Homeward bound

I set my alarm for 'really early' because I wanted to see the sun rise over the bay of Islands. Bad news is I missed the first rays and the it was a bit cloudy! I did sit in the loggia and watch the bay for a while though, I could definitely wake up there every morning. We sorted out our cases to ensure that they weren't too heavy, I was bringing a lot of Vickys stuff home, and we had no liquids in silly places. Today we were heading back for Auckland, throwing Vicky out at Unilodge, then heading for the airport and the red eye for Kuala Lumpur. 

We had a lovely breakfast outside watching the bay activities then a short walk along the beach. It really is a pretty place.

 

Trying the black and white mode

Apparently this is the Walters family pose. Mmmm!

Next we stopped off at whale beach. It was a beautiful day, quite warm, and a stunning beach, but there were very few people on it. It even had a toilet!

From the cliff top

Posing again. If Kathy and I are there we apparently slot in either side but with arms pointing down.

Ah, here's the beach. Just the annoying family to the right and another one in the distance.

Next we stopped at a really posh bistro on the marina in Tutukaka and had a posh lunch.ian had clam chowder and Chris had a pork sandwich but they had to swop due to cabbage on the pork. 

Along the way we passed lots of kiwi crossing signs, but they were all in bed. 

Next beach up was even more deserted. Not a soul on it despite being right next to the road. 

No crabs though, much to Ian's disgust.

We drove back into Auckland, harbour bridge again, this time the city was all lit up and looked amazing. I didn't get any photos but it was something like this.

We said our goodbyes to Vicky and it was time to leave. We dropped the car off, and the lovely apex man took us to departures. We checked in, once again found being British an advantage in passport control, found a base, and waited for boarding. The plane left early at midnight, then they fed us, we slept, woke up, they fed us again, and we were landing in Kuala Lumpur. These overnight flights are the best, especially ones like that with exceedingly well behaved children. We also had less time at KLIA than I thought so up in the blink of an eye  we were on the airbus to Heathrow. This time we had a row behind the bulkhead, the ones with loads of legroom that you have to pay the earth for. Very nice. This one wasn't quite so good with time though, we left KLIA at 10am, 12 and half hour flight, then into Heathrow at 4.30. So we fed, dozed, fed, dozed again, watched films, dozed again etc. kids were well behaved again though. And we arrived a little early. The queue at passport control for non EU  members was horrendous, we think a few big flights had arrived at once. Even the EU, electronic queue had a little wait, us british should have our own line and let the rest of EU battle it out with the rest of the world. New Zealanders can come in our queue of course. Baggage was out quick, and we pushed trough nothing to declare behind two Asian women with loads if great big boxes all parcel taped up. Really, what did they expect! 'Step this way' said a customs officer. We exited arrivals to a movie star welcome, hundreds of little face peered over the barriers, the other plane must have come from somewhere in Asia. But we did have our own welcome home in the form of heather and David who had come to pick us up. very much appreciated. 

And that was that, our adventure was over, but what an adventure!

Really old trees and amazing views

Our plan was to drive up the left hand side of Northland, as the wilds above Auckland are known, to our motel in paiha on the bay of Islands, and the back down the right side tomorrow. We left auckland behind after a short detour to a laptop shop to drop Vickys broken one off, once again crossing the harbour bridge. We were looking for big old trees, although they would have to go some to beat devonports offering, of the kauri variety. We stopped in a really small town at an 'award winning' restaurant for lunch. It turned out to be quite good, although Chris was a little concerned by the hillbillys on the next table. The big tree we were looking for was in the middle if a Kauri forest, unsurprisingly, where we had to drive on some if the windyist roads we had come across yet, and New Zealand has plenty of them. They had made a nice little path to it and a viewing platform. It is called Tane Mahuta and us estimated at 2000 years old.. 

We then continued North. We rounded a corner on a country road and came across the most amazing view. 

It is a bay called Hokianga harbour, and apparently they ship the sand out to other areas of New Zealand as it is so good and plentiful. You could see for miles all around, sea and hills.

The road across country was also really pretty. We stopped off for a short time at the horseshoe shaped Haruru Falls, then continued into the very picturesque town of Paiha and our motel, the Austria Motel. The lady showed us to a wonderful apartment with a small loggia with views over the bay of Islands and we sat outside with a glass of New Zealand red watching the sun go down. It doesn't get any better. Well, not unless you are Chris and you go to Jimmy jacks rib shack for tea. 

Notice how ginger my hair is

Ice cream and volcanos

Vicky had lectures all day ( I know, she is doing history!) so the three remaining Walters decided to visit Devonport, a seaside town across the harbour. It can be reached by ferry or by car, we decided on the latter as it meant we could cross the harbour bridge. It only took 22mins to get there which was another plus. Unfortunately, due to our other New Zealand adventures being so good, it was a little disappointing. Just like Bournemouth really, but with no amusements. It did, however have a nice cream van and some amazing trees. 

Just look at the trunk on that, pans how the branches grow roots. We never did find out what kind it was. Ian always likes to look for crabs under rocks and then pick them up and wave them at us. Devonport was no exception, this little blighter gave him a nasty nip though. 

