Our last post had us arriving in what was to be the southernmost point of our travels through New Zealand, Dunedin.  The highlight of Dunedin… the chocolate factory for me, the Speights brewery for Rob!  Who knew that Cadbury was such an international chocolate, sourcing their beans from Ghana and Malaysia, roasting them in Singapore, before mixing the resulting cocoa mass with Australian sugar and Kiwi milk to end up with the famed Dairy Milk!  We also found the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street, which has a rise of 1m for every 2.6m forward.  After a couple of photos at the top we had a laugh walking down the gradient while Scott decided to test his car’s brakes!  The day after had us enjoying a drive along the Otago Peninsula firstly stopping at Larnach Castle and thereafter driving to Harington Point, the site of the only mainland Royal Albatross colony in the world (although we only spotted one gliding out over the water).  The area was also home to both yellow-eyed and blue penguins, but since they only return to their nests at dusk, we didn’t get a chance to see them.  It was a great couple of days in Dunedin then we started back to Christchurch, stopping at Moeraki Boulders.  Here we parted ways with the family, them heading straight back home, while Rob and I took a detour in a rental car to visit Mt Cook National Park, Mt Cook being the highest mountain in New Zealand.  Going back into the mountains I was expecting more of an alpine look to the countryside, but I was reminded that we had climbed above the normal winter snowline, so instead of green pine trees the landscape was a desolate brown with only a few thorny bushes dotted along the way.  Arriving in the village of Mt Cook National Park, our plan was to take a boat trip to the terminal face of the Tasman Glacier, but it was recommended we rather hike to a view point.  Good thing we did because we were extremely disappointed with what we saw.  Although bigger than Franz Josef Glacier, it was definitely not as impressive; the surface of the glacier was covered in a thick layer of sand blown down from the mountains.  At first glance you wouldn’t have thought you were looking at a glacier.  The only give-away was the chunks of ice that had broken away from the terminal face and congregated at the mouth of the lake.  Thereafter we hiked to a view point of Mt Cook itself, with two nerve-wrecking suspension bridge crossings.  Just a few days previously we saw footage of trampers who were plunged into an icy river when the bridge they were crossing collapsed.  And seeing the amount of steel cabling used to reinforce the bridges and prevent them from swaying maniacally in the wind howling through the valley did little to comfort me!  From Mt Cook we travelled to Lake Tekapo to get a photo of the famed Church of the Good Shepherd, an extremely old church with one of the best views!  Upon arriving in town we decided to do something different; instead of choosing the usual hostel bed in the YHA we chose a camper van for the night!  A good idea at the time, but not so great when a certain someone (me) had to get up in the middle of the night, walk across the garden in the freezing cold and use the bathroom in the hostel building!

In the middle of October we were back in Christchurch and spent another week with Sheryl and Co.  Scott disappeared to go watch the end of the Rugby World Cup so we kept Sheryl and kids company for a while.  We even visited the gym a couple of times, and I enjoyed a hot yoga class with Sheryl too!  We said a sad farewell on 20 October and headed north to the Malborough Sounds, a beautiful area with fingers of pine-covered land protruding into the Cook’s Strait.  We had another rental car and it was a great driving experience for Rob, who was dreaming of a career as a rally driver as we twisted our way through windy roads!  After a brief stop in the fishing town of Kaikoura to enjoy a lunch of fresh fish and chips while surrounded by squawking seagulls in what felt like approaching summer weather, we continued on to our destination of Anakiwa.  Thank goodness we had a car because Anakiwa was so isolated, we would have been bored out of our skulls if we couldn’t take a drive to explore Picton, 25km away, and more of the Sounds.  The Malborough Sounds are a network of sunken river valleys with three bodies of water comprising it; Queen Charlotte, Kenepuru and Pelorus, with a number of islands dotted throughout.  Anakiwa also marks the end of the Queen Charlotte Track, one of New Zealand’s best trails.  From Malborough we travelled to Motueka which was to be our base to explore Abel Tasman National Park.  Being too early to check in at the hostel, we continued exploring the beautiful beach town of Kaiteriteri and surrounding area.  While in the Nelson area, we enjoyed a great but tiring 25km hike along part of the Coastal Track of Abel Tasman National Park.  Very early on in our time in New Zealand I was very happy and relieved to hear about the lack of snakes on the islands, so tramping through rainforest actually involved taking in the scenery rather than me trying to determine if the tree root I was just about to step over was a slithery serpent or not!  It was fantastic walking, tramping to a meditative soundtrack of trickling streams, chirping birds and waves lapping at the shore.  Even the rhythmic clump-clump of our boots crunching along the packed sand path did little to disturb the peace.  After a picnic lunch in a secluded cove we did an about turn, retracing our footsteps back to the park entrance, only this time getting wet as the forecasted spots of rain became intermittent showers!  The walk back was therefore done in double time!  We had the track mostly to ourselves in the morning since we started out early, but on our way back we passed a good number of hikers; they had our sympathy with the mizzle turning into drizzle and then full on rain.  A hot shower back at the hostel followed by craft beer and cider at the local Sprig & Fern tavern was most welcome!  We dropped our rental car off in Nelson, watched SA lose to NZ in the rugby then caught a bus back Picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington.  The ferry is the best way to view some of the 1500km of coastline making up the Malborough Sounds and has been rated as one of the most scenic boat rides in the world.  Thankfully the weather played ball and the crossing between North and South Island was flat; the Cook’s Strait is known to be rough!

