View of Southern Alps close to Fran Joseph town

Fox valley from the ridge between F Joeph and Fox townships

Haaus river: bigger than either F Koseph or Fox - road follows the river for a considerable distance up into the mountains before crossing a saddle.

28th June 2010

Journey down to Wanaka turned out to be long and tedious. First half of the journey retraced my steps back to Fox township, albeit in day light this time, then on through Haaus valley. Road alongside Haaus river quite tortuous, was worried over the conditions as the temperature hovered around the +1 mark. Need not have worried as apart from areas of grit where there was potential black ice the roads were dry and fine.

Wanaka enveloped by cloud, not lifted in 5 days. Hostel totally full, had the last bed and a top bunk at that. Shared with 4 french, 2 male, 2 female. I was in bed by the time they decided to call it a day and was still in bed when I left at 0900. Mostly I am one of the last to rise and have breakfast in the hostels. The people I met that morning (29th) were all going up to the slopes for snow boarding.

Being a life long Hobbit fan I had my own idea of what the characters looked like, but was talked into seeing the first film. Did not require any further talking for the 2nd and 3rd films and in my view thought that the films were true to the Lord of the Rings books. Having now been to NZ and seen the amazing countryside I will look at the films with fresh eyes. Peter Jackson had the right idea. Tolkein had not been to NZ and his (Tolkein's) perpestive of what middle earth would look has been expressed very clearly in the three books. Jackson's vision that NZ would fit the bill being a new country and mostly untouched by human intervention was correct.

That's all for now - interesting day ahead.

Part of the walk into where the glacier terminates, originally this area was under ice back in the early 1800's. The glacier advances and retreats over a 10 year span so it is quite a quick mover. Currently it is retreating but as this phase started in 2008. Push moraines (piles of rock formed at the face when the glacier is growing) were clearly visible and made up of some pretty big boulders.

Guide Dave and yours truly in one of the ice holes - thankfully look nothing like Rolf. I was cold and he was hot after cutting steps down into the ice hole. View of Fox glacier looking up towards the mountains. There are two people in the photo who were a party of ice climbers. They can be seen as a dark blob one third down and in the centre. Distances are deceiving as is the contours.

Part of the 'team' looking at another ice hole. The second guide, Andy is taking the photos for us.

Beautiful blue colours in the ice hole

Close to the end of the glacier, the ice splits and cracks as it melts and is subjected to the forces of the glacier behind. In 2 weeks time this view will have changed, even with the temperature around 2 or 3 degrees the ice was melting and bits dropping off into the river constantly. The ice is covered by dust, pebbles and pieces of rock from the sides of the valley. Whilst the mountains are growing due to plate tetonics - the Australian plate is pushing against the Pacific plate pushing this plate upwards and forming the southern Alps; the amount of erosion of these mountains is almost equal as the rock is made up of Schist and is quite soft. Quite a number of large rock slides evident and which the guides were concerned with, especially those we had to walk close to.

27th June 2010

Early shoot for me, out by 6am and a 2 hour drive. temperature hovered from 6 degrees in Hokitika to zero as I crossed the ridge between Fran Joseph and Fox glacier villages. Worth it though as we spent the whole day up on the ice. Firstly though it was safety talk and kitting out for the team - 2 guides and 5 visitors. All I needed was the crampons as I had all my walking gear on including the merino wool scarf. Not something I wear in the UK but it was cosy and warm, especially out on the glacier.

After a short drive we then had a 20 minute walk to the face of the glacier. Dave was good in that he had plenty of knowledge about the way the glacier acted and pointed out many facts. One that I found fascinating is that whilst the main bulk of the glacier melts and retreats - the part you can see, underneath the valley floor is more ice that has not melted, but is much more slowly eroded by the melt water. Often sink holes appear which are filled by the melt water. Due to gases escaping from the melting underground ice the small ponds appear to "boil/bubble" and are called kettle holes.

Once we had climbed up to the side of the glacier it was time to put on the crampons. Given a rudimentary guide as to how to walk, and away we went. The first part was easy as we followed the route that the half day tour takes. This effectively takes you up onto the glacier, via a good number of steps cut into the ice to a safe point that the visitors can stand and take photos. The half day visitor is given a pair of half size crampons that fit under the mid part of the boot, whilst we had full size crampons with 10 wicked spikes.

