Last day

It was raining again yesterday morning and forecast for the day. So we donned the waterproofs and walked up to the City Hall for a free guided tour by a volunteer.  Our chap was so keen to impart as much as he could about San Francisco past and present that our tour lasted for an hour and a half instead of the planned 45 minutes but we were warm, dry and entertained. Our guide took us into the Mayor's outer office hoping the mayor may have been free for a meet and greet but he was in a meeting.

There was a steady procession of weddings - each took 5 minutes, conducted by a volunteer officiant. This couple hadn't even dressed up!

But most did.

Well I am very sad to write that we are now at the airport and our trip has finished.  We have had a wonderful time.

What an evening!

During my google searches I found out about a concert and tree lighting ceremony in Grace Cathedral on this evening which would feature the grammy award winning San Francisco Boys Choir which was free. I didn't read the details too closely - there was something about the tree having been donated by the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi and transsexual) community. Well what an interesting evening it was!

We arrived at the cathedral a bit early at the end of our day's wanderings and a sound engineer told us that there was another tree lighting event in the park opposite before the one in the cathedral. We went to the park and one of the organisers told us about the free refreshments on offer - all welcome. So we spent a very pleasant half hour listening to a jazz trio,  drinking warm mulled cider and eating cookies and joined in with the countdown to the lights turning on.

We then went back to the cathedral for the concert. The Christmas tree was covered in paper origami cranes which had wishes written on them - e.g. " let there be peace and no war", "equal rights for everyone", " make it snow for 2 weeks so school is closed". These had been sent by the public and by famous people including Barack Obama. The tree had been donated by the Rainbow World Fund a charity whose volunteers are from the GLBT community and the theme of the night was 'hope'. It was also World Aids day today.

The choir sang Christmas carols for about 25 minutes and were fab. Then a duo came on to sing and play the piano. We soon worked out that the singer was a drag artist. There were then speeches from the Mayor of San Francisco, Margaret Cho, (comedian), the Bishop of California, and an evangelical Cleve Jones who initiated an aids memorial in the eighties. Then the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, some of whom were in over the top drag (google them) got us to join in with their performance by chanting "they gotta have hope" then led the countdown to lighting the tree. What a diverse and unusual evening!

The mayor and the japanese consul with the sisters:

San Francisco

The reason we arranged a  short stopover in San Francisco was to visit Jim who was on 'New York' with Martin in the Clipper 11-12 race. Jim and his wife divide their time between 2 homes ( in San Francisco and Nova Scotia) and we were all looking forward to spending time together. However,  Jim's best friend passed away last week so they have had to fly up to Canada. So we have to find something to fill the next 2 and a half days. We have done all the normal tourist attractions here on previous visits so it is a challenge to find something different to do- on a budget too. But if I had to choose an american city to spend time wandering around San Francisco would be top choice.

So we did just that today. We walked for miles stopping at some places I had found when googling 'free hidden San Francisco'. It is strange having spent weeks in the spring in the southern hemisphere that we are suddenly in autumn with the early dark nights, leaves falling off the trees and cooler weather. Also having spent weeks saying hi to everyone we passed in New Zealand and the Cook Islands we have had to adjust to the city way of not doing that.

Moving on again

Thankfully our flight to LA was on time and arrived an hour early. We spent ages queuing for the tedious US border checks. When we queued to check in for the short hop to San Francisco we were told that all flights to San Francisco had been cancelled due to bad weather.  Oh joy. However as our flight wasn't due out for a few hours and was on a 737 the staff were confident that it would go which it did after an hour's delay.

It was raining heavily on arrival so we got the raincovers on the backpacks and our wet weather gear on and made the journey to the motel by metro and bus. The bus was full of hobos and 2 of them kicked off during the ride! We then had a 10 minute walk in the dark and rain but the motel is not far from Fisherman's Wharf and the area is safe.

Muri beach

Hopefully from the panoramic picture below you can see the small islands - these are at the edge of the lagoon and there is a reef all the way around the lagoon just beyond them. You can walk from the beach to the islands - if you pick your path carefully the depth is no more than waist high. The fish are amazing and the starfish almost luminescent in their bright colours. Martin was nipped by something on the back of his calf and I stumbled over some coral and cut some toes and a thumb. As I waded back to the beach trailing blood I did think it was lucky sharks were kept out of the lagoon by the reef!

There were no hawkers on the beach, we were never hassled by bar or restaurant owners and the crime rate is very low so that was all refreshing.

We have really enjoyed our 'island time' and glad we learnt a lot about Cook Island culture.

                                     Traditional headdress

Wednesday to Saturday

The rain stopped long enough on Wednesday for us to go to the town on the bus to look around at the jewellery shops (black pearls harvested locally) and other craft shops. We also went to the Cook Island national museum which was very small but worth a visit. The bus journeys are great; there are so many flowers and fruits to look at along the way, lots of school children use the bus - most are barefoot (through custom rather than poverty) and the other day the bus driver serenaded us with Elvis songs. Thursday's weather was still not brilliant so we went on the bus to town for a walk on the beach and a beer.

