Goodbye North Island!

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Well since our last entry we have spent our last couple of weeks in Wellington, and had a tour of the west coast and met up with Wim, Agatha and Jan (Ian’s parents and uncle)

Back to our last couple of weeks in Wellington, we had two more weekends here after our last blog entry. The first one we decided to take it easy, tidy the van and have a good night out in Wellington! We found ourselves a good Chinese and a piano bar in an Irish pub. The piano player was excellent, and did some great guns and roses and queen renditions, and played on till the early hours!
The next weekend we had a busy one, but the sun was shining! On the Saturday we headed to an island in Wellington Harbour called Sommes Island. This island is not only a sanctuary for some rare NZ wildlife but also had a colourful history. The island was first used a human quarantine station, later as an a animal quarantine station and more recently has been returned to it’s natural habitat, and houses rare birds, slinks and the prehistoric Tuatara! Oh and not to forget the Kiwi!

The island brings a relaxed peace to a capital city, you can wandered in silence around the island rarely seeing another person with slinks in every bit of grass or bush. Birds fly around you and the north island robin meets you at the picnic area in hope of a piece of your picnic lunch! If you’re lucky which we weren’t you also get to see the native blue penguins playing around the coast line. You can also stay on the island, and once dark you can step back to the Jurassic era and meet the Tuatara, and if lucky catch a kiwi scavenging for dinner, pecking with its long beak through the leaves and shrubs. However we just spent the day so got the 3pm ferry back to the mainland (the last of the day).

The next day we headed to the Karori Wildlife sanctuary, another piece of tranquillity hidden amongst a capital city. Here we spent the day walking amongst the native bush, in yet more sunshine. We saw a variety of birds; parrots, swallows, quails, shags and plenty of duck. Oh and not to forget the Tui that tried to take me out! Tuis are very mischievous; they are black with a blue and green shine with two white ball shaped glands hanging under their throats. They are amazing impersonates and love nothing better than a whistling competition with you! This is the worlds only pest free wildlife sanctuary.

On our return to camp, the normal game of football with Niclas and Julian pursued. Over the months in Wellington we have very much settled in. We have Heike and Yentz with their two boys Julian (9) and Niclas (6) on one side. A family from German who have now lived in NZ for a couple of years, and are currently staying in a converted bus but will be moving to Australia later in the year. Heike has looked after us well she cooks amazing cake! The boys love nothing better than awaiting Ian’s return from work and dragging him into a game of football which they both love and are very good at. They even present Ian with a lovely certificate for being such a good ‘Soccer’ coach!

The other side of us we have Bruce. Bruce lives in Christchurch but works in Wellington, so Tuesday night to Thursday night he stays on the campsite, in his campervan. Bruce has been a font of knowledge on where to see on the South Island, following many years of touring holidays on the island.

Next to Bruce we have Rose and Mo. They are both NZ’ers as well, they have a more American looking home that travels by truck. In here they have the master bedroom and shower, a lovely open plan kitchen and lounge. And even a smaller room on the side with 4 bunks in it for when the grandkids come to stay! They also have a lovely awning fully kitted out even with a patio heater! And not forget Louie he is Mo and Rose’s cat. However he behaves more like a guard dog! He has never really taken to me, prefers men. He follows mo and Rose everywhere and when they go in the shower he will just sit outside meowing protecting them waiting for them to come out. They spent most the year in Wellington, as bus inspectors and then travel of for the height of the summer to the north of the south island for a break and some apple picking!

Finally we have the ducks, which we have very much got to know and have watched their young grow up! It has been sad to leave our neighbours behind, particular Heike and the boys, but we will stay in touch and hopefully see them again!

So the following week on the Friday we had our last day of work. My (Pru) work even laid on morning tea (including lots of lovely cheese!) and got me a card and pressie which was a shock, I think I had successful made my stamp as the smiling mad English girl!
So after that we headed north and spent the evening in Wanganui, this was a lovely campsite right on the river, and in the morning this was full of people having rowing practise! On the Saturday we (well I (Pru)) had a long drive planned. Our first top was Mt Egmont/Taranki via a place called Eltham (my first childhood home was in a place of the same name on the edge of South East London!) However, they can’t say it! When we arrived at the end of the Dawson Falls Road End, it was raining and most the mountain was covered by cloud. So we went for a walk to the falls, got a bit soggy even in our waterproofs but got to know a few trees! By the time we got back the cloud started to clear, but not enough so we went in the visitor’s centre, and bought a couple of postcards of what we were meant to see and the ranger in there said the mountain only shows itself for those that have been good! So by the time we got out the cloud had cleared more and we got so wonderful pictures there and on our drive over to the next mountains!

For this drive we opted to go down the ‘Forgotten Highway’. This road winds through some stunning countryside, through a republic - they got upset about a change in region boundaries and declared themselves a republic - this means they have border control (not manned as we went through) and they require you to purchase a passport for safe passage! They even have a president elected by marking toilet paper, a couple of years back one of the many wild goat ate these though and subsequently served a two year term! Also biannually now they also celebrate Republic day and more than 5000 people embark on this village which is home to no more than about 100 people! On from this we went through a tiny tunnel, and through a stunning gorge before travelling to the edge of Tongariro National Park for the night.

Here we stayed in the park on a Dept. Of Conservation site. It was cold but stunning, in the morning we decided to head south this turned out to be a bad decision as we headed to bad weather whilst the north of park had some good sunshine and views of the three peaks! However we still had a good day in Ohakune going for a long afternoon walk along the river and through town and had a great morning coffee and cake in a local cafe. It is the home of the carrot, and they sure know how to make good carrot cake!
In the evening we had a reunion with Ian’s parents and uncle, had a good dinner, whilst the beer wine and whisky flowed (unsurprising for those that know, or are Ian’s family!) and settled in for the night.

The next day was a better and to our surprise we woke up to the site of Mt Ruapehu as our back drop - the cloud was much thinner! We then all headed up the stunning drive of mountain road and join all the skiers at 1600m. However we only took the scenic chair lift, but as you can see by the photos it was a stunning mountain. We did plan to ski rather than go to Mt Egmont but the weather to bad and the mountain was shut all weekend so that awaits another day!

We then left Ian’s parents once again and headed back for some more football with the boys whilst Ian’s parents visit some family on a farm in Bulls. The next day we took them for a tour of Wellington - the botanic gardens via cable car, parliament and Te Papa Museum before sampling Paua Fritters for dinner - a type of shell fish.

Now it is Wednesday the 29th, and we are sitting on a ferry crossing the Cook Strait, so we have said good bye to the North Island and look forward to our next adventure on the South!

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