New Zealand Trip Oct/Nov 2007
Just some background.... The trip was for 3 weeks (19 nights in NZ) for a family of four. Me and my wife and two children (aged 14 and 12). We drove across both Islands with hire car stopping in motels and homestays.
Sat 20th October:
We set off for Heathrow at 3pm. A bit of traffic towards London. On the M25 there was a car fire.
Flight was on time and we took our seats - row 52, seats D,E,F,G. Row 52 was the one I didn’t want because the lean back on the seat wasn’t supposed to be as good as others! The Air NZ staff were really efficient and looked after us well.
The flight was tiring though and we couldn’t get much sleep. The personal TV for everyone with remote and headphones was a life saver. Dan stayed up and watched about 3 films back to back. I watched all the Destination NZ films!
We had two meals on each leg of the journey. Dinner and Breakfast from London to Hong Kong, each with two choices, and then same again to Auckland.
The trip seemed like two days because it went dark twice and we had two breakfasts.
Hong Kong was a 2hr stop off for cleanup and refuelling – the plane not us! It was about 3:30pm (local time) when we arrived there. It was nice to have a look around the airport at least. You could see the hills in the distance and chinese junks were seen out to sea. Everywhere looked very smoggy.
Smoggy Hong Kong
We finally arrived in Auckland at about 9:30 Monday 22nd (local time – still Sunday night for us!). I called Scotties, our hire car people, who had lost our flight details, and waited 20 mins for pickup. The car we were supposed to have looked a little old so after saying that the owner’s return car looked better, we were offered another one nearby. Followed him to the outskirts of the airport and after signing the paper work and paying we jumped into our “newer” Mazda Cappella. The car although obviously had seen some miles, with missing radio button and wheel covers on one side, was actually a great drive and we didn’t have any problems with it at all. We were a bit stung by the Web agency (CarTrawler), who after we’d specified everything in detail told us the price to pay on arrival. This was actually the price less airport pickup and one way AKL-ChCh charges!
Automatic driving was fun, being used to a manual drive, and the flashers were on the wrong side and upside down!
It was too early to check into our hotel so thought we’d get on with site seeing, although we were flagging a bit. So after taking a few wrong turns we finally made it to “Kelly Tarlton’s Antartic Encounter”. We queued for 20 mins to get in (it was Labour day in NZ so I guess that was why it was so busy!) and had a quick look around. Tunnels were good as was the giant Ray tank. Went on a small snowcat ride to look at the penguins (Fat boy and co.) Kids not that very enthusiastic, I guess because they were tired and hungry.
Kelly Tarlton's
So after only an hour we left and filled up with fuel and then headed for MacDonalds. We were just about to bite into our BigMacs when Dan rushed off to the toilet, feeling a bit nauseous. False alarm but we ate up and then went off to find the hotel.
We lapped the block twice before finding the way into the Hotel Mercure. An aging hotel by the looks of some of the décor and fittings, but very clean and the staff were friendly enough. We were put on the 12th floor – room 1210. They had overbooked on the harbour views, but we did get a $40 discount and fine views of the city with SkyTower at the back as a good alternative.
Auckland Skyline
After a few hours sleep and shower, we went out for a walk and took the glass floored and windowed elevator up to the top of SkyTower. Knees a wobblin’ but great views of the night skyline. I guess it would be good to see in the daytime too. We had a quick hot chocolate, they were just closing, in the Sky Café and then walked back to the hotel via Domino’s Pizza and then bed at half past midnight.
Tue 23rd October:
We woke up at 8:00am as I’d set my alarm… something that I was going to have to do every day of the trip. We all got ready and went upstairs and had a fab four course breakfast (kids ate free)!
Checkout was at 11am, so we took our time and then left, heading south along SH1.We found Mount Eden on the way and stopped there for photos. A good vantage point to check out the sites of Auckland city.
Our next stop was Hahei on the Coromandel Penninsula for two nights in what I’d described to the kids as a “hut”. It's a great scenic drive over SH25a, after you cross the bridge near Thames. Lots of lush vegetation and windy roads.
