Wonders around the World

Xmas Day

Woke up at Aunty Kay's in Rotorua and hit the road to get to Ngaroma's Xmas Day do Tolaga Bay.
So, a Maori family gathering complete with a BBQ, trip to the beach, swimming pool in the garden and plenty of eating and drinking...
Really lovely family and friends - everyone was very friendly and plenty of eating and drinking...so not dissimilar to home!!

Boxing Day

A sober start to the day with Pat's unveilng (Ngaroma's late husband) at 8.30am. About 100 people showed up and there were prayers, songs, speeches, tears and laughter as everyone recounted tales of Pat as his headstone was unveiled.
Then it was back to Ngaroma's for more food - an awesome breakfast closely followed by lunch and a walk along the longest wharf in the Southern Hemisphere didn't even make a start at burning off the calories consumed!!
So on the road again to Te Kaha to see Aunty Kay, Uncle Mike, Stephanie, Nicky, and the kids...

27th Dec

The planned 'make the Pom puke by getting her out on the fishing boat' didn't quite happen - too rough!!

28th Dec

Out on the boat and a test for my stomach!!
Game on - snapper was the aim of the game and I got quite into it...even caught a few...

Wonders' fishing tally:

4 snappers
6 other things I can't pronounce, but everyone groaned when they caught 1 as difficult to bring in and hard to cook etc.
1 shark!! (a baby)

Not too bad all in all - no chunder and I reckon catching a shark has to be a claim to fame!!

So a real taste of how the Kiwis spend their Xmas from both Maori and Pakeha perspective. Family being the over-riding theme in both cultures, and certainly a propensity for camping amongst Kiwis at Xmas - caravans are all the rage!!

So over to the playground of the Aucklanders with high hopes!!
Only a couple of hrs over to Thames and then the most ridiculous wild goose chase to find the ONLY 'mountain bike trail' in the Coromandel! Unsealed roads to the aptly named Stony Bay and the start of the trail....
Omit the work 'bike' from the above and replace with 'goat' and you'll get the picture - it was actually just a track up the side of a mountain with at least a 1:4 gradient all of the way. So I pedalled for a bit, walked for most of it and, having climbed for over an hour, still didn't have a clear view of the glorious coastline I had come to see - WHAT A CON!!
Lesson learned - don't go looking for 'mountain goat trails'!!
On to Hahei and a night in Cathedral Cove carpark with Nila and Ed - a couple of alternative lifestylers who live on a boat in the French Polynesian Islands...alright for some!!
We watched March of the Penguins and I got the lowdown on life on the ocean wave - fascinating!!

Coromandel highlights:

1) Cathedral Cove at dawn (with no-one else around!)
2) Hot water beach - random! Digging pools in the beach at low tide to find boiling hot water bubbling up through the sand...
3)

Birthday treat

After an early morning swim and spa, I was off to the Karanganake Gorge to have a cheeky coffee in the kitchest train station I've ever seen in my life - v funny! A very middle-aged start to the day, so I decided to hit the rapids on the Kaituna River for some more hi-octane birthday fun!!

Highlights:

1) Taking a ride in the washing machine at the bottom of a 7m waterfall
2) Taking a swim down the rapids
3) Getting out of that sexy wetsuit!!

Awesome fun on some Grade 5 rapids and great guides to boot....thanks Prince, Greg, Jimmy, Isaac and Kirk for a memorable birthday....I'm just referring to the rafting mind!! ;-)

Xmas Eve

Similarities with the UK:

1) Frantic last minute shoppers raiding the shelves at the 11th hour

Differences:

1) Hot hot hot!!
2) Minimal decorations
3) Altogether more chilled approach to the whole Xmas stress-fest
4) Lots of people go away for Xmas rather than stay at home....happy campers!
5) Girls on the beach in bikinis and reindeer antlers...something not right there!!

An early burn through the Redwoods in Rotorua - wicked, even managed a Grade 5 run or 2 (although bailed on a few jumps!)
I headed off to Mount Manganui on Aunty Kay's recommendation - really cool, chilled place with a young vibe - the festive season certainly was in full swing! A walk up the Mount to admire great coastline views and get a birds eye view on festivities and then a walk amongst the bikinis, Santa hats, reindeer antlers, surfers, sunbathers and beer drinkers on the beach.

Highlights:

1) I got ID'd trying to buy a bottle of wine!!!!
2) Spending the evening at the Polynesian Spa watching the sun set over Lake Rotorua in thermal pools apparently designed to ease aches and pains...well, I didn't wake up with any so maybe they do work!!

A slightly different Xmas Eve!!

So, back in the green machine with clean clothes and heading off up North!!

