Thanks to all our hosts

 

Australia

Heather for letting us stay in her beautiful apartment in Cannonvale and to Sheena as well for entertaining us with the wallies.

Paul and Lynn for hosting us in Maleny Montville with some excellent cooking and a great trip around the area.

NZ

Dee and Hannah for looking after us so well (and their cats for entertaining us) in Napier. I’ve become addicted to the ginger nut biscuits Dee introduced us  to. Not sure they’ve done much good for our teeth as they are considerably harder than the English ones.

Mark and Christina for opening their house to us in Bendigo.  It was great to do shorter trips and come back and have a bed! And the drill/screwdriver came in handy for fixing the van. Not forgetting Dexter and Archie and their antics. I’ve also developed a liking for ginger beer! Luckily it is available in the UK.

And Christina for the night time tour of Auckland with all the spectacular boats.

Rachele for some excellent home cooking (especially the roast dinners!). Adam and Finn for taking us up the Port Hills in Lyttelton and nearly killing the pair of us.  Liam and Finn for washing the van for us.

USA

We also wanted to say thanks to Chris’s brother Zac and family for putting us up in California.

Rick Decker in Hawaii was very helpful with photography and diving tips. We much appreciated their home grown eggs. Gigi the cat was good (if noisy) company there.

Hong Kong and home

A whirlwind tour of Hong Kong.

I've been several times before as my brother lived out there for years but Chris hasn't.

The airport express train into central HK is a great introduction to the city. It's clean, fast, shows you where you are on the journey and delivers you into the centre of Hong Kong island itself. It puts London to shame.

They are lot less concerned about people taking photographs here than in the UK. We went into the HSBC bank building and asked a security guard if we could take photos and he said yes to the atrium and no to the banking hall which is reasonable. We also went up the Bank of China tower to the 43rd floor where there is a special viewing area which has a panoramic outlook over the harbour. Again no problems with photos here.

A wander through the conservatory and the aviary in Hong Kong park and then on the Peak Tram. This is incredibly steep and you are pushed back into the seat at several points on the short journey. Again a fantastic view from the Peak Tower (about 5 storeys above where the Peak Tram arrives). Very busy up here as it is a popular tourist spot.

The MTR (the equivalent of our tube) is also very good. The carriages are much wider and taller and cleaner. There are fewer seats but that doesn't seem to matter. The Octopus payments system is better than Oyster as you don't need to take it out of your pocket or bag to pay as it can read from a distance. Makes it much faster getting through the gates.

We ventured to Mongkok to look at electronics stuff. The prices don't seem that much different to the UK. Bought a new strap and battery for my camera. A very busy place and you can't walk down the pavement in a straight line as there are people coming at you from all directions. This is more like the 'real' HK. Scruffy buildings and people selling things on the street. Shopping is a major pastime here.

Another trip on the airport express and dinner in the airport.
Up early the next day to get our plane back to London.

The plane was completely full (still trying to sort out people after the problems from the Icelandic volcano) but I had a friendly kiwi woman next to me and we didn't feel too cramped. I definitely prefer day time flights as I find it very difficult to sleep on planes.  The Air NZ entertainment system and a couple of books and the 13.5 hours seemed to fly by (not quite but they definitely made it go more quickly)

Heathrow Terminal One is a very bad introduction back to London. It's small and cramped and feels dirty in comparison with the lovely airport in HK. At least our bags turned up relatively quickly. It's always an anxious moment waiting by the baggage carousel. We were lucky and didn't have any problems at all whilst we were travelling.

My parents collected us and drove us home. A bit of unpacking and an early night as still on HK time (+8 hours).

Our 96 day trip is over. We left in the cold, in the middle of winter, and arrived back in late spring. The garden is full of flowers and scents. No frogspawn in the pond as I think it was too cold for the frogs. Lots of birds singing now and bluebells coming out.

It's good to be home for the moment. Not sure what is happening with the political situation as we arrived home just before the election and now we have a hung parliament. Don't know what this will mean economically.

We need to seriously consider where we want to live over the next few years. New Zealand is an attractive option as there doesn't seem to be a recession there. Australia has too many creepy crawlies for me and I'm not sure we fit the entry criteria.

It's been a fantastic journey and opened our eyes to lots of possibilities. It was also great to catch up with old friends and to make some new ones. We are likely to have visitors later this year from both NZ and Oz.

I'll put up a summary of our favourite places later on.

Queensland and on

An easy flight from Proserpine to Brisbane and Paul collected us from the airport.

He lives about an hour and a half outside Brisbane in what is known as the hinterland. We passed the Glasshouse Mountains which are apparently plugs of rocks left from old volcanoes and were named by Captain Cook when he saw them from his ship.

Brisbane was pretty warm but it is much cooler where they live as they are up on a mountain and actually on the side of a cliff with fabulous views across to the coast. It seems more European here - there are green fields and cows. It's a popular tourist area and the local town of Montville seems to only have tourist shops. It's very pretty with lots of attractive buildings. 

We met Paul's wife Lynn and their two children Oliver and Alexandra. We even had the fire on that evening as it gets quite damp up there. Lovely home cooked food - Lynn is an excellent cook.

You have to be aware of the wildlife around here. They get big (and I do mean big) huntsman spiders which live in the post box outside or crawl into vehicles if you leave doors open. Paul had to find and then dispose of one which got into their car. At one point he was kneeling down looking for it and it was looking right back at him from the rear seat. A bit too close for comfort. Luckily this was before we arrived and we didn't see any whilst we were there. They also have mouse eating ones.    Lynn said she had seen one of these. The Australia Zoo (owned originally by Steve Irwin) is nearby and they have loads of birds and animals including crocodiles.

Paul took us on a tour of the sunshine coast - lovely sandy beaches and pretty towns. People lead a good life here. We were looking over the beach at Coolum and loads of teenage schoolkids went past us with a teacher and had their PE class swimming in the ocean. Much better than the local swimming pool in the UK!

There's a sand recycling project on the beach at Noosa Heads. It provides around 30,000 cubic metres of sand a year and this stops the beach disappearing. It's a lovely beach with a river running through it to the ocean.

Next day we were off again back to Brisbane airport down to Sydney and then onto our final stop in Hong Kong. I got scanned for explosives again at Brisbane (I must look very suspicious!)

We upgraded our seats on the Virgin flight to Hong Kong to premium economy. This mean we had more leg room, foot rests and more food and drink than we could consume. They even brought round bars of chocolate. Funnily enough the seats are no wider as they are all fixed and the armrests do not move. I believe this is still the same in the business/first class areas as well. So if you are wide bottomed people you are probably better off with sharing three seats in economy between two as long as the armrests go back properly.

Found our hotel in HK - it is attached to the airport terminal via a walkway. It was around midnight by the time we got to bed. A long day starting in one continent and ending in another.

Rain(forests) and Diving

 

Heather took us for a short walk through the local rainforest. Not many people know about this particular place so we only saw two other people whilst we were walking. The trees here grow very tall due to the sunshine, rainfall and humidity. We saw some very tall strangler figs which have overtaken their original host trees. Some of them had massive buttresses taller than we were. There are also some trees where the fruit grows directly on the trunks rather than the branches. Also lots of vines twining their way around other trees. Quite appropriately it started raining when we were about three quarters of the way round so we did the last bit whilst under umbrellas.

Umbrellas seem essential items here. For all it is known as sunny Queensland it has an awful lot of rain. Heather has been measuring the rain for the last few years and has asked us to continue doing it whilst she is away. If they have a storm it can exceed the capacity of the rain gauge which is 100cm. They had around 95cm during the recent cyclone. We’ve typically been getting 1-3cm over the last few days. It’s warm rain and soon dries out. The wet season has officially finished here but the rain is still coming down. The first week was hot, sunny and dry but the last few days have been very showery. It’s still warm – around 26 degrees – so it is very humid at times. Luckily we have aircon if necessary.

We have bought stinger suits so we can go snorkelling on our own.  Hopefully tomorrow up near Cape Gloucester depending upon the weather and the road as it has lots of floodways which may no longer be dry given recent rain.

Finally some proper diving as the ones we did previously were not very good. A 3 hour bumpy cruise to the Great Barrier Reef and Knuckle Reef. The shipping channel had 3 metre swells which are quite big when you are in a large catamaran and the waves are coming at you on the diagonal.

