Flying Solo

We've finally left the luxury of staying with friends and set off south on our own. Yesterday we travelled firstly to Waitomo Caves to see the impressive formations and the glow worms. We were unable to do the 'black rafting' experience due to timing – this would have involved 'tubing' down the river in the dark with head torches, but in fact I think we saw a lot more by doing it the conventional way – it was warmer and drier too. The glow worm cave was particularly impressive as we could watch them in complete darkness from a boat. They looked very pretty, almost like stars in the sky. They are actually nasty little cannibals. Impossible to photograph unfortunately so here are a couple of photos of some of the limestone formations instead.

We continued on to Taupo, and found a campsite there. Our first night in the tent was not the best night we've ever spent under canvas (or polyester). Ian's sleeping mat wouldn't stay inflated and the ground was a bit stony! Obviously I offered him my mat, but he wouldn't accept, so he had a rather uncomfortable night. He fixed it this morning – there were 2 punctures – we suspect they've come from cats under the bed at home! On the plus side, the site is good with a kitchen we can use and a lounge where I'm currently writing this blog. There's wifi all over the site.

The weather was rather poor today with quite a lot of rain this morning. However, it cleared up enough after lunch for us to go and visit the thermal springs area. There were plenty of hot springs, bubbling mud pools and 'silica terraces' formed from mineral deposits – these are the things that look rather like waterfalls in the photo.

The journey back to Taupo was somewhat fraught as the low fuel light was flashing all the way. We made it OK with fuel to spare, but will need to be more vigilant in the future as filling stations are few and far between down here.

Tomorrow we head south again to prepare for the Tongariro Northern Circuit – a 3 day tramp staying in huts overnight. Blogging will be suspended until we've completed that!

Waiheke Island

We decided to delay our departure from Auckland by a day in order to visit Waiheke Island, which lies at the mouth of Auckland Bay.  It is reached by a 40 min. catamaran trip from Auckland harbour and is a popular tourist resort.  The wealthy now have holiday homes here but there is also an older community which is less aspirational.  A big appeal for us was that you can hire bikes, which we did.

There are a number of vineyards and wineries on the island but we decided to give these a miss;  last night I had phoned my second coz, John, who seemed stacked at the prospect of meeting a long-lost relly.  John used to be in the wine business and has promised to show us the much more extensive wine region around Marlborough Sound.

The island is very hilly and the sun was very hot.  Due, we think, to a hole in the ozone layer the sun seems to have enhanced burning qualities down here. In spite of having plastered ourselves in Factor 30 suncream before setting out, we were starting to look noticeably pink by lunchtime and had to apply a fresh layer.

This is the last week of the school holidays and the recommended route had a lot more traffic than we would have liked so we decided to make our own.  Up to now we had seen only the prosperous, well-tended side of the island but having pushed our bikes along a short causeway across marshy ground, we arrived in hillbilly country.   Ancient Holden pick-up trucks  became the order of the day, while rusty VW campervans mouldered in overgrown driveways.  At last there wasn't much traffic.

Here and there the route returned to the coast and some of these stretches were delightful, the sea being an almost unbelievable turquoise colour.

Returning to downtown Auckland we found ourselves with an hour to spare and so headed for Auckland's newest landmark, the n-hundred metre Sky Tower.  This does indeed tower over everything else as can be seen from this harbour shot but the price to go up it ($28 a head) also seemed a bit elevated so the view from the top remains in our imaginations.

In New Zealand at last



Diane & Simon's house

We’ve arrived in New Zealand and are currently spending a few days staying with friends, Diane & Simon in their lovely timber-built house in Auckland. The house is an unusual design and has lots of glass. The room we are currently sleeping in has a glass roof, which is amazing to wake up to in the morning.

Glass roof to our bedroom

The summer has been pretty dire here so far and it was raining on Sunday when we arrived. Yesterday and today the sun has been out and it is really lovely, although not particularly warm. We've now bought a tent and also picked up our hire car. The tent is rather larger than we realised – it's a 4 person tent, but is large enough to fit the car inside! Never mind, we did a trial pitch earlier today and it was easy enough.