On the front, see how nice the weather is. Suntan lotion required.

Having exhausted Devonport we crossed back over the harbour bridge and drove to the top of mount Eden, one of many extinct volcanos in Auckland. It had great views over the city and harbour and an interesting crater covered in grass that it was forbidden to enter due to it being a Maori sacred sight. It was great fun when a couple of Chinese people tried to slide down. We were horrified, but their leader (parent or bus driver, not sure which) gave them a good tongue lashing and they ashamedly slunk out again. We also saw a little old man on a wheeled Zimmer frame making his way back down the path having obviously wheeled all the way up. They are All really fit these Kiwis.

Vicky returned to the hotel room at around 7 exhausted and miffed that we had seen two of the places she has yet to visit. We decided on Italian for tea and found a tiny one on a back street, so small we had to sit outside. Luckily it was still lovely weather and they had gas heaters. It was to be our last night in the waldorf celestion before heading off to the bay of Islands

Waitakere

Vicky had lectures again so we once again picked her up outside the uni, today we were headed to the western side of Auckland and the Waitekere ranges, a much shorter journey of only around 45mins, this is where Aucklanders tomato the seaside. We started off at Piha, a small town with a big beach. The beach a famous for surfing but there was no one on it, except one man and his dog. It was also a little chilly even though the sun was out and the sky blue. In the middle of the beach is a huge rock called lion rock, use your imagination. 

In New Zealand health and safety is very lax and Chris was able to climb almost to the top legally, which he gleefully did, and lived to tell the tale. We then visited Kitekite falls, a nice waterfall in the middle of a Kauri forest. Kauri are famous New Zealand trees that unfortunately have been getting some deadly disease that causes them to bleed and die, so the path too the falls had a boot sanitising station on it to try and stop the spread. Good idea. The falls were really lovely and you can swim in the pool at the base if you live, NZ H and S again.

Next up was bethells beach which we didn't like as it was like cleethorpes with black sand.

We then drove through the ranges back to Auckland.

Tea was a lovely mexican under the shadow of the sky tower (the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Chris looking very cross.

The Walters get into hot water

The family had been reduced from five to four as we dropped Kathy off at the airport last night for her flight home. Vicky immediately moved into her bed at the hotel so she could get free breakfast. She left for her lecture and we lazed about a bit then picked her up at 11am a and set off for the Coromondel peninsula, a picturesque area two hours drive from Auckland. Our destination was hot water beach. You arrive at the cafe, hire a spade, then dig a big hole in the sand. Because there is a hot spring emptying onto the beach the water seeps into the big hole and voila, you have a hot tub. Only problem is you can only do it two hours either side of low tide. We arrived at the cafe with around half an hour to go before we would get washed away. The very nice cafe lady told us not to bother hiring a spade as there would be loads of empty holes this close to the tsunami. We spotted the area on the beach and rushed over to find ourselves a nice prepared hole and jumped in. Ow! It was boiling, hotter than a hot bath. We gingerly sat, then laid down. very now and then an extra hot bit of water gushed through our pit burning us even more. I loved it, hot tub on the beach, amazing! And this close to destruction there were few people left at a place that can get extraordinarily busy, for NZ, in the summer. And we didn't have to do any digging either!

Ian getting par boiled

Strangers getting par boiled.

All too soon the sea arrived to wash our hole away so we scootled on back to the cafe and ordered a light lunch. Nothing looked very appetising so I asked Ian to share the meat platter (£13 for two) with me. It was a delicious mish mash of all sorts, meat,cheese,salmon, salady things and bread. 

Chris and Vicky had burritos, both huge. It was 3pm by now so we decided we never needed to eat again. 

Next on the Coromondel hit list was cathedral cove. We drove to the car park and set off down the track, first we came upon stingray bay, a lovely rounded beach with no one on it. We explored a bit then carried on. This was when the rain started. Luckily Vicky had a brolly and we could dodge the drops though the trees. It stopped pretty soon leaving a fantastic rainbow. Cathedral cove is a bay with an arched rock in it which we took some lovely photos at ( to follow as they are on my camera not phone like those above) then set off back calling at gemstone cove, another lovely beach. Three for the price of one. The views all around were amazing too. 

We decide to drive back through a canyon but the light failed us and there was nothing to see except the stars. We stopped and gazed up in wonder as the sky was clear and there was no light pollution. It's funny how everything is upside down down here. Much to Vickys delight we drove through the town of paeroa where the amazing drink, lemon and paeroa is made. She had her photo took beside a giant bottle and we decided to get fish and chips from a tacky looking Chinese takeaway. It cost $4.50 for fish and chips, that £2.25. We had to share the paper though.

Now we were full and tired so we made for home. 

Whales and other animals

At last, a lie in. We had booked a whale and dolphin cruise for 12.30 and decided to have a rest from the breakneck speed of our road trip for the morning. We just lazed about drinking coffee and checking our washing situation. I wandered over the road to the 24hr countdown supermarket for some breakfast things then we lazed around some more. At 11.30 we rushed down (we were late!) to meet Vicky in the lobby. We walked along to the explore New Zealand kiosk on the harbour which is where our cruise began. It turned out to be us and about twenty Chinese people, and the boat was a catamaran. It set off out of the harbour, a fantastic sight even before any creatures came along. 

