North Island .... only 6 days left !!

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We decided to hang around for a while as the dive shop had planned a dive to the Lermontov a few days later.
The following day the sun was still shinning so we decided to go out on a boat safari in Kenepuru Sound. We went out with 2 other couples and a guide. We each had a little aluminium boat with a 10hp outboard. We whizzed about having great deal of fun, considering the minimal power. We watched the harvesting of green mussels; the guide was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, as always. We searched for eagle rays in the shallows and walked along a remote bit of shoreline to see a 1000 year old rimu tree. We got to see many exclusive, hard to access holiday homes.….. And many for sale, recession here too. Many campsites are saying it’s unusually quiet for January.
The wind proved too strong for the dive so we booked the ferry to Wellington that Friday afternoon. The previous boat to ours looked awfully familiar…. Look closely above Kaitaki… it’s ‘The pride of Cherbourg’.
The ride out through the sounds was pretty, the Cook straights were a bit blustery.
We headed straight to a campsite from the ferry, but Kev didn’t like it…. It was just a motel car park with power hook-up.
We drove on towards Upper Hutt. The traffic was hideous so Kev quickly decided he didn’t like the north island. We rolled into a nice campsite next to a park, which was very busy…..just in time for a free Searchers concert. Very enjoyable, but good job it was free, I couldn’t think of anything they‘d done…….. Oh yeah…. ‘Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey’. (Dare I say, the covers they did from their era was better than their own stuff.)
Kev was happy ….he had a London Pride in his hand.
Well, that explained the traffic, 4,500 people in he park and it was the beginning of a long weekend…. With a War Birds air show just up the road as well.
35$ a ticket for the air show… less than 14 quid. A blisteringly hot day and a good show. Traction engines from Leeds, tractor display, stationery engines, hotrods and weird battered hotdogs on sticks.
We took a beautiful if tortuous route over to the west coast to see if we could find any dive shops in the little coastal towns then back down to Wellington.
We walked the waterfront and Cuba Street, visited the museum and then called out the AA as we can’t get the van started. 30 seconds and a squirt of magic stuff in the vicinity of the points and away we went…… much faster up the hills than before.
We headed for Hawkes Bay, some 300k north east. By about 9.30 Kev was too tired to drive any further so we stopped in a picnic lay-by about 20 miles outside Napier. It was pitch black, you couldn’t even see the contour of the landscape against the sky. It was a little eery…..as we were getting ready for bed we heard….. A cockerel. I laughed, thinking it was just a bit confused. Kev was listening intently, and told me to keep quiet. The tension grew…. “That’s far too regular, that’s not a chicken, that’s a cell phone”.
It eventually went quiet, but by that time ‘Kevin the brave’ had got me spooked and I went to bed fully clothed, expecting the van to start rocking at any minute. (We’d been told (by people in the South) freedom camping wasn’t quite as safe in the North Island)
We weren’t murdered in our sleep, and drove into Napier the following morning. The area suffered a devastating earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in the fashionable, forward looking Art Deco style of the time. We joined a walking tour of the town centre Art Deco buildings and took a wine tour with the knowledgable Vince, a very likeable local. The Hawkes Bay region has a great climate and free draining soil, especially the Gimblett Gravels, making it an excellent wine growing area. A good afternoon, very unpretentious, though one grower (Michael, I believe was the offending bloke) insisted we spat perfectly good wine out after the mouth swilling bit, and tip away any left in the glass into a tin bucket. )-: The tin bucket being of unfeasibly small diameter, and the instruction was to not quite spit, but let the wine sort of fall out of your mouth….. in the general direction of the bucket. The wine shed floor looked more like an abattoir after our visit.
Must just say that as I sit in the van writing this up, Kevin is swigging back a really nice bottle of Matariki syrah reserve from a half pint glass, like it’s a cheapy from Tesco….. Must hide the port!!
The afternoon was spent touring the old prison… (now a backpacker hostel).
