Fall in Auckland, Brrr!

Well it is fall in the Southern Hemisphere. Samoa was in the low thirties, Tonga was around 28 and 29 but Auckland is only 20 above, I am chilly. I think I could be an island boy! We liked New Zealand so much that we changed our plans from a two week stay in Tonga to a 5 day stay and back to New Zealand for another week.

Auckland (a.k.a. the City of Sails), like the rest of New Zealand is a very nice city. We took a day tour on a hop on/hop off bus and seen the points of interest. Auckland is situated on two bays and the distance between the two is only a couple of kilometers. This huge amount of water means a large portion of Aucklander's own some kind of boat and most seem to be sail boats.



Downtown Auckland

 The Auckland Museum is an awesome place, very informative and full of both public and private displays and collections. Approximately half of the first floor is dedicated to Maori history and culture and another large area dedicated to the other South Pacific Islands, the people and cultures. The Maori area consists of artifacts including large transport canoes, made from a single hollowed out log, their type of totem poles, art, weapons, a Maori family home, prior to European influence and their oral history of settling New Zealand. One of the things that surprised me was how closely the Maori art, canoes and family home are to the First Nations of Coastal British Columbia.

We rented a car, now this was different, the car was empty of fuel, (the little warning light was even on) but the rental guy said "oh just bring it back empty". Have you ever tried to estimate how much fuel it needed to get back empty? Quite a science, but we made it, five blocks from the rental agency the little warning light came on and I really had to let the guy know how accurate we were. Actually with fuel costing $2.40 a liter in NZ, I did my utmost to ensure I did not give away any fuel.

We went to two areas where all the Kiwis told us were must go to places for North Island residents.

First Mt. Maunganui, one of the few mountains in NZ that is not an old volcano, a fast growing community with miles of beach and surfer schools. We stayed in a self contained suite where we could cook and took day trips. Mt. Maunganui is about 200 meters to the top, we hiked up it twice, because I forgot my camera the first time, and is a very steep climb. I was amazed to find young guys that were running this thing two or three time, but even more amazed by a lady my age that ran it twice while we went up and down once. The views from the top are quite nice.

Communities of Mt. Maunganui and Papamoa Beach from the summit

Mt Maunganui is one spot where paragliders jump and glide to a beach somewhere.

Warning Sign

Gliders run past that bench and off into thin air!

We took a day trip south along the coast to the communities of Whakatani,(wh in Maori uses the phonetic ph sound), and Matata, which is the Kiwi fruit growing region of NZ. We stopped at the, lonely planet guidebook words not mine, cheesiest tourist place in NZ.



Loreen in the Kiwi!


Kiwi fruit is grown on a vine much the same as grapes and is grown in NZ, Italy and California. The northern hemisphere fruit is in stores in NZ now as the picking season is late April and May. Kiwi fruit is expensive in NZ as the producers grow for the export markets and with no consumer protection, NZ stores have to pay export price for local fruit.

We then drove up island to the town of Whitianga, for the last three days of the trip. Again we took day trips and just looked at the sites around the area.

We went to hot water beach, where there is a huge lava rock on the beach where for about two hours on either side of low tide you can build your own hot pool, hot enough I could only stay in our little pool for about 2 minutes, had to allow the tide water in to keep it cool enough to sit in.

In Hot Water!

We then hiked up the shore to Cathedral Cove, where the soft cliffs have been eroded over the millenniums.

Erosion Art #1

Arch to Cathedral Cove

Erosion Art #2



Erosion Art #3 complete with the Princess!

 Then back to Auckland for the long flight home to Calgary. It has been a great four months, we only got into one fight, I think I had an opinion on something that day! Which is pretty good for living out of a suitcase and sharing the same bathroom for that long. I think Loreen is a keeper!