Warkworth to Paihia, Bay of Islands

We were up, breakfasted and ready to go by 9am.  Bob and Moira were taking us to meet Roy and Heather at mid-day.  We were going to meet at Whangarei, have lunch and then drive to Paihia with Roy and Heather.  We had time to visit some of the beautiful bays not far from Warkworth before setting off on SH1.  As is becoming the norm now, the views were stunning.

 

We did meet and had a lovely meal in a harbour-side restaurant and then transferred our baggage into Roy and Heather's car before our drive to the Bay of Islands

We wave goodbye to Bob and Moira and hope to see them next week before we leave New Zealand.  On the way, Heather insisted we stop and have a look at some public toilets at Kawakawa!!   I've just included one picture but they are amazing.

Once we had settled at Roy and Heather's, we took a quick drive into town to book a couple of trips.  Tomorrow afternoon we are going on a boat trip around the Bay of Islands, through the 'Hole in the Rock' and hopefully see some dolphins and/or whales.

In the evening we had a lovely dinner, watched TV for an hour or so and fell into bed.

Auckland to Warkworth

We handed in our motorhome yesterday - it was sad to see her go and it was the end of that part of our holiday.

Let me introduce you to the main New Zealand players.
Roy - Sandra's cousin
Heather - Roy's wife
Moira - Heather's sister
Bob - Moira's husband

Bob and Moira picked us up from the place where we hired the van and took us on a wonderful tour of Auckland.  Fantastic views over the city and harbour.  We went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and I discovered that my camera was broken.  The LCD screen had cracked and so I couldn't take any more pics.  We had lunch in the park surrounding the museum and then made our way through the city to the ferry terminal.  Bob drove the car round but Sanda, Moira and I took the ferry to Davenport - great views of the city.  Bob picked us up after our trip and we made our way north out of Auckland.  Eventually, we reached their home in Warkworth and unloaded our bags.

  We walked into town with Bob who took us to the photographers who confirmed the death of my Pentax.  I now have a Nikon Coolpix S570 thanks to the helpful staff in the shop.  We then took a walk by the river and back to Bob and Moira's house and a nice cold beer or two.  After a lovely dinner and wine we eventually went to bed at around 10pm.

Waitomo Caves and back to Auckland

This morning was a bit gloomy and overcast so we decided to get a move on so that we could get to the Glow Worm Cave for the first tour at 9am. Lonely Planet said it was the best tour – before all the coaches arrived. They were spot on – It was fabulous in the cave (no cameras allowed) which concluded with a boat ride in the dark looking at all the glow worms above us in the cave.
We decided to go back to Auckland today, rather than trying to rush tomorrow morning. We packed everything away and drove to our second cave visit which we had booked for 11am. Again it was spectacular – you have to be there to appreciate it.

We jumped into the van and started off to Auckland at about mid-day. We stopped for lunch at about 1pm.

(Note for Mark – You should come out here just for the carrot cake)

We made it back to our original (first night) site at Manukau at just after 3pm without getting lost this time!

We’ve packed our cases and been out for dinner and are all ready to hand back the motor home tomorrow at mid-day.

Whanganui to Waitomo Caves

No excuses for not writing the blog today – it’s p......ouring with rain. It was overcast this morning and as the day has progressed and we got nearer to Waitomo it got worse. It has rained for most of the day but we are hoping it is better tomorrow. We have booked to visit two caves (www.waitomo.com) tomorrow so will let you know what it’s like.

On the journey here it goes without saying that we stopped for a cake break but we only stopped to take a couple of pics because of the rain.

I think I will use this space to put some pics up that we have missed earlier in our journey.

Ironically, every site seems to have a paddle of ducks (thanks Emma and Rachel) except this one where the weather is ideal for them.

Wellington Ducks on the left                                                                       Whanganui Ducks on the right

A couple showing the inside of our mobile bed-sit.

Moo Moo sitting next to the driver's seat. By the way, if a member of our family is willing to look after Moo Moo, the New Zealand authorities said we can take him to England.

Saturday 30 January 2010 – Whanganui

A nice relaxed start to the day today – the sun was shining and we had the whole day before us. We drove into town and (eventually) found a parking space. We made our way to the market which was a bit like a ‘car boot sale’ market. We then headed into the main part of town because we needed, among other things, to get some cash from the bank. Banks are not open on Saturday so we used our debit card – no problem. We stopped at a bakery for our usual drink and cake (only me for cake today!) and continued window shopping. We bought a couple of sandwiches and ate our lunch in a lovely park by the river

Then it was time to walk across to the River Boat Museum to pick up our tickets for our trip up the river. It’s New Zealand’s last paddle steamer – PS Waimarie – and it has a really fascinating history (www.riverboats.co.nz). It has been a glorious day all day – it couldn’t have been better. We steamed upriver for an hour or so and stopped at a little place called Upokongaro for an hour which gave us time for an ice cream and a look around a small historic church.

Then it was back into town – MacDonalds and back to our site. What a lovely day it has been.

Wellington to Whanganui

We left the site near Wellington at about 9am. It was a bit misty and drizzly but with the promise of better to come. After a while the road started climbing and became very narrow. This seemed to go on forever until we had the most magnificent view high up over the sea. I asked Sandra to take a picture but she said she was too busy hanging on but just around the corner was a viewing stop – So we did and took some photos. Then we started the descent and eventually got down to sea level.

All was going well and we started looking for a place for our morning cake stop. We nearly passed it because it like a chapel. It was a country cafe in a converted former Methodist chapel. It was absolutely fantastic – the tea and scones were nice too!! After that we kicked on and reached Whanganui at about 12:30 and did a bit of supermarket shopping before driving to the site.

This is a very peaceful site next to the river. Tomorrow we have booked a trip on a coal fired river steamer – I think we will enjoy that.

28 January 2010 – Wellington

We caught the bus to Wellington just outside the site at 9am. Beautiful journey around the bay took about 30 minutes to get into the centre. We had to get our bearings and then headed for the tourist information office. Very helpful people in there and we booked a city sightseeing tour – hop on hop off minibus. We had to wait for about 50 mins for the next one so guess what? – We had a drink and a cake while we were waiting. We decided that there were 3 things we wanted to see – Sheepskin Warehouse – Houses of Parliament – Cable Cars. After passing various notable landmarks we got off at the Sheepskin Warehouse. We were a bit disappointed at most of the prices but Sandra tried on some Ugg boots but they didn’t fit properly. There was a terrific WW2 leather & sheepskin flying jacket for about $1400 - £650 – I can’t understand why Sandra didn’t want me to buy it. Then it was on to Government House and we arrived just in time to join a tour. The MP’s weren’t sitting so we were able to go into the debating chamber. It was really fascinating and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. We ate our lunch in the grounds along with lots of other people doing the same thing. We continued our tour and finished at the top of the cable car ride. Time for a drink and a walk around the botanical gardens with some spectacular views over Wellington.

Then it was time to get on the cable car down into the city centre. It only took 4 minutes but it beat walking down!

We wandered through the shops & bought a couple of things – I bought a new pair of sandals in the sale to replace the old ones I was wearing. There were sales everywhere – One shop had a sign which said, “30% OFF THE BLOODY LOT.” We then caught the bus back to our site – it was rush hour and it took nearly an hour.

Tomorrow it’s Whanganui (www.wrivertop10.co.nz) and our site is by the river.