Friday 27th February- Heading for the Coramandel Region

The drive from Turangi to North East North Island was very nice indeed with hardly a car on the road for the first two hours or so of the journey. We went up the Westside of Lake Taupo and then headed for Taurangi on the East Coast. From there we drove up the coast to the first two camp sites that we wished to visit before making a final decision.

Both of the two sites we are looking at are in Waihi Beach with one being a Top 10 site and the other a private site but this time with only four stars.

We arrived at the first site and turned it down as it would appear to be mostly for fixed caravans and then drove to the Top 10 Park at the other end of Waihi Beach and after a small deliberation we decided to stay rather than drive another 80 or so miles and then be disappointed.

It did not take us long to set up the tent, practise makes perfect they say, and then we had to decide what we wanted for dinner this evening. After a walk around the shops at Waihi beach we decided not to cook but have Chinese Fish and Chips and take it along the beach somewhere. The food was good and afterwards we did some reading.

Our plan is to start touring the Coramandel Peninsular over the next three days before heading of to the Kauri Coast, which is on the North West coast almost at the top of North Island.

We arrived back at camp and read for a while in the lounge and then headed of to bed as it started to rain a little. No not more rain I here!

By midnight it was chucking it down in a big way so read tomorrows exiting episode to find out what happened.

Thursday 26th February- Forget Blue Bridge Shipping

We had decided to try the other ferry operator on the Cook Straight, we have used the Interislander Ferry Company several times before but somebody over the past few weeks mentioned that Blue Bridge were good.
So not only did we plan and execute an early morning start we arrived at the Blue Bridge Ferry Check-in point which was at the side of a road. We checked in OK, only one check-in desk working, and waited we then realised that for us to board a ferry we would all need to cross the main road?
Come departure time and we see the ferry for the first time and it does not look good and this was confirmed once we got on board.
The ‘Café’, for the want of a better word, left us speechless and we have seen much, much better Truckers cafés on the A1 or A30 than this so called ferry. Noel ordered a bacon sandwich and was presented with a plate with some bacon on and four slices of white unbuttered bread on another plate, a do-it-yourself sandwich. Jennifer had toast, again do-it-yourself in the toaster on the shelf. We finally found a seat which did relax back but noticed that they kept the side door to the outside walkway open at all times probably because there was quite a strong draught blowing in. After a short while we realised why they kept it open, it was to allow in the wind to dissipate the smell of the ships diesel engine fumes. Just wonderful.
Boy this was the worst ferry we think that we have ever encountered. Here is the detail from the official website

"MV Santa Regina arrived in Wellington from France on 26 December 2002 and made her inaugural voyage, launching the Bluebridge service, in early 2003.
Before the Santa Regina joined Strait Shipping, she sailed an overnight service between Marseilles and Corsica in the Mediterranean. On arrival in New Zealand the Santa Regina received a make-over, removing the majority of cabins and replacing them with comfortable, contemporary lounge areas. Today, she crosses Cook Strait twice a day, carrying up to 370 people plus cars and large quantities of freight.
Well known as a stable and comfortable vessel due to her good hull design and effective stabilisers, the Santa Regina is a very popular Cook Strait ferry"

Ps- they even spelt stabilisers wrong on their official website.

What is does not say is that it was built in 1985 and is today held together by paint and rust of equal proportions. Comfortable, contemporary lounge areas, we think not. This might have been the case in 1951.
We shall go back to the Interislander Ferries in future but it is time the New Zealand Government stopped these bad quality ships on this notable tourist route.
So getting up early for this poor experience will be remembered for quite some time to come. Noel has been on better Chinese Cargo vessels than this.
We arrived in Wellington not in the three hours and eighteen minutes as advertised but more like four hours. Perhaps the slaves were not rowing fast enough?
It was grey and overcast when we arrived in Wellington but improved as we travelled North in the direction of Taupo which is about 250 miles away. We travelled along what is called the ‘Desert Road’ which goes from Waiouru to Rangipo alongside the Tongariro National park. The road reaches a height of 1074m and so will be closed sometimes in winter when the snow is bad.
We finally found a very nice Motel for the night in Turangi (the home of trout fishing it says) with nice gardens and so we were able to dry out the rest of the tent on their lawns.
Dinner was a very nice ham salad and the rest of the wine from the previous evening.
We spent the evening looking at camp sites in the Coramandel area on the internet and it is our intention to leave here at a normal time of day and reach the Coramandel Peninsular shortly after lunch time which will allow us time to check out the best site and settle in for four nights.

