Days 47 - 52 of NZ 2022 Trip
DAY 47: Today we left Rotorua, a bit disappointed that the weather made a couple of the things we would like to have done less appealing. Oh well - next time.
We decided to head northwards via Hamilton where we would visit the Hamilton Gardens that I had read about. This is a must-do for anyone interested in gardens. Instead of your usual Botanic Gardens, Hamilton opted to convert an old sand quarry and rubbish dump into themed, 'enclosed' gardens.
It is a little hard to describe, but you enter hubs, and choose a gateway to go through and you enter different garden spaces. Here is the first of the hubs.
We chose first to visit the Paradise Garden Collection. The following blurb gives you a hint of what you might see.
I was unprepared for my very visceral reaction on visiting the Japanese garden. It made me feel nostalgic, homesick, peaceful - all at once.
The other gardens were equally good and not at all tacky. Some are replicas of gardens of their type in the country of origin, others newly designed for Hamilton. I have included one photo for each of the above gardens, other than the Japanese one.
English
Indian
Italian
American
The photos don't do the quality of the entrances and the gardens themselves justice.
Then there were the food gardens as explained below.
I have included a sample photo for each of these.
Maori
Herb
English country estate kitchen garden
Ancient Egyptian garden, used primarily for gifts to the gods
Sustainable backyard kitchen garden
Next there was the Fantasy Collection as explained here.
Again, one photo from each.
Surrealist
Katherine Mansfield garden
Concept Garden
Tudor Garden
Picturesque Garden based on the story in the Magic Flute opera
Chinoiserie Garden
There were also more traditional parts of the Gardens, including another rose garden that I just had to visit.
The children's play area also was fun-inspired and included things like a cubby house, tunnels to get from one area to another, and a maze that young kids couldn't get lost in but could spend hours playing chaseys in.
Onwards and northwards. The drive wasn't much fun with quite heavy rain at times. We have ended up at a place called Muriwai where we are camped in a campground next to a black sand beach.
DAY 48: We woke up to an unexpectedly sunny day. We have decided to stay another night and have a bit of a lazy day. The beach looked rather much nicer in the sunshine and plenty of people were out enjoying it today, being Sunday and warm.
The reason we came here was particularly to see an Australasian Gannet colony. I hadn't heard what the numbers were like this year but we weren't disappointed. There are about 1,000 birds nesting and everything from birds trying to find a mate, to ones sitting in eggs, to very young featherless chicks to much older chicks. None near the fledgling stage yet. These birds will travel to Australia around April/May. They come up to the Coffs area quite regularly.
It was fascinating watching them. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted my best photos ...
There were also White-fronted Terns nesting in precarious spots on a nearby island.
But nature can be cruel sometimes. I saw two chicks looking abandoned and close to death. When I returned in the afternoon, neither were there. Black-winged Gulls were flying around all the time. No doubt such chicks are tasty morsels and easy pickings for them. On the beach, likewise fated, a dead White-fronted Tern fledgling.
In the afternoon, we went to the next beach south, on Maukatia Bay, to see some rock formed by extrusions of lava, through tubes, under the sea.
Sadly, yesterday a swimmer drowned at Muriwai, and a memorial, decorated with shells and fresh sunflowers, greeted us when we got there. A sober reminder about the dangers of the ocean.
We weren't sure where to find the lava formations, but we soon discovered that they are now are in cliff faces, or fallen and eroded on the beach.
At the end of the beach is a cave, a typical erosion pattern seen in these parts. The islands out to sea were once part of this coastline but erosion has torn them away.
I then spent time pursuing my favourite hobby, perusing the flora on the edge of the beach and insects along the path to the gannets but all my photos are gone. I had fun anyway but I was slightly cranky and upset when I somehow deleted them!!
We haven't witnessed a west coast sunset for a while so took the opportunity afforded us by good weather to go for an evening walk and sunset view.
The wind was cold but we found a slightly sheltered spot and hunkered down.
Lovely. The last of the sun on the rock pools, the gannets swirling around in what looked like efforts to make the most of the last of daylight to exercise those flying muscles, the waves. All made for a peaceful, lovely evening.
Back to the view from our camper.
DAY 49: 30,000 steps later, plus more for Pete (read about that later), and we have stumbled into the cheapest, and at first I thought the nastiest caravan park in Auckland. Second look, with clean toilets and showers (just don't use the shower mats) it ain't too bad.
