Holidays Week 1

Katy, Max & Bill, along with partners, Craig and Rachel, are over to stay with us for two weeks. We’ve been looking forward to their visit for months now and have compiled a long list of possible outings and things to do from Auckland, as well as booking flights and accommodation for a Queenstown trip and two places to stay on a road trip up north to Hokianga Harbour and the Bay of Islands.

It was terrific to see them all again and great to get to know Craig and Rachel a bit better. Of course it wasn’t always easy getting 7 people out of the house, let alone agreeing on where to go and what to do, and we often split up into 2 or 3 groups, but overall it went really well, with loads of laughter and only a few tears. The house seems very quiet and empty now they’ve gone and we’re feeling just a little dejected. We’d spent so long looking forward to their arrival, and now it’s all over, but we’re hoping to welcome Anne and Andy in the very near future so are now focussing on that. Just hope Mike’s got some holiday left!

Sunday 6 May

They’re just about the last people to come through into the arrivals lounge, due to someone’s boots having to be steam-cleaned I think ( they’re very fussy about dirty boots in immigration over here). So good to see them after all this time, and they all seem to have survived the long flight OK. First thing to do is pick up a hire car so we can all get around Auckland, then the short drive back to our flat to dump stuff and we’re off over the Domain for coffee and cake. It’s a bright sunny morning which encourages the holiday atmosphere and everyone’s happy.

View from the top looking over the crater of the volcano, across the CBD, to Waitemata Harbour and North Shore beyond

All of us at the top of Mount Eden

Our landlord and lady have kindly given us the use of the flat below their Mt Eden house so after lunch we do the trip to Mt Eden so Kate and Craig can move their stuff into the flat, then we walk up to the top of the volcano so everyone can take in the fantastic view over the city. The plan is to keep everyone awake to head off the jet lag. Max and Rachel will be sleeping on a mattress in the front room and Bill makes up his bed every night in the sitting room. It all works pretty well but would have been a real squeeze if we didn’t have use of the flat. Out into Newmarket for a terrific Malaysian dinner at Selera.

Monday 7 May

As the weather’s not looking too bad we decide to do a beach trip to Whatipu which is at the mouth of Maunukau harbour. From now on when we’re out in 2 cars we make sure that there’s a working phone in each, and as Whatipu is quite a distance away and not clearly located on the SatNav, I go in with Craig and Katy just in case. The last stretch is fun as we have to drive through a ford and end up on gravel roads. After parking we walk up the top of the headland looking over the harbour, then out onto the black sand beach. It’s a strangely calm day, very different to our last trip here, and we enjoy our walk on the beach and a picnic lunch in the sun, pukekoes squabbling in the background.

What a great picture of the 5 of them on the black sand beach at Whatipu.

From here we’re off to Waiwera for the thermal pools experience. It’s quite a long way north-east on the opposite coast, I switch cars, and we all stop for a birthday tea for Rachel on the way up. Unfortunately the SatNav is wrongly set in the other car (some dispute as to how it’s happened but I won’t discuss that here) and it results in Kate, Craig and Bill heading way up north on the Highway 1, while we wait for them at Waiwera. A long soak in the hot thermal waters helps to relax us all, but by then it’s dark and we’re all in a rush to get back to Auckland for dinner at Satya. People do seem to eat early here and we’re concerned our favourite South Indian restaurant may be closed. We make it just in time, enjoy our dinner then have a quick drink in Galbraith’s on the way home.

Tuesday 8 May

We agree to meet up in Mt Fuji for a sushi lunch, and the owner (who knows Mike as a regular) makes a big fuss of us all. It’s a rainy day today and Katy and I are off to the Glenn Innes Op Shops while the rest walk over the Domain to visit Auckland Art Gallery. Kate leads us in a yoga session in the sitting room and we have a fish & chip supper with battered oysters as an extra. The kids go out on the K Road in the evening and find a bar with live music below St Kevin’s Arcade.

