New Zealand - Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand
We arrived in Auckland after a short flight in the late afternoon. Leaving Aus was sad but we where excited to be starting our next and final leg, well not actually final leg as we are having a ten day stop over in Malaysia which we haven't even thought about yet. After clearing customs and being fully examined for any food or goods which might spread contamination we took the minibus, a sort of shared taxi to Dean's, Ruby and Rielly's house. Dean, or Deano as I call him for some unknown reason, is an old friend of Jon Boy's and Jay's who we met in Mai Pan Rai, Koh Phangan, Thailand. We had a great time with him and his kids Ruby and Reilly and arranged to stay with him a few months later in Auckland. The kids were really excited to get together again and instantly went off and played in their own little world, which is great for them but also good for us as we can let them get on with it and have a bit of grown up time. We stayed for a couple of days to regroup and sort a few things out, like renting a van and clothes washing and just hanging out in a sort of home environment. The kids liked hanging out and having that home feeling. Deano took us up Mount Eden, which is a grassy small volcanic crater near the centre of Auckland. There are quite a few of these dotted around the city and they make great vantage points to view the metropolis, the harbour and the all the surrounding mountains. From this point you can almost see from coast to coast and as the sun was setting we took in the expansive vistas and for the first time since our arrival got a sense of where we were and what lay ahead. Mountain ranges in all directions, prized apart buy convoluted bays and inlets. In the foreground the modest city sprawled out, low rise and spacious. We hadn't know what to expect and still didn't but this had given us a taste of the landscape we were about to explore. We had a lovely time at Deano's but had to muster ourselves and get on the road. We hired Vangita, a *******isation of Sangita an Indian name, taken from the number plate and the fact she is a van. I say she, but we don't feel attached or personal with our van which is brand new and soulless, unlike the lovely Bibi which took us across Aus and caused me not a little stress. We took advice from Deano and headed to Piha and the Keyhole. We crossed from Auckland on the East to the West coast, only three quarters of an hour on winding subtropically forest lined roads. Our first taste of NZ countryside. As we topped the dividing mountains and saw the Coast on the west we all said WOW! A word we've had to stop using and think of different expressions of amazement. The forest rolled down the steep slopes to a long golden beach with a couple of mighty limestone rocks jutting out on the shore, all being washed and eroded by the eternal power of the southern ocean. Pristine turquoise waves, one following the next for as long as anyone can remember and for as far as anyone can see. Wow. We dropped down the hill to the beach and went to explore the Key hole. To the side of the main beach, when the tide permits you can walk around to a lagoon protected from the ocean by a large rocky spit. The tide wasn't quite out when we first arrived so we scaled the "knob" as Deano called it, and dropped down into the lagoon. Beautiful and deserted. As you crossed the sand towards the spit the Keyhole came in to view. Shaped like its name suggests, the hole in the base of the cliff went through to sea and the waves from the ocean, very much tamed, rolled through the hole onto the beach on the protected side. We explored and played on the beach and in the hole, we didn't go to far down but far enough. It was cool and certainly a geographical first for me. We enjoyed the beach and the sea then walked back along the beach rather than over the knob and to our campsite to wait for Deano and the kids who were coming to join us for the weekend and show is all the other special places to explore in Piha. The camp site had all the facilities and we cooked and ate with them when they arrived. The following day, Deano said he was going to take us to the 'coffin' ? Sounded great. After breckie we all piled into Vangita and drove a couple of clicks along the coastal road north with the ocean on our left and the mountains on our right. We crossed one bridge as a stream had cut a small forested valley from the rock. At the next bridge we parked up and took a footpath following the creek up the valley and into the bush. It was our first venture into this subtropical forest, with strange and different flora but importantly nothing that could hurt you, except maybe the 'cutty leaves' of the long grass or the prickly gorse. There was a path of sorts for the most part but often it was indistinct or split into two or three. The direction was clear though, follow the stream up. We slowly worked our way up, often crossing the rocky stream and then back again. Shod in flip flops we soon realised it was easier barefoot. Everyone tried to find the easiest route, there were many calls of ' this way, I think, oh maybe not' then ' oh yeah it is this way, here's the path' ' oh it's gone again. It didn't really matter though we all were heading in the same direction with the kids vying to be at the front. As the sides of the valley steepened the path disappeared and we were clambering from rock to rock, in or along the banks of the stream. The crisp clear water bubbled between the rocks which were now more like boulders , not smooth, a little painful underfoot, but not too harsh. As we scaled one of these boulders and peered over the top a small but beautiful waterfall came into view. Behind it the valley was now a gorge, steep and green but darker than before. When you reached the top of the boulder you could look down and see the base of the water fall and where the water landed. A rectangular shaped pool with vertical sides as high as the falls, a good three or four meters, hewn from the rock by centuries of plunging spring water, The Coffin. 