Tauranga & Rotorua

Our next stop down thte East Coast of North Island was Tauranga, home of Mount Maunganui (behind CK on the photo!) which is yet another dormant volcano that we can add to our list of having climbed! Pretty small I know but we are already making plans for climbing Mount Taranaki in a couple of weeks which will hopefully be much more impressive (actually having snow on the top of it!) and a much more strenuous climb so watch this space ... presuming we make it to the top of course! The heavily wooded island with the great beach that you can see on the photo with the sheep is Matakana Island. We were reliably informed (I think!) by a couple of 20 something local guys, while chatting us up(!) (well it makes a change from the 80 year olds and openly gay men who have approached us recently!!) that although it was ok to visit the beach and fish off there etc, under no circumstances should we venture any further inland! Apparently it's Maori land and inhabited by a fierce tribe who set traps and get their shotguns out for anyone who wanders too far off the beachs! So the story goes anyway! We have no current plans to find out for ourselves! We also took a day trip to Rotorua, which is a 'must see' in the area, as long as you don't mind the constant sulphurous smell of rotten eggs all the time, which is the hydrogen sulphide coming up through the earth's surface which is particularly thin in this region. Pongs to say the least! The plus side of this though is that the area is full of hot springs, bubbling mud and thermal pools! If it had been a cold day we might have been tempted to take a dip, but being as it was about 30 degrees we decided to give it a miss! Just walking through the clouds of steam coming off the pools was like being temporarily in a sauna! We finished off our week in Tauranga by watching the Half Iron Man competition which was held over at Mount Maunganui (2km swim, then 90km bike ride, followed by a 21km run!) Whew! How exhausting! Felt the need for a bit of deck time back at the ranch after all that! Next stop is Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand! Internet access is a bit sparse at the moment so we will be back with more news on that when we can!

Christmas at Coromandel

Happy New Year to you all! Just thought we would show you a few pics of what we have been getting up to over the festive season here on the Coromandel peninsula! The cute white house with the picket fence has been our home over Christmas and New Year. We are staying in the extension to the right of the photo (with the little balcony on the top floor!) The sunset is the view from the balcony almost every night! Tim and Annette who live in the main house have been so hospitable to us, even inviting us over for Christmas lunch! Tim is an enforcement officer, which covers various roles including issuing parking tickets, going out to investigate complaints of rowdy parties, illegal camping and also 'arresting' any stray dogs found wandering on their own on the beaches or reserves where they are not allowed! He took us out with him a couple of times which was very exciting - driving in a 4WD around hairpin bends on unsealed roads! And we got to see him in action when he had to arrest 2 dogs! Been doing lots of walking too and visited numerous bays and beaches - too many to show you all of them! One of the best ones was Cathedral Cove, named for its shape of course, but our favourite beach was 'New Chums Beach', only accessible at low tide when you had to walk across the estuary to find a little track over the headland onto the beach. Hope you like the photo of me and CK (old chums!) posing on New Chums Beach! As for the walks - lots to see and fabulous views again! We did a short walk to a viewpoint overlooking Coromandel Town, the Coromandel Coastal Walkway and the beautiful Karangahake Gorge to name just a few. And yes, that tunnel WAS scary! It was about a kilometer long and part of a walk around the Gorge. Although it had some roof lights they were so dim that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face! Connie was in front of me and she stopped at one stage and I just slammed right in to her because I couldn't see her - that's how dark it was! Also visited Driving Creek Railway and went on the little train in the photo for an hour's return trip, through forests, several tunnels, over bridges and up to precarious view points, all built by this slightly eccentric, but talented sculptor and potter who still worked at his studio at the railway site at the age of 75! Anyway, we decided to go for a New Years Day walk today and had a real surprise when we visited Wyuna Bay! Lovely little bay and only about an hour & a half's walk to get there. What should we see high and dry on the beach but Iggle Piggle's boat!! No sign of Iggle Piggle himself (or his blanket!) but it was definitely his boat - we were quite sure! See what you think! (click on the photos to see them bigger!)

Happy Christmas Everybody!

Happy Christmas!

Lots of Love

Connie XXX

We just wanted to wish all our friends and families a very Merry Christmas! As well as showing you the Pohutukawa Tree (otherwise known as the Kiwi Christmas Tree!) So called because it only starts to flower around Christmas Time! There are tons of them everywhere and the deep red flowers are so beautiful and very festive! It's a Christmas Tree that needs no other decorations! The white house with the picket fence is where we are staying for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year (Tiki Road, Coromandel for anyone who is looking us up on Google Earth!) We are renting the part of the house at the back on the right where the little balcony is!

More news on what we are getting up to here will follow very soon but for now we both wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas!

Lots of Love

Julie XXX

Rangitoto Island - our 3rd Volcano!

