Bay of Islands, Dolphins and Limestone

Jean writes:

This afternoon's trip was on the Dolphin Seeker with the aim of doing just that and also seeing the Hole in the Rock on Motukokako or Piercy Island.  

I began by doing what Dave would call "A Mabs and Ron" as I took my seat on the top deck deck and right at the front.  Best viewing possible.  Actually, the only reason I managed that was because the front seats are in threes and one couple was already there.  Most other people were in twos or threes but, as I was on my own, I claimed the spare! 

The trip takes four hours and transports you right round the bay, starting from Paihia with the short hop across to Russell before going to the extremities of the bay at Motukokako Island, which has a lighthouse that "worked" until 1978.  

It is more famous, though for its typical limestone feature of an arch - known locally as the Hole in the Rock.  

The day was pretty calm, but not quite calm enough for the captain to attempt to steer the boat through the archway.  When he announced this there was a concerted groan from many of the passengers! 

Between Russell and Motukokako we stopped to view a pod of dolphins who performed magnificently.  There were over twenty of them, including at least one baby, and they leapt gracefully and played around the boat.  

We stopped at Urupukapuka Island on the return journey and were able to trek along some of the walkways.

On me bike again - for last time here

Dave writes:

Took noon ferry from Paihia to Russell in repeat of journey seven years ago.

15 minutes on a perfect day with time to walk round Russell,  though sidestepped the museum as we are both overcooked in that department at present.

Back to the mainland to collect bike the lady motel owner had kindly offered me free of charge.

Directed towards nearby special bike/walking trail which used to be the railway track linking the port with the interiior.

Great stuff but had to restrict length of ride on a hot afternoon and we're heading for Auckland tomorrow so biking finished down here.

Clubland

Back at the sailing club for a nightcap and to watch the sun go down on a wonderful, windless evening.

Few people there tonight as no racing on so I suspect they were glad of our business.

Nice of them to take in all and sundry though, especially as I am with Groucho Marx:

I wouldn't dream of joining a club that had me as a member.

Bay of Islands and Ruth

Opua is but a small settlement on the south coast of the bay, which has a short pebbly beach.  For this reason, although the marina is excellent for all kinds of boats, the beach does not attract tourists and we were able to have it pretty well to ourselves this morning.

Ruth loved the Bay of Islands and worked happily at one of the backpackers for quite a while.  

We scattered more of her ashes in the waters of the bay this morning.  

Coincidentally (?) a Monarch butterfly, similar to the one we saw while scattering Ruth's ashes at Manly with her friend Till, was fluttering in one of the pohutakawa trees there.  These butterflies are not uncommon but are very beautiful and therefore are a fantastic link to Ruth.

A Tale of Two Towns

After a fond farewell to Arkles Beach we headed off for Pukoi, less than half an hour away, also known as a Bohemian village in the rural Auckland area.  

The museum is the star of the show, and tells the story of Captain Martin Krippner, who founded the settlement, and invited others to join him.  Fifty one other adults, and thirty one children, arrived from Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) in1863.

In the middle of the nineteenth century there was general unrest in much of Europe and, at the same time, the Provincial Government was offering land to immigrants.  These pioneers had been used to wide expanses of farmland at home and really had little idea of what awaited them in their new country.  They found they had to clear thIck forest and try to drain the swampy areas.  Life was hard.

Krippner could speak English but the rest of the settlers could only speak German, so he did all of the negotiating necessary for acquiring a variety of infrastructure for the village.  Most of the settlers were also illiterate so he wrote letters for them, became the first postmaster and also set up a school for the children, becoming the first headmaster.  

The settlers were all Catholics and the church remains.

The museum has all kinds of records relating to the original settlers, their descendants, photos and artefacts illustrating the way of life that they brought with them.

Examples are the musical instruments, like the dudelsack.

The Thompson sewing machine and the articles made by the women.

The style of the classroom.

The numbers involved in felling trees and the timber industry - "rafting" the logs to Auckland.

The museum is run by volunteers, two of whom were most welcoming to Dave and me today.

