Saturday 30 April part II The new bimini

Doesn't the new bimini look a dream? Our outdoor space is a new, dry and warm conservatory with clear view panels at the front to stop the rain coming in. We like it a lot. The panel extending to the back is zip-on-zip-off.  On when we're at anchor for sun shade, off when we're sailing and on and angled down when rain is coming from behind.  There's also the potential to add side screens and back screens to make a fully enclosed cockpit which is essential in cooler climates like NZ but too hot in the tropics. 

See the man in the bottom right corner? Can you see he's wearing his slippers?

Saturday 30 April Farmer's market

Whangarei farmer's market

Kathi from Jarana called by the boat at 8am and we pedalled off to the farmer's market. What a wonderful surprise and why was the first time I'd been? In England farmer's market stands for 'small packs of organic produce sold for inflated price'. Here in Whangarei it is what it says on the packet, local producers selling their goods at excellent prices. Much is organic though not all. I wish David had come to so I could buy and he could carry more. I had to leave behind locally produced honey at a good price but I did snaffle local cheeses, herbs, enough broccoli to feed a family of 4 for a week, beautiful orange peppers and a bag of organic avocados for guacamole. All this was carefully stuffed in my back pack and pedalled back to town basin.
The breaking news when I got back to the marina was the appearance of a weather window to leave for Fiji. We could be going as soon as Friday! All we do now is get updated forecasts every 12 hours and discuss endlessly with the other cruisers.

Friday 29 April Royal Wedding Day

You can't be British and not be interested in the Bill and Kate nuptials taking place in London today. Mike and Ann on Callisto have a TV and have invited us over to watch the proceedings. I spent the morning helping with fittings and design decisions on the bimini and the latter part of the afternoon preparing our contribution for a pick and ponder pot luck repast.

We should have been at Callisto at 6 o'clock but we were still on board helping a French boat to raft up alongside us so no time for a leisurely walk. It was Billy Whiz shower, throw food and drinks into the bags and fly over to the marina on the other side of the river. It was a fun thing to do and while I assumed we weren't that bothered we were rapt at the images on the screen and didn't leave until gone 11 o'clock. How wild we are.

Trifle & beer for boat party

Riding back along an unlit path beside the water was a thrill. Would I stay on the path or hit a stick and wobble into the water? I can climb out but it would be a disaster to loose my bike. However no inclement incidents and we arrived home safely.

Thursday 27 April Long way to the sea

Whangarei harbour

Looking on Google Earth you can see how far inland Whangarei town basin is.  The journey from open sea at Marsden Point up to town takes 2 1/2 hours with a following tide.

Tuesday 26 April Paparazzi

The rain stopped and we could show Rachel and Derek how Jackster looks when not in a deluge. Derek is a professional amateur photographer and doesn't go anywhere without his camera. There were shot of the children and family aboard, shots of me and David posing on the bow. Later in the day our yachtie friends had to comment on the presence of boat rats, aka children, running around the deck and out photo shoot. If I'd been quick I could have said it was for a magazine article.

Ethan, David, Derek & Rachel

Derek thinks we're living The Good Life, a 70's BBC sitcom about a couple who give opt out of city life to become self sufficient small holders. I'm delighted because that makes me Barbara (Felicity Kendall) and David Tom (Richard Briers). When we're offshore we do fish, make our own bread, yoghurt, and shortly, beer, make do and mend and we have opted out of conventionality. Going to market tomorrow to buy boat chucks to lay eggs.

Monday 25 April What a lovely surprise

Rachel, Scarlet, Derek & Ethan

A funny thing happened when I was at the Marina office today. There was a tap on the door, I turned around and saw the face of an old friend from London days. I know Rachel &; Derek from my former life in London. They now live in HK with their two young children and are in NZ to visit Rachie's family for her birthday.

Big kid, little kid

We haven't seen them since we started cruising two and a half years ago so there was some catching up, questions about their new life and our new life. Unfortunately it poured all day so Scarlet and Ethan had to be cooped up in the boat. We did take them to the children's partk which gave David and I the perfect excuse to try out one of the rides, a rotating platform like a gyroscope with perpetual motion. What a hoot but it made you feel giddy very quickly. Perhaps you need to be a child to be immune.

