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Just,,, Stunning
Views across the Coromandel Coastline Hi Everyone,
Hope you're all well and enjoying the warm weather back home. Last time we wrote we left you in the middle of the Cook Strait heading to the
North Island of New Zealand.
On arriving in
Wellington we were met by the warm waves and smiles of Jon and his wife Bridget. (Jon being Kev's dad's cousin, or Kev's 2nd Cousin we later determind.) So nice to be met on arrival in a new place and not work out how to get somewhere. We spent 4 nights with them enjoying great hospitality and being shown around the sights and sounds of Wellington and
Island bay where they live. On the first night we had another first for us,,,,, a Piano Concerto, most enjoyable. Highlights also included meeting more of their family, walks through the town to local markets and gardens. Oh, and we must mention the Wellington Wind here. Maria was nearly blown from the top a hill near a local wind turbine. Just to say a big thanks to you both Jon and Bridget, for looking after us and for all the advice of places we would not have found in the North Island,,,, and the
Where's Kev?
Alien's got him..... or really a local sculpture in Wellington Botanical Gardens offer stands for when you next come to the UK!
So after having home comforts for a few days we were back on the road, from Wellington to
Napier. This time again in a Toyota Corolla, but a bit different from J-Lo (testing you all from the last blog). This one was nicknamed 'White Lightning' straight away, due to its colour and a sarcastic dig at the speed it goes up the local hills! Downhill is great, it goes fine, just that it has a problem going uphill, we have to Flintstone it whilst all the other cars fly by!
Napier, the town completely destroyed by an Earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in the Art Deco style as we found out in the walk around town. We stayed in a Backpackers that had been a stables, and we pretty much lived like horses for a few days,,, sleeping in the tiny room; lots of walking around the town; eating carrots and sugar lumps (with our tea), and er.. playing mini golf. Maria was on fire at this,,, 3 hole in one's (all planned apparently) and she thrashed Kev by 9 shots. So, the first Major Tournament was over,
Usual Suspects?
Jon and Bridget grinning with us and waiting for the timer to click. Ignore Maria's Pink Socks. can Kev catch up? We also visited the National Aquarium where we saw Kiwi's (the bird that is), and of course loads of fish and a scuba diver who was feeding the sharks and cheeky stingrays.
A short run from Napier led us to
Taupo and the Lake of the same name. It was huge, looked like the sea especially when we arrived and the wind was blowing a gale. We decided to stay at the South end of the Lake in a small place called
Tarangi. Famous for it's great fishing and especially for the Trout. It was also only a stones throw from the 3 large Volcano's that reside in the centre of the North Island in Mt. Tongariro National Park. We stayed in a lovely Backpackers heading out for walks up the local river, thermal pools and to the village of
Whakapapa (pronounced Fa-ka-pa-pa, which kinda made us laugh each time,,, childish we know). Apparently also the site for many scenes from Lord of the Rings, as is most of NZ.
Heading North we drove up through the middle of the Volcanic region stopping at the 'Craters of the Moon' park, with a large area
Shark in disguise
Mucking around in Napier with the local wildlife. of thermal craters and mud pools. Also the Huka falls that were awesome, but you wouldn't want to fall in. We ended the drive at
Rotorua, which is by far the smelliest place in NZ due to the amount of thermal activity, mud pools and Sulphur craters. Here we went to a Sheep Show, yep, as if we hadn't seen enough up until now so we went to a show about them. We also went to a 'Hangi' cultural night where we learnt about Maori life. We had a big dinner and saw a live performance of the Haka, along with a nightime walk around the local springs with hundreds of glow worms about.
Whilst here the second game in the World Mini Golf tournament took place. Kev romped to a victory by 10 shots here, although Maria has cited the reason for this was due to the rabbits running around the course and lying next to the holes as a distraction.
Continuing the Northerly drive we arrived in
Tauranga on the Northern coast. Initially driving through the beautiful
Mount Maunganui. A Thursday lunchtime and half the town were out on their Surf Boards catching the waves in
Craters of the Moon
Honest, that's what its called. Thermal pools and mud holes,,, smelly! superb scenery. The Mountain was an old Volcano that we managed to climb up in preparation for the Inca trail, although there were 5 year olds who had walked up there too. We had a day on the local Waitomo River Kayaking in the sunshine through the valleys. We saw not a soul for 3 hours, apart from a local hedgehog, lots of sheep/cow's/horses and the big Brown Hawks that were chasing the rabbits.
Leaving Tauranga and following the coast West and North, we ventured up the
Coromandel Pennisula. A series of beautiful beaches and towns every couple of km's. We'd hoped to jump in the hot pools at 'Hot Spring's Beach', but we'd missed the tide. We did complete the walk to nearby 'Cathedral Cove' that had a large tunnel through the bluff and lots of island and formations that provided great scenery. Up and down a big mountain brought us into
Coromandel Town. A quaint old Gold rush town that was really friendly and of course beautiful. Blessed with lots of sunshine we stayed a couple of days. Kev explored the peninsula on mountain bike. One afternoon we went to 'Driving Creek Railway' a train route that
Is it a bird, is it a plane,,,,
,,, no its Kev (Hancock) the Hairy Traveller a guy had started as a hobby in his back garden. Its now 3km long and goes up the side of a mountain for 532M's. Great views over the bays. Heading around the pennisula we stopped off at Hwy 309 where we saw our first Kauri trees, the largest trees in NZ and these ones averaged about 6M's around, 15M's high and about 600 years old.
Forgot to mention during the bit above in Taurangi and the Volcano's, but at this point it was 28 days since Kev had shaven (his face). As many of you can imagine, and comment after only 3 days normally he looks like something from Borneo. After about 18 days of such comments from Maria it finally dissapeared, although not until pics where taken, where Kev deluded believes he looks like Will Smith in the film 'Hancock',,, well part of its right! (See Pic)
So,,, we headed up through the everso busy
Auckland,,, scary driving on motorways again. So we got off quickly and headed up the West Coast above Auckland, seeing the oldest and largest Kauri trees in the world. Whoppers! Stunning views across
Hokianga harbour and a drive to the East
Maria and a curly friend
Not a trace of Mint Sauce in sight! So Cute. Coast and the
Bay of Islands. Here we finally got on a Dolphin viewing boat trip where we saw a large pod of Dolphins, amazing, all swimming around the boat, even a baby one (pup? calf? kitten? not sure). This meant though that we could not swim with them. Another time for that. On the way back we stopped off at Russell and had a walk up Flagstaff Lookout. Just gorgeous, soaking up the views all round in the sunshine. Here,,, finally, as some would say, Kev got down on one knee and proposed. So get your hats and ties ready people!
We're now in
Auckland on our final night in NZ after 5 weeks of just some of the best scenary and people you could meet. We fly off to Santiago in Chile tomorrow when our Monday will actually last for 39 hours due to the international dateline being between here and there. Going to sleep well that night. We hope so as we start 'school' on Tuesday for a week of learning Spanish.
Will be in touch soon...
Maria and Kev
PS: (Maria did say yes by the way)
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Scott
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Congratulations
Kevin & Maria, congratulations on the engagement!