Advertisement
Published: December 1st 2007
Auckland 001
View Auckland skyline from Kelly Tarlton's 5.11. 07
Glad we had a taxi to the airport. Had a coffee and bought a couple of t-shirts and postcards. Boarded the plane (Emirates) which looked very nice but unfortunately the entertainment system wasn’t really working and after serving breakfast the crew more or less sat down the rest of the way due to turbulence. They did, however, manage to retrive the trays before we landed. Who wants egg in their lap?
So finally we’re in NZ. Took a long time to get through passport control and even longer through customs. Had to check Eskil’s didgeridoo and my cutting board, but they were accepted, so we took at shuttle bus into town. I don’t know why, it wasn’t much cheaper and we had to circle an area until the driver found the right address for another passenger.
Very nice, big hotel The Auckland Heritage. Had a wonderful room with two large beds and kitchen facilities. The room could be divided into two by a sliding door. Highly recommendable.
Had an early night except for the fact that we had just lost 3 hours. It is now exactly 12 hours later here than in DK and NL.
Auckland 002
Freja and Eskil trying to conquer a large octopus sucking power at Kelly Tarlton's They have already changed into daylight saving time sometime in September.
6.11.07
Ate breakfast in the room to save a bit of money. It is raining cats and dogs and they are out of umbrellas in the reception!!!
Tine went find out how much it would cost to send home some stuff and to get her camera fixed. She got quite wet.
We decided to go to Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World. Saw large stingrays being fed in a tank, quite impressive.
Learned about the different explorers (Amundsen and Scott). They were always in fierce competition to conquer first the north and then the south pole. Sadly, Scott died there realising that he had been beaten by Amundsen in getting first to the south pole centre by a month or so.
There was a big watertank with sharks, stingrays and other fish. They had a penguin colony living there in artificially made surroundings. They actually breed there and it was, of course, interesting but also rather sad to know they would live there their whole life.
Freja had quite a scare when at the end of the penguin ride an ‘Orca’
Northland 001
Freja in front of Tane Mahuta - the biggest remaining Kauri tree
came out of the water with a Leopard seal in its mouth.
Had a rest in the hotel before we went out for dinner in Viaduct Harbour. Eskil had already had a pizza, but when he saw Freja’s dish, his eyes went quite big, because Freja was supposed to cook her own meal on a stonegrill on her plate. So Eskil had his second dinner that daiy - what a change from not wanting to eat anything.
7.11.07
Another very wet day. Paul went to pick up our rental car and off we were. We were taking the route along the west coast of Northland to see the big Kauri trees.
There was a lot of road work and we decided to stop at the Kauri Museum, and get a bit of lunch before we went in to see it.
It was not so much a museum about the Kauri tree as a museum that tried to reencounter old days in the area and the logging business back then.
It was a nice and interesting museum and they did have some very big logs of Kauri wood. They also had a large exhibition of
Northland 002
View over Hokianga Harbour resin cuttings (like amber) and they actually used to cut the tree trunks in order to let them bleed gum they could use, unfortunately it had the side effect that the tree eventually died.
Went a bit further north until we reached the Waipoura forest which is the biggest Kauri forest in NZ. It was still raining, silently but a lot. We went to see the 4 sisters and the second largest and the largest Kauri tree still standing. It was about 51 m tall and 18 m in circumference. They believe it to be about 2000 years old. Even though it was raining it was a nice walk and there was the most wonderful smell of all kinds of spices. The Kauri forest was a wild place and the road was very winding.
The whole trip reminded us of Norway and then it didn’t because there was more variety in the landscape with mountains being substituted by graze land and the vegetation was so different. Very pretty.
Still further north to Hokianga Harbour and Opononi where we had a reservation in the Light House Motel. Freja and Paul took an “outdoor” spa bath and sat there
Northland 003
Our home in Paihia for ½ hour after we had done a little shopping. It was very hot and they looked like boiled lobsters after they came up.
Cooked dinner (one of the last for many, many days) and watched a bit of telly and of to bed.
8.11.07
Woke up to a nice and sunny day. Breakfast and off we were. First a turn back towards a look out where we had a great view over the Tasman Sea. Then we were on our way to Paihia. We had decided not to take the long drive but directly to Paihia. Took a detour to see some Thermal Pools. Not only did they smell like rotten eggs but they actually did not look very inviting, they did however have a nice dog. Saw the Haruru falls on the way nice but nothing spectacular. We are a bit surprised with how worn out things look here i.e. the houses. Arrived in Paihia at about 2 o’clock. Thought we had found our hotel but became a bit suspicious when we saw them awarded best for this and best for that. Took a look at the map and found out that our hotel was
Northland 004
Eskil on the vintage train in Kawakawa a bit further off and with no ocean view.
