Teesside Travellers

28th April ’12 On to Paihia, The Bay of Islands I was kind of sad to be leaving Rotoroa as I had really enjoyed my time there. Today was just spent travelling and it took us about 6 hours to get up to Pihai in the Northland. Once we got near the Bay of Islands and into Pihai we were in lovely coastal scenery with lots of little islands and sheltered coves. After checking into our motel – The Dolphin which we chose as it was within a few minutes walk of the shops and harbour (it could not be described as a town) and was also offering a 3 nights for the price of 2 deal which was a bargin! We had a look around the handful of souvenir shops, a few eating places, the ... read more

This section may look disjointed as we go from 25 to 27 April, that’s because 26 was Hobbiton and has a blog all of its own which I published before this one. 25th April ’12 On to Rotorua Today was Anzac day so everything was shut! So just as well we were driving on and doing some sightseeing instead of shopping. Our first stop of the day was just outside of Taupo at the Huka Waterfalls, this was lovely and picturesque (and only a 5 minute walk, bonus!). Although not very high it is the force of the water that makes this place memorable - the river is channelled through a narrow chasm and powers its way out and down. The second stop was at the Craters of the Moon geothermal walk. So this was our ... read more

21st April ’12 Mt. Taranaki National Park, New Plymouth & on to the Waitomo Caves The drive up to the Mt. Taranaki National Park area was nothing special, long, green and flatish until we neared the NP. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too great today and Mt. Taranaki was half covered in clouds but we still drove up to the view points and did a couple of walks. The first view point was up at the Dawson Falls view point, which was reached by going up a long single lane road through very close forest. It was most eerie as a lot of the way we were the only car on the road but it twisted and turned so rapidly you had no idea if anything was coming in the other direction until you rounded each bend. ... read more

18-19th April ’12 Picton The drive wasn’t too long today so we stopped at a small town called Blenheim to have a look around. There’s not a lot to say about it, it was nice enough but had quite a lot of empty shops and a war memorial which was fenced of due to earthquake damage. We arrived at Picton about 2ish and easily found our hostel for the next 2 nights –The Sequoia Lodge. It was a small place with tiny private rooms and dorm accommodation. There was also an outdoor spa pool (which we didn’t try out) and its claim to fame…….free chocolate pudding and ice cream every night at 8pm. We walked into the town for a look around, it is a very small place with the usual one main street but we ... read more

16th April ’12 Christchurch to Kaikora Today there was no sign of any hitchhikers, it was rather strange! It only took us 3 hours to get to Kaikora, including the little scenic drive diversion to see the Cathedral cliffs – think Bryce canyon only on a minute scale. The road (apart from the diversion) followed the same route as the train, with 3 matching tunnels to get through the mountainside, 2 for cars in each direction and 1 for the train – quite sweet. Kaikora is a truly lovely little place, nestling on either side of a headland peninsula and with snow capped mountains as a back drop! It’s also THE place to go Whale watching and all things to do with marine life. After finding our motel we decided to go for a walk as ... read more