On The Road Again ..... In A Spaceship

We have exchanged 'our' three bedroom bungalow in Auckland with a Spaceship called 'Slartibartfast', which is a character in movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Slartibartfast is a designer of planets, and his favourite job is to create coastlines, which is quite in line with our love of the ocean. So we will be flying low on the highways of southern New Zealand for the next five weeks!

Ta daaaaaaaaaa.....

The tarp on the back covers part of the bed, so we can have air coming in troughout the nights, and is easily packed away when driving.

It comes with bedding, a 25L water container, a mini-fridge, eating items for four people, pots and pans, dishcloths, table and two lawn chairs, a tarp to cover the cooking area, and a gas cooker. Everything has it's fixed spot in the car, and is easily stoved away under the bed. 

We spent the first of 36 nights in yesterday, and it will take a couple of days to get used to the small space, and to get organized.

A Day On Rangitoto Island

Rangitoto Island was born 600 years ago during a volcanic eruption, and it is the youngest volcano in. New Zealand.

Up early to get the early bird parking fee and the 7:30am early bird ferry. It was a beautiful morning, and a very nice 35 minutes ferry ride. Auckland skyline.

We started off walking the costal path along the west side of the island, 

and had to cross some lava fields.

Then we hiked to the top of the volcano, and had a great 360 degrees view of Auckland and sourroundings.

We then explored some lava caves,

had lunch in a cove,

and went for a swim.

We took the Costal Track back to the pier, but we only saw ocean the first and the last 15 minutes. The rest of the walk was on lava! Andy renamed it the Aouch and Ouch track as there was no give under our feet, and a lot of sharp lava stones.

We had done around 18km, and had to run for the ferry, but we had a wonderful day.

The Coromandel Peninsula - Good For Your Soul

Hahei

We had taken another three days off from our housesitting job. We drove a couple of hours east to Hahei. A beautiful and peaceful place with a population of 270 people in the winter and 7000 in the summer. Easy to see why!

Cathedral Cove

We did the beautiful coastal cliff top walk to get there.

We stopped at Gemstone Bay, where Andy snorkelled, and followed the self-guided snorkel trail.

We reached Cathedral Cove. It is named for its gigantic cathedral-like arched cavern, which gives the whole area an air of grandeur.

We stayed at Fernbird Backpackers just one road up from the beach, and had a lovely evening with a glass of wine on the beach.

Hot Water Beach

Hot Water Beach is quite extraordinary, and thus famous. For two hours on either side of low tide there is an area where 60-64C hot water oozes up from the ground. We borrowed a spade from the Fernbird, and started digging our own spa pool. The water had to be mixed with seawater to cool it down so we could sit in it. A fun experience after first taking a dip in the ocean!

Whitianga

We took a small passenger ferry to the quaint little town recommended to us by our good friend Mel Smith, who grew up in Auckland.

We followed Mel's recommendations and had some very tasty fish and chips at Flipper's,

and a beer at Smity's Sports Bar!

The Pinnacles

On the way home we did the 15km Pinnacles Track, which follows the old pack horse trails over the river and up the valley. The track was used in the good old days to bring supplies up to the millers and tree fellers, who cleared out hundreds of acres of kauri trees in the valleys. The big trees and the history of NZ logging are very similar to that of British Columbia. It is quite challenging. . . stone steps, wide enough for packhorses, dominate most of the track, crossing the river three times as it rises steeply to logging / power camp at the ‘near’ top. The stone stairs are great to look at but hard on the legs! 

Whilst not dangerous, it isn’t for the faint hearted to climb the last kilometre from the hut to the top at 770m (2100ft). We went up some steep rock faces, several ladders 

before negotiating a large boulder, to get to the narrow ledge at the top. Andy was proud to have made it, given his fear of heights!

The view was breathtaking.

It was a quiet drive home! 

It was interesting to note that all our activities on this trip were on the list '102 Things That Every Kiwi Must Do In Their LifeTime'.

This was our last overnight get-away while housesitting, as we have rented a camper-tent-style vehicle, called a Spaceship, to take us south from January 25th to the first of March.