Waitomo to Auckland

After enjoying Waitoma Glowworm Caves we continued on our way north through the town of Huntly where the expressway to Auckland begins.  The Bombay Hills divide Auckland’s southern suburbs from the Waikato Region.  Pasture gave way to farmland.

Even though we reached Auckland well before the afternoon rush hour, the traffic was still quite heavy.  We had a plan to head for the north side of the city and find a nice campground along the Hauraki Gulf. We somehow lost our bearings once we got north of Auckland and the GPS, instead of helping us get back on track, was taking us through small neighborhoods right as school was letting out!  Now we were squeezing the campervan through narrow streets between intercity buses, kids leaving school on their scooters and skateboards, and kids rushing to meet their moms pushing prams – argh!  We were desperate to find somewhere, anywhere, to park the campervan and start happy hour early!  Somehow, after nearly an hour of nerve-wracking meandering, we found our way to Orewa and the Orewa Beach Top 10 Holiday Park on Whangaparaoa Bay – a bit farther north than our original plan but away from the maddening crowd.  Time for a well-deserved happy hour!!!!

 We set our sights on Whangarei (pronounced Fun ga ray!?!), an easy ride up Highway 1 - the Twin Coast Highway.  But we veered off onto a more scenic route through Langs Beach on Bream Bay.  From here we had a clear view across the bay to Hen and Chickens Islands Nature Reserve.

Whangarei Town Basin

The Whangarei Town Basin is supposed to be popular with international yachtsmen.  However, when we were in town at low tide there was not much water to be found in that part of the harbor.  We strolled along the mangrove-lined marina walkway to Hihiaua Point where the massive Waka and Wave sculpture depicting a Maori waka (canoe) breaking through a towering wave dominates the entrance to the town basin. 

The Waka part of the Waka and Wave sculpture...

...and the Wave portion

 

Whangarei is also home to the largest clock collection in the southern hemisphere housed in Claphams National Clock Museum.  As exciting as it sounded, we could not bring ourselves to visit.  It would most likely have been a disappointment after visiting the riveting sock machine museum in Hokitika. J

The date was September 24^th and we both felt that we were burnt out after three weeks on the move.  I needed ice cream! I needed a break from being a tourist!  I slurped up my ice cream and then we forced ourselves to visit one more tourist site in Whangarei – a drive up to Mt. Parihaka for a great panoramic view of the town below and the winding Hatea River.  We both agreed it was a worthwhile drive even if the car park at the end of the road was so littered with huge speed bumps that half the pantry spilled out of the overhead cabinets. Frank needed a break from driving so we spent the night at the Whangarei i-site parking lot, a ‘scenic’ paved venue right on Otaika Road, Highway 1 – a tiny step up from spending the night in a U.S. Walmart parking lot!

view from Mt. Parihaka

The next morning we were feeling refreshed and ready to move on to the next big must-see attraction in nearby Kawakawa.  This sleepy town’s worldwide claim to fame is its Hundertwasser Toilets!  Yes, toilets!  Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian-born architect, lived near Kawakawa without electricity from 1973 until his death in 2000.  The toilets here were his final artistic creation.  Brightly colored ceramic tiles, curvy shapes and empty bottles imbedded in the concrete walls combine to form a very unique set of public loos. If you can’t make it to Kawakawa to see Hundertwasser’s work, perhaps you can stop in Osaka or Vienna - some of his art work can also be found there.

 

Exterior of Hundertwasser's toilets
 

For the ladies

For the men

The town of Paihia is the gateway to the Bay of Islands region.  When Captain Cook arrived here, he counted 144 islands in the bay and I guess he could not come up with a better name than Bay of Islands.  It is a favorite aquatic playground for Kiwis and visitors alike.  These islands are all within 30 miles of the North Island’s coastline.  During glacial periods when sea levels were lower, the islands were connected to the mainland.