At last the sun came out on Friday so we could spend the day on the beach snorkelling and relaxing. The manager of the apartment very kindly let us use the apartment until 8 in the evening on Saturday as our flight out to Los Angeles wasn't until 23.45 so we spent the day at the beach again before catching the bus to the airport.

This is the walk up to our apartment - pitch black at night. 

The mosquitos hang around outside our screen door just waiting for us to come outside so the insect repellent has been put to good use. Yesterday we had to usher out a lizard. When the sun came out we saw some beautiful butterflies and we have avoided some mean looking large hornet type insects. On the beach the other day at the canoe races I saw a humongous spider....... running up towards the rocks I was sitting on - I stood up swiftly and remained standing for the last few races!

Monday & Tuesday

Monday was overcast which was great as we could sit on the local beach most of the day watching an outrigger canoe competition without fear of sunburn. There were teams from many pacific Islands, Australia,  New Zealand and even 2 from the UK. We didn't do brilliantly but not surprising since our teams practise on the Thames rather than the sea.

Later in the week we hope to see more of the competition especially the round the island race (32km) where there are crew changes but the canoe keeps moving so people have to tumble out and jump in.

It started to rain last night and hasn't stopped all day so we are really adapting to the island relaxed way of life by doing nothing!

Rarotonga

Hello from our pacific paradise. I hear the UK has had a lot of rain - well guess what? It's pouring down here today!!

We had a good 4 hour flight here - we left on Monday but because we crossed the International date line we arrived on Sunday.  We were greeted at the tiny airport and each given a lei made of real flowers.

Some locals returning home received many leis - an indication of how much the family were pleased they were back.

The island just has 1 main road around the coast and mountainous rain forest in the middle. Martin and I were going to do a day walk over the top from 1 side to the other but it's too hot. There is a bus which goes clockwise and another which goes anticlockwise and you can flag them down anywhere. There are only 13000 inhabitants on the 15 Cook Islands.

We have a small apartment in a block of 4 and have a beautiful tropical garden to look out on. There are coconut, banana and papaya trees and chickens running free.

Coromandel Peninsula - west coast

Yesterday we drove to the town of Coromandel and walked up to a Pa site which was where the Maori built settlements and could keep watch 360º over the land and sea. I really liked the town and, if I had to choose a place to live on the north island I'd live here and in Wanaka on the South island.

After lunch and a rest by the sea we drove to Thames for the night.

View from the Pa;

Today we have walked around Auckland city and my thoughts were full of Jess and Ryan coming to live here for 12 months next year. I am very envious but so pleased they are taking the opportunity.

Tomorrow we fly to Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands, for our next adventure. We have had a fabulous time in New Zealand.

Coromandel Peninsula - east coast

We drove up the east coast road of the Coromandel Peninsula. Our first stop was Hot Water beach. If I looked to my right this was the view of an empty beach.

But if I looked to my left this was the view of a not so empty beach.

There are hot water springs under a small section of the beach and people crowd in to dig holes and sit in hot water!

We then walked from Hahei beach to Cathedral cove - which is beautiful but quite a way from any road.  I mention this because someone had got hurt on the beach and the rescue helicopter came in.

Our overnight stop was in the YHA Hostel in Whitianga. We had a double room and shared a bathroom and kitchen and a balcony with 2 lads, one from Denmark and Juan from Argentina both of whom were very quiet thankfully. We had a lovely evening stroll along the beach before sitting with a glass of wine on the balcony. At breakfast time we had a good chat with Juan and nobody mentioned the war!

Tauranga

We have now moved on for 3 nights roaming on our way to Auckland. Today we visited Tauranga which is where the Clipper race called in 3 years ago. Martin took me to Mount Manganui to climb up for the views just as he did when he was here. We also had a beer in the pub which the crews adopted for the week they were here and fab fish and chips at the same place he had been and remembered for being so good - and they were.

New York were moored next to the AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd 's boat in the marina and he came down everyday with his large bodyguard. So it was interesting to hear on the news recently about his arrest. We did visit the marina too today so it has been a real trip down memory lane for Martin.

When we had our packed lunch on the beach a school group came down for their swim lesson.  For the first session 4 members of staff had to stand knee deep in the cold sea to act as the 'go round' point for a relay race.

There were quite a few people running up Mount Manganui - it is the evacuation point if a tsunami hits so maybe they are practising?!

Aratiatia rapids

We did get to see the rapids which we were aiming for on our bikes but went in the car another day. Several times a day the sluice gates are opened and the gorge fills with water then empties again as the gates are shut. These are down river from the Huka falls and the force of the river is harnessed in a power station. This 1 river produces 15% of New Zealand's electricity.

