View Static Version
Loading

Aotearoa Whakangahau New Zealand Adventure 2019

Our North Island adventure was a trip with Helen, Joe, Mum and I to celebrate in part Joe's completion of his Year 12 and to mark Mum's first international adventure since her battle with cancer and losing Dad. Our stretch goal was to make it all the way to Wellington and all the way to the top of the North Island. could we make it? Read on to find out...

Tuesday 26 November

Step one - go to Chadstone to buy some light warm tops. Good call by Sean. Then time to feed at Ajisen Ramen.

Shopping - Christmas - Food

Joe recieves his Melbourne High School Diploma from David Morgan who, like Joe gave an impressive speech which seemed to echo and support Joe's words and I guess our sentiments about Melbourne High and the adventure ahead.

The album button below has our photographic captures for the night which was attended not only by thousands of people, but Mum came down from Darwin to see her grandson graduate from Melbourne HIgh School with the class of 2019 as School Captain and Captain of Boats along with his academic and life experience achievements.

Speech Night was a great success. Videos and photos coming soon. I was really proud of Joe’s speech which you can read here or watch here.

27 November Departure

Through customs and security checks at Melbourne International. Enjoying a cappuccino and pizza before getting on the plane to New Zealand.

Ready for New Zealand
After a late Speech Night, a coffee is in order.

...and would you believe the lady in the middle had her headphones on 😂

It took me a moment to work out how to use a traditional payphone once we arrived.
Our first Airbnb
We loved staying with Ann and her lovely daughter.
Beautiful vegetable garden in our Auckland Airbnb. Great stay.

When we collected our car from the airport one of the surprises we had was the cost of fuel in New Zealand. I don't think we saw the price below two dollars per litre and in many cases it was up to $2.40. Fortunately the distance we have to drive is not quite as far as distances we drive in Australia. However the winding roads more than make up for the challenge of distance.

Tina was great and the dogs so friendly...
The town of Coromandel is charming

Just wandering through the town of Coromandel provided us with wonderful scenic shots. Our airBnb was very comfortable and located close to town.The entire location was very convenient for the adventures that lay ahead.

Coromandel Mussel Kitchen with chowder

So our second airbnb was called the bunkhouse, because, well, it had a lot of bunks. Importantly it had a separate room to provide Grandma some privacy. Tina is a friendly host who gave us our space after greeting us with her two wonderful dogs. The drive to Coromandel is part of the treat and our plans were to take part in the mini railway adventure and if possible do the zipline adventure (Joe and I) which is located in the some location at Driving Creek. We are looking for activities which will suit an 18 and 80 year old and this provided a good blend.

28 November

Driving Creek Railway and zipline

Driving Creek was where we did both railway and ziplining

We hadn't planned on doing the zip line at the Coromandel driving Creek Railway but when we arrived and there were no other guests we took the opportunity. This worked out to be a double bonus because mum and Helen had the train to themselves as they slowly made their way to the lookout. Heading back down the train driver was kind enough to stop in various locations allowing them to take photographs of our zip line activities and see house whizzing through the trees.

After our Train Ride and ZipLine adventure, we had to send an email and as our airbnb didn't have wifi and we were on a rather meagre (some would say stingy) dataplan with Spark NZ who offered us a card in the duty free area of the Airport at Auckland and I would recommend it... quick, easy and a little cheaper as it is duty free and the lovely folk pop in the card, tape your existing card to the sim plastic holder so hopefully you don't lose that before you get back home and set you up in seconds...

Back at the bank...

So here we were, parked outside the Bank of New Zealand on the main street of Coromandel, which due to massive roadworks, looked like it did 150 years ago, adding to the atmosphere. Why? Free Wifi! With iPads and phones out we were getting the morning's email administration done courtesy of BNZ... To top it off, a busker was sitting not 3 metres from us playing Christmas tunes on his guitar as we got this necessary and slightly un-holiday-like task out of the way. Thank you Bank of New Zealand.

After local pies from the bakery created with all those chunky local fillings that only a small country bakery seems able to do and we were off on the windy 309 road across the mountain ridge back of the Coromandel Peninsula heading to Cathedral Cove, Hot Water Beach before the long drive down to Tauranga.

Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach

Into the Cathedral Cove carpark we drove and I wouldn't even think of not taking the shuttle bus for the return ticket price of $5. From the top carpark it is indicated as a 45 minute walk to Cathedral Cove but I think Joe and I did it in 35 and we weren't pushing it. Helen and Grandma stopped in at Stingray Bay as the walk was up and down although was smooth bitumen all the way with steps at the end. We were pleasantly suprised by the beauty of not only the cove but the entire walk.

