Good times in New Zealand, Jan - April 2010

The Nebraska winter greeted us with well-below zero weather, sky high heat bills and snow, snow, snow. To top that, winter started in October. Time to head to beautiful New Zealand. I decided to add a new feature to the slutigram, website addresses for some of the things we see and do. This is especially useful for all who have lots of extra time on your hands. Enjoy.

Nebraska's countryside as we took the shuttle van to Omaha's Eppley Airport. That’s snow, not sand.



Omaha airport was in process of trying to find a place to put its snow.



Air Tahiti Nui, whose hub is Papeete, French Polynesia brought us to warmer climes. Only in Tahiti for a couple hours to change planes. The contrast from what were fleeing in Nebraska told us that winter's grasp had been swatted away. BTW, we highly recommend this airline – the food was French style and delicious. Much better than the soft drink and nothing else offered on United Airlines. Remember their old jingle: “the only way to fly.” I beg to differ on that. At present, Air Tahiti Nui seems to have among the best fares to NZ & Australia.





Hospitality was afforded us for many of the 90 days spent in scenic New Zealand by our friends Dennis & Liz O'Callaghan. They housed, fed, transported, lent us a car, cell phone & gave unbelievable kindnesses during our 3 months in NZ. I'll do a show & tell of many of our adventures in the following pages. Catherine, daughter, picked us up at the airport. A room was ours for the whole time and greeted us with fresh flowers. The warmth and welcome given to us was simply wonderful.



Touchdown in NZ on Friday the 15th of January, a warm and sunny summer’s day. One of the first duties that we attended to was a gathering of friends to mourn the loss of Tom. I had brought a vial of Tom's remains to scatter. Tom had told us and his many friends of the happy times he had during his youth in NZ. At 1 PM on Sunday 17 January 2010 we met on an overlook above one our Tom's & our favorite NZ beaches, Muruwai Beach. Nineteen NZ friends joined us in a ceremony of Haere Ra (farewell). Elaine & I did inspirational readings and spoke from our hearts of loss, of friendship, and of hope. Then, Tom was cast to the winds for eternity.







Afterwards, we visited with friends, had a picnic lunch, had long talks and enjoyed the waves.



While staying with the O’Callaghan’s, we decided to say our thanks by refurbishing their large deck. We started in mid-January and finished up in mid-March. Scraped, sanded, recessed nail heads where needed, stained, primed, filled gouges with wood putty and painted the deck and benches. Here’s a series of shots showing our progress.







During this first week, we visited my alma mater (Auckland University). A new School of Business has been built since my time there. High tech. Saw many friends (as we did throughout our 3 months there), swam at local beaches, went out to tea, dinners, etc.



My brother James surprised us with an email that told us that he had been hired by a NZ firm and was moving to NZ. He arrived on May 15th – so it looks like we have another reason to make more frequent trips down unda.

After about a week in Auckland, we packed up our camping gear, and along with the O’Callaghan’s and the Janczewski’s (friends from Univ) spent the next 9 days tent camping at Whangaruru – a beautiful campground right on the coast.





The forecast did not look too good, as rain was forecast every day. Glad forecasts can be off. Had only a brief 5-minute shower and enjoyed clear skies the whole time there.

Taking advantage of the weather and calm seas, we went out fishing in the Bay of Islands in Dennis’ boat, where the fishing was great! We fished other days until after 4 days the wind arrived.







The Bays of Islands offers many remote and empty beaches to stop, enjoy a walk, a swim and a meal of freshly caught fish – which we did all of the above.





Catherine, an adventurous spirit, decided to harvest some kina (spiny urchins). You eat them raw. Notice, I said “you” eat them, not for me. Thanks for the offer Cath.



Bivalves (like clams) abound in NZ. On other days, we gathered tuatua, pipi and cockles. When you locate a bed of them, they live under the sand; you pluck them out with your hands, or in Catherine’s case, with your prehensile feet. Steamed, fried or made into fritters, they are yummy. Some eat them raw – again, not I. Daily limit is 50 per person.





Once the winds came up, the water became too rough to take the boat out. Now this is not a bad thing, as we now had plenty of fish (campgrounds in NZ usually have freezers, among other amenities). With the wind came the waves. Now it was time to boogie board at Oakura Beach – a short 2-minutes drive from camp.



