Chiseldon, UK

Life is not so depressing,even when one is staring out of a window on to a soggy grey February morning in England 2010, severly jetlagged.
Our travelors spent the last Sunday in Coromandel driving up to the northen tip which took 2 hours, a journey of about 60 km. The road is long, winding and narrow, and it is important to look out for falling rocks, washouts and landslides. Other traffic too , although that is not as common as the natural hazards. There is a campsite there, E wondered what they did if they forgot to buy milk. It would be a round trip of 5 hours to the nearest shop. There is a nice beach where you can watch parents teaching their toddlers to surf. This is also the start of a walking track which takes about 3 hours down the east side of Coromandel to the road. Groups can split up and start the walk at different ends, meeting up for lunch and hopefully not forgetting to swop car keys. No such problems for E&K, they just walked to a nice bay with views over to Great Barrier Island, then turned back. So that was 4 hours driving to take a 3 hour walk. The evening was spent in the village singing lustily. An old time music hall evening had been arranged with old songs from London, world war 2, and the seaside. The strange thing is that E knew most of the words in spite of not having lived in the UK for nearly 40 years. We must mention here Mr John Maclean and the rendering of his monologe "Albert and the lion" which had E rolling in the isles with laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks. When we look at the programme it says Mr Don Hughs, there's a mistake somewhere. Even his performance as Jasper , the butler in the "the wages of sin" was outstanding and much appreciated by the audience of which ,one suspects, was comprised of friends and relations of the cast. The final chorus of "we'll meet again" made E close and say "Yes, we'll meet again, someday. The evening drive back to the chalet went well, although the weather had changed with reavy rain and high winds forecast for the Coromandel. Monday was a holiday in the Auckland area so E&k got themselves into the queue back to the city after a short stop in Thames on the Monday morning. The journey went well with only a few spots of very slow driving. The faithful Mazda was returned to Scotties on the New North Rd, and E&K were dropped off with their luggage outside the hostel on Turner St. with an afternoon in Auckland. The Auckland bridge climb had been agreed on for the afternoon. Unfortunately it wasn't open. Ok, a concert called Beatlemania on the north shore. Not on tonight. So the late afternoon was spent at the seafood festival down in the harbour which meant that the nice meal at a restaurant was called off because they weren't hungary. A visit to the cinema to see a not so brilliant film was followed by a visit to the laundry at the hostel which ended the last evening in New Zealand. E waved goodbye to K who has reported that all is well in Hong Kong, and finished her shopping and then did the bridge climb, the evidence of which can be seen on www.aucklandbridgeclimb.co.nz code ABCM002024380970. The flight to LA was uneventful apart from confusion on which form to fill in. White, green, blue or yellow. On arrival we were put in a queue, fingerprinted and eyescanned, given a stamp in our passports and sent to a waitng room while the plane refuelled. On to Heathrow where E was met by her ever efficent brother in law, with tea and sandwiches and driven along the M4 where her 3 nephews and neice were eagerly awaiting her arrival. She never sends presents, she takes them when she visits. E managed to stay awake all day, a bracing walk in drizzle and wind helped but she gave up about 9 in the evening and awoke refreshed and starving at 5 am.
Keeping a blog on your holiday is one big chore, but it would have been a lot easier with a small laptop, which even the poorest backpacker seems to carry today.

Coromandel

How did they get here? Taranaki was wet so picnics in the car and a wet walk to the waterfall. Moved on to New Plymouth on the north side and found a beautiful place to stay. Taranaki was not wet on the north side so they walked up to 1100 m. The car park is at 946 m so that's no big deal. E realised that this mountain was not impossible to climb but the weather reports were so bad there was no point in waiting. Therefore they set forth in sunshine to Waitomo where there are caves. Wow the caves are fantastic. You can sit on a rubber ring and float through the caves on the underground river. Or you can sit in a boat and be ferried in the darkness looking up at glowworms. Left Waitomo in sunshine and drove into Auckland to pick up E's new passport. That should fool them into letting her through LA. Drove out again and turned east and found an expensive place in Coromandel. K had seen some cheap chalets up the road with a sea view so they are there for the rest of the holiday except for monday night in Auckland before they fly out. Here there has been only sunshine, boat trips into caves and down the coast, horse riding in the hills and a little incident with a sea kayak that we may write about later. Hope Gillian is expecting her sister on wed 3rd feb.