Diane checking out the tent

 The car on the other hand is a little on the small side, but I'm sure will be fine with the back seats folded flat. It's also remarkably scruffy for a hire car – the bonnet is completely covered in stone chips – but at least they won't notice a few extra ones! It's a Toyota Vitz, which we think is the same as a Yaris.

Today we've been out for our first 'tramp'. For those who don't know, in New Zealand, what we Brits call trekking or hiking is known as tramping – so our blog title doesn't really mean that we are going to become tramps, although who knows! Anyway, the tramp was a couple of hours through bush and with intermittent views of the sea. The bush here is really interesting as it consists of all sorts of ferns and trees that are completely different to the ones at home. The mid point of our tramp was where the picture of Ian and I was taken, and is the beach where the film 'The Piano' was filmed.

 

Tomorrow we're off to an island just off the coast from Auckland where we hope to hire bikes and visit a local vineyard or two. Watch this space.

Stopover in Seoul

Everything went into the bags OK and we were just under the weight limit. We’d opted to stop over in Seoul for a couple of days on route to New Zealand.

We made it to Korea without any bother, though the flight was long enough.  Having carefully practised pronouncing Seoul in what we thought was the correct way, we quickly found that the local pronunciation is much closer to 'sole', ie how we used to pronounce it.  'Seoul' seems likely to be the only Korean word that will master while we are here, the language, even when rendered into European characters, is totally opaque.  Luckily many of the people have at least some English and gestures have done for the rest.

Toilet seat control panel

This is a clean, modern, thriving and sophisticated city, quite unlike Asian cities we have visited previously although some of these may now have changed as well.  It is a slightly quirky mix of Western and Asian, but also a very friendly place and everyone we have come across has been polite and helpful.  On the advice of a friend we are staying in a large hotel in the downtown area.  The hotel has 23 floors and a large illuminated sign towards the top, which has been great help when trying to find our way back to the place at the end of the day. The control panel on the side of the toilet seat has however completely flummoxed us; there is no obvious response to pressing any of the numerous buttons but it is certainly heated and lat night the bowl was suffused with a blue glow!

King's library pavilion

We have been going round royal palaces and the photo attached shows the style, although they differ in size quite a lot, but they are all basically made from wood and painted in bright colours.  Once we were 'palaced-out', we moved onto the markets and a token department store. 

Weird foods in Lotte

The biggest of these is the Lotte store which has the biggest food hall – by a long way - that we have ever seen.  Both the appearance and the variety of food on offer is astonishing.  At the other end of the scale the street food also looks very appealing; the Koreans like their meat however and it isn't easy to know what you are buying.  Last night we braved some local food and really enjoyed it.  Western style restaurants and fusion food are also common, but rather more expensive.



Today we’ve been in the arty area of the city and having visited the folk museum, which told us a bit about the history and culture, we ventured up the streets where the art galleries are. The picture below amused us and reminded us of something out of Monty Python. The strategically positioned trees were apparently real although nothing else has leaves on at the moment.

The Mona Lisa

It’s pretty cold here, although not too bad when the wind isn’t blowing. We even saw the sun for a few minutes, but I think we’ll be glad to get to the longer daylight hours and warmer temperatures of New Zealand. 

packing begins

Well the departure day is almost here and we've started packing. The baggage allowance is 20kgs plus about 5kgs for hand luggage. I don't really know if that's enough or not, but my current plan is to get out everything I think I need and then start throwing stuff out again if it's too heavy. Time will tell!
We had the 'last supper' tonight with Sarah - roast potatoes - we may not get them again for 8 weeks as you can't do roasties on a camping stove. On the other hand, they must eat a lot of lamb over there, so perhaps they have roasties with lamb.

Tomorrow we'll hopefully see all the bags packed and ready to go.

Planning an adventure

Ian & Maggie have been planning a 2 month trip to New Zealand and the departure date is now only a week away. We've booked the flights, a stop over in Seoul, car hire and some huts on a couple of the Great Walks. All that remains is to finish buying all the little things we keep thinking of, without exceeding our 20kg baggage allowance (we ditched the bikes a few weeks ago!) and getting ourselves to the airport. When we get to NZ we will be staying with friends for a few days, buying or hiring a tent, and then heading off to explore.  

Ian climbing rocks at Sand Point whilst deep in thought planning the trip!