A homestay sort of in the middle of nowhere. I'd ear-marked this ages ago as a place to pause for a few days and I'm very glad I did. I have done virtually nothing since arriving except stroll about the garden, strum the harp occasionally, read a bit and eat my host's excellent cooking!
We did go fishing for a couple of hours down on the rocks by the sea yesterday evening but, sadly, didn't catch anything!
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Paihia - Bay of Islands
Small seaside town, bit touristy I suppose... Lots of Dutch here for some reason... Took a boat trip out into the Bay of Islands for the morning. This was fascinating solong as the islands offered protection BUT once we hit open sea - with a big, long swell - I did rather regret it! Still, we followed a pod of quite big dolphins, which was quite fun. The water is very clear everywhere, so one sees them underwater as well as bobbing out. The trip out to Piercy Rock (and the dash thru the hole in the middle) did NOT do my stomach any good. I am definitely glad I did not assay whale watching! But I had a lovely lunch (after an extended walkabout to calm things) in Russell, just across the bay, sitting in the shade of some tree or other right down by the strand, watching the ferries come in and out...
Birthday? What birthday? lol !!
Well, sadly my birthday was spent getting from A to B - one big day's driving and a rather pokey motel room at the end of it! But I DID get to see the biggest Kauri tree in the world (I think). Certainly it is the biggest in NZ and pretty ancient too - at nearly 2000 yrs. Very impressive with a tremendous energy field round it. Pictures will follow one of these days...
The next day too the bus up '90 Mile Beach' (actually only 64 miles long). The bus actually drives along the sand, just above the water line, passing the odd remains of vehicles that didnt quite make it... The drive takes one all the way up to Cape Reinga - the top of NZ - where one can see the Pacific Ocean meeting the Tasman Sea: quite turbulent even on the clear calm day that this was!
The next day too the bus up '90 Mile Beach' (actually only 64 miles long). The bus actually drives along the sand, just above the water line, passing the odd remains of vehicles that didnt quite make it... The drive takes one all the way up to Cape Reinga - the top of NZ - where one can see the Pacific Ocean meeting the Tasman Sea: quite turbulent even on the clear calm day that this was!
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Cheese
New Zealand does not have quite the same variety of cheesy substance we have in the UK. There are, of course, many variants on the cheddar theme, but things get interesting when you hunt for, say, feta: I have seen three different types of 'feta' and none of them have borne much relation to the crumbly, white, greek product that I'm used to! One was a semi-soft, yellow cheese, one was a very salty 'crumbly' cheese (that was so hard one nearly needed a hammer to break it up and so salty one had to soak it in water first!) and the third one just wasn't anything in particular... Camemberts are also interesting, usually bright 'cheddar' yellow inside and not always soft-centred... Still, I'm not complaining - this is what travel is all about... But perhaps there's an opening for someone who knows about, say, goat-farming...
Auckland
Arrived in Auckland on Friday. Staying in the very pleasant, respectable, leafy suburb of Grey Lynn in a house that is delightfully bohemian and cluttered... books everywhere; rugs on the walls; a large wooden dolls house taking up half the hall; and a rapturous welcome from a slightly over-weight fox terrier...
The city itself is a bit soulless tho - pretty much like modern cities everywhere, the combination of old and new architecture not always sitting harmoniously side by side... It's all VERY hilly (San Francisco springs to mind), with houses being built on slopes that would make a UK buildings inspector blanch! But of course here most of the houses are wooden, so are just on stilts. If they want an extra floor on the house, they simply jack up the old (generally single-storey) structure and slot a few more rooms underneath - and sometimes the people carry on living in the house while this is going on! There's a lot to be said for timber-framed buildings!!!
Today (Monday) I'm headed off north again...
The city itself is a bit soulless tho - pretty much like modern cities everywhere, the combination of old and new architecture not always sitting harmoniously side by side... It's all VERY hilly (San Francisco springs to mind), with houses being built on slopes that would make a UK buildings inspector blanch! But of course here most of the houses are wooden, so are just on stilts. If they want an extra floor on the house, they simply jack up the old (generally single-storey) structure and slot a few more rooms underneath - and sometimes the people carry on living in the house while this is going on! There's a lot to be said for timber-framed buildings!!!
