Day 11, Wellington to Picton

We woke early as is normal and headed down to the hotel restaurant. We had the continental breakfast and made the mistake of ordering coffee as flat whites were not available. UGH! How a nation can make wonderful flat white coffee and serve this other disgusting stuff is beyond my comprehension. Out into the sunshine we went to drive up to Mount Victoria that overlooks the city. The views are stunning and we took many photographs as the 360-degree view is worth remembering. The homes that are perched on the slopes are incredible and VERY expensive. If they ever got snow here they would not be accessible as the roads are narrow and VERY steep. Cars are parked on the street and there is barely room to get by in places. We left Mt Victoria and went to the Parliament buildings and took an excellent guided tour. Parliament was not sitting so we were able to enter the floor of the “debating chamber” as well as the old upper house chamber that is no longer used as the Kiwis abolished the senate a few decades ago. We left the buildings and were greeted by a $200 ticket on the windshield! I was pleased to see that it was for a improperly registered vehicle and not a parking violation. (I made a photocopy of the ticket as I expect to have to fight this potential charge on my credit card) It was about noon and we decided to drive to the ferry terminal and try to catch an earlier ship. Unfortunately the 2 o’clock ferry was fully booked so we headed back into town and were happy to find a restaurant overlooking the harbour that had a good salad bar. It is interesting to note that it is not easy finding green salads here. Most of the meals centre on meat and potatoes and have very few greens. We lingered over lunch and finally checked into the ferry and dropped the rental car off around 4pm for the 6:15 departure. We boarded around 5:45 and found a seat next to a window and settled in for the crossing. The sea was calm and the sun was shinning most of the 3 hours crossing to the south island and I made several trips to the observation deck to soak up the salt air and capture more photographs. We had a less than memorable meal of fish and chips on board and arrived in Picton in a light drizzle to discover that the Europe Car booth was unmanned and closed for the rest of the night! Evidently, they somehow fouled up the reservations and thought we were arriving on the 1 pm ferry. (Look for future posting on Europe Car's quality service) I asked several people about getting a taxi and they asked if we had a reservation (difficult to do when one expects a rental car to be in place!), as they were difficult to acquire this late in the evening. It was now 10 pm and with no other option we commandeered a baggage cart loaded all our luggage on and walked out of the ferry terminal in a light rain towards the thriving metropolis of Picton. We felt like street people with all our belongings in a shopping cart, winding our way into this sleepy town. We only took about 20 minutes to find the Broadway Motel and were greeted warmly and shown to our room. It turns out that it the nicest place (rented) we have stayed at yet. Our room has a very large spa bath and we made good use of it before retiring to a full nights sleep.

Day 10, National Park to Wellington

The day awakened slowly as did my knees. Another Motrin! It was overcast and the clouds were fairly low and you could only see the lower third of the three volcanoes. Both Mary and I commented on how lucky we were to have had the picture perfect day on our crossing. We headed out of town without breakfast and stopped at a petrol station to post some postcards home. Thirty kms down the rode we stopped in a small town for muffins and of course two flat whites. Flat whites are the crack cocaine of the coffee world; we are constantly searching for café’s that serve them. Mount Ruapehu finally faded from our view over our left shoulders as we headed south to Wellington. Mary took over the wheel of our Mitsubishi Lancer and we continued south. I will be perfectly honest here and say that I am not a good passenger sitting in the left seat of a right hand driven car. After several shrieks of terror and general uncomfortableness I settled in for a hour or so. Mary became increasingly agitated at me and finally as we approached Wellington she said she had had enough of my back seat driving and handed me the keys! We landed in the center of Wellington the capital of NZ right at lunch and were faced with a myriad of one way streets and of course the typical NZ road signs that tell you where to go at the last possible moment causing you to miss at least half the turnoffs as you can not conceivably make the turn in heavy traffic. We finally found an I-site and found parking fairly close by. We discovered that there were hardly any rooms available in the region as the International World Rugby 7”s tournament was in town. After checking half a dozen B&B’s as well as hotels we settled on the Bay Plaza on Oriental Parade Street. $152.00 a night for average accommodation. Mary and I were getting a little testy with one another at this point and we returned to the car to be stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes while the Rugby parade blocked all the downtown streets solidly. I was lucky enough to see the Canadian Team pass by and shouted my support. It was a pretty lonely voice amongst the crowd that was present. We finally found our hotel and carried all our gear in and headed out to Te Papa, which is the national museum of NZ. It is a beautifully laid out building with great exhibits of Maori artifacts and historical information. After spending a few hours inside we headed out into a light drizzle and came upon a small Italian restaurant and entered for some pasta. They said that there were booked but could find us a place near the back and we had a good feed of Spaghetti. I must say that the service could be described as poor at best. It is about the only time that leaving no tip was the proper thing to do. The service levels generally in NZ have been below our expectations and coming from Canada where we are not known for great service to begin with. We called it a early night and were asleep by 11 after trying to catch up on emails and updating the blog.

