Just catching up with UK life

Well now, we have been home for just over five weeks and getting back in to UK life.
Needless to say the Government and Economy is in a complete and utter mess and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is running around like a headless chicken with not a clue how he allowed the fall and also how to correct it.
Tax for the higher paid has now reached 63.8%, so I suppose I am lucky to be retired.
On a brighter note, the Caravan has been serviced and they found some minor damp due to a manufacturing fault and this should be fixed later this year. We are planning a walk along the Thames Path with some friends in early May and will all stay in the caravan near Burford, Oxfordshire.
Very good news is that our daughter Joanne will remarry in November this year to a nice chap called Tim.
We hope to be in France with the van in June and July, if we have any money left, and then visit friends in Spain perhaps in mid August, lets see how it pans out.
The weather has been mixed for the last month but currently is nice but no doubt it will change soon.
Finally, the most important thing is that the house is now complete apart from some very minor bits and pieces but we still have some work to do in the garden.

New Zealand Epilogue

Well we have now been home for almost three weeks and it seems ages ago that we stepped on the small plane from Kaitaia to Auckland.

Kaitaia Airport terminal is not much bigger than my garden shed and of course quite quick to check in but they were not trained or had security in place to allow you to check in baggage right through to London.

The flight was about forty minutes but you could not see too much, mainly due to the clouds whilst they also flew inland rather than over the Bay of islands which we had hoped for.

We arrived in Auckland with strong gusts of winds and then it was that Noel realised that there were two women pilots on board and not the one he saw when boarding. Somehow we made a safe but windy landing and arrived at the Domestic Terminal (Cheek! Why shouldn’t we land safely)! It’s only a short ten minute walk to the International Terminal where we checked in and very soon after arrived in the Air New Zealand Lounge where we spent a good five hours, time for a foot massage and a shower. Oh the joys of travelling in the front end of the plane.

The flight to Hong Kong went by quite quickly as we both slept a lot en-route although it was quite bumpy at times as a result of the cyclone in Eastern Australia.

Time for another shower in Hong Kong but then the flight was delayed for four hours as one of the food chillers had broken and with a fairly full flight they both needed to be working as food was needed on this twelve and a half hour sector.

We arrived home just in time for Jennifer to shower and change and join some other female residents at a Ballet night at Woking Theatre.

Noel spent the evening with Pizza and wine with Mike a good neighbour.

Since then we have just about come to terms with the time change and we both now sleep properly rather than having board meetings at two thirty in the morning with cups of tea.

We have spent some time playing with the finishing touches of the house, moving furniture etc but Noel spent almost two days on sorting out the post and filing away all the bits and pieces and paying the occasional bill.

We have learnt that Robin (of Robin and Lorraine fame) is in Kaitaia Hospital with Gall stones and we hope that he recovers very soon.

The weather since we arrived home has been quite good and warm but slipped back almost to winter in the past few days but the forecasters say that Spring weather is on the way.

Next week in London the G 20 Countries meet to decide our financial fate so let’s hope they can get it right, whilst there is currently no faith in the British PM getting it right.

Anyway it’s Saturday evening and the first Formula 1 Grand Prix is on tomorrow with two new ‘BRAWN TEAM’ cars on the first row of the grid. This will no doubt upset Mclaren and Ferrari. Ho Hum!

Anyway it was a really great trip

Saturday 7th March- It’s nearly time to come home

Well, we are now back in Taipa and over the next couple of days will be packing up and readying ourselves for a long journey home.
We have had a marvellous time but all things seem to come to an end and in this case it’s time to get back to reality.
So this is the last Blog of this trip as apart from a little last minute shopping and just hangin’ out until Monday afternoon there will not be much happening.
We are really looking forward to seeing our family, friends and house and catching up on the activities of Wey Road and also go over to Cobham and sort out this bloody Chelsea team.
We hope to be off to France in the caravan sometime in late April when the Blog may start again.
So its goodbye from me and it’s a goodbye from her indoors.

Haera Rai (or goodbye as they say here)

Friday 6th of March - Time to get organised

We need to sort out all our ‘stuff’ and also do some shopping whilst Noel needed a haircut as he could not see any more.