We had an excellent hour long dive off Knuckle Reef. Cruise Whitsundays have a pontoon moored there and the boat attaches to it and stays there all day so you can go between them. You go diving through a moonpool – down some steps under the pontoon and straight into the water. There’s an undersea viewing platform next to it so you can also see the fish without getting wet.  The fish are waiting for you as you descend. It’s a bit like James Bond…

A very relaxing amble alongside the reef whilst taking photographs. Lots of beautiful corals – there are over 150 types here both hard and soft. Plus loads of clams of brilliant turquoise, blue and other colours. The fish seemed a bonus on top of it. Lots of colourful little reef fish and a few larger ones. We both came out very happy and so did the dive guide as he had an easy dive with us.

Another 3 hour journey back and again through the bumpy shipping channel for about 45 minutes. Getting dark by the time we docked at 6pm so home for supper and an early night before 9pm as were both knackered both from diving and sea sickness tablets. I’ve uploaded some photos to Flickr but will put some more on later.

Whitsundays

 

Here in the Whitsundays the weather is rather changeable at this time of year. It’s the end of the ‘wet’ season and getting colder. Colder is a relative term here it means temperatures under 25 degrees and sometimes even as low as 22 degrees. Some people may have to sleep under blankets.

I’m writing this whilst listening to a tropical rainstorm. It’s pretty impressive as the clouds have come right down and we can barely see any boats any more. The noise on the tin roof over the terrace is very loud. The waterfall at Cedar Creek should be flowing strongly after this.

Yesterday we went up to Cape Gloucester, an eco resort about 45 minutes away. Most of the road is paved but the last bit is a gravel road with lots of crossing points for water. Some of the earlier floodways have level markers on them some of them going up to 2 metres. That’s a lot of flooding!

Cape Gloucester is very pretty with crystal clear seas and a lovely sandy beach. We had lunch overlooking the gardens with a butcher bird singing nearby. After a walk on the beach we decided to have another drink before leaving. Both of us opted for coca cola and sat down on bar stools to drink it. No sooner had we sat down and taken a few sips than we were joined by a pretty rainbow lorikeet. Green, blue and orange in colour and very tame. It jumped around our glasses and then jumped onto mine and proceeded to drink from it. It was after the sugar, I’m not sure that the caffeine was any good for it though.  It hopped onto my finger and then up my arm and onto the glass again when I tried to take it off. Then it hopped towards Chris’s glass and landed on his tummy! The chef fed two of them on his fingers. They love anything sweet. Apparently the cleaner feeds them first thing in the morning and it’s not unusual to see 17 or so.

Heather and I went to an aqua aerobics class this morning. Eleven of us in a pool overlooking the sea wearing sunscreen, hats and sunglasses. Beats an indoor pool in the UK. Wally sitting tonight whilst they took Guinness for a walk.  I also fed both of them through tiny little tubes. They only have a small quantity at present.

An evening picnic with Heather and Sheena of fish and chips next to the beach. Very civilised with tablecloth and glasses and beers. We discovered we had all stayed in the same resort in Fiji at different times and even in the same bure (room)! It’s a very small world.

Australia – Brisbane and the Whitsundays

After an easy flight from Christchurch we found ourselves in Brisbane.

Central Westend apartments are very conveniently located for the South Bank which has its own lagoon and beach set just back from the river complete with lifeguards and surfboards.

Lunch with Virginia who I used to work with from London in a cafe overlooking the river. Lots of suggestions on places to visit. There’s also a good view from the Goodwill foot/cycle bridge over the river. Another bridge is beautifully lit up at night.

A good introduction to Brisbane is to take a trip on the river. We went on the City Cat which zigzags its way across the river. The weather was a bit of a change after NZ. About 28 degrees with lots of humidity. The river trip was a welcome excursion with a lovely breeze.

Back to the airport again and off to Proserpine which serves the Whitsunday coast. A tiny little airport where they bring out the baggage on trucks and you help yourself. As it was just after Easter the flight was full.

Heather, an old friend of my mother’s, collected us from the airport. Air conditioned cars are wonderful as the humidity was even higher.  Heather is letting us stay in her ‘unit’ which is a one bedroom apartment on their property. Fantastic views over the Whitsunday Islands – beautiful blue seas and skies. Apparently green turtles are common here and dugongs (like manatees) like the local bays. As do the crocodiles we were told. There is a ‘saltie’ in the next bay along so no swimming there. Also at this time of year there are box jellyfish in the water which can be most unpleasant if they sting you. Stinger suits are the order of the day if you go into the water unless it is an area netted off against them.

Cyclone Ului hit Airlie Beach about 3 weeks ago. Luckily it came at it from the land side so the damage wasn’t too bad. It was (only!) a category 3 (it goes up to 5) but enough to mean that power, telephones and internet were all out for a few days. Lots of trees damaged as well. Heather’s property in Cannonvale was protected by the hill behind it but still lots of clearing up to do afterwards.

Heather’s sister Sheena is a ‘Wally sitter’. What may you ask is that? Adult wallabies are sometimes  hit by cars and killed but their joeys survive and need someone to help look after them until they can be released into the wild at about 1 year old. Sheena has two of them which she is looking after for someone else for two weeks. They require 4 feeds a day at around every 5 hours so it is quite a commitment. She brought them round to Heather’s house and we went out on a walk on our first evening. Heather, Sheena, Chris  and I accompanied by Guinness the dog (half greyhound and half Staffordshire bull terrier) and one of the wallies which I carried around in a cloth bag. It was very curious about everything and kept putting its head out of the bag to see what was going on.

Cedar Creek Falls are a well known local attraction. A lovely waterfall and a deep pool in which you can swim. It’s great swimming in freshwater as you don’t have to worry about showering off the salt afterwards. Our little Sunday afternoon expedition included all of the people and animals mentioned in my previous paragraph plus the second Wally. Sheena and I sharing the backseat of the car with the dog and the wallies was very cosy. Guinness took up most of it.

The first few days up here were lovely weather and very hot. A shopping trip to buy some lighter clothes and haircuts helped sort us out.

We booked a day cruise on Reefjet – a jet powered boat which only needs 0.6m of water to be able to move. A couple of short dives (in stinger suits rather than wetsuits) off Cateran Bay showed the damage the cyclone had wrought – sand everywhere and very poor visibility – only about 3 metres. It was like being in the English channel but in warmer water as the sea temperature was 27 degrees. Lots of lovely corals and some fish but no good for taking photographs. Our guide pointed out a glass shrimp which is quite rare. A tiny creature smaller than my fingernail.

Hill Inlet has lovely views across to Whitehaven Beach and on a sunny day the beach looks pure white as it is almost pure silica. When we visited it was rather cloudy and didn’t seem that much different from other beaches although the sand was finer when we walked on it.

Nelson and Canterbury

The weather forecast wasn’t brilliant so we chose to go north again to the top of the south island.

Back to the Abel Tasman national park.  Spent one night at the bottom end and the other at the top end. With a trip to a couple of beaches in between.  Fording rivers and driving along lots (!) of very narrow roads.

Lots of sunshine to start with and then the weather turned a bit colder.

Drove along to the Marlborough Sounds and lots more winding roads.
Spent the night in Okiwi Bay (nothing there but the campsite and a restaurant that opened 3 days a week none of them whilst we were there). More windy roads and several photo stops took us to French Pass. There’s an impressive tidal race there as there is an island very near to the mainland. Beautiful weather and then drove back through the clouds and forests down to Blenheim.

Felt like summer had returned again here and also in Kaikoura. Dolphins jumping out of the water and lots of seals basking on the beaches.

Down to Lyttelton near Christchurch and I think it was around 26 degrees. Spent a couple of evenings catching chickens. Adam got 5 new chickens and they decided to make a bid for freedom into the next door garden. On the first evening we went out after dark with torches and climbed over the fence and went on a chicken hunt.  Found 3 in a tree and managed to catch two but the third one didn’t like the commotion and escaped whilst Adam was holding it. Left the others until the next night and found two more roosting in a tree. Caught them relatively easily. The last one has been left to its freedom for the moment. Today Adam clipped the wings on the four we caught so they shouldn’t disappear again.