Today (Monday) I'm headed off north again...
Coromandel
Drove up to Coromandel after Rotorua. I have to say the drive did not grab me terribly- the novelty of hairpin bends wore off some time ago and every town/village was sea-side/surfing oriented.
Coromandel itself, however, was fine and I found myself a very pleasant motel up the coast a bit overlooking the bay. Spent a morning following a little road to nowhere, with a beach and some houses at the end. A wonderful old tree had semi-collapsed-grown down onto the beach and formed a sort of cave - magical. Then in the afternoon I did the touristy thing and went for a ride on the Driving Creek Pottery railway. NZ potter Barry Brickell originally built this crazy, small guage railway to collect clay from the hillside, but it seems to have been extended over the years and now winds and zigzags its way up the hillside, through native forest up to the 'Eyeful Tower' (NZ seems to be full of such puns...). An hour's round trip and actually very enjoyable. Looking down into the crown of a tree fern is amazing, with all the leaves radiating out...
Coromandel itself, however, was fine and I found myself a very pleasant motel up the coast a bit overlooking the bay. Spent a morning following a little road to nowhere, with a beach and some houses at the end. A wonderful old tree had semi-collapsed-grown down onto the beach and formed a sort of cave - magical. Then in the afternoon I did the touristy thing and went for a ride on the Driving Creek Pottery railway. NZ potter Barry Brickell originally built this crazy, small guage railway to collect clay from the hillside, but it seems to have been extended over the years and now winds and zigzags its way up the hillside, through native forest up to the 'Eyeful Tower' (NZ seems to be full of such puns...). An hour's round trip and actually very enjoyable. Looking down into the crown of a tree fern is amazing, with all the leaves radiating out...
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
White Island and Rotorua
Sunday was a lovely gentle day. Spent ages wandering along the beach at Ohope sorting through the heaps and heaps of driftwood twigs... My old headmaster at Walhampton always said I'd end up a beach-comber if I wasn't careful - well, I'd hate to dissappoint him!
Then in the afternoon I took a helicopter flight over to White Island - an active volcano. I was ever so slightly nervous, as I've never been in a 'copter before and wasn't sure about the vertigo aspect. In the end it was great, with only a slight lurch at takeoff and landing.
The island itself was quite amazing: this smoking cone sticking out of the Pacific Ocean... which we landed on and walked about for over an hour. Just four of us and the pilot, looking into mud ponds, the lake in the central crater itself, avoiding breathing the potentially dangerous fumes escaping out the rock all over the place (we had breathing masks with us - just in case). This is Nature at her most elemental - luckily she was in benign mood! Quite what we would have done if she'd decided to erupt on us I don't know - helicopters dont take off all that quickly from cold! Advice to scramble round to the outside of the crater was not very comforting! Well, as one of the other visitors said, it would at least have been a cheap cremation!
Yesterday was just spent wandering round Rotorua and today I'm writing this from the lovely lake-side town of Taupo - having spent an hour or so in a thermal bath on the way...
Then in the afternoon I took a helicopter flight over to White Island - an active volcano. I was ever so slightly nervous, as I've never been in a 'copter before and wasn't sure about the vertigo aspect. In the end it was great, with only a slight lurch at takeoff and landing.
The island itself was quite amazing: this smoking cone sticking out of the Pacific Ocean... which we landed on and walked about for over an hour. Just four of us and the pilot, looking into mud ponds, the lake in the central crater itself, avoiding breathing the potentially dangerous fumes escaping out the rock all over the place (we had breathing masks with us - just in case). This is Nature at her most elemental - luckily she was in benign mood! Quite what we would have done if she'd decided to erupt on us I don't know - helicopters dont take off all that quickly from cold! Advice to scramble round to the outside of the crater was not very comforting! Well, as one of the other visitors said, it would at least have been a cheap cremation!
Yesterday was just spent wandering round Rotorua and today I'm writing this from the lovely lake-side town of Taupo - having spent an hour or so in a thermal bath on the way...
East Coast
The drive up to Gisborne was lovely, even tho a bit damp. Finally some countryside that really appealed to me: 'lumpy-bumpy' hills not over-burdened with trees and some lovely views out to sea every so-often. It was expecially good around Tolaga Bay.
