Maureen's Travel Blog

Jessie and Hunter, Leigh’s daughter and granddaughter turned up at 9am. It was the first really hot summer’s day and we just chilled out in the garden where Hunter showed her skills at cartwheeling and we all played a bit of badminton on the lawn.

The warm sunshine has really brought out many of the flowers in Leigh’s garden in the last few weeks.

Later I joined Jessie, Hunter and Leigh on a shopping trip for Hunter as she was starting a new school the next day. I took the opportunity to do some last minute shopping myself as this would probably be the last time in Taupo town centre.

Back home some feijoa juice with ice went down a treat and we chilled out a bit more before Jessie and Hunter left for home.

The yardarm took place under the dappled shade of the cherry tree and then as it was such a lovely evening, we took Sally on a walk down to the Lake.

The vegetation and wild flowers had really come on since my last walk down to the lake with Sally three weeks previously…

Sally just loves retrieving her ball from the lake and has so much energy.

unlike me…….

We walked on round a side of the lake I was not familiar with and ended up at the Sailing Club when we enjoyed another glass of Sauvignon Blanc on the floating pontoon as the sun went down.

We eventually made our way back up the hill home for dinner which was some Snapper which we had caught ourselves about 6 weeks earlier in Coramandel.

Leigh and I went shopping in Taupo. The town was full of cyclists for the huge annual event of racing round the Lake, some 186K.

The roads near the lakeside were cordoned off for this purpose and parking in town was difficult. There were even hundreds of bikes on the back of BFTs!

We ran our few errands and then walked to the harbour and sat and sat with a coffee enjoying the warm sunshine. It was a beautiful summers day.

It was also Election day here in New Zealand and on the way back to the car Leigh called into a polling station to vote.

In the meantime, I wandered over to the event area of the cycle race where there was a band playing on a huge open air stage.

Taupo was definitely bustling today and everyone was out enjoying the summer weather.

Today Leigh and Dan are working at Ruapehu School. I took a walk around the little ski-ing town of Ohakune which was very quiet out of season.

I walked up to the school where I arrived in time to catch the staff partying at 11am. The table was spread with goodies and I was invited to join them. These teachers have such a good time! …. only kidding. It was good to meet some of the faces I’d only seen chatting to Leigh on Facebook.

As they all went off to their meetings, I wandered down towards the town. I chatted briefly over the fence to the owner of a dog, cat and fawn who were all in her front garden together…. strange or what!

Then I heard the sound of water, always a draw for me, and found myself following the path of a fast flowing river rushing over rocks, which was probably glacier fed from the mountains. The vegetation along here was pretty with flax, lupins and toitoi.

I followed the river path for a while before returning towards the town past some interestingly shaped ski chalets. The whole area is built and designed round the mountains for ski-ing.

I finally arrived at the metropolis of the town centre… a handful of shops, including a post office, a clothes shop, a mountain bike rental store and a supermarket. As I was reading up the tourist display panel about how Ohakune had been developed as a market gardening centre by the Chinese, Leigh drew up in her car beside me.
Her morning of meetings finished, we went for a coffee before her afternoon stint at school.

She gave me a lift back to her unit where I caught up with blogs and stuff until the sun came out. This was obviously the time to check out the mountain which you could normally see clearly from Leigh’s apartment on a clear day.

and sure enough… there it was! Isn’t it beautiful!!

There is also a little small-holding behind the house with goats, chickens, ducks and sheep, and maybe a few other creatures….

Leigh came home early, around 3 and we set off for her home in Taupo where she goes at weekends. She took me a roundabout way to show me the sights and most especially the mountains and waterfalls as it had turned into a beautiful afternoon.

Love this kiwi in skis!

This is Mount Doom, for those Lord of the Rings fans amongst you.

Here is the Chateaux in the Tongariro Park. It is a huge country house and seen here, completely dwarfed by the mountains behind. We stopped here to enjoy the luxury and views from inside…. and a G&T.

Here we stopped at a Maori-owned lake which filtered through the hills to a steep drop on the other side creating electricity.

By now we had reached Taupo Lake but there was still a fair drive round the biggest lake in New Zealand before reaching home and the views were stunning.

This is a little Maori church which I thought could have been a model made from matchsticks.

The Lake back in Taupo was a deep turquoise colour and slightly choppy but it was good to be back and it felt like home.

Many of the flowers were now blooming in Leigh’s garden as we were now movin into summertime… must get painting again before I set off for home.

