New Zealand      Wellington

Very nice city. I like the country better but this is a cool place. You could have lunch and dinner at a different little place every day for a year and probably not run out of new places. We are in a caravan park in the middle of town. Really just a paved parking lot with elect hookups. On the waterfront.  Not to peaceful but sure is convenient. We walked all over the city from this base. Two nights and there and off to the south island. Done with the big city for now.

So we go from this. In Bowentown.

To this. In wellington.

Nice harbor. If you look really really close you can see the yellow crane we are parked under.

                                                                                  Right about here ^ on the opposite bank just up                                                                   from the shore line.

Very nice parks and walking trails.

Taking this ferry to the south island. 95 Km. Takes about three hours they tell me. Off to Picton tonight. No idea what to expect there.

Got a few items on the to do list but that always seems to change as soon as we get rolling. But its a nice sunny day out. Lets roll!

M

New Zealand

Stopped off at a friend of a friends place in Tauranga.  We got a local knowledge tour and camped out in their driveway for the night. Thank you Paul and Christa. You were very kind hosts.

Then off again. We gather no moss.

The middle of the north island is a very active geothermal area. We did a stretch of road called the Thermal Explorer Highway. The views were spectacular. And to many steam vents and sites to even count. One particular park has, what it calls, the youngest geothermal area in the world. This one started up in the late 1800s. Before that there was no activity in the area. It claims to be the only spot like it in the world that can trace its origins to the exact day that it formed. And it is still forming and changing. Kind of scary actually. Makes you want to snap a photo and get the heck out of there. Many of the spots are named for people who were killed by eruptions or geysers run amuck. Including one entire family. Hard to get it on camera. The picture don’t really show how beautiful the features are.

And a couple of nice waterfalls along the way.

Caldera lake. Steaming and bubbling. Once in a while the steam would swirl up like a little tornado. Could not capture it on still photos.

Little steam vent right on the trail.

This pool changes colors as the chemical composition of the water changes. We caught it on a day when it was sky blue. Looked like a swimming pool. It rises and falls several meters cyclically. And no, I don't know whats wrong with her hair. It just does than sometimes. Scares me!

Looks fake but it really is that color.

Then the surprise for the day. Tooling along I see a sign for a car museum. A row of beat up tin sheds. Place is run by an old eccentric fellow named Ian. Nice guy. In the sheds are over 400 cars. "Count them if you want." All British. Most stacked up like cordwood. You can imagine the smell. Gas, oil, burned up engine, old rubber, mold. I have some nice shots but this gives you a flavor of the place. Nothing is for sale. "I'm a buyer not a seller" says Ian. He has an old hearse in the pile there somewhere. And in the hearse is the casket he is to be buried in. Which I think will not be long now. Not kidding. He says 80% of them run. I think he added a zero. But it was an interesting stop off for sure.

Heading now to Wellington. The big city. Furthest place south. Once there we ferry down to the south island.

M

New Zealand

Went north as far as you can go. Saw the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, and headed back south. Back through Auckland to Waihi Beach. With a couple of stops along the way.

Suspension bridge on the way over to an abandoned gold mine. Karangahake Gorge.
And no, I don't know what is wrong with my leg.

Hope that rock doesn't fall on her head!

The hike around the gold mine takes you through a 1Km abandoned train tunnel. Pretty cool in a wet, cold, muddy, smelly kind of way.

Along our way in the north country we saw wild peacocks. Which I did not get a photo of. Quite a few pheasant.  Which I did not get a photo of. Flocks of wild turkeys. With 1/2 dozens Toms at a time all puffed up and strutting around.  Which I did not get a photo of. And a rooster.  Which I did get a photo of. Always a chicken in the story somewhere. Invited this one to (be) dinner. He declined. As is usually the case.

M

Northern New Zealand

Stunning.            

Nothing to add.

