The Last Dregs of Summer

Hi all,

It's getting pretty autumnal here now, so thought we should update you on what we've been doing to make the most of the last of the summer.

About a month ago, just after we last updated you, we went away with a couple of friends on a camping weekend. It turned out to be a more luxurious trip than most of our usual camping, Mike and Jody are fairly new to the idea, but their huge tent and lots of food and alcohol helped them settle in! We camped further round the south coast from Wellington, at the base of the Putangirua Pinnacles (we visited there last June, but the weather was much better this time, so photos included!). The weather was great for the trip and we had a beautiful sunset looking over the Cook Straits towards the South Island, followed by toasting marshmallows over an awesome campfire.



We finally got around to visiting Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, on the edge of Wellington, which we had been meaning to do for a while. It's a pest free, fenced nature reserve to encourage breeding of rare native species. Although most of the native species there are birds, the other highlight are the tuataras, ancient lizard-like reptiles that live til they are over 100 and do everything slowly...it helps with photographing them!

At Easter, we had a bit of an epic road trip to go and explore the Waikato and King Country (northwest of north island, south of Auckland) as we hadn't previously made it that far. On the way we took advantage of great weather to go and climb Mt Ruapehu (the one we ski on in the winter). We got the ski chair lift up part way, but it's still a good climb above that. Its the most active volcano in the country (erupted last in 1996) and has a beautiful crater lake at the summit. Yes, we do go up quite a few volcanoes, and yes being geology geeks we love it!

Easter Saturday was spent underground. We decided to do the touristy thing and go and explore the limestone cave systems around Waitomo. But rather than just walking through we went 'black water rafting' - sat on a tyre inner tube floating/paddling down the water ways. Got to see thousands of glow worms and amazing cave formations, as well as jumping off underground waterfalls! The afternoon was above ground, visiting the waterfalls in the area and a huge natural arch.


Sunday we explored the coastline around that area, including the little surfing town of Raglan, and then inland to another fenced nature reserve, with loads of native parrots and parakeets...and loud annoying Americans scaring them off!















On the drive home on Monday we went via a geothermal area just south of Rotorua - called Orakei Korako. Again being geology geeks, but the steaming pools, bubbling mud and colourful silica terraces are awesome.

Last weekend, we made the most of some free flights up to Auckland for Ben (it turns out training courses have some uses) and went to see the Coromandel Peninsula. It has really beautiful coastline and beaches, but the highlight for Kerry was that we finally saw some dolphins! A pod was swimming along the coast as we drove north, sticking just off shore for about 20km.
We were staying in hostels, which was pretty weird as we haven't done so since we werre travelling, but met some interesting travellers (some were nice, some just interesting!). In fact after that we have become hospitable Kiwi-like people and have Nicole, an American girl who is cycling round NZ staying this weekend (she was one of the nice ones!).



Think that's about it for now, this may well be the last blog from our current flat as we're planning to move out in about a month. No, we are not moving back to blighty, just across town to a more leafy inner suburb. We'll update you on any changes when they actually happen. Hope all's well back home / wherever you are stranded...damn Icelandic volcanoes!

More summer-time trips

Hello again all,

Hope this finds you all well. We've been enjoying the rest of the New Zealand summer and shall update you with news and photos!

At the end of January we had a long weekend away in the Hawkes Bay region on the East Coast. We had 3 days in and around the art-deco town of Napier - unusual that NZ cities have old buildings that you can link to a certain era, so quite nice to walk around. Visited the National Aquarium in Napier which was interesting, although quite a lot of the species don't actually live in NZ waters which seemed a bit strange. Terry the hawksbill turtle was cool though!

In the sunshine over the next couple of days we went up Te Mata peak (only a hill really
!) that overlooks most of the southern part of Hawkes Bay and to the mountains in the centre of the North Island and went cider-tasting (the region is actually famous for wine, but we didn't have time to do the touristy thing and hire bikes and cycle around all the vineyards, so opted for the cider instead) which was delicious on a hot day...and managed to bring back a couple of bottles for later consumption!

We also walked out to Cape Kidnappers, where there's a huge gannet breeding colony (about 4000 birds in total). We were amazed how close they nest to the path! The birds nest literally 1m from where the tourists gawp at them, feeding their chicks quite happily. They're both funny and very cute (even Ben thought so and he's always accusing Kerry of being a twitcher!); they crash-land every time (some got dangerously close to our hitting our heads!) and they're so pleased to see their mate come back that they spend the next minute ignoring their chick and tapping beaks/rubbing necks to say hello!



