem, but we have to move. Move after breakfast to a three story place further into the complex. Same deal as previously (only use one room and bathroom). Extra stairs are killer. Use the laundry again. A lot more beds in this one, with a bunk down stairs with the car and laundry.
Walk to the wharf to find the Cave Cruzer cruise, find we need to buy tickets down the road at "The Cave". Cruise is on an ex-NAVY dingy with ten other people, including a group of Brazilians, one of whom is very excited, talking exactly like Borat ("very nice", "thank you my friends").
Lovely cruise along the coast, occasionally dipping into caves. Passed Cathedral Cove at high tide. Excellent commentary from the captain. We stop for a swim with the huge snapper in Gemstone bay. No dolphins. Captain says there hasn't been any for a few weeks. Last week some divers saved an Orca that had been caught in a crayfish pot. The Brazilians spend the whole time taking photos of themselves looking excited, contemplative, very very happy. Back by 1pm, dropping the Brazilians on the other side of the bay. We wander back to the room, have a shower and coffee.
Drive to Cathedral Cove car park. 30 minute walk, mostly downhill to the Cove. Nice walk through a grove of trees on the way. Cove beautiful at low tide. Write a message in the sand for brother-in-law's birthday to post on Facebook. Amazing difference between high and low tide. Have a look in a few caves that were covered at high tide. Natural waterfalls off the cliffs great for showering after a swim. They even have toilets here.
Walk back very hard, all up hill, lots of stairs. Take a detour to Stingray bay. Glad we did as it is one of the most lovely spots we've seen. So calm. Decide against seeing Gemstone bay and get back to car. Just too late (5:30) to get a snack from the food van.
Drive to Hot Water Beach. Very cold walk across the beach to the hot water springs. Lots of people have already done the hard work for us and dug to a stream and built pools for the water to run into. Run to the nearest pool only to scald our feet in the 70 degree water. Find an empty pool further away and build up the walls, mixing cold and warm water to the right temperature. Watch every new visitor scald their feet in the same way we did. Tide soon comes in and ruins the fun. Leave, freezing walk across the beach, quick shower to get rid of the sand.
Drive back, drop clothes in the washer.
Dinner at the local Thai place (super cheesy decor, food OK).
Get back and the washer was stuck on pause! Stay up waiting for it to finish.
Wednesday, 14th March 2012
Whitianga to Taupo
Woken at 6:30 by an air-raid siren. The captain yesterday told us the story of a tsunami in Whitianga in the 60s so that was our first thought. No sounds of panic from the locals. Eventually look something up on the phone which tells us the siren is used by the local volunteer fire fighters to draw volunteers.
Wheetbix breakfast, out by 9:30. Owner says "sweet-as" a lot.
Drive to Coromandel via SH25 north of Whitianga, over hills. Windy.
West shore very twisty, lots of one lane sections. Beautiful. Cliffs on the left, ocean on the right. At Tapu turn down road for Rapaura Water Gardens, about 6km down windy road next to river.
Rapaura Water Gardens are great. $15 each. Baby ducks, lily ponds. Ducks are usually fed (can buy food at the cafe) so they all expect food from us. 15 min walk to a waterfall ("swim at own risk"). Back to the cafe for lunch. Expected cheap nasty food but unexpectedly get amazing meal. Moroccan Lamb Balls (which apparently won an award, they deserve it). Food was late coming because the trainee chef had the oven at the wrong temperature, so the chef apologised and brought out some free garlic bread. Katie had a salad and whole fish with beer bread (baked in a little terracotta pot). All incredible. Chef came out to thank us for having dinner, "thanks for giving me something to do today". Talent seems wasted out in the middle of nowhere, but maybe gardens are busier on the weekend. Coffee was dreadful though. Cheese-cake (the main reason we stopped here for lunch) was also amazing.
Leave around 1:30pm. Drive south to Paeroa, then on to SH2 to Tauanga. Get lost and end up at iSite to find map and toilet. Eventually back on to SH36 to Rotorua. Lots of road works again. Every few kms, 100 > 50 > 100 > 50.
