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Published: February 11th 2006
Could that smile get any bigger...
So this was after 2 nights at the Flying Fox. The campsite that might have changed my life.I know it's been a long time since my last blog, It seems I start every blog this way. Where too begin? We've continued having a blast, seen some great places and just had tons of fun.
We left Taupo and headed to Napier on the east coast. It's a place known for Art Deco architecture, wineries and fruit orchards. We spent four nights just lounging around, walking around town, and going to wine tasting at a few wineries. Dave had stayed behind in Taupo because he had taken the van to Napier while we did the three day hike in Tongariro National Park. But we had a substitute ready, Dani who we met at the Beachouse in Fiji was working at the Stables backpackers so we decided to stay there. She was a good sub, but no one can ever really replace "Hi 5 Dave". Best things about Napier...fruit stands, the wine, and the two feasts I cheffed up while we were there. Red Snapper poached with onion, garlic in a sweet Thai chili and citrus sauce. Second was shrimp, onions in garlic and butter sauce with white wine risotto and fresh corn. Best corn I've had in years.
On the way to Napier...
So I decided to give you a glimpse of the view from the goonobago... Sadly we left Dani and Napier behind and headed west to River Valley.
Now there are two ways to get to river valley, one way involved going around the mountains and taking the highway. The other way was a direct backroad right across the mountains, now we don't call it the Goonobago for no reason. Obviously we picked the scenic route which involved 70+ km of gravel road. Now scenic might be the under statement of all time, without exaggeration we probably saw 10 cars during the whole 3 hour drive. We saw endless green rolling hills, sheep, cows then we crossed a national forest, and had to cross a mountain pass which provided fantastic views. We found out when we arrived that we had crossed "Sweet Annie", which was a fitting name because everything about the ride was sweet.
So River Valley is at the bottom of a valley nestled between the mountains and the Rangitikei river. So we pitched our tents on the riverfront property, grabbed the cooler from the car and started happy hour. We grabbed our trusty camping stoves from Goony and cooked chicken curry right there on the river, not sure I've ever
had a better picnic dinner.
Most people go to river valley for white water rafting but not us. We just wanted a relaxing few days. Spent most of the day reading my new book "The Diceman" in which the main character lives his life by the role of a die. Two thumbs up for this book, highly recommend reading it. The afternoon was filled with nine holes of pitch and putt golf followed by a BBQ. Now I could have stayed at river valley longer except there were more sand flies here than we've encounter anywhere. I've been camping for two months already but when you look down and there are close to twenty plus flies by each leg and you have what feels like fifty bites on each foot it's time to leave.
We don't do any real planning, so sitting in the van that morning we discussed our possibilities and settled on driving south on the Whanagnui River Road. This scenic road (gravel) follows the longest river in NZ. Canoeing down this river is one of the great walks so driving along the river was a nice compromise. As it turned out driving down the river
The Crabtree Winery
Second stop on the goon winery tour, tasted some nice reds...let with a bottle of Cabernet Franc. road led us to our favorite place we've stayed yet.
The Flying Fox, as you can see from the pictures, is beautiful place. It's "Pipi Longstocking" meets "Swiss Family Robinson". This place was heaven on earth. I left there questioning what I should do with my life, wondering how I could find the happiness that this place brought us. Now this trip has caused me to question many things, but the flying fox made my mind race, I guess I better tell how we ended up here.
Half way down the road we came across the sign for the flying fox. Upon further investigation, basically getting out of the car and seeing the houses nestled on the mountain across the river, we decide we have to stay there. Bryan walks down to the cable car, did I mention you have to take a cable car to get there, finds a whistle and a walkie talkie, with instructions to turn the radio on and blow the whistle. After successfully talking to the owners, Bryan comes back to ask if we want to stay. Obviously we all want to stay there...we pack food and head down the hill! Gonny couldn't
Strike Three
Why stop at two wineries when they don't close for another hour... handle this steep a driveway. Now it took two trips to get us and all our stuff across the river.
This place quickly became our favorite stop so far. From the campsite cut right out of the forest, with a private kitchen, running rain water, fire pit and Billy the dog (when do you ever get a dog to play with at a campsite?). To the solar powered shower, right in the middle of the garden. To the lemon trees, apple trees, fresh herbs...the place was an organic farm. What a great environment to stay two nights. Every way you turned something intriguing caught your eye. Most of it hand built by John.
John and Anne, what else can I say but they were great, always friendly, and always going out of there way for us. We picked so many lemons I lost count, boy was that good lemonade. Now we wanted to stay here forever, but we had to move forward. I'm surprised we were able to pry Bryan away, he loved it so much I thought he might try and stay a while. So after two nights at another place in the world that was close
Shrimp anyone?