Our second museum visit was at Waipu.  Again - very interesting, and also founded by a group of immigrants, this time from Scotland and led by Norman Macleod.  Unofficially he was a preacher and this, in addition to difficult economic conditions in Scotland, and harsh treatment by the landowners, led him to think about emigrating.

Judge Halibrton said of him, "Norman Macleod had complete belief In his own interpretation of God's word."  "He ridiculed his enemies and claimed That there were no true ministers of God in The entire Church of Scotland."  "Outside his community he was often regarded with derision."

He and his group arrived in New Zealand by a circuitous route via Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and Melbourne, before landing in Waipu.  

The town has a distinctly Scottish flavour, even now, and boasts the largest Highland Games in the Southern Hemisphere.  It is always held on 1st January, unless that is a Sunday, and 2015 was its one hundred and forty fourth.  

There is even an official Waipu tartan.

Both museums were fantastic - but Dave and I agreed we were "museum-ed out" and our brains couldn't take any more!

Relieved

On a completely different note, and returning to the subject of toilets, we visited the public toilets at Kawakawa, not far from Opua, our base for two days, but almost missed out as we failed to take the correct turning to the town centre.  

We were relieved to come upon them.

You may feel that we have relied on this subject too heavily over the past few weeks, but I couldn't resist this particular example.  It was built by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, apparently an internationally regarded architect.  He was an Austrian who came to New Zealand in the 1970s and decided to settle down on a farm near Opua.  He was commissioned to design the toilets, which turned out to be his last creation.

Would you recognise the following exterior as being a toilet block?

The interior is even better.

Books and boats

Dave writes:

Spent sunny 20 minutes by Arkles Bay before leaving the peninsula and heading north for Opua,  the penultimate stop on our New Zealand leg.

Diverted into the historic township of Puhoi and happened on its delightful public library.

It's  not much more than a small hut, around 10 metres by 5, serving the local populace.

But it still features on the front cover of that bestseller of some years back "New Zealand's Smallest Libraries."

Remains in print, I was told.

It's the smallest library still in service so it deserves a big shout-out as they say over here.

Glad to report that all the lending is done on the old-fashioned card system with borrowing detail neatly tucked away in filing cabinets.

Only real problem is flooding from nearby river but with enough warning they can move all the books to safety.

A real gem of a place and I bought one of the books they had outside for sale - for just 50 p !

Big bonus at Opua tonight is free membership for visitors at the local sailing club with its superb views over the water.

Enjoyed dinner/wine looking out from the clubhouse balcony with nobody seemingly bothered we were tourists, or worse still, Brits.

 

Birds Galore

Jean writes:

The morning was devoted to Shakespear Regional Park.  It's located at the tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, about twenty minutes from our present base and is a mixture of bays, cliffs, wetlands, grassland, forest and farmland.

Rangers and volunteers have been creating a wildlife sanctuary within the Park since 2003 and have been able to rid the area of predators and pests - stoats, weasels, possums, rabbits, hedgehogs, wild cats, rats and mice.  A pest proof fence prevents them from returning, and it was through carefully constructed double gates that we entered.  

There is a track through a native forest which is regenerating and, as twitchers, we made our way part-way along it.  We saw a variety of birds, but only managed to identify a small number: 

Welcome Swallow

Eastern Rosella

Tui

The first time I heard the word "tui" was at the cricket match at the Saxton Oval, as it Is a brand of beer - and one of the main sponsors of the ODI World Cup.  I soon realised it took its name from the bird, which is the largest of the honeyeaters in New Zealand.  

I was delighted to see the bird today as it's been on my mental list to "spot" since I realised it how common it is in New Zealand. 

There were plenty of other bird sightings today, on the beach, in the trees and on grass, including five peahens and baby.  

I was rather taken by the toilets (I don't think we've mentioned toilets since Vietnam!) at Stanmore Bay, with the kowhai flowers.  Coincidentally tuis love them and burrow inside to reach the nectar.  Kowhai means yellow in Maori.

Plenty of Bays

Dave writes:

Our latest accommodation, as previously mentioned, is close to Arkles Bay which is one of many on this particular peninsula.