Once past the half day visitor point we struck off across the glacier on virgin ice and made our way to the far side for lunch. At each crevasse the guides either cut new steps for us to descend/ascend or cleaned up previous steps. In the summer due to the rate of melt they cut new steps every other day. At first they were proper steps but as the day wore on they were more ledges just to assist us. I found the idea of walking on ice reasonably easy once we were shown how to do it. The ice holes we visited were fabulous and quite deep, all having a sink hole for the water to drain into. We climbed pretty far up the glacier, but it takes time to work your way in and out of the crevasses and undulations. Our way was blocked by a wall of very broken and jagged ice which has been formed by the glacier "tumbling" over a hard rock ledge. The way the guide described it was by taking a mars bar and bending it into two. The top surface cracks and crazes whilst the under layer remains fluid.

The day passed all too quickly and soon we were on our way back to the bus. A superb day, beautiful weather although the sun does not penetrate the valley during the winter months. One of the phenomena was to look back down the glacier from our top position and see 'heat' waves shimmering above the ice. I am not sure how heat waves are caused, but it was explained that the same process occurs over ice in this canyon causing the air to shimmer. Not sure if this happens elsewhere over glaciers/snow fields.

I was disapointed that this glacier does not 'groan' and make noises as it moves, but was told that if you took the helicopter to the top half of the glacier and did the ski trip you can hear the glacier as it moves.

In the summer they do a 3 or 4 day trip up the glacier to one of the huts, stay over and expore the upper part. I believe that there are 12 glaciers that come off the the central basin, the Fox and Frans Joseph being two of them.

Rather tired by the time I got back to the hostel, a long day. Spoke to mum and dad as it was a Sunday as well as Shannon. She is not happy as the lodgings do not have internet access, not like Kerikeri at all :-(

That's all for now, in Wanaka and due to the ski season the hostels are full. Have had to take the last bed here - top bunk in a dorm - this evening will be interesting!!

Hostel at Motueka

Lake Kaniere at Hokitika

Dorothy falls along Lake Kaniere

Blue pools at the top of Hokitika gorge


26th June 2010

Quick up date for 26th June - spent the day looking around Hokitika the adjacent valley and gorge. Again blessed with good weather so able to take two walks, one along lake Kaniere and the other part way up the Mt Tahua track. The first walk took me alongside the lake through wooded areas, unfortunately the views of the lake and Mt Tahua was obscured. Walked only part of the lakeside, 8 hr walk in total so only did an hour and a half, pleasant but fairly dull. The second walk was more interesting and much more difficult being an uphill hike right from the start. After only half an hour the track became very steep and slippery so decided to call it a day, did not want a twisted ankle and miss out on the glacier walk.

Most of the road around the lake is unsurfaced, but is still in good condition for driving. Visited Dorothy falls which promised much more than it delivered, maybe better after rain. Took the dirt track back to the metalled road and drove up to the valley head and into the gorge proper, again road surface turned to dirt. I did not work out why a suspension bridge (foot traffic only) would have been built in the location as there did not seem to be any walks/tramps the opposite side to the car park. However the footbridge crossed the gorge and following a short path was able to drop down to the water's edge. Beautiful blue pools which I would imagine would be ideal swimming holes in the summer. On the way down was entertained by a fantail - delightful little bird similar in size to a long tailed tit. It flitted all around me and in the gloom did try to take a few photo's. When it flies it spreads it's white tail feathers into a fan shape, very pretty.

In the evening watched the Wales/NZ rugby game, what a disappointment. Enjoyed a couple of Speight's dark beer though. Fairly early night.

Friday 25th June

Quick update - drove down to Hokitika and settled into the shifting sands hostel - converted house really, warm and comfortable. Drive was tedious in places and enjoyable in others. About 300+kms so a full day initially over fairly slow roads. Legal limit is 100kms and if I exceed that the satnav keeps beeping so one tends to be law abiding. Going through the mountains was fun especially as the temperature dropped to 3degrees and we had light snow on the verges. As I have said before they do not have safety barrier at the road edge, either a deep ditch, vertical drop or lots of big trees. Views are stunning though and driving up through the Buller Gorge was great. As I found out there are very few "towns" along the way and most of them are just a few buildings along the road with houses and farms in the outlying district. I had to pray that Murchison was fairly big and that they had a petrol station - definitely on the red when I got there.