A short high-speed ferry ride across the water from Paihia is the sleepy town of Russell, once known as ‘the hell hole of the Pacific.’  In the 1830’s Russell was the biggest whaling port in the Southern Hemisphere.  Up to 500 whalers would arrive after twelve months at sea to this town which did not have much of a law enforcement agency.  Things would quickly get out of hand.  Johnny Johnston, an ex-con, operated his ‘Grog Shop’ in 1827 to cater to this rowdy gang.  Later, to gain some respect, he renamed his business ‘The Duke of Marlborough.’  In 1840, the newly formed government of New Zealand granted Johnny the very first national liquor license which is proudly displayed in the bar of this waterside establishment.  The Duke of Marlborough Hotel proclaims “refreshing rascals and reprobates since 1827. . .legally since 1840.”

Ironically, the once-rowdy town of Russell is also home to Christ Church, New Zealand’s first church.  One of the first donations for its construction came from Charles Darwin who was struck by the “very refuse of society” that he saw in Russell when he visited in 1835.  The church was completed in 1836.

Christ Church in Russell

At the Russell town dock, we boarded the catamaran Great Sights Dolphin Seeker for a three-hour cruise of the Bay of Islands.  Near the island of Motuarohia we stopped to watch dozens of bottle nose dolphins romping in the clear blue water.  The highlight of the cruise took place at Motukokako, or Piercy Island, just north of the Cape Brett lighthouse.  The captain threaded the catamaran through “the Hole in the Rock” – a narrow arched opening in Motukokako.  Turning back to Paihia we could see fur seals lolling about on the rocky Bird Rock island.

The Dolphin Seeker

 

Yes, the Captain of the Dolphin Seeker got through this Hole in the Rock!

Having seen the southernmost tip of the South Island, we were determined to make it to the northernmost tip of the North Island where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.  We hopped on Route 1 and headed northwest from Paihia’s Bay of Islands Motor Park.  The road was lined with rickety fencing that obviously was not strong enough to contain the livestock grazing in the pastures.  Road signs gave the phone number to use to report ‘wandering livestock.’  We came across more than one wayward calf munching grass on the roadside, oblivious to the occasional passing vehicle.

New Zealand’s road planners must not have been paying attention in Geometry class.  The shortest distance between two points is a straight line!  The North Road and the Far North Road were far from straight or level.  S-curve followed s-curve followed s-curve!  You have to admire the road planners’ sense of humor.  The posted speed limit is 100KM coming out of one s-curve and then changes to 25KM just a few feet away as you approach the next s-curve. And then back to 100KM again! And then back to 25KM! HaHaHa!! Frank likened driving on New Zealand’s roads to driving cross-country in the U.S on The Blue Ridge Parkway!  The scenery was beautiful but the trip was a nail biter as we shared the twisting uphill/downhill roadway with massive double-trailer logging trucks through avocado and macadamia nut orchards.

Finally we arrived at Cape Reinga, literally at the end of the Far North Road.  Technically this is not the northernmost point of the North Island as it is 3 KM south of Surville Cliffs.  But it is the most accessible northernmost point.  Surville Cliffs is accessible only by a very long tramp around Spirits Bay to Hooper Point and then along Tom Bowling Bay to Surville Cliffs.  We were content with the spectacular view of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean from Cape Reinga!  In our mind, we made it to the northern end of New Zealand!

Tasman Sea crashing on the beach at Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga lighthouse

Looking out at the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean
at the end of the North Island

Cape Reinga has great significance to the Maori people who call it Te Rerenga Wairua (place of leaping).  This is where the spirits of the departed leave for their journey back to the traditional homeland, Hawaiiki nui.

