Bay of Islands, New Zealand

17th Feb - 19th Feb

Before I headed from Whangarai I made sure that I booked a place ahead for the bay of islands. The place to go appeared to be Paihai (I wrongly pronounced it as pee-high) which seemed to have the most accommodation available. I booked myself into the Saltwater lodge for 2 days before heading off.

At around 3pm I arrived and signed myself into the hostel. The hostel looked like a good enough place to hang out and it had the bonus of free parking underneath it so I extended my stay to 3 nights. Once I settled in I checked out the excursions on offer and after consulting with the receptionist in the hostel decided on a combination dolphin watch / yachting trip with a company called explore NZ. The trip would be leaving pretty early the next morning - that left me the rest of the day to look around the town and get my bearings so I went for a walk along the water front.

The place had a really good vibe to it (it helped that it wasn't raining!) with a good combination of touristy shops and restaurants. What it seemed to lack was a good bar!


Boats and islands


Parasailing

After searching in vain for a good place to have a pint I settled for the bar attached to the saltwater lodge itself. The reason was quite simply - HAPPY HOUR 5-7pm and they had a cheap pizza and pint deal. The pizza was rather small but did the job for the moment. I then had another happy hour pint. I was given a raffle ticket with my pint and in the middle of enjoying it the quiet barman that had been serving me came from behind the bar and went to the DJ's area. He then proceeded to transform himself from mild manned barman to super loud bingo host as he started to call out raffle numbers for the people in the bar - which consisted of me, several (other?) lushes and a large crowd of 19-20 somethings who were sitting in the far corner and lapping it all up.

As each number was called the lucky winner had to go up and do a 'take your pick' from a list of boxes. These gave them chances of proper prizes, booby prizes and karaoke! The major prize was a free skydive but I decided to sneak off before my number came up and I would be forced up to do a rendition of 'baby, one more time' or some other song.

I did another walk around the town looking to get some more food to supplement my meager pizza. Eventually I settled on a large bag of chips (more healthy food!). Afterwards I went back to the hostel - past the raffle bar which had managed to entice more punters inside and was now a 'take your pick'/Karaoke frenzy. It was still early so I went to the bar in the base hostel near my own hostel. At least in the base bars you were guaranteed to have a decent crowd - especially as their own happy hour had only just kicked off :)

While there I got chatting to a Scottish girl Mhairi, her English friend Sarah and Donald, another friend of Mhairi's. Donald was a character to say the least - a middle aged guy in his late 50's (or is that 60's?) from Mhairi's village on the isle of Skye who was travelling around New Zealand by himself. Before I could say "Three, Tui, One" I was in a round with them and was also ordering shots - a great way to prepare for the sailing trip the next day! I eventually managed to force myself to go back to hostel for some much needed shut-eye.

My days on the shark dive boat prepared me well for being able to get up with a hangover and still manage to go on a boat. As I said the trip I booked onto was a combination trip of a dolphin watch followed by a sailing trip on a very large 'America cup' type catamaran.

First the boat headed across the bay to pick up more passengers from Russell then we made our way past lots of small picturesque islands searching for dolphins. It wasn't too long until we found them - a large pod of bottlenose dolphins merrily swimming round our boat and another smaller boat owned by the same company. The smaller boat seemed to be getting all the best views - including having some of the dolphins ride the bow wave of their boat.

I did get to see some great sights including several with babies:



Dolphin riding bow wave of nearby boat


Mother and calf

Dolphin right beside our boat


Mother and calf


We stayed around the dolphins for a good while watching them jump out of the water in the distance (never did get a good shot of that!).

My best attempt of a photo of jumping dolphin

It was soon time to go and rendezvous with the yacht for the second part of the trip. Myself and about 20 other passengers were taken across from one boat to the other on small inflatables. Once on board the catamaran I found myself a nice sunny perch on one side of the yacht as it started its journey.


Our yacht


The sail.

It was an almost mesmerising experience. We were gently sailing along (slightly too slow for my liking) on a calm blue sea past beautiful islands. There were scantly clad women sunbathing at the front of the boat and best of all you could get nice cool beers. Each person could get a drink from cooler boxes and put a mark on a tally sheet so they could pay up at the end of the trip.


Sea and islands

At lunchtime we anchored beside one of the islands and had a hot buffet of beef, chicken and various salads - at last proper food! The drink tally sheet was looking interesting at this point with myself and some other guy neck and neck in the lead - a challenge if ever i saw one!