It’s our last night in NZ as we are off to Brisbane tomorrow. We have to return the can on the way to the airport so have been busy cleaning it. Liam and Finn earned some pocket money vacuuming and polishing it. They especially enjoyed the hose and cleaning the outside. So much so that they cleaned their parents cars as well.

Sad to be leaving NZ after 8 weeks but looking forward to spending time in Australia.

Snow and rain and water in general

 

Although the weather here has been pretty good most of the time we’ve had some rain over the last few days and driving across different mountain ranges we’ve seen quite a lot of snow. There’s been quite bad weather in Fjordland with lots of trampers being stranded after the same night that we had the thunderstorm last week.

Mt Aspiring (near Wanaka) is definitely whiter than it was when we saw it first. Also I think it is Treble Cone nearby which has a covering on top.

Lots and lots of waterfalls looking from the gravel road driving up towards Mt Aspiring together with a few fords to cross and assorted sheep and cattle to avoid.

The Moeraki Boulders dodging hailstones with a rainbow was an interesting experience. At low tide you can see loads of them and we had the beach to ourselves. The nearby campsite was good if slightly soggy underfoot. We went back to the boulders next morning and at high tide they virtually disappear under the water. We kept a wary eye on the tide.

Immersed ourselves in the thermal pools at Hanmer Springs  yesterday – they feel warmer than the last time and treated myself to an aqua facial this morning.

Had an email from Heather in Queensland. Luckily her area near Airlie Beach escaped the damage from Cyclone Ului last week but she was without power, phone and internet for a few days.  We’ve decided not to travel around Australia but will base ourselves with her and just visit some other friends near Brisbane. A couple of weeks of just swimming, snorkelling, diving and exploring the local area will bring an enjoyable end to our trip.

Gold…

 

Following on from our visit to Bannockburn we also encountered other gold this week.

 

1

Bendigo is pretty remote. There are only a few houses here and the road continues to the Clutha River. Mark took us down there on the first day here.

 

On Monday 22nd March we noticed one or two vehicles on the road near the river. Then loads more with kayaks and mountain bikes on the top. Looking back to the main road a car park now existed next to Oliver Road. Next thing was some very fit looking people running past the end of the driveway – one or two to start with and then several at a time.

 

This is the Goldrush event. A 375km running, cycling, mountain biking and kayaking 3 day event. Very popular with single and team entries. You can even ride a tandem bike as part of it. We passed several cyclists on our way down to Cromwell.  The Goldrush winner only took about 17 hours to complete it over the 3 days.  You need to be extremely fit to keep up with him!

 

2

Having got the gold bug we went panning in the Goldfields Centre in the Kawaru Gorge - Chris managed to find several tiny pieces and I got two.  Just bigger than specks really. We also had an interesting talk and were given some gold to hold – apparently it is very hard and you would break your teeth if you tried to bite it. It’s alluvial gold (washed down by the glaciers/rivers). There was also one bit embedded in quartz. Worth a visit if you are coming out here.

 

3

Speaking with Gillian on Tuesday morning via Skype – this has been really useful whilst we have been travelling – she said we should go and visit her friends Steve and Thea who are co-owners of the Wooing Tree winery in Cromwell.  Two of their wines have recently won gold medals –Blondie (or should I say Goldie) and Beetle Juice (named after the critically endangered Cromwell Chafer Beetle). After chatting with  Thea for a while and admiring their vineyard we bought a couple of bottles. The Blondie also won the Champion Rose Award at the Easter Show a few days ago.  Their Pinot Noir is stocked in the UK and has won several other gold medals.

 

4

Glendu Bay has been mentioned by a couple of people so we decided to head up there before leaving Central Otago. I think it’s a bit early in the season for good golden colours although autumn is definitely on the way. We saw the odd poplar and silver birch which were starting to go yellow.

15 to 22 March

Over the last week or so we’ve been exploring Central Otago and the Mackenzie Basin and the area around Mt Cook.

Lakes Hawea and Wanaka sparkled in the sunshine. We saw cows being herded along the road next to Lake Hawea from one field to another. Lots and Lots of cows walking very slowly.  We stopped to take photos and let them past. The farmer said it normally takes him (and his six dogs) around 2 hours or so to move them. The dogs lay in the creek have a drink and cool down.

The weather varies tremendously here. Going from one valley to another or over some mountains and it can completely change. We drove to Mt Cook and you couldn’t see it due to cloud and rain and then drove to Lake Tekapo and it was lovely and sunny.

Did a day time tour of the observatory on top of Mt John and was given a behind the scenes look at lots of things. Alpha Centauri is our nearest neighbour at 4.1 light years away and visible through the telescope. Its companion (which looks quite close) is actually 480m km away. 

The MOA telescope looks for objects that emit no light and basically works by checking gravity. Partly sponsored by the Japanese it’s  pretty big and has found 30 new objects since it opened in 2004. Pretty impressive when you consider that only 350 planets/stars have been discovered since the 18th/19th century. The camera attached to it takes an 84mp image and has to be cooled by helium. The telescope is so well balanced that although it weighs 10 tons it can be moved by a fingertip.

Drove along the hydro canal to Lake Pukaki (which runs up to Mt Cook). There’s a salmon farm in it and some escape only to be caught by fishermen who sit a bit further on. We saw some jumping out of the water and virtually on to their lines. A very cold day but sunny. At around 730m here. Then drove along gravel road towards Mt Cook – fantastic views of the mountains with blue skies.

We then did a night time star gazing tour. They bus you up the mountain as you aren’t allowed to drive and for the last bit they turn the headlights off and use sidelights only. They have a resident astro photographer, Fraser Gunn, who really knows his stuff. We bought a DVD of his photos. He helped Chris get some photos using his new camera and they came out really well – the magellanic clouds and a couple of nebulae. Very cold here and they lend you coats to wear. Ours were preworn by some Antarctic explorers and were much appreciated. Free hot chocolate during the tour went down well. We saw Saturn quite clearly including its rings. Chris also saw Mars. We stayed there until midnight and then they gave us a lift back to the camp. There’s very little light pollution here so the stars come down to the horizon and the Milky Way is clearly visible.

We never quite know where we are going and sometimes just decide to take a road to see where it will go. We tried to get to Lake Benmore and Benmore itself. We managed to get to the lake and then the road became a 4wd one so we decided caution would be better in our van.

Turning back we choose to go over the Hakataramea Pass. The sign said that it may be steep with fords but we’ve done that sort of thing before without problems. It was well worth it as it was a beautiful drive. The pass is at 965m and definitely felt cold – its been jeans and fleeces weather for the last couple of days. Lovely views and a small river running alongside the road. The fords were pretty shallow and some completely dry. Saw plenty of sheep and cattle and the valley opened up on the other side to become massive and full of farms.

The Lindis Pass is beautiful – lots of tussock grass and some wildflowers – everything looks a golden colour.
Back to Bendigo and a lazy weekend. Managed a walk to the Clutha river with Dexter the pointer who is very keen on rabbits and who also things our van is his property and likes jumping in the back of it whenever possible. Archie, the Springer spaniel puppy, isn’t allowed a lot of exercise until his broken toe heals.
Had an interesting excursion to Bannockburn near Cromwell and the old gold sluicings. Found plenty of iron pyrites (fools gold) and quartz but none of the real stuff. It looks a bit like Monument Valley in the US with rock stacks left standing only this is all manmade. They used water cannons to blast the rocks and then sluiced the sludge and found gold.
Due to the location of Bendigo (between lots of mountain ranges) it tends not to get much rain. It’s hot and dry in the summer and cold and dry in the winter. However last night there was a thunderstorm and it bucketed down several times. Not sure how much difference that will make to the grass though. If you want to get things to grow out here you have to irrigate them regularly. Mark and Christina have planted several trees as an orchard and they each have anti-rabbit covers and irrigation. Most of them are growing pretty well. It’s very windy here and they’ve planted some other trees to act as a windbreak. Beautiful views from every side of the house.