Enthralled with Tom & Jerry

I was thrilled they'd come to see us and had time to stay to dinner too. Here's a rare picture of David with children. He'd set up the computer for them to watch cartoons and became engrossed himself. Who needs real children when you 've got a David? Growing older is inevitable. Acting your age is optional.

Sunday 24 April Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday and the sun is shining. Our friends on Stray Kitty pulled in to the marina. We haven't seen Chris, Christine and children Andrea, Ryan and Kerry since Opua in December. It will be nice to catch up with them in the ext couple of days.


In the evening we had a special treat of roast lamb dinner aboard Pickles. Pickles is a 'kid boat'. Guy and Joanie have four children between 12 and 6, three boys and a girl. Another kid boat, French Hunayami (?) joined with their 4 children. The children piled on board and disappeared like rabbits down a whole into the salon where they played and ate in happy harmony while the big kids, Guy, Joan, Laurence, Jean Yves ate in equally happy harmony in the cockpit area.

The rain started as we were leaving and it didn't stop raining for the next 24 hours.

Saturday 23 April St George's Day

Spring cleaning upholstery

Today was the final laundering of upholstery. There were three long cushions, a 10', and two 8' lengths that wouldn't fit into the marina machines. Instead we took them up to a commercial laundry in town where we were able to get all three into one super load.
How dreary to be writing about something as mundane as laundry. I think it illustrates that our drop out lifestyle isn't all cold beers on the beach and snorkelling trips, in between, and most notably in NZ, we've been doing essential maintenance while we're in port with 24 hour electric supply and access to suppliers and facilities.
Our Easter treat was to access one of those onshore facilities and access a Ruby Murray, or curry with Anne and Mike from Callisto. We even got dressed up and wore proper shoes for the evening. Poor David got a blister it's been so long since he wore real shoes.

Thursday 21 April First fitting

First fitting of bimini top

Neil from Doyles brought the roof part of our sunshade for fitting. It's still got to have the front and side panels made, this was to check for fit and mark up for the 'window' which enables us to see main sail from inside the cockpit. We'll keep the shade up over the long weekend which should protect us from the forecast rain.
The upholstery covers are gradually being washed and with David's help we're doing the tricky job of fitting new sliders to the zips and the even harder job of stuffing the foam into the padded covers. Wadding sticks to foam better than super glue and getting a pesky foam filler in just the right place can be tricky. However, it's all worth it to have silky, shiny covers. They may be the originals but they look new once more.

Wednesday 20 April Disappointed

The canvas man has been notable by his absence. He turned up today not with the material for a first fitting but with apologies. Due to his last job 'turning to custard' and the 4 day Easter weekend coming up he wouldn't be able to finish our job until next week. Not what one wants to hear but throwing a tantrum wouldn't have served any real purpose. However, if we've got to stay longer there'll be no leeway for a less than perfect job.


Today was our second provisioning mega shop and it was wine and beer on the list. We got the casks of wine and were contemplating the vast range of beers when we met a German couple picking up a beer making kit. They explained the merits of self brewing; save money, make 23L from one kit, a kilo of sugar and a big bucket. An added bonus is that there aren't import restrictions on the kits. We make yoghurt and bread so why not beer. Perhaps we'll get a few chickens and a pig to keep on deck.

Tuesday 19 April Party

The exodus to the islands is beginning. Helen and Steve on Dignity threw a farewell Whangarei party this evening. A catamaran has more space than a monohull – there must have been 40 people on board, enough to make the lower step sink under 3” of water. As one would expect there was a lot of discussion about where to go in Fiji, when to go and what work still needs to be done before one can go. The weather topic will continue to dominate for the next 3 weeks.


We also said goodbye to Dirk and Anne of Sail Away whom we met in the Pacific. They're retiring from cruising after 20 years out. Dirk is sailing back to Canada and Anne is flying.

Friday 14 April Let work commence

As he'd promised, Neil from Doyle Sails came to take the initial measurements for the new bimini. He was impressed that David and I had clear ideas about what we wanted and had set up the framework ready. We had been talking for 2 years about having a new sunshade made and what we would change of the old one to make it better and looking at other constructions for ideas. The old adage of form should follow function works.