Rotorua very very busy. Lots of traffic. Finally through. Road to Taupo great. 100 the whole way. No roadworks! Lots of bikes and hitchhikers.
At Taupo by 6:30pm. Pick Beechtree Motel. Room 36. Very swish. Towel origami. Spa. Comfy! Started feeling a bit ill (sore throat) on the drive, feeling definitely flu-y in the room. Some kind of party over the fence next door. Hope it doesn't go all night.
Intend to walk to the main strip but pass a pub on the way and stop there for dinner (Crooked Door Inn). Have OJ + garlic bread to try to feel better. Have carbonara special, Katie had entree scallops special. Walk back by 8:30pm. Party quieter.
Our room is right next to the main door for the complex so hear it open and close a lot. Locked at 9pm so noisier. Don't notice it later.
Thursday, 15th March 2012
Taupo
Breakfast (with the room) arrives at 8am. Out by 9.
Drive to Orakei Korako Thermal Park (via SH1, then right). Pay at visitor's centre then take a ferry across the lake to the park. Interesting park, full of bubbly stuff. Lots of algae. Watch a small geyser go off.
Drive to Wai-O-Tapu park. Have terrible lunch. Much bigger park. Thermal examples laid out so well it almost seems fake. Sulphur yellow everywhere. Very active. Champagne lake beautiful. Again idiot tourists try to kill themselves crossing the barriers for photos. One lake entirely fluoro yellow. Geyser goes off at 10:45am every day but we're there far too late. No idea where it is though, no signs to it. Drive up the road to the mud pools and watch the mud popping.
Drive on to Waimangu Volcanic Valley. Get there about 3:30, close to walkers at 3:45 so we just make it. Amazing place, created in early 1900s? when a volcano went off, killing the locals and tourists. Very active area full of steaming lakes and rivers, lots of bubbling ground and spitting geysers. One amazing light blue lake which fills and empties every few weeks. Our favourite thermal area. More walking possible but the park closes soon so we jump on the last bus back up the road at 4:45. Wish we'd had time to visit the lower lake and take a boat trip over where the famous pink and white terrace used to be (before the eruption).
Drive back. Stop off to look at Thermal Pool. $14 to swim. Looked good. Think about coming back. Cooling tent interesting, cools water to 36 degrees.
Drive to Taupo, to Hakau Falls. Car park shuts at 6pm (just miss it). Drive to the lookout and notice a walk down the hill to the falls so take that. Falls are incredible. 200,000 litres per second. Massive amount of fast flowing water. Take a lot of photos.
Attempt to visit the Craters of the Moon but it is shut. Back to our room, then drive out to shore to look at the lake. Drive around looking for food but eventually decide on the Thai place we passed on the way to food yesterday. Much better than the Whitianga Thai.
Back to room. Spa. Pick stuff for tomorrow.
Friday, 16th March 2012
Taupo
Up early again (7). Breakfast @ 8 (sausages and fried egg). Out about 9:15.
Drive toward Rotorua, stopping at the lookout over town, toward the volcanoes. Start driving toward Rotorua, but both decide against it, turn around and drive down SH1 around the lake toward Mount Ngauruhoe.
Stop at Motuoapa at Licorice cafe for coffee. They suggest we stop at Turangi for a map, which we do. Drive to Waiaru, stopping on the way at a rest stop to look over the desert toward Mout Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe. Both look awesome.
Turn right at Waiaru onto SH49 toward Ohakune. Stop there for lunch at Utopia Cafe (carrot cake and sausage roll).
Continue on to SH4, SH47 to National Park then right onto SH48, to Whakapapa Village, drive on up to the chairlift car park (stopping to look at the world from the top of Mount Doom on the way). Decide not to go up the chairlift, drive back down to the Village. Park and have a look around the excellent visitor's centre. Take a short walk ("Nature Walk") near the centre along the river, then drive back to walk to Tawahi Falls. Awesome blue water fall. Bump into a German back packer there who asks where Gollum sat in the movie. No idea. She asks for a lift, but we're going the wrong way. We give her a lift to the end of the road anyway. She didn't kill us.
