Saturday, November 25, 2017

Queen Charlotte Sound - Track and Anakiwa (Ann, knee, Cue, Wah)

Queen Charlotte Sound
Our time drew to a quick close on the north island as we headed back to Auckland from Rotorua and flew to Blenheim (Blen-nem) in NZ talk. Saturday morning on New Zealands roads wasn’t as bad as expected, a 4 to 4 ½ hr drive was reduced to 2 ¾ hrs.

The little metallic blue Holden (Chev) Barina (Spark) was a surprising improvement over the same colored Hyundai Accent we had out of Cairns. But over 100 kph. It started to show its twitchiness. I am reminded of Ralph Nader’s “unsafe at any speed” comments.

So when we arrived and were given a Toyota Corolla Hatch ( aka Matrix) in you guessed it metallic blue of the same shade as the 1st 2 rentals I began to wish I was playing the lottery. How am I going to tell them apart at a distance? One thing for sure, this Toyota is definitely a good vehicle.
 
Picton Harbor from our room
We take possession of the Toyota and head out to Havelock to take the reported scenic drive to Picton along part of the Queen Charlotte sound. Unfortunately due to the super twisty and narrow nature of the road no one got to see much with “lane departure warnings’ going off quite regularly and 36 kms of wild road. Saturday afternoon was also cloudy and a bit chilly and we began watching the weather for our impending hike from Ships Cove to Endeavor Inlet (15 kms).

As I looked out this morning disappointment set in, it was showering lightly and was very gloomy to the northwest, the direction the boat would take us to disembark on the trek. The 8 am. Mailboat headed out regardless and we decided to watch the weather and see if it improved. By 9:00 am the skies had lightened and we selected our 2nd choice for the hike, the same track but from the south end starting in Anakiwa and our destination for the day would be the highest lookout at Grove Arm viewpoint, some 6.5+ kms north on the sound making the trek 13 kms + in distance overall.
 
Ferry Traffic from North Island
The Queen Charlotte track is one of New Zealand’s pride and joys, and we soon came to realize why. The section we were on is frequented by MTBikes and well as hikers with a climb from  sea level to approx. 250 mtrs. It does this several times along the way.










One beautiful Hike or Bike in campsite is at Davies creek about 3 kms in.
Davies Camp
A good remote campground that has a cooking shelter, running untreated water (boil water advised), and pit toilets in a nice meadow near the Sound.










Along the way there are many bays and coves where solitary sailboats had anchored and had a whole bay to themselves.
Anchorages Everywhere


Finally we arrived at Grove Arm Viewpoint with its single sided picnic tables, you sit facing the spectacular view of Queen Charlotte Sound.
Sandra Enjoying Lunch and View
The weather had brightened considerably and we determined we had made the right choice in picking this alternate hike for the day.
Start of Track

General Track condition

The Trail End

Innovative Bike Rack
Then Overnight we felt this quite a bit

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Rotorua - Thermal Wonderland


Rotorua Museum, shuttered due to Earthquake damage
 As you leave the Coromandel peninsula you connect to the Bay of Plenty where KatiKati is part of. Further south you arrive at Taraunga Bay and head on Route 36 toward Rotorua. 

Obviously the north Island of New Zealand has lots of thermal releases and Hot Water Beach is but one example. Rotorua is the Capital of Thermal releases. It is every bit on par with Yellowstone National Park for sure. And it is well known for its Maori culture as well. Rotorua was where our micro-biologist friend had come to speak from Idaho.

Sandra has mapped out a number of must see places and I have my short list as well but first we check in at our motel, yes a culture of NZ and Aus, that is prominent here. In the parking lot of the motel is a vent stack, venting sulphur dioxide and steam. I notice the next place is as well. 


As we venture into the main centre of town the church, an Anglican ministry on the shores of Lake Rotorua, St Faith's 
St Faith's in the Distance
is riddled with thermal pools venting all around, steam coming from everywhere.












We then head to Kuira Park the main thermal park in town and again a proliferation of thermal pools.
We check out Government Centre, where the Museum is located. Unfortunately it has been closed since the last earthquake as it is considered unsafe until it is evaluated again. Beautiful old building that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip once visited in 1953. On the grounds is a Rose garden (Klamath). The roses are stunning but also huge and I get Sandra to make a fist so that you can compare size.