We drove into Kaitaia to do some shopping and Noel lost his hair. This was a proper barber he must have weighed twenty stones, did not stop talking about his life not being affected by customers and then took eight minutes to cut Noel’s hair for about £ 5.00. It looks ok really, Jennifer commented, providing I partly close my eyes and look away.

We visited the car hire company to make arrangements for dropping off the car next Monday as Brian has to visit Kerikeri on early Monday afternoon but we found out that the hire car company has a airport drop off. It’s a small world as when we were talking to Brian about Archibald Motors, from whom we hired the car, Brian said that Mr Archibald lives across the other side of the inlet from where we were staying. We mentioned that over the past few months that we were staying in Taipa occasionally we would talk to this guy with his dog and low and behold it turned out to be Mr Archibald himself.

Later in the day we received a call from neighbours who were interested in buying all our camping equipment. We made a quick trip over to their house and they were happy to buy the tent etc at a mutually acceptable price which was good.

The film festival continued and so we visited the Swamp Palace again to see a New Zealand made film about trying to win a car by keeping your hands on it all the time until you could not stand. It was sort of Ok but not the best film in the world but quite amusing really. It was supposed to be a true story??

And so to bed.

Thursday 5th of March - And still it rained

A ‘weather warning’ was issued overnight with heavy and continuous rain in Northland with some low level flooding expected in areas.

We loaded the car in the rain whilst watching another couple take down their tent and shove it, soaking wet, into a large plastic bag, not good for tents.

We drove north again retracing some of the journey from yesterday and the forest looked a luxurious green which is not surprising after all the rain.

We were going to use the ferry from Rawhene to cross the inlet and as we had to wait for forty five minutes for the next service, Jennifer offered to get some coffee from a shop near where you parked whilst waiting for your departure. She returned holding two tins of pre-made coffee, I say pre-made as on the tin it said ‘Made in Taiwan’ and imported by a Wellington based company. It also said on the tin that it was to be stored in a cool place and drunk chilled for best taste. There was nothing on the tin about heating it up for several days and serving it hot. We threw most of it away and Noel has kept the tin for further investigation.

The ferry arrived and appeared to be operated by only one guy, god knows what would happen should he have an accident en-route.

Needless to say the rain was getting stronger and so we sat in the car and had some ham sandwiches and watched the cloudy and wet scenery.

By mid-afternoon we arrived back in the familiar territory of Ahipara and then back via Kaitaia till we arrived at Taipa.

Sheila prepared a nice salad for dinner and then we took off to visit the Swamp Palace cinema which was holding its annual ‘World Famous International Film festival, for the last time. We saw a film with Meryl Streep as a Catholic nun in a school, who suspects one of the priests of foul deeds with some of the boys in his care. It was a well made film with good acting but a difficult subject to cover and in the end it was depressing in that the priest was promoted out of the way to avoid problems. There are shades of real life here.

Wednesday 4th March- The rains are back

It started raining again in the night as forecast by the NZ Met centre although the camp site owners said it would be fine. So we lay in our proper bed in a cabin listening to the rain and glad we did not have a wet tent to deal with.
We decided to do a tour round the area and left after a latish breakfast and turned North to visit the Waipoua Forest which is the home of the oldest living tree called Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest). This Kauri tree has a girth of almost fourteen metres and stands with many other large Kauri trees in this tropical forest which reminded Noel of the forests in Malaysia with high rainfall and dense bush. If you walked ten metres into this forest and turned around several times you would never find your way out except by a slight chance or GPS system.

After leaving the forest we continued north until we came to the estuary and along one side there were small villages but on the other side high sand hills partly covered in grass and small tress and the two sides of the estuary had very different appearances. It was still pouring with rain and very misty and so no point in taking photos.
Just before we reached the next town we found a lone pig wandering along the highway, we are not sure if it is a wild animal or not and will ask our friends here. It seemed quite at home on the main road.
We arrived in the town of Kaikohe where the heavens opened just as we reached a small café for lunch. Jennifer had the ‘Lamb’s Fry’ which is Lamb’s liver on mashed potato which she devoured happily.
We continued our journey south driving through the hills, mountains and fields full of cows and sheep.
We spotted many Australasian Harriers, a hawk, which likes to eat road kill rather than waste time catching his food. One bird hung on to his lunch in the middle of the road as cars passed him at 30 kms per hour only inches from where he was standing. It was a case of ‘I am protected by law’ so you drive around me please but many birds are killed this way as they refuse to leave the prey in the road.
We arrived in Dargaville, where Noel found an internet shop and caught up on emails etc. We did some shopping and then headed back to the site after calling Brian and Sheila to say we would arrive one day early due to bad weather. There is not much point in sightseeing when it’s raining so hard you cannot see anything.
We read in the TV lounge/kitchen area which was quite comfortable.