THE WINTER WE MISSED

Its nice being here warm in New Zealand and missing the snow. Here are the photos of Piplin House.

Wednesday 25th February- It’s a Whale of a day out

A relaxed start to the day and the weather looked very good with only a few clouds in the sky. We then revisited the Seal colony at the end of town and took a few photos of them snoozing the day away and watching the humans.

As the trip was scheduled for a 1145 departure and only returning at three pm we decided to jump into the local ‘Subway’ and have a quick bite to eat thus avoiding the need to eat on board whatever boat it was.

We duly arrived at the check in and noticed that the departure board was saying ‘awaiting confirmation’ which sounded a bit like Terminal Five flights departures last year. However it would appear that the weather had made the sea quite rough and they weren’t sure if they would be sailing today. All yesterdays boats were cancelled it would appear.

So after a short wait and dire warnings about sea sickness and no pregnant women etc with women and children first we go on the bus to the place where they keep the boats. All seemed calm until we got outside of the small harbour and when they turned up the power on the twin hulled craft the boat was up and down and all over the place and many people were suddenly reaching for the little bags in the seat in front. Even Jennifer had a ‘Procul Harem’ period.

After about thirty minutes we were over the deep open sea where the depth was over one thousand metres, they provided a commentary on the eating characteristics of a typical sperm whale. It sounded a bit like our kids when they were young, and they would gobble up anything on the buffet table they could.

After waiting around for about ten minutes outside on the deck they asked us to go inside again as they wished to move to where a sperm whale had been spotted.

Great views of this and also another sperm whale and on the way back to port we came across a family of Orca’s which were gambling in the sea, blackjack I think. So Noel loosed off a total of about one hundred and fifty shots which will keep him busy sorting them out later.When we got back to the Whale Watch Terminal we discovered that the rest of the days sailings have been cancelled due to bad weather so we were really luck to go out, even if it was very rough

We left Kaikoura and headed for Blenheim and en-route we stopped at a place (recommended by the Studio apartment boss) selling large crayfish (lobsters to us) called Nin’s Bins where we purchased two quite large animals for dinner tonight. They were quite expensive but what the hell! if we don’t spend it Gordon Bloody Brown will.

Arriving in Blenheim we stopped at the New World Supermarket for some goodies to go with our lobster and also some food for tomorrow.

The lobster was very good indeed and most enjoyable along with a very cheap bottle of Chardonnay.

Tomorrow morning we have to be up early to connect with the ferry which leaves Picton, which is thirty minutes away from where we are in Blenheim, and be at the dockside at 0700 hrs, whatever time that is but what we do know is it’s to damn early for us old ones.

Tuesday 24th February- It’s time to leave here.

Damn and blast, it’s raining cats and dogs. So we decided on a slow morning and packed up the inside contents of the tent into the car and then went to the kitchen for a large bacon sandwich and a hot cup of tea.

Just when we though the rain had stopped, we leapt out and started to dismantle the tent only it then started raining hard again resulting in us putting a very wet outer into a plastic bag which is not good.

It continued to rain just about all the way to Kaikoura where we arrived at about five pm which is a good time. The Studio apartment is out of town in a new complex and the boss was very good as when telling him about our wet tent he said we could dry it in his garage.