Day 9 The Tongariro Crossing!

We woke up at about 6 and quickly showered and assembled our gear for a final check. The air was frosty and you could see you breath in the morning sunshine. We opted for the cooked breakfast, as we wanted as much reserve food energy as we could. We filled up the water bottles and boarded the bus for the 30 ride to Mangatepopo parking lot where the 17 km crossing starts. The weather was perfect 10 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. When I did the crossing in 2005 we didn’t see the first half of the climb, as the weather was dreadful. We began the climb and after 1 hour we arrived at Soda Springs. The day was heating up and we removed our polar fleece jackets and the legs to our pants, as all that was needed was shorts and a light shirt. The view was stunning as the perfect cinder cone shape of Ngaurahohe volcano (Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings) was overwhelming. We began our climb up and up and up and up for almost 2 hours over a rock strewn difficult path. I places you have to step up onto ledges that are 18 inches high for long sections and you must pause frequently to catch your breath and give your quivering legs a chance to recover. When you are not looking down at your feet the views are overwhelming in their beauty. It became colder as we gained altitude and as we reached the summit and crossed the saddle the wind was howling and we had to use the straps to hold our hats on, as they would have been long gone and probably sitting at the bottom of Red Crater. After 3 hours we had gained about 850 meters in height and were rewarded with some of the most spectacular vistas you can imagine. Photographs do not do justice to this awe-inspiring landscape. We crested the saddle and looked down on the Emerald Lakes and simply gazed in wonderment at the sight. We had met a young girl named Ami from Edmonton who shared picture-taking responsibilities with us and walked with us for most of the day. Ami was in NZ to work for a few months before returning to Alberta to work to earn more money for her next trip abroad. She defiantly had the travel bug and kept us entertained along the track. We would our way across the main crater and lave field to make the final little climb and then began our long decent. We crested the crater rim and gazed on Blue Lake and walked along the edge until we turned the corner and started down in earnest. We finally saw Ketehahi hut our destination for lunch in the distance. It seemed like a few hundred meters away but took us over an hour descending on the track that switched back and forth. Each steps was becoming more and more difficult for me as my old creaky knees began to rebel. We arrived and made cheese sandwiches had some fruit and nuts, reapplied our sunscreen and started down the track once again. Winding trough the tussock grass and stepping down with every step was both beautiful and painful with every step. Finally we arrived in the bush section and were engulfed by trees and the sounds of birds. The small spring parallels the track and was a constant reminder of the pristine beauty of this place. We finally came around the corner and emerged into the parking lot to wait for our bus back to the lodge. We finished the track in 7 hours and sat in the cool shade for an hour watching all the hikers arrive. Everyone had a look of accomplishment on his or her faces and we all understood that we had just completed one of the top one-day hikes in the world both for difficulty and sheer beauty. Maybe in another 10 years Mary and I will return to do it one more time! For know another two Motrin’s and a hearty meal awaits us at the Railway Station Restaurant in the village of National Park.

Day 8 Pukekohe to Tongariro National Park

Once again we were up early and after a leisurely breakfast we followed Mark and Margaret to one of the green houses the company Mark is a director for owns. Mark had arranged a tour of the 41 acre green house dedicated to growing tomatoes for the NZ market as well as Japan and Australian. It was a fascinating tour and gave us a new appreciation for the tomatoes that you see on the grocer’s shelf. We said goodbye to Mark & Margaret knowing that we will see them in a few months, as they will be visiting us in Guelph. It will be great being able to return some of the hospitality that they have shown us.

Back on the motorway heading south to Waitomo where we did a tour of the Glow Worm caves and the Aranui Cave. The formations were breathtaking and the boat trip on the underground river to view the glowworms is something that we will remember for a long time. It was difficult to imagine that you were 50 meters underground and looking at little worms glowing on the ceiling and not a starry night while floating through a forest and seeing the stars through the trees. Back on the road after lunch and finally arrived in National Park Village and checked into Howard’s Lodge. We headed out for a great dinner of lamb shanks for me and Mom had a gigantic feed of razor back ribs. Each rib was about 9 inches long and was loaded with meat. We got back to the lodge and got all our gear ready for the Tongariro Crossing planned for the next day. We were very excited and the anticipation of the trek made a full nights sleep almost impossible. The weather forecast looks favorable and we can’t wait!