'Wow', again 'amazing',again and 'cool', and that it certainly was, brass monkeys springs to mind. In lew of my squeamish performance to anything wild and Australian, and subsequent transference to the kids, I determinedly stripped to the waist and decided to get in the deep dark water first to prove there was nothing to be afraid of. There wasn't anything except the likely hood of a heart attack, boy was it cold. It was literally breathtaking.. It was however, deeply invigorating and one by one we coaxed in the kids. The sun was in the perfect place, not to high in sky due to the fact it was early autumn but at the right angle to shine down the ravine on to the small party of brave dippers. A quick in and out was about all that was bearable though I managed to swim the five meters or so and get my head momentarily under the water fall. Deano won the medal for bravery though by clambering up and along the wall of the coffin to then jump at least three meters down into the depths. I think I was more scared than him but it was very impressive. We sat in the sun on the rocks trying to warm up like lizards for a while then we worked our way back down through the cool undergrowth. It was a cracking little excursion, thanks to Deano and his insider knowledge. We went back to the campsite and went to the beach and played till supper, ate, had a couple of bevies and went to bed happy. The next day after breckie and a play we said goodbye to Deano and the kids and headed off on our adventure. We started late and soon had to stop for some grub. We were heading up the coast to a few recommended locations by Deano but behind schedule, so we checked the map saw a place on the end of one of the many ithsmuses called Pahi as opposed to where we'd just been Piha. So we headed there for the night. There wasn't much too it unless you're a fisherman then its probably heaven. There was no one else there and the weather was closing in, so we ate and bedded down for the night. Ready to head off bright and early? Some chance. It was a stunning spot if only for the convoluted nature of the estuary , when we mentioned where we'd been to Deano he said we were next to the chocolate river and what were you doing there but it was an ok place for the night. The high light was probably a beautiful tree which stood in the camp site and was in the historic photos dotted around the kitchen area. It wasn't tall but very wide, it stretched out its thick limbs in an impossible fashion and was definitely a sight worth seeing. Next morning we headed north on the trail Deano had suggested and decided to stop at kouroi museum on the way. We couldn't work out what kouroi meant, it could have been either a type of tree or a Maori tribe. Anyway we soon found out, it's a type of very large tree which was harvested brutally by the early settlers, the pioneers. It was a fascinating place with tons about the early loggers and their equipment and technics. These thousand year old trees, and the rest, have enormous trunks of tremendous weight and to see how they managed to fell, size and transport was truly remarkable. One could imagine that in the thick of their endeavour and achievement they failed to view the bigger picture. Hulking trees of one hundred tons were initially cut and transported, logged and made manageable by hand. The mechanical progress spreading around the world soon kicked in harvesting these behemoths became less arduous. There was plenty of cash to be earned and huge sums for the bosses, so care went out the window. Serious environmental damage and the possibility that this extraordinary species might never really recover seems not to have been considered. Not with standing it was a fascinating museum with plenty of about the life style and other exploits and achievements of the early white settlers. It kept the kids interested for a good three hours which scores pretty well with me. Having learnt all about the kouroi and it decimation we headed off to see the largest and oldest one left in the world. The journey was typically beautiful as we entered the protected forest. We pulled over at the sign, read the info on the boards and followed the arrows into the forest. When we got to the tree it was truly impressive and worth the trouble. It must have been 5 meters in diameter, maybe not as tall as one would expect but humongous and awesome. A few hunded different species of plant alone living in and on its enormity, it reminded me of the quanglewangle's tree. It was tremendous and a stark reminder of the devastation metered out by the proud, greedy ignorant pioneers. Quite sad really but great to see one in the flesh. They as a species deeply vulnerable and