Being a Studio with limited equipment we had decided to eat out tonight and he recommended a seafood restaurant called 42 Degrees 25 minutes South.

The restaurant is owned by an English couple who arrived from Kent about five years ago but are now planning to return to the UK as the pub that they own somewhere in Kent is struggling and they want to try and save their investment.

The food was really excellent, we both had the local prawns flamed and then on a salad with chilli sauce followed by a goodly portion of monk fish served on a mashed potato with a mild curry sauce and it was damn good. The bottle of Oyster Bay Chardonnay did also help and we were both impressed.

After dinner we drove down to the seal colony that lives south of the town and watched them but it was getting a bit too dark for photos and so we will return tomorrow morning.

Let’s hope it’s a better day tomorrow for our whale watching experience.

Monday 23rd February- Planning day

We leave Akaroa tomorrow for Kaikoura and then the North Island and we haven’t booked anything yet in the way of ferries or accommodation or even the Whale watching experience. So today is the day that we must do all this.
Whilst we were having breakfast in the kitchen this morning we talked to a German couple who live on the Canary Islands and they were saying how much they had travelled in the last year. They were of a similar age to us and also camping in a tent unlike the rest of the people in their big motor homes. This got me to thinking how much we had been away in the last year and it turned out to be eight and half months. I wonder if we can get Tax relief.
We spent a couple of hours, it took so long as the connection was slow, and then had booked our Blue Bridge Lines ferry crossing of the Cook Straight and also a Studio flat in Kaikoura, similar in Blenheim and of course our boat trip Whale watching.
We spent a certain amount of time reading and decided that there was no advance packing that we could do which would give us an earlier start and so we did not bother.
As the evening approached we drove off to where the lighthouse is to get a view and read our books, only twenty minutes later the St John Ambulance and Fire Engine turned up for some practise stuff (it must be Monday, meeting day in England!)
Let’s hope it does not rain tomorrow when we have to pack up the tent.

Sunday 22nd February- It’s Sunday so it must be Fish and Chips

This weather is so contrary, one day it is great and then the next day it’s not.

Today it’s fantastic with wall to wall sun and a rising temperature.

It was a wonderful day to sit on our little site and read our books and put on plenty of suntan lotion. We had decided that Sunday would be a good day to try the world famous Akaroa Fish Shop again.

So shortly before one pm we headed off and parked one end of the town and then walked the few kilometres to the Fish and Chip shop. We sat in the sun eating our expertly fried Blue Cod and Chips and it was bloody delicious. This was followed by a walk along the sea front to the lighthouse which was open for inspection and then back for an ice cream and see what is on at the cinema tonight.

Not the cinema again I can hear readers say, but what else can you do when it’s dark in a tent and it’s too late to make babies now.

The film we saw was a French Film which was called “The Sticks” in English. It revolves around a small town Post Office Manager who was looking for promotion and many of the tricks he used, including pretending to be physically handicapped, in order to gain promotion did not work. He lived in the South of France and as he had been caught cheating he was demoted to the North of France to a small village just outside of Lille. At first he did not like the location, but slowly he became enamoured with the place and people, who also spoke a regional dialect which the Southern French did not quite understand. The rest of the info can be obtained on the web but it is a really amusing film and well worth seeing.

Tomorrow they have promised us rain again and also as we are due to leave here on Tuesday morning we have to decide on our plan for the next few days. Also our visit to Kaikoura where we both want to go whale hunting (with camera) of course has to be booked. We also need to book our ferry back to the North Island and so perhaps a busy day ahead. Well busy for us anyway.

NB

Saturday 21st February – C’est La Vie- A great little restaurant in Akaroa

But more of the C’Est La Vie later.
We spent a pleasant day reading and walking and generally taking it easy.
We are staying at a Top Ten Holiday Park which is a site where you can have Motel rooms, Cabins, park your Motor home or pitch a tent.

