Helen and Randall on the road

Sunday was all about the drive from Motueka to Westport. Oh, and there was some kind of sporting event taking place, I believe.

Anyhow, early Monday morning, a national holiday (no NOT just because of the rugby!) we met our very slightly hungover guide Lynne at the Charleston Cave Rafting company and got kitted out with hideous orange thick, thick wetsuits, caving helmets, gloves, boots and lifejackets, then headed off to the toy train station to take us into the national park:

Getting changed into our wetsuits on the platform was hilarious – luckily we’d been warned to wear swimsuits under our clothes and to pack dry pants!

Then we had a rather sweaty hike through the forest and up the mountain to the entrance to the cave system, carrying our inner tubes:

and a bit of caving…no actual squeezes but a fair amount of scrambling and scrunching.

Then the bit we’d been waiting for…sitting in our rubber rings and drifting slowly with the current through the cave that was lit only by the lights of thousands of glow worms. Actually getting into the rubber rings (and out of them again) was pretty funny. Not the most elegant.

Eventually we popped out of the cave system and onto the Nile river (really) to surf down some gentle rapids to the pick-up point:

Highly recommend this experience if you happen to be in the area.

The drive from Charleston to our next port of call, Franz Josef, was spectacular both in terms of the scenery – stunning surf-washed beaches then winding mountain roads – and in terms of the vehicles we were sharing the road with. Either vintage cars are very fashionable on the West Coast or there was some kind of convention, as we were following and passing everything from beautifully maintained Ford Mustangs to cars that looked like the bastard offspring of a 1950s Chrysler and a Wurlizer jukebox.

A big cheer for Perrine Moncrieff without whose sterling efforts the Abel Tasman national park would not have come into being (and would probably have been logged out of existence).

After two boring days of work we arrived in Motueka on the edge of the park on Friday afternoon, but only after missing a crucial turning and taking a rather long but very scenic detour…

Then Saturday was an early start for sea kayaking into the park.

As has become the norm, we had glorious weather while driving, but on the morning of our trip into the park it was inevitably raining…

Still, Sam the kayaking guide was a cheery chap who imparted plenty of interesting facts about the flora and fauna and the history of the area and gave us plenty of breaks as it was tough paddling in the rather bumpy seas,  and despite sharing a double kayak:

Randall and I did not strangle each other so all good. As it was raining and we were in the sea we didn’t get many photos, but here is a rather splendid one of us in our matching gnome hats:

After getting back, changing into our dry clothes and eating our lunch we were off on the next part of the day, a boat trip to see a seal colony and get dropped off at a point further into the park to do a hike:

This is ‘Split Apple Rock’ which is where we kayaked to earlier in the day:

Then after calling to see the seals (impossible to photograph but very cool – a bit like aquatic cats) we got dropped off at Tonga Quarry to hike part of the Abel Tasman coastal track:

This beautiful beach is where we got picked up by the water taxi, but not before getting pecked speculatively by very curious and greedy ducks:

The crossing from Wellington to Picton (North to South Island) across the Cook Strait.

Beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound

Bizarre signage!

Arriving in Picton, South Island

Bizarre signage #2

Picton Top10 Campsite

After driving down from Hawkes Bay in glorious sunshine, we crossed the Rimutaka range and emerged into cold, wet and windy Wellington where I went for a swim (in the pool!) on the waterfront and then we went to meet up with David Beer (old family friend) and his New Zealand family:

Someone looks like Aunty Rachel…

They kindly put us up in a spare room, then David took a day off his landscape design business Eden Gardens to show us around Wellington, starting with the Waterfront:

Stylish public loos, Welly waterfront

Coffee Bus

City to Sea Bridge

Then to the incredible Te Papa which reminded me of the old Commonwealth Institute building but bang up to date.

Curry menu del dia for lunch!

Constitutional up Mt Victoria after calling round to pick up Lucy and Jasmine:

Then off to The Weta Cave – the public face of the company that has made the special effects for Peter Jackson from Bad Taste through to Lord of the Rings as well as for loads of other films – where Randall got to meet Gollum:

Little CJ from District 9

with a stop off for Hokey Pokey ice cream:

before a short hike up to the Ataturk Memorial for fabulous 360 views of the city.

Then it was beer-o-clock so we started in the legendary Welsh Bar:

Before heading over to Hashigo Zake, one of David (a craft beer buff)’s favourites, then the Tap Haus with it’s astonishing range of beers and incredibly enthusiastic bar man who had me tasting several of the the 8.5% (I)IPAs (yum!):

For my birthday Randall treated me to breakfast (well, breakfast and second breakfast if I’m honest) at the lovely Hawkes Bay Farmers Market:

Randall in his floral bower

Then we hiked up to the summit of Te Mata Peak for glorious views:

but not before going a not entirely intentional ‘scenic route’ that took in some redwoods:

Randall’s Racing Green catalogue pose.

Then after a bit of a spruce up it was off to the Elephant Hill winery again for dinner:

Beautiful food (so much so that we mostly forgot to photograph it!): Scallops, Duck, Steak, Papaya Alaska and super-lemony lemony shortcake.

We were the only people in the restaurant after about 8.30 as the All Blacks were playing the Aussies in the semi-final (they won!) which was rather nice actually as the staff were fantastic (and getting occasional updates in the kitchen!).

Lovely drive from Taupo to Napier and then on to Clive to the Clive Colonial Cottages where Randall had booked us in for my birthday.

A bed! A REAL bed!

The lovely owners were kind enough (although possibly unwise) to lend us bikes and suggest an itinerary that took in several vineyards. As it turned out this was less of an alarming prospect than it originally sounded as most of the cycling was on a network of dedicated cycle paths away from the road. They’ve really thought this wine/bike thing through in Hawkes Bay apparently.