We arrived at “Purangi Garden Accommodation”, mid afternoon, and checked into our cosy little chalet, in the middle of “paradise”.
Chalet "Lavender"
The accommodation is sited at the end of a 10 mins unsealed track, so it was good that we’d stopped for a few provisions in the lovely town of Tairua beforehand.
We were right next to River Estuary and were allowed to use the canoes, so me and the kids went on one each while Jane sunbathed and read her book. This was great fun and we got to explore the surrounding river banks and watched the local oyster catchers fishing. The weather was warm but quite windy. When we’d had enough exercise (!) we went and had tea.
Discovering Cook's Beach!
Afterwards we found the small track down to a small beach along the headland with a lovely little waterfall.
Back at the chalet, we all fell asleep watching TV (lots of UK TV programs BTW) and ended up going to bed at 9:30pm.
Wed 24th October:
Up early again today. I think we had had too much sleep. It had been raining during the night.
We went off to Hot Water Beach. Me and Dan dug a hole with the other tourists. It was dead hot in places.
Next off to a small walk to a headland and an old Maori Fortress. We had a picnic dinner on the deserted beach nearby with the seagulls.
We then drove back to Hahei and walked the 45min trail to Cathedral Cove. Gorgeous!
Cathedral Cove
It was quite warm while we were out but turning grey as we got back to the chalet. Jen, Dan and me did some more canoeing, going over to Cook's Beach again. It was almost like we’d discovered it ourselves. Jane had a shower and read her book.
We drove back to Hahei for tea but the recommended “Luna Café” was closed so we headed towards Whitianga. Luckily there was a roadside “Tavern” about 15mins out, so we had tea there. It was order and collect your food yourself, which was a bit different to back home, but the food was great (roast dinner) and it was interesting to watch and listen to the locals.
Thur 25th October :
We were woken by the chickens tapping on the glass door!
Me and Dan went off for a last walk along the beach. The tide was going out. Paid up and said goodbye to the owner Susan. A nice friendly lady who said we could pinch a few gratefruits off the tree by our Chalet for our onward trip.
We headed off towards Rotorua and stopped for groceries in the next town down again (Tairua).
We found our way to Touranga (busy looking place) and out to Mt Maunganui for lunch of toasted sandwiches and chips, on the sea front. Then off for a quick hike up the Mount. Kids waited near the bottom and Jane made it nearly to the top. People were jogging up and down so you didn’t have to be that fit! Fantastic near 360 views all around.
The Mount's view of Touranga
We made it to Rotorua for 5:30pm, too late to visit their I-Sites to book some trips for the next day, but found and checked into the Cleveland Lodge Motel ok. The room was clean and tidy and pretty much what I’d expected.
Stayed in for the night, cooked our own tea and relaxed. Boring….but still recovering from jetlag!
Fri 26th October:
Up early and headed for Matamata, home of Hobbiton. We did a 20 min Internet café session after we’d booked the 10:45 tour. It was ace I thought. Saw the remaining 17 Hobbit holes, the Party Tree and the lake with the “missing” bridge and mill. We were taken back to a converted barn, the “Shire’s Rest”.
Home of the Hobbits!
We did the additional farm tour which involved feeding some sheep, a sheep shearing demo and feeding of some cute baby lambs.
After being taken back to town we headed off back to Rotorua, stopping roadside for a quick sandwich, before going up the Gondola and having a go of the Luge. The kids really enjoyed that. I crashed my cart, trying to video it and Jane was scared of the heights!
Rotorua Gondola
Back to the motel for quick change and then we were picked up to go to the Mitai Maori Culture Evening (I’d phoned and booked the night before). It was a great show. Definitely “touristy” but well done.
Mitai Night of Maori Culture
The Hangi meal was fab and the walk through the bush in the dark to see the glow worms and have a talk on the native flora and forna was pretty cool too. “Cousin Ben” took us back to the motel on bus No. 7.
Continued in Part 2.
