| Day 1: Sunday Brisbane
Hamilton Rotorua
|
Arrived in Hamilton at
3.15pm on Freedom Air Flight SJ314, to a dull overcast
afternoon. Collected my jazzy royal blue Corolla from a
nice young man called "Chrus" and set off for
Rotorua feeling terribly brave and adventurous, armed
only with my handy-dandy compact road atlas. I was struck
by the "differentness" of the landscape:
intense green; steep elliptical hills; an omnipresent
glossy dark-leaved shrub with sprays of brilliant yellow
flowers (which I later learned was gorse); patches of
temperate rainforest quite unlike the Queensland
rainforests I'm accustomed to; a few early daffodils here
and there; and of course, ferns and fern trees
everywhere. The character of rural life was different to
home, as well. There were berry farms (wrong season for
fruit, though, of course), deer farms, racehorse studs,
black-and-white cows, and LOTS of sheep. The 1½ hour drive to Rotorua was
pleasant, with well maintained roads, well sign-posted,
and little traffic. I found my motel, at the lake end of
the main street, fairly quickly -- old and basic, but
very clean and spacious, with its own thermal pool and an
impressive crack in the driveway venting steam and
sulphurous fumes. The friendly lady owner didn't know if
the 8.00pm Maori concert at Ohinemotu was on every night,
so I gave up the idea. Took a drive around the town, then
had a beef burrito in a shabby-looking Mexican cafe that
boasted it was mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide. The
town seems pleasant, tourist-oriented without being too
tacky or overwhelming. I found myself dozing off by
8.00pm (only 6.00pm in Queensland). Back to top
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| Day
2: Monday
Rotorua
Paekakariki
|
Still quite
dark when I woke at 6.00: didn't start to get light until
7.00. Around 8.00, I drove the two blocks up Fenton St
past the hospital and Memorial gardens to the lakefront.
The air was misty and filled with sulphurous fumes from
the thermal vents that dot the town. Black swans, NZ
scaup, mallards and lots of gulls clustered on the lake.
Walked around the lake to Ohinemotu village to see the
marae and the very lovely church of St Faith, with its
interior lavishly carved and decorated with paua shell by
the village inhabitants, and the surrounding churchyard
crowded with whitewashed vaults. On to Te Whakarewarewa geothermal village,
where an elderly lady resident, Chris, guided a small
group around boiling pools where meals were cooked in net
bags; communal bathing pools (water from the boiling
springs is allowed to run in throughout the morning and
has cooled to a comfortable temperature by evening);
bubbling mud pools and geysers. Chris demonstrated how
the traditional piu piu skirts are made from leaves of
the flax plant. A cultural performance in the hall
included children from the kindergarten in the village.
The kindergarten educates the children in their Maori
language and culture: they seemed to take their
performance very seriously. The whole village is part of,
and in harmony with, the unique natural features of the
area. When new steam vents appear in the ground, the
people just put a concrete pipe or some rocks over it and
leave it alone: Chris pointed out that cracks were less
likely to break out under the houses that way.
Left Rotorua around midday
and headed south on SH5 toward Taupo, planning to arrive
at Luke and Esther's in Paekakariki around 7.30pm.
Stopped for lunch in Taupo, overlooking the lake, then
continued southwest on SH1, skirting Lake Taupo as far as
Turangi. SH1 then becomes the "Desert Road"
across the Central Plateau. The road is lonely and a bit
eerie (it was closed the week before because of snow),
passing through sub-alpine heath and moorland and rocky
volcanic plains, with pockets of snow still lying in
hollows by the road. It rained on and off most of the
way, but the clouds lifted just long enough for me to
catch a glimpse of snow-streaked Mt Ruapehu as I passed.
(Got a great buzz from my first sight of snow!) Coming
down off the plateau, I was delighted by stunning views
of towering snow-capped ranges behind the green hills and
farmland. Stopped in Huntersville for a coffee break
around 4.00, then continued on the last tiring stretch
south to Bulls and Levin, then on to the Kapiti Coast,
reaching Paekakariki around 6.00, jsut as it got dark.
Found the house no problems, but the steep hairpin
driveway defeated me in the rain and dark! Lovely to see
Esther again, and to meet her parents Betty and Jaap. The
house is a lovely cosy cottage looking out over the sea.
The rain cleared into a clear, still night, and we talked
until Luke got home around 11.00pm. Back to top
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| Day
3: Tuesday
Paekakariki
Paraparaumu
|
Woke around
6.30am to a howling gale: overcast but not a lot of rain.