The estimated completion date is next Friday so we can leave to head north for Opua with stops on the way including a couple of dives at the Poor Knights. With only a week we've got a lot to do; provisioning for 6 months in the islands, I want to make suncovers for the deck hatches and there are small improvements needed on the dinghy cover for which I need the sewing machine and an electricity supply. I've also set myself the task of removing and laundering all the soft furnishing covers while we have convenient access to full size washing machines. The biggest problem is getting the covers off as half of the zips have corroded. They've got to be cut off and new (non corroding plastic) sliders fitted.

Thursday 13 April Rope and steel

We got the call that our steel work was finished so David and I pedalled up to Trevor's. This time we were going to drive them back in his work truck, the only proviso being not to crash it, and come back for the bikes. What a great job. We highly recommend Trevor for any steel work. He's smart, fast, affordable and a lovely bloke to boot. He and David have become good friends over the last few weeks as he's repaired our wind generator bracket, let David fix his pedal shaft in the workshop.


On the way back to the workshop with the ute we deviated into Cookes rope and chain store and found new sheets (aka ropes) for the headsail to replace the current ones which are too thick and damaging the sheet holders in the winches. Made me extra happy because we can use the old sheets to replace our dock lines which are too thick for the deck cleats, heavy and inflexible. The old dock lines which came with boat purchase 3 years ago become spares or swaps with islanders who are always short of boat ropes. I'm hoping we might be able to swap for a wood carving in Vanuatu but we might have to settle for a lobster, but nothing less than a big lobster.

Wednesday 13 April A new bimini

The bimini fitted by Jackster's previous owner was dismantled this morning and we marked the three steel hoops, or bows, where they were to be narrower to fit within the shrouds. Our generous friends had offered us the use of their car to transport them to Trevor at Norstain on Port Road, but at 4m they are just too big to fit. David the Hero taped the bows together and constructed a carrying harness to slip over his shoulder and then walked 45 minutes to the workshop. When he arrived at Norstain Trevor called him a fool for not phoning to borrow his pick up truck. Well, you don't like to ask do you? It's just not British.


Stuart and Sheila from Imagine and Anne and Mike from Callisto popped in for sundowners this evening though it was cool and open in the cockpit without the cover. Only a few more weeks and we'll be 1000nm north sitting outside at 10 o'clock in shorts and t shirts. Bring on Fiji.

Tuesday 12 April A snappy move

How do you get a 16m vessel into a 16.2m gap with a yacht with dinghy suspended from davits ahead and a concrete pontoon behind? Answer; with gentleness and cunning. David helmed and I was on the dock first to undo lines and then be ready to untie same line from guard rail and get it on a cleat. Our sneaky cunning was to put a bow line on a dock cleat at midships and take it on board through a pulley and onto the headsail power winch. Ergo with the push of a couple of buttons, winch and bow thruster, Jackster slipped sideways into her snug fit. More lines linking boat to dock and tweaking and now we can step on and off using our rear steps. Doesn't it feel good on the rare occasions when a plan works?

Monday 11 April In Whangarei Town Basin once more

From Urquharts to Whangarei Town Basin on a rising tide made a quicker journey. The marina is full so we are on the courtesy berth for a night.
Within an hour of tying up we had our first visitors; Jack (Anthem) called in on his way from the airport to Opua and David and Virginie from Marquesas for tea.

Whangarei marina office

Our reason for coming back to Whangarei is to have Neil from Doyle Sails make us a new and improved cockpit cover with zippable clear plastic windows above the dodger, clear side curtains to keep us dry when it rains and zip on sunshades at the rear. What we have to do first is remove the old cover and have the steel support hoops altered for the new, narrower design.

Sunday 10 April In Urquharts bay once more

We left Kawau for the last time this year under motor as there wasn't any wind for the first hour or so then as cleared the headland we had our first breathe of breeze which grew into a steady blow and another fine sail up to Bream Head and the estuary leading to Whangarei. During the first part of the trip we saw penguins and when we were sailing I saw a pod of large black animals swimming past us. They were just too far for good identification. I was hoping they were pilot whales.
It was too late to continue up river and with the tide flowing out wouldn't have been wise. We anchored around from Urquharts in MacGregors Bay where we've had free internet connection before. Not so lucky this time so we watched a film.

Saturday 9 April A fine day

A fine day begun with a hearty cooked brunch at the cafe and catching up with our friends and DOC rangers Amy and Andrew over a glass of in the evening.