We found today as we drove around they all had their own particular charm and character.

From some vantage points it's possible to see three different bays at once.

But when push came to shove our vote for favourite went to Arkles, the smallest and most peaceful.

Nothing at all to do with the great racehorse, I can assure you. 

More scenic delights in store tomorrow as we head north to Opua  - and the Bay of Islands.

Glorious Morning

The morning was spent in Hamilton and the sun shone during our walk by the river where the  morning glory flowers graced the banks in profusion.

The river is the Waikato, the longest in New Zealand at 425 kilometres, which starts in Mount Ruapehu and enters Lake Taupo.  We followed its path away from the lake to the Huka Falls a couple of days ago, and it's very different there from the river running at Hamilton through the Waikato Plain - broad, relatively shallow (at least near the banks) but still flowing at a fair pace. 

The river has also given its name to the district and many of the local sports teams have taken the name.  

Several towns/cities have "public" pianos in the street where anyone can sit down and start to play.  We saw our first in Napier, but there was another in Hamilton today.  It seems a Brit from Essex Played one in Pahia and a clip was put on The Internet which "went viral" and now he hopes to establish a musical career.  Unfortunately I only managed to get a "still" of Dave!

We arrived in Arkles Bay this evening and the accommodation is super - thee rooms really, plus bathroom/toilet.  We're used to having one.  Not only that, but the facilities are definitely up to scratch, and a great deal of care has been taken with the decor.  Add to that the bottle of wine, the chocolates, biscuits and coffee machine, and we're delighted.  

Glorious evening too, as we viewed the unspoilt bay, before going out for a meal to celebrate the acquisition of my additional pension lump sum.

Beyond Our Ken

Dave writes:

We've been waiting for our Satnav pal Ken to screw up so we could produce the headline above and today looked like it.

Driving out of Hamilton he appeared to be taking us south towards Rotorua instead of north to Auckland and beyond.

But a double check proved him right and we had to apologise.

Then, 30 minutes from our destination of the day by Arkles Bay, signs told of a motorway ahead, with a toll.

We felt Ken might have warned us but did the necessary at a pay machine in a service area.

However, on re-joining the road we noticed the motorway was still six kms up the road and our turnoff for Arkles Bay was three kms before that.

So Ken was right again and the headline does not really stand up.

But as they used to say: "Print the legend."

On me bike again

Our latest accommodation is splendid though to call it Beach House is stretching things a bit.

However, many pluses include a welcome bottle of wine and free use of one of their two bikes.

I hopped on one of them and discovered the beach four minutes ride away.

It's part of Arkles Bay, a lovely, unspoilt spot where we plan to walk later.

Cricket Display

We had started our second and final day in Hamilton with visits to the museum and adjacent art gallery.

Museum currently mounting a cricket exhibition as the city is hosting three World Cup matches.

Next up is Ireland v India on March 10. Tough one for the Irish.

On display at the museum is the ball used in Hamilton's first international match back in 1981 as well as some excellent archive material.

Also learnt that Kiwi stalwart Daniel Vettori is a Hamiton lad.

Relief to learn later in the day that England had managed to labour past Scotland.

Hobbiton

Jean writes:

In Wellington we saw the fruits of the Weta Cave for, amongst other films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the workshop. This afternoon we visited the hobbit holes of the Shire.

The whole set was built for the opening scene of Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf visited Bilbo.  The site was on Alexander Farm, a sheep and cattle rearing farm near Matamata, and one of the clauses of the contract stated that the whole area would be returned to its original condition once filming was over, so the thirty seven homes were very much of a temporary nature, built from untreated timber, ply and polystyrene.  Dismantling began, but there was a terrible storm and work had to stop.  It was agreed to leave it for three months, and by this time, the first film had been such a success that people started to turn up asking to see the set.  It became clear that it was worthwhile saving.  

When Peter Jackson returned to make the Hobbit series, he needed the same set for the Shire scenes, but this time the agreement was that the hobbit holes/houses would be permanent.  