Drove down the west coast from Westport through Greymouth to Hokitika, plenty of beaches, all deserted with grey sand this time. Road signs told you to be aware of penguins, did not see any. Although the road is a state highway we did cross one of the rivers over a single track bridge, complete with railway tracks, never had to do that before. No train unfortunately to add to the excitement.

What I may have forgotten to say was the night sky's here - due to the lack of artificial lighting the stars are very clear and on a clear night you get the full impact of the moon and stars, something we have lost in a good part of southern England.

Tomorrow I think I will be looking at Lake Kaniere and a couple of walks, then onto see Hokitika Gorge for a look. Sunday have booked my glacier walk, early shoot that day as I have to be at the meeting point for 0900 hrs and face a 2 hour drive.

Enough for now as it is dinner time so off to cook my food.

Not a good photo but this was taken leaving Wellington harbour, heading out into Cook Strait and my first sight of the south isle, the sun on the snow capped mountains was very magical to see.

Kaiteriteri beach - really golden sand

My haul of interesting shells from the beach

The beach at the Anchorage, the end of our walk

Our water taxi back at base.

June 24th

Could write a full script about the Te Papa museum, went back Tuesday morning for a further hour and still did not see all. However needed to move on and drop the car off at the ferry terminal. Only had an hour to wait for the 14.05 sailing. Not only does the ferry take lorries and cars but the lower deck fitted out for rail freight so a lot of shunting back and forth to load the ferry. Sailed dead on time and crossing took 3 hours. Beautiful day so spent most of the time on deck, rewarded with sightings of both dolphins and albatross, plus numerous other birds - without binoculars I was not able to see what they were, probably shearwaters. With the sun the snow on the caps of the mountains in the south isle shone, lovely sight - tried to capture on camera but my one is not that good.

Picked the car up at 17.00 hours and faced a 3 hr journey., and what a drive - at night along very very twisty roads thankfully nobody else on the first part as got some of the hair pin bends slightly wrong!! Got to the hostel for 20.00 hrs and had a burger king for dinner.

Very wet and horrible most of Wednesday, went for a drive but did not see much. The beach at Kaiteriteri was dry and enjoyed a walk, picked up some different shells and took a photo - on the bonnet of the car!! Rest of day spent food shopping - fish is great value here as is fruit. They grow Kiwi, apples, mandarins, oranges, pears and very often you can get a big bag of fruit at the roadside for a couple of Dollars.

Today much improved so drove to Marahau which is really the gateway to the Abel Tasmin National park. One of the Chinese ladies joined me for the day - Rachel - her day off. We walked to the Anchorage which was about 14 kilometres along the coastline, walk pretty even with no real slopes to climb. I think the worst part was half a kilometre drop down to one of the beaches - had a stiff climb back up. The sands here are a different colour to the north isle, much more golden - due mainly to the granite from which they originate from.

The best bit was the return journey by water taxi. Because vehicle access is limited to either end of the park, all the points in between are served by water taxis, fast single and double hull craft. Thankfully the weather was calm but we still encountered a significant swell coming in from the sea. I did wonder how we were going to get from the boat onto shore as the tide was out but the guy promised us all that we would not be getting out feet wet. The answer was to drive the boat up the trailer that was part submerged and towed by a tractor. Due to the swell and shallowness of the water this was some feat and we all got wet from the outboard prop which was half way out of the water. The tractor then towed us up onto the beach and some 500 metres down the road - great fun.

I would definitely come back here as you could take the taxi from the start at Marahau to the top of the park at Totaranui and then back pack down over a 3 to 5 day period either camping out or staying in their huts. Not only can you take the coastal route but also deviate inland to some beautiful vistas like Cleopatra's pool. Anyway we only did a short section which was enough for Rachel. Coming from near the Tibetan border she had little experience of a beach - so we ended up collecting lots of different shells - amongst them several sea urchins.

The day has been rounded off by Irene (Taiwan) and Lim (Malayasia) cooking a red bean cake - still to taste, very tangy noodles which I enjoyed, a sweet concoction of red beans cooked in demerera sugar and water - very sweet and green beans (small kidney shaped) in pastry (dumpling and small pie shaped) - again very sweet. What strikes me in this hostel is that all the guys cook using really good ingredients.

Anyway it is time to close - 9 dollars for 2 hours - not the most expensive but equates to £2.25 per hour so spending a small fortune on Internet access. Only been in one hostel where it was free. Tomorrow I pack up and move south towards Mount Cook and the snow to Hokitika. Want to get up onto one of the two glaciers for my birthday if possible. Will pick up the blog from there.

