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.