Soaking

We took the bikes out for a long ride but about 3/4 of the way there the heavens opened and it poured. We decided to turn back as there was no sign of the rain easing. We were absolutely dripping when we got back. The clothed went in the wash, the haversack went in the drier and our shoes went in the oven!

Rotorua

We spent a day in Rotorua which is at the centre of the geothermal activity in this region. The whole town smells of sulphur and there are tall pipes venting hot steam. There is a small maori village and there were pits dug into the ground where they use the natural heat in the ground to cook. On the way back we walked through a redwood forest.

Taupo

We have had rain everyday this week so we are fortunate that the resort has table tennis, pool tables and a jacuzzi all of which we have used every afternoon when the rain sets in. I am rubbish at pool- if I pot a ball it's usually the white but I can hold my own on the table tennis. On a few occasions we have sat in the rain in the car outside the Burger King in town using their free wifi.

The NZ logo of a silver fern - as in pic below is actually the underside of the leaf of one of the fern species. The maori used them to show the path to take when it got dark.

Fast flowing Waikato river to Huka Falls

Anniversary

Loo roll provided too even out in the wilderness

Wild clematis grows on trees and bushes - very pretty but it's considered a pest

Monday to Friday

The weather theme this week has been dry in the mornings then rain in the afternoons. So we have managed to get out each morning then have spent the afternoons in the resort playing table tennis, pool etc.

On Monday we took the bikes out to do the river trail. I naively thought it would be a flat path meandering by the river but no, it was a full on 2 hour mountain bike ride - different aching muscles to soothe in the jacuzzi. The next day we went on a forest walk and hiked up a hill for ages to see the view...... only the trees had grown too tall and there was no view to be had. On Wednesday we drove south for about an hour to do a recommended walk aling an old coach road which included a viaduct built in 1907. We just got back to the car when the heavens opened and it hailed and rained for the rest of the day.

When we woke up the next morning the local hilltops had snow on them. We drove to Whakapapa which is very near the mountains we walked over on Sunday. It was like a winter wonderland as they had had 3 inches of snow overnight. The DOC were recommending people only tackle the crossing if they had crampons. By the way, they found the girl who had gone missing.  It seems she had gone ahead of her group and had taken an optional one way track but instead of coming back down the same way she carried on and got lost.  Luckily the overnight temp was 1º C so she wasn't too bad when the helicopter finally located her.

We walked to a waterfall and the strong sun was quickly melting the snow so it was very wet underfoot and overhead from the trees. However it was a very pretty walk and a lovely way to spend our anniversary of the day we met 35 years ago.

Yesterday we moved to another resort for our second week in the area - north of Lake Taupo. Another nice apartment and it's got a sofa! As it was a short drive we had time to visit Huka Falls - fast flowing and really clear water.

We are only able to access wifi in the local libraries and we are in an allocated wifi room with about 20 other people.  Just now 2 maori men greeted each other with the traditional nose rubbing - completely natural just like us shaking hands. I admit I just thought it was for ceremonies.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

The Tongariro crossing is a 19.4km hike up an active volcano and down the other side. We signed up to the shuttle service which meant we could park our car at the finish and get bussed to the start. As he dropped us off the driver told us a girl had gone missing the day before despite being part of a group. The search and rescue helicopter was up most of the day.

I think this hike must be the most challenging I've ever done. Besides the distance there were 2 major ascents (one part had chains in the rock to assist you climbung up), there were parts covered in icy snow and just over the summit there was such a loose surface that each step caused a slide of about 6" and most people fell over at least once. On the way down we saw the steam coming out of the volcano - I hope you can see from the picture. It was a magnificent walk and worth the effort.  The jacuzzi back at the resort certainly helped the aching muscles.

North Island

After being woken up at 5.40am in the youth hostel (by youngsters getting up to go to work and not worrying about banging doors) we arrived early at the airport and managed to get on an earlier flight to Auckland. We picked up our hire car and drove for about 4 hours to our home for 1 week south of Lake Taupo.

We have a studio apartment which is a luxurious space compared to the van. The resort is very small - only 13 units but it has a games room, bikes, a jacuzzi and a free laundry. So I put all our washing on and we played table tennis to get some exercise after sitting in the bus, plane and car.

Hanging by the front door of our apartment is a packed rucksack for use in a disaster.  We are again on a fault line which runs right through the lake. On Saturday we visited an area which has hot water springs and bubbling mud - weird to see.

It is noticeably different on the north island - much busier and there are notices in the car parks about theft.

Its a shame to leave

We have driven 3,629 km and seen everywhere we originally wanted and more even though our top speed was 60mph. The roads are excellent with hardly any traffic. I have only overtaken 2 vehicles (both tractors!). We have never been bored driving as there are always mountains or rolling hills, rivers, lakes, huge farms and, of course, lots of sheep to look at.