On another day, we took a drive to another beach and saw some beautiful scenes on the way. As it was dry, some of the scenes do appear a bid parched. The beautiful flowering tree is the pohutukawa, AKA the New Zealand Christmas tree.









Boogie boarding here was quite good. We were the only people there and the waves were big, but not too big to enjoy. Dennis asked me not to name this beach, so as to keep it a secret location.



You can find out all about boogie boarding at: http://www.mahalo.com/boogie-boards

After dark, the stars show their brilliance, as there are no city lights to lessen their fiery show. Have not seen the Milky Way Galaxy so clearly in many years. Sorry, no photo of this – I suggest you go see for yourself.

A nice place to stay. See: http://www.whangaruru.co.nz/_Welcome_to_Whangaruru.html

After a relaxing and fun week, we returned to Auckland. During our 3 months here, we alternated with a week or two in Auckland, followed by a week or two traveling about. While in Auckland, we visited places where we had not gone to before. One day, we visited the Alberton House, a mansion built for the Taylor family in 1863 and expanded over the years. It is furnished with many of the original items, as the same family owned it until they deeded it to the government in 1972. The homes of the poor have long since disappeared.





On another day, we toured Highwic, the mansion of the Buckland family, another prosperous early settler. This home was constructed in 1862, and expanded later on. Alfred Buckland had 10 children from his first wife and 11 from his second – he needed a lot of room. Many areas in Auckland recall his influence. Such as: Buckland’s Beach, Road, park, etc. The home and part of the original acreage were bought by the NZ Historic Trust in 1978.





You can find more on both Alberton House & Highwic at: http://www.historicplaces.org.nz/placesToVisit/auckland/Highwic.aspx
Auckland is located on a volcanic area, as is much of North Island. As I recall, there are over 60 dormant volcanic cones within city limits. Recently, the government has declared that city limits be expanded into a super-city. So, my numbers on volcanic cones would be increased greatly if the new limits are included. Elaine & I have climbed (well, really walked) to the top of several of the cones over past years. However, Mt. Albert was one that we had not yet visited. One sunny, warm day we walked to the top of Mt. Albert to be treated to panoramic views of the city of Auckland.



After two weeks of pretty much non-stop socializing with friends, working on the deck and going to local attractions, we rode the intercity bus taking us from Auckland to New Plymouth (NP), about a 6 hr trip by bus. A very comfy bus.



Way back in June of 2009, I had booked two-weeks in a cabin at Opunake Beach (about 40 miles from NP). Opunake has some of the best boogie boarding waves that I have seen. This was our 3rd time at Opunake& NP (see slutigram from spring of 2007). Getting from NP to Opunake posed a problem, as the bus arrives 1 hr after the once a week shuttle leaves NP. This seemed strange to me that the shuttle wouldn’t coordinate their times with the intercity bus schedule. I found out that the shuttle is also the local Opunake school bus and must leave in order to be on time to pick up the kiddies from school. Renting a car was outside of our budget. (Aside: when traveling for 3 months, you must find low-cost ways of doing things in order to have the funds to splurge on special wants. Either that, or you can have a luxury 3 week holiday vs. 3 months.) Seven years ago, we met Garry & Angela Harrison, friends of Liz & Dennis, who live near NP. I contacted Garry and asked if he could maybe give us a lift to Opunake (we could take the shuttle back in 2 weeks). Garry graciously said yes he could do that.

We arrived in NP and had a few hours to kill before Garry would be off of work. Had lunch and then grocery shopped. BTW, if ever holidaying in NZ, I’d recommend spending some time in New Plymouth and the surrounding area. It is definitely off the tourist route and gives you the feel of what NZ was like years ago.

Garry & Angela came by, with 2 cars. Kiwis are among the best friends you can make. Sure, you can use our daughter’s car for the two weeks – have fun! Wonderful people – I hope that they can come visit us in USA so that we can show them the warmth that they extended to us.

Spent the next two weeks in our cabin at Opunake Holiday Beach Camp, with “our” car for transport.





The camp had been even further improved since our last visit in 2007. It gives a whole new meaning to camping when you have a kitchen that looks like this.



Most days, we ate outdoors.