6 to 14 March

A scenic drive from Fairlie to Bendigo with lots of stops on the way. Lake Tekapo looking beautiful in the sunlight. Very blue due to glacial 'flour'. Managed to see Mt Cook although cloud covered it up again a bit later on. Lindis Pass was beautiful.  Arrived in Bendigo and Mark took us up to see some old mine workings in the hills opposite the house. Lots of vineyards appearing on the slopes leading up to them. Apparently it is a good wine growing area with several large vineyards having extra fields here. Lovely views over the valleys and to different mountain ranges. 

Mark is off on a tramping expedition tomorrow for 5 days along the Rees Dart track above Glenorchy. 

A trip to the old town in Cromwell was interesting. The original town was flooded when Lake Dunstan was created in the 1970s and they managed to save some historic buildings and have started to re-erect them. They've done about 7 so far and one has old printing presses and history of the town in it.

On to Queenstown and a trip on the steamship TSS Earnslaw across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak station for a heritage tour. Gill, our tour leader, explained some of the history of the station, the gardens and NZ itself. Did you know that the first settlers sent for things from home to make them feel better and to improve their surroundings? Gorse and bracken to clad the hillsides; sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes so it wasn't so quiet. Had a wine tasting of local central Otago wines whilst we were there. Very pretty gardens full of flowers. 

After fish and chips sitting out overlooking the lake we then drove north and camped out at 12 Mile Delta on the Glenorchy road. Next morning Chris moved the van so we overlooked the lake and we had a lazy day (Chris did have a swim - apparently the water is around 9 degrees summer and winter so rather bracing). Chased off by sandflies and decided to camp at Glenorchy itself. 

Lovely views on the way including a glacier which we believe may be the Margaret one. Lovely sunny day with reflections on the lake.

Did some gravel road driving north of Glenorchy. You can drive up to Chinaman's Bluff where the road meets the Dart river (and Mark's tramping ends). Lots of streams to ford - we counted them - 7 with water in them, 1 partly filled, 2 dry ones and another dry one which wasn't really a ford but would be covered by water if it came down from the mountains. Plus loads of cattle, sheep and horses.

Next day drove down to Te Anau with a stop in Queenstown for anti sandfly stuff. Apparently baby oil mixed with dettol will do the trick. We bought both together with some more conventional stuff with Deet in it.

Arrived at Te Anau on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Checked the weather forecast and it isn't good from tomorrow onwards so we decided to do a late flight over Fjordland. Our personal helicopter (we were the only passengers) left with at 5pm with Ron at the controls. He has over 23 years experience in flying helicopters so we were in safe hands. The tour lasted 1.5 hours with two stops on the mountains - 1 on Mt Pender and 1 on Mt Kidd. It was a fantastic experience. The clouds were starting to come in which added to the views. We saw lots of lakes and small and large tarns. We flew over Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri and saw the hydro-electric power station from the air. We also saw a very expensive road to nowhere which was built to help setup the power station. 10 metres (yes that's right metres) of rain a year help to run the power station. Apparently they get up to 30 metres at Milford Sound.

It was great landing on the mountains and looking down in the sounds. Slightly spongy underfoot between the rocks. There was even some snow left up there. We went through a hanging valley called Campbell's Kingdom which had lots of waterfalls. We also saw some of the huts on the Kepler Track - some mad NZers even run up to them (very steep, long and twisty paths to them) in a race.

After a night in Te Anau we went to the cinema and saw Ate Whenua - a film about Fjordland.

As we hadn't been south of Te Anau before we decided to go down to Invercargill via the southern scenic route. The inland bit of this isn't very interesting - lots and lots of farms but the coastal bits are pretty good. McCracken's Rest was very windy - nothing between us and Antarctica.

Visited the museum in Invercargill and I touched a juvenile taotera (a prehistoric lizard like animal). The patriarch is Henry who is estimated to be 120 years old. Chris went to look at motorbikes owned by Burt Munro of The Last Little Indian fame - he set landspeed records at Bonneville in the US in the 1960s which still haven't been broken.

Southern scenic route improved with some beautiful coastlines. We saw two sea lions on the beach at Waipapa Point near the lighthouse and got quite close to them (about 10 metres). Managed to take a couple of short videos too. Lots of rocks on the beach but nearly empty rockpools - mainly seaweed in them.

Weather deteriorated and it started raining. We've been pretty lucky on this trip and the weather has been mostly good with the odd shower of rain.  Spent the night at Newhaven Holiday Park on Surat Bay. Will go to look for seals tomorrow.

Woke to rain so decided not to walk. Drove on further and ended up at Nugget Point lighthouse. It started raining when we were walking so sheltered under bushes whilst the hail then came down. The lighthouse is now fully automated and controlled by a computer in Wellington. They have a lookout point in front of it so it had stopped raining and we took a few photos. Another tourist was standing on a metal grill and looking into the wind and it looked like he would take off.

Drove north to Dunedin to try to escape the weather and it got worse. Torrential rain and hail as we approached the city. As it was bad weather we (mainly me) decided to visit CadburyWorld. We toured the factory (complete with lovely hats covering our hair and Chris had to have one covering his stubble). Although they weren't making anything at the time we got a few samples including some liquid chocolate.

More rain overnight and very windy the next day. Decided to head back to Bendigo and hopefully they weather would be better there. 

Before we went we visited the local aquarium which is run by Otago University Marine Studies dept. Took a personal tour with Jean one of tutors. Saw massive crayfish moults - they shed their outer skin (including their eyes) every so often. They also have an escaping octopus called Fred who has learned to get out of his tank by the smallest of holes.

Very windy when we arrived at the aquarium and again when we left and most of the way back to Bendigo. Passed lots of fruit farms near Roxburgh and the weather improved - the wind dropped and the sun came out. By the time we arrived at Clyde we had to take off fleeces and trainers and jeans. 

A relaxed evening with Christina and Mark and a lazy day the next day. It's nice to be in one place for a couple of days. Will explore around Wanaka and Lake Hawea tomorrow.

26 Feb to 5 March

Interisland Ferry crossing smooth and Chris saw dolphins riding alongside us as we went. Took the scenic route towards Nelson - a beautiful but twisty road. A lovely sunny day and we ended up at Motueka near the Abel Tasman National Park. The campsite had an aviary filled with birds - budgies, cockatiels and finches so we woke to the sound of birdsong.


Noticed loads of orchards on our drive north the next day - apples, pears, kiwis, hops and cherries. Takaka Hill is very steep and they use it for mountain bike races. We stopped a couple of times on the way up and two bikers managed to keep up with us. Stunning scenery enhanced by a Huey helicopter flying low at one point. We stopped to see what was going on - "a drugs raid for cannabis" said a plain clothes policeman (I didn't realise he was one until a couple of others got out of the car holding machetes).


Pupu Springs are the largest freshwater springs in the southern hemisphere. The water wells up through the marble rocks at a rate of 14,000 litres per second. You can actually see it moving. It's 7 metres deep but doesn't look it and quite cold but absolutely beautiful with the colours in the water and surrounding vegetation (have uploaded some photos to Flickr). There was a brown trout in one of the springs.

Continued north along Golden Bay to Puponga Farm near Farewell Spit. Beautiful views from the cafe overlooking the sand spit which is a bird sanctuary. Walked to Wharariki Beach - 30 minutes along a hillside path and then through the sand dunes. Absolutely beautiful and with the added bonus of seal pups at play in the rock pools. We saw at least a dozen of them with a couple of adults keeping a careful eye out. I think we got a bit too close at one point (within 3 metres) and one of the adults started heading our way - a hasty retreat was called for...and calling into the caves got a reply from a seal. Lots of green mussels and large kelp exposed on the rocks and a couple of beautiful archways in the rocks. By this time the tide was turning so we couldn't explore any further. A long haul back to the camper van and then we decided to visit Cape Farewell which is officially the furthest north point on the South Island. It's only a 5 minute walk from the car park and we could see seals on the beach far below but there's no way down to it.

Drove back along Golden Bay admiring all the birds - lots of black swans on the mud flats. Spent the night at Pohara Beach at the northern part of the Abel Tasman.