Whangenui River Rd

From Wangenui you can drive up the river Rd. E had managed to book a cottage 46km up the road for $70 a night. How will we find it ? It's on the right. OK. The key is in the door. On the way up they passed by canoe and jetboats for rent. The river looked calm enough so E&K took a half day on the river. We were driven 16km up the river. Along the way Mark, our driver pointed out the dangerous spots. Keep to the left there . Watch for logs there. If you hit a log you will go in. So they were dropped on the river and hit a log the first thing they did. Not too hard fortunately. Then they spent a wonderful 5 hours in sunshine paddling downstream, negotiating all the rapids with expertise. They discovered there's not much to do about it, just choose the deepest point and go with the flow. One of the highlights of the journey. High cliffs, lots of birdlife, a hut to stop at for lunch and more confidence as time went on. With aching muscles they continued up the road, past Athens and came upon Kohu Cottage without difficulty. It was wonderful. Loads of sheep in the fields, views over the hills, peace and quiet (except when E was trying to get the moths out) and a dog to go with it. He spent most of the day there. He was even waiting after they came home the next day after a very hot hill walk. So they spent 2 nights there. But time is running out and E wants to do the Tongariro crossing so they drove up the rest of the road, past London to Jerusalem where there is a beautiful church. The nuns weren't in so they were not invited to tea. There was only lots of visitors as you can stay there for $25 a night. Pushed on to Pipiriki which is the end of the road and turned east, (there was no other way to turn) and ended up in a small place where they have shopped before. Realising that they were only 10 min from Ohakune they decided to shop there. Visiting the i-site, the weather was not good for Tongariro so they decided to change plans and moved west to Mt Egmont. So back to Wangenui along the main road and along the coast to Harewe, where they missed the hotel so they drove on in rain so hard they had to stop sometimes. Arrived in Opunake and had no trouble finding a motel. They also have a local library where internet is free.

Back to Wellington

The first hour of the crossing back to the North Island is beautiful views of hills and water. The second hour is sea. This time the outside decks were closed, and people were asked to find a seat (not too easy) and stay in it. The waves were lashing the windows on deck 8. One woman was injured when a chair hit her. The third hour is Wellington harbour which was very misty but calmer. Wellington itself was freezing compared to Linkwater but the Te Papa museum always has something, this time the story of Pompeii. On Monday E decided to try and get a new passport in case of problems in USA. She climbed Hill Street to the embassy, no problems, climbed down again to get photos, climbed up again, filled in the form, left her old passport, (hope nothing gets lost) and the new one can be picked up in Auckland in a few days. Quite a relief. Down the hill again and round the corner E came upon a big commotion. There were at least 2 demonstrations, one for justice and higher wages and one for a republic. There were Mauri dancers and some dignitries standing around, the street was closed off and security all over the place. All of a sudden a car drew up and a yong man in a crumpled suit got out. People cheered, the dancers danced their welcome dance with song, everyone rubbed noses with everyone else, the young man was given a heavy auri cloak, the sun had just come out so that was not necessary and he disappeared into the building which was the new supreme court, due to be opened that morning. E managed to get a photo, then back to the hostel and an easy drive with hardly any bends to Wangenui, which they had missed completely on the way down. Booked into the Grand Hotel, which is a title that may have been true 30-40years ago. Bought dinner for 2 $7, tea coffee and a scone $9, egg and bacon for K $10. Prices are strange sometimes. Climbed up to a viewpoint in the evening and watched the sun set. In the distance they could see Mt Egmont to the north west and Mt Ruaphi in the north east. This they found out the day after talking to Claire along the Whangenui River Rd. It is very unusual and only when the weather is fine to see both.

Nelson

Nelson is the sunniest place in NZ. However as NZ is going through it's worst summer for 35 years that doesn't mean much. It has a beautiful little river running through it, a fair amount of shops, where E bought a fleece (needed) and a black top to go with the dress (hope it still fits) for the party in England. It also is the centre of NZ, which had to be climbed to. It was a sunny day but rained at the top. It even boasts a cinema where E&K saw "The lovely bones". A very nice film dear said the lady. E was still shaking when she got home. Left Nelson on a sunny morning. There is a routine now to the moving days. E gets up, does a few stretch exercises, goes out for a walk or a jog, showers and gets the breakfast things out noisily. K stirs, gets up and they eat. K starts to clear away but E says no, check out is 10, I'll do it. K disappears into the bathroom and emerges 35 min later smelling of lynx or something. During this time E has packed the dry food bag, the freezer bag and tidied everything else. K checks that nothing is forgotten and lifts everything into the boot. E drives the morning shift, K the afternoon. From Nelson They drove to Linkwater and stayed 4 nights. It is close to the Queen Charlotte track and you can access the track at several points. 2 days were spent on this track, it is easy to walk and the most beautiful scenery. As always. Into Picton where the ferry for Wellington leaces is about 16km. There are about 216 bends along the road so it takes a while to negociate. Had to drive in as there was no mobile connection in Linkwater, it is just hills, cows and sheep. And the yellowhammer. E finally caught him in the binoculars

Looks like Tranz Alpine crossing, Christchurch, and not stones on the beach

Mostly Dunedin and the peninsular