October 2014

October 31st-to kiakoura -
A small coastal town with no Internet cafe so you are going to have to wait a few days until I can tell you about my day:

walked along a trail beside a seal colony, swum briefly with a family dolphins and spent about 40 minutes in the company of a pod of Orca ... And I only planned to go for a walk today! Took a spur of the moment decision to go for a dolphin swim (I walked into a cafe and the tour was about to leave so I tagged along!) and because the dolphins were not very sociable the skipper headed out to deeper sea to find Orca ... And we did!!! I was blown away:

 

Yes this is a real bird!

First sighting of Orca

... and dolphins too!

This is Kaikoura ... feels like a little bit of Heaven

My hostel bedroom ... somehow I'm not in a dormitory!!

My dinner - before the seagulls appeared and I hurried inside!

October 30th - ferry from Wellington to Picton on the South Island

October 29th - wet and windy Wellington
As the weather was pretty dire, I decided to do some more research ... sorry ... last bit though! I went to the archives and they found her employment records as the Trans Pacific Passenger Agency had their head office in Wellington, but Mum worked in the London, Haymarket office before emigrating. The lady there got so excited about my project that she went off and found he plans for the house where Mum lived - the original builders plans - and she gave me a copy! Then I took the bus to Wellington Hospital and they offered to try to find her medical records and release them to me: so I filled in a form and set that process in motion. In the hospital there is a time line of photographs showing the history of the hospital since the mid 1800s ... very interesting. From there I took 2 buses and found the property when Mum stayed with lovely Mrs Rant to recover fully before making the 3 week trip back to the UK. Oh yes, and the librarian from yesterday e-mailed me with the phone number of the Nurse ... no answer this morning though! Talk about kind people here!

This shows P V Pike aged 20 having worked for the company
for 3 years, since 1947, being given a 15/- a week increase (about 75p)
to a weekly salary of the equivalent of about five pounds fifty pence (sorry, but there is no pound sign on this keyboard - they use New Zealand dollars here of course!)

Aerial photograph of the hospital in 1950s - wards clearly noted.

original entrance

Stone St in Mirimar, Wellingotn

Mu,ner 24 where Mum lodged with Mrs Rant.

October 28th - Looking back
Yesterday was wet and windy - not unusual for here I gather, so I took the very short walk to the Museum and spent a couple of hours enthralled by detailed explanations of tectonic plates amongst other things: I thought that A' level Geography had taught me all there was to know - it hadn't!

Please feel free to skip the next bit - family nostalgia I'm afraid!
Today was much brighter and warmer too, so it was time to try to fit another piece into my Mother's history. As some of you know my Mum died when I was expecting my first daughter, so that is nearly 26 years ago - seems hard to imagine now. Anyway she was simply the most wonderful woman I have ever known and years before I was even a cosmic speck, she travelled by ship through the Suez Canal, to New Zealand to marry: 11,600 miles from everyone she knew and loved, at a time when a letter took 3 weeks to reach the UK. Anyway long story, but she didn't marry him,she got a job to fund her return trip and a medical discovered that she had TB. The next 2 years or so were spent having major surgery, convalescing in a Sanatorium and living with a wonderful woman who later became my sister's Godmother. I have letters from the period which show clearly how fond she was of the Kiwis she met here, so today I went off by bus and train to find the Sanatorium: it was demolished in 1997, but as I stood knee-deep in 'jungle' a huge bird circled overhead and I yet again felt in awe of that wonderful woman - my Mum. I left the place smiling broadly. I visited the local library and was given a great deal of help by the staff: found me all sorts of information and photocopied it for me too. Part of this was the name of the Sister in charge of the San between 1951 and 1954 - she is still alive and lived just around the corner from the library until a few months ago. The current residents in the house do not know her current whereabouts, but told me that the neighbour would still be in touch with her! Unfortunately the house next door was empty and I did not dare open the gate to put a note through the door, as the garden was home to 2 very large, very noisy dogs! No worries - I have decided to write letters instead and ask her to pass on my thanks to Ms Enda Sams for nursing my Mum so well 60+ years ago!
So my apologies for sharing this 'family' stuff with you all - but that was my day and here are the photographs of the Site where the San used to be ... probably not very interesting to anyone else - sorry!