For the campers and cabins which have no cooking or washing facilities ,unlike the Motor Homes which have loo’s, sinks, refrigerators etc ,the site provides good cooking facilities with ovens, microwaves, toasters and sinks and of course showers and loo’s.
What we cannot understand is that most tourists seem to rent a Motor Home/Campervan and these are not cheap and start at about NZ 160.00 for a smallish unit up to NZ 250.00 for quite an acceptable size one. The idea of a Motor Home is that you can park anywhere and try the excellent Government sites which are usually in beautiful reserves and conservation areas but they have limited facilities apart from water and sometimes it might have a shower of questionable temperature.
However, most of the Motor Home people seem to gather at the type of site we are currently staying at and why we do not know. It seems pointless to us to spend all that money renting a mobile home and then pay again for the similar facilities at the site. Site costs for tents are around NZ 30/40 per day and Motor Homes pay around NZ 50 of 60 per day on top of your vehicle hire costs. Oh well its all good for business I suppose. One surprising thing though is that the vans are parked about five feet apart but on nose to tail around two feet and so they are very crowded. We think that there might be a fire risk as in the UK our Camping and Caravan Club sites insist on at least three metres each side of a unit. Our tent site is fairly large and we have about a third of an acre to ourselves as there are very few campers.
We are on a TOP 10 Holiday Park site; this would tend to indicate there are only ten locations in the country but in fact there are about forty eight or so dotted around North and South islands. We must say the general standard is very high.
Now back to the restaurant. Earlier in the week we had been talking to the land owner of the Holiday Park site and they had recommended a French cuisine restaurant called C’est La Vie, which although being quite small, is very good indeed. For your added information Akaroa was founded by French settlers back in the 1800’s and still retains its French characteristics and many road names and shops are using French names.
Anyway the restaurant does not have a proper menu card but uses blackboard’s in the front door porch area to describe what food is on offer whilst the seating is very much restricted to about twenty six seats and in most cases you share tables. Our table partners turned out to be a retired Britannia Airways pilot and his wife. He was nice and friendly but his wife was a real dour individual and even rejected the perfectly cooked venison as it had some red blood showing. The husband wanted to enjoy the evening by getting a bottle of wine but his wife refused and he had one glass of house red and looked a bit pissed off.
Our food was excellent and we both had scallops in a mushroom cream sauce with half a ton of garlic and they were so soft and tender. Jennifer had the venison with the blood and Noel had the Scottish Filet steak and together with a bottle of Australian Merlot it was great. Their kitchen was extremely small and the chef uses only a conventional house oven! Mine hosts seem to be a German lady but we are not sure of the nationally of the husband and together with one kitchen helper catered for two sittings at 6.30 pm and 8.30 pm and they were full
Our table had spaces for eight guests but we could not easily talk up the table but did hear that this place may close at the end of this summer season ie in a few weeks time. Most shops are now moving to winter time here.
Oh what a lovely day!

Wednesday 18th till Friday 20th- Easy but wet days in Akaroa

Well unfortunately the weather, as per forecast, changed radically with Wednesday and Thursday being grey and overcast but on Friday the rains came and it is forecast to rain for the next few days we understand.

When you are camping and raining you need to keep busy and so we spent Wednesday in the lounge mostly reading and then did an evening exploration along the coast too one of the small bays. Thursday we did a long walk around town and watched the people on their boats.

Friday was forecast to be very wet and windy and so it was but we had PLAN B ready which was to drive in to Christchurch and go to see the film ‘Australia’ at the Northlands Hoyts Cinema.

The film started at 1340 and so we had time for a lunch of Teriyaki Chicken and rice at a Japanese kitchen in the Mall food hall.

The film is long, about three hours. Its very well made but could perhaps have been a bit shorter and tightened the film up a bit but the photography was very good and Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman played their parts well. The star of the film was a young Aborigine boy of mixed White and Aborigine blood who they called ‘creamy’. Its aa film worth seeing but only once unlike ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which we will see again.