Found it and checked in. We had a very nice split level room with two single beds and one large double. Really nice surroundings but the pool was not very inviting. Besides it was a bit on the cold side. The children needed to have a day of doing nothing. We had had many long travel days and we just stayed around the hotel and our room. Tine went into town for an hour or so to look around and we arranged to go on a dolphin swimming trip the day after tomorrow.
The restaurant had stonegrill as their speciality and we ate there. We all had some wonderful meat, the beef was so tender that you didn’t need a knife.
And Freja and Eskil both very much once again enjoyed ‘cooking’ their own meal.
9.11.07
Decided we weren’t gone spend a lot of money on breakfast and Paul went and bought some bread, the rest we had from Hokianga Harbour. And luckily Tine had one knife she had kept from the airplane.
Went to see the glow worm caves in Waiomio. That was a
Northland 005
Our favourate way of dining in Paihia very neet experience. It was very beautiful and the worms could actually lit up everything so much that you could glimpse the person next to you. One area was better than the next and we all enjoyed the experience a lot.
Afterwards we drove to Kawakawa where we knew there was a vintage railway and as Eskil lovvvvves trains we thought he should have a ride. Paul and Eskil took a ride - the steam locomotive however was temporarily replaced by a diesel engine - and we all had a look at the famous Hundertwasser public toilet building.
We wanted to take the ferry to Russell to have dinner. And so we did but it was totally dead there and the restaurants were either not very interesting or empty or very expensive.
So after ½ hour back we went and because we knew that the hotel restaurant was a sure winner we went back there to have stone grill dinner once again.
10.11.07
Had a slow start since we weren’t going on our dolphin swimming trip till 12:30 pm. We had great weather for our trip blue sky and lots of sun. The boat was
Northland 006
Paul, Freja and Eskil watching out for dolphins ¾ full but the crew told us that they hadn’t seen many dolphins on the morning trip and yesterday they hadn’t seen any at all but instead they’d seen an Orca, which we wouldn’t mind seeing either.
The first part of the ride we had to stay inside but when they came outside the inner part of the area we could climb onto the front part of the boat and get blown to pieces and a bit wet.
It was a nice boat ride but nothing really turned up which of course was a bit disappointing. We changed course and shortly after the crew had spotted dolphins. And lots of them about 40 in the group. Shortly after two more boats appeared. They had been called by our crew. The dolphins were fantastic and they swam just under the boat in the front and along it and around it jumping up for air every other moment and having fun.
Unfortunately for Paul and Freja but good for the dolphins they had a baby in the group which meant that we weren’t allowed to swim with them. One of the crew told us that NZ is one of
Northland 007
........and there they were! the only three countries in the world where the amount of dolphins is growing.
The dolphins we saw were bottle nosed dolphins and quite large. There are other sort of dolphins other places in NZ but these were the most common in this area.
After a while we went to another place to see if we could spot another group of dolphins to swim with or some Orcas.
We quickly found another group but again they had a small one. So no swimming. Suddenly we saw one dolphin with an enormous speed. It turned out to be chasing flying fish. We had never seen these before and they are actually flying, flapping their fins which look like wings. They can’t fly too far or too high but approx. 3-4 m.
They didn’t try to find more dolphins and because we had some extra time due to the fact that there had been no swimming, they took us around the bay to show us some amazing beaches and privately owned islands with huge houses on them.
It was a really nice trip and we were all thrilled about the experience. Paul and Freja went back to
Northland 008
Rainbow Waterfall in Kerikeri - notice the rainbow colours! the apartment and Eskil and I took a stroll in Paihia to find him some food.
The rest of us waited till a bit later and ate at a burger bar that didn’t have the fish and chips Paul and Tine wanted. Sat there for a while and listened to a solo performance guitar player and singer and went to bed.
11.12.07
Had decided to go to Kerikeri to see a waterfall and we took a stroll along the river but we couldn’t get down to it so the children found it a bit boring. Stopped in town and looked at some Kauri wood cuttings and other souvenirs. We all bought a small souvenir and all got a discount for unknown reasons.
Had a nice cup of coffee and Eskil and Freja had a delicious chocolate cake. Eskil and Tine went inside a small chocolate factory but it wasn’t very interesting.
