New Zealand beckons!

We arrived in Auckland at 5:45 a.m. after a 12 hr flight from LA. Auckland is 19 hrs ahead of PDT so we lost a day coming here (left Sunday night and arrived Tuesday morning).  The row we were in had three seats and just the two of us. The seats had the ability to make into a bed of sorts by lifting the leg rests into a horizontal position. If we nestled like spoons on our sides with our heads at the window we could lie down. The problem was that it was very tight and I had seat belt buckles pressing into my body at various points. Neither of us slept well even when we faced the other way. My body was totally torqued from the experience.

Our backpackers’ hostel was great. We had booked a double en suite room and we loved it. High ceilings with a veranda overlooking a park. We are in a great neighborhood with nifty shops and restaurants. After checking in we showered and found a lovely place nearby for breakfast. Food is expensive here. Our breakfast was about $35 US.

We walked into the heart of downtown, sight seeing along the way. Auckland’s Town Hall, a lovely art nouveau building, the Civic Theater, The Sky Tower, the University Clock Tower, the Old Government House, a former synagogue from the 1800’s and We saw a copy of Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses in a park, We walked to the harbor and had a delicious lunch at a seafood restaurant that had been recommended by friends in Portland. We sat on the veranda overlooking the harbor. What a lovely city and our weather was perfect: sunny and warm. We walked back to our hotel using a different route and were quite tired by the time we returned to the hostel around 4:00. We took a nap and went out for Thai food for dinner. By 8:30 we were asleep.

Auckland is a very clean city and appears to be quite prosperous. On

our second day we made breakfast in the kitchen of the hostel. We had bought some coffee, granola, and fruit the night before. We took a bus to the Auckland Museum which houses one of the best collections of Maori artifacts and crafts. The carvings are fabulous. We hope to find a mask we like to add to our collection.  We watched a live performance of Maori song and dance at the museum.

We ate lunch at the museum café and spent a little more time with exhibits before heading out and walking down Parnell Road. We visited St Mary’s church, the largest wooden Gothic Revival Church.  We continued walking, stopping into several antique stores. We stopped for tea and pastries and to rest our weary feet. We walked to the car rental so tomorrow we could find it easily as we will head north early. We took a bus back to our hostel and rested before heading out for dinner.

April 11, 2013

We took a bus to the car rental agency and picked up our car. On the way back to the hostel we thought we were lost but it turned out we weren't.  We checked out of our lovely hostel and headed north to Paihia on the east coast about 3.5 hrs north of Auckland. It is lovely here. This area is called the Bay of Islands as there are a few larger islands and hundreds of smaller one. It reminds me of the San Juan Islands in Washington. The town where we are staying is a charming beach community unlike most of our tacky beach communities. We are in another great hostel, this one is a converted motel and close to the beach. We did a load of laundry so we are set for another few days.

Along the way we stopped in a small town known for a local artist who decorated parts of the town, including the public toilet.

We took a ferry to Russell Island and walked around then had a
sumptuous dinner is historic Marlborough Hotel, almost 200 years old. Our lamb shoulder had been cooked for eight hours and melted in our mouths. Back onto the ferry and another early night to bed.

April 12, 2013

We had planned to sleep in, but woke up at 5:00 AM. Guess jet lag is with us still. We drifted off briefly but eventually got up, did some stretches/floor exercises then showered and had breakfast. Afterwards we walked into town along the beach. It was another beautiful day. We got back in the car and headed back south and stopped at an art studio of a famous NZ sculptor and admired his very large kauri sculptures. We continued south stopping at Whangerei and walked along the harbor admiring yachts after visiting an art gallery. We did some quick grocery shopping for more breakfast items and hopped back into the car. Later we stopped and had a picnic lunch with some of last night’s leftovers. We made a short espresso stop at a sweet little café on a hilltop. We arrived at Orewa, a small beach community in mid afternoon. After checking in at our hostel, we took a long walk at a lovely reserve that was like a dense rain forest with huge tree ferns, palms and kauri trees that can reach 150 ft in height and 24 feet in circumference.  We returned to our room and rested a bit before walking to an Indian restaurant
for a yummy dinner.

