11th April: It was a long night departing at 8pm and arriving at 1.30am our time which was 7am NZ time. We went to the Cafe and had breakfast because we couldn't collect the car until 8.30. That all went smoothly and we drove out about 9am. We then drove up to our accommodation just to orient ourselves. It is high in the hills above Auckland rather like Darlington. The vegetation is some what more lush though.
We introduced ourselves to our hosts and they politely said the unit isn't ready, go way and come back later. They suggested the Cafe at the Old Railway station for lunch. It lived up to the recommend and was an interesting classic old station. Suburban trains still go past which adds to the atmosphere.
We then went back, met our very friendly hostess and crashed onto our very comfortable beds for a couple of hours sleep.
We had driven through Downtown Auckland on the way up to the hills to give Lyn a glimpse of the city. After a walk, up around the neighbourhood we drove down to the Cafe area of the city for dinner. Found a good family restaurant called Goode Brothers and had our dinner.
Then early to bed.
12/4 Saturday
Went for a drive north of Auckland up the west side of the Peninsula to Wellsford and then down the east coast to home. The scenery was interesting are we drove around the perimeter of a huge Lake. Fairly level and grazing land, As we drove further north it was more mountainous, We went for a bush walk to see a summit called the Dome after lunch. It began with steps but this is not unusual so we set off, we climbed and climbed and climbed about 4 ( I think 5) sets of about 25 steps straight up with minimal level bits in between. Lyn was faster than us and went ahead. Eventually I got the wobbles and Bob and I reluctantly decided we had to desist. We strolled back down and Lyn came panting in triumphant as she had made it all the way.
13/4 Sunday
This morning we set off for Rotorua and had an interesting drive through much more mountainous terrain. In the beginning it was very slow as the drive out of the hill area where we had been staying was very narrow and winding. We eventually reached the motorway and moved along, I was interested to see Hamilton and Bob obliged but it slowed us down again and made it a lot longer day. We arrived just before our check in time and settled in before going up to the Park for a walk. After an early dinner Lyn and I indulged in a visit and wallow in the hot spars. It was very relaxing and we came out blush pink all over. Relaxed and ready for an early night.
14/4 Monday
This morning we went Back to the Park for another short walk hoping to see the mud pools. On the way we were lucky to see a steam vent doing it's thing and stopped ro take photos.We did have a walk through a magnificent Grove of ancient Kauri trees but as we approached the swampy area I realised it was very dry. When I checked with a woman coming from the right direction she confirmed that it was dried up. We retraced our steps and headed out of Rotorua.
We were driving to Taumarunia and the countryside was beautiful. We drove through a contant roller coaster of rounded and also steep sided hills quite unlike anything we see in Australia. Not even in Victoria.
This town is a typical country town though larger than most, sprawling along the valley. A stop off at the visitor centre alerted us to the fact that like several other towns they have a glow worm cave. Despite the fact that Bob has booked us onto an expedition to see them
at Te Anua he and Lyn have gone out to look for them here partly because it is free and it is too early to go out for dinner.
We have now discovered that we need to replan our route down to Materton tomorrow because of a landslip and resulting road closure. Such are the challenges of International travel. Off to the RSA (RSL) for dinner tonight. More tomorrow.
15/4/25
We have had beautiful weather but today a change was forecast. Regardess it was a lovely day when we set off this morning. We had our longest drive so far today to get us close to Wellington for the ferry tomorrow..The scenery was predominently the very steep hill country which is quite beautiful but you feel as if you are on a roller coaster winding around a huge amusement park.
About half way to Masterton we discovered the Central Plateau. This is home to a large Army trainng facility and supposedly Heritage wild horses. We drove through the Army town but didn't see any horses. It was strange to see this huge grassy plain with no fences or cattle and sheep when they had dominated all the other rural areas.
What did reappear were the very tall hedges that had been around the outer areas of Auckland. They are so impressive and obviously important for providing shelter for stock.
This afternoon we could see a huge cloud bank towering over the mountains to the East. It looked like a huge fluffy doona sitting on the mountains. Then at about 3pm after it had been sneaking closer ever since lunch time it started to rain. Fortunately it was just sporadic light showers and it was dry to unload the car at the motel at Masterton. Tomorrow we drive into Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island.
16/4/25
Today we were catching the ferry to the South Island departing from Wellington. As usual we left early and were confident that by doing so we wouldn't have problems. It was quite a nice sunny morning with no sign of the treatened rain. As usual we had a few items of shopping to do. We needed a pharmacy because I had lost my chap stick and Lyn had lost her glasses. She now has a pair of the pharmacy specials.
We soon discovered that it was a good thing that we were not pressed for time because the road south wound through an extensive mountain range. The scenery was spectacular but is was like driving though the Swiss Alps only the curves were closer together and the road narrow and quite long. Then we saw some interesting sights along the way such as driving through the area of Rivendel and some lovely old towns with well preserved pioneer settlement houses and shops.
We were of course very early for the ferry but considered being towards the front of the queue was worth just waiting it out as it would pay dividends in terms of early exit on arrival. And it did. The ferry was full with lots of family groups due to the school holidays. It was interesting in terms of people watching. It did start to rain before we arrived in Picton but it was not heavy and didn't really inconvenience us.
Had an interesting chat with a man who has a property close to where we stayed last night. He has been co-opted to come to the South to help his daughter move house and was not looking forward to a wet weekend. He had been in Australia as a young man and worked on rural properties around Harvey. He has a daughter working as a nurse in Tenant Creek. She has been home recently to plan construction of her retirement home and has realised she wouldn't have enough money so has gone back for another three years.
