NZ travelogue Day 53

Auckland

Reunion with William and Swee Lee, whom i last met in 1996 in Singapore. Their younger son, Gabriel is a young man now, he was three when they went to NZ.

We visited the Auckland Art Gallery. As it was Good Friday, the town centre was almost deserted. Good for driving

Interesting room!  DONT LOOK DOWN. Horrible feeling!!!

One Tree Hill. Panoramic  views of the city. The Cornwall Park was crowded with holiday makers - BBQing and picnicking.

The night ended with William Wong's family in a Chinese restaurant. 

The final night, the 53th night  in NZ.

 Lost count of the number of beds we slept in both South Island and North Island. We have driven nearly 7000 km. 

A FUNtastic holiday!!! Who says that New Zealand is dull and boring. I would definitely like to visit and stay again.

NZ Travelogue Day 52

Muriwai Beach

IT seemed that the rain only fell in Warkworth, the moment we travelled south towards Auckland, it was sunny and dry. We stopped at Muriwai Beach to take a look at the gannet colony. Quite a number of people on the beach on a thursday afternoon.

The gannet population dropped in April as they started to fly off the Australia in February/March. 

Managed to see some on the cliff.

 Caught one flying over the water.

What a fine day. After the wet weather the last few days, eager to take more photos.

Reluctantly we said goodbye to Muriwai Beach. Next to the city of Auckland.

This is Auckland - not much different from any other city. We spent only one day there.

NZ Travelogue Day 48 to 51

Warkworth
Weather forecast was bad the day we left Coromandel Peninsula. We passed Thames, surprisingly a bigger town than Coromandel Town and drove towards Auckland, hopefully we could escape the threatening clouds. We  actually saw the coastline north of Auckland as we drove south along the west coast of the Peninsula. We took a deisure drive to Auckland via Kaiaua along the coast, had lunch along Tamaki Drive, overlooking Mission Bay and then headed towards Warkworth, north of Auckland.

Surprise, surprise. What a treat we had in Warkworth!

 When we reached Annie's Place (our B&B accom) at Warkworth the owner upgraded us to a one-bedroom cottage with a fully equipped kitchen and a nice lounge. We extended our stay by 2 days as the place was so cosy and comfortable.

 The cottage is tastefully decorated.

As we would be returning home to a flat in a busy city soon, we might as well enjoy the homely environment of the cottage and the garden.

 We could have breakfast or dinner on the patio facing the lovely garden. Different from our alfresco dining experience in the small balcony of our flat in Penang.

 

It rained and rained everyday at Warkworth. The garden looked fresh with the rain.

The Kauri Museum at Matakohe, about 80km from Warkworth was definitely worth a visit. 

It showed how the early settlers harvest these giant native trees and their gum. The oldest living Kauri tree, a type of pine tree, is 2000 years old. Now Kauri is getting scarce in NZ, and grows in the northern part of the North Island.  

An interesting feature of the museum is the Kauri Gum display  - so many specimens of gum, big and small (no pictures as it was quite dark in the display room).

 See how beautiful is the wood.

The largest kauri existing in NZ  is Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) which is 4.4 in diameter and 17.7 m to the first branch.

We didn't get to see that oldest tree as it was rainy, but we managed to see  a 600 year old as well as an 800 year old Kauri tree at the Parry Kauri Park near Warkworth.

 See how tiny i am against this 800 year old giant.

NZ Travelogue Day 46 to 47

Coromandel

We were on our 4 wheels again after a relaxing time in Tauranga. We started early, made a quick stop at Katikati, the mural town, and continued northwards.

On the way, surprised to see several vintage cars heading towards Whangamata, and people 'camping' along the road apparently waiting for some processions. Discovered later that there was a festival of the 1950s/60s. Our target was hot water beach and the Cathedral Cove on the East Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.

We took a short walk at the hot water beach. When the tide comes in, the heat underground heat makes the water hot.
Very few people on  the beach that day.

What a walk from the car park to Cathedral Cove - 45 minutes one way including a 150-step walkway down to the beach. It was a scenic walk - worth the exercise!

We  lingered about half an hour on the beach, watching people and the waves.

 And then we walked up the 150 steps, and took another 45 mins to get back to the car park. We arrived at Whitianga, hoping to get some lunch but it was long past the lunch hour and cafes were shut after lunch. We drove on, round the top of the Peninsula to Coromandel Town, thinking that i had booked the accommodation there. It turned out that we need to drive another 15 minutes south to where our bed for the night was to be. 

Although situated in a remote area, Te Kouma Cottage is very pretty with a beautiful sunset view over the harbour. It was so dark in the night that we could see the milky way clearly. 

Almost full moon too. And very very quiet at night.

Next morning, we took a short walk towards the water. The cottage was so comfortable that we stayed in for large part of the day. We need the rest after the long drive the day before. Just popped into Coromandel Town for a very nice lunch and a little exploration of the town centre.

