New Zealand travel update 20 April 2001, Nelson, South Island
Kia ora (Maori greeting meaning hello, good luck, good health)
We are now in the South Island, but we better finish telling you about our adventures in the North Island first of all.
On our journey to the Coromandel we visited some distant relatives of the Brunts whose family had emigrated to NZ in the 1920’s. It was really fascinating to find out so much information and to be given such a warm welcome.
Sharon with Connie Brunt and family
We stayed so long with the family that day in Whangaparaoa it meant we ended up driving at night, something we have rarely done on this trip, but we arrived safely at Whangapoa and stayed at Marlisa’s beach house for a lovely, lazy weekend.
On our last day there the rain poured down and with gale force winds, followed us to the Bay of Plenty. Luckily we did not have to pitch the tent, but were hosted for two nights in Papamoa by a lovely couple, David & Sonya who were friends of friends.
From there we headed to Whakatane where again we experienced the warm hospitality of the Kiwis staying with Debbie & Brendan Davis. Actually it was the double whammy combination of Kiwi and Irish hospitality (it doesn’t get any better!) as Debbie is a friend from Tyrone. It was from Whakatane that we really wanted to go swimming with the dolphins and at last it happened.
About 15 minutes into the boat trip we spotted them – Shaz was just so excited – we were right in the middle of a pod of one to two hundred dolphins!! This certainly made up for all the previous times where we didn’t see any dolphins – it was just fantastic.
On this same trip we visited NZ’s most active marine volcano – Whakaari or White Island. Snorkelling there was like swimming in a giant glass of champagne as the bubbles continually rise from the volcanic rocks in the seabed.
Our next stop was a quick one night in Rotorua to experience a little bit of Maori culture at an evening concert and hangi (dinner cooked in the earth) – a bit over crowded, but was still a really enjoyable evening.
We were due a good walking day and were so lucky to have a perfect, clear day to complete the 17km/7.5 hours Tongariro Crossing. Another active volcano where we walked through the weird landscape of craters and had fantastic views over Lake Taupo. The following day we couldn’t even see the mountain!
On course to Wellington we stopped in at Palmerston North to visit the quaint, but interesting New Zealand Rugby Museum, followed by a lovely night at Paekākāriki with Prue Hyman, a Schindler family friend.
Dave catching up on the diary
We then spent a couple of nights in windy’ Wellington (we had to use the guy ropes on the tent for the first time) before taking the ferry to Picton in the South Island on Easter Sunday. The crossing was beautiful and we even managed to spot more dolphins en route!
We’ve arrived in the South Island
Our first night in the South Island was spent at, wait for it… Old McDonald’s Farm! This was in the Abel Tasman National Park where we then spent the next three days on a sea kayaking trip. We again had perfect weather for paddling around and enjoying the stunning scenery; we even had seals swimming alongside us! Dave braved the water at night and went for a paddle under the stars.
The mornings and evenings are getting really quite cold now in the tent so it is a real luxury to stay with friends. We are now in Nelson and yet again experiencing the Kiwi hospitality from Dave’s second cousin Rob De Winter (Marlisa’s dad).
Nelson is really a beautiful area and we have really enjoyed looking around, but tomorrow we move on again and head south, closer to winter. There may be times in the next few weeks where the tent will stay in the back seat and we stay in a cabin! Anyway we will keep you informed…
New Zealand travel update 28 March 2001, Dargaville, Northland
We have been in New Zealand two weeks today and so far, so good. It is just simply beautiful – it doesn’t quite have the forty shades of green that Ireland lays claim to, but it looks pretty close.
Our first few days were spent in Auckland staying with Dave’s second cousin Marlisa, and it was there that we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by having a Guinness or two!
We are now back on the road again, this time in a rented Toyota estate/station wagon. It is costing us the equivalent of about 6 pounds per day so hopefully it will take us the distance! Our very rough plan is to spend a month in the North Island, and a month in the South Island before we make any longer term decisions.