My hosts in Napier had recommended a small holiday park right by the old wharf in Tolaga Bay and I woke up to watch the sun rising over the sea, without even having to get out of bed! This is probably the most eastern sunrise I'll see on this holiday (see below) and it was lovely. Once it was light enough I took the harp down to the beach and played to the sound of the sea... the way one does...
All up the East Coast is interesting, if somewhat obviously poorer than some other spots in NZ. I even ventured the 22km dirt road to East Cape and the lighthouse there. This is where 'time starts' - any further east and I'd have been in yesterday! The Napier guys had suggested I climb up to the lighthouse... so I did: all 765 steps of it! Fabulous views of course but even now, DAYS later, my calves are agony...
My hosts in Napier had recommended a small holiday park right by the old wharf in Tolaga Bay and I woke up to watch the sun rising over the sea, without even having to get out of bed! This is probably the most eastern sunrise I'll see on this holiday (see below) and it was lovely. Once it was light enough I took the harp down to the beach and played to the sound of the sea... the way one does...
All up the East Coast is interesting, if somewhat obviously poorer than some other spots in NZ. I even ventured the 22km dirt road to East Cape and the lighthouse there. This is where 'time starts' - any further east and I'd have been in yesterday! The Napier guys had suggested I climb up to the lighthouse... so I did: all 765 steps of it! Fabulous views of course but even now, DAYS later, my calves are agony...
Thursday, 12 April 2007
ONWARD!
I'm now back on North Island.
Monday night was spent at a BnB on the way to Picton - Miles off the beaten track, with views to die for across one of the many arms of Marlborough Sounds. The ferry crossing on Tuesday was calm and sunny - I even spent quite a lot of it sitting on the deck - despite the wind.
The Wind!!! Wellington is not known as the windy city in jest: The majority of my 350km drive from Welly to Napier was spent battling the buffetting side winds. The coutryside was nothing terribly spectacular: the usual green-clad mountains giving way to some very curveaceous, bosomy hills.
Oh, and for part of the journey I was following a house... Yes, you DID read that correctly: a whole house was being transported on the back of a lorry. It took up both lanes of the ighway and every time it went over a bridge the lorry's hydaulics tipped over to one side so it would clear the edge of the bridge. The locals are obviously used to his sort of thing and just pull over onto the verges until it's passed, but I kept getting the giggles - it was such a bizzarre experience.
Lovely homestay in the hill above Napier, overlooking the port. Spent yesterday out picking grapes with mine host and some of his freinds. Thoroughly enjoyable experience. I now understand why so many of my friends who've done this sort of stuff YEARS ago always speak about it fondly!
However, today it's damp and drizzly and I've just been pottering about the coast in the car. And wandering around Napier - an attractive, 1920s town.
So, tomorrow I'll be heading off to Gisborne and the East Coast, then it'll be Rotorua, Coromandel, and on up north...
Monday night was spent at a BnB on the way to Picton - Miles off the beaten track, with views to die for across one of the many arms of Marlborough Sounds. The ferry crossing on Tuesday was calm and sunny - I even spent quite a lot of it sitting on the deck - despite the wind.
The Wind!!! Wellington is not known as the windy city in jest: The majority of my 350km drive from Welly to Napier was spent battling the buffetting side winds. The coutryside was nothing terribly spectacular: the usual green-clad mountains giving way to some very curveaceous, bosomy hills.
Oh, and for part of the journey I was following a house... Yes, you DID read that correctly: a whole house was being transported on the back of a lorry. It took up both lanes of the ighway and every time it went over a bridge the lorry's hydaulics tipped over to one side so it would clear the edge of the bridge. The locals are obviously used to his sort of thing and just pull over onto the verges until it's passed, but I kept getting the giggles - it was such a bizzarre experience.
Lovely homestay in the hill above Napier, overlooking the port. Spent yesterday out picking grapes with mine host and some of his freinds. Thoroughly enjoyable experience. I now understand why so many of my friends who've done this sort of stuff YEARS ago always speak about it fondly!
However, today it's damp and drizzly and I've just been pottering about the coast in the car. And wandering around Napier - an attractive, 1920s town.
So, tomorrow I'll be heading off to Gisborne and the East Coast, then it'll be Rotorua, Coromandel, and on up north...