Day 7 Pukekohe and Auckland area

Sunday morning dawned clear and sunny and we made our way up the west coast to the Waitakere Ranges and did a short walk in the bush to stretch our legs and made our way over to Piha Beach. This was the beach used in the movie the Piano. We walked along the black sand beaches for about an hour and then made our way back and found a little café for a late lunch of fired potato and kumara chips and of course flat white coffee! Mark drove back into Auckland and we ascended One Tree Hill and had a great view of Auckland. We drove back to Pukekohe and changed our clothes and made our way over to Merv & Quita’s for a spectacular dinner. The Ah Chee’s new home is absolutely beautiful and Quita showed Mary and I around. They have done an outstanding job in designing and building an incredibly livable home. Merv is a caterer by vocation and he made the most delectable meal where the food just keep coming until we finally gave up trying to eat any more. We drank wine and laughed for hours and finally headed back to the Tregidga’s and tumbled into bed.

Day 6 Pauanui to Pukekohe

Mike and Judy prepared a wonderful brunch and we slowly packed up and said a very sad goodbye to our fantastic Kiwi hosts. The Bearman’s once again invited me into their home and we all parted great friends. I can only hope that they will visit us soon in Canada so that we may reciprocate in some small way to show our appreciation. We piled in to the car and made our way toward Auckland by driving over the Coromandel Range and seeing breath-taking scenery while winding up and down and around! We found one section of road that was straight for about 500 meters, what a gift. We crossed the Huraki Plains in record time, as the roads are actually straight for kilometers! We found the turnoff to Pukekohe and Grace James Rd. where Mark & Margaret Tregidga live. We drove down the long driveway and parked the car and were immediately greeted by Shadow their Golden Retriever. Mark and Margaret came through the front door and we all reintroduced ourselves and entered into their home. We had a quick tour and then walked around the property. I was amazed how much the plantings had grown since my previous visit in 2005. They have planted more than 3000 trees and shrubs and it looks beautiful. It was now about 4:30 and the guests to the BBQ were arriving. I was so happy to see John and Annie Rennie and Gratton & Verna O’Connell. Both these couples hosted my on my previous visit and it was wonderful meeting them again. The others that were able to join us for the gathering were Beryl & Colin Robinson, Colin & Louise Mathieson and Merv & Quita Ah Chee. It was so nice that Mary was able to meet all these very special people and can now call them friends. After a very long day we dad a quite cup of tea and then retired to our bedroom for another full nights sleep

Day 5 Pauanui

Awoke early once again and took our time getting ready for the day. Breakfast was cereal with fresh fruit and toast with a nice cuppa! Mike and I walked into the thriving metropolis of Pauanui (pop. 2500?) to pick up the newspaper and stretch our legs. We piled in the Bearman’s Isuzu and started off to do a little sightseeing on the eastern shore of the Coromandel Peninsula. The eastern shore is absolutely spectacular with pristine beaches and hidden coves. Our first stop was Hot Water Beach that has hot volcanic water that fills holes dug in the sand within two hours of low tide. While we missed the time slot you could see the depressions where people had enjoyed the phenomenon of hot water mixing with the relatively cool Pacific Ocean. We climbed back in the Isuzu and made our way north to our next stop at Hahei beach. We then proceeded north to Cathedral Cove that is accessed by hiking about 3 km’s in native bush down to this beautiful hidden cove. Mary and I swam for about an hour and finished with a fresh water shower standing under a waterfall that cascaded off the cliff from about 15 meters up the rock face. We all walked along the beach for about 100 meters and walked through the arch that give the cove its name. The solid rock arch has been cut out by the ocean and stands about 25 meters high and about the same width. It feels like standing in a natural church. Back we went up the track to the car and made our way to Mercury Bay and a quick ferry ride of about 2 minutes to arrive on the opposite side of the small bay and had a great lunch of thin crust pizza and finished off by the obligatory flat white coffee. We arrived back at Mike and Judy’s and had a delicious dinner on the deck with yummy NZ winesssss. Off to bed around 11 and quickly starting sawing logs for the balance of the night.