Capital and Coast

13th February 2012 - 21st February 2012

Wellington

On then to the Capital…..We had thought camping might be a bit of a problem here but in fact they have a small municipal site in the middle of the city – by the waterfront.  This is the only site for a 10 mile radius.  It was brilliant for accessing all the central sites, restaurants and bars.  Like so many other parts of NZ Wellington is directly on the fault line – so they have always anticipated an earthquake here – at least as much as one can prepare for such a thing.  Many of the older buildings have been either strengthened or pulled down and replaced with “earthquake-proof” structures – although in the wake of the carnage in Christchurch last year this is again under debate.  Situated in a delightful bay it seems tranquil but also very vulnerable to a tsunami.

Around Wellington:

The renovated Embassy Theatre - thanks to Peter Jackson - Lord of The Rings Director

Inside the Embassy Theatre

River Art?  Huge bubbles being blown on the water...

On our first evening we went for a guided walk around the city – very interesting – followed by a meal and a fringe theatre production.  On the second day we visited the famous Te Papa Maori museum which gave a fascinating insight both to the history of Wellington, the geology of NZ and the Maori culture.  At the top of the Museum there is a Marae (Maori Meeting House) – a beautifully decorated area.

One of the more bizarre exhibits was the chance to enter a small reconstructed cottage where one could experience a simulated 7 scale earthquake!  Let’s hope they don’t have the real thing….

We took the ancient Funicular to the top of the botanic gardens and walked back through the gardens – including the lovely Rose Garden - and the parliament back to the city. 

Wellington from the botanic gardens

In the Rose Garden

We attended another fringe theatre production about a Kiwi guy and English girl who were really getting married and wanted the audience to help them decide in which country to live – very amusing.

We left Wellington the next morning for Whanganui on the West coast of North Island.

Whanganui

As well as being an interesting place to stop we had another reason to visit this town.  We knew that an old school chum of Malc’s lived here.  Rick Rudd left Great Yarmouth Grammar School and went to various art colleges where he ended up specialising in pottery.  In his early twenties he moved to NZ - has been there ever since – and is now one of NZ’s most renowned potters.  He specialises in exquisite teapots – much too posh (and expensive!) to make tea in….  We spent most of the day with Rick in his delightful bungalow overlooking the ocean.  His massive cliff garden is also a work of art in itself.  It was great to swap stories of the past 40 years.  Thanks to Rick for a lovely meal.

Rick and Malc

What a view from the dining table (Rick's work table during the day)

Part of the garden leading down to the sea

Sunset from Rick's garden

Before we left the town we rented kayaks at our campsite.  They drove the kayaks 5kms up the Whanganui river for us and we part drifted/part paddled our way back on a delightful sunny day.

New Plymouth

More volcanoes…….!  We had been told that there was a particularly nice campsite on the cliffs at New Plymouth on the western side of North Island.  The town sits at the base of a large volcano – Mount Egmont (or, more correctly, Mount Taranaki).  In most other parts of NZ the volcanoes are covered in vegetation and look more like hills/mountains.  Not this one!  It looks and feels like a volcano – has non vegetation in its upper reaches and looks like it’s ready to explode again any moment.  The last major eruption was in 1655 and it’s overdue for another go!   As usual in NZ the locals think little of such a threat.

As we’d been told, the campsite was fantastic – with a view over the ocean and the port – including what looked like lumps of lava rock.  There was also a very pleasant board walk into the town itself.

Malc having a nice time!

Wanda having a nice time!

 Waitomo

North to Waitomo.  This limestone area is famous on the NZ tourist trail for two things – the caves and the unique glow-worms that live in them.  We toured two of the caves and both were very interesting.  The glow-worms are different from what we know as they are simply fly larvae.  In the larval stage – which lasts nine months – they attach themselves to the roof of the dark caves and extend silken sticky threads downwards.  Through bio-luminescence (light without heat) the bodies of larvae light up and attract insects – which get caught in the threads and get eaten by the larvae.  Photography is difficult – and in most caves - banned – but it is fascinating to see what looks like thousands of stars on a dark night.  