The ferry was on time but it still took a while to get off and drive the 6 kms to our accommodation. It is comfortable and more importantly warm because the Max temp today was 17 C and this morning it was 12c when we were leaving.
That is it for today. We are staying here two nights so to tomorrow will be a relaxed day.
17/4/25 Thursday
Well the day certainly began relaxed as we didn't wake up until 8 am. Once we were Tjw organised we went into town and straight to the Info Centre. Here we were given maps to various lookouts, We began with the yacht club harbour. We have seen so many cyclists on the roads we decided t,hat they are really into cycling in NZ but now we have added yatching. A harbour full of very fancy yatchs. We then went up a couple of very winding roads to lookout points and the views were worthwhile. You will have to wait till I get home for the visuals as I have forgotten how to upload my photos to the blog.
We then did some shopping and came home to do our washing. This was easy because we had access to a washer and dryer at our accommodation,
After a very nice roast lamb dinner in town I am only fit for a shower and bed. Good night.
18/4/25 Good Friday
The weather was a bit showery yesterday but we were told that it would be finer and warmer as we drove South. This seemed a bit counter intuitive but proved to be correct. Initially it was very misty over the nearby hills but as we watched the mist drifted down the valleys and created some fantastic scenery.
We began the day at about 15 degrees but it was 23 degrees by mid afternoon when we arrived at this delightful cottage accommodation.
Our route took us along a huge river valley which was the Marlborough wine region, We will sip our NZ wines with more nostalgia in future. Aa the valley was narrowed by the mountains it reverted to the impressive dairy herds and pine plantations. About mid trip we came to the St Arnauld Reserve where we could see an interesting geology of the rounded topped mountains which we now recognise as extinct volcanos but fronted by Much more rugged brown sharp hill country, When we stopped at the Park Visitors Centre we saw a display that explained that this was the area where the volcanic Pacific tectonic plate collided with the Australoasian plate causing the sea floor to be thrust up and crumpled against the older more stable mass, Very interesting.
After a delicious lunch of home made tomato soup our road south was a little less winding and we made good time to our farm house accommodation. Had a relaxing time flat on our backs untill the idea of dinner rallied the chefs . We were self catering tonight as we are a bit out of town and not sure what would be available on Good Friday in a small community, Easy dinner of cooked chook and vegetables, Good Night,
19/4/25 Easter Saturday
We left our very nice Mont's Cottage at our usual time of about 9am. It had rained during the night but it was quite a nice morning with the usual mist in the mountain valleys and tops. We stopped for a bit of shopping in Hokitika and had a drive and walk around the Quay area. It was then a pretty straight forward run down to Franz Joseph. On the way there were a number of towns with names hinting at the Scots ancestory of the early settlers, It was rich looking dairy land around the river flats interspersed wit h very heavy tropical vegitation . This is the unexpected aspect of the South Island in that this west coast has quite a mild climate.
When we arrived we drove straight out to the glacier park and tackled one of the walks. This was quite a long one and we were optimistic about doing it. However after we had been walking for about 20 minutes we realised it was becoming very steep and decided to return, We then set off on the most popular30 minute walk and soon had good views of the glacier. This worked out well in terms of the weather as it began raining just as we arrived back at the car and it hasn't stopped since. We had our own lunch makings because we had bought rolls earlier. It was 2pm by then so we decided to sèe if we could check into the motel because the parks do not seem to provide picnic tables. That was no problem so we had lunch in comfort and then a nap. Dinner was early because all the restaurants seem to stop taking orders at 8pm. The nearby restaurants were all busy when we began looking at 6,30pm but we did get a table and had a very nice meal Time for coffee and a chocolate biscuit. Good night,
20/3/15 Easter Monday
This blog is a day late because the wifi was not strong enough to work in our room last night. So yesterday we woke up to sunshine after the previous day of rain,
This meant that we could go on the 30 minute helicopter ride over both the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. I had a few anxious moments before we took off that I was not admitting to but it was spectacular and well worthwhile.
From there we drove down the West Coast Highway to Cromwell. Although it was the coastal hway we only had two short strip's of ocean viewing. The most notable was Bruce Bay Beach. The surf was huge and generally people were not venturing off the sand. In between there were broad river valleys carrying sheep cattle or deer and otberwise coastal vegetation. The vegetation is layered with ferns closest to the roads then tree ferns which grow to an amazing height and then mixed woodland up to very tall trees.
There were a couple of small communities with perhaps one shop but in the main this is a very lightly populated area. Initially the road was the usual challenging going up and down and around sharp corners. Bob has found that the warning signs recommending cornering speeds are pretty accurate. It was more relaxing for the last part of the day as it was straighter and gently undulating. Now on to today.
21/4/25 Tuesday
The sun was shining and all was right with the world until we had loaded the car and went to get in. Then Bob saw the flat front tire. After quite a bit of blue language
he changed it and we found a tire place and it was quickly repaired. The mechanic was obliging because Bob had done most of the work by getting if off. The problem was a leaking valve which is apparently quite common here and was quickly replaced.
We had a pleasant run down to Te Anua after our later than usual start. I started this blog early because at 6,30pm we have to be down at the foreshore for a boat trip over to a glow worm cave. So it is time for a cuppa and some pizza so we will be ready in time.