Woke to a phone call on Sunday at 7.30am from Adam in Christchurch. A tsunami warning had been issued due to the earthquake in Chile. The Lyttelton lifeboats were being moved up the hill (they are stored out of the water) to ensure they are not affected. He suggested we may want to move away from the sea. At this point the sea was about 3 metres behind us and all that was between us and it was a hedge and a beach. Couldn't raise anyone at the campsite office so decided to head for higher ground. Takaka Hill and beyond seemed sensible. The radio was issuing warnings about not going near the beach or rivers and how any waves might hit us at 9-10am. Picked up a couple of older kiwi hitch hikers on the way over Takaka Hill who were off to fish on the Motueka River and totally unconcerned about any risk.

Decided to head for Hanmer Springs and spend the night there. A very scenic drive along state highway 65 took us past lots more orchards and we stopped several times to take pictures. The valley leading from the Lewis Pass to Hanmer is absolutely beautiful. Arrived at Hanmer and Chris was immediately stung by a wasp on his wrist (and when I say immediately I mean it - he was actually getting out of the camper van at the time)

Woken by scratching in the night (not us although all our mosquito bites were playing up). Seemed to be coming from the storage cupboard above our heads. Couldn't see anything when we looked.

Visited the thermal pools. As it was a relatively cool day we were advised to go from cold(er) to warmer. Cold being a relative term as it was 36 degrees. The hottest sulphur (very smelly) ones were 41 degrees. Couldn't spent much time in there.

Came out feeling very relaxed. Chris's arm swelled up overnight and we visited a pharmacist in Amberley who prescribed antihistamines.

Arrived in Christchurch and headed out to Lyttelton to see Adam, Rachele and their sons Liam and Finn. Rachele is a volunteer in the local fire brigade. It was her birthday and we were just about to order pizza when a siren sounded from somewhere below us (it is very hilly here - see later adventures!). Rachele simply disappeared without even putting her shoes on. Her pager rang - a couple of grass fires. She reappeared an hour or so later. The engine didn't attend that call out as they were turned around mid call but went to another one about a branch on a power cable. Strong north easterly winds today were causing problems.

Had noticed a few days earlier that there was a sticker with a number 3 on the windscreen and something about an expiry date of 19 March. As we have the van until 6 April not sure if it is legal to drive with it. Discovered that it does need to have its warrant of fitness (like an MOT) so we arranged to take it to the depot in Christchurch tomorrow.  Can't believe that they rented it to us like that. Altogether the van is a bit of a disappointment - certainly not the 'luxury' version mentioned in the advert and it is costing a lot. It feels very tired - lots of holes, things that are broken or don't work properly. I wouldn't recommend the people we got it from - Adventure Vans.

Chris's arm and hand had swollen even further so we decided to get it checked by a doctor. Luckily the local surgery agreed to see us so we trotted down the hill. About 2 hours later we returned. Very friendly and helpful people and it only cost $35 to see them as there is some sort of reciprocal arrangement with the NHS. A prescription for antibiotics was given.

Adam had taken the day off to be with us and after cold pizza it was suggested that we could walk up(!) to the top of the hill and then take the gondola (cable car) down. Finn is only 5 so if he could do it then we could do it. All I can say it that Finn is a very fit 5 year old and we are very unfit 40 somethings. By the time we got to the top (and kiwi signs are most misleading - it said 350 metres to the summit at one point but it felt like much more than that and was very steep) I was very red and completely knackered.

After a home cooked supper an early night and woken again by scratching during the night. Took the van for its test/repairs and went into Christchurch for the morning. Took a tram and also climbed 134 steps of the cathedral tower. Botanical gardens beautiful with lovely herbaceous borders. A quick stop off at the airforce museum to look at old planes and helicopters and then home for roast chicken. Delicious!

More scratching overnight. Discovered holes in various food packets. We definitely have a mouse...

Drove west and ended up at Lake Coleridge after driving on lots of gravel roads. We stayed here last time. The have been a few changes - not so many permanent caravans and no request for payment for camping. Scenery beautiful - mountains and a lake and lots of grasses and a few birds. A lovely peaceful place - well it was until 7.20 the next morning when the first boats arrived. They get up early here as it is at least a 45 minute drive from anywhere. By 9.30 another four arrived so we decided to move on.

Lake Coleridge is pretty big - at least 20 km long.  It is fed by both the Harper and Wilberforce Rivers at the northern end. It's all part of Glenthorn Station which used to be known as Ryton Station. I think it is one of the biggest in NZ.

Found a load of holiday houses at the end of the lake together with some caravans and houses people had built/were building themselves.  Massive glacial valleys - I think some of Lord of the Rings was filmed here.

Drove south again and ended up in Fairlie. Spoke with Mark (husband of Christina mentioned in earlier blogs) and arranged to see him on saturday. Free internet here (although speed not good) and free showers and very clean at the Top 10 park.

Will upload more photos when next have a good connection.

NZ - Week 2

A couple of hours touring the Zion Wildlife Park and some very close encounters with big cats. Getting up close and personal with a couple of tigers. Someone went in to touch the leopards - but you had to pay $200 each for this so we didn't.

Met up with Christina in Auckland. She was my lodger a few years ago then moved back to NZ with her husband Mark. We'll be catching up with him later in the South Island. Christina's working in Auckland at the moment so took us out to St Hellier for supper and then a tour of  Auckland at night. Very pretty with all the lights. Lots of big boats in the harbour (and I do mean big - some of the masts were about 70 metres high). Not sure if this was an Americas Cup one as it was in the place they usually moor.   A lovely wooden one as well.

Off to Napier to spend a few days with Dee (Christina's sister) who I used to work with in Mobil days. Lots and lots of classic cars around.  Older places flying overhead as well whilst we watched the parade on Saturday. Over 250 cars and motorbikes chuntering around the town.  I greatly coveted a beautiful blue Bentley whilst Dee was taken with an Auburn. Chris liked the superchraged Bentley racer and the two racing Lagondas.

Max the kitten was very entertaining whilst we were there. Only a couple of months old and very sharp teeth/claws. We both have a few marks on our legs where he liked to climb up. Dee and Hannah both wear jeans!

Took the scenic route (gravel road in places and also lots of roadworks where no real road at all) across the centre of the north island heading towards Taihape - the gumboot throwing capital of the world. Slightly cooler weather here as it has been very hot and humid all week.

A couple of goods trains rumbled past us (and also during the night). We seemed to see quite a few trains over a couple of days.

We decided to go north again and headed for Mt Egmont (or Mt Taranaki whichever you want to call it). Drove up above the treeline and went for a walk from the plateau. Stunning views across  from one side to another - you can see the sea on both sides. Continued down and then around the mountain. Visited Dawsons Falls - attractive waterfall with lots of steps on the way down (and up!)
Drove back south again as heading for the Interislander Ferry on Friday and wanted to spend some time in Wellington. Spent the night at Himatangi Beach - best loos/showers so far. Spotlessly clean and recently refurbished. Made some of the others seem quite basic.

Spent this afternoon looking round the Te Papa museum in Wellington. A fascinating place - loads to see - I recommend it if you visit Wellington. We went on a couple of the rides - a submarine one and an adrenaline sports one. Both were in motion simulators and the latter was quite energetic. There is even a bush park outside with a glowworm cave and dinosaur fossils for children to dig up. Loads of information on volcanoes and earthquakes together with the history and people of NZ.

Sitting in the sun writing this - a beautiful evening in Wellington on a very busy campsite - we had to queue to get in. Off to the south island tomorrow - ferry mid morning. Hope the winds will have died down a bit by then as it looked a bit rough as we passed the harbour earlier.

More soon (and I will upload more photos)....

New Zealand - Week 1

This is the first chance I have had to update the blog since we arrived last wednesday. Probably will do weekly updates from now on depending upon availability of internet etc.

We've been pretty busy so far. We've been travelling around the far north of NZ. Going from Auckland to Whangerai for our first day and staying at the Blue Heron holiday park again which has been upgraded since last time. There are lovely views from the peninsular across the water. We've also visited a Kauri forest and seen some enormous trees.

Just north of here is Ngunguru which those of you may remember the photograph from the previous trip - blue seas, sandy beaches etc - it's still the same - as pretty as ever. We're still trying to find places that beat it.

We visited Wairere Boulders - a surreal place where you climb in and out of large basalt boulders in a valley. The only place of its kind in the world.  There are videos on their website.