Tuesday 3rd March- Go North whilst the sun is still shining

What a glorious day again, the sun was blazing down and by eight thirty am it was getting very warm. We actually got up early to call our daughter on Skype but failed, shame as we could have stayed in bed a bit longer.

It took us a little while to pack up the tent and make certain that it was fully clean and dry and in the meantime we had breakfast and watched the other guests at the park cook up all sorts of morning breakfast menus.

We left Waihi at about eleven thirty am and headed in the direction of Auckland and again went through the gorge and this time took some photos from the car, lets see how they come out. We continued on via Pearoa, which is famous for its soft drink called L & P, and then hit the State Highway One heading north to Auckland. We arrived in South Auckland around lunchtime and it took about an hour driving from North to South of Auckland City and over the famous Auckland Harbour Bridge. The journey then continued North on the new toll road and passed through Silverdale and Warkworth and continued up to Brynderwyn where we turned West on SH 12 in the direction of Dargaville.

A little food shopping in Dargavile and the weather was still very warm indeed and we finally arrived at the Kauri Coast Top 10 Holiday Park which is situated in a wooded valley and surrounded by rivers. We double checked the weather as if it was going to be fine for three days then we would use the tent but if not we would stay two nights and rent a small cabin. So it was the cabin as we do not want to take any chance that we cannot have a dry tent should we decided to take the tent back to UK.

This site is very nice indeed and as mentioned it is in a valley and surrounded by rivers which are good for fishing and swimming. There is a school party here camping and so it’s a little noisy with exited kids running around and so we assume they must have arrived today.

Tomorrow we plan to perhaps visit Dargaville and also the Kauri Tree forest and then generally take it easy. The bad weather is due to start on Wednesday afternoon and with heavy rain forecast for Thursday and Friday we shall probably go to Brian and Sheila perhaps a day early as there is no point in sightseeing in the heavy rain also the Holiday Park is quite booked up from Thursday night we understand.

We are also beginning to feel a little tired as we have done quite a bit of travelling, around 5000 kilometres we think, and have had some very cold and wet times and so our thoughts are beginning to turn to home, hopefully the weather is better now.

Monday 2nd March- More twists and turns than an Agatha Christie Novel

The sun was shining first thing this morning which promised a good day ahead. An early breakfast was followed by ablutions and in the few minutes that we visited the showers it rained heavily for ten minutes and then stopped. Lucky we had closed the tent up otherwise we would have a wet problem again.
We left the site at Waihi and headed on the main road through the Paukikauri Gorge which looked quite beautiful but unfortunately there were no places to stop and take photos. There is a walkway along the side of the gorge which would be good to attempt but this will be for another day when we have more time.
The road took us to a place called Thames, which also happens to be the site of the Toyota Motor Company Plant, and this is quite a large town before we started heading North in the direction of Coramandel Township. The journey was very twisty with the road changing direction after each 100 yards or so.
We arrived in Coramandel Town and we were both surprised as we had expected that it would be rather more upmarket but the opposite was in fact the case and many of the old houses still remain and give it a quaint feel. We had lunch in a little café and then continued heading north for a while but realising we would have to return the same way and so we turned round and then headed towards the east coast. Both of us agree that the east coast is far more attractive and dramatic than the west coast, although the road does run right alongside the sea for many miles and lord help you if make a wrong turn or lose concentration as you are in the oggin!.
Back in Whitianga we drove down through the glorious hills via the Twin Kauri forest and back to Waihi where we stopped for a well earned ice cream. The ice cream here from the supplier Tip Top is of very good quality and almost as good as some of the American ice creams.
During today we have travelled about one hundred and fifty miles and at least sixty per cent of the journey was through very twisty roads up and down hill and it was very tiring for both driver and passenger. We would hate to live in this place and have to do this journey on a regular basis as it would eventually make you giddy all the time. Back in camp we started our preparations for packing up tomorrow as we leave for the Kauri Coast which is on the west coast where there are more Kauri trees and forest and National Parks to visit.
Unfortunately, the weather forecasters are promising heavy rain again for Thursday and Friday which may mean we will have to change our plans again due to inclement weather.