NZ Travelogue - Motel & Ken Smith

Tauranga - Motel

We stayed 6 nights in Tauranga in a very comfortable self-contained flat with a good view, within walking distance to the city centre.

We had more beds we could sleep on. Beside the queen bed, there is another bedroom with 2 singles.

 With a fully equipped kitchen, we were able to entertain guests - and so we invited my ex-sculpture teacher, Ken and his family for dinner on the eve of our departure. We had good times together during our stay in Tauranga. They organised a BBQ dinner at a hot pool resort for us a couple of days ago.

Before taking this photo - with Ken, Kate, Joss and Rowan, 

Ken demonstrated the Chen style taiji sword movement. 

Very fluid and graceful - Ken, keep it up!!

NZ Travelogue Day 43 to 45

Mauao

 The Mount, an extinct volcanic cone is 232m above sea level, a very distinctive landmark in Tauranga. Took us nearly an hour to walk up the path to the summit. Worth the climb!

 View from the top  - the sea stretches forever .....................

 Caught the light on the water - a few seconds later, a different scenery.

 They are always busy eating. Don't they know when to stop? 

Didn't bother to look at us when we passed them.

The beach stretches up to Papamoa where we walked the day before.

McClaren Falls

About 15 mins drive from the city of Tauranga is this beautiful park where we visited twice in 2 days.

Beginning of autumn - strange mangrove like trees

Surprised to see the Mount from the park when we climbed to a high point for our picnic lunch.

The view in front of us while having lunch. And spot our red Ford Focus!

Descending from our picnic place. Going down was easier than walking up.

Will definitely miss the greenery when we return to our city life.

Falls Cafe. We would not miss our coffee and sweetie, even though we just had our picnic lunch.

NZ travelogue Day 41 to 42

Tauranga, Bay of Plenty

First morning in Tauranga was to visit the Sunday farmers' market at  Mount Maunganui for fresh fruits and vege to stock up for our 5- day stay. Why not? We had a fully equipped kitchen in our spacious motel unit. The rest of the day spent in relaxing, taking a walk to the art gallery and cargo shed in the city centre.

The next day, after a morning tea with Ken at his house, we went for a walk in Papamoa Beach along the Pacific Coast and enjoyed a distance view of   Mauao (Mount Maunganui).

and the reflection of the sky on the wet sand,

and picking shells.

 

Long shadows - its only about 3pm in the afternoon

 

 Enjoying the peace of the Pacific Coast and sounds of the waves and birds.

 No surfers - seems that surfing is not as popular as in Australia.

The day ended with supper in Ken's  house, meeting his family, followed by a walk to a nearby waterfall.

NZ Travelogue Day 40

Wai-O-Tapu

On the way from Taupo to Tauranga, we visited the Thermal Wonderland at Wai-O-Tapu, the largest area of surface thermal activity in the Taupo Volcanic Zone.

 First encounter with a geyser  - Lady Knox Geyser induced to erupt at 10.30am daily by pouring soap or detergent down its throat. Herds of tourists waiting patiently for the eruption were duly rewarded. The eruptions lasted for several minutes, allowing time for the tourists to take photos from different angles.

 
 Next stop is a pool with its bubbling mud. Interesting to watch but could not stay too long as it was rather suffocating with the smell and steam.

 Then  we spent nearly 2 hours walking in the Wonderland proper - a huge area literally  covered with collapsed craters, boiling pools of mud, hot springs, water and steaming fumaroles.

An area appropriately named as 'Artist's Pallete' with its colours from the minerals brought to the surface by the water forcing its way up.

 This is the Oyster Pool, named after its distinct shape.

 The Champagne Pool - the largest in the area - 65m in diameter. 

Walking besides it is like going through a sauna bath.

 Minerals contained in the water are gold, silver, mercury, sulphur, arsenic, thallium, etc; 

hence the colours.

 What is the name of this pool? Forget - took too many pictures.

I do remember this crater is Devil's Bath because of its striking colour.

 This is the Sulphur Cave, I guess. Sulphur crystals formed on the cave wall.

 There is a native bush walk, and the colours are equally amazing. 

The place is full of tea trees - Kanuka and Manuka. Foliage of Kanuka feel softer than manuka - difficult to differentiate the two types as they are so similar.

After the visual feast at Wai-O-Tapu accompanied by the 'rotten egg' smell, we drove  to Rotorua and had a wonderful lunch (very late though) at the Bathhouse cafe in the Museum building. No time to stop and look as we had to press on to Tauranga at not more than 80km per hour as the rented car had a temporary tyre.

One tyre was punctured and need to be replaced at the Wai-O-Tapu car park  

(blame the thermal activity on the ground?)

An unforgettable and enjoyable geothermal experience