Our certificate of appreciation

Our good deed for the day was to help Andrew prise his 'mule', the 4WD golf buggy, out of a muddy hole at the rubbish tip. Earlier in the day he'd backed down a slope to facilitate throwing gardening waste over the edge and ended up stuck. David and I, mostly David, helped pushing and shoving blocks of wood under the wheels, lifting the front and back chassis with levers and finally me behind the wheel as Andrew and David rocked the vehicle to get purchase. I shot up the hill narrowly missing the trees with a sharp left to avoid the ditch on the right and we were free. Hurrah! Satisfying to feel you've helped the local islanders! For our sterling effort Andrew awarded us an official Certificate of Appreciation for our contribution to conversation, or should that be conservation?

Friday 8 April In Mansion House Bay once more

It was a cracking fast sail from the marina all the way into Mansion House Bay with 25 knots blowing from behind the beam and a following sea. On the way we got a close up of the NZ America's Cup boat as we crossed their race trial course at the same time they were heading up it. They passed ahead of our bow tipped onto one sponson and their chase boat passed our stern with a cheery wave.


We had the anchor down in Kawau in time for afternoon tea.

Thursday 7 April Bon voyage

Time to say bon voyage today – my Mum starts the long flight back to England and we're getting ready to depart Auckland for the last time this year but first there was still time for more sightseeing.

We hopped in the car and pootled around to the fish market, I say we, David got dropped off at the swindlery for a boat bits fix while Mum and I went to the fish market. I bought snapper and taramasalata (a greek dip made from cod roe, bread, lemon juice & olive oil and rarer than unmolested sheep in NZ) and David bought shrink wrap for electric wiring.

Then it was onwards and upwards for views of the city from the any volcanic hills that litter the city. Not quite the seven hills of Rome but nice. The Domain is home to the Auckland Museum, a fine 1920s building with a copy of the London Cenotaph in front and a fine view over the docks and down to river. The stain glass window over the atrium depicts the coats of arms WW1 allies which matches the Commonwealth countries. A dash into the nearby glasshouses to see the flora and pretend it's warm and not blowing a gale outside. The last stop on Bunty's Tour this morning was Mt Eden, another volcano with a fine view to the Tasman sea to the west and the Hauraki Gulf to the east.

And that concluded the sightseeing trip. Nothing left but to drive Mum to the airport and wave a fond farewell as she swept through immigration in her chariot of fire, aka a wheelchair with assistant to ensure a smooth trip home.

Wednesday 6 April Into Auckland

It was a slow motor into the wind to get into Auckland and into our berth at the Viaduct Marina alongside the super yachts. Sometimes we feel small, but at least we own our boat. Lines settled, power on and a short sprinkle of rain David and I did a power walk to the car hire company to pick up our vehicle for the next 2 days, a white Toyota Corolla (vintage mini cab model but clean).

Auckland and America's Cup cat

Disappearing gun Mt Eden

The thought was where to go this afternoon. Over the bridge to see historic Devonport – the first place the British Navy landed in Auckland in 1840. The houses are the original pretty clapboards with wrap around balconies. It's now the place to live in Auckland. For views over the city we drove to the top of Mt Victoria and got blown around by the cold wind for our efforts to see the view and take a look at the Disappearing gun which was placed here in 1899 as a protection against invading Russians!

Devonport

The next high point to scale was the North Point headland with views over the Hauraki Gulf to Rangitoto and north up to Whangaroa peninsula and Tiritiri Matanga.

It was Mum's last night on board and for a treat she took us out for dinner at the V Grill over the harbour. A delicious blow out meal and a fine glass of wine. We wobbled home.

Yes, he ate it all

Monday 4 April Rangitoto & Motutapu Island

Jackster with Auckland behind

We're anchored in Islington Bay between Rangitoto and Motutapu islands. It's a beautiful day for a walk on Motutapu. David landed us at the jetty on Rangitoto island for a beach side walk to the causeway between the two islands. Motutapu is established farmland. Rangitoto appeared as a volcanic eruption from the sea 600 to 800 years ago.

Black headed tern

this way home

We had a pleasant walk along the track to Emu Bay stopping off to take photos of Islington Bay with Auckland city scape behind. The afternoon flew past sunning ourselves in the cockpit.