October 26th - Wellington and Zealandia

Pest proof fence at Zealandia!

A sunny, if windy, day, but the sky was blue so I headed off through the city to find the 'cable-car'. I was surprised to find that this is actually more like a tram which goes up a very steep hill, through several tunnels to arrive close to the botanical gardens. After having a good look at the view over the city I decided to take the free shuttle bus to Zealandia - described as New Zealand's ultimate eco-sanctuary. A guided walk took me through the valley which has been fenced off so that no climbing, jumping or digging predators can get in. The idea is to return this small area to the way it was before Man arrived in New Zealand - there were no mammals at all back then, so plant and bird species flourished. There are several species here which are endangered and one reptile which was extinct on mainland New Zealand at one point! Imagine the thrill I had when I saw one of only 250 flightless Takahe in the world - up close too! However, it was the sounds of this broad-leaf forest which I hope never to forget ... the bird song was exceptional: apparently when the original settlers came, they would return to their ships to sleep because the noise on the island was simply too loud - children could not hear teachers easily because of the birdsong! I think you can tell that I have had a Good Day - my first in Wellington.

Sundial - works only when some one stands on the plate at the front!

Wellington

When I stood on October, my shadow hand showed
the correct time on the sundial!

Zealandia

Tuatara - I love my camera!

Wellington from the cable car.

Large native pigeon - Kereru

Young pied shags on the nest - looking indignant if you ask me!

One of only 250 flightless Takahe left in the world - pottering around in the wild!

This tree is sometimes called Bushman's Toilet paper
because the leaves are so soft - as light as cork too!

Takahe - just appeared from under a bench! Don't you know
how rare you are?

Kaka - nationally vulnerable but thriving at Zealandia

Tui - the one with the 9 pairs of muscles
controlling its amazing voice box!

Kaka

Bellbird - locally rare - melodious song.

North Island Robin - as inquisitive as they are at home, just no red breast.

Kakariki at a feeding station - locally rare.

October 24th - Napier and the gannets
The weather was glorious when I arrived yesterday, but deteriorated somewhat today: grey and wet for a great deal of the day and the temperature has dropped too! Anyway I had promised myself that I would go to see the gannet colonies on Cape Kidnappers and so I did. My chosen mode of transport was a tractor and trailer which bumped precariously along the rock strewn beach for about 6 miles, the driver having judged that the tide was 'just right'.


However, that judgement did not stop us getting out feet wet at times as the tractor had to go into the sea at various points of the journey! On arrival at our destination, we then clambered up the cliffs and walked to the very end of the peninsular to where the largest colony of gannets were starting to nest. There were thousands of them it seemed - most of them huddling down on their nests, trying to keep their balance as the wind was the strongest I have ever experienced: at one point, whilst trying to take a step forward, I found myself being pushed 3 steps backwards, so I quickly sat down on the ground, fearing I would blown over the edge! But it was worth it - quick facts: they mate for life, they perform a 'greeting dance' when one returns to the nest, the young are left and have to take their first flight alone (straight off the cliffs!) to Australia, where they stay for a couple of years before returning to the same place to breed, they live 25-30 years usually, they have no predators on Cape Kidnappers although only 30% survive the first flight and this colony is not frightened of people at all. Point of interest - Cape Kidnappers got its name from Captain Cook when his Tahitian cabin boy was the subject of an attempted Maori kidnapping.

It was quite a climb to the top!

Flying hard to stay still - so windy! They all face the wind too.

Eyes shut - typical!

The other amazing feature of this beach safari, was the geology! The cliffs showed clearly how layers of rock have been deposited by fast and slow flowing rivers over the last hundreds of thousands of years. Volcanic ash makes an appearance too and there are several fault lines which demonstrate how one tectonic plate is sliding under another in this region and how one end of this peninsula is rising slowly but surely out of the sea.

Diagonal fault line shows left side is 6m lower than right - it doesn't match!

Layers with larger stones were deposited by slower flowing rivers thousands of years ago.