There is an alternative straight route up to Cape Reinga.  It is called the Ninety Mile Beach Road.  (It is not ninety miles long - it is 64 miles long!?!)  Rental vehicles are expressly forbidden to drive along this stretch of hard-packed sand along the Tasman Sea.  Many a car has been lost to the sea when the tide came up and flooded the beach!  After exploring the Cape Reinga area we retraced our route down the Far North Road to the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach at Waipapakauri Beach and found a nice motorhome park within walking distance of the beach.  Families were out foraging for dinner on the water’s edge – armed with plastic shovels and chilly boxes (coolers to us Americans) they dug for tuatuas, small clam like shellfish.

Bus returning with tourists after driving up Ninety Mile Beach Road

 

Having traveled up the east coast of the Twin Coast Highway we decided to travel back to Auckland via the west coast.  We would avoid a lot of backtracking if we took the Mangamiuka Road and Kohukohu Road to the Hokianga Harbor town of Kohukohu.  We plugged Kohukohu into the GPS and found that we were just an hour and fifteen minutes away.  Since it was only 9:30 we figured that we had plenty of time to make it to the 11:00 ferry crossing.  Wrong!!  We didn’t realize that we would be traveling along one of those snaking roads through the Maungataniwha Range.  We watched the display on the GPS counting down the minutes much faster than the Kilometers!  We told ourselves that if we made the 11:00 ferry it would be a pleasant surprise; if not, we would just amuse ourselves for an hour until the next ferry.  But who were we kidding?  Both of us wanted to make that 11:00 ferry and avoid spending an hour in Kohukohu, described in the travel brochure as a harbor town having ‘a number of important historic sites such as the Masonic Lodge…’

After 27 days, Frank had become one with the campervan.  He handled every uphill and downhill curve like a pro.  I held on tight.  About 5 km away from the ferry at 10:56, a pickup truck with an empty livestock trailer passed us by on the straightaway.  We could almost taste victory around the bend.  And there it was – the 24-vehicle Hokianga Ferry already loaded with 23 vehicles.  The attendant urged those drivers to inch forward and make room for our campervan.  We slowed a bit, rambled over the ramp and high-fived each other as the gate behind us closed.  Just as Frank turned off the ignition, the ferry began the twelve-minute ($42) crossing to Rawene.

Squeezed aboard the Hokianga Ferry

 

Where the Hokianga Harbor opens to the Tasman Sea is a large sand dune where sand toboganning is a favorite tourist activity.  We continued down the highway through the Waipoua Forest and the magnificent protected kauri trees.  The kauri tree, a type of conifer or pine tree, is New Zealand’s largest and most famous native tree.  The Maoris have named the country’s largest living kauri Tane Mahutu, Lord of the Forest.  The 1,500 year old tree is 168 feet high, with a girth of 46 feet. 

Tane Mahutu

 

It took me two pictures to get the entire tree!

As a young tree, the kauri has a narrow conical shape with branches along the length of its trunk.  As it grows, it sheds its bark and its lower branches.  Eventually the top branches develop into a massive spreading crown that stands above the other trees and dominates the forest.    When the lower limbs are shed or the bark is damaged, the kauri resin bleeds out and seals the wound.  Over time, the resin lump hardens and falls to the ground as the tree sheds its bark.  The Maoris collected the fallen resin and used it for cooking and lighting and as a pigment for their tattoos. 

A collection of polished kauri gum

The Europeans valued the resin for its many commercial uses - in paints, linoleum, candles, marine glue, jewelry, carving and high quality varnish.  The kauri trunk also yields flawless straight grained timber that was of enormous value in shipbuilding and furniture making in the late 1800’s.  Giant cross-sections of kauri trees are on display in the Kauri Museum in Matakohe.  The museum illustrates the role these trees played in New Zealand’s pioneering past and traces the history of the golden years of kauri logging and gumdigging that nearly decimated the kauri forests.  Around the base of the massive dead trees laid a treasure trove of buried resin chunks.  In 1885, as many as 2,000 Yugoslav immigrants were employed as gumdiggers to locate and dig up the lumps of resin and as tree climbers to wound the trees to bleed fresh gum. (That practice was banned in 1915.)  What a hard life these people led!

dwarfed by a kauri

 


With just one more full day left to explore New Zealand, we pulled into the Auckland North Shore Motorhome Park just outside of the city.  Public transportation into Auckland is just a short walk away.