….. the end of the road with the Kiwi Backpackers Bus Experience that is!

It was rather an eventful night, or early morning, in our dorm, as one of the young people on our bus, a French girl, had obviously got herself thoroughly drunk. At approximately 4.45 she came into the dorm and woke probably all seven of us as she made at least 4 attempts to get on to her top bunk, each time falling with a thump on the floor. Her final attempt landed her in a heap on her bed with legs flung assunder and then just as we were dropping off back to sleep, her loud and persistent snoring began. I decided, as I was now wide awake, to get up and go and explore the city which I hadn’t really had time to do.

Wellington is not a huge metropolis and not overly busy, especially at 6 in the morning which was a nice time to have a look around. I walked down to the Te Papa Museum which I’d heard so much about, especially the Collosal Squid Exhibition. Unfortunately I didn’t have an opportunity to see this as there was not enough time when the Museum was open.

I then made my way down to the harbour It was a dull morning but warm enough not to wear a coat.

After lingering there a while watching the early ferry leaving the quayside, I headed back through the city and past The Embassy Theatre where Lord of the Rings was premiered.

Then finally back to Nomads which was opposite the Town Hall in Wakefield Street.

The Kiwi bus appeared promptly at 8 to take us up to Taupo, it’s next destination for an overnight stop, and this is where I began my ‘Rangi’ pass so would be my very last Kiwi bus ride, and I felt just a little sad.

After a couple of hours dozing on the bus, as there wasn’t a great deal of interest to look at out of the window and it was drizzling a little, we stopped at the town of Bulls for a loo and snack break.

I hadn’t had any breakfast and normally avoid MacDonalds but on this occasion their Big Kiwi Breakfast went down a treat – sausage, scrambled eggs, hash brown….. and a filter coffee which I took back on the bus with me.

Some serious bikers came in while we ate and looked to come from a New Zealand chapter. They looked like ‘rockers’ from a bygone age! I took these pictures for you Kerrie!

The next stop for lunch before Taupo would be Waiouru, but this would be my very last as Leigh was meeting me here to take me over to Ohakune with her where she worked before traveling back to Taupo the next day.

I said my sad farewells to my remaining buddies on the bus… most by this time had dispersed, either on other Kiwi routes or on flights from Christchurch. It was good to see Leigh’s familiar and welcoming face again after 3 weeks traveling the length and breadth of New Zealand.

We collected Dan from the school where he was invigilating and stopped for a spot of lunch in a little cafe in Ohakune (I only had a ginger beer as my Big Kiwi Breakfast was still sitting heavily in my stomach). Leigh then took me back to her unit where I relaxed and caught up with the blog while she returned to the school for the afternoon. Later she and Dan returned for the yardarm! 🙂

Today the Kiwi bus took us back up to Picton to catch the Interislander Ferry back over to Wellington.

We followed the coast road round the cliffs alongside the railway which periodically disappeared through tunnels in the rock. By now every bank and roadside is a mass of yellow Lupins.

We briefly stopped off to see a Fur Seal colony down on some rocks just below the road.

……This cub was so cute.

The Cabbage trees were now in full bloom in frothy clumps here and there as we made our way towards Beddon and our loo stop. There were some rather nice paintings on the walls outside the loos. I am always drawn to artwork of any type, especially when it is an improvement to an otherwise concrete wall.

We were now in the Marlborough Wine producing region, renowned for its prize-winning Sauvignon Blanc. We passed the famous Mantana Vineyard which has now been bought by Brancott and then passed through Blenheim, the town at the centre of this wine growing area.

The ferry left Picton at about 1.45 on a rather dismal day so I didn’t venture out on deck this time but I could see through the window as we sailed out of Cook’s Strait into the open sea that it was fairly choppy with white seahorses.

We arrived at Nomads hostel just in time for me to have a quick shower and change before meeting John and Mandy outside at 6.15. John is another distant cousin, brother of Faye who I’d also met for the first time in Pahia a few weeks earlier.

It was so lovely to meet John and Mandy, with the added bonus of their 18-year old daughter, Bonnie. They took me to a Japanese Restaurant not far from the Hostel.

I had a starter of calamari deep fried in coconut batter, followed by crispy grilled pork with salad, rice and dip. Then to finish Crème Brulée with Black Sesame Ice Cream (another first and absolutely delicious) and a glass of Marlborough’s great Sauvignon Blanc, reminding me of the vineyards we had passed through earlier.

Thank you so much guys, we will keep in touch.