We stopped at a winery and Tine and Paul tasted 1 wine. We could have tasted 5 for $ 20 but after tasting the first we decided not to. It was horrible.
Went back to the hotel and used the internet a bit.
Northland 011
Time for lunch at the Helena Bay cafe The owner, Neil, very gay and absolutely terrific and extremely helpful, had helped us book a room in Whangarei for the next night.
We had promised the kids that we would eat at the hotel restaurant the last night so once again we had our stone grill plate. However, this time we got frozen meat so it had to be taken out again. Eventually we got our food and it was still really good but perhaps not as interesting as the first time.
12.11.07
Once again we we’re off after breakfast. We are getting quite good at packing our stuff quickly, perhaps this is because we never really unpack.
We had decided to take the scenic route along the coast which was somewhat longer but we didn’t really have anything special we wanted to do in Whangarei, just be closer to Auckland.
Firstly, we took the car ferry to Russell, actually it was just a pond. The other cars suddenly started moving around on the ferry while we were waiting to depart and then we had a humongous truck standing next to us. Just worried a tiny bit if the pond could manage.
It
Northland 009
Amazing view to the South Pacific Ocean from the Helena Bay cafe turned out to be a really nice and beautiful trip. Not all the time along the coast but just really pretty. Everywhere there are blooming trees and bushes and flowers growing wild that we normally have in pots, Hibiscus, Cannas, flittig lise/vlijtig liesje, and large Pelargonias - up to a meter in height. And others too. And it is very green - lots of ferns and palm trees blended with a lot of other trees we don’t know.
We went off the road at Helena Bay and drove down to the beach. It seemed to be a vacation area with large ‘beach’ houses. Had a stroll on the beach and tried the water - not too cold.
Drove on and found an art gallery and a café with an incredible view. Decided to take a break there before going on to Whangarei. They had two wonderful New Foundlainders, a mother and a puppy (not very old but already big and very playful).
Took off and soon we were on the main road to Whangarei. Before we tried to find our motel for the night Paul and Eskil went to see another waterfall.
Found our motel and
Northland 012
Whangarei Falls we all had turns taking a dip in the pool which wasn’t that interesting. Got ourselves some time on the net so we could finally send some mails, check our accounts and get a new blog published without having to pay till we bled.
Eskil discovered that there was a trampoline in the playground and had some jumping time.
Went down to the Whangarei Town Basin (harbour) for dinner and started sitting outside but had to creep inside, it was a bit too cold. Nice place but nothing spectacular. Took a cab home for the extreme amount of $ 6. Not much to do there but go to sleep.
13.11.07
Today it is straight to Auckland, handover the car and off to the airport and Samoa.
Not a very interesting ride and we found the rental agency without too much trouble. The brought us to the airport and we checked and found ourselves having a couple of hours to kill before we could board. Spend the time having lunch and looking at the shops and reading.
Boarded the plane and horrors of horrors no personal entertainment. Some of us are getting pretty spoiled. They
Northland 010
Town Bassin in Whangarei showed Hairspray and that made it the 4th time Freja saw it since we left Denmark.
Landed in Tonga. Had to leave the plane and be in transit for about half an hour. We walked out of the plane into the rain and an enormous heat and walked over airfield into the tiniest transit hall we had ever seen. Outside was this 1 very big airplane. Strange and funny experience. Boarded again to head for Samoa. The plane would continue to LA from there. Tine was very happy she wasn’t going any further.
12.11.07
And then we were in Samoa. You might have noticed the date. It is not a mistake. We had just passed the international dateline and once again it was Monday the 12th so if we thought that Tuesday the 13th had been a bad day we now had the chance to redo it.
Our transfer wasn’t there when we came and when we asked around no-one could see the company. We had a taxi driver breathing down our neck and after ½ hour we decided to take his cab into town. It was now 11 pm and extremely hot and humid. Took
Northland 013
Swimming with dolphins (1) about ½ hour to get to our hotel and when Tine stepped out of the car she was immediately handed a cell phone with the transfer company on the line. Had a bit of a discussion, then she had a talk with the taxi driver and then back to Tine. We just paid the driver and got a receipt to get our money back from the Australian company that had arranged our transfer. Let’s see if we get it.
It was now 12 pm and we were shown to our room. Very nice and big - two adjoining rooms with 6 beds all in all. Went to bed and fell asleep immediately.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.414s; Tpl: 0.032s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0464s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
