Island Hoppers

We hung around Mount Taranaki for four days, hoping the weather would improve so we could do a tramp, but we had no luck. It’s been hard getting used to having to be a slave to the winter conditions on some of the mountains, which often make them unhikeable.

We continued south, where we were finally able to do a hike outside of the tiny town of Levin (which Craig loves to pronounce as if it rhymes with “Ravene” of Trailer Park Boys fame). The three hour hike took us through the Tararua Range, but did not reward us with any spectacular views.

As we approached the Wellington area, we veered southeast, to the most southern point of the north island: Cape Palliser. Here we took the 249 or so odd steps to the lookout at the top of the Cape Palliser lighthouse. During our coastal walk to the lighthouse, we crossed paths with the north island’s largest seal colony. There were almost a hundred large, moustachioed, smelly seals all basking in the sunlight or rubbing up on the grass at the side of the road. We made sure not to get too close, as we did not want to lose our hand to a hungry seal, Buster-style (extra points to those who get the obscure television reference).

That night we stayed at a Department of Conservation campsite, which was cheap, but without power (and therefore without heat) we could see our breath inside the camper come morning. We quickly warmed up on our post-breakfast hike to a viewing platform that looked on one side to the south island, where we could see snowy peaks across the Cook Strait, and on the other side looked over the Putangirua Pinnacles, which were immense. They were also the site of the filming of “Dimholt Road”, for LOTR buffs, of which we are not.

Next up we spent a few days in Martinborough, another New Zealand wine region. Our caravan park was within 3 km of more wineries than we could visit in a day, so we indulged in a self-guided walking wine tour of the area. Considering bus tours charge upwards of $100/person, we enjoyed our slightly stumbly free tour.

For the past few days we’ve been in the Lower Hutt region, which is pretty much the closest we can camp to the city of Wellington. Yesterday we completed a five-hour, 12 km tramp to the top of Mount McKerrow, where we camped at the base of and this time did not wake up to being able to see our breath. Today we drove into Wellington and explored Te Papa, the free national museum, and the downtown. Unfortunately the weather turned extremely windy and rainy this afternoon, and if it continues overnight we may not be able to visit the zoo as we hope tomorrow.

We feel we have seen everything we can see (during the winter) on the north island, so we have booked our ferry ride to the south island for Thursday. We have heard nothing but amazing things about scenery and wildlife on the south island, and are eager to get there and see for ourselves. Considering the population of the entire south island is equal to the population of Auckland, it may be just the slower, more personal pace of place we tend to enjoy. We are heading first to Dunedin to visit with Andrea’s high school work friend who is studying there, since we are in need of socializing with people our own age – the last few caravan parks we have mostly had either to ourselves, or have shared with the over-50 crowd of “grey nomads”. A bit of time in a student town may be just what we need!

On the Road Again

Andrea’s second week of relief teaching in Auckland went much better, and she worked all five days. This included two days with a very challenging class, two days at a fabulous school, and one day in a class with three deaf children and one deaf EA (and Andrea does not know sign language...seriously). However, after two weeks in Auckland we heard the call of the road and set off driving south.

Our first stop was Hamilton, which is about as exciting as its Ontario namesake. We got some work done on the van, and met up with Suzanne and Les, some cyberfriends of Lynne and Dave, who they met online while researching their own upcoming tour of New Zealand. Suzanne and Les live full time in their 10m “bus”, so we chatted about touring over mugs of flat whites.

From Hamilton we headed to Kawhia (pronounced “Kafia”, as wh makes an f sound in Maori), where we met an eccentric fellow who informed us of every single injustice the New Zealand court system is responsible for. The next day we hit up some back roads continuing south towards Waitomo, where we did the caving about a month ago. Here we took advantage of some free attractions and good weather. We visited the Marokopa Falls, the Piripiri Caves, and the Mangapohue Natural Bridge. All were interesting natural places where Craig was able to break the camera out again after being confined to its case for the whole uneventful stay in Auckland.

Next we headed further south down a road that Lonely Planet described as “true off the beaten track backcountry.” A short detour led to a dirt track blocked by sheep and lambs as far as the eye could see. Once we made it through the herd and avoided a baby lamb trying to hitch a ride we made it to a secluded beach only accessible by walking through a dank, dark 300m long tunnel. Here we had our first exposure to the rugged west coast, famous for its black sand beaches where the sand has magnetic properties due to its high iron content.

After spending the night safely in Mokau, a mere 50m from the beach, we continued further southwest to the Taranaki peninsula. We have been in the area for the past three nights, holding out for better weather in the hopes of doing some tramping on the snow-capped Mount Taranaki which rises to the height of 2518m. However, the weather has not cooperated, the mountain has been shrouded in cloud and rain, and today we glimpsed a peek at the snowy peak.

While in the area we’ve kept ourselves busy checking out local parks (including one in New Plymouth with a FREE zoo, monkeys and all!) and doing some city walks. If the poor weather continues we will visit again in the summer when we return north closer to the end of our trip, as this tramp has made it onto our must-do list.

Tramping Video

Tramps, Our Favourite Synonym

Since our last update, we zig-zagged across the area to the south-east of Auckland, seeking out interesting tramps (hikes) and tramps (people).

We did our longest hike in New Zealand yet on the Coromandel Peninsula. We hiked the Billy Goat Track up to the Pinnacles, which are part of the Coromandel Forest Park. The hike took us almost 7 hours round-trip, and we were absolutely knackered by the end of it. The track took us through forest, over volcanic ridges, through valleys, and finally up to the top of a lookout at the top of the Pinnacles. It was absolutely breathtaking, since we looked out over the Pacific Ocean. As we were at the top we saw a rainstorm blow through the valley, and it hammered it down for about ten minutes. Luckily that passed and the rest of the tramp was dry and sunny. We took a video of the steep ascent and the wind/rainstorm at the top, which we will upload as soon as we can.

We arrived back in Auckland about a week and a half ago, getting Andrea set up to begin relief teaching. She was ready to begin working this past Monday, and we were getting discouraged when no calls came for either Monday or Tuesday, as the relief agency led us to believe that there was a lot of work here. We took Monday and Tuesday to explore West Auckland beaches (black sand and all), as well as visit the MOTAT (Museum of Transportation and Technology), where we saw exhibits on the history of planes, trains, automobiles, telephones, and lots more.

Luckily work came through for Wednesday, and Andrea spent the rest of the week working in a special needs classroom in West Auckland. It was a great learning experience, as schools here definitely have their differences compared to schools in Ontario, and the kids were great. We are going to stick around this week for more work (Tuesday is already booked), but then will most likely be lured by the call of the road to go out travelling again for a bit.