Auckland, the City of Sails, is home to a third of New Zealand’s population.  With more boats per capita than any other city in the world and being almost completely surrounded by water, it certainly deserves the City of Sails title.  We walked along Waitemata Harbour, Viaduct Harbor (home to last weekend’s boat show) and Westhaven Boat Harbor (home to a 2,000-boat marina).  Dominating the skyline is the Sky Tower, New Zealand’s tallest building.  The fifty-mile views from the observation levels at 610 feet and 722 feet are fantastic.  The tower opened in 1997 and has attracted close to one million visitors per year.  For adrenaline junkies, there is the SkyWalk, a hands-free walk on the outside of the tower at 630 feet above the sidewalk or the SkyJump, an eleven-second plunge from the same height while attached to a safety wire.  We were content to watch the jumpers and plungers from the lower observation deck.

Auckland Sky Tower

Floral clock at Albert Park

After a short stroll through Albert Park we returned to Viaduct Basin, home to America’s Cup in 2000. We ended our month long visit to New Zealand with lunch at Degree, one of the many waterside cafes overlooking the huge moored sailboats.  Kia Ora!

 

 

 

 

Lake Taupo to Waitomo

The Great Lake Taupo was formed in AD186 when the largest volcanic eruption recorded by man occurred.  Twelve-hundred cubic kilometers of volcanic matter was sent over thirty miles into the air causing 3 days of global darkness.  The Taupo Volcanic Zone remains one of the world’s most active volcanic/geothermal areas.

This large freshwater lake roughly the size of Singapore is known for its great rainbow trout fishing.  The rainbow trout was imported from California in 1898 and has adapted so well to its surroundings that no further restocking of the lake has been required.

We boarded the Cruise Cat at Lake Taupo harbor for a two-hour cruise.  The morning was clear and cold and, in the distance, we could clearly see the volcanic peaks of Mt. Tongariro, Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom to Hobbit fans) and Mt. Ruapehu – all with a fresh ‘dump’ of snow on their peaks.

 

 

Captain Pete left the helm of Cruise Cat several times during our cruise – he was intent on catching a rainbow trout!  Captain Frank stood ready to take control if need be but the cruise went smoothly and without incident.  After Captain Pete reeled in his trout we cruised over to Mine Bay to see the Maori rock carvings.  These ‘ancient’ carvings were commissioned by the Queen Elizabeth Arts Council in 1980 and were created by a local tribe.  We were not the only people on board Cruise Cat who were led to believe that these were indeed ancient carvings only accessible by boat!

Maori rock carvings on Lake Taupo

Devil's Staircase rock formation on Lake Taupo

 

While cruising Lake Taupo we saw another for hire boat, the Barbary.  This electric-powered sailing ketch once belonged to famous screen star Errol Flynn.  Legend has it that he won it in a card game in 1938.  (Frank was fascinated by the fact that Errol had covered the walls and ceilings in mirrors, but we will not be redecorating Lazy W in that fashion anytime soon!) If the weather had not been so cold and windy we might have opted for a lake cruise on her rather than the enclosed Cruise Cat.

Up the Thermal Explorer Highway from Taupo is the Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters) Thermal Wonderland, New Zealand’s most colorful and diverse geothermal area.  Beneath the ground is a system of streams which are heated by magma left over from earlier eruptions.  Water temperatures of up to 300‍‍⁰C have been recorded.  Boardwalks and sign-posted paths mark the walkway through boiling mud pools (Devil’s Ink Pots), collapsed craters (Devil’s Home, Devil’s Bath, Inferno Crater), hissing fumaroles, steam vents and the pervasive ‘rotten egg’ smell of sulphur.  At Frying Pan Flat we observed a Pied Stilt wading in the hot acidic water. Having seen Yellowstone National Park, we were less than awestruck by Wai-O-Tapu but at least we didn’t have to keep looking over our shoulders for marauding bears and bison here!  Along the path back to the Visitor Center we managed to find many Silver Fern, another icon of New Zealand.