October 22nd - around Taupo
I moved on yesterday, by bus once again, to Taupo, a lake side town in the centre of New Zealand's north island. The lake is actually made form the crater of the 5th largest super-volcano in the world! It is bigger than Singapore and is the largest volcanic crater in hte world: when this volcano blew it threw a 10 tonne rock, over 160 miles and was several times more powerful than the legendary Krakatoa in Indonesia. What is more, this volcano is still active and hot water bubbles into the lake from deep underground. Geography lesson over for now!
This morning started with some troublesome communications from home, so I decided to slow my pace and spend some time on the water. By the time I came back, my wonderful support team at home had sorted out the trouble ... so it was worth spending 4 hours off shore! First of all gliding up to the Huka falls (New Zealand's most visited nature wonder) and then chopping over the waves on the lake to see some Maori rock paintings.

Lake Taupo

Pumice cliffs ... the only rock that floats!

Steam from underground, under natural pressure, speeds along pipes
 at 200kmph to drive turbines to generate electricity -
 this one station provides about 2% of national needs!

Spent my time on the prow of the boat ... felt a bit like being in the film Titanic ... only a lot smaller!

Haku Falls ... very noisy!

turqouise water

They release the water from hte river twice a day to show tourists the
 white water rapids which this mass of water creates down stream -
enough to fill an olympic sized swimming pool every 3 seconds!

The rapids created have been used in various films including the Hobbit

Huge snow capped mountains dominate the southern view over lake Taupo
 ... and the lake is not really sloping - sorry!

Like something from an Indiana Jones film ... Maori paintings
 ... not very old, but impressive.

October 20th - a second day with Li
I was extremely pleased to be invited out again with my new friend and this morning we drove to see the giant redwoods: the forest was so still and the bird song seems such a long way off (clearly because the birds were up in the huge trees!) The trees are only about 100 years old, so it is hard to imagine how huge they will be in another 100 years!
After this we visited an open Maori village and spent some time in the beautiful church before touring the local area. The carvings and weaving in the church was stunning and there was a window with an etching of Jesus on it - when you knelt at the altar it appeared that He was walking on the water of the lake behind the window ... amazing!
The village has its fair share of geo-thermal activity and steam rose from pools between the houses and even from between some of the paving stones.
Photos to follow - I have a bus to catch!
Now in Taupo so here are the pictures:

I'm only there to show you the size!!

A glass clear pool in the middle of the redwoods.

patterns of the leaves against the sky - well I am trying to be creative!

Walking in the rainforest

Black swans are quite common here.

note the hot spring in the fore-ground - right on the shore of the lake

Beautiful Maori church

A geo-thermal pond being filled by a hot spring, in a front garden in the Maori village

Rotorua Museum

Eat Streat ... yes I have got the spelling correct!

October 19th - exploring the area with Li
A chance meeting in the lobby of the Youth hostel (well they don't have one called the Middle-aged Hostel!) led to spending a delightful day with a Malaysian/Australian lady called Li. She has a car and so we were able to explore further afield. We went to several geo-thermal parks, but to be honest there is steam rising everywhere you look and so finding geysers, mud pools and hot springs is not difficult. I had been warned about the smell but hardly noticed it, apart form when standing directly in a cloud of sulphor laiden steam! I have included here some pictures which tell the geography lesson far better than I could .... I hope you enjoy them ....

The water was literally fizzing / boiling up from beneath this pool ... the noise was surreal!

October 18th - arrived in Rotorua
The weather continues to be changeable, but not cold thank goodness .. apparently February is the best time here. Anyway I have checked in to the YHA which is bigger than the others I have stayed in, however the people are as friendly as ever. I'm sharing the room with a young French girl who has invited me to watch the rugby with her tonight and in the reception I met a Chinese lady who has invited me to join her in her car tomorrow and explore a couple of places together - very kind and an offer I will certainly accept - she is planning to go to the caves to see the glow-worms as I am.
Anyway I decided to take a walk through the town park before searching for an Internet cafe and was amazed to see my first hot-mud pools ... just bubbling away in the public park .. clouds of steam rising and a gentle popping sound the only give-away as to what was happening ... oh yes and the faint odour of sulpher too!

There are a few of these hot-foot-baths dotted around the park - very thoughtful for the weary traveller's feet!

Not sure what happens to the ducks' eggs - I am thinking they will end up gently poached!