From Auckland we headed north up the East Coast and apart from a little bit of rain here a there, managed to find some beautiful, sunny campsites with good walks and great swimming/snorkelling beaches – Martin’s Bay and Whangarei.
Although it is the start of autumn here it seems the Kiwis’ Indian summer is hanging on for as long as possible. Our only bone of contention at the moment is the dew (no puns please). The early morning dew makes it difficult to pack the tent away, but we are coping. We borrowed a six-man tent from Marlisa for the times that we spend more than one night at any particular place. It is really huge and like a house compared to our little two-man tent.
The Bay of Islands was our next stop and it was just stunning. We stayed in the small town of Russell for 3 nights and just loved it. We went sailing for a day on a 50ft racing yacht and had a fantastic time. It is Dave’s dream to own a boat, and a sailing vessel of some description is necessary to enjoy New Zealand at its best. No no doubt that will be one of our first purchases as even Shaz enjoyed the sailing! Mind you most days you will find us glued to estate agents windows just in case we spot the home dreams are made of, or the bargain of the century!
From the Bay of Islands we headed to Ninety Mile Beach where we were back to enjoying sundowners and great sunsets on the beach. It seems that even our daily lunch stops are getting more beautiful by the day – we stop at beach sides, lakesides or in forests. We also managed to make it to Cape Reinga at the tip of the North Island where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea.
We are now working our way back down the West Coast towards Auckland and plan to be in The Corromandel on the east by the weekend.
Well here we are in Melbourne with only a matter of days left in Australia. This is a long weekend in Victoria (Labour Day) and we will spend it with friends at a house by a lake, a couple of hours north of Melbourne.
Our flight from Perth to Melbourne was fairly uneventful and we arrived safely on a Friday night. Our friends Vito and Natalie took us straight to the buzzing Chapel Street where we enjoyed a fantastic Japanese meal. Melbourne is just full of cafes and restaurants, and the city seemed so big, busy, chic and sophisticated after the more laid back culture of Perth. We were able to spend the weekend catching up with another friend Jan and her family before setting sail for Tasmania on Monday night.
Ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania
Tasmania (the land under down under) is just a fantastic state to visit and we are so glad that we made it there, even if it was only for 10 days. The whirlwind tour was helped by the fact that we had glorious weather for 8½ days which made camping in our little tent a real delight (but of course we did miss Spot and all his luxuries.)
Back to the two-man tent in Tasmania!
Our first stop was the quaint little town of Stanley on the north coast; then two nights in Cradle Mountain where the walking was wonderful and the views just breathtaking. Apparently they only have one clear blue sky day in every ten, so we were thankful for the luck of the Irish to have two consecutive days there with blue cloudless skies – it was just beautiful. From there we drove (we had a hired car) to Strahan in the west, and joined a riverboat cruise on the Gordon River before heading to Lake St. Clair.
Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, was our next stop and what a surprise it was – a lovely clean city that seemed to be a perfect size for living in! The convict settlement of Port Arthur was not what we expected, but in all it’s historical misery was still well worth a visit.
HobartPort Arthur
We spent our last couple of nights in Coles Bay on the east coast and explored a little of Freycinet National Park – again great walking tracks and stunning scenery, and we had the added pleasure of watching five dolphins playing in the bay!
Wineglass Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania
Tasmania is a definite must if ever any of you visit this land of Oz – we have travelled on a lot of roads (none of them yellow brick) and we haven’t managed to find the wizard yet, but we thank our lucky stars that we have been able to visit some of it’s most magical places over the past six months!
We fly to Auckland, New Zealand next Wednesday so that’s it from Australia for now.
Hi, we're Sharon & Dave an active and adventurous Irish & English couple who've been travelling together for more than 20 years. These posts are our travel stories and personal journeys. Follow our adventures to see where we've been and where we're going next!
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