Tuesday 5 April Islington Bay

Held in the sheltered bay while squalls and blasts of wind rolled over us. It was time to chat, eat and play cards and prepare for our descent on Auckland city tomorrow morning.

Sunday 3 April Motuihe Island and Islington Bay

Mother's Day started with a fine morning and a leisurely breakfast watching penguins bob around the boat. It seemed every fisherman and woman and boat owner in Auckland had taken to the water today taking advantage of a late summer weekend. Motoring over to Motuihe Island was like charging through a moving slalom course. One moment that little boat off to starboard had his anchor down, rod out and then all change – he was on the move across our bows. It was as busy as the Solent on August Bank Holiday, but with sunshine.

Motuihe seen from Motutapu

Motuihe island was packed with merry makers, picnicking on the beach, leaping off their boats, water skiing, boogie boarding and coming and going like flies on a sticky bun.

The weather forecast predicted the wind to strengthen late afternoon and when it did we shifted to our night anchorage in the wonderfully sheltered Islington bay between Rangitoto and Motutapu islands. This is where we hid from a cyclone at the end of January. We expect to be hiding from 20 and 30 knot northerlies forecast for the next 36 hours before moving into Auckland on Wednesday morning ready for Mum to catch her flight home on Thursday evening.

Saturday 2 April Waiheke wine tasting

My April's Fool Day joke on the rest of the crew was to convince them yesterday was Saturday and that the clocks go back for winter tonight. David dutifully changed all clocks before we went to bed. We woke this morning and realised today was Saturday (how dizzy we are!) and promptly forgot we'd changed our clocks. An extra day of daylight saving for us.

View over Onetangi bay

We used the extra sunlight, and it was a sunny day, to take the local bus around the island and visit the local wineries for cellar door tastings. It was a fun way to see the west end of the island chatting with tourists and locals. First stop was Topknot Vineyard who've diversified to offer tastings as well as a restaurant, clay pigeon shooting and archery between the vines. Miffed at the $1.50 per taste charge we took just one taste of the rose.



Back on the bus and on to Onetangi beach on the north coast. It was along walk and 100 steps up Jacob's Ladder to Haydock Vineyard to taste their 'boutique' wines all made from pinot noir. A white, rose and red were on offer and none were so good we had to buy.

Top of Jacob's Ladder

Haydock winery. Cheers!



A 30 minute jolly charabanc trip and we were back in Oneroa once more. Mum had thoroughly enjoyed her day and the weather had been a dream with one final night anchored in this quiet bay.



Friday 1 April Oneroa Bay, Waiheke Island

Approaching Waiheke

Blue penguins

The guide books tell Waiheke means falling water in Maori, wai water and heke falling and it was originally applied to one place on the island but European incomers thought they meant all the island. Durr.


Oneroa is a wonderful wide open bay backed by the main village of the island and a clean sandy beach. We landed the dinghy on the beach and strolled up to the village – a collection of cute artist shops, wine shops, real estate and cafes – and trundled back with a bag of veggies, maps and bus routes for a DIY winery tour tomorrow and the obligatory bottle of local wine. Nice. Here's a very nice thing for visitors and freebie hunting cruisers. Visit the local library next to the cinema and Indian restaurant and there's 30 minutes free internet for everyone.

It's Friday night and the anchorage is filling up with visiting boats here for the weekend.

Thursday 31 March Tiritiri and Motutapu

Overnight at Motutapu

It was such a beautiful morning we lingered in Tiritiri soaking up some rays and enjoying a leisurely moment. When Mum arrived in NZ she had every intention to swim. Why not here where the water is relatively warm? David and I wanted to check the anchor and David wanted to check the propeller too so we all jumped in. It was so warm it took ones breathe away! A pootle around. I was able to admire our pristine hull and marvel at the ingenuity of two tone anti fouling. The keel is blue, reputed to be the colour least likely to encourage a whale attack, and the part nearest the water line black. The reason? Back in November when we bought the anti foul we had the cunning idea to paint the first two coats blue and the top 2 or 3 black so we could see when the paint had worn down two layers. Roll forward 4 months and David pulls the tins of paint out of the bilge and sets to with the black paint only remembering the cunning plan and blue paint until they were the last 2 tins to open. Oops. Do you know? It looks great and is set to start a new trend in anti fouling.