But to start at the beginning. We left Muriwai early as we had a 10am (get there 1/2 hour before) appointment with a ferry to Rangitoto, one of the so-called Gulf Islands in the harbour of Auckland. These islands have been virtually pest free since 2011.
The trip across gave us some good views of Auckland city and its waterways. The first picture is of a building next to the pier where we got on the boat - made to look like an ocean liner.
The last photo is of Rangitoto. As you can see, the weather was perfect, reaching a lovely 26 degrees!!
Rangitoto is an extinct volcano that erupted about 600 years ago, forming the island. The summit, which you can walk to, is what is left of the crater. The oldest plants here are only about 200 years old since the lava that formed the island takes ages to break down into soil. Apparently it also has the largest Pohutukawa (NZ Xmas tree) forest in NZ. When we were first in the North Island, these trees were in bud, now many of them are masses of blooms, particularly beautiful against the blue sky or water.
The first part of the walk was up towards the summit, going through old lava fields that have never yet had growth in them and through lovely forest. It was quite warm going as you are heading upwards all the time.
About 15 minutes before you reach the summit there is a turnoff to Lava Caves. We had read about these beforehand so came prepared with our head torches. There were four you could go in, including a dead-end one, one that was only about 5 metres long, one that you had to crawl into for about 10 or so metres before it opened out and sent you to part of the track that you'd come down, and a longer one - maybe 30m, maybe a tad longer. Good fun and short enough to have no scare factor. Beautifully cool, dripping with moisture and with roots coming through from above.
The climb to the summit was steeper after this but not difficult, mostly stairs. It is a very popular walk and our ferry was pretty full so we saw plenty of people, especially at the summit.
The views were great, as could be expected, again over the waterways and towards various islands and parts of Auckland. The first view however is down into the crater.
Mackenzie Bay lived up to the promise of an excellent place to have a swim. We joined others who had found this prize.
We left the beach with a suggested 90 minute walk back to the wharf. About 35 mins into the walk Pete worked out that he'd left his phone in the toilet block at Mackenzie Bay! No!!!! Nothing for it, but to go back and get it. So, I took his daypack minus water and off Pete ran with th water to retrieve his phone.
It was a hot walk and an even hotter run/walk for Pete! Still some lovely sights along the way - lichen, lighthouse, birds, fish and baches (the NZ term for a beach shack) now owned by the Department of Conservation.
I got to the wharf with 25 minutes to spare, wondering if Pete would make it in time. 3:30pm was the last ferry for the day. When the ferry finally came, I told them the sorry saga and they gave me some ideas (seeing if another ferry would divert to the island, getting a water taxi) as to what I could do. Then, 30secs behind time the boat crew espy a jogging Pete and decide to wait. We put them a minute behind schedule. Pete scored a cheer from onlookers as he boarded! He was stuffed and need less of water to cool down and rehydrate. He recovered well.
Almost forgot to say that Pete was really hoping to see the latest NZ contender for the America's Cup as he'd heard it would be practising of Auckland today. Just before he remember where he'd left his phone, we saw it. It flies!!
After cooling down some more with a gelato, we made the 20 min trek (in actual fact e probably took about 30) back to the car to get changed before going out for an earlyish dinner. We saw a pub with a great view of the NZ America's Cup team headquarters on the way, so decided to go back there for dinner.
Unfortunately, by the time we returned it was closed, so we chose a nearby Greek/Turkish restaurant/bar instead. Like everywhere here they were short-staffed but the food was delicious.
In the quarter of an hour between just before we finished there and getting back to the car, Auckland decided to show us some quick-changing weather.
A last minute dash to the car saw us only get a bit damp before the main rain hit.
If you look at the third photo you will see some maxi yachts that we managed to go out of our way to have a look at before we realised the rain was really coming our way.
There sure is some wealth around this harbour area! Pete decided he'd like the catamaran in the second photo. But then, there are the old work-horses, the fishing boats too. In Auckland, all the wharves are along the city waterfront, including those for container vessels too.
DAY 50: We had a quiet night and a good sleep so have little to complain about here. Will stay tonight too as it is reasonably close to a train so we can do all our travel on public transport today. Especial good since Auckland, as a post-Covid lure, has 1/2 prove fares on most public transport options.