A view of Wai-O-Tapu

We were told that the Lady Knox Geyser erupts each morning at 10:15, spouting water and steam 69 feet into the air.  We were a bit skeptical by the seeming timely predictability of its eruption but decided that a morning visit was in order for tomorrow’s to-do list.  We headed out to Waikite Valley Thermal Pool Motor Park for the evening.  We parked the campervan amid the steaming vents that heated the in-ground pools of the motor park.

 

Rain overnight pitter-pattered on the campervan roof and a light mist was falling at daybreak.  We dawdled until 9:30 and then made our way towards Lady Knox.  A crowd had gathered at the viewing area and it soon became apparent how the eruption can be predicted so accurately.  After giving a short introductory talk on the initial discovery of the geyser, the ranger threw a surfactant mix into the man-made conical opening and, presto, ten minutes later she started to spout.  This is no Old Faithful!!!

Ranger prepping the Lady Knox geyser

Ten minutes later, Lady Knox erupts.

 

Now we were wet, muddy and disillusioned!  The authenticity of the nearby Mud Pools cheered us up.   We dragged our muddy selves back to the campervan and continued up the Thermal Explorer Highway to Rotorua and the Cosy Cottage Thermal Holiday Park.

Bubbling mud pool

Rotorua, situated on the southern shore of a lake of the same name, is a major center of Maori culture.   The city has one of the largest Maori populations in all of New Zealand.  The Rotorua Museum fronts the formal Government Gardens that contain a series of neatly trimmed croquet and bowling greens, formal flower gardens and steaming thermal pools. 

Rotorua Museum

Picket fence with Maori icons at entrance to Government Gardens

Prince's Gate at entrance to Government Gardens

 

We were looking forward to an evening at Tamaki Maori Village where we would experience ceremonial rituals, storytelling and an authentic hangi feast.  Dennis, our coach driver, picked up a group of us from the holiday park.  During the twenty minute drive to Tamaki, Dennis instructed us on the proper protocol for entering the village.  We had to wait for the formal welcome ceremony to be performed.  Our Maori hosts sent out the challenge of peace with the warriors going through many menacing gestures until the Teka ( peace offering) was accepted by the visiting chiefs (our selected bus leaders).  The welcome ceremony is purposely intimidating to let visitors know just who is in charge of this marae (village).  We were then welcomed into the marae.  Under a canopy of huge trees with small fires burning, we were introduced to some Maori activities of a bygone era (poi twirling, weaponry displays, carving, facial tattooing, weaving) performed by tribe members intent on keeping these traditions alive.  These re-enactors were dressed in traditional Maori attire – the women with bare shoulders, the men with bare chests and legs, all with bare feet – while the visitors stood bundled up as best we could against the cold, damp night!

The chief awaits our arrival

 

 

Maori warrior

Maori war dance

Inside the heated wharenui (big house) we were entertained by another group of Maori performing native songs and dance.  Here we witnessed our first haka (Maori war dance).  This is an impressive dance performed by the men of the tribe to intimidate their foes.  There are plenty of protruding eyes and tongues and other gestures of defiance.  The All Blacks rugby team performs their own version of the haka at the start of every one of their games. 

The hangi feast

The traditional hangi feast was served in the wharekai (the food house).  The hangi feast this evening was a meal of lamb, chicken and vegetables prepared in the age old Maori cooking method – heated rocks are placed in a large pit; baskets of food are layered on the hot stones; a wet burlap cloth and dirt are placed over the food; three to four hours later the delicious meal is served.  We feasted at a table with an Australian family from Sydney who had lived in Connecticut for two years – the dad was wearing a New York Giants football jacket but his Aussie accent clearly indicated he was not a New York native!