Drive on SH48 to Turangi, left to SH41 then SH32. Look for Tieke and Waikire Falls on the way (they're on the map) but we see no signs. Take a right turn after the lake, end up up Kinoch. Stop for a muffin (from the Tipsy Trout) and watch the water lap on the beach.
Drive on to the Craters Of The Moon. Only have an hour before closing so we rush, but the place is fantastic. A big field of steam, with one excellent bubbling valley. Loved it. Very cheap too compared to the other thermal parks.
Drive back to Taupo, drive to Thermal Park and go for a walk. Near the river is a small stream of hot water where people are swimming. The water is very hot.
Back to room after a quick trip to the supermarket for coffee. Buy beer across the road from the motel and get cash.
Drive to Hell Pizza for a Wrath pizza. Take back to room to relax.
[Some notes I made on driving]
Saturday, 17th March 2012
Taupo to Napier to Dankevirke
Up 7:30. Breakfast, sausages again. Katie has creamed mushrooms. Leave at 9:30.
SH5 to Napier. Lots of bikes and motorbikes. One crazy driver in a blue car driving like an idiot, rare sight so far. We see him pulled over by police later. Lots of visible police on the roads too, which is good.
Stop at a lookout on the way. Amazing view of a waterfall barely signposted. Drunk St. Patrick's Day bus.
Get to Napier about 11:30. Get a bit lost driving around. Drive up to lookout up a very narrow road. Nice view.
Drive along Marine Parade to the Aquarium, keeping an eye on motels around town, all of which appear full. Lovely sunny day, lots of traffic, although no-one actually on the beach.
Lunch at the Aquarium (terrible pie and chips). Aquarium small but OK, nothing great. Kiwis always cool. These two were very active, lots of digging, fighting.
Drive to Dick Smith to buy a new SD card for the camera, then petrol. Drive up and down the main streets looking at the art deco buildings. Nothing really exciting us so we decide to drive on.
Drive to Havelock North to Te Mata Peak. Terrifying drive up single lane roads with cliffs on both sides. Amazing amazing amazing view at the top though. Well worth the drive.
Drive to Hastings, which looks nicer than Napier in our opinion. A bit more Spanish, with the buildings painted better, with the highlights picked out a bit better.
Keep driving on SH2. Think about stopping in Waipukurau but keep driving to Dannvirke. Viking ship in the local park! Both motels full of vintage car people, but find a B&B at the International Police Museum on the main street. Knock about 6pm. They have a room but it isn't done up yet. They show us the room and ask us to come back in an hour. Recommends a couple of places for dinner.
The first place (Barrelhouse) is booked out until 8. Second place (Black Stump, on main street) has room. Have Steak Sandwich, Katie has fish cakes. Back by 6:30.
Room looks nice, if odd. It is a built room within the main hall of the 1800s building (State Trustees Building). Massive bathroom. Very quiet and very comfy bed.
Go for a walk. Saint Patrick's Day stuff starting to kick off, otherwise town very quiet. Lots of oldies lining up at the Town Hall.
Have tea around the TV with the B&B owners. Chat about New Zealand, earthquakes, insurance going up, bushfires, holidays to the US, sat navs. The road through the gorge on SH1 close due to massive slip. We intended to take SH2 anyway. Son of the owners runs town security (small towns don't seem to have police). He noticed us on our walk around town.
The B&B building was a brothel a few year ago. Our room was put in to make the most of the huge bathroom that was put in on the request of the council, who were attempting to prevent the brothel going in via rules.
Get recommendation to go to Bridal Falls near Hamilton, and the lodge at Dawson Falls, Hamilton Gardens and a dodgy looking museum in Hawera.
Off to bed around 9:45, breakfast ordered for 8:30.
Free look around the museum tomorrow!
Sunday, 18th March 2012
Dankevirke to Wellington
Breakfast at 8:30. Host would have happily fed us all day but we were stuffed from the night before so only had eggs & bacon.