I don't think Max is taking the yoga too seriously

Wednesday 9 May
Getting up and ready to fly to Queenstown, South Island, this morning, 12.30 flight. The weather’s not looking too good down there and it’s certainly a lot colder than Auckland. Hire 2 cars and find our way to Heritage Heights where we’ve booked 2 apartments for 3 nights. They turn out to be large 3-bedroomed houses which have adjoining doors at dining room level. Brilliant for us all as the kids take over one house and we’re next door (with 2 empty bedrooms). The houses are 10 mins away from the centre of Queenstown up a steep hillside with terrific views out across the lake to the Remarkables range of mountains. We’re now deep into Autumn and the leaves changing colour make a fabulous show; yellows, golds and reds. Everyone’s dead chuffed with the accommodation. We walk into town, and wander round while the kids go to the i-site to book various scary adventure activities. They decide to cook dinner for us all tonight, sounds good to me! Craig does a great big spaghetti Bolognese for us all and we play cards later on.

Looking very stylish in my jet-boating gear

Thursday 10 May

Mike and I go off to do the jet-boating thing at 10am, while the kids go off for para-gliding, sky-diving etc. Weather’s much colder down here but pretty bright. It’s freezing on the jet-boat but good fun. How those guys manage to drive so close to the rocks without hitting them I can’t imagine, but it’s best not to think about it while you’re flying along at God knows what speed. We’re taken east  across Lake Wakatipu, then up the Kawarau River, and further on along the Shotover River which is gold-rich and still has people panning in it. It’s a beautiful braided river, quite shallow in parts and we can hear the boat scraping along the bottom in places.

Bill and Kate on their way up the mountain, before luging back down again to Queenstown below

Back to a warm cafe in Queenstown and we buy some lunch for a walk later on. Turns out the kids trips were cancelled because there’s too much wind so they go luging. This involves a chair lift to the top of the hill, then a slide down a windy path on something a bit like a sled from what I can make out. Katy and Bill go for a walk with us in the afternoon, doing a circuit round Lake Moke. Lovely Autumnal sunshine on peaceful hilly countryside.

Katy, Bill, and Mike at the edge of Lake Moke, before our circular walk

In the evening we go to Fergie Burghers which has been recommended by various people. The burghers are fine but I make a bit of a mess of myself eating it as no plate or cutlery is provided. Not that I made a big fuss or anything . . . Play pool afterwards.

View from our house looking out over Queenstown

Friday 11 May

Some are off to try again at horse riding and dangerous sports, while Bill, Craig, Mike and I plan our walk. It’s between climbing the summit of Ben Lomond (there’s another one here just behind Queenstown, not the Scottish one) or doing a circular walk from Arrowtown (my preference of course). After a lot of discussion we go for the latter, the main reason being that the weather’s not looking too great. A lovely drive up into the mountains behind Queenstown and along a valley till we get to the quaint old gold rush town of Arrowtown. It’s now rather an up-market tourist attraction with some expensive shops where we stop for coffee, as we find ourselves doing everyday before taking on any activity. Then we set off across the Arrow River and up along a gorge, following a pipeline to start with, and rising up along the valley with the river rushing below us. We see a family way down below panning for gold. The trees are mostly deciduous with leaves turning yellow, orange, red and gold. As we climb we go through areas of native evergreen beech forest. We then turn a sharp left up climbing up into Sawpit Gully following and criss-crossing a stream as we go, climbing all the way.

Climbing up through the Autumnal colours

We eventually come out above the tree line onto hillsides of golden tussock grass, stopping at an old tumble down miner’s cottage on the way. Shortly afterwards we begin to climb a hill and stop for lunch at the top. There’s a great view from here down to Lake Hayes and up to the mountains surrounding us. From here we descend quite steeply through beautiful Autumn woodland to Arrowtown below.