Betty and Jaap left for Hamilton to spend a week with
friends. My plans to visit Kapiti Island weren't going to
eventuate. The island is free of feral predators, and a
closely controlled sanctuary for a number of now-rare and
endangered native birds, such as the brown kiwi and
saddleback. The DOC issues only 50 permits a day to visit
the island, and the only ferry operator requires a
minimum of 10 passengers to make the trip. All 50 permits
were already issued to a scientific group for Thursday,
but no bookings at all for Wednesday, so that was that. Drove to the Coastlands shopping
centre in Paraparaumu, about 10km north of Paekakariki,
looked around the shops, sent postcards home, bought
myself a field guide to NZ birds. I had hoped to buy a
novel to read, but my parsimonious soul rebelled at the
high price of paperbacks. Had a nice lunch at the Cafe
Brie. Drove down to the sea front and had a look at a few
birds in the park and on the beach (black-backed gulls,
goldfinches, greenfinches, mallards, chaffinches etc),
but it was too cold and windy to stay out long. Back at
the house, I went to bed for a snooze and didn't wake
until nearly 6.00, just before Esther got home from the
Steiner school in Lower Hutt where she teaches English
and drama. Back to top
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| Day
4: Wednesday
Wellington
|
Another
drizzly blustery day. I headed for Wellington around
9.30, and despite the narrow and heavily used coastal
highway it was an easy trip since the morning rush hour
was past. Arrived at Te Papa, the huge new museum of New
Zealand on the waterfront, just after 10.00. The complex
is very impressive, and entry is free: it even includes
an outdoor "bush town" that recreates the
variety of natural environments found in NZ. I wandered
through a few of the exhibits but found myself unable to
concentrate enough to fully appreciate them. Bought a few
gifts in the museum shop -- lots of delicious glass and
ceramic pieces there, but quite expensive. Walked uptown: the city is very
centralised and quite easy to navigate. Lots of
interesting shops, and more cafes per head of population
than just about anywhere. Met up with Luke for lunch in
the Library cafe in Civic Square. Funny thing to notice
about a country's cuisine, but I thought it was great how
the cafes all seem to offer such a nice range of
delicious and interesting sandwiches! (Bacon, tomato and
caramelised onion today, with a fantastic wholemeat date
and spice scone for afters). The coffee everywhere is
very good, too. Luke showed me a little gallery and shop
called Tamarillo, selling gorgeous ceramics, glass and
jewellery: I settled for a bright orange kiwi Tshirt for
Corbin. Spent the rest of the afternoon cruising the
shops and trying to ignore the dreadful noise made by the
pedestrian crossing signals -- a loud, diffuse buzzing
whine, most unpleasant. (Confirmed that my Westpac Cirrus
handicard does NOT work for EFTPOS transactions,
buggrit!)
Walked back to Te Papa,
where I'd parked, via Civic Square and the footbridge, a
stunning sculptural space. Heading out of town around
4.00, I missed a turn on the circuitous one-way route
back to the motorway, and didn't realise my mistake until
I ended up in the airport carpark. Back through the city
again, and got it right this time, just in time for
afternoon rush hour. Got good use out of my cheap Solly's
spray jacket all day, and would have been very wet
without it, as I quickly realised why non-one in
Wellington bothers to use umbrellas! Back to top
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| Day
5: Thursday
Around
Wellington
|
Weather more
of the same! Luke took a day off work, planning to take
me to Korore Reserve, but the weather didn't look
promising for birdwatching. On Luke's recommendation, we
visited the Plimmerton Council's museum and gallery (in
the library building), and viewed an historical
exhibition about the US marines stationed in the district
in 1942-43. Also on permanent display was an amazing
collection of mechanical musical instruments,
grammophones, jukeboxes and so on collected by a local
farmer who used to exhibit them at his "Melody
Farm". A very entertaining and well mounted
exhibition, which included a 20-minute interactive AV
tour. After lunch at
the library cafe, we drove on through Wellington and
around the western bechside suburbs. Some wierd and
wonderful architecture, including a stone mini-castle. We
saw one of the famous NZ house trucks parked in a picnic
area somewhere near Lyall Bay, and watched the Lynx
coming in through the heads (South Island was just
visible as an outline in the cloud and drizzle). We
chanced driving up to Korore Reserve, but it was closed
"for a private function"! Came back into the
city via the university, then shopped for a few groceries
at Porirua on the way home. Spent a quiet evening making
Moroccan-style kumara and couscous for dinner, then we
phoned Tony's brother Eddie and his wife Jean in England.
Struggled to get my bag re-packed for the morning.
Back to top |
| Day
6: Friday
Wellington
to Picton
|
Off on the
big adventure! Got away around 7.30, to catch the Lynx at
9.30 for the crossing to Picton in the South Island.
After locating Hutt Road in Wellington in ample time, I
had dreadful trouble finding the rental car HQ (signs not
visible from the road in heavy traffic -- bastards).
Started to panic, but finally found the bloody place and
got a lift to the Interislander ferry terminal by 9.00,
where I checked my luggage in then got the shuttle bus
down to the Lynx terminal. The ferry was huge, very
spacious and comfortably set up with airline-style
seating, lounges, several cafe-bars and a shop! A small
aft deck allowed smoking, and great views! Once we cleared
the head it was a bit rough going through the
"Korore Rip", but when the ferry turned west,
the sun came out and it was calm and quite magical, with
lots of pelagic bird species flying around the boat
(mollymawks, cape and giant petrels, shearwaters). The
crossing itself took very little time, but for environmental reasons the ferry had
to slow right down entering the narrow steep-sided
passage into Queen Charlotte Sound. The Sound was still,
calm and majestic as we approached Picton.
Back to top |