Spent a bit of last night sorting out 3G subscription. Used up the 100Mb I got with the $25 per month, but no way to recharge. Eventually worked out how to change subscription to a more flexible one, then subscribed to 512Mb + international SMS.
Have a look around the Police Museum. Small, but packed collection. Loved the international hats. Very cool old 1930s car out the back with Police decals added today in honour of the vintage car show.
Leave about 9:30. Waste almost an hour driving around back roads of Greytown trying to find waterfall and gorge but all roads eventually end up as unsealed so have to keep turning back.
Arrive at Wellington about 1:30. Find our motel and check-in to Apollo Lodge Motel (pre-booked five nights). Wellington very hilly. The street our motel is on reminds me of San Francisco.
Walk around looking for food. Settle on Burger and steak sandwich at [public] bar.
Walk along the wharf, some boat race is on so its packed. Walk through the CBD looking for sunscreen. Keep walking, past the parliament buildings, uphill, Hill Street, Tinakori Road, eventually to the rose garden and Begonia House at Botanical Gardens. Stop for a drink and look around the glass house.
Walk around the very hilly Botanical Gardens. All lovely. Happen across the lookout at the top of the cable car, intend to come back later. Catch a bit of a band rehearsing. Take some very very steep stairs along the west side of the gardens, ending up at Boundary Road. We walk intending to walk down to the city but accidentally end up at the cable car again so we take that down the hill.
Walk back toward the motel, detouring around Cuba street.
Have a beer at The Malt House on Courtenay Place (lots of great beers on tap). Have dinner at The Catch Sushi next door and stumble back to room exhausted.
Monday, 19th March 2012
Wellington
Motel room is basic. Front wall all glass, but thick with thick blockout curtains. Lots of thumps as other guests move around. Fan in the bathroom comes on automatically with the light but takes forever to turn off. Horrible in the middle of the night. Shower head very low, no shelves in the shower. Window in the bathroom has no curtain. No bin in the bathroom. Tiny cramped kitchenette. Only two of everything in the kitchen. Neighbours up very early... thump thump. Otherwise, room is great! Bed comfy. Beds always comfy.
Damn TVs are never set up properly for wide-screen though... Owner friendly enough. Laundry, parking included, room far enough from street to not be noisy. Owner suggested Wellington like Melbourne while Auckland is like Sydney. We don't see it (if anything, the opposite).
Out by 10, drive to Wellington Zoo.
Awesome kiwi house, spend a lot of time watching the kiwi run around snorting, digging. A couple of owls flying around too. Lots of animals hiding from the cold and rain. Hilly. Dingos whining and howling. Great Giraffe viewing platform right at head height, watch the zookeepers trying (and failing) to get a Giraffe to come inside out of the cold. Go back to see the lions after a few hours and they'd turned into females. Massive wooden? plastic? spider and blue-tongue lizard (slide down the tongue) at the cafe. Have a "great" ham and cheese toasted sandwich for lunch (liquid cheese with chunks of spam). Coffee good though. Sign indicates the inside part of the cafe used to be the elephant house but that they no longer plan to have elephants at the zoo. Watch the bird show about 1:30. Sun Bears very active. Crazy energetic Japanese school kids running around, otherwise zoo almost empty. Baboons very cranky, lots of grunting.
Leave about 4:30. Drive up the hill and end up on the coast. Drive around the coast past the airport a couple of times. Lovely drive, despite the weather. Back to motel, keep driving up more skinny roads to Mount Victoria lookout. Insanely windy. Manage to take a photo without falling over or freezing to death.
Back to room about 6pm. Have to park across the road as main car park is full.
Out looking for food. Don't want to walk far because of the wind and rain, so we go for Hazel just down the road. Awesome! Get a bottle of Murdoch James 2010 Pinot Noir which tastes amazing and gets us well sloshed. Entree: Salmon and Fishcake. Main: Duck and Seared Salmon. Dessert: Mousse and Blackberry&Apple crumble. All super tasty.
Back 9pm.
Very windy tonight.
