Day 5, 31st December: Excited, Exhausted!

We are in a different hemisphere! We will see the New Year before the UK! Two wish list things ticked off in one hit! After a somewhat bumpy flight, with great films and food but not much sleep, we land at Auckland International Airport.  We have completed our immigration forms on the plane, declaring our gifts of Christmas cake, chutney and biscuits, and our potentially muddy trainers. New Zealand is a country with strict rules on what foods can be brought in, and also footwear that has been worn in the countryside and might have picked up bugs from the soil. We show our cards to the official, who clears the food (because it’s prepacked) but inspects the trainers and decides they must be cleaned. Now, I should point out that my trainers are new, for Christmas, and have been worn ONCE, for our Boxing Day Walk. The ‘guilty’ trainers are taken away for questioning, no not really, to be cleaned thoroughly, so that not a trace of British mud remains on them. Finally we are allowed to proceed to Arrivals – and there is no sign of my second cousin Diane; we have emailed photos of each other and I can’t see anyone who looks like her photo! We should probably panic but we’re too tired to care. Then Diane spots us, hugs all round and we step out into 30 degree sunshine. Diane takes us the scenic route along the coastline, stopping at some stunning viewpoints, and we catch up on news of our respective families. Before going ‘home’ we go to Di’s sister Judy for lunch, where we also meet Judy’s daughter, Janine, who was my penfriend when we were both 10, so several decades of catching up to do! A lovely lunch, during which we hear about the Christmas Day cricket match on the beach and the outdoor concerts; just so weird, having Christmas in Summer and in daylight. The mince pies, Christmas tree and decorations are also disorienting in the bright sunlight, but everything’s a bit surreal anyway because we’re so tired.

Two hours later, we arrive at Whangamata and Di and Pete’s lovely bungalow in a gorgeous setting overlooking a lake. By now it’s 5.30pm so we snatch a couple of hours’ sleep and then head over to D and P’s daughter and son in law (Kiri and Nigel) for the New Years Eve Barbecue. They live across the lake, a beautiful tranquil setting; there are other houses but they are all some distance from each other. Sitting out on the decking, eating huge steaks and drinking champagne, we feel we’ve arrived. It’s great meeting rellies and new friends to celebrate New Year. And suddenly it’s midnight, 2018 has arrived 13 hours ahead of the UK; fireworks light up the sky, we clink our champagne glasses and light sparklers. We leave at 12.30, unable to stay awake any longer, but we’ve had a lovely day and are looking forward to our all too short time on the North Island.

Three Best Things: 1. Meeting Di and Pete and everyone. 2. BBQ on New Year’s Eve. 3. Celebrating NYE in the Southern Hemisphere, 13 hours ahead of the UK.

Three Worst Things: 1. More tired than I’ve ever been! 2. Delay at Arrivals for ‘boot cleaning’. 3. That’s it!

 

 

Day 6, 1st January: ….And relax….

Taking it really easy today, slept late and woke refreshed. Leisurely breakfast outside on the deck and we gave D and P some gifts from the UK: English fruit chutney, Christmas cake and some posh biscuits (which I chose because of the jolly snowy Christmas scene on the lid.) D and P give us a Map book, which will turn out to be very useful, not just for directions, but also for working out how far to the next town when we seem to have been driving for hours. It also has The Lord of the Rings film locations marked, maybe we’ll be able to visit a couple on the South Island.

Today Di gives us a tour of the area, we visit Whangamata Beach (voted best N Island beach last year) and we have a paddle in the lovely warm sea. Then we take a look at some real estate, what strikes us is how spaced apart the houses are, with large gardens and green spaces between. There are boats, caravans and motor homes in most of the drives, this is clearly a prosperous area. We then drive into the centre of town which is one main street of shops selling beach stuff and surfing gear, their Christmas decorations seeming out of place somehow in the bright sunshine. My favourite decs are the Surfing Santas on the lampposts (sorry, I didn’t get a pic.) Next we visit a beautiful nature reserve, a lovely walk crossing a creek and wandering through shady pine trees. We watch some children having fun jumping off a bridge into the creek, they can’t get back onto the bridge fast enough to do it again!