October 15th
Feeling a bit anxious as I have booked to spend the night on a YHA boat - kayaking, snorkelling, hiking and eating whatever I catch! Help!Could be very hungry by tomorrow!
It was brilliant ... just such a shame that I could not take pictures of swimming under a sky full of stars, in phosphorescent waters!

A hearty breakfast before my adventure - granola and fruit!

My cabin!

A room with a view!

First activity? paint-balling this plastic duck which bobbed along behind the boat

The main room on The Rock - bar, kitchen, piano, guitars, ukelele, Captain's 'stuff' and great views!

We took a smaller vessel with us to access the beaches

Mark taught us to fish for our supper! 

Dawn - Rowan the skipper woke me up so that I wouldn't miss it - the sounds were amazing!

Our snorkel venue

James and Rowan -  crew and Skipper

Exploring one of the 144 islands in the Bay of Islands

Getting creative with my photography!

Great camouflage!

We collected sea urchins whilst snorkelling - and then prepared them for lunch!

Some people eat the lot - we just tried the yellow roe - creamy and salty - the fact that the spines were still moving was a bit off putting!

Sea urchins are descended form star fish - you can see the way the 5 legs have curled round to make a ball when you look closely at a dead urchin (below)

This urchin dies a while ago - spines have fallen off and the inside has been eaten by a predator

October 14th - around Paihia and Russell
This area is extremely important in New Zealand's history: the original settlers set up their capital here at Whaitangi and eventually the Treaty of New Zealand was signed here. However, the Maori language version did not state the exact same conditions as the English signed version and so there were years of wars following the signing. The site was not adopted as a site of historic interest until one particular British Governor decided to buy it and gift it to the nation: it has been managed by the National Trust ever since. My walk to the Treaty Grounds gave me a good opportunity to photograph more birds and then a short ferry ride to Russell helped me to understand why this are is called the Bay of Islands ... apparently Captain Cook noted 144 of them!

This flagstaff marks the spot where the Treaty was signed in 1940

The British Residence of the 1800's

This is the name of the red wooden meeting house pictured above.

THe word in italics is actually the name of this Maori waka (canoe). It is over 35m long and was made from the trunks of 3 Kauri trees.

The whole structure is secured together by knots .. no pegs, joints, nails, screws nor glue!

These hoops are situated at the front of the canoe .. like dream catchers they channel evil spirits down the sides of the vessel where they will pass the carvings of ancestors before weakening and being left in the water behind the waka.

You ahve not properly visited New Zealand until the sand from Hobson Beach has trickled through your fingers: the beach where the Pakaha (British) landed to make the Treaty.

Hobson Beach

The bay at Russell ... a delightful spot for lunch!

October 12th - Kiwi Reserve
This elusive and threatened national symbol of New Zealand, provided some real challenges for my amateur photography skills! My wonderful Sony could not cope at all with a dark scene and a moving object behind glass, however, I was thrilled to see this bird close up and to watch as it called to its mate: a real privilege.

It is there somewhere .. honestly it is! It came right up to the glass but the camera could not handle it!

Sadly these two are stuffed!

Dave's home and my lodgings for the weekend!

October 11th - Around Whangarei
Dave has been so kind in taking me around and making me feel at home. Today we went for a walk around the harbour, then to the clock factory where they use Kauri tree roots (up to 40,000 years old and dug up long after the tree itself has been felled). In the bright and sunny afternoon we ventured to  Quarry gardens which were stunning. Dave is a professional photographer and is the often used as the official photographer for Rotary here), so he was able to give me lots of tips and help in making the most of my little Sony.

Clock factory - although they do make other things form the tree roots.

This just asked to be stroked - the natural grains were stunning.

Layer after layer of clear resin is applied to give a high gloss finish.

An original root - huge.

 The Fish Hook bridge - lifts up by levering the top part down to the right ... sort of!

Rotary meeting place.

Dave sitting on one of the Contemplation benches Rotary have places in the harbour area.

A Waka race ... canoes with one outrigger for balance.

Under the bridge!