After filming was complete, Alexander set up a tourist business based on the hobbit homes in the Shire.  

That is what we saw today, Bag End and the homes of the the bee keeper, the cheese maker, the carpenter and all of the others, along with the Green Dragon Inn, the gardens, the scarecrows, the lake, the water mill, the wood carver and the tools of everyday life.

Each small detail had to be right as far as Jackson was concerned.  There were no oak trees at the farm so the tree above Bag End was cut down elsewhere, brought in and re-assembled on the site, the leaves apparently being brought in from Taiwan.  This tree (in a sorry state!) was removed after filming.  When the Hobbit films were made, a new tree had to be acquired - this time, completely fake - and is still there!  The story goes that Peter Jackson said the leaf colours weren't right so they all had to be individually repainted!

Great trip!

Doing a Mabs and Ron

Dave writes:

Jean's Auntie Mabs and Uncle Ron travelled widely on coach tours for many years and were dab hands at getting the front two seats.

It became a point of honour and if memory serves one coach driver even invited them to his retirement party !

So I was pleased to align myself neatly enough to grab the front two places on the Hobbiton coach taking us from Matamata for our three-hour afternoon adventure.

However, I had failed to understand that the coach was only taking us the 20 minute drive to the Hobbit set and the rest was on foot round the Hobbit Holes etc.

As it happened it was a bit of a relief as the drive was a hairy one in places with the most dangerous seeming more so from the front seats !

Could not resist later watching The Hobbit movie which happens to be one of 160 available on TV in our motel room.

Cast (and credits) of thousands includes Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch.
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Park view

Hamilton is noted for its parks and we walked round the Memorial one in the morning.

Oddly there were not that many other people around. Maybe the others are more appealing.

May find out more when we look round city centre tomorrow.

Museum and local art gallery already on the agenda.

Splashing and steaming

Jean writes:

We had visited the Huka Falls last time we were in Taupo and recalled it as being memorable so, after stopping off at Art in the Park, near our motel, we set off the few kilometres to the Falls.  

The Waikato River is the longest in New Zealand and begins its journey to the sea South of Auckland in Lake Taupo.  The river cut deeply into the hard layers of rock North of Taupo creating a narrow channel, through which the water of the falls rushes, before the softer rocks beyond, which have been more easily eroded, allowing the river to widen and become deeper.  

The water is very clear, which gives it a blue colour, except where the air bubbles, caused by the rushing water, make it look white.  

220,000 litres of water plunge over the falls every second!

It's a beautiful sight, both above and below the falls, but the water is also useful, and not just in the tourist sense.  The Waikato river system supplies nine hydro electric power stations.  

We saw some jet boats giving tourists a thrill as they get as close as possible to the dangerous undertow caused by the plunging water.  That was par for the course really, but we were surprised to see three swans swimming serenely in the river just downstream of the falls.

Second planned stop of the day was at the Craters of the Moon, an active part of this geothermal area.  A walkway has been built around it, with "viewing" points to show off the craters, bubbling pools, steam vents, colourful soils and mud pools.  

The blurb indicates that it should take about forty five minutes, but we took nearer to two hours.  There's the geography teacher again!

This area is part of a much larger geothermal region, but came into being (more-to-less as it is today) in the 1950s when a nearby power station lowered underground water levels considerably.  The remaining water boiled more violently, producing more steam.  Large amounts of this steam escaped at Craters of the Moon, as it became known.  

Much of the plant life is specially adapted to the hot conditions and concentrated minerals here.

At one point I took the "high road", around the crater rim, while Dave took the "low road"!

Fantastic views.  

Breaking news

Dave writes:

Ran round part of beautiful Lake Taupo with extra spring in step as I've managed to get an entry for the annual Great Newham 10 k run on July 17.

It winds through Olympic Park in east London in the borough of Newham and in 2014 ended by the Olympic Stadium.

But this year with the stadium conversion work complete the finish will be in the arena itself.

I'm allowed two supporters up in the stands as I enter the stadium graced by such fellow athletes as Mo Farah, Usain Bolt etc etc!!