We stayed at Bay View just outside Napier, right on the beach. The owner told us about a good snorkelling beach, about an hour down the coast that we could go to the next day. After a 3 hour, dusty, lumpy journey we get there, to a remote little beach with half a dozen holiday homes and a very small camp site right on the beach. The tide was out so we just looked in a few rock pools and spoke to people camping there. It seems that most roads down to little beaches terminate in a camping site…. Usually with a tractor or two for launching the fishing boats that everyone has. Catching dinner is the done thing for a Kiwi weekend away. Loads of camo wetsuits and spear guns as well as lines, nets and pots. We left this little Kiwi haven, had a quick look at Gisborne (one of the warmest places in the country) then drove up to Whakatane. Kev had booked a diving trip to White Island (an active volcano). We went out on a twin engine fishing boat, which spent most of the journey limping on one engine. The boat seemed really small for the ten divers on board…. thankfully I’d already decided not to dive. John from Taupo was diving with two of his sons. There were 3 single guys and a young couple. The dive guide, Herb, a huge Maori guy collected a net bag full of Kina (sea urchins), a favourite of his family; as did Mathew, who got a spine stuck in his leg as his brother swung the bag round. The purpose of diving seemed different…. We dive to look, a Kiwi looks for stuff to kill and eat. John kindly invited us to his place when we visited Taupo. On the way out to White island a line running out from the back hooked a tuna which Louisa the skipper expertly cut up and marinated in soy, then fried up for us… it was really lovely, but she said it was an inferior type of tuna and not very nice to eat! …. I think they’re spoiled. We saw some massive tuna, snapper and other stuff brought of boats in Whakatane harbour.
We’d put the van on ‘trade-me’ the previous day and a ‘for sale’ sign in the window that morning. We parked up in the main street to get a coffee and found we’d sold the van within five minutes. Luckily the English couple were staying with their daughter and said we could keep the van for another week.
So we did a quick tour of the east cape, on the Pacific Coast Highway then back in land to Taupo, along the Thermal Explorer Highway.
We found Johns electrical shop I town where Kev bought an external drive as the pc is chokka block and really slow. We went of to look at Huka falls and craters of the moon thermal park then returned to John and Margis for dinner….lamb on the barbi and trout caught locally and taken to the butcher where it was prepared, smoked and vacuum packed for a few bucks. It was gorgeous. We had a lovely time, then went of to do the Tangariro crossing. One steep down hill bit reminded me of the Central American experience, but not half as dangerous. We made it in good time and the weather was perfect. However, two hours later the mountains were covered in cloud…. Glad we weren’t up there then.
We didn’t have time to go on to Rotorua as we had to get up to Auckland to pick up a big, roomy, spacious, 6 berth camper for our final 2 weeks.
We got into Auckland ..…… it was busy, we made for Devonport, over the bridge..…… it was busy……we decided to walk up on the headland for the views, we couldn’t park…. It was busy...…… Kev was moaning about traffic like the UK. Then we found out why… it was Loius Vuitton, pre Americas Cup racing. We had just made it up to see the last race..…… they were towed into position, lined up...... we waited …. and waited……then they were towed back again…. Last race cancelled…. Due to? …too much wind! We watched some hapless yacht we named Flounderer, tacking back and forth, not getting anywhere…. In fact, going backwards. We drove back to the harbour … spotted Flounderer, he must have given up, got his sails down and motored in.
We picked up the new van the following morning from a depot outside the airport. Kev took the lead in the new van and I followed…. In disbelief, as we passed several turn offs we should have taken, as we were going the wrong way and heading into central Auckland. He eventually realised and turned off…. Got a bit stuck in a side road, then turned off the roundabout a turn early getting into anther mess turning back round. We finally settled onto the right road and got back to Whakatane in good time to hand over the faithful old van to the new owners.
With our belongings thrown and stuffed in, any old how, we took off for the Coromandel. First night spent in Whitianga, took a swim at the lovely Hahie beach and walked the coast to snorkel in all the little bays… that were part of a marine reserve. The second night was spent in Coromandel town. We drove across the 390 road missing the top part of the peninsular as time is finally against us.
We visited a narrow gauge railway and pottery, (owned by an eccentric potter) which was a pleasant distraction from the driving.
By the way, the new van is a diesel…. Which costs about 40p a litre!!
Up in Northland now. Kev snorkelled around Goat Island yesterday. Today he’s diving the Poor Knights Islands, while I have a day sitting in the bar!
We have a few days left to get up to Cape Reinga, the northern tip, maybe dive the Rainbow Warrior, see 90 mile beach and back to Auckland for the 13th.
Drove for a couple of hours after diving, now on a camp site in Paihia, Bay of Islands. So, publishing this now as internet is available on this camp site. Sorry about grammar, spelling, any utter rubbish I've written, I've not really checked this and it's been written over many days.

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Photos

Marlin.... Tukukaka
Winning catch.... 122lb caught by a girl about 10 years old.

Squid
My, what big eyes you have!

Founderer
Against the wind, trying to get back into Auckland harbour

under starters orders
waiting...and waiting

Hukka falls Taupo
more of a shoot than a fall

Mount Ruapehu
View across lake Taupo