Just prior to entering the cinema we purchased at a small store an LED lighting system designed for tents which is run by four AA batteries. So after the film was over we decided to test it and see if it worked rather than go back the 60 miles of so to Akaroa and then find it does not work.

Well it worked, sort of, but then after half a minute it started to smoke very badly and left longer perhaps would have caught fire. UMM! not good for a tent we took it back and they returned our money.

We suggested they check the rest and or take them off sale as they could be dangerous but the store sales people did not appear concerned.

It was still raining as we left Christchurch and it rained all the way back to Akaroa and so rather than sit in the TV lounge we decided to go to the local cinema and have their ‘soup de jour’ and desert and see what films were showing there. So we went to watch a film starring Marianne Faithfull in a film called ‘Irini Palm’ a strange but interesting film. Wow two films in one day.

And so to bed and boy it was still raining and forecast now to rain again on Saturday

Tuesday 17th February- What a gorgeous day to be in Akaroa

Although it turned very cold last night and we reached for our extra warm stuff and new duvet the sun was really shining brightly this morning.

The view over the bay was magnificent with hardly a cloud in the sky. The best way to start the day was with Noel cooking bacon and egg toasted sarnies with a hot brew which went down very well.

The rest of the morning was spent reading and a little sort out of some of our stuff and also decide what our next steps for travel would be as we are currently due to leave here this coming Saturday.

We both agreed that Hamner Springs can wait for another time and that we would have a few extra days here and then head for Kaikoura for some whale watching next week.

Following a light cheese and bikkies lunch we walked down into town which is down quite a steep slope and stairs for about 500 metres and then flat walking thereafter. The sun was shining down and we were getting hot but sat on the end of the pier and watched the world go by. There were two groups of Scouts, one group of males and the other group of females learning to sail and we both agreed the girls won.

We also saw a lone Hector’s Dolphin playing in the harbour for a few minutes and so perhaps we may not go on a Dolphin boat ride, we shall see. There is one house where the owner has made his garden look like a house front room with a sofa and TV. There is also a pair of big boots protruding from the ground about five feet from a headstone we saw this last time we were here but we think it may have been improved, we will have to look back at the photos.

We walked past our favourite Fish and Chip shop which we shall attend later this week and then after a few more photos headed back to the camp for a brief rest and then a mixture of chicken and rice and vegetables before heading for the TV lounge to also catch up on some emails and Blogs etc.

Monday16th- Time to move on to Akaroa sur le mer.

Oh dear, its raining and we are supposed to be putting up the tent today. Also the weather forecast was not great for the next couple of days.

Anyway we left Christchurch around 10.00 and did some shopping en route to our favourite place which is about ninety minutes away and through the inevitable hills.

We drove down in to Akaroa as the rain continued to pour down but as we were early decided we would have some lunch and consider our next moves.

A nice hot steak and kidney pie with a shared bowl of chips and a cup of tea did the trick as soon after it stopped raining and so we proceeded up to the camp site. The site allocated is very good with a great view over the hills and down to the bay. It’s also handy for the kitchen and other facilities. So within an hour and a half we were fully set up and went for a walk around the site which seemed quite busy with campervans and an ever increasing number of small tents.

We decided to have a light dinner of baked potato and baked beans and sausages, not exactly light, but very tasty.

It was staring to get cold, again, and so we headed for the lounge and TV room and watched for a while a programme called Desperate Housewives. I think it should have been called stupid and spoiled women, but that’s only my view.

And so to bed and let’s hope the weather stays nice tomorrow

Sunday 15th February. The Trans-Alpine Train to Greymouth.

This was a very early start as we had to be up at 06.15 to have breakfast and shower and be ready for pick up at 07.15. We really should not be up this time of the day at our age.

We arrived at the station and boarded our train which left at 08.15 for the four hour trip across the Mountains via Arthurs Pass to the town of Greymouth which is not really the ‘pearl of the orient’ in this country.