threatened by man and his activities. This one was a sapling while Christ was alive, I vainly hope there will be some around in another two thousand years! That night we stayed in the nearby forest at another empty campsite. This time we were tucked into the trees, trying to shelter from the incessant rain. The bush was lovely and in the morning we had a play by the river, paddled and built stone piles as the water babbled by. Sorry to use such a cliche but that's what it did. It reminded me of some idilic spot in Wales or Scotland. We set off on Deano's trail, also using the map for reference and ideas. We were heading for a place where you can dune surf, yes dune surf and when the tide is right you can surf down the vast sand dunes into the calm water of the bay and theoretically skid across the top of the water. When we arrived there you could see the fifty meter high dune across the bay but it was cold and wet and windy and however exciting the prospect the idea of clambering up and down in our swimmers in the driving rain and howling wind was a little to much, even for the most hardy. So we continued towards a water fall and some interesting boulder formations. As we approached our turning on to the dirt road to the boulders, there's was no sign of a water fall. Just before the turning the was a little roadside shop with a sign saying. ' passion fruits' after our glut at penny's in Byron bay I had to turn about and check it out. It was a proper little Alladins cave, some good local produce and racks and racks of second hand clothes and all the other second hand stuff you might find in a car booty or market. It was run by a rather kookie lady in her late fifties who was a bit uptight about Toby fondling all the avocados but quite relaxed about everything else. We bought some fruit and abi started seeing things she liked. To be fair to her she was quite restrained. She got a colourful little purse and olive and Toby got a wooly hat and I found a replacement pair of shorts,perfect. The old ones were indecent so it was about time. We asked about the waterfalls that were shown on the map but weren't signposted. She told us how to walk there with very local, in the know directions but I sort of got it. She also let slip that we might see the 'little people' then instantly she said,' oh no, you won't ' intimating we didn't have the sight. She looked at me strangely and acted as if she wished she'd said nothing about it. We followed her directions and did pass through a very dinky verdant, short treed woodland, that if anywhere should, could have been home to 'the little people' , it was lovely. We continued and found a beautiful river and followed the sound of rushing water to the waterfall. It was very pretty and obviously mainly visited by a few locals only. A three to four meter cascade rather than drop, six meters wide with a large volume pouring down, definitely not a trickle. Certainly where the fairies bathed and frolicked. We took it all in and headed back following the path by which we'd came. This time we were quite and headed through the little dell. Initially I thought I saw something but didn't pay much attention, then I definitely did! We stopped and listened expectantly, there it was again! Then a little whoosh and to our astonishment there she was, a little bird was snuffling in the branches. Unfortunately not a fairy, but even if they were there, and I'm sure they were, we couldn't see them any way, shame. We got back to Vangitta jumped aboard and headed up the dirt road in to the hills. It was our first dirt road one had to take it easy, it was quite windy and out of the blue coming in the other direction there would suddenly be an enormous double trailer fully loaded log truck. We stopped for lunch at a lovely spot then continued to the boulders. When we got there we didn't really know what to expect, an elfin grey haired gentleman appeared a bit like the shop keeper in Mr Ben. He was very friendly and informative and explained the route, what to look out for and the formation of the stunning boulders we were about to witness. The rocks were Basalt, a form of volcanic rock, and not lime stone that they appeared to be. Their surfaces were corrugated and channelled from water erosion as lime stone would be but as Basalt isn't. Basalt normally doesn't suffer from water erosion in this way which is why this place is unique. With lime stone rain water becomes a weak carbonic acid as it picks up carbon form the decomposition of the leaf little and organic mater. This weak carbonic acid dissolves the lime stone as the carbon in the water bonds with the calcium in the rock to form calcium carbonate. This is how the erosion occurs and forms the sculpted gullies and circular bowls and pipes that are typical of lime stone. So it's not the wearing away by water or grinding by sand or pebbles moved by the water that one suspects. It actually dissolves the rock. After much head scraping and debate as to what was uccuring here they discovered something else was responsible. Back to the kouroi tree, this special tree has properties in its leaves that when decomposing create a much stronger acid. This acid is strong enough to slowly dissolve the Basalt! Thus creating the same effect as lime stone. So the presence of kouroi tree, only growing in the northland of NZ, and the basalt also rare in these parts, results in these