The seas were calm for several days while we were there, much to my disappointment. However, when the surfers showed up, we knew the waves would soon be there. Elaine asked Michael, Garry & Angela’s, adult surf-loving son how & when the waves would arrive. Apparently, there is a website that they all consult. Elaine got the knack of boogie boarding on this trip and with her wet-suit and new board (actually my old board) had a great time.



There were many other things to do when the waves were not cooperative. Lying about 30 miles off the coast and 10,000 ft below the seafloor is the Maui gas field. The gas is piped to a condensing facility and the condensate is then shipped to other locations in NZ where it is made into gasoline (petrol) & diesel. A visitor center gives you a good look at the whole process. http://www.stos.co.nz/



On the drive to Opunake, assign announced that Vintage Hay Day was to be held on Feb 13th & 14th in a paddock near the small town of Okato. This area of NZ, known as the Taranaki, is a very prosperous dairy farming region. Couldn’t miss this event. Saw old time horse-drawn and belt driven farm equipment in operation. A fun and interesting day. Even with machinery, it was a labor-intense life.



baling hay



1912 steam tractor



harvesting by scythe



Another day, we drove to Hawera (maybe 20 miles from Opunake) to grocery shop and to see the Tawhiti Museum, a privately owned and operated attraction. The focus is on NZ Maori heritage and the whaling industry that used to be part of the local economy. As they do not allow photography of the interior, I direct you to: http://www.tawhitimuseum.co.nz/
Truly worth the time to check this site out to get an idea of what the owner has done as it is “Widely acclaimed as the best private museum in the country . . .” We had seen the older part of the museum in 2000; however, the farm implement building was new and the Traders and Whalers museum had only opened 6 days prior to our visit – a unique experience, with a boat trip through an indoor replica of early 19th century NZ bush.



Stopped in Manaia on the way back to Opunake at the Yarrows Bread factory outlet store for freshly-baked bread, raspberry muffins (just picked locally) & coffee. Many towns in NZ have icons that tell of what the main activity of the town is. (see 2007 slutigram on Gore). Manaia’s icon is a loaf of bread. Yes, the whole town smells like your kitchen after baking bread.



In 2003, our first time camping here, the town left us with the impression of a run-down, dying small farming town. By our next visit in 2007, this had all changed for the better. To show their renewed pride, the locals commissioned a building murals project and the town has many (counted maybe 40 different) large murals painted by various NZ artists that show the history and culture of the area. Here are but a few:









It was hard to choose which ones to include. Should you wish to see some others, let me know & I’ll email them to you.
Besides the beach, of course, one of my favorite places in the town in the local pub. Actually, there are 2 pubs, but this one I really like. Good food at a reasonable price. Pubs/hotels are your best buy when traveling for a place to meet, and often stay.



The Opunake walkway is a 7 km (maybe 4.5 miles) trail that winds along the coast in both directions from the beach. Lots of local history and scenic views in a short space. The first photo is of a flax plant in bloom – the 20 ft-tall flower blooms infrequently (5 – 20 yrs in some cases between blooms). The Maoris used the fibers from the leaves for weaving and for making baskets, etc.



Overlooks of rugged coastline are common. Often, if you look closely, you’ll see a lone surfer out amongst the waves enjoying the freedom of nature’s power to propel the rider.



There is even an historic Maori pa (earth-banked fort), Te Namu, that played a role in intertribal wars. A great battle was fought here in 1833 between the local tribes and Maoris from many miles away.



When I first suggested that we spend a couple of weeks in Opunake, Elaine said, “don’t you think it will become boring after a while.” I think we both agree, that our time here was magic. Another wonderful place in a wonderful land.

Before returning to Auckland, Garry & Angela invited us over for dinner. He is an avid kayak fisherman and we greatly enjoyed their company and the catch.

Back to Auckland for a couple of weeks, where we once again had an explosive social calendar seeing many friends; meeting for lunches, dinners, coffees, and just fun.
Liz & Dennis invited us to attend a cricket match. Cricket is a British game that many say it is something like baseball, as there is a bat and a ball. After that, the similarity ends. I had watched a few matches on TV to understand the rules of the game, so it was an enjoyable 8-hour one day game. The normal match lasts up to 5 days, with the result often being no result (no winner). Who can understand the logic of that? One-day matches were developed to keep people interested (although the kiwis seem to be rabid sports fans whatever the game). And, there is always a winner. NZ Blackcaps (the national team) played the Australians (boo); NZ lost, but it was fun.