Thursday, 5 April 2007
Autumn Farm
The veranda (with Ted the Woof-er hiding behind the tree!. A real sun trap. There are also little summer houses and carved seats strategically placed all over the garden. If I get bored with painting, reading, sun-bathing or playing the harp, there's 12 acres of woodland and pasture to go and wander in...
Weds 4th April...
A long drive today, up through the mountains and back to Takaka. Six hours driving, taking it easy.The photo is very typical of NZ scenery, especially in the morning: the mountains laced round with little wisps of cloud...
Have decided to hole up at Autumn Farm again for the Easter period - it's so relaxed and laid back there and always an interesting mix of people.
Christchurch Art Gallery ~~>Left ChCh on Tuesday, heading up the coast. Followed one of the brown signs for a scenic route only to find myself nearly back in Chch!! So much for not concentrating...
All the beaches are lovely - miles after mile of clean sand, almost unadulterated by humans - there was one guy surf fishing, one guy surf-boarding and me. No-one else as far as the eye could see...
Stopped over at Hanmer Springs - an alpine spa resort. Tried the waters, which were like a warm bath... Trouble is, the ordinary baths smell very strongly of chlorine and the sulphur baths smell very strongly of... sulphur!
Went out for a meal, but it was as much for something to do as for the need of food...
Wednesday, 4 April 2007
Sunday, 1 April 2007
Christchurch
Got here friday. Very nice homestay near the centre of town...
Christchurch is quite a pretty place, with a very sweet, tree-lined River Avon trickling thru it. Some interesting modern buildings, esp the Art Gallery which is all glass curves. A fascinating exhibition of modern Maori weaving, along with photos of the original inspirations.
I have to say that, so far, I'm not really drawn to Maori art - or indeed culture. However, the weaving is fascinating and uses all-natural materials. The jade and bone carvings (pendants, etc)are stupendous as well and very, very tempting...!
Yesterday was spent mooching about in the sun and today I think is going to be very similar. It's about 25C with a gentle light breeze.
Christchurch is quite a pretty place, with a very sweet, tree-lined River Avon trickling thru it. Some interesting modern buildings, esp the Art Gallery which is all glass curves. A fascinating exhibition of modern Maori weaving, along with photos of the original inspirations.
I have to say that, so far, I'm not really drawn to Maori art - or indeed culture. However, the weaving is fascinating and uses all-natural materials. The jade and bone carvings (pendants, etc)are stupendous as well and very, very tempting...!
Yesterday was spent mooching about in the sun and today I think is going to be very similar. It's about 25C with a gentle light breeze.
Oamaru
Left Balclutha in brilliant sunlight, then hit a fog bank - just in the middle of open country, with no obvious reason for it, then it cleared again. Strange! Round Dunedin it was wet and misty and I have absolutley no idea what the countryside is like thereabouts - I felt I was driving on a causeway with nothing each side of me!
Took pity on a hitch-hiker. Nice guy from the Uk who's an architect and is taking MAJOR time out - lucky lad! It was nice to have some company in the car I must admit... Took him as far as Oamaru, which was my end of the line.
Met an wonderful bookbinder called Michael O'Brien. Quite a character: the archetypal hairy Scot, with full kilt, dirk at the belt and all. They are very keen on costume in Oamaru as they have so many old stone buildings from the Victorian era. He reckons his is probably the only bank in the world where he can walk in with a large knife at his belt and nobody bats an eyelid!
We had a good chat and I went back in the evening to talk to his bookbinding class about my work. They seemed to be having a lot of fun as well as doing some serious bookbinding.
Took pity on a hitch-hiker. Nice guy from the Uk who's an architect and is taking MAJOR time out - lucky lad! It was nice to have some company in the car I must admit... Took him as far as Oamaru, which was my end of the line.
Met an wonderful bookbinder called Michael O'Brien. Quite a character: the archetypal hairy Scot, with full kilt, dirk at the belt and all. They are very keen on costume in Oamaru as they have so many old stone buildings from the Victorian era. He reckons his is probably the only bank in the world where he can walk in with a large knife at his belt and nobody bats an eyelid!
We had a good chat and I went back in the evening to talk to his bookbinding class about my work. They seemed to be having a lot of fun as well as doing some serious bookbinding.
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