Tuesday, 20th March 2012
Wellington
Sleep in until 9. Message from my parents while I'm in my shower about my birthday. Out by 10:30.
Walk to Te Papa (Wellington Museum). Huge building chock full of awesome. Colossal squid, whale skeleton, room full of skeletons, taxidermy, art, Maori and New Zealand history, volcanoes, super lame underwater volcano ride but "black smoker" volcanoes interesting, 80s, gay rights, Maori rights, Phar Lap skeleton. Loved it. Lunch in the cafe around 1:30. Kicked out at 6pm with still a couple of floors to see.
Walk around looking for a "Brewhouse" I saw on the map, before finally realising "brew" meant coffee, not beer. Walk back to the Malthouse. Have a stout again only this time strained through coffee. Lovely.
Burrito and boring Mexican beer at Mexican place on the corner near the motel for dinner.
Back to the room by 8:15 for chocolate and relaxification.
Wednesday, 21st March 2012
Wellington
Breakfast at cafe on corner of Willis and Manners street after wandering around looking for a cafe breakfast.
I go the wrong way looking for the bottom of the cable car, taking lots of stairs up hilly Wellington streets, ending up on an overpass. I ask for help from a friendly passer by who tells us to take the lift down the Grand Chancellor.
Take the cable car up the hill, then the courtesy bus to Zealandia.
Zealandia is a park surrounded by a mammal proof fence where the plants and birds are hoping to thrive. The exhibition at the entrance is excellent, full of little 1 to 3 minute videos on New Zealand and its awesome flora and fauna. I want a DVD of all the videos but it doesn't seem to exist in the shop. Europeans really did a great job destroying New Zealand in the short time they were there. The Maoris were also fond of burning forests but at least enforced the concept of animal preservation, something the Europeans seemed to deliberately ignore.
The park itself is incredible. Despite the rain we had a great time wandering around bird watching. Finally saw some Weta, even if they were technically caged. Walk to the dam and back and detoured to the gold mine for a quick look. All the birds and plants look familiar but wrong. Out at 5.
Plan to return to Zealandia again one day. Wish we could return to see the result of their 50 and 500 year plans. The land itself only exists because Wellington built a dam on the site, only to empty it again because they realised they'd built a dam on a fault line above the town.
Take bus back to cable car, ride it back down and walk again back to Malthouse. Have pizza at Malthouse for dinner.
Back to room, then across the road to the Dairy (milk bar) for ice cream. Do some laundry, hoping the dryer (a foreign concept for us) hasn't shrunk our clothes.
Thursday, 22nd March 2012
Wellington
12th anniversary. Sleep in until 10. Making the most of the relaxed schedule, not having to drive anywhere.
Walk back to Te Papa to see the parts we missed.
The bush island outside the cafe is cute with a little fake cave and suspension bridge. Level 5 is all art, level 6 small with a pottery exhibition.
Walk to civic centre thinking we might go to City Gallery but choose to go find lunch. Walk all the way up Lambton Key to Parliament again. Look at map to find General Practitioner pub we'd passed earlier and wander back. Black Dog stout with chicken sandwich.
Walk back to room about 2pm for a nap.
Out for food at 6pm, getting noddle boxes. Back to room to eat and drink our left over beers (from Taupo).
In hindsight could have done without the extra day in Wellington, but it wasn't a waste. We needed a chill day.
Friday, 23rd March 2012
Wellington to New Plymouth
Out by 9, check out.
Motorway to Wanganui. Road runs right along the coast. Must be fun in a storm.
Had originally planned to stay in Wanganui but our extra day in Whitianga took that idea away. Wanganui turns out to be much nicer than I expected though. Main street is lovely. We have lunch at a cafe.
We drive on. Attempt to get petrol at Havera but give up. Finally notice the friggin' huge mountain ahead of us dominating the landscape. Clouds quickly hide it though so no photos. We drive on to Stratford, get petrol, then drive toward the mountain looking for Dawson Falls.
The drive up to the mountain is one of my favourite drives of the trip. The second we enter the park the trees close in on the road and rise over, leaving us driving through a tunnel of green. The single lane road would normally have terrified me but I was having too much fun.