Every place we have been we find clean and tidy towns. Rarely do we see litter or any signs of poverty. It appears prosperous here.  I am eager to see our friends in Wellington to find out more about the economy here. I am struck by the flora here. I have seen bay laurels, Scottish broom, conifers, trees ferns, all kinds of palms.

April 13, 2013

Today we got up early and drove to Otara, just a wee bit south of Auckland where there is a large Maori Saturday market. We hoped to find some wood carvings but alas there was only one booth with carvings. Half of the other booths were cheap clothes: socks from S Korea, cheap imports from China, Polynesian themed shirts, etc.  The other half was food booths smelling of rancid oil. Not very appetizing. We zipped through and got back on the road.

We arrived at Thames which Captain Cook named after the Thames of England. Not sure what he had in mind! It was a sweet little town and they were having a Saturday market as well. The vendors lined the main street and we bought some salami and fresh rye bread for picnic lunches and I found a lovely bone carving for my cousin in SC. We stooped for a coffee and muffin, yum and then perused some shops. We found a great antique store with fine wood furniture. We went back to our hostel and chatted with a young Belgian man who had broken his ankle while hiking here. We had an interesting conversation about how the world has changed. He lamented that now people didn't trust one another and that neighbors didn't know each other.

Afterwards we went back to town for lunch and took off to take some shorts walks in the nearby forest. We visited a model dam that were used to log the kauri forests. These trees live for 2,000 years and reach a height of 150 ft and up 12 ft in diameter. The peninsular was heavily logged for 100 years and the forests all but disappeared as a result. Now they are trying to replant but these trees grow very slowly. We took another hike to Hoffman’s pool where there were remains of an old railroad trestle.

We rested briefly back at our hostel then walked to town for the third time for dinner. We retired.

April 14

At 6:00 a.m. we were awakened by a town alarm to call volunteer firemen. We decided to get an early start so we could explore the Coromandel Peninsular. We were on the road by 7:30 and took a brief detour to take a short hike to see the Square Kauri. This is a tree that is 1,200 years old and nine meters wide (over 27 ft). It was spared from being logged due to its angular shape. What a tree!

We arrived at Coromandel Town early so our room wasn’t ready. We dashed over to the Driving Creek Railway and Pottery. This is a labor of love, a lifelong work of Barry Brickell. He started this project in 1971 to be able to haul clay on his property to his workshop. It grew with time. In the 1990’s he realized that maybe people would be interested in riding on this railway and opened it to the public. The income from the tourists allowed him to expand the line. His first year there were 1,500 riders and  this year there were 60,000. The railway is now 3 kilometers long and climbs over 120 meters. There were incredible views from the train and quirky treats with various ceramic sculptures along the way, walls made from bottles or tires, and hand made brick walls.

 Ron took lots of great photos which he will post. As touristy as this sounds it was a humbling experience. Barry and his crew have planted over 9,000 kauri trees on his 60 acres as well as building this railway which was an engineering feat. They also have built the railway cars. He initially funded this by the sale of his pottery so it was slow going but after he opened it up to tourists he was able to do more. He does not take a salary from the ticket sales. He still earns his money from his pottery sales. He has a staff of 12 who do everything was driving the trains, making pottery, building and maintaining the railway and ticket sales.

We stopped in town to get some groceries and headed across the peninsular to explore. What a drop dead gorgeous place. We climbed over the mountainous spine and saw beautiful farms along the way. Today is the first time we actually saw a house or two that  needed painting. Most of the time, we have seen well maintained homes and farms. We are eager to meet with some New Zealanders and find out more about the state of their economy, tax structure and the like. Half way to the east coast of the peninsular we stopped by the bay and had a yummy picnic of bread, cheese, salami and corn ships topped off with dark chocolate. We had planned to see the Cathedral Cove but when we arrived on the other side we discovered that in addition to another 40 minute drive it entailed an hour and a half walk. Given the time of day we decided to not go. We were content with the scenery we viewed along the way. We came back and did some laundry and hung it out to dry. The hostels that provide washing machine often do not have dryers. I hung out the laundry and when we went to dinner I brought the clothes into our room and hung them on chairs and towel racks to finish drying. This area is noted for their green lipped mussels so we went to a café that served fresh seafood and had a famous meal of mussels: chowder, baked mussels, marinated mussels, and mussel pate. YUM!