Back in Auckland for a few days before heading off to the Coromandel Peninsula for Christmas & New Year. Took a half hour ferry trip over to Rangitoto Island which is a dormant volcano that rose up out of the sea 600 years ago and is the youngest island in the Hauraki Gulf. It also makes it the 3rd volcano we have seen so far on our travels (but there will probably be lots more as New Zealand is full of them and Auckland itself has around 50 of them!) Our first volcano was Mount Etna in Sicily, followed by the Greek island of Santorini which is built on the crater of the volcano itself as you can see on the photo. The actual centre cone of the volcano you can see in the sea behind the super tanned CK! (Her best tan yet, despite my efforts with the talcum powder!) But anyway, getting back to Rangitoto(!) nobody is allowed to live on the island as there aren't any facilities such as mains electricity or water. However there are several little houses, called baches (pronounced 'batches') which have been there for years and the owners are allowed to use them during the daytime but are not supposed to camp there overnight. There used to be over 100 of them at one time but now there are only about 30. We picked out our favourites just in case we missed the return ferry and had to crash there overnight! There are only a few ferries that go to the island each day and it is drummed into you not to lose track of time and miss the return ferry! The last one went at 3.30pm! We took a walk around the west coast of the island which then led up to the summit where we had a fantastic view of Auckland and the surrounding islands. Then yesterday we took the ferry over to Devonport, which is actually on the mainland but quicker to get there by boat as it is only a 10 minute trip! We had a free ticket included when we visited Waiheke Island so thought it would be rude not to use it! Devonport is actually quite a classy suburb (although we still prefer Parnell!) We climbed up Mount Victoria (via Kerr Street!) which is also a volcano albeit an extinct one (taking our volcano count up to 4!) and feasted our eyes on more excellent views of the Hauraki Gulf. Then, all volcanoed out(!) we returned to Parnell and were treated to an excellent music extravaganza by a brilliant Maori Reggae Band. Our toes were certainly a-tapping!!

Paihia - Bay of Islands

We decided to live life "on the edge" this week - well kind of! Went for a sail on the red catamaran that you can see at the jetty. It was a 6 hour trip in total, sailing round some of the islands up here. There was some relaxing to be done (as you can see by CK's photo!) but then it was all hands on deck and we were put to work! This involved lots of rope pulling to haul the sails up and down on several occasions! Lots of fun though and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We stopped for a BBQ lunch at one of the islands and went ashore to explore and admire the fantastic view from up on the hill. Sailing back to Paihia we were lucky enough to spot a pod of dolphins! As we got nearer to them they came right up to the boat & swam alongside us, occasionally arching up out of the water and then diving back in again! It was just the most perfect end to a fabulous trip! That evening we got ourselves a prime spot on the main street to watch the Paihia Christmas parade! It seemed the whole town turned out for the occasion and, to show you what a small place Paihia is, the girl who had been crewing on our boat that day also turned up as Santa's helper in the parade! There were lots of original homemade floats and we particularly liked Rudolph the red nosed tractor (sorry reindeer!) We did some walking this week too and visited Haruru Falls, passing through mangrove swamps on the way! Took a trip across the peninsula to Russell on the little ferry on the photo. Cute little place although very small! Hard to believe, as we found out recently, that it was originally the capital of New Zealand! And should you require a taxi here in Paihia - well you only need to summon the services of Tuk Tuk, the town's shuttle service! Haven't used it yet as our apartment is only a 5 minute walk away from the main street but am tempted to - just for the experience! (Don't forget - click on any of the photos to see them at full size! JK for the K Team)

Us versus the US!

Today we achieved the impossible (well we think we did!) and successfully applied for a 6 months US Visa! Do you think I had enough evidence collected to convince them I have no intention of staying in the US?!!! And that was just MY evidence - Connie had about the same amount for herself! Our actual "interview" at the consulate lasted about 5 mins, which was about a third of the time that it took on the telephone to actually book the interview in the first place! Anyway, we were told that "everything looked in order" so hopefully we will get some good news on that score before Christmas! So thanks again to all those friends and family who contributed to vouching for our intentions! After the trauma of recent events (US Visa wise!) we decided that we deserved a little treat and that a celebration was in order! So we headed off to the chocolate boutique for one of their specialities that I referred to on yesterday's blog - a chocolate fondue! As you may be able to see from the photo (click to enlarge!) we had a big dish of melted chocolate in the middle, surrounded by big pink and white squashy marshmallows, pieces of banana, 2 cherries, trifle sponges, pretzels, dried apricots and chocolate marshmallow fish - all of which could of course be dipped into the chocolate pot!!! Mmmm! It was SO good! We have already decided to have another one next time we are back in Auckland (in just over a week's time!) We are off to Paihia in the Bay of Islands tomorrow for a week and no wi fi access there so not sure when the next blog will be - but watch this space!

Parnell is THE place to be in Auckland!

• Just thought we would give you a little look at where we are staying here in Parnell, Auckland. It's a lovely, quaint little suburb and only about 25 minutes walk into Auckland itself, the harbour, tower and other attractions in the city. It has a real 'village' atmosphere and we have been able to find everything we need here - from a box of cornflakes right through to getting our emails printed out for the US consulate! There are lots of the traditional wooden buildings with ornate balconies and verandahs like the ones in the photos! Very picturesque and we love it! And yes, we have found a chocolate shop! They offer a HUGE menu consisting of everything chocolatey under the sun! A chocolate lover's dream shop! Having said all that we have been very restrained so far and only been there once! But after our interviews with the consulate tomorrow I am sure we will feel the need for a little treat! I think Connie has her eye on the chocolate fondue (big enough for 2 to share!) that we saw on the menu so I think that will be featuring heavily on tomorrow's itinerary! Mmmmm! The last photo is something we saw walking back from Auckland harbour the other day! No idea what we were being thanked for but we appreciated the sentiment all the same! The Kiwis are such lovely people - very friendly and helpful and SO polite!!!