22nd June - South Island - Motueka

Yesterday spent walking around Wellington. Hotel very close to the main quay so set off along the quay in beautiful sunshine. Vast difference to the day before, mostly rain and wind. Pleasant walk to Wellington railway terminus, very striking building both internal and external. Put photos on F/B yesterday.

From there I went to the Parliament building, or should I say 3 buildings as you have the restored original building flanked on the left by the "Beehive", a very modern structure; and on the left by a victorian building housing all the library documents. Able to have a guided tour of all three, for some reason the guide decided I came from California and kept stressing the differences between NZ (based on British) system - especially over the abolition of the upper chamber - wanted to be totally democratic - and the American system! She did have a little dig several times against the British so I nodded wisely.

From there I walked back to the city centre and did a little souvenir shopping. Not as numerous as in the UK but some interesting Maori art, just wished the suitcase was bigger. Took the cable car up to the botanical gardens, get a lovely view of the harbour. Started to rain so walked down amongst the plants. Walked through the australian garden, succulent and fern gardens. Rain quite heavy by now so made my way back to the hotel to dry off.

Close by the hotel is a museum called Te Papa. My goodness what a place, spent a full afternoon there plus another hour this morning and I reckon I only saw half of it. The first part was titled mountains to sea. Explained 6 different ecosystems with examples of just about everything, fish, animals, birds, shells, flora and fauna. Exhibits all about you including the complete skeleton of a small blue whale - hanging in the roof space. along with loads of birds.
Moved on then into Awesome forces and earthquake house. They go into some detail about plate tectonics as NZ sits directly on the edge of a big plate and suffers a number of quakes per year. Earthquake house is good as you are subjected to the effects of a quake with video commentary.

In one of the areas they have a state of the art 14 metre map of NZ on the floor and depends where you walk, images and comments are flashed up either side on wall panels. Great for the kids.

That's all for now as I have no more Internet time - more tomorrow on the boat trip etc.

View of Blue lake from yesterdays second short walk

View of the hills behind Green lake - yesterday's walks

View of Green lake through the trees from Blue lake

Tremendous view down Rangitikeri river, on the road from Taupo to Wellington, some 63 kms north of a town called Bulls

Sunday 20th June.

Very wet overnight, woke me up with the rain battering against the hostel. Taupo totally shrouded in low cloud so no sightseeing today. Spent 5 hours on the road to Wellington, mostly driving in wet conditions. Did take the above shot, had driven along the valley floor not realising there was such a bid river nearby, it was only when the road climbed up over a ridge that I saw this view.

No pictures of Mt Doom either on this trip, will need to come back in the summer months to see the mountain in all its glory.

Arrived in Wellington, very windy and wet, not strayed far from the hotel, hoping it will calm down tomorrow. There are a couple of museums that seem worth looking at so no driving tomorrow. Monday is transfer day, hand in my car and take the ferry to Picton - south island. Bought myself two marino wool shirts and a scarf to keep me warm on the next leg of my journey.

Next blog will be from the south island, internet access is very expensive in this hotel, so its bye bye for now.

Part of the California Redwood forest walk - took the green route of 1.5 hours


McDonalds in Taupo - beats the Yanks unless they have one bigger!!

Huka water falls, not very high but tremendous velocity. They use the jet boats to shoot these, should be fun to watch.

Saturday 19th June - Tauopo

After my exciting day yesterday I decided to head up to the Redwood forest above Rotorua and have a tramp. Damp but once you got going quite nice. Took about an hour to do the green walk. Very dark in places reminded me of parts of Lord of the Rings in either Mirkwood or Fangorn forest. Of course Mount Doom is not far from here, should pay a visit tomorrow. Actually bought an ice cream at the visitors centre and was given a map of various walks in the south island. They had a number of books on sale for different degrees of walks throughout NZ, resisted the temptation, had an ice cream instead.

Left the redwoods and drove up beyond the forest to one of the lakes we had flown over yesterday. Stopped the car beside blue lake, must be very pretty in the summer and walked its perimeter - another hour or so's walk. Half way round able to see the next lake - green lake. Quite a number of walkers and people with their dogs on this walk, obviously popular with the locals. Only one small pleasure craft on blue lake, do not think he was fishing. Saw my first heron here and took a shot, bird skittish so could not get close.