After the closing ceremony we all boarded our buses for the ride back to Rotorua.  Dennis attempted to teach us more Maori words but the best the group could do was a rousing ‘Kia Ora’ – hello, welcome, goodbye, have a safe journey. 

Another of New Zealand’s must-sees is the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.  Although our intended travel route was nowhere near these caves, we decided that we just had to go or we would regret it forever.  So we got up bright and early and drove two hours through nothing but pastures filled with cows and sheep and the occasional llama and alpaca.  Tourism Radio never once interrupted the music to point out anything else of interest.

The Waitomo region is famous worldwide for what lies beneath the earth’s surface here – twenty miles of a dark subterranean world of limestone caves and grottoes dripping with glowworms.  A chamber of the Waitomo Glowworm Cave was first explored in 1887 and our guide’s great-grandfather was a part of that exploration.  He led us down through three levels of the cave – the Banquet Chamber, the Pipe Organ and the Cathedral.  (The Cathedral is known for its great acoustics and many choirs perform here during the Christmas holidays.)  The pale brown, pink and white shades of the huge dripping stalactites, the eerie darkness and the occasional unexpected cold drip of water falling on your head is rather creepy. And then, still in darkness, you board a wooden boat with two dozen other tourists and your guide who pulls the boat through the glowworm grotto using a series of overhead rope cables.  The quiet and darkness engulf you as you gaze overhead at the thousands of pinhead-size lights – sort of like gazing up at the Milky Way on a clear night.  Magical!

Glowworms are the larvae of a species of fly called a fungus gnat.  The glowworms use their kidneys to create a glowing light that attracts flying insects into their sticky silk threads. These threads hang like fishing lines that the glowworm then pulls in to eat the tasty trapped insects.  Sounds a bit icky but it makes for a mesmerizing display in the cave.

 

 

Across Cook Strait to the North Island

The region across the top of the South Island is known in Maori as Te Tau Ihi o te Waka o Maui – the prow of Maui’s canoe.  According to legend, the Marlborough Sounds were formed when Kupe, a Maori warrior, was chasing a great octopus and finally caught it in Cook Strait where it formed the waterways and headlands of the Marlborough Sounds.  The scientific explanation – these ‘drowned valleys’ were formed millions of years ago by the mountains sinking and allowing sea water to flood into the low lying areas.  The Marlborough Sounds are made up of four main waterways – Queen Charlotte Sound, Pelorus Sound, Kenepuru Sound and Mahau Sound.  Together they encompass one-fifth of the New Zealand’s total coastline!

Leaving Picton Harbor

 

We boarded the Interislander ferry Kaitaki (Challenger) in Picton for the three-hour cruise through Queen Charlotte Sound and across Cook Strat bound for Wellington.  (Posted sailing conditions – NW 40 Knots easing to 30 Knots in the evening).  Kaitaki is the largest ferry in New Zealand.  It can carry 1,650 passengers and 600 cars on three decks plus tractor trailers and train cars on the lower decks – there were considerably fewer passengers on board for our crossing. Kaitaki is capable of cruising at 20.5 knots.

We felt right at home!!!

The 50-mile scenic route into Wellington Harbour took three hours. We had a ‘tourist’ map of the sound and tried to determine where we were by dead reckoning.  Frank wished he brought his hand held chart plotter!

Pencarrow Head Lighthouses

 

Literally a two minute drive from the ferry landing in Wellington is the Wellington Waterfront Motorhome Park – a convenient location from which to explore the capital city of New Zealand.  The Motorhome ‘Park’ is no more than an asphalt paved parking lot with a shower/rest room building.  Not a very pretty site but functional.  There was an informative and highly amusing sign posted in the restroom on the dispenser of continuous loop hand toweling - For drying of hands and face only.  Any other use may prove dangerous.  Good to know!