The local Rotary club erected this bridge and planted 100 Kauri trees to mark its centenary

d

 

Dave the avid photographer

October 10th - Whangarei Falls

After staying for 2 nights in the Youth Hostel here, I am now moving in to the spare room at a fellow Rotarian's home for the next two nights.

Artistic enough girls?

October 8th - The Kelly Tarlton Centre
Yes I did travel in this bus and spent an hour or so at New Zealand's huge aquarium walking under sharks and holding crabs! Then on to the Wintergardens where I did my best to photograph some of the amazing free exhibits! If you don't like flowers, I suggest you skip those pictures!

 

Bark!

The Travellers' Tree

October 7th - day out with Anita and Loui
The sun shone today and made it the warmest day so far for me in New Zealand: and it was a very special day in many other ways too! Thanks to the networking of my amazing sort-of-ex-sister-and-brother-in-law, I met up with their Kiwi friends this morning. They are a lovely couple who took me all over the place and fed me extremely well too! As the pictures show we walked on a black, sandy and almost deserted beach, waded through a clear river, ate seasonal, local oranges, saw Auckland from a variety of heights and vantage points and gazed at beautiful waterfalls. My sincerest thanks to these wonderful people for giving me such a great day!

Sheep grazing happily in the crater of a volcano.

Auckland from the same volcano.

My generous Tour Guides for the day!

Part of a series of reservoirs which provide drinking water to the city.

Lush deciduous forests everywhere!

Visitor's Center.

 

Naturally black sand.

Jeans off (too deep to just roll them up!) and across the river we went!

I love this camera! Have I said that before?

October 6th
A full day of sightseeing: up the Sky Tower for brunch and then a bus ride to the Auckland Museum where I watched a Maori cultural show. Decided to walk back to the hostel having not noticed quite how many hills there are in Auckland. Weather cloudy and chilly to start with, but brighter later in the day ... a bit British really!

Taken after just seeing a body flying past the window
- bungee jumping thank goodness!

Rainy view of the volcano I climbed yesterday -
Have ot admit it was the smaller one!

Maori storage house ... makes my old garden shed look very inferior!

Interesting display of singing and dancing ended with the Haka ... of course!

An obliging Maori warrior!

Apparently he likes me!!!

Inside a meeting house ... shoes taken off before entering as a sign of respect.

Maori canoe

Canoe fastened together by knots and rope only ... no pegs or dovetail joint to be seen.

Auckland Museum

Spotted in the park on my way back to the hostel.

October 5th ... I think! 
A few steps on the Learning Curve taken in the last 24 hours, but hopefully I have indeed learnt from them!! First at Vancouver check-in ... I had not appreciated that an exit ticket is essential before entering New Zealand ... So far neither Canada nor NZ seems to appreciate the idea of 'staying as long as I feel like'! So much for the spontaneity of travelling alone. So a hasty decision had to be made,followed  by a hasty phone call and with exit flight booked for 3rd Dec I was allowed to check in! This was followed by a request to volunteer to delay my departure for 48 hours as the flight   would be over subscribed if everyone showed up! With an offer of 2 nights in the Fairmont  AND $400 I duly volunteered! However, not needed in the end, so I was on the flight! Second learning curve:clean your boots before travelling as they will be inspected ... even the ones they spot with the x-ray machine at baggage claim! Mine passed thankfully! Third lesson of the day: double check dates to avoid booking an unnecessary night's accommodation due to crossing the date line! So there we are: safely arrived in Auckland ... And so much wiser!!

The city as seen after a ferry ride to Devonport.

Spring is on it's way!

Ditto!

Devonport - the sun shone for a while too!

Sailing is very popular by the look of it!

I love the 30x zoom on this camera!

October 2nd
A lazy day today after a 13 hour bus trip to get back to Vancouver yesterday ... that's a long way on a Greyhound ... over 860km! So no pictures today as I have spent the day catching up on laundry and packaging up some items to send home ... I am not going to need so many warm clothes for New Zealand and so have sent over 6lbs of 'stuff' off today ... should take about a month they reckon, but at least my pack will be a whole lot lighter!
So the next time I will get a chance to Blog will be on Sunday I think ... I will not get to see Saturday as I will be crossing the Date Line ... weird .. am I older? younger? probably just the same! Wishing everyone a good weekend!