The lookout at the car park was great, but the mountain is still invisible under the clouds.
We take the start of the Loop walk to Dawson Falls. Absolutely loved it. Easily my favourite walk. I have this vision of how forests should be. New Zealand's walks were usually pretty close to that vision, but the Dawson Falls walk was perfect. Wet, moss everywhere, twisty trees, rocks. The only thing that could have made it better was taller trees. One day I'll take a walk through a forest in England and I'll be in my Robin Hood vision. The falls are nice but slightly disappointing after the great walk. Friggin' graffiti on the rocks kind of ruined it a bit too. Water in the stream very cold.
Everything very wet, there had been lots of rain earlier in the week. The area in Northland we'd spent driving around a week before has flooded, and we later find out New Plymouth coped a lot of rain too.
Walk back to the car via the road, drive back down the awesome road, then keep driving around the mountain to New Plymouth via Okata/Oakura? Lots of one-way bridges on the around-the-mountain road.
Drive past a couple of motels I'd previously checked out on Tripadvisor, eventually picking Bella Vista. "Compact" but actually quite nice, and cheap. Shower much better than last place, but same exact bed. Owner suggests we walk along the bike track along the beach so we do that. They had bikes to borrow for free but we don't really have time as it is getting dark. See evidence of lots of rain along the water.
Walk back to main road looking for food. Pick Indian place (Pika Hu?). Very keen service. Food lovely. Katie has fish curry, I have the chefs special (lamb/tomato/egg curry). Garlic Naan and Kingfisher strong beers. Fried ice-cream and mango Lasi for dessert. Stuffed.
Back at room by 9.
Saturday, 24th March 2012
New Plymouth to Waitomo
Out at 9. No breakfast.
Drive to Waitomo. More lovely scenery. "You are leaving Taranaki... Why?" signs are cute.
Mountain completely hidden by clouds today, like it isn't even there. Glad we saw it, briefly, yesterday.
Stop in Mokau for coffee and muffin. Get to Waitomo about 11:30. Get a bit confused about where the caves actually are, but spot the hotel and go to check in.
Lovely old ~1900 building. Check-in friendly. All a bit run down looking though. The room is hilarious. 1980s attempt at antique look. Cool old radio in the wall though. We see a cockroach. We read the hotel is being renovated soon. Very thin walls, can hear every movement upstairs. Nice view out the window though.
Pick Spellbound tour out of the pamphlets, thinking we might do the main cave later. Drive back to town (should have walked) to buy tickets. There is a sports carnival on so town is very busy, most parking taken. We get tickets for the 3pm tour, so have 2.5 hours to waste.
Have lunch at General Store (burgers) and ice cream. Have a look through the cave "discovery centre". $5 each after discount for having bought tour tickets already. Museum also getting upgraded soon. Still nice enough. Excellent old 50s videos of Waitomo full of misinformation and sci-fi music. Nice moa skeleton collection too, and old photos of the town.
The Spellbound tour is great. Take a bus to the caves, nice to be passenger for once so I video some scenery. Our guide is excellent. English, but has been in New Zealand for 12 years. Lots of dark humour jokes.
We walk down a gorge, Katie falls over hurting her knee and cutting her hand. Guide accidentally had caves mixed up so we drive another 2 minutes to the other cave.
Cave is fantastic. Like the cave we saw in Tasmania, only larger. We see a few glow-worms, cave Weta, and the famous Moa skeleton. Walk back to the previous cave and have a cup of tea before entering. Glow worm cave is amazing. Billions of them. Little boat trip runs back and forth in the dark through the cave, giving plenty of time for our eyes to get used to the dark and see more of the worms.
Back out, drive back by 6. Attempt to have dinner at the place at the worm-tour car park (HuHu) but it is booked out.
We end up having dinner at the pizza place below the hotel, both having fish and chips.
Back to the hotel about 7. At first we thought the motel was a bit Faulty Tours, but now feel it is more like The Shining.