After the most awful weather yesterday, we woke up at 6.30 to the most beautiful morning with wall to wall sunshine – what a contrast! I must say New Zealand has all types of weather as well as its rivers, lakes, hills, mountains and sea. However you can almost be sure that if there is a bad weather day, then the next will be pretty good and that must be why there is the most incredible scenery here.

Our early start was to go whale watching. Izi and I were really excited about this, I had never seen a whale in the wild before and this was one of my “must dos” in NZ. Izi on the other hand had done a research project into humpback whales in Brazil so was very clued up.

The team that took us out into the Pacific Ocean that morning was very professional and after briefing us on the various types of whales and their behaviours, located a Sperm whale feeding at the bottom of the Kaikoura Canyon by listening to clicking noises.

Lying hidden just offshore, the 2km deep Kaikoura Canyon is one of the world’s great undersea wonders. Two strong sea currents converge in this enormous trench and draw vast quantities of plant and animal nutrients to the surface in a great upwelling.

This is the catalyst for a population explosion of small fish and crustaceans that in turn attract an astounding food chain of larger marine life, the most famous being the Giant Sperm Whale.

When these clicking noises stopped this meant that the whale was about to surface from the bottom of the canyon. We all waited in quiet suspense for the first spout to appear and sure enough there he came to the right of the boat.

We could see about a third of his 14 metre length above the water with his regular spouting to fill his lungs and airways with oxygen ready for the next dive.

We watched in awe for about 15 minutes before he finally dived into the depths of the Canyon again, briefly lifting his tail behind him for us to photograph. Wow what a fantastic experience!

This was the first time I had seen a whale in the wild.

The rest of this trip was given to viewing various birds, including the Albatross which has the biggest wingspan of any bird in the world and can sleep on the wing.

We also saw some Fur Seals on a rocky island and delighted in watching the antics of Dusky Seals as they leaped up in front of the boat and twisted in mid air. There were many pods of dolpins, some included calves and we were mesmerised by their activity in the water for some time, trying to photograph them but most of the time they were so quick.

Izi and I had planned to swim with them later in the day and viewing their amazing speed and activity in the water made this all the more exciting for us.

We returned from whale watching with just enough time for a bite to eat before heading to the other end of town to join the dolphin encounters. We found a nice little café en route and sat outside. Izi had fish and chips and I chose a Seafood Chowder.

The seafood along the coast here is just so fresh and tasty.

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves wet-suited, snorkelled and flippered ready for our dolphin encounter.

The sky was clear blue and the sun hot as we slipped into the cool turquoise waters of the Pacific right in front of a pod of Dusky Dolphins. We had been told to make a lot of noises to attract their attention as they love to interact and how true this was. I was paddling along with my arms at my side (dolphin style as we were told) looking downward through my goggles and started making silly noises under the water.

Before I knew it I was joined by two dolphins and we turned and turned together. They stayed with me for quite a while as I talked to them in dolphin language… they seemed to understand it anyway! It was the most incredible feeling.

The Bottle-nosed dolphins in Pahia were bigger than these and not so interested in the swimmers but these Duskies, black and white in colour were much more friendly and interactive. We had several encounters like this in different parts of the ocean before the day ended with a hot shower on board and a hot chocolate and ginger nut biscuits. What an absolutely amazing day!

We walked back to the hostel that sunny evening in a dreamlike state….

Look at these Agapanthus Jillian, they grow so easily here!

What are these Leigh?

We left Queenstown on a rather dismal morning and I was at least assured that I could pay for my coming night’s accommodation and had some food. The whole bus pass was already paid for and luckily there was room on the bus for me today after all! Sometimes when you stay extra nights you need to let the Kiwi office know to book you on the next part of the journey on the right day. I had been so preoccupied with the loss of my cashcard that I’d forgotten this. But all was well.

Our refreshment and loo stop was in the little town of Twizel and I took the opportunity here of contacting John and Mandy, who I was planning to meet up with in Wellington, to give them some advance notice of my arrival.

There were many irrigation mechanisms along this part of our journey which were switched on dispite the heavy rain. This was good farming country. I also again noticed the profusion of lupins all along the roadside, of all colours.

Today we brushed with Christchurch. I had hoped to visit the devastated city having planned to ring the Cathedral bells when I booked my trip back in January, but the cashcard issue prevented this… perhaps this was meant to be.

181 people had lost their lives in February’s horrendous earthquake , 10,000 homes had been destroyed, 5,000 needed major attention and 7,000 had minor damage.