Then a couple of weeks later we went over to the Taranaki on the West Coast of the North Island, with the aim of climbing Mt Taranaki, another volcano. Started off in beautiful blue skies, above the clouds, perfect view of the summit, but the clouds chased us up and by the time we got to the top they had caught up with us and we couldn't anything below us! Shame! At least we were actually still in the sun on the summit. But had great fun scree-running on the way down....had struggled up about 400 vertical metres of loose scoria on the way up in about 1 1/2 hours.....then ran down it in about 10 minutes!



















A couple of weeks ago we went back up to the Central North Island with Will and Alex to do the Tongariro Crossing. We did it with Kerry's parents in November, but the weather was pretty rubbish, so was great to do it in perfect sunshine this time. We also did a side trip up Mt Ngauruhoe (which stars as Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings), a perfect cone volcano that has the same struggling-up-hundreds-of-metres-of-loose-scree as Mt Taranaki, but the views from the top were well worth it! There's also loads of really brightly coloured rocks, and a classic circular crater in the top.....just to keep the geologists happy!


















Then this weekend we went to stay with Jane and Matt (Jane is one of Ben's work-mates) at Jane's family beach house an hour and a half north of Wellington. Had a lovely afternoon on the beach, playing a bit of rugby, some BYC (back-yard cricket for the uninitiated) and a BBQ. Then had a morning's walk around the beach/estuary before heading back to Wellington to go to the Phoenix football semi-final. Fortunately the Phoenix won (after a nervous extra time!), so the sell-out crowd (amazing for a football game in NZ!) were justified in their abusive chants at the Aussies!



Think that rounds off our first year in NZ fairly well, we'll update you again soon!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone, hope you all had a good Xmas period.

We've had quite a busy time since out last update, with it being the middle of summer...not that you'd think it today in the pouring rain and cold winds!

At the end of November we did a three-day canoe trip down the Whanganui River (the longest river in NZ) with Heather and James and Will and Alex (Ben lived with Will in Canada a few years ago). Was good fun, if a little knackering on the arms! Plus it rained a lot and we got eaten alive by sandflies! But we managed to take lots of beer/wine/gin in the canoes (easier than the walking weekend a while before!), so that made it all the more fun. The last day had quite a few rapids, so we got drenched - but fortunately didn't fall in/capsize!

Then the last weekend of November Kerry's parents came out to visit. They were in NZ for a bit over 3 weeks, but we only saw them for 4 1/2 days. We met them in the central North Island to walk the Tongariro Crossing, over the volcanoes. Unfortunately the beautiful clear skies that we had first thing in the morning didn't last and we were covered in cloud most of the way over the tops, and clinging on to rocks so we didn't get blown into the crater! We even had to sit down and wriggle a bit of the way down on our bums cos it was so windy we thought we were going to get blown off the narrowest bit of ridge! How embarrassing! But we still got to see all the main volcanic features (craters, lakes e.t.c.) that it's famous for. Then they spent a weekend in Wellington with us...in the rain!



Ben's parents came out to visit just afterwards so we met them up in Auckland for a long weekend. Ben took Richard for a trip on an America's Cup yacht around Auckland Harbour...Kerry and Wendy found a cafe in the sunshine to pass the time more smoothly! Then we drove over to the Bay of Plenty, staying in a lovely B&B just outside Tauranga. On the Sunday we had a day at Te Puia geothermal area in Rotorua where we could be geology geeks! There's a couple of geysers, plus loads of bubbling mud pools and boiling springs. Very cool and not as smelly as we were expecting it to be!






























Finished work for Xmas on 23rd December after numerous BBQs (definitely seemed a bit odd having such summer Xmas celebrations!) and met Wendy and Richard off the ferry (they'd been in the South Island for a week or so)....and saw a little blue penguin swimming around in the harbour! Christmas Eve we went over to our local wine region over the hills, to taste plenty (and get a couple) of yummy wines for Christmas Day. Spent Christmas Day in Wellington...sadly it was a bit windy to go to the beach, so had to settle for a picnic in the botanical gardens. Seemed to be the place to go, there were lots of families doing the same thing...but walking back through the city centre in the afternoon felt like a ghost town! Just like London in "28 Days Later"!

When Wendy and Richard left on 27th, we went down to the South Island for a couple of weeks holiday. Had a great time travelling down the East Coast to Dunedin, across to Queenstown for New Year (staying with a friend's family in Arrowtown) and then back up the West Coast.

Sadly we had pretty crap weather so didn't see much of the mountains, but saw plenty of wildlife along the way like yellow-eyed and fiordland-crested penguins, fur seals, sealions, albatross, weka (a species of supposedly rare NZ bird that they thought was extinct a few decades ago - obviously they didn't go to South Island campsites!) and some huge (1.5m across) stingrays. But much to Kerry's annoyance - still no dolphins!

