Driving north again we arrived at the bottom of 90 mile beach and stayed in a campsite nearby. We paddled in the water. Lovely views across the massive sand dunes. Lots of people driving on the beach (not allowed in rental cars/vans). Lots of classic cars came in - they've been doing a 1000km round trip of NZ.
Fantastic starry skies at night. There's very little light pollution so it's very clear and they come down really low. The milky way is easily visible. Orion is upside down which seems a little strange.

Continued north to Cape Reinga which is pretty much as far as you can go. Camped overnight on the beach and went for an early morning swim in the river and had a cold water shower afterwards.

Te Paki sand dunes are massive. People were sliding down them either on boards or just on their fronts. A little oasis in front where a river goes down to join the ocean.

Turned south and stopped to look at some white silica sand dunes - completely different colour to any of the others. Continued down to Matauri Bay and the campsite we stayed in previously overlooking the Cavalli Islands. They call the road to it Million Dollar View Road. Fantastic stars again. Chris even saw one shooting star.

South again back to Whangerai where we're staying for a couple of days.

We need to review our photos and will upload some soon.

Saturday 6th February - Diving

A big day today. A twilight dive and then a night dive hopefully to see manta rays.

A humpback whale was breaching as we arrived - a good sign as they eat similar things to manta rays.

Visited Eel Gardens - saw lots of garden eels which live in the sand and disappear if you get too close. Also several moray eels and lots of fish. Then a surface interval on the boat waiting for the sun to go down before our second dive.

We were each given a large torch and a blue glowstick on the back of our tanks. Entered the water around 6.45pm. A slightly surreal experience going into a dark world. A box of lights was sitting on the rocks - only about 35 feet deep and we were told to settle down around it and shine our torches upwards into the plankton to encourage plankton and manta rays. Whilst we were waiting the reef was still alive around us. A large moray eel out hunting fish made its way around various boulders towards me and I gave it a wide berth. After 20 minutes or so there were no signs of any mantas so we started exploring the reef instead whilst still keeping an eye out for any movement around the lights.

Lots of other creatures come out at night. Shining our torches we saw two sponge crabs (literally large crabs which have sponges living on their backs) having a minor argument. More moray eels came hunting using our torches to catch out unwary fish. Most of the fish looked sleepy - either hiding between the corals or somewhere else safe. Someone did see a moray catch one. A few red shrimps and a couple of smaller bright orange crabs. A slipper lobster was pointed out to us - all I could see was two eyes the camouflage was so good.

I thought I could hear whales singing. This is quite common as their songs travel quite a long way.

Back on the boat the captain had seen another whale right next to him and wanted to jump in to see it but couldn't find the spare mask. He couldn't get our attention whilst we were under the water so we all missed it.

A lovely starry night - could see Orion and Cassiopeia from the boat - not much light pollution here. 

Friday 5th February - Diving

A 6.30am start - haven't had one of those for a while now.

Fitted out for a wetsuit at the dive centre and drove down to the harbour. The boat isn't kept here but is launched down the boat ramp.

Got chatting to a couple of other divers whilst waiting for the boat to be made ready. Bill from Calgary, Canada has done 500+ dive with Big Island Divers, Bob from Hawaii has done over 200 so they are pretty independent. There's Steve from Portland and another couple plus one man doing his dive training.

First dive was to Pine Trees/Golden Arches. As it is a while since we last dived (around 2 years really) it look some time to get comfortable again. Saw lots of fish (have posted several photos from this and the second dive). Visibility was excellent - could see for 15-20 metres. Saw quite a few fish. Apparently there was an octopus which Vinnie the dive guide was pointing at but it was really well camouflaged and I couldn't see it.

Back on the boat for a snack and drinks and then off to the next site - Kaloko. Had less weight this time so felt much better, buoyancy under control. An excellent dive with lots of fish. We saw a few rare ones - a male Whiteley's boxfish which is blue. Everyone got very excited about it. Also a flame angelfish and the strangest fish I have ever seen - a juvenile dragon wrasse (also known as a rock mover). It doesn't look like a fish at all.

As we came up there were humpback whales breaching to the south. One of the other divers said he could hear them underwater.  The boat has a hot shower and even hair conditioner! For female divers this is quite something.

Very relaxed on the way back. Picked up a fish id book from the dive center and spent part of the afternoon trying to match our photos to those in the book.

Have booked ourselves on the night time manta ray dive plus a twilight dive to the same place just before so we know where we are when it is dark. There will be a circle of lights and we will be kneeling next to them and the mantas should be attracted to the lights and feed on the plankton. Fingers crossed that we see one. 

Thursday 4th February

Spoke with Divina and the children via Skype after breakfast.

A day of errands today. Need stamps and packaging to send some stuff we no longer need back to England. We also want to book some diving.

Post office very friendly and efficient.

Big Island Divers - eventually worked out the phone code and called them to find out where they were. The guidebook has lots of local phone numbers but no addresses. Visited dive centre and booked diving for tomorrow - an 8am start at the dive center so we will need to get up early.
Drove down to Place of Refuge again and went snorkelling off Two Step. A bit rough but saw lots of fish.
More snorkelling at Kahalu'u Beach again quite rough but lots of fish.

Wednesday 3rd February - Mauna Kea and the summit

A lazy start again today with breakfast on deck with Gigi the cat. It feels like it will be a hot day.
Off to Mauna Kea today so need jeans, fleeces, trainers etc.

The temperature was in the high 60s when we left. The road going up to the mountains is beautiful. We passed a hill known as the Jello Mold due to its shape. There seem to be a lot of them of similar shapes.

The Saddle Road runs between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and is over 6000 feet itself. It feels very familiar - like driving through the mediterranean alps. Lovely views along the way. We spotted some telescopes from quite low down. The road is very up and down and sometimes made my stomach go funny - like when you over a hill and it drops suddenly in front of you. The road is very bumpy and not well maintained from the Kona side then suddenly it is a massive highway as there is a military base. Signs around warn of tanks and low flying aircraft.
The crest of the road is 6,578 feet just before the turning to the Mauna Kea visitors centre. The road up became much steeper and by the time we got to the visitors centre it was 50 degrees and felt very cold and there was a strong breeze. We realised why we needed the extra clothing. After 30 minutes or so to acclimatise and put on sunscreen, sunglasses etc Chris drove us up to the summit.

I don't really know how to describe it. It is a moonscape or even looks like mars. There is bare soil with rocks on it and spectacular views. We can see across to Mauna Loa above the clouds . Partly a dirt track and partly paved. The jeep coped pretty well with it - the back end moves quite a lot on gravel and there are permanent ruts in the ground which are very hard and bumpy to drive over. There are at least a dozen telescopes up at the summit. It is very windy and even colder (48 degrees) so put on more clothes - hat etc and took a few photos and then headed back down again.

Stopped at the visitors centre and took off one of my two fleeces. Bought some souvenirs so can now say been there, done that and got the t-shirt!

Tuesday 2nd February

Another lazy start - we could get used to living like this...

Spoke with Patrick and Divina in England via Skype. Gave them the grand tour of where we are staying.

Lunch on our deck and then off to the seahorse farm just outside Kailua-Kona which is the main town on this side of the island.   They have over 20,000 of them and breed them to sell to people who have an aquarium to stop people taking them from the wild. Apparently people used to take 1+million of them each year and this has been reduced to 25,000. The farm used deep water from the ocean nearby to raise them. They are tiny to start with - less than an inch long and some get quite large. They ask you to wash in iodine to help preserve their biosecurity and also treat on mats covered with it.

I became a coral reef for a while.  One of the seahorses was put onto my fingers and stayed there for a couple of minutes. We also saw the weedy sea dragon (which we saw off Sydney on our last trip) and they had four leafy sea dragons which they are trying to breed as well. And an extremely ugly bright yellow frog fish.

We thought we'd do a bit more snorkelling today so found a beach which had a 4wd road going to it. The description of it was 'nasty' but we've done a bit of off roading in the UK and we have a jeep and how hard can it be?

Nasty was an understatement - think large rocks, potholes and lots of them. It took us over 30 minutes to inch our way down to the beach and then drive a bit further along it. The beach was worth it - Makalawena. Hardly anyone around. Beautiful sand, palm trees, lots of fish (some quite big) and a couple more turtles just hanging around.

We then had to lurch/climb/inch back up the road again. I will post a couple of photos so you can see what I mean. A beautiful sunset on the way. The coastline faces west here so is known for its sunsets.