Big shout out to Bryan for taking a picture of our prawn feast...Shrimp with butter, garlic and onion, white wine risotto, fresh corn and sauteed zucchini and carrots and bread...WOW that was good. to paradise...
WELLINGTON...the capital was our next stop. So we get to town, and in typical non planning fashion expect to get a room anywhere, only to find out a huge Rugby tournament was in town. The "Wellington Sevens", a 2 day round robin tournament. So luckily we found a nice hostel in town who let us pitch our tents. There were no beds in most hostels and the rest were price gouging As I'm writing this it will be 13 out of the last 14 nights in a tent. I love the MSR tent.
As it turned out this is a huge rugby tournament. People where in town from all around the world. We instantly became masters of rugby. Laid a few small bets down, and watched the whole first day at a sportsbar. Now from all the hype we expected a lot more people at the bar. The party seemed to be at the stadium. So the second day...after 15 minutes trying to scalp tickets, we were in! What a party everyone gets dressed up in costumes. Close to 90% of the people were dressed up.
It was a great day for watching sports at
Taking the scenic route to River Valley...
We didn't see a care for close to an hour on this road...but the scenery was spectacular the stadium. Sunny, warm and no one sits in there ticketed seat, so we had 50 yard line seats. One more thing...free beer! Remember Randy, from Toronto, he was our buddy the bar tender from new years. Well he was working at the stadium bar. So we would stand on his line, he'd give us a four pack each, we'd give him 2 twenties and he'd give us back 4 tens. How great is that? Take a look at Brian's blog for pictures of the sevens, he's travelgoon. Oh did I mention that Bryan and I were pretty upset when our 14-1 longshot South Africa lost to Fiji in overtime of the final game. No point counting what we didn't win but that $700 nzd between us would have been one really nice stwak dinner. Either way we had a blast at the Sevens!!!
So from one big sporting event to the next...we postponed our ferry crossing so we could catch the SuperBowl on TV. Another fun day, watched at a packed sportsbar on Monday afternoon at 12, how weird is that.
By the way...Wellington is a great town. Small enough to walk most places, nice buildings, small
I'm about to explode
After summiting the Mt Everest of gravel piles...might as well relieve yourself Brian wood frame townhouses. Looks a lot similar to San Fran., has some hills. Downtown is filled with bars, cafes and restaurants, great people...just lots of character.
Took the ferry across from Wellington to Picton. Supposed to be some of the roughest seas in the world, fortunately we had bright blue skies and endless sunshine. So after an uneventful but very scenic trip through some fiords we arrived in Picton.
Headed right to Nelson, with the intention of getting apple picking jobs as soon as possible. We've been staying at this crowded party hostel, they even have an old tour bus parked in the backyard for late night hanging out. Been an eventful stay in Nelson so far...When we arrived at Paradiso Hostel we were treated to a big surprise...Cecile our Swiss friend who we hadn't seen since Auckland greeted us with her usual big smile and hugs all around. When you're traveling some people you want to see again others you could care less, we all were happy to see Cecile again, especially after the last email I got from her was "I guess we won't run into each other again..." it was a nice surprise. Like I
And the journey to River Valley continues
We really did take the scenis route this time...gravel, gravel and more gravel... said the mission for Nelson was find jobs. Apple picking on the South Island is centered 50km north of Nelson in Motueka. Quick version of finding jobs...we sent in our applications for a temporary work permit yesterday, met with two orchards and locked down two jobs picking apples. So starting Feb. 20 we will officially be fruit pickers.
A small side story, 2 days ago in Nelson I lost my wallet. So I waited till yesterday morning before going to call and cancel my atm card and credit card, but while waiting on line for the phone at the hostel I overhear the receptionist at the hostel say "We have an Alan camping..." I break into the conversation "I'm Alan" she says the police are on the phone they have your wallet. Someone had turned my wallet into the police in Richmond, and they were calling all the hostels in the area looking for me. Life really is all about timing, 5 more minutes and the cards would have been canceled and I would have still needed replacements. Plus if the wallet wasn't returned this story was not going in the blog, so you all benefit from this too.
Who are you?
Some of the moving scenery on the road to River Valley. So overall yesterday was a great day, wallet returned (all cash still in there), work permit filed, and not one but two jobs.
Life really is perfect...Catch you all later...Stay tuned...
check Brian's blog out at: www.travelblog.org/bloggers/travelgoon
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Betty
non-member comment
Country elegance
How could you leave the River campsite so soon? It had the right mix of rustic and convenience - with a nice kitchen. We miss your cooking here, the picture looks good enough for Gourmet magazine. You're eating better than we are, but can we see some O-U food?