Wellington Waterfront Motorhome Park

 

When we arrived the wind (NW 40 Knots) was howling and it was really cold.  The gusts rocked the campervan for hours.  At nightfall we discovered another ‘un-park’ like attribute of the Motorhome Park – we were parked right underneath a bright street light that lit up the interior of the campervan.  We pretended it was romantic moonlight and hunkered down for the evening.

Wellington is the hometown of director Peter Jackson whose film credits include the wildly successful JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Movie production is a multi-million dollar industry earning the city the nickname “Wellywood.”  Hobbit fans can catch one of dozens of tours to visit filming locations throughout New Zealand.  We are not Hobbit fans so we spent our time in the city.

Wellington Cable Car with view of Wellington Harbour

 

A ride on the Wellington Cable Car from Lambton Quay to the terminus in the suburb of Kelburn brought us to the Botanical Gardens where not much was blooming since it is just the start of spring here down under.  The nearby Carter Observatory housed a digital planetarium and the docent regaled us with stories of the Southern skies from Greek, Roman and Maori legends.

Silver Ferns sculpture suspended over Civic Square

 

Back in the CBD (central business district) we stopped for lunch at J.J. Murphy’s Irish Pub where Frank sampled his first New Zealand mussels.  The lunchtime crowd had the downtown bustling with activity.  Willis Street and Lambton Quay are lined with shops, food ‘takeaways’, numerous McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and Subway Sandwich shops, and a myriad of international restaurants.  Despite the chill in the air, most establishments leave their doors wide open – a sign that they are open for business.

The Beehive - one of three Parliament buildings in Wellington

 

We snagged a personalized tour of Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand.  Treasures and stories of the land, all its peoples and cultures are well displayed and told here.  Our guide walked us through the highlights and sprinkled her commentary with her own personal Maori perspective.

Our route out of Wellington was along a six-lane highway!!  We hadn’t seen one of those in weeks!!  After three nights without access to fresh water to fill our tanks, we definitely needed a Holiday Park. We arrived at the Martinborough Top10 Holiday Park and replenished water and did laundry at an exorbitant $8NZ/per load!  We rewarded ourselves with a visit to Palliser Wine Cellar Door where we met two couples from Oregon who were pedaling a short bike route through the Martinborough wine region.  Most of the area’s 20 boutique wineries are within walking/biking distance of the town square.  Unfortunately, we got a late start and only managed to visit one!

After a very rainy night in Martinborough, we woke to a beautiful sunny day.   But the weather here changes rapidly and by the time we were on our way to Hawke’s Bay the rain had returned.  Les and Ali highly recommended a stop at Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Center, the home of a rare white kiwi named Manukura.  She is on display in the Kiwi House where dim lighting simulates night in the forest when kiwis are active.  The basketball-sized, flightless bird was busy poking her long beak into the logs and undergrowth searching for her evening meal of grubs and worms.  Upon closer observation we were able to spot a brown kiwi in the same enclosure.  The Kiwi House also includes a kiwi nursery.  It was a very worthwhile stop to see New Zealand’s iconic bird!

 

Maori legend tells this tale of the kiwi.  Kiwi once lived in the treetops and had beautiful, colorful wings.  One day Tane, god of the forest, asked his children which of them would live on the forest floor to help save it from destruction by bugs.  The kiwi volunteered even though it would have to give up its vivid color and its ability to fly for a nocturnal life on the deep bush floor.  As a result of this sacrifice, the kiwi became the most loved of Tane’s children. 

By the time we left Pukaha the sun was shining.  All along Route 2 we were surrounded by rolling green hills set against a brilliant blue sky.  Signs of spring were everywhere – blooming forsythia bushes and daffodils, budding trees.  The number of sheep and little lambs was just about equal to the number of cows grazing in the fields as we made our way through the towns of Pahiatua and Mangatainoka, home of Tui beer.  (We could never live here as the names of towns are too intimidating to even pronounce!) One somber feature of the small towns in New Zealand – every one of them appears to have a monument in remembrance of their fallen soldiers who served in World War I.