Some fun with the gopro ensued along with Joe and I doing one of his signature jumps... although he nailed it better than I.

Hot Water Beach was something else. we joined the hundreds of people digging holes in the beach although like a cuckoo, we decided to occupy the empty nest of other bathers who had done the digging for us...

So what is hot water beach? Underneath the sands there is a geothermal spring which pushes hot water underneath the sand until it mixes with the cold water of the sea. The challenge is to find that sweet spot where the combination of water underneath the sand is pleasantly warm enough to enjoy as a hot bath. We tested out a number of abandoned sand bathtubs and found water ranging from scalding hot to freezing cold. And just like the story of Goldilocks and the three Bears we eventually found one that was just right. It certainly was a unique experience again in a beautiful setting on just our second day in New Zealand.

Shopping centre within walking distance and very comprehensive.

Following morning we visited Mt Maunganui and surrounds which is very much like the gold coast. While we were there we experienced a beach volleyball competition, a parade of vintage cars and walked out to an island where we captured wonderful images of the coast before heading off on our drive to Rotorua through the kiwifruit heartland of New Zealand.

We saw a large ship, the Ovation of the Seas berthed in Tauranga as we drove around part of the base to the mountain. Little did we know that tragedy lay in store for some of her passengers.

Redwood Forest on our doorstep.

Can you believe Helen bumped into Yida in the Redwood Forest in Rotorua.
Combining a Maori cultural village visit with some corn and and a local pastie - yum!

Whaka cultural village

Laundromat experience

Government house gardens

Rotorua Skyline, zipline and luge all supported by stunning views.

Kuirau Public Thermal Gardens

In less than a week we have stayed in four airbnb locations - each one different, each one charming. Two have been "embedded" with family or hosts and two have been more private. All four have been fantastic and suited to our needs with little differences which have made the cumulative experience so far what we were after... a New Zealand Experience.

We arrived in Taupo with blinding rainstorms providing a strong deluge to add even more water to the largest lake in Australasia. Lake Taupo is the same size as Singapore and its depth is about 180 metres which means a lot of water. It is a magnet for all kinds of sporting activity on and off the water and is popular as a fishing destination as well.

Our trip to Taupo from Rotorua involved two special stops. One was at Kerosine Creek - Amazingly this was suggested by Ida, the daughter of Helen's employer who we bumped into by accident at the Redwoods Treetop walk which was amazing in itself.

Kerosine Creek is this warm geothermal creek with a mini waterfall where you sit and soak in the mineral enriched warm waters of the creek. It was an amazing soak before we dried off and headed south to Taupo via Orakei Korako - a geothermal park and cave. I was glad we made the diversion and apart from the geothermal experience which is reached on a small boat - the mud cake and coffee afterwards was a great trip.

Whaka Cultural Village in Rotorua

As with all our Airbnb hosts so far, we felt that we should stay longer, but our plans push us to our next destination. We felt this in Taupo where staying with Harg and Phil we were immediately part of the family in a home - way more than a house. We achieved something which was recapturing memories of trying to skip pumice stones across the surface of Lake Taupo. For those who know pumice stones, they are used to rub hard skin off your heels. They are formed when lava and water mix, forming an incredibly light abrasive stone... great for your skin, but not so good for skipping across the lake surface due to the lightness of the stone. We took an evening walk along the shore taking in the sunset and tried our hand at skimming the stones with mixed success. This was in part a tribute to the trip our parents took us four boys on almost 50 years ago.

Dad is no longer with us, but Joe, Helen, Grandma and I represent a part of the family creating our own adventure while paying respect to journeys past without living in the past.

So driving to Taupo to throw a bit of stone across the water means something and nothing at the same time... and as always it is the journey there and the journey continued after which are the important things.

Ohakuri
Skimming Pumice Stones at Lake Taupo
On the road
Napier
Karori - view from our Airbnb
Wellington
Our place in Hamilton
Waipu Caves
8 December 2019
Te Paki Sand Dunes
9 December 2019

Late checkout from Waipu and leisurely drive along the coast into Auckland. Arrived at our Airbnb around 5 pm settled in and headed down for a Chinese meal before turning in fore the night.

10 December 2019

Joe’s birthday and our wedding anniversary celebrated at sky tower restaurant enjoying 360 degree views of Auckland.

Joe is 18!