We go to visit the bar. We're the only ones there. I have some whiskey, Katie some wine. We read some old (1997?) tour books about New Zealand.
Sunday, 25th March 2012
Waitomo to Hamilton
Up at 7:30. The shower, as well as being green from rot has only one control, on or off. To get hot water you have to turn it up as far as it will go. Takes about five minutes to warm up and it never gets beyond tepid.
Check out about 9, drive to General Store and have breakfast. Bacon, eggs, coffee.
Drive to Ruakuri natural tunnel walk after recommendation from Spellbound guide. Awesome walk, lots of stairs, caves, trees, all next to a noisy river flowing through everything.
Drive to Mangapohue Natural Bridge Walk, almost rip the bottom of the car out while parking. Another gorgeous walk through rain forest, suspension bridge, cliffs. The natural bridge is pretty imposing, a bit wary of walking under it.
Keep walking through the rest of the walk, through farm land to view some fossilised oysters. In hindsight the rest of the walk could have been missed, mostly grass and cow shit, although we did finally see one of the spiders that have been making the little nest webs in all the bushes around the country.
Drive further to Marokopa Falls. They're much bigger than expected, very wide. Almost considered missing them, glad we didn't.
The drive west of Waitoma with the natural tunnel, natural bridge and waterfalls has been some of the best walks of the trip. Very happy we did this instead of seeing more caves.
Drive back via Waitomo, back to the motorway, to Otorohanga Kiwi House. Great bird park, but the kiwis seem a bit upset compared to the others we've seen. Watched the 1.30 feed, then the swap over. Two sets of kiwis, one lot doing the afternoon shift, one doing the morning.
Had a lot of fun watching the ducks being freaky.
Have a quick look at the park across the road but we're hungry so we drive back to town and have a pie and sausage roll.
Drive on the Hamilton, drive around town, find the motel strip but keep going, finding the Quantum Hotel. Looks very nice so we check in. Owner asks who we are visiting. When we're not visiting anyone she asks if we're here for work, business? When we say we're on holidays she asks, "why here?" We explain we're here to see Hamilton Gardens, the zoo and maybe Bridal Veil falls. Still looks confused.
Very nice room, king bed, big bathroom (but shower has no shelf). Motel out in the 'burbs though, and road a little noisy.
New Zealand give way rules changed today. Previously you had to give way to someone who was turning right in front of you. Changed to the rule we have in Australia (give way if you are turning right). Can't say I noticed the different rule, except for the lines painted on the road. I tend to find "don't crash into anyone" is a good rule.
Walk across the road to the shopping centre. Finally find the invisible Hoyts (upstairs, although you'd hardly know that, no signs). Plan to see Ghost Rider 3D but it isn't on.
Go downstairs for Foundations for dinner. Have Pizza and Pav, plus two wheat beers (Steam and unlabelled guest beer).
Back to motel around 7:15.
Monday, 26th March 2012
Hamilton
Lots of noise last night. Assumed at first it was road works but turns out it was a factory across the road. Bed comfy though.
Breakfast at 8 ($16 each, Bacon & Eggs, coffee, OJ and toast). Out at 9.
SH1 to Hamilton Gardens. Hamilton much larger than expected, plus we're on the other side of town.
Hamilton Gardens great. Lots of different themed gardens. Indian, China, English, Maori, Italian, Japanese. Food garden huge.
Walk around lake to glass houses to see the succulents and tropical plants.
Lunch at the cafe at 12.
On to Hamilton Zoo about 1pm. Baby white rhino, giraffes necking, invisible tiger, birds, invisible baby red panda, monkeys, massive aviary. Spend a long time watching (and patting) baby pigs. They're selling them for $50, but only if you don't eat them.
Out after 4 and decide to drive on to Bridal Veil falls. Every guide book and everyone we've spoken to have warned us to be very careful at the falls. Cars are often broken into. We almost expect to be murdered just driving past.
The falls are fantastic. Great view from the top, half way down the stairs, and finally at the bottom. Falls create a rainbow in the afternoon light. Someone offers to take a photo for us but we say no-thanks.