The best aspect was the freedom the van gave us and the worst was the biting sandflys. The one physical thing I missed was a sofa (!) - the van's bench seats were quite narrow. And I am definitely going to buy a 'Shewee' before our next trip. On this subject we have been impressed with the number and quality of public toilets.  Also with the abundance of free parking even in the most touristy of places. And the libraries even in tiny places all with free wifi and welcoming staff.

I think overall the beautiful scenery, the wildlife and the emptiness/lack of people will be our abiding memories of the south island.

The room full of Stock smelt wonderful

Thursday

Up early to pack up and return the van to the rental depot. We are both sad to leave the van. Tonight we are in the YHA in Christchurch and have an early flight tomorrow to Auckland for our 2 weeks on the north island. We have just managed to eat a packed lunch in the beautiful botanic gardens between showers. The ducks and birds flocked to us as we opened our bag and this time I fed a chaffinch by hand.

Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday

After our hike we had a super drive back to Christchurch through the mountains and the view was excellent - shows how much we had missed on the way in. In Christchurch we cruised around looking for a campsite which had hot showers as boy did we need one! We ended up in the New Brighton area which has a massive sandy beach. The campsite's shower and toilet block had been condemned following the earthquake but the portaloos and porta showers were miles better than many we have used on this trip.

In the morning the manager told us that the hills we could see were at the epicentre of the earthquake.  We went for a long walk along the beach towards the hills and saw quite a few damaged houses and loads of reconstruction going on. It was distressing to see houses which had fallen over the cliffs and to think of the horror as the earthquake happened.

In the afternoon we drove through Lyttleton to Governors Bay and had lunch by the sea. It had started hailing again so we drove back to New Brighton. We spotted a potential freedom camp spot for our last night which was by the beach. As freedom camping is usually banned within towns and cities I popped into the police station to get approval. At 9 pm Christchurch City Council put on their annual firework event from the pier so we were able to enjoy this amazing display from the beach near our overnight spot. A fitting end to celebrate our 3 weeks on the south island.

Tuesday

Martin woke up at 6.30 and checked the weather - blue skies! So we were up and out at 7.30 first to see a waterfall then up the side of a mountain for fab panoramic views of the mountain range and valleys. So lucky. We were nicely warmed up too by the uphill walk.

Monday

We drove to Arthurs Pass which is right in the Alps. We knew the weather today would be bad but thought we might get in a short walk in the afternoon and a good hike the next day. The views on the way were ok but clouds obscured the mountain tops.

The DOC officer on duty in the info office in Arthurs Pass village said that it would not rain on Tuesday but it was 50-50 whether there would be low cloud or blue skies. We parked on the DOC site at about 3pm and the rain was coming down. We treated ourselves to a hot chocolate in the village cafe but didn't spend long there as their internet was down. By now it was hailing and did so for the next few hours.  We went back to the van, got the duvet out and read our books. It was freezing and with no power we couldn't have the heater on. At about 5.30 I thought I would cook - it would give me something to do and it would heat  the van a bit. Ah - I had forgotten to take the mince out of the freezer section! Another night it wouldn't have been a problem we would have had salad etc but we really needed hot food and the cafe had shut. There was a YHA hostel nearby so I donned the waterproofs and walked up there. I showed the manager my membership card,  explained the problem and he allowed me to defrost the meat in their microwave.

The night was absolutely freezing and we put on our thermals, several layers and our woolly hats on to go to bed.

Sunday

We drove to see Akaroa town but found it very touristy (not helped by lots of buses, tour guides etc as a cruise ship was in). We then decided to take an afternoon off so drove a short way to  a freedom site on the peninsula on the sea edge. Whilst Martin took a nap I decided to walk to an alpaca farm which was signposted 2 km down the road. Trouble was it was 2 km UP the road- steep uphill too. When I got to the top there was another sign pointing up yet another hill so I stopped and chatted to a sheep farmer who was sorting his pregnant ewes from the rest of the herd.

In the morning a chap arrived in a security van and checked all those who had overnighted had a self contained van - a large fine if not. 

In the van

Hippie camp

Saturday

I'm writing this on Tuesday evening so I hope I've got my days right. We set off early from our beach camp to visit Kaikoura.  On the short drive there, there was a field full of stags, then a field of alpacas then in the next field there was a van parked in the middle with a mechanical arm coming out which had a cow carcass hanging - a mobile butcher at work!

We liked Kaikoura and walked from the town to the seal colony. The seals are within touching distance and 2 were sunning themselves in the car park.

We had lunch overlooking the sea then decided to drive to the Banks peninsula. Once on the peninsula we found a small basic campsite by a river, (run by a hippie) on the way to the main town Akaroa.

Picton

Overnight on the beach