In my red jacket clashing with the leaves

Giving Bill a piggy back on the shores of the Arrow River in Arrowtown

We stop for tea and take a look around the little museum then drive to a butchers to buy some of their excellent beef as I’m cooking dinner tonight. The others have been successful with the sky-diving and horse-riding so all is well.

Max and Rachel in their sky-diving get-up

Saturday 12 May
Quite an early start as the flight home is 9.30, we lunch at home then some go off to Auckland Museum to see the Maori artefacts and experience the volcano section which is really good. This evening we’re going to the Pakuranga Night Market. Mike and I have been once before and loved it, though we got seriously lost when our SatNav packed in on the way home. Both cars get there safely and together we enter the underground car park that’s magically converted into a Night Market every Saturday.

Billy with his barbequed sqid beard

Rachel, Max, and Kate eating dinner at the Pakuranga Night Market

It’s a wonderful place, packed full of people of all different nationalities, all wandering round buying and eating food from a multitude of food stalls. There must be at least 50 stalls cooking and selling food from many different countries: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, South American, Indian, South Indian vegetarian, Maori Hangi, Italian deserts, Spanish churros, Hungarian chimney cakes (whatever they are) and many more. The competition is high so prices are good, and we all buy different things and share with eachother, taking advantage of the chairs and tables set up in the middle of the aisle if we can squeeze in. I’m keen on the Japanese crab balls, the skewered quails eggs, and the avocado lassi (just divine).

Food stalls cover about two thirds of the area and the rest has more ordinary market stalls selling clothes, jewellery, fruit, and tourist stuff. After eating our fill we drive back home and the gang go out for their Saturday night in Auckland, down the ‘K’ Road again.

Motuihe Island 29 April

Last Sunday we took the ferry out to Motuihe Island, one of the many conservation islands over here, where European mammals like mice and rats are eradicated and native species introduced and encouraged to multiply. There are no native mammals, only birds of course. They're also replanting large areas with native trees as most of the little islands like this one were used by early settlers for farming and much of the native bush was chopped down. Our walk didn't quite turn out as planned as it happens but it makes for an amusing tale.

A flock of terns greets us on our arrival at the wharf

It began very well, the weather being fine, and the sea calm for the ferry crossing, and we set off walking around the island with our lunch and waterproofs in our backpacks. Walking in the bush we saw loads of saddlebacks, fantails, tuis and eastern rosellas. Pukekoes, nervous creatures that they are, run startled by our appproach. There are some really pretty beaches and we see a number of rare NZ dotterells, herons, flocks of terns, a Caspian tern, and loads of lovely black oyster catchers (my favourite because they're so comical). So far, so good.

The NZ doterrel



Strange fruit growing on the trunk of the puriri tree

It began to go wrong when we left the path and decided to make our way round the beaches rather than follow the footpaths. What a lovely time we were having meandering along these isolated empty beaches watching the birds, but at the end of the 2nd beach we couldn't find a way round the headland and ended up having to climb a steep tussock-covered cliff. This was bad enough but when we finally got to the top (Mike behind me in case I fell) we found a hedge of gorse blocking the way. We eventually found a way through and I collapsed in a heap at the top. This, though extremely dodgy, had been quite fun, but afterwards things began to seriously fall apart.

View from the top of the cliff looking across to Waiheke Island

 

Collapsed at the top of the cliff having fought our way through the gorse

We had decided to have lunch at Calypso Bay but try as we might we just couldn't find a way down there. The footpaths drawn on the map of the island bore no relation to the paths on the ground (as is so often the case in our experience) and we went down 3 dead ends before deciding to head off into unchartered territory. This resulted in us getting stuck down not one but two separate gullies. At this stage of the game Mike gets a bit rattled and wants to jump over the gullies and forge a path down to the bay, though I warn him I've no intention of following. Minor disagreement ensues as you can imagine. We're both starving by this time which doesn't help. Eventually Mike coaxes me into jumping over so eyes closed and over I go. I survive the leap, just managing to avoid landing on top of Mike. The nervous tension of all this immediately goes to my bladder so once I've stabilised I need to pee (I'm not proud and will pee anywhere, though believe me balancing on a tussock in a gully isn't the most comfortable place). We then get stuck into a bag of crisps and some muffins to calm us down and keep us going.