When we say bad weather, we mean it! It might not be as cold as in the UK right now, but we had a metre of rain in a week on the West Coast! Nearly had to spend a night in the car as we got stuck on the one and only road up the coast between 2 floods (thankfully they cleared it about 6.30pm) and couldn't walk up to Fox Glacier because the path had been washed away. At least the clouds had cleared enough so we could actually see them! Funnily enough we gave up on the camping and retreated to cabins/hotels instead! One thing that was fine to do in the rain - gold panning! Not that we found very much! We decided it was a bad thing being geologists, cos we could identify all the shiny bits we found as other minerals and not gold!



After a week we decided we'd had enough of waiting for the weather to improve so escaped to Abel Tasman National Park in search of some sunshine! And sure enough, we found some! Thankfully! Walked the southern half of the Great Walk there, really pretty coastline and not as busy as we were led to believe it might be considering it's the middle of the school summer holidays here.

Just means we'll have to go back for some more holidays to see the South Island in all it's (occasionally) sunny glory!

Back at work now, though next weekend's a bank holiday for us so will hopefully get away somewhere.

Hope that 2010 has started well for you all, will be good to hear how your Christmas went.

Bye for now!

Springtime in Welly

Hi Everyone,

Long time no update, so here we go...

So it's obviously been winter since our last update, a few more skiing trips to the Central North Island so Kerry has honed her skills and become a real pro! She even managed a black run with no dramas - although somehow a black run here doesn't quite equate to the same standard as elsewhere! Still, not a bad effort, even Ben agrees! And it's pretty cool skiing down the flanks of a volcano, looking over the plains to another volcano in the distance.

Bought a car not long after our last update, so it's now much easier for us to get around, and so now it's starting to get a bit more springlike we've been out and about exploring again.

Have done some nice walks in the Wellington region, in the Rimutaka and Tararua ranges. The Rimutakas are just over the harbour from Wellington so you get really good views back to the city. And we discovered a very impressive swing bridge in the Waiohine Gorge area, about 100m long, suspended about 50 m above the river...and pretty wobbly!









More recently we've been on a walking weekend with 2 friends, Heather and James, over a bank holiday weekend....rented a Department of Conservation hut high up a river valley in the Rimutaka range for a couple of nights. Had a very heavy walk in up the river (literally.....glad we've got some sturdy river-walking shoes!) carrying some nice food and board games for the weekend....and plenty of wine of course! We were planning on dropping off our heavy bags at the hut and then going for a walk further up the valley in the afternoon, but by the time the boys had collected firewood and got the axe to it all, and the girls had cleaned the hut and got the dinner on (we know, how stereotypical!) it was definitely wine o'clock sat by the river in the sunshine - lovely!









Had a late night of wine and Cranium (board game) but managed to drag ourselves up the ridiculously steep track to the top of Mount Matthews, the highest mountain in the area, and one you can see from Wellington waterfront. Was pretty hard work, pulling up on tree roots and bushes, but was beautiful weather and we had amazing views from the top across other parts of the range, Wellington harbour and over to the Wairarapa to the east.
















NZ celebrates fireworks night (although think they're slightly unsure as to the link with Guy Fawkes and bonfires!), so we got a pretty impressive display over the Harbour last week.

Went camping for the first time since Easter this weekend, was still pretty chilly over night, but lovely warm and sunny weather during the day. Drove over to the near edge of the Wairarapa on Friday night after work and camped at a really remote site, no one else there, overlooking a river gorge. Was a really nice spot (apart from the mozzies!) and the starriest sky we've ever seen, could see a couple of galaxies and even a shooting star....shame we know nothing in the southern hemisphere night sky!

Went to Castlepoint on the East coast on Saturday, a really pretty stretch of coastline, with a towering 162m high "Castle Rock" rising pretty much vertically from the sea, and a lagoon protected by an uplifted reef.....so LOADS of fossils to keep us geology geeks entertained! Had quite a relaxed day pottering along the beaches, reefs and up to the top of the rock, and tried to visit some supposedly impressive sea caves, but it requires scrambling around the rocks at the base of some steep cliffs and a grumpy seal wouldn't let us past him....no alternative route and we were a bit wary of his growling and hissing - evidently they can get quite aggressive!

















On Sunday we visited the National Wildlife Centre where they have lots of breeding programmes for native NZ species - virtually all birds, we hadn't realised that the only native mammals to NZ are bats...strange when you see rabbits, hedgehogs, possums, deer e.t.c everywhere (well, mostly squashed by the side of the road, but it means there must be plenty of them!). Spotted a wild kaka (a large parrot) in the forest and also got to see the pair of kiwis they keep in a nocturnal house foraging for food, and a tuatara - a big lizard that looks like a dinosaur (was around at the time of the dinosaurs and is pretty much unchanged ever since)!