So, after a somewhat slow start to the day (we had to avoid peak hour), we headed into the city. Sydney has Sydney Tower, Auckland has Sky Tower. You can walk 360 degrees around it near the top, skydive off it reaching a pace of 85kph, or visit two viewing decks, on 51 floors up, the other 60 floors up. There were some great views.
It was fun seeing/hearing the reaction of those watching those jumping off the building. From where we watched, it didn't seem so far, but it did from ground level.
After a disappointing Japanese lunch, Pete went for a haircut and I had fun doing some city photography. First, I was looking at reflections. I love looking at the abstract nature of things you cannot really see except in their reflection.
Then I was taken by shop displays.
When Pete returned from his haircut we headed back to the wharves for a ferry trip under the Auckland bridge to a part of the city we hadn't been - not to visit but to enjoy the harbour views.
A very enjoyable hour and a bit. But ... literally as we were taking our seats in a train to our next destination, Pete - yes again - realises he doesn't have his phone. Fortunately, we have just enough time to hop off the train before it departs. I ring his phone. Who answers? The captain of the ferry we had just taken! The ferry had departed for its next journey already and wouldn't be back for another 90 minutes.
We had afternoon tea, then went back down to have a closer look at the big passenger liner that was moored at the quay. It was just about to leave so we had fun watching the tiny little tugboats pull and shove the liner to get it on its way. But for Pete's phone we would have missed this spectacle.
After retrieving Pete's phone from the ferry, we travelled a couple of stops to Newmarket to go to the Westfield's there. We could have been in Australia with David Jones, Cue, Seed etc., etc. The reason we were there is that Pete had seen that a concept electric vehicle (Polestar - collaboration between Volvo and a Chinese company) would be there. Sure enough it was. Whether it will ever be built like this is anyone's guess. This was the original one-and-only model and, almost impossible to believe, it is made from clay!!!
Definitely worth seeing, particularly as this stop was on the line back to our camper.
We are running down supplies so cheese and biscuits for pre-dinner, baked beans, an egg on toast for dinner, and honey on toast for dessert! Nice enough, but I'm glad we haven't existed on such fare for the last seven weeks!
We first briefly visited the outside of Eden Park, famed rugby ground and the nemesis of the Australia's Rugby team. Unbelievably, you can 'glamp' at this ground! They also have a Lego replica - not quite too scale but still very identifiable!
After satisfying ourselves with the outside of the stadium, we took ourselves to see Auckland's most famous Pohutukawa tree.
What a tree! It is a spreading tree, with low lateral branches near the ground from which roots emerge to fix it further into the ground. This tree has been in danger of having some of these limbs removed to make way for an Erebus memorial. There are a number of other memorials in this park, but this one would exchange all the grass in front of the tree for concrete and the new memorial would be the centrepiece not this magnificent tree. Apparently, there has been a lot of opposition to the props memories and so far the tree remains resplendent and untouched. For scale, look at the last photo with me sitting on a bench.
On such a lovely day the beach looked tempting so we drove down to Mission Bay Beach for a walk up and down its length. If the breeze hadn't been as cool ... There are so many shells even on these city beaches, mostly pipis, scallops and cockles, mostly broken but still there in their millions.
Our flight tomorrow has been changed from 3:45pm to 6:20am, so we had to get our camper inspected today even though we have one last night in it. This meant we had little time for anything else after lunch looking over the water.
Tonight we are camped at Ambury Regional Park, a park run by Auckland Council. It has a farm that anyone can visit and even help with if they want to. Today is the first day of school holidays and there were many people out enjoying the animals.
It is on the edge of Manukau Harbour, which is on the western side of the city. In addition to the farm, there are walks to do around what has become an important wetlands for seabirds. This harbour drains into mudflats so is not used for shipping, even though it opens out onto the Tasman Sea.
I went for walk along some of the paths and saw a number of birds, including a number of Pied Stilts, a Variable Oystercatcher and chick, and lots of Pukeko or Swamphens.
We have ended the day on full stomach after eating hamburgers for dinner. Nothing but cheese, biscuits and chocolate left in the larder.
An early start tomorrow. The alarm will go off at 3am so it is early to bed tonight.
DAY 52: We had set our alarm for 3:15am this morning. All went smoothly for once. After we had dropped off the camper, an Uber came within 5 minutes and dropped us off at the airport.
Instead of the interminable wait we had had in Darwin earlier this year, the queue moved quickly and we were soon in the departure lounge area, looking at out little plane on the tarmac.
Thus ends our New Zealand 2022 trip!
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