After my lunch took the loop road around another lake we flew over, Okareka lake. NZ has a big problem with invasive weed in the lakes, due to higher levels of nutrients from the farmers fields etc. Blue lake did appear to be free as the water around the edges was very clear.

Took off then down to Taupo. One of my first sights in the town was the airplane, Dakota I think, above Mc Donalds. Hostel very spacious but cold. After the central heating last night all I have is a small electric fire to heat a huge bedroom. I don't suppose the walls are insulated either. Also have electric blankets on the bed so it must get freezing here.

Met Alice, a young lady from Whitby who manages the front desk. She suggested I visit the Huka falls and nearby hot springs. The falls were very small in height but made up in velocity. The huge Taupo lake flows out through this river - the Wakato. Looking up steam the river is wide and free flowing, then it meets a very short stretch of narrows which results in the falls. Apparently they shoot through the narrows and over the falls in a jet boat, be great to do.

With dusk approaching I drove around the otherside of the Wakato river to a small stream. This stream is fed from underground hot springs and flows in the Wakato. There were people in bathing costumes in this small stream, so took by boots off and had a paddle. Lovely and hot. As I left to go back to the car there were a number of younger people going down with towels etc for a dip. Why go to the baths and pub when you can take a glass of wine and sit in hot pools for free.

That's all of the blog for tonight, tomorrow I hope to see Mt Doom then it is a trek down to Wellington, a full days drive.

Te Puia: hot thermal springs and Maori centre

Typical sleeping hut with cooking fire in foreground. Must have been cold in the winter. Part of the mock up Pikirangi Maori village.

Ceremonial meeting house - Te Aronui a Rua. Having been nominated as Chief of the visitors - probably due to my good looks!! I was met and presented with a fern frond.

Part of the welcome ceremony they put on, ended with the Haka.

Chief Felton with the welcoming party - if I had known I would have dressed the part - note the tongue. Not allowed to stick your own tongue out. All very serious

The Pohutu geyser at full flow - 30 to 40m high.

Friday 18th June

Spent most of yesterday travelling around Coromandel peninsula. Roads quite busy with logging lorries. Going from Thames to Coromandel the road followed the coast for quite a time. Saw quite a number of pied shags along the way. Very twisty road with a number of single lane bridges. Noticed on most of the roads a lack of safety barrier especially where there are big drops. Passed through a number of road works as well - little TM, stop & go boards but everybody being very safe. Most works were maintenance type, not seen much

Hostel is quite large, plenty of rooms, Rotorua is quite large but due to the number of hot springs in the area the all pervading smell is of bad eggs. As there are the thermal springs we have central heating in the hostel, plus big deep cast iron baths - luxury.

Today I decided to visit one of the thermal pools, Te Puia which is on the outskirts of Rotorua. They have a mock up of a Maori village which was very basic. A few sleeping huts, cooking areas and most of the community life would have been conducted outdoors.

Moving on they have constructed a very modern state of the art building which houses a pair of Kiwi's. As these are nocturnal animals one rarely sees them for real. I take it that they have reversed night/day as it was very dark inside. But with a little light one had the treat of seeing both the birds feeding in the "forest floor". Very unassuming birds, but have bought myself a small fluffy toy one that squeaks.

The Pohutu geyser was good, performed well and was an impressive sight.

Booked into the 12.30 meeting ceremony and our hostess decided that I would represent the group as their Chief. Was it my good looks? probably not, just the oldest male in the group. Anyway she explained the ritual we would go through and told us all not to laugh. Firstly we entered the grounds around the meeting house and a young male Maori came forward brandishing his spear and chanting to me. He then threw a piece of fern frond to the ground
which I had to advance and pick up. One is meant to bend down, keep looking in his eyes and pick up this small piece of plant - quite difficult - oh and not laugh. One then steps backwards for a couple of places, upon which we were invited to proceed to the building and after taking off our shoes, entered.

As chief, after a brief welcome in Maori, I was invited onto the stage to shake hands with the 5 men and touch noses twice. Even though this was an enactment it was all very personnel and touching. The three ladies and five men then performed several songs and dances including the Haka. One had ones photo taken, the man on the right was the one who greeted me in the first instance.

Great place, they have a few students there learning traditional Maori wood carving, they have ladies weaving and a number of information areas on the history and meaning of Maori culture. As modern day human beings we ought to review their thoughts on how we should treat the Earth and her resources. Very similar I thought to the North American Indian.