I thought about the people of Christchurch as we drew up in Denton, inland from the city which originally had been planned to be built here. We drew alongside the Kiwi bus bound for Kaikoura, leaving the others to make their way into Christchurch. Many of these people were flying to Auckland and others were doing a tour of the devastated city.

We are now crossing McKenzie District. Maori legend has it that European pioneers moved to the area in the 1850s and began extensive grazing of sheep and cattle. The Mackenzie Country is named after New Zealand’s most famous outlaw: James Mackenzie, a sheep rustler who, along with his sheep dog Friday, was accused of sheep stealing. He was finally captured in 1855, and after a series of escapes and increasing illness, he was released in 1856 and promptly disappeared forever.

This is the statue of James McKenzie’s dog, Friday…

Our final stop before Kaikoura was at a tiny little church overlooking the bay and surrounded by lupins.

The temperatures up here on the east coast were unbelievably warm even when the sun was not out.

The Cabbage Trees here were covered with blossom and the scenery was as beautiful as ever as we followed the coast round parallel to the railway track. As we skirted round the bay, the railway periodically disappeared into tunnels through the rock.

Just before going down into Kaikoura we stopped at a viewpoint to take photos before being dropped off at The Lazy Shag Hostel.

I woke in the Top Backpackers in Dunedin to a bright morning – 16 degrees. We were picked up at 7.30 by Roger in a white minibus, smaller than yesterday’s Kiwi bus.

We first drove to Balclutha, Roger’s hometown with a population of 4,000 and has the River Clutha flowing through it, the biggest (not longest) river in New Zealand.
We passed through plenty of typical New Zealand scenery, ie. Plenty of sheep, BFTs loaded with logs and wild yellow lupins were now flowering everywhere.

We stopped for coffee and toastie at a quaint little café with a log fire for lunch. It was quite chilly and had started to rain by this time so the fire was very welcome.

We made our way along the coast to a beautiful lookout point which involved a 20 minute walk out to a lighthouse. From here the scenery all around was stunning, as always on a bright morning.

Our next stop was Cannabal Bay, named apparently because of the bones found buried there. This in fact was one of those special New Zealand beaches with not a human being in sight but a lone Sea Lion which could have been mistaken for a huge rock. He was asleep on the beach but a couple of flaps of his tail confirmed he was not a rock.

We then walked through some sand dunes to another beautiful beach where we saw sealions playing in the sea.

We continued on towards Invercargill and stopped to walk through a small rainforest.

….and then some amazing waterfalls…..

Then came the highlight of this part of the bottom coast….. the yellow-eyed penguin…. the rarest penguin in the world.

Today in Kaikoura has been crap.
Wind and rain all day long, everything cancelled!!!

But I was cooked a delicious spagbol by Izi and we shared a bottle of red.

Thank you Izi!

Tomorrow will be a better day pleeeeese!! We shall be whale watching at the crack of dawn and swimming with dolphins!

I guess some of you might like an explanation as to why this is a bad hair day. Well I lost my STA cashcard… disaster because when I tried to use my backup Clarity credit card, I found that a limit had been imposed on it and this had been reached – major nightmare!!

To cut a long story short, I phoned the last place I used the card and the Bottom Bus but to no avail. I spent most of the afternoon with the very kind young man in the Queenstown STA office. Incidentally for those of you who think STA in NZ is the same as STA in UK, it is not! Just like Vodaphone IS NOT!! I tried repeatedly phoning the lost/stolen cards UK number and just got an answerphone which then cut off. The young STA man was very supportive and offered me tea and biscuits while I continued to try different numbers to sort out my card and ongoing cash problem. Eventually he suggested I report it to the police and directed me to the police station. I rang the bell on the desk but could raise no one and thought, it’s a good thing there’s no emergency in Queenstown. I left to draw out on my clarity card the final $50 which would have to pay for the next night’s hostel and some food, before returning to the police station. At last I managed to raise someone but they were just so laid back and really weren’t interested.

I returned to the hostel resigned to the fact that I might have to get a job cleaning at the next hostel to pay my keep. (I had seen advertisements for jobs on various hostel noticeboards and hey this would be another Kiwi backpackers experience!) However, for now I was ok and I booked myself on the next Kiwi Bus out of Queenstown in the morning, only to be told it was full and I was put on a standby list….. could things get worse…..

Thanks Leigh, without going into too much detail, you got me out of a very sticky spot and I appreciate all the trouble you went to to get some cash to me!!