spectacular features. Enough of that, the walk along the fast flowing stream winding and darting round through and under these large sculptured boulders, all surrounded by incredible flora was stunning and like nothing I'd ever seen. Even the kids were suitable wowed, helped by the fact that on the path one had to look out for rock formations that resembled creatures. A crock, a turtle, a dragon and a horse were just some of them. Toby even discovered a new one, a lizard, 'king lizard' if fact for he wore a crown of moss and ferns. It was a great and fascinating walk and when we finished we showed our photos of 'king lizard' to the old gentleman and his wife, Swiss expats. They thought it was a great find and said they would include it when they next printed out their guide brochure. They were very nice and said we could camp for free in the car park which was a generous offer. We needed to press on however as our vague itinery was out of the window already, we were well behind. There was so much to see and do we kept stopping and deciding to stay the night, which was great but created the problem of what we were going to miss out on in future. We already realised that just one month in NZ wasn't nearly enough, but hey ho, we'll do what we can. We headed for the Bay of Islands which is a must in all the guide books and looked beautiful in the pictures. We stopped at a campsite just short of the bay at the Hukka Falls. There were a few to choose from but we lucked out and ended up on a little grassy plot as near to the botte of the falls as you could get. The drop was about six or seven meters and about fifty meters across in a crescent shape, with a large volume of water pouring over it. It wasn't one of the many trickles we've stopped at that cal themselves waterfalls, it was impressive. We were about fifty meters away across the flat pond, there was quite a din but it was a pleasant noise all the same. It was a great place to stay for the night but in the morning it was pretty grey and we had to make a decision about where to go. We were just a few miles from the bay of Islands but we had the Rainbow Warrior Memorial an hour or two further north. To explore the Bay of Islands it would have naturally taken us south so we decided to head directly north and do the bay of islands on our way back. There was loads more to see further north but we had to draw the line sometime and head south or we would never have time to get to the South Island. So we drove toward the equator with the idea of doing a day trip and coming back to camp under the waterfall that evening. We arrived at Matuari Bay, next to the memorial, it was lovely. We lunched and swam and watched gangs of kids learning to surf in the chilly but pristine waters. I approached one of the instructors, Simon from Cornwall, who said we could have a lesson or just rent some boards and wet suits the next day. This wasn't in our plans but we were keen so we decided to stay in the campsite on the beach and do some surfing the next day. We hung on the beaches, there was a smaller one on the other side of the rock and went to see the Rainbow Warrior Memorial. We read the bumf at the bottom of the track which led up to the rock headland which split the beaches. It was a steepish climb and whilst taking in the views we tried to explain to the kids what the Rainbow Warrior was all about and why it was sunk! By the French, zut alhors. The memorial was cool and impressive but not as much as the place it stood. The view out to sea and the untouched islands dotted around were a potent reminder of what environmental protection is all about. New Zealand is pretty hot on environmental matters which is great, it's just a shame that it's so small and far away and no one listens. Bloody frogs, bloody nuclear tests, not in my bloody jardin s'il te plait, bloody warmongering capitalist pigs the lot of them, the French the Brits the yanks the Chinese et al, mon dieu, putain de *****! Quell lagacy! That's enough of that it was moving and poinient and a stark reminder of reality , bursting our bubble temporarily. Did the photos, naked of course, and went down to the camp to play and eat and get ready for our surfing. We woke and the sun was shining, we did our pre match morning stretches in preparations for our surfing. That's not strictly how it was but... Simon arrived and we donned our wetsuits took a couple of soft boards and, with a few handy hints from Simon, took to the waves. We caught the secondary break of the waves which was perfect for learners like ourselves. It was great fun and of course Toby was a natural. It was great to see him standing with a big smile on his face, riding the wave to the shore. I did alright and tried to catch the primary break with not too much success but a little and I made some progress. I really enjoyed it though. Abi stood up of course she's a natural as well and has had a few lessons. She looked great in her wet suit though, the real surfing deal. Chatting with Simon after, we asked him if he knew anywhere cool for us to visit on our way. He mentioned a place called the farm, south of Russell, in the Bay of Islands. Excellent we would go there after a couple of days, after we'd been to the beautiful Bay of Islands. Next morning we headed south to check out this amazing place that we'd heard so much about and seen so many photos of, The Bay of Islands.