NZ- week 4/5

After Napier we went further south towards Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The city only has about 200000 inhabitants and one can do anything on foot in the City centre. After walking around downtown and watching the Christmas parade (really weird with these temperatures) we took the cable car (for the Swiss: looks a bit like the Polybahn in Zuerich) uphill to relax in the botanical garden. From up here you have a beautiful view upon Wellington and the bay.
The camping site is actually situated outside Wellington in a nearby town called Lower Hutt. Walking across there we suddenly found ourselves in front of a Dutch shop. Yes, they do sell kruidnoten, speculaas, bitterballen, haring and drop.

Here in Wellington, we met up with Martin, a German guy who emigrated 3 years ago. He showed us around outside Wellington and took us for a ride along the coast line. He also gave us some useful information about finding a job and buying houses. When we saw his house with a view on the sea it certainly made us very jealous ;-)....but it also made us aware that it is possible to "have it all" over here.

At last; our first (unofficial) Dutch visitors: among them my former boss Duco. We met up and went for some coffee. As they wanted to see the Te Papa museum and we had to get to some stores, we decided to meet afterwards for dinner. We found them already sitting on a sunny terrace when we arrived, so we joined them to enjoy the rest of the afternoon with a bottle of nice rose. One bottle turned into three before we had dinner (with a fourth bottle). Funny to see each other on the other side of the world in such an informal surrounding.

We took the ferry from Wellington to Picton, a trip taking about 3 hours. The last hour you pass through a couple of the Sounds (sort of Fjords) where you have stunning views. During the trip, it feels like we were going from north towards south, but actually it is more east to west.

Continued to Blenheim where we (oh yes) did another wine tour! :-)
The Marlborough wine region is the biggest wine producing area in NZ. Here they almost only produce white wine and hardly any red. We discovered some really nice Rieslings. There are many olive trees from which they produce nice olive oil.

After 2 days in Blenheim we drive to Nelson. This little town is the geographical centre of New Zealand. It is also the region with the most sunny hours per year. Since two weeks it is sunny and warm, about 27 degrees. After traveling for 5 weeks in New Zealand is feels like we had already a better summer than in Europe this year...and read this: Summer in NZ hasn't started yet! Jealous???
We stay for about one week and taking it easy. In the town museum is an excellent exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci showing 3-dimensional replicas of his inventions and designs (like the famous helicopter). Another museum called WOW (World of wearable art) is quite weird but in a positive and refreshing way. It is a mixture of clothes (made from all sorts of material one can think of) and old-timer cars.

NZ- week 3/4

On the third day of owning our car, we already lost one of the wheel-caps! Look on the bright side, it still drives great and we are finally blending in with the locals! One step closer to becoming a Kiwi.

On the Coromandel Peninsula are some strange phenomena called hot water beach. You stand on the beach and dig into the sand. Just a few centimeters beneath the surface it gets really hot... too hot actually. So people start to jump up and down. The weird thing was that our feet were nice and warm while the rest of the body was getting soaked by the rain :-(

Just as last time we visited the Coromandel Peninsula, it didn't stop raining. So, just as last time we moved on . . . . towards Thames; the biggest city in the area. At the motor-camp were we stayed there was a local bush hike: "Rockie's gold-mine trail". It should only take 3 hours of walking, but we did it in 4. Not that our physical condition is so very bad, but it had rained the days before and, more importantly, we had to watch our step for at least half of the time descending next to the stream on very muddy ledges! It was still a nice "walk" though and we recommend it to anyone who consider themselves at least a "weekend-warrior" ;-)
Even more important, we finally were having the opportunity to visit Esther en Maarten v/d Heuvel - our local physical mailbox. Having no relatives or friends of our own living here we had to find somebody to be kind enough to share their address so we could register at some official businesses to get things organized. Maarten is actually a brother of one of Esthers' (now ex-) colleagues Jaap. They moved to New Zealand just over a year ago. It was quite interesting to hear how they experience the Kiwi way of life and how they look at NZ after one year.

We continue east and finally the weather is changing for the better - so is the mood of George... he just can't stand rain. The next thing on the schedule is a tour to the White Island. This is NZ's most active volcano and it is situated about 50 km offshore. Having been to Iceland we knew what to expect. Still it is fascinating, all the steam and bubbles and smell and colors... For safety reason we were given a gas mask and a helmet. If it is really necessary - I doubt it. When the volcano decides to blow, you are in the wrong place anyway. It certainly makes a good picture! Now we are really heading east.

Next stop is Gisborne. It took us about 4 hours of driving through mountains and forests....and nobody is on those roads! One thing about the road signs....sometimes they can be a bit depressing. There could be a sign: " windy for the next 23 km" and after that there's a straight bit for about 1-kilometer just to be followed by another sign saying: "windy for the next 45 km" :-) That is why everybody drives an automatic car with power-steering!

Napier on Hawke's Bay is famous for its Art Deco architecture. This town has been completely destroyed by an earthquake back in 1931. When they started to rebuild it they decided to use one style only - Art Deco. This area produces also good quality wine. Of course that means we had to join a wine tasting tour. This was a quite an experience. Starting at lunchtime, visiting 4 wineries, tasting at least 9 different wines at each winery, and that all within 3.5 hours... well, do the math!! We were getting more and more happy and chatty. I guess a real connoisseur spits out most of the wine after tasting, we thought it is a waste to spit it out :-)

The only sheep-leather tanning factory also happens to be in Napier. So being good tourists we decided we had to visit the (free!) tour of the factory. After only 20 minutes the tour was over. . . I was surprised how relatively small the factory was, but was explained that as the (sheep)farming industry is declining, the market for sheep-leather accessories is also shrinking. Most of the things they produce is for export by the way.....nice warm woolen clothes for those cold nights in the Sahara desert for example.

NZ- week 2

Arrived at the Kauri Coast - a part of Northland with the last remaining Kauri forests. We've been there last year, but did not see all the giants which survived the onslaught by mankind. One of the trees has a girth of 18 meters and stands for over a thousand years; very impressive! Just look how small we look comparing to that tree...
We decided to stay at a motor-camp where you can do a guided night walk. We also did that last year, but this time it wasn't a private tour.....there were nine other tourist besides us and the guide.....this time we only heard the kiwi instead of actually seeing it. The impressive night-sky made up for it though.

We continue our journey to the east coast again, Pakiri Beach. We are staying in a nice cabin which provides all you need: good bed, kitchen and bathroom. It' s a bit expensive, but very nice for a change. Weather is still great, so we are staying for 2 nights. Eating breakfast on the deck watching the birds and the rabbits, listening to the waves, enjoying the sun....not too bad!

Did you know that Goat island isn't an actual name but more a designated one? It is a type of small island where the sailors of old times dropped some goats on to, before sailing further up the coast. On the way back, they came to the island(s) to capture the goat(s) again to have same fresh meat to eat on the return-journey. We found that out while doing a glass-bottom boat tour at Leigh. Very touristic but interesting. During the trip we even saw a 2m long stingray; they can swim (fleeing from you) at around 30 km/h!

Back in North Shore City (Takapuna, a suburb of Auckland) it is time to get rid of the rental car and buy a car of our own. We both know nothing about cars except that they have to drive well and require low maintenance. After 2 days of looking for the damn car, it was time to make a decision: We bought a Nissan Pulsar, secondhand, from 1996 and only 46000 kilometers!! As almost all the cars in NZ, this one is also imported from Japan. Apparently Japanese people don't drive much in their cars and like to buy a new one every other year. It's amazing, in the Netherlands you would have driven 46000 km in about 2 years....