New Zealand - Week 7

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Cook Strait Crossing, Taihape, Taupo, Orewa, Paihia

It was time to say goodbye to the stunning South Island as my dad and I boarded the Interislander ferry from Picton to Wellington. The three hour journey took us through the Marlborough Sounds and out into the Cook Strait, where the conditions were calm. My dad had pre-booked three nights in what he described as "luxury accommodation" at Paihia, at the northern part of the island, starting on the Friday, which gave us just three days to traverse the North Island. We therefore decided to skip the country's capital, Wellington, and make some headway up Highway 1 in our hire car, which had 160,000 km on the clock and an incessant rattle. We made it as far as a small town called Taihape, where we stayed at a motel run by an eccentric old chap and ate at a surprisingly good French-themed restaurant.

The next day, we drove to the town of Taupo, which sits on the shore of Lake Taupo (New Zealand's largest). We decided to stay there the night, eating at an English themed pub with excellent seafood. The next morning, we visited the geothermal attraction "Orakei Korako". Accessed by boat, this was a remarkable place, with geysers and bubbling mud pools. We made good progress in the afternoon, making at as far as Orewa, just north of Auckland. This is a popular beach resort which fills with Auckland's residents during the summer, but was quiet when we went and the local proprietors seemed to be doing their best to get us to spend.

The trusty old Nissan Sunny carried us up to Paihia without any hiccups, giving us all a well deserved rest for three days. Although a small town, Paihia still managed to appear virtually empty when we were there, as we had some very good restaurants to ourselves. We took it easy for our last three days together (the amount of food and drink consumed over the past two weeks made exertion difficult), our main activity being a boat trip to Russell, the first European settlement on New Zealand (known as Aotearoa in Maori), where we passed a pleasant few hours. We also visited the Treaty Grounds, where the treaty between the British and Maori tribes was signed - as I understood it, the British were given land in exchange for protection from other colonisers (e.g. the French).

All in all, it was a great couple of weeks and really good to spend time with my dad, not just because of the nice meals out!

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Comments

[Kate Birch]

Hi Graeme
Well looks like NZ was great and well worth the visit.Hope you are now enjoying the pleasures of Brazil after life in BA. Alice was very pleased to meet up with you & I'm sure she got some useful tips as she now travels in Patagonia. Keep on blogging! Love from the Birchesxxxx

[Paula Park]

Fantasic adventures Graeme, really enjoying your blog, bet your dad is proud of you!