Monday 1st February

Another lazy breakfast with Gigi the cat for company. She is very vocal and rules the roost here.

Drove down to Volcanoes National Park on the south of the island.  I don't know how many of you are familiar with the size of the Big Island but big is appropriate. it's double the size of all the other hawaiian islands put together. It took 2.5 hours to get there via a long, winding coast road to start with then it headed inland and climbed up to 4000 feet.

Kilauea is massive. The Halema`uma`u crater is just a small part of it. No lava but a gas plume is visible. A fantastic and impressive landscape. Lots of steam vents alongside the roads as we drove around Crater Rim Drive. You can't go all the way around due to sulphur dioxide gas but what you can see is amazing.


The Thurston Lava Tube was also recommended to us. A bit creepy to think that molten magma used to flow through it and now people can walk in it.  There's also another bit you can explore if you have a torch and suitable shoes (we didn't).


The drive continues along to the coast passing lava fields from various different eruptions. There's no lava going into the ocean at the moment. We took a short walk through some from 1971. It is already being colonised by plants and flowers. A pretty desolate landscape in all. There are two different types of lava - pahoehoe which is smoother and a'a which is spiky and difficult to walk on. The hawaiian names have been adopted as names for lava across the world. 


The USGS site has loads of information about the volcano http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/

 A long drive home partly in the dark which was 'interesting' (read slightly scary) on these roads.

Sunday 31st January

A lazy start to the day with breakfast on our deck overlooking the pacific ocean.  It rained hard overnight.

Rick and Amy Decker are so well organised here. There is virtually everthing you can think of. We had loads of food waiting when we arrived. We can borrow fins and snorkelling gear, beach mats, rucksacks etc. There is a store of paperback books left by previous visitors if we need something to read. They even provide a computer to use.

Rick is a former president of the Hawaii Underwater Photography Society and his photographs adorn the walls. Adorn being the correct word as they are fantastic. A link to his website is here http://www.lightreflection.com/. He was also happy to help us with any questions on photography.

He recommended snorkelling at Kahalu'u beach for our first expedition. Also a place called Two Step near the Place of Refuge. (Melissa also mentioned this one)

Kahalu'u beach is about a 40 minute drive away. It was packed on a sunday afternoon but there was still space for us. Factor 50 sunscreen is pretty essential here as the sun is very strong. We saw loads of fish including some really large ones - parrotfish, moorish idols, butterfly fish and bright yellow tangs. And three green turtles - or else it was the same one three times. Not sure as we saw it in different areas. I've never seen a turtle in the wild before so that was pretty impressive and it was quite close - no more than a couple of metres away.

Place of Refuge or to give it the Hawaiian name 'Pu'uhonua o Honaunau' is sacred to the Hawaiians. No snorkelling in the park itself. We opted for a tour and glad we did as it is beautiful. Palm trees, sand and lava by the ocean. And I saw a couple more turtles as well. There was also an endangered monk seal - one of only 5 found on the Big Island so we were priviledged to see it. Chris picked up a coconut and shook it and it still had milk inside it. No snorkelling here today will have to return later in the week.

A narrow road took us to a place where you can see the monument to Captain Cook. Apparently this is one of the best places to dive/snorkel as there are lots of fish and resident dolphins and the possibility of whale sharks and manta rays. We'll have to come back another day...

Day 6 - Big Island, Hawaii

Breakfast outside the hotel with sparrows for company and a brief walk alongside the local canal. Another taxi back to the airport. Very chatty driver from Vietnam.

Easy checkin - very relaxed here. Sat and watched a few planes land and depart before ours. Some are tiny - 12 seaters, others maybe hold 40 people.

See our bags going on a cart to the plane. We walked out to the plane and only around 25 of us travelling. Best seats are on left side of plane as you can see the island as you leave and also when you land.
Collected our jeep and headed up towards Silver Oaks Ranch.

Landscape here is very strange - lots of black lava fields, brightly coloured bouganvilleas - red, pink, white etc, nothing very green on this side of the island. Silver Oaks is at about 1500 feet and cooler than lower down. It stays in the 70s here most of the time.

Rick Decker greeted us as we arrived and upgraded us to the (much) bigger Ranch View Cottage. We have a massive bedroom with ensuite. Big sitting room with dining area and kitchen and a large deck/porch where we can look down on the coast. There's a pool and a hot tub which we can use as well. Luxury!

The queen of the ranch is 'Gigi' an extremely vocal black cat who likes to come and get lots of attention from guests. There are goats - several of which are pregnant and may give birth whilst we are here. Also a donkey and a horse which are both partial to papayas.

It has been very dry here for the last four months and it has just started raining today.

Supper at a local pizza restaurant. Parked our jeep under cover and went inside and the heavens opened. Everything they say about tropical 'showers' is true.

Day 5 - Honolulu, Hawaii

Left California for Hawaii. The Americans are very well organised when it comes to rental cars. Signs on the freeways, special lanes at the airport and people to meet you and take the car when you arrive. Very easy.

Checked in for our United Airlines flight to Hawaii - opted to upgrade this time to Premium Economy and glad we did. Much roomier seats and we had three to ourselves so could relax more. Flight 5.5 hours - we went through a couple of 'cells' as we descended towards Honolulu. Not too bad but the plane seemed to accelerate forwards a couple of times rather than going down.

Honolulu cloudy as we arrived. Taxi to hotel in Waikeke at the end of their rush hour at 6pm. Small room with noisy air conditioner. Went out for a Thai meal for supper - very good. Had an early night as it was a tiring day and off to the Big Island tomorrow.

Day 4 - Three Bridges

A trip to San Francisco today to see my friend Melissa and take a look around.

We managed to go over all three bridges today. Impressions of them...

1. Richmond  - this is a (very) long double decker bridge. No toll (not sure why)
2. Bay - has an island in the middle and we had to pay a $4 toll as we were going  into the city.
3. Golden Gate - very pink. No toll going northwards.

Chris took some photos - will upload them later.

Met Melissa in Emeryville. The local mall is a foodie paradise. The choice is incredible - burgers, fish and chips, thai, vietnamese, japanese, moroccan, mexican, jamaican, pizza, pasta, chinese and more but I can't remember them all. Sat and ate and compared the woes of the UK and US over lunch.

Bought a book on Hawaii which Melissa annotated for us with the best places to snorkel, visit and eat. Thanks Melissa!

Walked along to a local park next to the freeway with a large lake. Lots of joggers and dogs. Saw a red squirrel and lots of birds. A sunny day for a change...

Drove down to the bay in central SF and got a cable car up Hyde (very steep street). Sitting on the outside is interesting - you have to hang on tightly! Got a few photos. The Chinese man next to me seemed to be asleep - rather risky when there's nothing between you and the road.

Back home and checked in online for our flight to Hawaii tomorrow.  Have upgraded to premium economy - hopefully will have a bit more room than the last one and $59 each which seems reasonable.By checking in today we don't have to be at the airport quite so early. The flight is at 1.58pm and we have to take the car back. The sat nav has been brilliant - we wouldn't have coped without it.

It's been great staying with Zac, Diana and the children. We'd love to come back again - hopefully one autumn when the weather is better (basically more sunny). It's not really been cold but more sun would be good.

Looking forward to Hawaii tomorrow...we're staying in Waikeke for the first night and then a short hop across to the Big Island on Saturday morning, picking up a 4wd drive vehicle and then on to the Silver Oaks Ranch where will be staying for 9 nights. Hopefully some snorkelling and diving and exploring the sights.

Day 3 - Point Reyes

A very scenic drive to the coast on Wednesday. Passed through some tiny villages. Actually driving very near to the San Andreas Fault. Bakery in Tomales closed so popped into deli next door for some 'brownie bites' - very tasty.

On Point Reyes itself we saw lots of male elk with enormous antlers. Lots of turkey vultures and other birds.  Went to Hearts Desire Beach - very pretty. Looks a bit like the Lake District in places. Have uploaded a map of it.

Continued up to the northern part of Point Reyes and this looks rather like Scotland in places. Walked down to McClures Beach - turkey vultures accompanying us on the way - got quite close to one and then realised there was dead deer which they were protecting. A couple of crows were interested in it as well.