Back in Wellington, we took advantage of the sunny weather that we didn’t have the first time and visited the Beehive, the site of New Zealand’s parliament.  And even though it was a Public Holiday (Labour Day) they still offered free tours of parliament so we stood in the room where the powers-that-be make the laws!  The most interesting part of the tour was the basement and seeing how the structure has been earthquake-proofed.  After an unusually sunny period, we left Wellington on a wet and windy day using a rental car and drove north to Napier.  Although still a scenic drive, it was nothing compared to the sights on South Island.  Arriving in Napier mid afternoon gave us an opportunity to have a look around.  Unfortunately it is not a town that one can write much about.  Filled with arty-farty types, it was a bit incongruous in that it is also a port town with rough tough sailors coming off the cargo ships.  With the weather being inclement we drove up to a lookout point on Bluff Hill which the locals are very proud of but all we got was a bird’s eye view of the container terminal, with the side overlooking the town completely overgrown with vegetation.  Back down we parked the car and walked through the main shopping district and from what we saw we were happy we were only spending a night there.

Leaving Napier we continued our drive to Bay of Plenty and the seaside town of Mount Maunganui.  On our drive up we stopped in Taupo briefly for a coffee and Rotorua (where we spent some time before going to Christchurch) but this time with our own car we managed to stop at some rapids and cascades at Huka Falls outside of town.  With 200 000l of Waikato River water plunging over the 9m rock face every second (enough to fill five Olympic Swimming pools), the resulting bubbles give the falls their name, “foam” in Maori.  Arriving in Mount Maunganui we were too early to check in to the backpackers so we went directly to Mount Mauao, a volcanic hill sacred to the Maori and walked halfway up to get some photos of the bay and nearby Tauranga.  We didn’t do the complete walk to the summit as we only had a parking space for an hour and didn’t want to risk a fine!  We found the area very similar in feel to Jeffrey’s Bay in SA, popular with surfers and fishermen.  Enjoying an afternoon beer in one of the locals we found the bartender was South African who had been living there for nine years – funny but an Afrikaner will never lose that particular accent!

Following Mount Maunganui we drove further up the coast to an area called The Coromandel, considered to be one of the best areas of North Island.  We spent three nights in a tiny settlement of Opoutere in a cabin at the YHA hostel and can see why the area is popular with holidaymakers; close to Auckland, kilometres and kilometres of white sand beaches (although the water is still cold) and what seems to be an agreeable climate, but that is subjective as us sun loving South Africans were still in track pants and fleeces, having not fully adjusted to the weather!  Our first morning after arriving in Opoutere was spent exploring – we had a car, why not use it?  We drove to the seaside village of Hahei and had a good walk along the coast to Cathedral Cove, a huge arched cavern eroded by the sea.  Following that we drove to Whitianga and wandered around town.  New to the area is a development similar to St Francis Bay with its canals and waterways, where huge fishing boats are moored on private jetties in front of equally huge houses.  A delicious fish and chips lunch preceded the slow drive back to the YHA, stopping in Tairua.  The entrance to the marina of this town is overlooked by Mt Paku which of course we had to climb!  After stretching our legs we arrived back in Opoutere and decided to take advantage of the sunny weather and first walked to the beach, and there after climbed to the top of the hill behind the YHA.  On the deck of our cabin we also enjoyed the shows put on by the native Tui bird, which has an extremely versatile vocal range, chirping prettily at first then screeching like a banshee the next.  The Tui proved to be difficult to capture on film; every time Rob got the camera ready, the bird “did a Bella” and flew off.  I say “did a Bella” as one of my dogs back home is extremely camera shy and does a runner at the slightest hint that her photo will be taken!  The second morning in Opoutere had us on the water of the estuary in kayaks, but the weather turned so it was back home for coffee on the deck!