Day 2

Next we move onto the Redwood Forest, a similar recurrence of trees similar to the Redwoods of California, only these have fern trees interspersed in spots that make the grounds very beautiful.
New Zealand Redwoods


Row on Row

An Elevated Walkway through the Trees (Ewok style)


We then move on to having some fun. What is better than viewing thermal pools? Playing in them. So I had found a little known spot called Kerosene creek.
Kerosene Creek upstream
About 34 kms from Rotorua towards Old Waitapu, on a small gravel road. It's a hot springs creek with a waterfall. When we get there others have arrived as well but for some reason we get the main waterfall pretty much to ourselves. So we enjoyed ourselves until we got too hot which surprisingly didn't take long. It is really hot out there!
















Brian @ Kerosene Waterfall

Sandra @ Kerosene Waterfall

Next on to the Thermal Wonderland park area where we encounter a really neat boiling mud pot. You need to click on the Youtube link to view just how active this mud pot is!











Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Shhhh...quiet about Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty

Cathedral Cove, east coast Coromandel Peninsula
OK, promise everyone that you won't tell anyone about how scenic the Coromandel peninsula of the north island is. OK, thanks for promising that!

Now we picked up our little rental car from Europcar in DT Auckland and headed out of town. About 1 1/2 hrs later we just passed through Thames, the western entry point to the Coromandel peninsula and decided to have lunch.
Holden Barina Hatch -pretty good!

It seems anywhere in New Zealand you can make a simple left turn and you will find a picnic spot in front of you, it's just that easy. So we stopped for an early lunch and an update to my GPS mapping as I had forgotten do download my latest way-points to it.

Ready to go again we headed clockwise around the peninsula. Since you drive on the left side this positions you closest to the waters edge, and no where on the peninsula will you find a guard rail blocking your view on these super narrow roads, absolutely no where!
Gorgeous Scenery


With no obstructed view and plenty of scenery plan to stop frequently for panoramic view after view. And the roads are so scenic and twisty I wished I had the bike again too!

Just outside Coromandel which is a little old western town right out of Arizona it seemed there was a cafe called "The Mussel Station". You see Coromandel is also renowned for it's green lipped mussels. So we stopped and ordered a pot of mussels to share. They were excellent and the leftover broth we took in a container to use on pasta for supper. It was delicious, both times.
New Zealand Green Lip Mussels
















Back on the road we finally ended up at Cathedral Cove, a very pretty location.


Later on the walk back out which we took with to young female doctors just relocated to Auckland from Britain they commented about "Record breaking time". They were referring to our pace of walking. We did the 45 min uphill grind in 30 mins. and they couldn't believe we had walked both directions that way, but we had a mission in mind. We wanted to camp at Hot Water Beach another 8 kms away,
Dig your Own Hot Water pool Thermals at Low Tide

and catch the phenomena there of the thermal springs filling hand dug 'pools' for 2 hrs either side of low tide. So we made to the Top 10 Holiday park, pitched our tent and headed to the beach just as the 2hr.  window was closing.


After sleeping in hotels a lot so far, the night of camping was great, and boy did we sleep.!









Today we continued on toward Rotorua on the east coast. KatiKati being one beautiful little town on our radar because it does murals like Chemanius.




When we walked the town centre we talked with one of the folks at the Visitor centre who told us that the murals idea was a direct copy of the Chemanius idea and they certainly have done them up right.

Then we noticed one of the bakery's in town was called Angor Wat Bakery and Cafe. So we stopped in and asked how they came by the name and it was the temple not far from where they originally lived. We told them we had visited there in 2013 and stayed in Siem Reap, their hometown. Then, noticing the mural clipping of a 2015 award for their meat Pies, we decided to order two of them. We just finished our supper and they are probably the best meat pies we have ever had!



Angor Wat Bakery Award Winners, NZ

Next Rotorua!

Monday, November 20, 2017

Top of The Bucket List

Top of the Bucket List - When in Rome, er Auckland.....

I can't believe it, it all came back to me
OK, for the last 8 years we have been heavily weighted on motorcycle touring, an extension of my motorcycling addiction that started 52 years ago.