The captain explained that he knew where the whales and dolphins would be by watching the gannets. He called it a 'work up'. They started diving furiously in order to get the fish that the dolphins had rounded up. As we approached the first work up about an hour into the cruise the first dolphins joined us. There were loads of them, frolicking in our bow wave and leaping and somersaulting alongside the boat. I didn't get very good pictures but here is one. 

The captain then explained that we really only cared about the dolphins because them and the gannets would attract the whales. And sure enough we spotted water from a whales blowhole ahead. The captain steered in that direction and slowed down and we saw the whale arch out if the water several times. He explained it was a Brydes, pronounced brooders, whale. We followed it for a while as it ploughed through the dolphins to massacre the little fishes. The whole situation with the frolicking dolphins, diving gannets, and menacing whale was just amazing. 

I didn't get any photos but it looked just like this.

To cap it all we also saw penguins on the water, the little blue penguin according to cap.

Just like these cuties, again no photos from me. 

He then steered us a bit closer to land where we saw another whale cruising round the gannets. All in all it was a brilliant experience which more than made up for my Icelandic disappointment. 

Kathy and Chris hard at work whale watching.

The Birds

Before leaving the motel we repacked all our cases for the flight back to Auckland. We then weighed mine and Ian's and re repacked them as the weight limit for an internal flight (20kg) is substantially less than the international one (30kg). Eventually we were good to go and set off to the re-start Mall. This is an area in the centre of Christchurch where containers are being used as shops during the rebuild. We walked around and looked round quake city, an exhibition giving details and accounts of the earthquake. 

We then drove out to Willowdale, a wildlife park near the airport where we saw tuatara and kiwis. The kiwis particularly delighted us as we have little chance of seeing them in the wild. They are a lot bigger than you think. We also saw kea, the birds we missed in Arthurs pass.

We had a small amount of time left so we found a nearby park, called the Styx river reserve, and had a nice walk. 

We dropped the Rav 4 off no problem and apex car rentals (highly recommended ) took us to the airport. Internal flights are so easy. We were allotted the very front row of the plane. At every stage from checking in to boarding we were asked if we were ok with the added responsibility of sitting in the emergency exit row, every time we said we were ok, and every time Kathy said she was not ok but had been swayed by everyone else. We left on time and arrived in Auckland just over an hour later and fifteen minutes early. We phoned apex car rentals ( even more highly recommended) and a nice man collected us and took us to our Nissan wingroad. We were hungry by this time so we stopped off for a Burger King that Kiki, our sat nav, conveniently led us to. We then threw Vicky out at Unilodge and booked into the waldorf celestion where we are to stay the next five nights. 

Crazy crazy golf

The motel in Arthurs pass was one of my favourites. It was a bit hillbilly with a big gas stove and electric blankets. It had a lovely wooden porch with a table, and apparently the kea come along and make friends. We snuggled down for the night to the sound of rain on the roof, and awoke in the morning to the same sound. There was also a really heavy thunderstorm that shook the floor. No kea appeared out of the gloom, it would have been wonderful in nice weather. It was Vickys birthday so she opened all her cards and presents, she says thank you all. It was also Anzac Day, a New Zealand public holiday. We loaded up the car and I handed the key in. Don't worry, said the lovely lady, the sun will be shining in Christchurch.

Through the gloom we could see mountains and valleys, rivers and rocks. Again it would have been wonderful in te sun. We exited the pass in the town of Sheffield, and stopped for coffee in a lovely cafe in Darfield. 

The rain also stopped in Darfield and the sun came out. We continued on to Christchurmch and Vickys choice of activities. Crazy golf! As you all know the Walters family Crazy Golf competitions are legendary. We had chosen the wonderfully named Caddyshack as our venue. The lady behind the counter was really bubbly. 'Don't hit the ball hard and if it gets stuck in the works, call us' she demanded. The course was great with lots of moving parts and themed holes, such as the castle, the airport, the mine, the zoo etc. every time a ball went through a part it made a noise. Sometimes the ball moved like on the gondola where it rode up in a gondola. It was so good we had fun without fighting, who would have thought it. At one point the group in front got their ball stuck in the roller coaster. The woman had to shout for Ray and his drill. 'I've never seen that happen before' she laughed. Good choice Vicky. 

We then checked in at our Christchurch motel, another nice one, then walked through the park to the museum. 

We looked around then drove down to the cardboard cathedral, just what it sounds like, a temporary one until they can get the real one rebuilt. Two years on the city centre is still trying to rebuild from the devestation of the earthquake in 2012 and the effects of it are everywhere. Lots of buildings are cordoned off because they are unstable or destroyed, and streets are closed. 

The cardboard cathedral

Vicky wanted Mexican for tea but because of Anzac Day both Mexican restaurants were heaving, so we ended up at an Irish pub around the corner. Food was nice though. Then back to the motel to sort out our bags for the flight back to Auckland tomorrow.