Leaving Opoutere we headed to Auckland on Rugby World Cup Final day, to find out the All Blacks managed a convincing win.  So the bars and pubs of Auckland city were filled with jovial drunks at 09h00 in the morning!  That night we splurged on tickets to watch “Le Noir – The Dark Side of Le Cirque” and what a treat that was!  An absolutely amazing show with men and women who shouldn’t naturally be able to bend their bodies that way!  It was as if they didn’t have a single bone in their bodies.  The Ringmaster himself was a hoot – he managed to manoeuvre himself into a large balloon, change his outfit and came out dressed as an All Black and even did the Haka!  The music and costumes were fantastic, totally in keeping with the romantic, sensual, and sometimes erotic theme.  It was a captivating performance which had us entranced and spellbound for two hours, with some jaw dropping moments making the audience gasp aloud.

Feeling like we had seen what we wanted to see in New Zealand, and knowing we had a bit of time to kill before flying home to SA, we travelled north and based ourselves in the Bay of Islands, in a town called Paihia.  Popular with the cruise ships, Paihia is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 which established British control over New Zealand.  While there we rented a car for a day, a dodgy Nissan sedan aka grandpa-mobile with cobwebs on the side mirrors, and drove to the northern most tip of New Zealand, to Cape Reinga.  It is here where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, with the two counter currents smashing together to create a surf break of white rolling waves far offshore.  Known as a “maelstrom”, it is much more dramatic than the Indian Ocean meeting the Atlantic!  At the point we were surrounded by leather-clad bikers out for a day’s ride.  I wouldn’t say bikers in general look like they follow the healthiest of lifestyles so I had to laugh to myself hearing one of them say she was in the “fat-burning zone” as she and her mates huffed and puffed their way up the path from the lighthouse!  Renting a car was half the price of a tour bus and we got to choose our own route which made for another scenic drive.  I had a moment of childish pleasure climbing up one of the massive sand dunes and running back down, all while being caught on camera!  We also stopped briefly on 90 mile beach, which is an endless stretch of white sand only 55 miles, or 88km long, which is registered as a state highway but only used by tour busses and 4×4 vehicles brave enough to risk the tides.

Our time in Paihia was spent tramping!  With lots of walks in the area we enjoyed a good few hours on the trails almost every day, through forested areas as well as along the coast.  We also managed to get across the bay to the quaint town of Russell which used to be New Zealand’s capital but is now a tourist-orientated boutique town filled with restaurants, bars and expensive accommodation.  Not always known for its tranquillity, it was once referred to as the Hell Hole of the Pacific due to a period of drunken lawlessness in its days of being a whaling station.  Russell is also home to New Zealand’s oldest Church, the Christ Church, established in 1836 and said to still have scars from cannon and musket balls, but we couldn’t see any evidence of damage while there.  Of course, we visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds too and it ended up being an informative morning learning about New Zealand’s history.  Our fondest memory of Paihia though is The Coffee Shack, an old shipping container on the side of the road converted by a husband-and-wife team into a mobile coffee shop!  The shack ended up being a daily stop for us during our last week in Paihia and the hosts Neil and Becky were probably the best coffee barristers we knew!  After a couple of weeks in Northland, we headed back to Auckland, bid farewell to Kiwi land and flew back to SA for a happy reunion with family and friends.

So 6000 words later I think I have captured the best of our time in New Zealand!  Two and a half months were spent in this beautiful country, and I believe we made the most of it.  Rob, having visited before, was extremely pleased that I loved it too.  Will New Zealand hold anything in store for us in the future?  Only time will tell!