Back to the days events, as we were getting out of the water the wind picked up for a superb fast sail south to Motutapu island and our next overnight. Mum is a superb sailor and not a suggestion of any seasickness. The rest of my family can get queasy looking at a pontoon.

Tuesday 29 March Tea with Andrew & Amy

Mansion House bay

We missed then yesterday but today we caught up with our friends Amy and Andrew who are DOC guides at the Mansion House for the season. The Jackster crew have been suffering with hacking coughs caught on the flight back from England last week. Poor David didn't have the flight but he does have the cold which I gave him. Naturally we don't want to pass on this lergy any further so suggested keeping outdoors to minimise the risk.

Peacock waiting for cafe to open

Later in the afternoon more boats came into the anchorage including Brit boat Gryphon II with Chris and Lorraine and NZ Ocean Pearl with Danny and Yvonne. Ocean Pearl generously invited us all over for drinks and a merry evening was had by all.

Wednesday 30 March Tiritiri Matanga

Tui or Parson bird

Lurking twitchers

We arrived in Tiritiri Matanga from Kawau in beautiful sunshine and in time for lunch. After feeding it was time for a walk and exploring. First ashore by dinghy and then we hitched a ride with the park ranger in his ute (utility vehicle) to the visitor centre at the top of the hill. This way we had only to walk downhill back to the beach. Mr Park Ranger was at the ferry dock to wave off the day's visitors meaning from 3pm we had the island to ourselves (apart from park rangers and volunteers staying overnight to do a kiwi count). Perfect.

Red crowned parakeet or Kakariki

Fantail

At the visitor centre there were 3 takahe's included a 4 month old chick with his bill still juvenile black. A leisurely stroll down the Wattle track stopping often to watch red headed parakeets on the path, tuis on the bird bath, stitch birds and bell birds washing and feeding at the sugar water stations. We were buzzed by an eager fantail and glimpsed saddlebacks. Almost at the bottom of the path there was a pond with the brown teals lounging in the late afternoon sun. Disappointingly the penguins weren't home and the rock nests were empty. I guess the summer season on the pier was over for them too and they were off on a well earned break.

Monday 28 March Mansion House

Dinghy de Wheels

Disappointingly the cafe is operating on winter hours which is Thursday to Sunday only. We could only look in the windows and drool at the advert for coffee and cream scone. The poor weka's were looking thinner with less titbits from customers coming their way, the peacocks had shed their colourful tail feathers as they moult. David stayed on board while Mum and I toured the house.

Mansion House

It was a beautiful evening for a barbecue.

Sunday 27 March Out to sea

The forecast said 15 knots from NW, reality was a breathe from anywhere and we had to motor all the way to Mansion House Bay, Kawau. Our fourth visit to the bay which shows how much we like it – sheltered, quiet and pretty. Tonight we had the place to ourselves

Saturday 25 March Cast off for Urquharts bay

Still raining. In the rain we raised our repaired headsail and enjoyed a super fast sail down river. With new anti foul we estimate we're travelling a knot faster than before the paint job. Well done Dave for giving us the edge and now with our rigging given the OK for tension we have no excuse for being last into the anchorage this year (apart from our relaxed start time)

Thursday 24 March Road trip day 4 – Hamilton

Italian garden

butterfly

Final day of the road trip we diverted off the main highway into the centre of Hamilton, a fair city built on the Waitomo river with lots of tended gardens as befits a university city. My Mum is an avid gardener and has a beautiful garden in England. For her, and for us, we visited the beautiful Hamilton Gardens
We arrived back in Whangarei in time to call into the riggers to pick up the results of our rig test. We got a clean bill of health and despite would-be-experts telling us our rigging needed tightening, the experts told us the tension was perfect. Our only remedial work is to have one lower shroud toggle pin replaced. Last call of the day was the sailmakers to collect our repaired headsail.
As we left for our trip on Monday morning it was raining and when we were loading our gear on board it was raining once more. It rained all the next day so we took it easy and stayed alongside one more day.