Erk!

The journey was quite beautiful, following the coast on one side and on the other apple orchards (this is fruit country) and vineyards. We rode out as far as the Te Awanga estate:

Where we sat and contemplated the view down across the vineyards to the sea, and stuffed our faces with the sharing platter, then got stuck into the wine tasting with the brilliant vintner/sommelier/whatever they are called, who even managed to engage Randall by talking wine chemistry; explaining that when you swish the glass you are not just ‘releasing the aroma’ but ‘volatising the esters’ and so forth, which was a great conversation to listen in to (with glass of wine in hand…) – we managed to leave with two bottles of the incredible Viognier (for those what is interested, it’s very slightly oaked which gives it what I found was the missing note in a Viognier).

The next vineyard was Clearview but we had already missed the cellar door timings for them so we went straight on to Elephant Hill who have an all day restaurant to were bound to be open. They weren’t doing tastings any more (again, finished at 5pm!) but we had a bottle of the 2008 Sauv Blanc Reserve with some bread and locally made olive oil (divine!) and made a booking for the next night for dinner, before toddling and swerving home in the twilight in time for a bottle of Viognier, cheese and crackers, and bed.

Friday we arrived at Lake Taupo and headed to Wairakei – a geothermal park where they are ‘artificially’ recreating the Pink and White Terraces ‘  that were destroyed in 1886 by the eruption of the Mt Tarawera volcano:

The water from the geyser comes out superheated to 130 degrees C.

The original terraces were all natural, but these have had the terrace shape created, but the silica is being laid down naturally by the volcanic waters.

The colours and shapes are quite astounding.

After lunch we walked (it was a bit gentle to call a hike) to Huka Falls along the Waikato river which flows out of Lake Taupo. The waters of the river are stunningly clear, and a number of hot streams run into it:

Randall dipping his toes in the hot water stream.

Wednesday afternoon – hike up to Whakapipi lookout (or ‘Bald Spur’ to Randall’s great amusement):

We stayed up late drinking beer and chatting with Sam and Jody who we met at the campsite, then Thursday morning we met Rosa (girl who lived on the camp site with her dad) and Abby the sheep, her hand-reared pet lamb. Apparently she would have one each year, and at the appropriate time they would be shipped off to slaughter with their contemporaries, but Abby was hilariously pet-like, coming when called etc…very weird.

Then we did a beautiful hike to Wairere falls:

Ensuring we had permits for all our firearms…

The hike follows the river up to a lookout over the falls, with several bridges to cross and in some points steps to climb up the side of the gorge. Just beautiful.

After the hike we headed back into town to the tiny council run Te Aroha Mineral Baths as we had a discount offer on a private mineral bath session AND I got a fantastic massage. Mmmmmmmm.

Definitely room for two, even when one of them is Randall.

Tuesday afternoon’s arrival in Rotorua was a bit of a write off due to inclement weather, although I did sit in the camp site’s hot pools in the rain which was quite nice:

The camp kitchen was busy and slightly competitive, with roast chickens and apple crumbles being pulled out of ovens, and seared salmon steaks with halloumi cheese salad in evidence (I shamelessly stole the idea for that last one for the next night’s dinner). Our one-pot curry was a bit underwhelming though.

Breakfast the next morning made up for it though:

Smoked salmon & scrambled eggs, raisin toast and 5 seed bread toast, OJ, muesli and proper coffee.

This fortified us for a walk around the Blue Lake, which was a bit of a hack through the jungle in parts as the path was submerged beneath the flood waters, but it was quite lovely, and the water spectacularly clear. So much so that we were tempted to hire a kayak. But not that tempted.

Then it was back to the camp site to sit in the hot mineral water pools:

before the rain started again in earnest and we had to retreat (along with the campsite fluffy black and white cat) to the TV room, then dinner and another early-ish night feeling a bit sorry for the people in the two-man tent camped next to our van.

Thursday was Geyser day with a visit to Whakarewarewa Thermal Village where 60 Maori live a semi-traditional life using the volcanic thermal waters and steam for bathing and cooking (although they do cheat and have electricity and running water in their houses too!):

Cooking using steam and geothermal hot water.

Beautiful thermal pools for cooking & bathing, & the ‘cooling pools’ between them.

Helen and some Geyser (fnar)

Geyser action from the Prince of Wales feathers (right) and Pohutu (left – ‘the big splash’ in Maori apparently!).

How to make a skirt from flax and natural dyes and fixatives.

Wet and soggy Waitomo (well, when we were there) is famous for its cave complexes and we had a discount deal for the ‘triple combo’ of the Waitomo Glowworm caves, the Ruakuri caves and the Aranui cave so after a night in the cosy Juno Backpackers campsite and hostel we headed to the amazing Visitors Centre:

jjl

Then into the three cave complexes:

Glow maggot strands (like webs, for catching food)

Why ‘glow maggots?’ Well they are maggots or larvae rather than worms, but obviously that doesn’t look so good on the brochures. However I am nothing if not a pedant. They are rather fabulous little creatures who spin themselves a hammock out of mucus/saliva and then dangle sticky mucus/saliva threads to catch insects which they eat until they have enough calories to do the whole chrysalis/goo/insect thing after which they live for 5 hours/5 days  (gender related).

The boat journey (about 10 minutes in complete silence as the guide uses ropes strung across the caves) is through the dark so the glowworms are like tiny constellations in a cold damp sky, and we emerge eventually through the river entrance that the early explorers of the cave went in by.

After lunch in the car park:

Proper backpackers’ cooking!

We headed off to stinky Rotorua for volcanic hot pools, geysers etc.