After lunch we were allowed to go to the island for walking, swimming, sunbathing and even kayaking. I am sorry to say all I did was sit and try to rid myself of the beer buzz that was filling my head. After we got back on board I decided not to indulge in any more alcohol and just sat wishing I had stuck to cokes.



Kayaking at island


View from island beach

On the way back they were able to put up the spinnaker (that's the big sail they put at the front of yachts when they are going downwind) so we were able to go a lot faster on the return journey. At around 4pm after dropping passengers back off at Russell we arrived back at Paihai. Once I settled my drinks bill (which thankfully was not as bad as it could have been) I returned to the hostel for a kip before going out for the night.

The night was basically a rerun of the previous night as I met up Donald, Mhairi and Sarah plus some other people which included Annette - one of the Kiwi experience people I had met on the south island and who I had already bumped into in Taupo. Not only did she know Mhairi and Donald but she was in fact from their same village! It's a small world - but I don't think you could cover it in a kilt!

As I got more and more drunk the conversation turned to scuba diving and before I knew it I was booked onto a diving trip the following day. Unfortunately (see glossary update) I awoke the next morning to find the sky was overcast and any chance of going diving would be a out of the question. The heavens soon opened up and for most of the rest of the day it poured down. I knew the bad weather would catch up with me eventually - all I could do was sit around the hostel and hope the rain would subside.

I tried to extend my stay in my hostel to the Friday night but it was booked up. The people at the hostel did try to get me booked into other places but they too were fully booked. It was a real pity - even with the rainy weather Paihai was a great place to stay.

I had one last night's boozing with Donald and co (vowing to make sure I go to Skye over the summer) then the next morning I checked out ready to head back down towards Auckland.

BEERS I HAVE DRUNK
Lions red Beer: The happy hour beer I had in the raffle bar. Nice enough for the price!

ANIMALS I HAVE SEEN
Bottlenose dolphin - obviously
Black Petrel - while watching the dolphins

GLOSSARY UPDATE
U:
Unfortunate Adjective
According to online dictionary its meanings are:
1. suffering from bad luck: an unfortunate person. (see www.rays-conservation-travels.blogspot.com for examples)
2. unfavorable or inauspicious: an unfortunate beginning.
3. regrettable or deplorable: an unfortunate remark.
4. marked by or inviting misfortune: an unfortunate development.
5. lamentable; sad: the unfortunate death of her parents.

Rotorua to Whangarai, New Zealand

Firstly - sorry for the delay - been busy doing nothing which can become very time consuming!

Right where was I...

16th Feb

I had to make a major decision as to where I wanted to go to after Rotorua as my time in New Zealand was dwindling - I had just over a week remaining to do the rest of the North Island - including Auckland. I had heard a lot of good things about Coromandel Peninsula but in the end I decided that I would try to get to the Bay of Islands.

One problem with that - it was about 400km away and it was already past lunchtime. Also in order to get there I had to travel through Auckland itself. After about 3 hour of driving (including a greasy lunch break of burger and chips) I came to the outskirts of the city.

Things I have NOT learnt: DON'T READ A MAP WHILE DRIVING!
At the very start of this trip I nearly wrote off a hire car (and myself) by trying to read a map while driving. I swore never to do something as stupid again - yet here I was reading a map while driving through Auckland. To be fair there wasn't much else I could do. I was travelling on a multi lane motorway trying to get from one side of the city to the other. I couldn't really pull over to the side of the road and ask for directions as there was no side of the road - just endless slip roads off to various parts of the city. After a couple of near misses and one or two hasty changes of lane ('Same to you mate' was shouted a couple of times) I finally made it across the harbour bridge to the other side of the city.

Now came my next task - the toll road. While I was driving round the south island a new section of motorway called the 'Northern Gateway Toll Road' was opened up to the North of Auckland. On the first day it was opened there were so many cars wanting to use it that it caused tailbacks for miles. It was now my turn to use it.

I had to pay the toll first. Because it's one of these new 'state of the art' electronic tolls there is no actual toll booth on the road. Instead each cars number plate is photographed while you are driving along it and unless you have preregistered online you have 2 days to pay or face a fine. I choose to use the prepay option which meant that I had to drive into the service area just before the road started, queue at a payment machine alongside other drivers and enter my cars registration and payment. For a state of the art toll road it was a bloody long winded way to use it!

Finally I got on the road. What I saw I just could not believe. There must have been about 10 other cars on the road with me and this was still in what should have been rush hour. It was a spectacular piece of road which included a tunnel and several bridges but at a cost to build of over $365million (that's $49m per kilometre) it seemed to me to be an incredible waste of money!

