Advertisement
Published: November 24th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Which Way to Warkworth?
Only 11,000 miles from home... When we woke up this morning, it was grey and threatening to rain. By the time we got ourselves ready for the day ahead, the heavens had opened and down came the rain. At midday, there was still no sign of any let-up so we pretty much resigned ourselves to a day indoors, which was a particular pity as we had wanted to go for a proper walk away from the commercialism and among some of Auckland's green spaces instead.
Just as we were about to write off the day completely, a message chimed in my inbox from Liz, my mum's friend who had kindly met us at the airport when we arrived. She was just checking on us to make sure we were doing ok but then suggested we might like to go for a drive out of the city despite the miserable weather. We were glad of the invitation and an hour later were sat in the back of Liz and Allard's car with Allard at the wheel. They took us north, across the Auckland Harbour Bridge, past Devonport and out into the country. The rain continued to dampen the views a little but we were still treats
Treehugger
Jude expresses her love for kauri gum trees. to some unbelievable scenery. Every few miles we saw a different sweeping bay with distant islands or we would see rolling hills reminiscent of England in the height of summer (weather included!).
As we passed a sign for a cheese factory, I couldn't help but declare my love for all things cheesy so Allard turned off and took us inside. The factory bit where you can see the cheese-making process in full swing was sadly closed today but there were still a good cluster of visitors who had braved the drizzle to patronise the factory shop. We sampled a few different cheeses and picked a couple to buy - Glynn chose a cumin gouda and I opted for a smoked mozarella, although the strawberry camembert was a strong contender.
The rain had finally fizzled out by the time we left, so we grabbed the opportunity to get out of the car and go for a walk. We stopped at a small museum in an area of the northland where Allard used to live when he was a boy. The museum charged an entrance fee which we really didn't have budget for now that we had our tasty cheeses,so
Log Lifter
When Glynn said he needed to shift a log, this wasn't what I thought he meant. MInd you, the other option isn't something I would want to photograph! we had to give it a miss. The grounds around the museum were free to enter and took us on a lovely meandering path through some of New Zealand's prized plantlife. We encountered huge kauri gum trees that were over 800 years old though sadly many of these giants had long since been felled for timber and the land all but decimated as a result. Further into the woodlands we saw silver ferns, the national emblem of this beautiful country and some beautiful flowers splashing intense colours amongst the verdant vegetation. The path led over a brook and deeper into the undergrowth. It felt as if we had been transported back to the jungles of the Cameron Highlands again!
Our path brought us back out by the museum so we took a tour of some of the exhibits that were stationed outside and thus technically free of charge to view. The exhibits consisted of structures which had been used in the area and that recalled a by-gone age. There was a WW2 army hut complete with army hammock and mossie net, the old jailhouse with just 2 cells and the biggest doorbolts I have ever seen, a turn of
Silver Fern
The national fern of New Zealand - it's green on the top but if you turn the leaves over, they're a vibrant silver colour underneath :-) the century 'dunny' (outdoor toilet), a quaint little post office that was no bigger than half a garden shed and a couple of sets of stocks. Eying up a good photo oppotunity, I immediately ran over to one set of stocks and proceeded to put myself in them. Thankfully there were no stones or tomatoes at hand or I might have regretted my decision!
Next stop was by one of northland's rivers where we watched seagulls taunting the local duck population to see who was better at fishing. My money was on the ducks. The occasional heron waded the far banks and despite the still grey skies, it was a picutre perfect setting. It felt like someone was trying to impress us into choosing Auckland and its environs as our new home and we were happy to take the bait. We then treated Liz and Allard to an ice cream. I thought they were mad for suggesting it considering it wasn't desperately warm outside but when we saw the flavours on offer, we couldn't resist. Glynn tucked in to an orange ice cream with choc chips (the girl serving us was really shocked to learn that we had never
On the Lookout
Allard, Liz and Glynn enjoy the view from one of the forest lookout points. tried this flavour before) while I went for a Hokey Pokey ice cream which my mum had insisted I should try while I'm over here. Liz explained the hokey pokey was like crispy toffee bits and immediately I was sold on the idea. Our tastebuds were in heaven and we honestly no longer cared how cold it might be outside!
Further up the coast, Allard introduced us to various beaches where he had gone with his Sunday School class when he was young or where he had once fished for sprats. The bays north of Auckland are very pituresque with gently shelving beaches of dark sand and chunky shells. Islands in the distance gave us the sensation of being in Langkawi or Puket again, the only thing missing being the lines of palm trees and obligatory tourist catching some rays. Instead, families walked their dogs, kids combed for the best shells and oyster catchers with long reddish orange beaks and a squat bodies hunted for their prey. Glynn and I couldn't help but imagine ourselves living out this kind of life, it seemed perfect.
By the time we made it back to the hostel again, we had been
In the Dunny
Looks like someone forgot the toilet paper! out driving and walking for almost 6 hours. As we left Liz and Allard, we excitedly dashed off to the nearest superette to buy some crackers for our cheese extravaganza, not realising that the cheese was all still sitting in the boot of Allard's car. We were absolutely gutted when we got back and realised it wasn't in our daypack as we had thought. We later got an email from Liz about the cheese promising that she wouldn't eat it. Looks like we have it to look forward to when we see them again next weekend :-)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.286s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 76; dbt: 0.1991s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Linda
non-member comment
Hooray!
Glad to see you're both enjoying what New Zealand has to offer so far (appart from the weather but hey ho, eh?). Is that the furthest away from England you can be then? Like the new t-shirt Jish!