That was Te Puia, I then drove across town to their heritage trail along lake Rotorua and walked the trail. Very pleasant but not alot to film really. Couple of points where previously the first Europeans bathed in the hot springs but I think this must have been quite dangerous. In one spring there was laughing gas present which either brought on a fit of the giggles or knocked you out cold.

Had seen both a float plane land on the lake and a DUK in the water so walked across to their offices. Due to the lateness of the day was only able to take a short flight over the lake and adjoining 4 lakes before the sun set, but great view all the same. Took a couple of photos but not very good due to low light levels.

Tomorrow want to walk amongst the redwoods then travel to Taupo.

Cheers for now.

Blustery day at the southern edge of 90 mile beach. Due to quicksand one is advised not to take hire cars on the drive. I spoke to a Brit later on who had taken the trip by coach, easy to spot the vehicles that did not make it.

She Tsu-Hsuan - or as she prefers to be called Shannon. Photo taken at the ferry crossing from Rangiora to Rawene. Shannon is from Taiwan and is in NZ for a year. At home she taught english, her grammer is better than mine (no surprise there) and had as many questions as the number of kilometres travelled.

Ferry crossing - very rough and plenty of spray

View up the Hokianga harbour from Omapere entrance.

Missed a blog somewhere - 13th June 2010

Shannon and I decided to visit the west coast across from Kerikeri. Shannon works in the hostel and surrounding fruit farm, so this was her day off. Drove across to the bottom of 90 mile beach at Ahipara after calling in at the information centre at Kaitala. Spoke to a lovely lady originally from Essex - so naturally took the mick about Essex girls.

Very blustery day, sunshine and showers. Did not stay long at Ahipara but moved on to Manukau, Broadwood (both of us got wet just visiting the loo). On the advice of the Essex lady we took the road leading down to the car ferry. Scenery very good, just spoilt by heavy squally rain showers. Again a great many hawks around, need to check the bird books to see what kind they are.

Just missed one ferry - typical - and whilst waiting for it's return approached by a local woman who asked for a lift. We had passed her further back up the road. Obliged but not happy - she proudly said that she lived rough (no power, etc etc) did not wash her hair, clean her teeth - ugh. She smelt too !!!!! Anyway dropped her off and she disappeared into the hills. Cannot imagine wanting to live with someone who is so unclean.

Ferry crossing quite rough, locals said it was the worst for quite a while, spray coming in over the front ramp onto the car - had to use the windscreen wipers. Should have cost us NZ$18 but ferry man did not collect. Smelly said that they did not always take the fare off of passengers.

Drove along Hokianga harbour - they call it a harbour but in UK terms it is a big long sea inlet - great scenery again, got petrol in Opononi which was a blessing and arrived at the south head - Omapere. Plenty of signs to say this is a reserve for the kiwi - as they only come out at night no chance in seeing one.

Had a late lunch in the car then bored Shannon with extracts of western music. She says that she did play the piano and flute but had only heard of J Galway and Elton John. Feel there could be some education coming on here. Fancy not knowing about Meatloaf and Bat out of Hell!!!

Once the rain subsided we had a walk out to the head - very windy but not too cold and then down onto the beach. Like most beaches here it was deserted, people had been on the beach though. Took the photo looking up the harbour. The opposite side of the inlet to us, the North head was entirely made up of big sand dunes, the brochures show people sliding down them. Must be rocks just below the surface across most of the inlet as the sea was quite rough and plenty of spray, could not get a photo though.

Took the road back to Kerekeri via Kaikohe, whilst it was getting dark the roads through the valley and hills was a good one to drive. Arrived back at the hostel about 5.30 pm. A great day out and enjoyed by the both of us.

After we all had eaten Shannon showed me her photos of the south island taken during the summer - travelled with three friends to most of the sights - good photos.

That's all for now, need to recharge the batteries.

Mick

Start and end of the Kauaeranga Kauri trail, walked to and climbed the Pinnacles - time was a shade under 5 hours. Beautiful sunny day, hot and sticky but well worth it.

Shot of Billy Goat falls, part of Webb creek

Tauranikau - extinct volcanic plug. Softer rock/ash worn away over time. So humid the lens was beginning to mist up.