1st stop - Paihia for the Bay of Islands
I headed on up to Waitangi to the Treaty Grounds to find out a bit more about the 1840 Treaty - really intereting. It seems as always with these things that the French were trying to claim NZ for themselves until the Maoris and Queen signed on the dotted line and lobbed the Frogs (again!)
So a little the wiser after my history lesson, I got on the ferry over to Russell - a quaint harbour village with a colonial feel, but very little to see! Got on the bike up to Flagpole Hill for a view of the harbour - worth the climb, stunning views!
So back to the Green Machine for a night on the seafront...cosy!

A cruise around the Bay of Islands is something that most people I've spoken to have insisted is a ''must do'', and it was very cool. The only downside that we spend the vast majority of the morning searching for dolphins to swim with...but it was worth the wait!! 40 or so tourists were tossed into the water off boom nets and told to chase the dolphins and ''éntertain them'' by singing to them....dubious!! Glad it wasn't my $30 I wasted to get nowhere near the dolphins and to end up looking like a tit as I fruilessly chased these graceful fish around a very big harbour!!! Sucked in!!
The Bay itself was beautiful and had made a friend - Danika, who was on the last part of her trip around NZ and heading over to South America...all good to get some travel tips!!

So I waved Danika goodbye as she contemplated her skydive the next day, and headed NOrth via Matauri Bay (not worth the detour), Taupo Bay (a cute little surf beach) and onto the Karikari Penninsula in the far NOrth-East of the Island. I ended up chasing the sunset to Rangiputa Beach where I saw the sun set over a lovely bay and joined a couple of other camper vans who'd had the same idea of staying there for the night...happy days!

So onto Matai Bay in the morning and definitely the prettiest beach (and the most remote) I'd come across...it seemed to stretch on for miles of white sand and I was the only person there!
Left here to visit Karikari Winery - the most Northerly in NZ. A beautful spot to take in the scenery, but the wines were a let down.. onwards!!
The obligatory visit to 90 Mile Beach (although allegedly it's not 90 miles long) - OK, but a bit dull. YEs, it's long, but how many times has the phrase 'size isn't everything' been used?? (and how many times will people continue to lie to make things sound bigger??!!)

Further south to Hokianga Harbour for some sandboarding and I came across a rather impressive bus-come-camper. Now, Priscilla she aint, but her owners had an ''ádults only'' sign up and it was the number 69. I got talking to Earl and Shaz and they invited me to join them for dinner in the beast...classic!! A BBQ, a bourbon and coke and a game of cards - loving the travellers (it transpired that they only lived 40 mins away, so even more random!)

The sand dunes of Hokianga were the destination for the morning's activities - fairly knackering and the inevitable competition to see who could reach the water from the dunes....the light skinny kid won (some things never change!)
But a job offer from Trevor who works one of the ski resorts, so I'm set if I'm still around in May!!
Back on the road in the green machine I headed back to Auckland via Tane Mahuta - the biggest tree in NZ and something of a celebrity in the horticultural world...with a girth of 13.8m and at the grand old age of over 2000, I'm not surprised!!
A brief stop off for lunch at the Kai -Iwi Lakes I got bitten to shreds by a random bug that only comes out 1 week of the year and eats everything in sight....sounds like Blonde!!! ;-)

So first impressions of Auckland...bloody wet!! It pissed with rain for a week, so I had to wait to start the North Island adventure, but a major result - I have wheels...THE GREEN MACHINE!!
Jules very kindly offered me the service of a tranny van, so I got my best needlework skills in action and fitted some purple sparkly curtains (what else!) and a blow up mattress in the back and off we go!! (couldn't quite run to the stilletto on top!)

So a tour of Auckland and a trip to Waiheke Island to sample some of the local vino - can you see a pattern developing??!!
A lush day for it and Jules and I hired a dodgy looking, probably barely legal rental car to get about the Island before settling in at Mudbrick Winery for lunch and to take in the views - stunning and a great place to take in Auckland!

So the adventure begins with a trip to the Waitomo Caves to see the infamous glow-worms...sound romantic?? Until you find out that the reason they glow is because they burn their own shit whilst inside their body and that's what makes them glow!! Nice!!
So took the adventure option for some abseiling, climbing, caving and tumu tumu tubing down the black water and had an awesome day of it. The highlight was cruising through the caves on our rubber rings with only the gloworms guiding the way - very cool!
And then onto TOngariro National Park to do the infamous alpine crossing (19.5km). Katie, the crazy Irish girl I met in Waitomo assured me that the crossing was really easy...mmm...touch of the old blarney there methinks!!
Pretty hard work - esp going down with a dodgy knee (insert jokes here), but well worth it and some fabulous views of the volcanoes, lakes up top and scenery of the National Park. And a couple of lovely Dutch boys for company on the way down the hill...

Tongariro Crossing = the culprit for my ridiculous tan marks so far (not that I'm complaining...just glad the sun came out!!)