We plodded on, never did get to Calypso Bay, but by the time we found the main path we only just had time to eat a very late lunch and return to the wharf in time for the ferry. So an eventful day, but not quite what we had planned. 

Two more fabulous west coast beaches

15 April
Off to Sunset Beach which is just south of the Waikato estuary, about an hour’s drive south of Auckland. The weather’s been fantastic recently, and today’s no exception. The area seems fairly remote once we leave the main road, and cross the river, following along its south bank, till we get to Port Waikato, then further south to the beach itself. There’s a little cafe here where we enjoy good coffee and scones before walking on down to the beach. There’s a few cars on the beach, a common sight over here, some belonging to fishermen others just seem to drive onto the beach for the fun of it.


Mist rising and wet sand like glass 

It’s another endless beach and the mixture of surf spray and brilliant sunshine create a beautiful haze in the air as far as you can see. The tide’s fairly high and we’re walking barefoot along the shoreline getting wet feet every now and again. The sand’s yellow and yellow here and the beach is backed by dunes. We’re heading up towards the river mouth walking due north with massive surf pounding to our left and the odd seagull overhead. As we get closer we see huge tree trunks stranded further up the beach to our right which we head towards, cutting off the corner as it we head towards the river. There are also large pieces of pumice stone lying around and weird patterns in the sand made by the wind.

Buried tree trunks and wave patterns in the sand

We come across fishermen waiting patiently for the fish to bite as we walk back along the riverside towards the sea. The tide seems to be on the turn and the currents by the mouth of the river are all over the place. The sand here is like quicksand, so we’re careful where we step. There's loads of pumice stone lying around, so we collect some and play boats with it in the river: it really does float.

Fishermen on the sandspit between the Waikato River and the sea

On the way back we pass a Maori family splashing around in a shallow pool. I think they must be digging for shellfish but can’t see them come up with anything so they’re probably just having fun. I do my usual thing collecting shells, stones etc, and back at the car Mike decides to go for a swim. It’s more of a splash really because the surf’s too rough for swimming, so I give it a miss.

22 April

This Sunday we’re off to another beach as the weather’s continued fine. We go south again to Karioitahi Beach which is just north of the Waikato River estuary. It has the blackest sand we’ve yet seen. Also more cars than we’ve ever seen on a beach before. There are no cafes, no village, just a road running across the dunes to the coast where there are some public loos and a car park; not that it’s used much as most people seem to be parking on the beach. We walk south but it’s really hard going because the sand is so very soft you have to plough your way through. Even the wet sand on the shoreline is soft, very odd. Eventually we give up, head back, and once back at the car decide to go for a swim. We’re pretty warm from struggling through deep sand and the waves aren’t quite big enough to put me off. The water’s not a bad temperature and we even manage a bit of swimming as the waves are quite well spaced.

Once changed we decide to try walking in the other direction. Surprisingly, it’s much harder sand and consequently better walking. The coastline consists of sand dunes that have been compressed into stone in places which the sea is constantly eroding: there are cliffs with caves cut into their base, and isolated ‘islands’ of sand stone holding out against the sea, all eroded into fabulous shapes. There are a number of waterfalls with streams running out across the beach. We’ve checked the tides and know we’re safe to walk in this direction, though at high tide we’d be cut off and have to climb up the cliffs.

There’s clear evidence of this as we find 4 car skeletons under the cliff, rusty and half buried in the sand. They look more like art installations than cars but unfortunately we’ve forgotten our camera today so no pix. We’ve left all the people behind so have the place to ourselves along with the seabirds of course.