M

Glow Worms

Finally saw them. The fifth cave we explored. This one had a tour operation running it and got you for 20 bucks a head to go in. Worth it though. They walk you in by lantern light. Give you some history and explanation of what the glowworms are and how they do it. Then its light out. As your eyes become accustomed to the darkness the glowworms begin to appear on the cave walls and ceiling. In this case by the thousands. The cave ceiling was 20 meters in this section. They call it the Milky Way room because the little greening dots of light from the glowworms looks like the Milky Way. It was quite amazing. We have seen bioluminescent sea life in several forms. Always beautiful. Glad we finally found the little guys. No photos though. You would need a tripod and long exposure to get anything. And then it wouldn’t do it justice. But what a memory.

Set out for Kirikiri peninsula after a rather un-noteworthy day in Kirikiri itself. Used the free camping book and found an incredible spot. We can see several miles up and down the coast and there is nothing and no one. The view is like a post card and we share it with no one.

Getting overcast but this is the view out front. We are at the end of a gravel road. A small lookout. 

This is the view out the back.

 M

Waipu Caves and beyond

The place we rented the RV from has a book you can rent, (not buy), that details 150 or so unknown, uncharted, unmapped, and most importantly FREE campsites.  So we use this guide to set out to find the Waipu Caves and the no charge campsite there. Pretty easy. Find the brown sign that says, Waipu Caves, (duh), and go up 12 Km of gravel road to the site. In the book it says it’s a sheep paddock. Nope. Horses. And must have been cows here as well. Based on the volumes of cow fertilizer that we parked in. Open the gate, drive on in. And avoid the spots where vehicles have obviously sunk in the mud recently. It’s a little wet given all the recent rain. It would be 4WD heaven. We are big and heavy, front wheel drive, with road tires. Not 4WD material. There were a couple of cars here when we arrived. People exploring the caves. There are supposed to be colonies of glowworms inhabiting the ceiling of the cave. We went about as far as we wanted to go without getting really seriously wet and muddy. One of the groups that emerged after having been in there a while looked like bog people. We are not equipped to make the most of this one. No helmets. A couple of small headlamps. No spare boots. We did see a couple of spots glowing but not real impressive.

Nice spot though. By 6 PM we were the only ones left. Us and the horses. And the cow pies. Fridge does not seem to want to work now.  Same for the heat. Gets to about 40 at night.

Us and the horses. A cave entrance just behind where the horses are.

Next day set out for Whangarei. Not far. But on some beautiful gravel and country roads. The countryside is spectacular. Hard to even get it on a photo. So much to see here. About every ten minutes along the road there is something you would want to stop and see. We have only gone a couple hundred kilometers in the last three days. And we missed a lot at that.

Went to explore some caves. Pretty rough stuff. You would need some gear to be able to do this safely. Being 20 years younger wouldn’t  hurt either. And hiked to a waterfall called New Zealand’s most photogenic. I believe it. And now it’s raining again so we are pretty glad we have this nice RV to hang out in. I keep wanting to grill out but we keep getting socked in.

Down into the scary wet caves we go. Been in four so far.

Now thats a nice waterfall.

M

NZ, On the road

Picked up the RV. Caravan they call it here. They didn’t have the one I wanted, and had previously confirmed, so they upgraded us. This thing is awesome. It had 102 miles on it when we picked it up. It is brand spankin new. No way I am going to be able to say that scratch was on there when we picked it up.  So we fire up the GPS and head out. Wrong side of the road and all. Big O’l camper van. And haven’t driven in a long time. “Would you like the optional insurance sir?” Says the gal at the reception center. “Yeah, maybe we will go with that.” Says me. Off we go. We were both pretty stressed out by the time we made it to our first campground. Which was all of about ½ hour away. More like a parking lot on the waterfront. What a view. Blowing and raining off and on. But this thing is great to hang out in. It has a friggin TV!

So are doing route planning for the north end of the north island. Bought a cell phone dongle for WIFI and now have the fastest WIFI we have seen in a long time.

Got a box of white wine, some provisions, and had lunch in a grocery store parking lot. Couldn’t find a Wal-Mart so had to make due with what they have here. Now we are dirt cruisers. I am in a camper looking out over the water after having been out on the water for so long looking over the campers.

This is the view at our first campsite. $47 NZ a night. Pretty view, pretty gal.
They put the steering wheel on the wrong side!

peace

M