Later that day we dropped Joe off to support the MHS water polo team who were playing in an international competition at a local school in Auckland.

Joe supporting the MHS water polo team
11 December 2019

Time to pack up and head home via the Auckland war memorial followed by lunch at a very cool restaurant which combines the art of knitting with German cooking and pastries. Thoroughly recommend it

Mixture of our Airbnb in Auckland and our lunch and yarn stop
Planes

New Zealand more than Australia seems to love doing creative things with aircraft... Coming into Taupo, I am sure I saw a large pink Sikorsky helicopter parked next to a small house as we drove into Taupo and then to see a DC3 complete with seating as part of a MacDonalds in the town of Taupo was impressive... this was followed up by a Harvard aeroplane in Harvard Park in Pahiatua which has been replaced by a fibreglass version after the original became too dangerous for children to play on.

Camera Stuff and Sharing

So on this trip I was armed with a brand new gopro 8, My trusty Nikon D7200 with an 18-105 Lens and of course the iPhone 8plus. From a caption or storage perspective I used WiFi in the Airbnb locations and transfer photos to Lightroom classic in the case of both GoPro and the Nikon.

My memory cards are a sdhc 64 gig for the GoPro and 32 gig sdhc for the Nikon - This allows me to transfer easily to the Microsoft Surface using the SDHC slot in the back.

We have the 200gig iCloud package from Apple which is actually quite useful for a family running around taking photographs on their iDevices. Creating shared albums means that I can sit down of an evening and view these albums through iCloud apps installed on the computer, choosing to select and include photos in this journal.

Fuller albums are stored in SmugMug which are processed from Lightroom Classic on my computer. With 12 and 24 megapixel photographs it is best to wait until you have internet with a fast broadband connection before lazily dragging and dropping these photographs into a photogrid.

For video editing, this was my first time trying Premiere Rush in the field and one glitch I encountered was that when I went to authorise Rush to upload to Google - there was a security alert and it wasn't allowed. I think this was because Google was protecting me as I was making this change in Wellington which probably raised alarm bells. Even after confirming it was me making the connection, Google refused to allow Adobe to connect. No problem, save locally then upload direct to YouTube. If you watch the short video above, I didn't really hire the scooter, just picked one up laying on the street and got Joe to take an action shot.

On the editing front, it was quick and easy using Rush and it is ideal for that quick piece to quickly and professionally satisfy the social media hordes clamouring for your next release... okay in our case it is about 4 family members.

The drive from Wellington to Hamilton was a long drive and by the time we reached Hamilton with glimpses of Lake Taupo and yet another DC3 mounted next to a restaurant that appeared to have closed...

Hamilton is a pretty city and we took a stroll along the banks of the mighty Waikato River where we saw some rowers out training in their first morning session. The apartment we stayed in was sensational and we had the entire house to ourselves. The house overlooked a park and on the other side of the park was a strip of restaurants and food shops which made life easy for us.

After Hamilton we followed the highway and the Waikato for a considerable way towards Auckland where we were passing through on the way to our next accommodation which was right next to the Waipu caves which is a big cave system that has glow worms just inside the entrance. While all the places we stayed were great, this was Mum's favorite and it was easy to see why. Great views, lovely cabin, farm animals and a relaxed atmosphere set the tone for our two day stay.

Our plan was to use the first day to drive to Cape Reinga which is at the top of the North Island and although the distance is less than Melbourne to Adelaide, it is very windy (lots of curves) and mountainous in a few sections.

We saw massive expanses of young avocado trees and parts of the coastline had sand so white it reminded me of Whitehaven in the Whitsundays. The Cape was the main destination and when we arrived it was easy to see and feel the spiritual significance of the place, not only for Maori people, but all visitors to Cape Reinga would find it hard not to be moved by the location where the tip of the North Island appears to end abruptly with sacred hardy trees clinging to cliffs in a final act of defiance against the inevitable journey to the underworld which is what the place signifies... a launching place to the next life.

Again Mum braved the long walk (for an 80 year old) along a smooth but sloping path to the Cape Reinga lighthouse which was obscured by a rolling sea mist teasing us with partial view of the cliffs, crashing waves below as well as the lighthouse.

The other destination was the giant sand dunes of Te Paki and I encourage you to read this great article in the New Zealand Geographic. We simply enjoyed the walk up to the crests of two of the dunes, watching the more adventurous take part in the sandboarding.

Ma Te Wa - hope to see you again.
Created By
Mark Christie
Appreciate
NextPrevious