Walk back up the 261 stairs. Glad we've spent the last three weeks training, not hard at all.
Guy who asked if we'd like a photo taken is waiting by the car, asks for a lift for him and his bike. We lie and say our boot is full so we can't take his bike. Murder avoided!
Drive on to Raglan for much needed petrol. Another damn pre-pay, but I find more Tic Tacs (Mellon Mango).
Drive around Raglan, stop at the old port (its being renovated). Almost have dinner there but decide it is too expensive. Attempt to buy fish'n'chips at the only place open but the line is massive.
Drive back to Hamilton and walk to the shopping centre again and have Nandos. They have grilled livers! Their Paella has beans and egg plant. Nice!
Did a lot today, thought we'd only wander around the gardens!
Tuesday, 27th March 2012
Hamilton to Auckland
Up at 7:30. Breakfast at 8. Mushrooms and chives and bacon and eggs. Nasty...
Out at 9. Drive to Auckland. Very boring drive. Motorway the whole way. Only just into Auckland and we hit traffic, due to an accident.
Auckland has a lot of freeways but they're all hidden in valleys. We somehow manage to get to take the right turn off and get back to the car dealer.
Keep driving, get irritated at traffic, stop and just pick the motel we stop in front of (Waldorf Stadium). Big room with two bedrooms and balcony, a real fridge, cookers etc.
Construction next door but it won't be at night, 10th floor room.
Drop off bags, drive the car back (fill up first). Seem to have lost the tag off the keys, but everything else OK.
Walk to the harbour looking for lunch. Walk past the ferry building and check the airport bus location, check out The World cruise ship.
Walk on past Princes Wharf, over bridge, past awesome car gate with poles that go into the ground with flashing red lights [freakin' Star Trek!]
Finally stop at some pub thing for lunch. We both have squid and James Squire on tap and Little Creatures bottles.
Walk on to a cool park with shells/buoys etc., water tower, boat all covered up in white glad wrap.
Walk back through city to hotel. Find ice cream! Nap. Sort out our bags, out at 6:30 for dinner.
Back to Brewery again. Paddles again. I think Black Rose favourite (both had Aweigh, Witful and Old Fort). People next to us complaining about their "mild wings" not being mild. Really wanted to try them to see what they were complaining about. Katie had ribs, I had fish tacos. Entree would have been heaps.
Back to room for TV and rest.
Wednesday, 28th March 2012
Auckland to Melbourne
Last day!
Pack, throw out stuff, leave about 9:50.
Leave bags at motel and take back packs. Walk up Queen, down a side alley to Occidental for breakfast. Katie had Waffles and Apple cinnamon, I had Ham/Cheese/Egg Croissant.
Up Queen to cinemas, right into town square, around cinema then up to Sky City. Look inside, down escalator. Mini Weta cave. $25 each to go up the tower so we don't. I buy a $2 post card instead.
Have a look around JB HiFi. Prices the same, but in $NZ, so much cheaper. New CD AUS$15.70 after exchange rate (typical AUS$ price $20).
Walk to Albert Park, sit and read until 1pm. Should have taken an early flight.
Lunch @ Korean place a few block north/east of Occidental. Looked good as it was full of Koreans. Menu was all in Korean though, owner brings out English menu for us.
Katie had stir-fried squid, I had spicy stir-fried pork with side dishes (Kimchi, potato, seaweed). All great. I didn't have enough cash to pay but he let me pay less ($32.40 instead of $33).
Back to Occidental for ice coffee and Bell-Vue Krick Cherry Beer. Leave at 3pm. Walk to hotel, get bags, walk to ferry terminal.
Attempt to buy bus tickets but terminal has none, sent across road for them but they have none either. Have to go to ATM so can buy on the bus. Pity because I'd managed to get our cash down to nothing.
Take the 4pm bus to the airport. Have coffee while waiting to go through customs.
Have Burger King for dinner, using up the last of our cash.
Plane back much nicer than on the way in. Newer, better entertainment unit, although same content on it.
Uneventful trip home.