So that wasn't enough and I decided to attempt the 42 Traverse Extreme Mountain Bike trail the following day - 45kms which sounds reasonable until you see the gradients involved and take into account the fact that I did this with a couple of crazy Germans (Nina - a machine uphill, and Bernt (Óut) - her boyfriend who kept whinging about his crap bike when he couldn't keep up!!).
Made for an entertaining day...

Injury no 1: a spectacular wipe out on a downhill gravel stretch thanks to a wayward fern bush...no, this is not a joke, I got knocked off my bike by a plant! At least different to the curbs, cars, white vans, vins, and ex-colleagues I encountered in London!)

A rather achy Wonders took a dip in the thermal pool to start the day, then soldiered onto Lake Taupo via Huka Falls where I bumped into a random group of Santas on a boys weekend who tried to rope me in earlier on the journey. I took the safer option and went ...PARASAILING!! Loved it - not the adrenaline filled activity that most backpackers would opt for, so again - showing my age! (and saving the skydive for the South Island!)

Enough of all that - I went to the aptly named ''Çraters of the Moon'' to see steam bubbling out of the earth..v strange but quite cool..

And carried onto Rotorua via another thermal pool in the middle of a farmers'paddock - very random but I was there on my own and enjoyed wallowing around in the smelly water for a few minutes as the hot water shot up through the gravelly floor...very strange.

Getting quite into this geothermal stuff and a good job as I hit Rotorua (or Roto-Vegas to the Kiwis)...and again, aptly named!
Stayed with Jules' Aunty Kay and with Jules and Lily as my tour guides, I got to go to some really cool places. HIghlights:

- a different kind of thermal pools - a locals hangout where a hot and cold stream meet...smelly but cool
- Mauri evening and sampling the Hangi (food cooked underground in pits for 3 hours...lush!)
- learning the Haka!
- seeing the geysers blowing off some steam at Whakarewarewa
- learning how to pronounce above word (i just opted for Whaka!)

So the 1st adventure completed and back to Auckland with new scars, ridiculous tan marks and a green machine full of smelly clothes before setting off on the Northland leg...

So I finally get around to the daunting task of summing up my first month in my quest to chase summer around the globe....fairly successful so far:

8 days of rain - 7 of those in Auckland!!
3 ridiculous suntan marks
0 sightings of snow
2 days spent sunbathing ( I hear those of you that know me well inhale in shock and horror - yes, I have actually done some travelling!!)

So in true rock 'n'roll style I left the Toon with Grandma for the first leg of the trip - mission no. 1 - get Grandma safely to Perth...DONE!
10 days in Perth and a mixed itinerary - koala spotting, cruising up the coast, enjoying a few beves and a tour of prison in Fremantle, and a visit to the Margaret River and Ferguson Valley for a spot of wine tasting with Brenton... I could get used to this backpacking lark!
Heather, Stanley, Darren and Camilla and Brenton were fantastic hosts - I'd forgotten just how lovely the Aussies are when welcoming you to their country.

Highlights:

- Margaret River trip and yummy lunch at The Watershed
- Trip to Freo with Grandma
- Journey up the coast to take in Perth's marvellous beaches with Stanley
- A bike ride around the Harbour and up to Kings Park
- And a few cheeky beves at Little Creatures...!

I'd forgotten how nice Perth is and returning older and none the wiser 6 years later has made me appreciate it even more as Sydney's very attractive smaller sibling...with lots of bike routes and lycra as far as the eye can see...perfect!!

Onto Sydney and a round of catch ups with various peeps - the lovely Halstead family, and with Max acting as a 4.30am alarm clock I really got to make the most of my time there! ;-)
No trip to Sydney would be complete without a trip to the Harbour and the beaches...so Bronte and Balmoral done as Ako and the Halstead's local haunts.
The obligatory Sat night on Oxford Street - not a great deal has changed although a lot more A-symettrical hairdos than I remember...feeling my age!!
So what better way to shift the hangover than a game of lawn bowls?! Ako was forewarned about the talent within the family, but was far from worried when my 1st delivery spooned across 3 rinks....lucky we weren't amongst serious bowls fanatics...and then the club captain turned up to play next to us...OOPS!
Jean-Nic took me to his favourite spot - the fish market....I didn't have the heart to tell him I don't do fish and forced a prawn or 2 down before gagging at the mussels and coming clean! Very entertaining!
So a whistle-stop tour of Sydney and a quick coffee with Captain Ans before boarding the plane for NZ...

Bloody Aussies!! The ever-incompetent Pacific Blue staff almost refused to let me leave the country as they didn't understand my visa for NZ...ironic as they're usually all too keen to keep the riff-raff out, as Blonde can vouch for!!

Panic over, arrived safely in NZ and my first impressions of the Kiwis was a good one - banter at immigration and a relaxed attitude to the whole thing...loving it!

Now for the adventure in NZ....