 

On the road to Hawke's Bay...
 

...the small town of Dannevirke
proudly displays its Swedish and Norwegian roots!

 

We passed several road signs sporting the wind sock icon and, sure enough, the gusty winds buffeted the campervan.  Frank worked hard to keep us from being blown into oncoming traffic.  And then on the hills ahead of us appeared the Tararua Wind Farm, one of the largest wind farms in the southern hemisphere.

There is good shopping just outside the town of Waipukurau – that is if you are in the market for a few good rams or bulls!  ‘One Stop Ram Shop’ and ‘Bull Selling’ signs appeared along Route 2. 

The Hawke’s Bay area is one of New Zealand’s leading food and wine regions.  The abundant orchards, vineyards and olive groves were all showing signs of new growth.  Hastings and Napier are the two main towns in the region.  We arrived in Hastings late in the afternoon and after a quick stop at the visitor center we found a great freedom camping site right on the shore of the Pacific Ocean near the town of Te Awanga.  It was a brilliant night for star gazing – the Milky Way was clearly visible.

Te Awanga campsite

As far as originality goes, RoadShack had our Kea campervan beat!!

 

September 20^th – election day for the Kiwis in New Zealand but for us it was a beautiful morning to enjoy the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. 

We inventoried our wine stock and determined that we had enough wine to get us through our last ten days in New Zealand.  I cannot believe I am saying this, but it was decided that it would be wise to forego any Hawke’s Bay winery visits in favor of seeing as much more of New Zealand as possible.  So we moved on to nearby Napier, the Art Deco capital of New Zealand.

In 1931 a massive earthquake measuring 7.8 magnitude shook the city of Napier for two and a half minutes.  When the shaking was over, the city lay in ruins.  What did not come tumbling down burned to the ground in the ensuing fires that burned for two more days.  The sea floor of the harbor rose six feet swallowing the nearby marshland and changing the shoreline forever.  The earthquake remains as the greatest natural disaster to ever hit New Zealand – over 250 lives were lost.

Remarkably, the optimistic citizens of Napier rebuilt their city in two years.  And this was during the height of a great economic depression!  The ornate Victorian architecture that crumbled was replaced by the clean geometric lines of Art Deco.  Today the Art Deco Trust works diligently to preserve and protect the heritage of Napier.  Sue, a docent with the trust, led a walking tour through the streets of town, pointing out the defining aspects of this style of architecture – elaborate zigzag and sunburst motifs, chrome speed lines, leadlight glass, bold fonts - on the beautifully preserved pastel-colored buildings.  Embellished street benches and street lights, even sewer caps, add to the Art Deco ambiance.  One can only imagine the vibe around town when it hosts the annual Art Deco Weekend with an invasion of classic old cars, flapper girls and zoot suits, the Bathing Belle Competition, and the Gatsby Picnic.

A stunning example of the Art Deco architecture in Napier

Even utility covers are adorned in Art Deco icons

 

Frank and the flapper girl

 

Leaving Hawke’s Bay behind, we caught the Thermal Explorer Highway (Highway 5) just north of Napier.  We knew it was bound to happen sometime but we were still caught by surprise when we encountered the first truly ugly landscape in all of our New Zealand travels.  A massive logging operation north of Te Haroto had stripped the hillsides of their pine trees and left them littered with huge tree stumps and fallen tree trunks.

Waipunga Falls

 

As it winds its way over the Ahimanawa Range, the Thermal Explorer Highway keeps motorists on high alert driving through innumerable steep S-turns and wind swept hills.  One of the rewards along the way was a stunning view of Waipunga Falls.  Soon after we arrived at Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand.