Sand dunes, Kauri forrests, gannet colonies, beaches galore enroute to Auckland

March 13, 2009. Well, here we are in Auckland, in the ever-so-funky Parnell district awaiting our flight tommorow. It is the time for Bob to do his precision re-packing and organizing and for us to lament how we brought too much stuff. God, those hiking boots, gaiters and camping equipment take up a lot of room. The only thing we didn't bring was an umbrella, and for the first time on this trip it would be handy. Auckland is like Vancouver in the summer - If you don't like the weather...But we're on vacation in a beautiful place with no agenda, so we just duck into a coffee shop when a shower begins. In 1990 there was no 'coffee culture' in NZ, many restaurants served only instant coffee! And if you found real coffee, there was no such thing as refills. Yikes! Poor Margaret, the only coffee-drinker at our house, was frantic. Now, however, God's Own Country (they call it "GodZone" with far more irony than George Bush uses) has hopped on board fully, completely, and apparently there are more espresso machines per capita here than anywhere on earth except Tuscany, and a good cuppa is never far away, even in the NZ equivalant of Podunk or Bug Tussle. The tiniest convenience store (they are 'dairies' here) carries a wide selection of beans and ground coffees. Doubly cool, because we're travellling with our bullet-proof Bodum plunger and every place we've stayed has had good kitchen facilities!

When we were here in 1990 we didn't manage to get north of Auckand, so was one of our resolutions for this trip. The last blog dealt with our time on the east coast and Bay of Islands; this is about the west coast. We've really enjoyed the west side of the north island. We got off the major roads, and we found a great bike trip west from Bay of Islands and south, great pavement, little traffic, rolling roads with great scenery around every corner. We took in the great sand dunes at Omapere, hundreds of feet high, walked for miles along the beach at Aranga, visited what's left of the majestic Kauri forests in parks. We also took in a very worthwhile museum at Matokhe that depicts the history of these majestic trees, the forestry operations associated with them, and ultimately the decline of the forests and the preservation of the remaining ones.

From there we went to Helensville, a small community west of Auckland and stayed in a neat backpackers that was the first hospital in that community. We were able to visit a few more beaches, including Murawai, with black sand, and we saw a gannet colony perched on a very windy and precarious cliff (a lot more interesting than it sounds). We looked at some awesome real estate (and dream - funky beach houses with windows from here to there over miles of flat sandy beaches, waves crashing in, sunsets, yadayada).

This brings us to the end of our blogging. We have kept a detailed diary and taken hundreds of photos, and we will be creating some sort of picture book when we return to Winnipeg and the normality of our lives there. We`ll only inflict it on those who ask.

Bob and Margaret

Lake Waikaremoana Track February 22 - 26/09 (images attached)

We very much enjoyed this track however did not find it as easy as we had thought it may be. The first day amounted to a 600 meter climb over a huge bluff to get to our first hut. The wind, the roots and the erosion made us work very hard that first day. The other factor is that our packs were filled for the four day hike and considerably heavy. The views of the lake were outstanding that day and we kept meeting folks along the trail that we would get to know better that evening as we dined from our freeze dried gourmet dinners (just kidding). This time we both had the luxury of bringing a book to read and while we did that for a limited time each day we often spent hours chatting with fellow hut mates on their travels, their lives and stories about our own lives in Canada.

The second day amounted to a huge descent and walking along the lake to our next hut. Again the challenge of going down some very steep hills is quite difficult for us prairie kids. The next couple days were along the lake shore more or less but always with up and down a couple hundred meters here and there. None of it was boring and we had a wonderful time and met so many neat folks.

After leaving this very remote area we drove to Gisborne and stayed at a B & B and walked along the ocean and bought ourselves a few used books in the local library. Even with all of our activity we still read a lot.

From Gisborne we drove to the Bay of Plenty and found true paradise. We rented a cute little cottage in a village called Omokoroa located near Mt. Taurangi. I am in love with this place and would buy property in a flash. We stayed there for five days and hiked through an old gold mine area in the Karangahake Gorge and ate at a great winery nearby called Ohinemuri Estate Winnery. http://www.ohinemuri.co.nz/ We also climbed Mt. Taurangi and then played in the waves. Truly awesome.

From there we have come to the Bay of Islands and have visited with some folks we met through a Wpg friend. We had a lovelyy dinner with them and today we went on a cruise and saw about 70 dolphins. They were so playful and swan along side our boat and we felt blessed. Bob had signed up to swim with them but they had babies so that wasn't possible. Seeing them was enough though. We got dropped at another village called Russell (one of the oldest NZ settlements) and hiked arond there and then came back to Paihia via ferry. We also got to walk and visit the Waitangi treaty grounds where the treaty between the Maori chiefs and the British govt was signed in 1840.

Tommorow on to the west side to see the giant kauri forrests and think about heading to Auckland to catch our plane on March 14. More later.

some shots along Abel Tasman trail

Here are a few shots along our day hike in Abel Tasman. We are now in the Bay of Plenty area and will do a complete blog in the next day or two. M