Sunday 1st March - Are we in the same country?

The sun was shining and it was getting quite warm by around 8.30 am and so we had to get out of bed and have breakfast down in the kitchen area. As we sat outside of the kitchen in the sun having breakfast it was hard to believe we were in the same country based on yesterday’s weather.

We spent a short time sorting out the tent and then headed North on the main SH 25 towards Whangamata where we had a coffee. This is an upmarket little town for people with money who need a place away from Auckland. There are some great houses near the beach with great views and we also spot a very well maintained MG Vintage car. Upon leaving this town we also came across a super looking Morris Minor and a few minutes later a MGB.

The journey so far had been through very hilly country where there had been a certain amount of logging which tends to ruin the view.

After coffee we left and then continued North on SH 25 to Tairua where we stopped for a few moments and then went to Hot Water Beach. This beach is quite unique and you can rent a spade and at certain times of day dig a hole in the sand which then quickly fills with boiling hat water which you can sit in providing your lower parts are quite tough.

We then visited another camp site at Hahei and it is really a very good holiday park which we would certainly stay at another time. The views from the beach are superb with great sand and beautiful colour of the sea with the small islands in the background.

Following a brief lunch overlooking the bay and watching the surfers we continued north until we came to the town of Whitianga which is an old town with major new building of private houses taking place. We passed one area where the houses are built alongside the river where channels have been dug so that the houses are surrounded by water where you can tie up your boat outside your house.

This is a great idea if you have a boat and don’t want to pay Auckland prices but the rest of the town is not so attractive.

We also visited another Holiday Park that we had seen on the web but it was rather basic and not worth consideration.

We decided to head back to Waihi which took about a couple of hours of driving and dropped into the town to do some shopping.

Dinner tonight was steak with a melee of vegetables. Alongside us in the kitchen was a Japanese family who seemed to be cooking for the whole Japanese army but a few minutes later the rest of the family turned up to demolish all that was cooked.

Tomorrow we head to the west coast and drive north again up to Coramandel Town and then go as far as we can on the peninsular.

Saturday 28th February - Did we mention the rain or more likely the Car Wash

We awoke in the night to hear the tent shaking and the wind racing through the site accompanied by very heavy rain indeed.

It’s very difficult lying in a tent listening to the heavy rain when you need to go to the loo but eventually the time had come and we both got a little wet on our short journey. The rain was more like a car wash than a little rainfall and being blown at wind speeds of about 40 mph.

The inside of the tent is very dry indeed which is quite amazing considering all the rain since ten pm last night. The Camp Site is nearly awash and where we are set up next to a small stream when we arrived is now a raging torrent. By 0930 there was no sign of it abating and rather then get very wet again we decided to cheat and go to a small café on the beachfront for breakfast. When we arrived at the café the wind and rain was unbelievable and almost the same as typhoon rain in Hong Kong.

We had a nice breakfast and looked at the mornings papers which had on the front page warnings about heavy rain all Saturday and in to Sunday perhaps. It is expected to be so bad that all emergency services are on standby as they expect to lose power and communication cables in the bad weather. It’s a pity the camp site did not tell us about this as we may have plumped for a Motel instead.

Just to make sure the tent was fully secure, Noel wandered around in just his underpants in the pouring rain, really not a pleasant site, to make the tent fully safe with extra pegs and guy ropes to stop it blowing away.

The tent has actually been great with no water in the bedroom but a little in the outside area but when you consider that roads are flooded and closed it’s not surprising that a little water got in.

We decided to take a trip into Waihi but the rain was so bad there was no point in getting out of the car and so we went for a short drive but it is so wet and grey that sightseeing is impossible.

We carried out some shopping at New World Supermarket in Waihi town and then we headed back for an afternoon in the lounge reading and catching up on internet stuff, emails etc.

This has to be one of the worst days we have ever camped in, including our stays in Europe, in terms of rain and wind but we survived well. Dinner that night we cooked salmon in pasta with a nice bottle of Chardonnay went down well.

By late evening the wind and rain had started to diminish and there was only a light rain when we went to bed.

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.