Stairway to heaven? Once the Pinnacles hut had been reached the path then led to these steps. These were the first flight so to speak, once over the crest there were probably about the same again, then two sets of near vertical ladders - then iron rungs set in the rock - then a scramble to the top. My legs still ache today (17th)

A most welcome sight - the first and last bridge to cross. Mostly I crossed the river bed but the water/rocks on this crossing were to deep/slippery so used the bridge.It was great fun to cross this.

16th June 2010

What a walk, about 6 klicks to the pinnacles hut then a further 1 klick to the top. Most of the walk was uphill following an old Kauri packhorse track, they delivering stores and goods to the loggers and to settlements the other side of the mountain (mid 1800's I think). How the horses did it I do not know as it was rough going on foot over the rocks and boulders. Coming down, due to the slippery conditions and the degree of slope I lost my balance four times - so rather dirty when I got back to the car. They also had what was the remains of a skidding track, where bullocks would drag the tree logs to where they could take them down the valley to the settlement below. All very had to picture as the whole area has been replanted. Did come across some Kauri trees that had been felled. One was at least 15 feet across, hollow now but as it is a hard wood, will still be many years before totally rotted away.

The hostel in Thames had photos showing some of the logging operations, no chain saws in those days. The bullock team looked to be at least 8 animals hauling this huge log across the boggy ground. At least the NZ government is trying to save the remaining trees, it must have been an awe inspiring sight seeing these giants before man become involved.

Brilliant scenery all round especially once you were on the pinnacles themselves, had a sunny and clear day with just a small amount of haze to mar any photo's.

Had steak to celebrate my walk, cooking in the hostel a pleasure.

There are three islands out there somewhere, one of the many views of islands off the coast in the Pacific. Maps and notes are in the car so will have to amend later. The main isle and one on the right is the chicken and egg I think.

What a beach, close to a township called Hatfield

Good nick this Ford Anglia, spotted in the main street of the township called Thames.

Tuesday 15th June 2010

Staying in Thames for a couple of days before heading east towards to visit Bruce and Debs. Spoke to Debs today and she sounds fine, look forward to seeing the family.

Thames is part of an old gold mining community and the hostel was one of the very first hotels built., more on that tomorrow. Today was a beautiful sunny day but expect temperature to drop to zero tonight - no central heating again!!

One of the sights that I forgot to mention on the drive down to Hamilton was a company selling houses, second hand ones. They had been lifted and moved to a vacant lot so that buyers could look around them. I take it that when one was sold the house would then be moved by road to it's new position. Probably why the majority of properties are wooden construction. Want to upgrade, move out the old and move in the new.

Look to use the walking boots tomorrow and walk up part of the Kauaeranga valley.

Bye for now

Matauri Bay from the top of the hill before descending down to the beach.Road down very twisty and steep, thought it might be a good road, although short, for Top Gear drive. Beach deserted, grey sky and a stiff breeze. Skylark overhead and swallows low down. The Greenpeace ship, Rainbow warrior is a notable ship wreck just off these islands and the hill to the left has a memorial piece of art at the top. Lovely sandy beach with good shell deposits at the high tide mark.

Tautanga Bay. To get here drove through a Kiwi sensitive area complete with yellow markings on the road. Again beach deserted, mostly sand and shingle here but did pick up some small white shells based on a whorl pattern. Stunning scenery to get to this bay, saw cormorants, gulls and some native birds that will need to be identified.

Shot of part of the rock formation at Taupo Bay. Again lovely sandy beach with a couple of people walking their dogs.

It is Saturday - where is everybody?

Took more shots of some islands in Whangaroo Bay - Stephenson Isle and Flat top isle.

Left Taupo Bay and drove around the coast to Mangonui and then Coopers Beach - part of Doubtless Bay - lovely names. had a very pleasant chat to the lady in the information office who suggested several ideas for local places to see and walk to. Unfortunately time was getting on and these will have to wait for another year. She did point out a car museum that was on my route so called in.

Matthews museum consisted of an isetta bubble car, a mini, half dozen yank tanks which had been renovated to a high degree, an XJS Jaguar and several other cars plus lots of tractors. Most of them were McCormack who must have had the franchise for this area. Have seen a couple at the steam shows but I guess every model was represented in this museum. The interesting items was all the odds and sods around the walls etc, all farming orientated but some very pertinent to NZ i.s. the sheep shearing equipment. Had some nice small stationary engines, locally made, types which I have not seen before. One other item caught my eye and that was two pictures, man and his wife. he was the first missionary in that part of the Island and the caption under her picture referred to her being born in Dorsetshire and her maiden name was Davies (Sue/Callum - you need to research Mark's family tree here as there could well be a link).