Well another sporting addiction was at play back in the early 1980's when a friend and neighbor Paul Kieran took me out sailing for the first time, sold me his small sailboat later and we (Sandra I and the kids) caught "2 foot-itis" for a long while after. It got to the point that I became "Commodore" of the AOSA, Alberta Offshore Sailing Association in the mid 1980's. Oh, sailing was in my veins. Our summer holidays with our different cruising sailboats took us to the west coast for some of the best holidays we used to have, and our daughter Shannon became immersed (pardon the pun) in the sport as well. I even raced twice in the Swiftsure Race while living on the prairies! It's all part of how we arrived at living on the West coast.

So when our motorcycle touring and retirement travel took centre stage, the sailing fell to the side but I admit every spring I wish I hadn't sold our small cruiser, or at least wish I had ready access to one.



Like our interest in the Tour De France we have long followed the America's Cup racing especially when New Zealand is at the top of their game which they almost always are. If they could tax the export of their helms-men over the years they would be rich! 

  • Kiwi sailors were represented across almost every competing team in the 35th America’s Cup
  • And in today's news the Kiwi's announce the new sailboat design. 


In any event  when we decided we were heading to Auckland, Sandra was insistent that I go out on an America's Cup boat like New Zealand used to defend the title they won first in 1995 and later defended in 2000. At the end of this sail I told Sandra that it was very expensive. She looked wondering if I lost or broke the camera or something. I explained, it might be the cost of a new sailboat. Oh man!
Under sail

The Crew shouting instructions,
commented they were glad to
have a sailor helming the boat
So today was the day. Perfect weather for it, 23C, sunny, a nice 10 knot breeze, with little heading, backing or gusts to it. With about 15 'guests' on board I wasn't sure how involved a person might get, but I got caught up as 1 of the mainsail grinders as we headed out and ended up only 1 of 4 -5 people who felt comfortable at the helm. As I explained later in the pub everything came back like muscle memory, and when the skipper suggested I could point a bit higher I indicated that I was already luffing the main sail a bit and needed to fall back off, which I did. The sailboat then accelerated from 10.2 to 19.1 knots and set nicely at 14 degree angle, perfect! He didn't say anything more, and we held that speed for as long as I helmed the boat, which was about 30 mins.


A bucket list item
Perhaps that's why the Asian fellow standing to port of me in the photo was holding on so tight, lol.

For a short video of the boat on tack it is here. https://youtu.be/qx74BX5LQe0




Sunday, November 19, 2017

Rangitoto Island, New Zealand

How Rangitoto was formed
Our flight to Auckland, New Zealand was with China Air and was quite good with a nice meal served with an Asian flair. It should be too since it originated in Taipei and 80% of the passengers were Asian.Our arrival in New Zealand though was a bit of a surprise.The airport like everything else is under construction and British style bureaucracy can be seen at every turn. That did complicate our arrival at our accommodation until near 10:00 pm NZ time at night, after a 7:15 pm arrival. 
Auckland Skyline

Today however was a gorgeous day here, sunny, warm, and light breezes. We checked out and then booked the ferry to Rangitoto island, a dormant volcano island that was formed only 600 years ago. Pictured below is an explanation of the formation of Rangitoto. From a hike perspective the summit crater is 268 M above sea level and 2.5 kms from the pier. Within an hr. we were at the top, viewing both the crater and views to both the south and back at Auckland which has a nice skyline.

Hike to the Summit

Steep Grade
While enjoying our lunch at the summit a family of small quail came calling. The chicks were only days old as you can tell by their size compared to my shoe.
Quail and Chicks


On the way back down we detoured to the lava caves
Entrance
which are often formed when molten lava flows down from an eruption and forms a tube that hardens. In this case the lava caves were quite small at the entrance but did open wider as you crawled into them. Unfortunately I didn't bring a flashlight, and the caves aren't lit or we would have crawled them completely. In this case we entered far enough that we couldn't see light in either direction. Sandra wasn't comfortable so we turned back and came out the same way we entered.

Inside using Flash

Our travel companion on the way over was a micro-biologist  from  Pocatello, Idaho who had just finished presenting at a conference in Rotorua. One of our next stops on our NZ excursion. He had some very interesting observations in comparing Rotorua to Yellowstone from a micro-biology standpoint, and, was very interested in the climate change effects that we had learned about on the Great Barrier Reef.