The journey at first took us across the flat Canterbury Plains where we stopped a couple of time to pick up additional passengers. The air conditioning was good and the chairs reasonably comfortable but the Tour guides description of our itinerary was appalling and we felt sorry for any non English speakers who would not be able to understand what was being said. It was though he had read this stuff so many times that all he wanted to do was get through it as quickly as possible and not caring if the passengers understood.

We purchased some tea, they called it tea but we are really not sure what it was for the very high price of NZ 8.00. The trip by this time had reached the mountainous section where travelled over viaducts of ever increasing heights and some of which had been prefabricated in England and shipped to the middle of New Zealand and assembled on site. Unfortunately taking photos was not easy as the sun was shining on the windows and giving a strong reflection whilst the so called outdoor photo shoot area was extremely small and more suitable for sheep.

We arrived in Greymouth and the sun was beaming down. We have been here several times before but without good weather and so it was really nice to see even though it was mostly closed due to it being a Sunday.

By this time the train was running about one hour late. I cannot understand why they had decided to repair all or most of the bridges at one time which caused major slowdowns for the train.

We left Greymouth after a brief walk around the town and a much needed decent cup of coffee and this time we were in a different carriage and right at the back of the train.

The seats did not relax back and when the train started going faster the carriage shook from side to side all of the way home and it was most uncomfortable. However all said and done it was a nice trip whilst Noel will right a friendly letter, perhaps, to the train operators.

The shuttle bus was waiting for us when we got back and on the way back to the Holiday Village we had a diversion and went past an area which had been decked out to reflect a Chinese Spring Lantern holiday. We thought about getting off the bus and joining the event but we were both tired and ready for a shower and some dinner. No pizza tonight though as we cooked up some chicken and mushrooms in Soya which we then had with a salad.

Its time for the evening Blog to be prepared and then off to bed and this time not with an early start.

Tomorrow we leave here and go to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsular, about ninety minutes outside Christchurch, for the next five days or so..

Saturday 14th February 2009- Twizel to Christchurch

It was a lovely sunny morning when we awoke and looking out of the Hotel window we could see the mountains in the background.

We packed up the bags and repacked the car and headed off towards Lake Pukaki and the Mount Cook lookout.

There was not a lot of snow on Mount Cook but against the lake it looked quite magical.We departed from there to Lake Tekapo and from there the Mount Cook range of mountains was clearly visible and we would have loved to take an aeroplane flight over the mountains but it is expensive and perhaps even more important, not a lot of snow. This will have to wait until another time when perhaps we will visit in the winter time.

The route to Fairlie took us through Burkes Pass, which is a lovely mountain range with windy and twisty roads until we reached Fairlie where we stopped for a coffee and cake at a little coffee shop we have visited before.

The route from Fairlie took us through Geraldine to Ashburton where we stopped at the local Warehouse Shop to see if they sold blankets which they did not, unfortunately, and so we bought a cheap duvet should it get very cold again.

We arrived in Christchurch at the Top 10 Holiday Park where we had upgraded from our tent to a little hut; I guess you will call it, which saves us time in tent erection as we are only here for two nights.

We walked down to the local Mall and tried to have a Pizza at Pizza Hut but after waiting for almost forty minutes when they could not produce two small Pizzas’ after two strong discussions with them we walked out.

Dinner that night consisted of an ice cream at the local Hoyts Cinema where we had booked to see the new Tom Cruise file called Valckerie which we both enjoyed very much. The rest of the cast was mainly English actors playing zee Germans and it revolves about the one attempt of many to kill Hitler. It would appear that they tried over twenty times to kill him but without success. Says a lot about their military that they could kill one single little German/Austrian mad man painter.

We walked back to our little hut which is about £ 19.00 per night. It has two beds a table and chairs but you use the joint kitchen and loo and washing facilities. All facilities were very clean.

Su