As it was getting dark left the museum and headed for Kerikeri, over the mountains, very twisty roads in places. Evening spent again having a chat, a german couple, 1 girl from Hong Kong and 2 from Malaysia had arrived, the latter 3 just for the night. Plenty of chat of course about the english game, but more importantly germany tomorrow!!!

Hi you blogging readers how are you all? Flew out of Singapore to Auckland via Sydney - 9th/10th June 2010.Overnight flight as usual for the first leg, not much sleep as aircraft was full and plenty of coughing and babies crying. Short transfer window in Sydney, dark, so could not really see a lot, then morning flight to Auckland. Small plane totally full. Met a brit called Pete who was a chef on a 60ft twin masted sailer who seemed to have a most charming life. I am sure he had his own stresses but cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea - the resr of the time lazying on deck - oh what a life!!!!

Then trouble at immigration. Beware all you travellers to NZ, read the immigration card carefully - missed the bit about have hiking boots in the suitcase. Could have cost me $400 but got rapped over the knuckles instead and a very clean pair of boots. No foot and mouth here and they don't want any - totally agree.

Took shuttle bus to hotel which was in the very heart of the city, but totally exhausted so ended up sleeping all afternoon and early evening. Meal was good but pricy and afterwards went for a stroll up (and I mean up) Queen street. I think extinct volcano's come into it somewhere where Auckland is concerned.

Next day (11th) needed to pick up my car but as luck would have it right next to the hotel was an outdoor clothing shop (NZ equivalent of Blacks) and got me a fairly decent waterproof jacket and over trousers. The luck bit happened some half hour later when walking up this hill. At the start was sunshine, half hour later very heavy rain - so both jacket and trousers were used, would have got soaked right through as there was nowhere to shelter at that point. Anyway picked the car up - with satnav!!! - Michelle please do not tell simon. What a boon, could I find a sign to tell me how to get on the motorway? Thereafter have used it everyday.

Drove north some 150k+ to a very nice town called Kerikeri, not that I have seen in daylight. Stunning views along the way but did not see many places where you could stop and take photos. Driving very similar to UK, left turn at lights similar to USA.

The hostel is a single story wooden structure, no central heating just a big log burner. Seating, dining and kitchen is a L shape, all very comfortable. The hostel is part of a fruit farm growing oranges and mandarins and they take on long term visitors in what they call Wwoofing (acronym). Stefan was the boss (german) with two Taiwanese (Tim and Shannon) plus Nadia (german). Made me very welcome,explained the ropes and I think sat back to see what sort of meal I would cook. Had a very nice piece of fish that night that I had bought locally. Dark by 5.30 so not much goes on, spent the evening having a chat, mostly about english words and phrases as all the visitors were keen to learn english. Nadia would check the German/English dictionary whist Shannon would use her electronic gadget. All three had notebooks and spent time especially on Skype.

Also much chat about the football, Stefan rather upset that there does not seem much coverage on NZ channels. Can get it on Aus channels but quality can be poor.

More adventures next time

Bamboo in Singapore's botanical garden. Only had 20 mins here so did not see a lot but from the guides description one could easily spend a day walking around the various themed areas. I had a quick look at the ginger section. Interestingly in NZ I have seen signs that call for wild ginger to be eradicated as it is an invasive species!

New hotel and casino with what looks like the modern equivalent of Noah's Ark resting on the 3 towers. Palm trees, swimming pools restaurants etc on the top- opening sometime in July. I think it is a fabulous outline and has been built away from all the other skyscrapers in the finance district.

View of Singapore's Flyer, largest in the world

Singapore has it appears woken up to the fact that their old buildings are worth keeping. Wanted to walk down river place where a number of the old buildings survive but due to the torrential rain I did not bother, got soaked as it was walking back the shorter route to the hotel. I believe Singapore gained Independence some 45 years ago so they believe that their history is short. But their history goes back farther and I would have thought that people lived on the island pre Sir S Raffles time - otherwise what drew his attention to the island in the first place? Must find a book and read up on the history.

As I blogged earlier I must come back and spend more time to delve deeper into the charms of this lovely city.