Nov 10.
Staying in Parnell which reminds me of Moseley - lots of art galleries and restaurants. Saw a load of Maori carvings in mesuem which were good, including a full Whare (meeting house) and Waka (Boat). The Maori paint things red to protect them with Tapa (Sacredness) and the carvings have different meanings like spirals are the circle of life, they are pretty intricate with silver shell eyes on the faces.
Nov 11.
We bought a Toyota Lucida at a Backpackers car market with a load of pots and pans etc. After taking the car on a test run it broke down round the corner from the yard! Flat battery... got a good deal on the car though which is in really good condition apart from the flat abttery. Sorted Insurance out (Which is stangely optional in NZ) and road tax (which you buy by the 1000 km). The seller of the van replaced the battery and paid for a new bed to be installed in the back in place of the seats! We also had curtains fitted.
Drove North from Auckland to Warkworth which is very quaint and parked up at dusk at Sandspit. The plan is to go North around North Island then loop back down through Auckland and through Napier on the East Coast down to South Island.
Nov 12.
Bought an mp3 transmitter for the van so we can listen to music on the go - very important! The people who work in NZ are much more relaxed! We asked about the mp3 player and the woman said to bring the van round the back, take it out the box put in a battery and if it worked and we liked it then to buy it! A vast contrast to Argos who we bought the mp3 players from back in UK where they would not refund them even if in perfect condition.
Drove to Waipu which holds a Highland Games at New Year?! then onto Whangarei (Pronounced Fang-a-ray) where Sophie introduced me to the card game 'Slam' at the campsite. Campsites are really well equipped with cookers, pans, microwaves etc. Not exactly 'roughing it'.
Nov 13.
Went into Whangarei town basin and had coffee, then went for a walk at the A.H.Reed Memorial Park where there were huge kauri trees and a waterfall. Kauri trees are huge (some of the biggest in the world) and just go straight up - but the are really wide. Plenty chairs in them methinks.
Drove North to Waitomo and dropped into Waitomo Glowworm caves on a whim. George the Maori guide was well funny and kept taking the piss out of an Aussie guy there. The caves were really cool, loadsa stalagtites and mites 25 million years old. Apparently they found some maori woman living there when they discovered them - she'd run away from her tribe. But the most amaziong thing was the glowworms which covered the ceiling and glowed bright neon green in the dark! George showed us them up close and explained that they create a horizontal thread - like a hammock they moved around on, beneath which they hang lines down which catch small gnats that they eat. The worms are about an inch or 2 long and visible with a torch - there bums glow green to attract the gnats.
After that we stopped breifly at Wakawaka for the Toilet - decorated by artist Friedrich Hundertwasser in glass bottles and broken crockery - interesting but a little underwhelming, then onto Piahia which sits on the Bay of Islands and is the off-point for much sea-faring fun inc. snorkelling, driving, sailing etc... Stayed at Haruru Falls.
Nov 14.
Got a ferry over the bay to Russell which Captain Cook (I think) described at the hell hole of the Pacific as it was full of drunks, prostitution etc. It is now a very quaint (most places are quaint it seems) place. We went for a walk upto the flagstaff where the brits and Maori had had a bit of a flag putting up war - one put theirs up the other cut it down and so on for many years. Had fish & chips and saw a weird ameoba like blobs on a shell on the beach - it was a seethrough jelly thing (about an centimeter accross) which crawled around suprisingly fast... and a blobbly shiny thing on the rocks too ... weird.
Nov 15.
Drove round the corner to Waitangi where the Maori signed an agreement that settled their tribal wars and gave the nation over to the reign of the Queen of England. What was best was the aw huge waka (boat) and a really good wander round the grounds - amazing coastal scenery and saw a family of wild Tui birds (they make mad noises like R2D2 from Starwars), small black lizards in the rocks and and shrimp and black/red crabs.
Drove up to Kerikeri which is known for it's stunning citrus fruit and parked up at a campsite after a few beers. Did the washing!
Nov 16.
Wrote a nasty letter to 3 (phone company) they conned me just as I was leaving the UK into some dodgy deal, so I wrote a suiatble nasty letter then couldn't find a postal address for them online - damn them!
Went to the Stone Store which is the oldest European building in New Zealand at a massive 170 years old(!!). The store had a nice atmosphere and big old stone floors - it still sells exactly the stame stock as when it opened - from the same suppliers (!) including pitch forks, rope, soap etc.
Went to Rainbow falls which was also pretty nice, then went to drive inland a bit for a change of scenery to Kaikohe - but it was rubbish! The only site was a dodgy American diner-style 70's place and we drove back to Kerikeri and stopped at... a cheesy RV American-style Waggon Park instead. lol.
Went on a wander to a winder and bar but they were all shut, so nicked one of the famous kerikeri oranges from an orchard for later, naughty me.
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