That night we “freedom camped” in a lookout spot at the top of a nearby hill – and had our very own dark sky and stars as our only company.

Waipu Cove and Orewa Beach

The next three days were spent between Waipu Cove and Orewa beach (another department of conservation site) on the East coast.  The weather was changeable but we did get to spend some time on the beach.

Waipu Cove

Volcanoes and Hot Springs.........

 Feb 6th 2012 - Feb 12th 2012

Tauranga and Mount Maunganui

On then to Tauranga on the North East coast.  Tauranga is a large port but is adjoined by a large spit at the end of which is Mount Maunganui.  A small brake problem with the van meant that Wanda needed some garage attention so we stayed two days – the second of which we used to go deep sea fishing just of the coast.  A lovely day on the sea but in spite of catching quite a few fish most were not of legal catching size so had to be returned  – including a 560mm King Fish (needed to be 760mm)..  We did however manage two decent red snapper – which - after a filleting lesson for Malc from an old seadog - we had for dinner the following day.

Tauranga sunset................

and in the morning.

The beach at Mt Maunganui

Camping under the mountain

Rotorua

About an hour south of Tauranga is the famous Rotorua.  Kiwis have nicknamed it “Rotorvegas” because of the sheer number of tourist attractions associated with the thermal springs – so we didn’t expect much.  In fact, it’s a very pleasant and pretty town.  We avoided the main commercial attractions and opted instead for a simple walk in the main park.  This is somewhat disconcerting.  It looks like a normal park BUT it has many fenced off areas where mud and steam bubble to the surface.  It was interesting nevertheless.  After some research we chose to go to the less touristy Waimangu Volcanic valley – some 20 miles south of Rotorua itself.  This is billed as the world’s youngest  hydrothermal system as it only began in 1886 once the volcanic eruption on 10 June 1886 allowed geothermal fluid direct passage to the surface of the earth with much of the recent volcanic activity dating as recently as 1917.  A four kilometre walk down the valley gives a small insight as to how life itself evolved from the swamps.  The valley is very eerie – with steaming lakes, pools and streams, boiling mud, erupting springs and unusual vegetation created by the unusual conditions.  For most of our walk we were the only folk there – and all that seemed to be missing were the dinosaurs roaming! 

A bubbling pool in the park..in the middle of town!

Echo Crater

Emerald Pool

Frying Pan Lake - the water is 55 degrees C

Hot water springs

Inferno Crater Lake

Rainbow Crater

Tarawera Volcano and Lake Rotormahana

 To finish the day we travelled 2 hours further south –amidst more steaming landscapes to Lake Taupo – the largest lake in Australasia and a popular holiday spot for Kiwis.  The Lake is in a fact a caldera (crater) formed by a massive eruption 26.500 years ago – very recent in geological terms.  We stayed on the edge of the Lake – which measure some 100 miles long and 30 miles wide and wondered with awe what the eruption might have been like.  In the morning when we woke it was cool and we could see steam rising from the land around the Lake.  As with the rest of our visit to NZ – a constant reminder of the power of nature and the fragility of man in comparison.

Napier

From Taupo we travelled east again to the coast and the town of Napier.  This town’s claim to fame was that it was pretty much entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1930.  They rebuilt it quite quickly BUT with no less than two stories and in the art deco style that was popular at the time.  The art deco is what attracts the tourists.  It was the weekend so we found a nice spot in a large car park very close both to the town and to the seafront walk.  Napier isn’t a “beachy” place but pretty nevertheless – a reminder of the old seaside towns in the UK.  On Saturday evening we enjoyed an Indonesian/Dutch “ristafjel” (meaning rice table) at a delightful restaurant on the seafront.  The meal consisted of about 14 small dishes of all sorts of Indonesian food   The Dutch owner was entertainment himself!

Napier seafront

Kiriwhakapapa

On route to Wellington we stopped at another Department of Conservation site – off the beaten track in a forest next to a stream.  A very quiet location with only a few fellow campers for company. And then on to Wellington – capital of New Zealand.