Also enjoyed the Museum of Transport and Technology, an attraction that traces various aspects of the development of industry, aviation, settlement, etc. of NZ. Went one day with Emily and went back on another. There is so much to see and learn there.
www.motat.org.nz





Spent a very successful afternoon on the Waitemata Harbor fishing. WE fished for 3 hours and the biting was continuous. Caught 13 keepers and they were yummy.



Our income tax return resulted in a nice sum this year due to the misguided economy policy of the US government. Elaine had the Great Barrier Reef on her “bucket list” so off we flew for a week in Cairns, Australia. Stayed in a nice backpacker’s hostel.







The hostel gave a coupon for a free meal every night at a local restaurant.



It was pretty basic, but for a few dollars more you could upgrade to a pretty nice meal.
Made it out to the reef on a large catamaran, took about 2.25 hours to get to it from Cairns.



Unfortunately, a strong cyclone made its presence known and the water was pretty rough, which made snorkeling visibility less than ideal. However, we did snorkel the reef. A great meal was served and champagne was poured on the return trip
www.oceanspirit.com.au





Weather was great the whole time. It was in the 90’s each day, but would cool down to the low 70’s at night. On the waterfront is a large salt-water public pool. Spent about 2 hrs each day there during the heat of the day. We would usually go for an ice cream cone after our cooling down.



Our knowledge of the native aborigine culture was mainly from “Crocodile Dundee” and the odd documentary. We remedied this by a day at Tjapukai (even the locals can’t pronounce this correctly) Aboriginal Cultural Park. It is owned and operated by the tribe and was a highlight of the trip. Aboriginal artwork is on display and aboriginal actors take you through the history and culture of their people, their creation story and the interaction with the settlers.



Then you are treated with dances, playing the didgeridoo, fire-making, a presentation on what foods they ate and how they were prepared (very important, as many things had to be boiled or soaked to remove deadly toxins). I often wonder how they figured out how to prepare things. I suppose a few brave food tasters met their end in the process.





Then showed our aborigine prowess by trying throw spears and boomerangs. Yes, they really do come back if thrown properly. Little known fact, there is a difference in the making of the boomerang depending whether you are right or left-handed.





We were so proficient that they made us honorary Tjapukai.





Another fun day was spent at the Botanical Gardens and Rainforest Boardwalk. What a treat to see all those blooming ginger plants, palm trees, banana flowers, pitcher plants and the swamp trees.




















As we were in Cairns on St Patrick’s Day, we spent some time enjoying the local celebration. These guys brought us good luck.



Time to return to our base in Auckland, where more times with friends was spent. New Zealand is the southwest corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its native people, the Maori, speak a similar language to Hawaiians, Tahitians, Tongans, Cook Islanders, Samoans, etc. A festival of Pacific Culture, Pasifika, is annually held in Auckland, where it attracts 250,000 visitors for the one-day event. Several Melanesian nations were also represented; i.e. Fiji, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Kiribati (get your maps out). We spent a good part of the day wandering the grounds and enjoying the sights, smells, sounds and foods of these exotic lands.









Then off tent-camping for a few days on the Coramandel Peninsula (about 2 hours southeast of Auckland). Enjoyed revisiting this area (last time was in 1987 or 88). Some beautiful scenery in this part of New Zealand and some great walking trails. Aptly named is Cathedral Cove





Located on Mercury Bay, an island-filled body of blue seas.



Another great campground right near Hot Water Beach. The beach is known for the unusual characteristic that at half-low tide if you dig down into the sand, hot water will fill the hole. People bring their spades and create their own tub. You also need a bucket, as the water is so hot that you have to add colder water from the sea to keep it bearable. Unfortunately, the tides were at their highest so the water did not get low enough at low tide to expose the hot underground waters. We did experience the hot water phenomenon when we were here with the kids so long ago. However, we were rewarded by some very big waves, which we boarded for a short while until they just got too big to battle.



A lady from Kearney has a home in Tairua, a lovely coastal village on the Coramandel, which she invited us to stay over one night. The views from her home are stunningly beautiful.





