- Starting the trip, the Bay of Islands, and the Muriwai Gannet Colony
- The Coromandel Peninsula
- The road to Wellington
- Northeastern South Island — Wine Tasting, Abel Tasman, Nelson, and Havelock
- Kaikoura — marine life everywhere!
- Christchurch, a stay on the farm, and the TranzAlpine Train
- Starting down the West Coast — things are starting to get real!
- A glacier’ing we will go!
- Queenstown
- Milford Sound and Fjordland National Park
The plan for our time in Australia was to work half time and travel half time. During the first part of the year, other than the Tasmania trip, Glen had been working more than that ratio. As a consequence, we planned a 3-week trip to New Zealand. Unfortunately, Glen had to make an unscheduled business trip back to the US and came down with some crud. Deb ended up flying to Auckland and began the tour and Glen caught up a couple of days later in Russell, Bay of Islands.
Deb met up with our traveling companions for the van trip through New Zealand — a couple of ladies from New England who would be doing the North Island, a woman who was from the US but worked in London, and tour guide, Moira. I should start with a word about Moira. She had been a Sergeant in the NZ Army and was full of “piss and vinegar.” She was very adventurous, had a great sense of humor, and loved to cause mischief (our kind of guide!). After a champagne toast, they jumped in the Black Sheep van and were off! The first few days were spent in the Northlands, around the Bay of Islands, with Russell as a base of operations. Russell is a charming little town with a mix of historic buildings and modern restaurants, cafes, and galleries. It was pleasant just to walk around the town. But there was lots to do! One of the first stops was in Kawakawa, famous for the Hundertwasser toilets that were designed for the town’s peculiar Austrian resident, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. These public toilets are really eclectic with a variety of mosaics, colorful ceramic columns, embedded glass bottles, and a tufted grass roof. When he died, he made a gift of these restrooms to the city. They also stopped by the giant mosaic sundial that has a map of the Bay of Islands. They finished the day at Omata Winery, a boutique winery in Russell to watch the sunset and enjoy their first dinner.
The next day was a busy one! The first stop was at the Puketi Forest, part of a 37,000 acre preserve with amazing stands of kauri, podocarp, and hardwood trees. The kauri, in particular, were truly awe inspiring. There’s also real ecological diversity here including 370 species of plants, some of which are found nowhere else on earth! There was a lot of tree hugging going on here! From there, it was off to Kerikeri to visit the Kemp House and the Stone Store. In the former case, this was a mission station built for Rev. John Butler in 1821. As such, it is the oldest standing European building. In the latter case, the Stone Store is the oldest stone building and the longest operating store in New Zealand. While originally built to store harvested wheat, when the wheat failed it became a kauri gum trading store. From there, it was off to Waitangi, one of New Zealand’s most historic sites. Here the Treaty of Waiting was signed in 1840 between Britain and more than 500 Maori chiefs, ending with New Zealand becoming a British colony. It was fun to walk around the Treaty Grounds to get our first education in Maori culture. Of course, we visited both the Treaty and Meeting Houses and were amazed at all of the beautifully carved artifacts, including one of the largest Maori war canoes in the country. It was quite a day!
Our final day had Glen joining the group. Moira picked him up at the airport and there was just time to drop his bags before meeting everyone for a day sail in the Bay of Islands. The R. Tucker Thompson is a gaff rigged tops’l schooner that is run as a nonprofit with proceeds going to fund youth development voyages in the winter. It too is a replica of an 18th century tall ship. We spent the day exploring the bays and beaches of this beautiful maritime park. The views both from the ship and the islands we anchored off were stunning. We also enjoyed the barbecue lunch they provided.
It was time to start heading back to Auckland, but along the way, we had to make a stop at the Muriwai Gannet Colony. Here along the beach and cliffs, 1200 mating pairs of gannets (or Takapu as they are known in Maori) nest from August until March, so we were fortunate to see them. These gannets mate for life and they co-parent the single egg that is laid each year. Generally at this time of year (March), the young birds travel 1700 miles to the east Coast of Australia, while the adults tend to disperse to local coastal waters (sort of sounds like humans, doesn’t it?!). Anyway, it is always windy here and it’s amazing to watch the gannets in flight!
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