Here is a link to a youtube video of some idiot kiwi who seems to be using a camcorder and commentating while he is driving on the new road - that's almost as bad as trying to read a map while driving! I like the way he nearly veers off the road while trying to turn the camera to a sideways view.

Northern Gateway Toll Road

Apparently the road does now get a lot of traffic on it, especially at weekends when bottlenecks build up as the two lanes of traffic try to merge into one lane to go through the tunnel (who the hell designs these things!)

Things I have NOT learnt:WHEN TO DO A U-TURN (part 1)
After the motorway finished I decided that I needed a spot of food to keep me going so I turned off the main road at the next town which happened to be Puhoi (don't ask me to pronounce it). Unfortunately Puhoi was just a village so had nothing in the way of eateries except for a tea room which was closed.

At this point a person with common sense would have done a U turn and headed back to the main road - but not yours truly! No, I stupidly thought that there was BOUND to be a route back onto the main road once I was through the other side of the village. Even when the road turned into a gravel track I doggedly stuck to my assumption. 4 MILES later when the gravel track turned into a dirt track I finally stopped the car and looked at my map. The map just about showed the road I was on and indicated that in another couple of miles there was indeed a way back to the main road.

I thought 'in for a penny...' so continued on my way up forest tracks, behind logging trucks and over humpback bridges until I finally came to a sealed road that headed back to the main road. One hour later I was back on my way to the North vowing never to do that again (at least until the next time).

My route


Things I have NOT learnt:WHEN TO DO A U-TURN (part 2)
On on on I drove - I was determined to at least get to Whangarai before I stopped and at about half 8 at night just as it was getting dark I arrived - hungry and exhausted. I stopped at the first motel I could find and went to reception to book in. I nearly collapsed when I heard what the price was - $110! A SENSIBLE person would have done a U TURN right back out of there. I just handed over my credit card and wearily took my stuff to the room.

It was really a family room I had booked - as they supposedly had no other rooms available. I mentally added the motel to my 'Places I am going to firebomb' list then drove into town to find something to eat. On the way I passed loads of other hotels and motels with vacancy signs up and a YHA hostel. I got a Thai Curry take away and brought it back to my room so I could gorge myself while watching idiotic American crap on the TV.

The next morning I continued on my way to the Bay of Islands vowing never to waste good money on a hotel room again on this trip.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNT:
One thing I did learn after leaving Whangarai was that any place name starting with WH in New Zealand is actually pronounced as if it started with an F. This probably explains with I didn't have a clue where people were talking about when they said 'Stay away from Fangarai - its a dump!'

Kiwis - Rotorua, New Zealand

16th Feb

The one bird I had failed to see on my travels in New Zealand was of course the Kiwi.

Just outside of Rotorua is the Rainbow Springs Nature Park (right beside the Mitai Maori centre infact) where you can book onto their Kiwi Encounter. Admittedly it meant seeing the birds in captivity but it was the best chance I would get of seeing these nocturnal birds.

So on the morning of the 17th as I was leaving Rotorua I called into the park and did the tour. No photography is allowed so I can't show you any photos.

Myself and about 12 other people were given a guided tour through the facility. Eggs taken from kiwis in nature reserves across the north island are hatched in a special incubation room. The chicks are then moved a special brooder room where they are cared for before being placed in a special nocturnal enclosure. Finally the adult birds are released back into the wild. The place has managed to release over 1000 birds into the wild since it started.

It was a very informative and interesting tour, however, I found myself questioning the whole set up. The amount of money required to process each chick was quoted as several thousands of dollars. The eggs have to be flown by helicopter from the wild and the chicks flown back again using the same method. If all the money required for the process comes directly from the tours and nature park then I have no problem with it. But if other money is required (eg government grants) then I think that money could be better spent on saving the birds in the field by controlling predators and saving habitat.

After the Kiwi tour I went round the rest of the park which had other cages and enclosures with other New Zealand species including another tutuara. It also had several large pools full of fish. Unfortunately they were mostly non native rainbow trout but they did have other native species as well. They was also a farm section with sheep, chickens, pigs and goats - not really sure what that has to do with New Zealand nature!


Rainbow Trout pool

Heres the link to the website which has more info on the Kiwi and other animals.

Rainbow Springs Nature Park

Rotorua, New Zealand

15th Feb

The day after my skydive, which seems like a lifetime ago now, I headed to Rotorua which is where they have all the hot springs and geysers. Its also one of the top places for Maori culture.