Have been getting into the rugby - both playing and watching! We both played in a touch rugby tournament for Ben's work in the annual Corporate Games....and were totally rubbish! We did win 2 of our 5 games...by default! Only cos the other teams didn't have the required number of girls so had to concede! Good fun, but a bit humiliating! Good job we weren't taking it too seriously! And we even managed 2 tries in our final game (we hadn't actually scored up until that point so it was an achievement!) We've been to support our local rugby team, the Wellington Lions, in their semi-finals of the cup, but suddenly the kiwis have become football obsessed about the "all whites" world cup qualifier against Bahrain this coming Saturday. It's being played in Wellington, all the tickets sold out within a day or two, and they're putting up a 40 ft screen on the waterfront to keep all the "fans" happy that haven't managed to get tickets....so should be a fun evening!

First visit to the South Island

Hi everyone,

Well we've finally made it across the straits, but first we'd better fill you in on a couple of things we've been up to in Wellington since our last update.

Now that it's winter, the town has quietened down a bit...less events taking place, but still finding more than enough to keep us entertained (and not just with more and more tasting of NZ wine, although that is a good past time!). Mid winter is a bit of a celebration here...seems they miss having christmas in the cold...Ben's office decided to celebrate it with a swim in the harbour! It may look sunny in the photo, but it was bloody cold, we only managed about 30 seconds in the water, but long enough for us to get proof of doing it! Meanwhile Kerry opted not to take part in a similar event at her work, settling for the free BBQ and ice cream instead!

We had our first taste of All Blacks rugby, went to watch the AB vs France game in Wellington. Terrible weather and handling conditions, so not a classic free flowing Southern Hemisphere experience, but fun none the less.

Our first guest came to stay in our little flat, Paul Stock (from Uni if you don't know him) was here for a couple of days. Sadly the weather was pretty atrocious so didn't get to see Welly in all its glory, but still good to see him.

Right on to the South Island...had a week's holiday as Rosie Jones (another friend from Uni if you don't know her) was out to stay. Played a blinder by getting stupidly drunk on the Saturday night before having to get the ferry early Sunday morning...oops, thought we would have learnt by now! Fortunately the crossing wasn't as rough as expected!

Picked up a hire car when we arrived and headed off (with a hitch hiker!) to Nelson Lakes National Park for some walking in the snow. Did a 2-day ridgeline walk, staying in a backcountry hut by a lake at the far end of the ridge. Apparently it was by a lake, but as it was frozen and covered by a few feet of snow we didn't really notice! The hut was fantastic if a bit cold. Thankfully there were some logs left for the fire, but felt sorry for the next people coming up as they'd be pretty chilly! We were the only people there, so had a fun night with the wine, baileys and whiskey that we'd carried up, curled up on matresses in front of the fire!

The second day we dropped down a steep, very snow filled valley, full of frozen waterfalls (it was called the Cascade Track) to the side of Lake Rotoiti (in the photo below). Amazing weather pretty much the whole time made it a pretty perfect walk.








Then it was time for Kerry and Rosie to learn to ski...finally...yey!

Went to Mt Lyford, a little ski field up a steep 13km single lane dirt track covered in snow...our little 2 wheel drive car did us proud amongst the big 4x4's (thank god for the snow chains!). It was a bit hairy in places, with plenty of understeering and shear drops off to the side (it got renamed by Rosie 'the road of death'!).

Anyway once we were there it was all good, with hardly anyone there, nearly 2 m of snow as a base, fresh powder and 2 days of sunshine what more can you ask for!?!

With only 2 hours of lessons over the 2days (and pointers from Ben here and there) the girls picked it up pretty quickly...once they'd mastered T-bar lifts! No injuries thankfully and loads of good fun made sure more skiing will be happening soon. Actually, we are booked to go next weekend and the one after with different friends, so soon Kerry will be a pro!

Headed back up along the Kaikoura Coast...lots of snowy mountains meeting the sea, hundreds of smelly fur seals but sadly no dolphins or whales (which the area is famous for, apparently 9 sperm whales live there) before stopping in on a few vineyards to sample the local produce of the Marlborough region....mmm! Kerry lost paper-scissors-stone so as the designated driver had to throw wine away for the first time in her life (there were nearly tears in her eyes!). Also managed to pick up a few souvenirs to enjoy at home.

Had a quick driving tour of the very picturesque Marlborough Sounds before heading back to the port, marking the end of the trip.

Rosie left us yesterday, so the house is a bit quieter now...need more visitors please, apparently the air bed is very comfy!