Almost had the beach to ourselves - only about 5 other people. Drove up Mt Vision Road - nothing to see at the top but a nice view on the way back down again. Stopped off in Inverness to get a sandwich for lunch and sat overlooking the estuary.

Southwards to Bear Valley Visitors Centre. This is a actually on the San Andreas Fault. Walked the earthquake trail. There is a fence there which moved 16 feet during the 1906 earthquake. Got photos of us in front of this. Had a discussion about what we would do if there was an earthquake whilst we were there. Chris thinks we would be ok unless the land liquifies!

A scenic, twisty and rather bumpy drive back to Sebastopol. Yummy home made fish pie for supper.

Day 3

Got woken up by a cat this morning. Apparently Spicy came and leaned on me (we're sleeping in the sitting room).

Zac got up at 5.15am to take his two daughters Emma and Isobel to ice skating practice before school.
Diana is going to cycle with Iain to school.

Slept well last night. No phone calls. Woke up a couple of times during the night and got up at 7am. Tom Thumb decided to be friendly and came into the kitchen when I opened the outside door and then followed me back into the sitting room and came and sat on the sofa next to me purring loudly.

Made the children's lunches - not something I am used to doing - cheese and branston pickle sandwiches.

Off to Point Reyes soon. Apparently there is a good bakery in Tomales on the way and also Marshall is a good place for lunch. Diana suggested setting the sat nav to get us there.

More later...

Day 2

Parcel of photographic stuff ordered from New York before we left turned up via UPS at 9.15am. Amazing you can order in one country and get it delivered in another.

Fed the chickens in the rain. They eat the kitchen scraps. Have to be careful not to let them outside as there are rats around. We are right in the countryside here - there's an old orchard above the house and there's a park further south. There are around 6 houses on this unmadeup road. Some new ones and some older ones. Horses, ponies, goats, cats and dogs plus apparently a racoon will come and eat the cat food if it is left out overnight. Hummingbirds in the summer but none at the moment. There are other birds.

Went out to lunch with Zac and Diana at a local cafe in Sebastopol. Then a trip to Santa Rosa to the organic supermarket Trader Joe's. They have a large selection of everything you can think of. Went to Best Buy to get batteries and a spare card for the computer. Prices are definitely more reasonable over here.

Apparently coming back we went over a fault line which Zac said is overdue for a 7+ earthquake. It's called Rodgers Creek, not the San Andreas - that's about 6 miles further west. If it happens all the local area will turn to mud...there was a bad one in 1969.

Weather - well the sun came out for a bit in the afternoon. Not much sign of a blue sky though.

There are two cats here - Tom Thumb, a formal feral one, and Spicy who has a short tail with a kink in it. Spicy is friendly but Tom Thumb is very wary. Too many people and too much noise.

Home made pizza for supper and Diana's friend India came over afterwards. She was brought up in Hawaii and was telling us the best places to visit on the Big Island.

Lots of stars visible tonight - could see Orion and Cassiopeia. Hopefully that means good weather for tomorrow. Managed to stay awake until 10pm. Think I am ok for jetlag. Chris had a nap about 5pm.

Diana has suggested a trip to Point Reyes tomorrow. An attractive coastline and national park about an hour away.

Hello America

Well we've made it.

Yesterday was a very long day. Up at 5am to get to Heathrow for 8am. Traffic bad so arrived by about 8.30. Checked in and got one of the last two pairs of seats available - between other people. Yes - why didn't you use internet checkin I hear you say.  We wanted to but because we got a round the world ticket which was based on an Air new Zealand one we couldn't do online checkin for the Virgin one. Hopefully we will be able do online checkin for the remaining flights.

Flight very crowded, rather uncomfortable and long. Watched a couple of films and listened to music. We're going to check seatguru.com in future to see which are the best seats on an aircraft. Rather bumpy as we came in towards San Francisco.

Immigration friendly - took all 10 fingerprints from us. Bags took quite a time to arrive. Customs scanned our bags because we owned up to having sweets and branston pickle in them. Took the airtrain to get to the car rental place. Peter from Tawian gave us a satnav and told us to choose our car. A Mazda 5 or a Kia - we went for the Mazda, switched on the satnav and headed out. Highly recommend satnav if you have no idea where you are going. Went over the Golden Gate bridge. Weather bad - raining heavily for most of the 2 hour journey.

Arrived safely at Zac and Diana's house and the twins Iain and Isobel came out to meet us. Zac told us they've had 6 inches of rain here recently and some houses have been flooded.

I crashed early as not feeling brilliant after the flight. 5pm here is about 2am in the UK. Chris managed to stay awake until about 7pm.

A couple of phone calls and texts during the evening/night. Some people didn't know we were away.

Feeling much better this morning. Had breakfast with the family whilst the children got ready for school. Zac built this house and moved in about 18 months ago. It's great - high ceilings, wooden floors and light and airy.

Hoping to go out for supper with Zac and Diana to meet my friend Melissa and her husband this evening. Diana recommends a bistro in Sebastopol and will organise a babysitter after she comes back from yoga.

More tomorrow....

Goodbye England

We're off tomorrow!

Just finishing off a few last minute things now. Have to get up pretty early as need to be at Heathrow by 8am and it will probably take about an hour and a half. The sun has come out here and the snowdrops are starting to come through in the garden. It feels like spring could be on the way. Have heard that it may be cold again in Feb but we will be in NZ by then and hopefully enjoying lots of sunshine.

Have setup a link to the flickr account which will show a selection of photos on the right hand side of the blog.

YouTube

I have added a link to YouTube so we can upload videos. My id is ecox67 if you want to search for them (first one is just a test). Will also try to upload them here.

Nearly off...

Only two days to go now. Have booked a car for California - with satnav so we can find our way out of SF.
Purdey the cat is now having her own holiday with my parents. The flat seems empty without her (apart from all our bags which we need to sort out)
Gerardo has moved in today. Bought a few presents to take with us - Dee wants pegs!
Just need to finish off our packing over the weekend and see exactly what we need to take. The weather in California is similar to here at the moment so need some colder/wetter weather clothes.
It's 30 degrees in NZ and sunny. Can't wait!

Preparations Continued

Preparations are well under way. Have been selling stuff on ebay, recycling, freecycling and binning stuff. The money is useful and it gives some space for Gerardo's things. Amazing how it all accumulates.

Have had a couple of emails from Heather (Mum's friend) in Queensland, Australia. She has kindly agreed to put us up for a few days in Cannonvale which is very near Airlie Beach which is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Have also managed to find a dive boat to take us out for 3 days on the Great Barrier Reef. Flights from Brisbane to Prosperine (the local airport) and pretty reasonable too - only AUS $109 (around £70). Starting to get excited about this part of the trip as well.

Have found a website called Undercurrent which gives reviews of dive operators all around the world so will be checking various ones in different countries.

Spoke to Dee in Napier, NZ last weekend. Apparently it is around 30 degrees there at the moment. Looking forward to seeing her in mid Feb.

Purdey (the cat) will be moving to my parents on 21 Jan and Gerardo will be moving in on 22 Jan.

I just hope all the snow has gone before we leave. More snow today (2-3 inches) and Gatwick airport runway closed and flights delayed/diverted. We go from Heathrow T3 so fingers crossed for 25 Jan. Chris's brother Zac and family managed to get home to California last sunday from there. We're flying with Virgin on VS19 which leaves Heathrow at 11am if all goes well.

NZ Campervan

Have booked our campervan. We will be travelling in more luxurious conditions than last time. This one even has a solar panel to heat the water if we go 'freedom camping' ie not at a holiday park and is bigger than the previous one. Bill from Scotland has come up trumps.

Preparations Continued

Preparations are progressing well. Now sorting out a campervan for NZ. Spoke to one of the rental companies last night and apparently there is a shortage of 2 berth campervans this year rather than the larger ones. Bill (from Scotland originally) is going to ring me back tonight with their availability from the 35 companies they deal with.

3 weeks today we will be in California. The time is going to disappear really quickly now.

Gerardo is moving into the flat on 22 Jan. We have to take Purdey (our cat) to my parents some time just before then as she is going on an extended holiday where she is sure to be very spoiled but may come back thinner as they have stairs and we don't.