On my way there I did a couple of detours. The first was to Huka falls just outside of Taupo. This is where the Waikato river, which drains lake Taupo, is funneled through a narrow gorge to create incredibly powerful rapids and falls. This one river system is able to supply 15% of the total power of New Zealand.

Bridge over troubled water?

Last and biggest falls

Some guff about the falls

It was not the most spectacular waterfalls I have seen on my trip (Iguazo falls are still to come!) but I certainly would not have liked to fall into the water none the less!

My next detour was about another 7 miles up the road - the Craters of the Moon. This is the most recently active (only started bubbling up in the 1950's) of the many thermal parks around the volcanic area of Rotorua. The park consisted of a mostly elevated walkway around hot springs, thermal vents and a couple of bubbling mudpools.

To be honest I was slightly disappointed. Most of the vents were small and looked like someone was blowing cigarette smoke out of holes in the ground. The walkways did not allow you to get close to the larger vents. A sensible precaution given that the vents shift position from time to time. Given my luck it was definitely sensible - I could just see me peering into one of the vents and ending up getting a superheated steam facial!

Open air sauna

Large steam vent

Very quick video of mudpool which I gave up on because I've seen more bubbles when I farted in a bath of dirty water!


My last stop before Rotorua was another set of thermal springs except these ones were meant to be a lot more impressive and included a geyser. However when I found out the price of the entrance and the fact that the geyser was not due to erupt until 10am the following morning I decided to give it a miss. I could always come back the next day - which unfortunately I did not do (another thing to come back and see). I did take photos of some of the carvings outside of the park.


Looks like he's having trouble - a bit of constipation perhaps?



Judging from where the cobweb is this one is constipated AND getting no action!

I drove on into town and after some extensive searching I found the hostel I had booked into - the Funky Green Voyager which had a nice laid back feel to it. The manager (whose name I forget) was very helpful in finding me things to do around Rotorua. As I was in the heart of Maori culture I decided to book myself onto a traditional Maori Hangi banquet and show at the Mitai (pronounced like the cocktail - so it must be good!) Maori centre that night.

At 8pm a bus picked myself and 5 other people from the hostel up and took us to the centre. There were loads of people there - at least 100 all in a large marquis. After some Maori greetings from the host (and a couple of well earned beers) it was time for the banquet. For a traditional hangi meal all the food is cooked underground in a large pit. We were all taken out to see the food being uncovered before being served:


Uncovering the food for the Hangi meal

The meal was great with Beef, lamb and Chicken with loads of potatoes and lots of salad. I had not eaten that well for several days!

After the meal we were all lead down to the local sacred stream to see some Maoris paddle up in a war canoe (called a waka)

Statue on way to river:

I always wondered what happened to Beavis!

Oxford boat crew relaxing on their day off?


Then it was back up to a large theatre for the main performance of the night. It was here in front of a backdrop of a traditional Maori village that the Maori men and women performed a selecton of songs and dances culminating in their tribes own Haka.




'Oh bugger I just followed through'


Tapanga two heads was the star of the show!

Finally, to end off the night we went back down to the river to be shown glowworms and the sacred spring of the tribe. Water companies have offered millions to the tribe to get their hands on the water that bubbles out from this spring as its some of the purest in the world. I just liked the big eels that swam around it.



Although at times some of this show seemed to be a bit tacky it was still good to see and quite enjoyable. They also were able to make light of some parts of their traditions (eg the fact that instead of disfiguring their faces with tattoos they used paint instead for these ceremonies) while keeping faithful to their ways.

However, they didn't know how to make a Mai Tai cocktail!

Hola again

Hi everyone - I've been back in 'sunny' Ireland for more than a week now and its only now that I have gotten sufficient time to even look back at my blog and hopefully continue it on from where I left off.

So here's a quick summary of the story so far:

Croatian vultures, beer,
South African bush fires, beer,
lions, rhinos, elephants and horses, beer
great white sharks, beer + picaso shots
cape town township tours, wine tours & milky beer,
Australian marsupials, very cold beer
Sydney wine tours,
Great ocean road trips, beer
Melbourne xmas, new year, beer
New Zealand - pulling up pines, Ale and wine tours
Glacial walks, beer
Swimming with dolphins, beer
Black water rafting, water (ha fooled ya - it was actually beer!)
Skydiving, LOTS of BEER

I hope that brings everybody up to date - now lets continue our story....