On our return, Mike and I take a stroll along the shore of the lake. It’s so peaceful, water fowl calling and birds singing are the only sounds. We decide that for us South Londoners it’s a little too peaceful, maybe we’re just too used to the murmur of traffic and the general hustle and bustle. With a population of just over three and a half million on the North Island and with most of that population living in the cities, there are simply far fewer people around. And of course we have just come from Hong Kong! Anyway, for now we are enjoying the peace and quiet, a holiday from noise. Back at the house we meet Di’s cousins relaxing with a beer and snacks, it’s nice to meet some more relatives and swap stories. Pete gets the BBQ going and later we tuck into delicious NZ lamb steaks and salad, followed by home made Pavlova which is a NZ speciality (who knew?) More sparkling wine and sparkling conversation, and the only downside of the evening is that it starts to rain heavily at around 7pm and poor Pete has to finish cooking outside in the downpour!

Three Best Things: 1. Paddling in the warm sea. 2. Stroll through the Nature Reserve 3. Delicious NZ lamb steaks

Three Worst Things: 1. Still rather jetlagged despite good nights’ sleep. 2. Rained in the evening so we couldn’t eat outside. 3. Headache – but my own fault, over did the food and drink!

 

Day 7, 2nd January: ‘They took all the geysers, put ’em in a geyser museum…’

Today we’re heading off to Rotorua, one of the North Islands ‘must see’ tourist destinations. The journey takes two hours and on the way we get an idea of how small New Zealand’s population is. Almost all the roads are single carriage way and there’s very little traffic. Approaching a junction at a largish town we have to slow down behind a few vehicles, and Di says ‘Where did all this traffic come from?’  Our joint thought is: ‘What traffic?’ Our drive takes us through sub tropical fertile farmland.

Rotorua is famous for thermal waters: spectacular spouting geysers, hot springs and exploding mud pools. It’s a sacred place for Maoris and 35% of the population here is of Maori descent. We visit first a village with a Maori church and meeting hall. We notice steam from hot springs right on the edge of the street with metal grilles over them, they are scalding hot, Di tells us. The church is beautifully decorated in the Maori tradition, on one window overlooking the lake there’s an engraving of Jesus, it looks as though he is walking on the water. Outside there are the remains of a canoe which was one of those used to bring the Maoris 2,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

Next we go to an area of hot springs and mud pools. There are benches round the pools where lots of people, young and old, are sitting with their feet in the steamy bubbly water. We cautiously sit down and put our feet in, the water is pretty hot, slightly more uncomfortable than a hot bath. It’s quite relaxing though. We then drive to Te Puia, described as the ‘Geyser and Cultural Centre.’ Joni Mitchell’s song, ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ comes to mind, with the words slightly changed: ‘They took all the geysers, put ’em in a geyser museum, and charged all the people 54 dollars just to see ’em.’ It costs about £27 to go in and it does look like all the geysers and mud pools have been rounded up and fenced off. Although it’s expensive it’s spectacular, the highlight being Pohutu (‘Big Splash’), a geyser which erupts 20 times a day, spurting steam and hot water 30 metres into the air and splashing spectators if they don’t get out of the way fast enough. We also see some bubbling mud pools which look like a chocolate fountain, and some beautiful turquoise pools which get their colour from naturally occurring chemicals. It’s starting to rain so we say goodbye to Rotorua and head back towards the coast to have dinner with Di’s brother and sister in law.

Warren and Megan live in Papamoa Beach, which is as exotic as it sounds. Their immaculate bungalow is not on the beach front but in a quiet street backing onto a river. We spend a lovely evening relaxing on the patio, watching the birds swooping over the river, and tucking into yet more steaks and enjoying yet more sparkling wine and conversation. This could become a habit – but it won’t because tomorrow we fly to the South Island, where our dining experiences will be much more modest. We’ve had a wonderful time with Di and Pete and their extended families on the North Island, but we’re excited about continuing our adventures further south.

Three Best Things: 1. Maori Church on the lake. 2. Spectacular erupting geyser. 3. Delightful meal with Warren and Megan.

Three Worst Things: 1. Weather – rained on and off all day. 2. Rip off price to see geysers. 3. That we’ll be saying goodbye to our wonderful kind and generous hosts.