Wednesday 23 March Road trip day 3 – Waitomo caves

Gloworm threads

Glow worms glowing

A scenic drive cross country brought us to the tourist attraction of Waitomo Caves. The village is an information centre, a cafe, picnic area, one large hotel and one campsite clustered around the original limestone cave discovered in the 18th century. We opted to go with Spellbound tours which was a longer trip,including a raft ride under the glow worms and a walk through a second cave to see karst cycle features. It was also less physical which helps Mum with her bad knee.

Our experience began at 3pm with a 30 minute minibus ride out to farmland above the settlement. On the way into the cave we stopped to feed friendly freshwater eels then donned our caving helmets (mine was too big and heavy and kept falling over my eyes negating the safety angle). These glow worms are unique to NZ. Their life cycle includes a 9 to 10 month larval stage where they attach themselves to the roof of a cave, drop sticky lines to catch passing insects like a spider and then light up their bottoms to attract the insects into their sticky fishing lines. In the Waitomo caves there are thousands and thousands of them, so many that they illuminate the darkness.

English guide, Louisa, showed us the way along a path following the stream flowing out of the cave and into a inflatable for our 20 minute ride under the glow worms. I should mention our ride was forwards, turn around to the start and then forwards and backwards again to the spot we started. It was so peaceful I could have stayed there all afternoon.

Rafting under glow worms

Our next experience was a five minute walk away. This time there wasn't a full stream flowing through so drier and no glow worms. A cemented path led 700m under ground following a tunnel eroded by an earlier water flow. Along the way there was a vaulted 'cathedral' and bones from an extinct Moa bird. Moa's were flightless birds like small emus. We had plenty of time to linger and look and with only 8 people in the group time to ask questions.

intrepid cavers

Extinct moa bird bones

Petrified pools

weka

Our rickety mini bus trip backed to base took another 30 minutes and the tour finished at 6.30pm. If you're going to Waitomo and have time for a long tour, we'd recommend Spellbound.

Our night time accommodation was 10 minutes north in the small town, so small there was only one restaurant, of Otorohanga.

Tuesday 22 March Road trip day 2 – Lake Taupo

Aratia dam

If it's Tuesday we must be going to Lake Taupo 80kms further south. Guess what? It's still raining, less than the torrential downpour overnight but still wet. This is just like being on holiday in England.


Precipitation cleared at midday as we pulled into the car park at the Aratia dam. Every 2 hours during the day the dam gates are lifted for 30 minutes and thousands of tonnes of water cascade down the gorge and onto the hydro electric power station down stream. For lovers of facts, this is the Waitomo river, the longest river in NZ flowing from lake Taupo north to Auckland. We liked this attraction, interesting to watch and free.

Swimming in thermal stream

Mud pool Waitupo

Haka falls, Taupo

Further up the road was a pay for attraction to see hot mud pools and thermal pools and less than 5 minutes away free thermal streams to swim in and mud pools to visit. The stream was a hot bath under the shade of the trees, in places scalding, in others a cool plunge pool before the cold stream merged with the hot water.

Monday 21 March Road trip day 1 – Rotorua

Mud pools

Te Puia hot steam

On the morning designated to start our road trip it's raining hard and has been raining hard for the last 12 hours. Like rats fleeing the ark we pack the car and head for the hills of Rotorua 400kms south. South of Auckland is prime farmland as far as you can see with acres and acres of maize interspersed with huge dairy herds and some thoroughbred farms here and there. As we sped past Hobbiton, location for Hobbit town in Lord of the Rings, the rained eased until conveniently stopping as we reached Rotorua.



One smells Rotorua before you see it. Allegedly the no.1 tourist attraction in NZ (but aren't they all?) is a visitor industry based on noxious fumes and hot water emerging from underground at a place where the earth's crust is one of the thinnest places in the world.







Old geyser and mother-in-law



in front of Maori house

Stuffed kiwi

At 4.30 the last of the bus tours departed and we (David, my mum and me) had the place almost to ourselves which was a big plus. We went back to spend quality time with the pair of kiwi birds, watching them dig out a new burrow next to the viewing glass.


We left as the gates were closing and as the heavens opened to release more rain.

Prince of Wales geyser

The attraction of Te Puia has guides, lots of coach tours, a couple of geysers, hot, bubbling mud pools, real kiwi birds, maori houses, wood carving, weaving and a the ubiquitous gift shop. I may seem to be poking fun but it was a good, compact way to see the highlights of the area well presented and with easy access.