Back in 1842, a young sailor (22yrs old) was washed overboard and unfortunately drowned. He is buried in a historic reserve known as Sailor’s Grave. The reserve consists solely of his grave and the fence which encloses it. It even merits an entry on the road maps. His grave and eternal view is pictured below.





Enjoyed walking parts of the Puketui Valley Trail on the way back to Auckland. This is an old gold-mining area of NZ full of abandoned hopes, dreams and mine shafts. Well, at least they had pretty surroundings once they got out of the shaft.







Auckland is proud of its "world class" zoo. Kiwis like to use the phrase “world class” when referring to some aspect of their country. I surmise that this is done to build up the national sense of we are just as good as the rest of the world in some regard. They probably should drop the phrase altogether, as it reflects a time long ago when they were very isolated and maybe didn’t quite know if they were up to world standards (whatever that means). The zoo is better than most that I have visited over the years. We took Emily for a day in the zoo. Here is only a part of what we saw. This first shot shows that the zoo has animals not found in most zoos.

















Time for another trip. This is a bit different than our other trips, as we spent this trip in the mountainous interior of New Zealand over 100 miles from the nearest ocean beach in a place called Turangi. Liz & Dennis have a time share week there. The North Island of New Zealand is primarily volcanic in origin, while the South Island is primarily the result of uplift of the earth’s plates. For a view of South Island, see the 2007 slutigrams on NZ.

Dominating the center of the North Island are 4 features, 3 are the volcanoes: Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu and the other is Lake Taupo, the largest lake in NZ. Ruapehu is the only active volcano of the trio, having last erupted in the 1990s, ruining the snow ski season when it melted all the snow.







Taupo resulted from the super-volcanic eruption around 26,500 years ago. Its last eruption was around 180 A.D. (or CE as the politically correct like to call it), whose explosive force ranks as among the largest in the last 5,000 years. Projectiles from this eruption have been found as far away as Auckland (150 miles as the tui flies). It is well stocked with rainbow trout and is a fishing and tourist destination.



The entire outward flow of Taupo escapes through Huka Falls and is the source of the Waikato River, NZ longest river.



Geothermal energy has been generated through a large facility at Wairakei. It was the second geothermal facility to go on line in the 1959s and is a maze of large pipes and hissing steam







Thermal manifestations are found throughout North Island. Hot Water Beach is one of them; also hot mineral springs, geysers, boiling mud, thermal rivers, silica terraces and other such things are common. On our drive, we followed the signs to a boiling mud lake, Waitapu.



During our week in the mountains, we took several hikes and enjoyed the scenes. The Taranaki Falls Track was very scenic, as they all were. It travels across open alpine meadows, and then through the bush, being crossed by many a mountain stream.





The large building is The Chateau and is an operating hotel.



The falls themselves are picturesque.



Catherine, ever the daredevil just had to plunge into the icy waters for a quick (very quick) swim. I can still hear her screams.



“Nestled on the shores of Lake Ohakuri lies Orakei Korako (hidden valley), a very active thermal area. It includes a large silica terrace (the Golden Fleece).



Meandering thermal streams of Rainbow Terrace.





Boiling pools, watch your step!



The photos don’t quite show the fact that you are either climbing up or down steps most of the time.

Sadly, while we were in the mountains, Liz’s father passed away. We had met him years ago. He was a retired dairy farmer and a WW II veteran.

We returned to Auckland again for our final week in NZ for this trip. It went all too quickly, with a flurry of social get gatherings and farewells.

Liz had one more treat in store for us on the way to the airport when she insisted that we see an attraction named “Butterfly Creek” which is about 2 minutes from the airport.

Unsurprisingly, we saw lots of butterflies,





fishes, with live corals and anemones,



lizards, wait it gets stranger for a place named butterfly creek,



American alligators, maybe they eat butterflies?



and finally, crocodiles (which are not in the wild in NZ fortunately), from Australia. Cute, aren’t they?





How’d you like to have his job?

After this, Liz dropped us at Auckland International Airport, where we concluded this time in NZ. Thanks to all of our kiwi friends who made our stay so like a homecoming. Especially thanks to the O’Callaghans for making this possible. Haere Ra.