29/6/07 Te Kaha and Te Whanau a Apanui

I crawled out of bed this morning with a sore head and got ready to catch my bus. I would be exploring the East Cape this weekend.
Our driver was Halo, a bit of a friendly giant. He got me sorted on board and then I met my travelling companions for the next few days.
Selene and Ciaron from Southern Ireland, Duncan from Plymouth, Kayla and Andrea from Canada and Tomara from Holland. They all seemed like a fairly frinedly bunch.
We headed North East toward our first night stop over. We stopped for Ice Cream, $1 for a huge cone, I had hokey pokey (vanilla with crunchie bar mixed through). Then we had one more stop for photos before arriving at the Te Kaha homestead. This is basically someones house with a bunk room nearby. We unloaded our stuff and were introduced to the family over copious cups of tea. They were a Maori family of the Te Whanau a Apanui (tribe) although oddly there surname was O'Brien. There were 4 generations in the house including 2 year old Hennessey. The cutest thing I've ever seen, especially in his sleepy suit with feet!

When we arrived in Te Kaha, Andrea announced that somewhere between the Ice Cream place and here she had lost her 'fanny pack' containing her passport, credit cards, plane tickets and cash. She had begun to grate on me previous to this but I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Everyone was so helpful, finding out phone numbers, calling the local police and searching the bus, but Andrea managed to make a bloody drama about the whole situation and pretty much threw it back in everyones face. I bailed out and headed for the hot tub, which was practically in the sea, and a few bears later I was feeling suitably relaxed.
We were summoned back to the house for food, which consisted of home made fish, chips and bacon and egg pie. I was just like home. Then Chay, the head of the household, and his nephew Nathan sang us a traditional Maori welcoming song, with the whole family, including Hennessey joining in. We were then expected to sing songsin return. Several national anthems were performed and there was plenty of lubrication. Stories were exchange, traditions shared and a great evening was had. The night ended with a very drunk hot tub and a final few songs before knackered I crawled into bed.

25/6/07 Arrivals and Departures

My week started with a C-section. It was exactly the same as we do back home and you'll be glad to know that Kiwi babies have 1 head, 2 arms and 2 legs just like ours (well maybe not the ones in Glasgow).

On tuesday I handed in my assessment form to my supervisor so he could mull it over and sign me off before he went back to the UK at the weekend, for a conference. Suprisingly he handed it back to me about 10 mins later, having given me 3 S's and 1 M, all signed and everything. Score!!

So I'm gonna do a bit more work and not take the piss and bugger off yet.

On Wednesday evening I took the train to Pukekohe to see Phill and Shell Gill and family. I had a great evening with a home cooked meal which was so nice. I stayed over night and the following morning Shell took me for a tour of the area before dropping me at the train. They also lentr me a backpack and sleeping bag for my travels. It ws brilliant to experience authentic Kiwi family life and hospitality. Armed with plenty of helpful advice I headed back to town for a quick turnaround before jumping on an intercity bus to Rotorua, for the weekend.

I arrived about 6pm and found my hostel, The Hot Rocks. There was a swimming pool and indoor spa pools all heated by the natural geothermal activity. Because of the huge amount of geothermal activity the whole city has a really strong Sulphur smell.

I grabbed some food from the Fat Dog Cafe and then headed back to Lava Bar at the hostel. I was soon acosted by some locals and was taught to play a random card game with a swear-y name. Inevitably I ended up fairly drunk and having a great night. Then I realised that there was a queue of locals round the block, waiting to get in. This is obviously the place to be. I headed to bed the back of midnight and met the young couple sharing my room. Gill and Dave form Perth! It's a small world!

23/6/07 A weekend in Auckland

Got up early on Saturday morning so I could wander down to the farmers market in central Auckland. Having bought some very fresh and tasty fruit and veg I then headed to the Auckland Fish Market. It was amazing. A real foodies heaven. Endless cabinets of freshly caught fish. So fresh that the market didn't smell, even slightly. I didn't know what half the fish were, no matter how to cook them. I decided to play it safe and due to my limited cooking and preparation facilities I bought some tuna, scallop and veg kebab type things. I wandered back to my accommodation via the Viaduct basin area of the harbour. This is a very modern and semi-residential area that had been redeveloped for the 2003 America's Cup. It was clearly a very affluent area, made even more apparent by the number of huge yachts and powerboats moored in the basin. I took a few photos to email to dad as inspiration for my birthday present(!)

After dumping all the food in my room I took the short walk to Parnell, stopping for some lunch. Having explored the various shops and boutiques I wandered to the impressive Auckland Museum. There are galleries dedicated to Pacific and Maori art and culture, natural history, including Auckland's volcanic past, and New Zealand's past and current involovement in armed conflicts. I could have spent days here but after a couple of hours I left and headed across the Auckland Domain to the Wintergardens. There are 2 glass houses (one hot, one cold) and a fernery. It's like a very mini botanic gardens. In the glaas houses there were huge numbers of wierd and wonderful plants, some of which looked distinctly phallic (mum would not be impressed). The fernery was practically pehistoric in nature. I half expected a dinosaur to appear form behind the plants at any second. The gardens shut at 5 so I was duely kicked out. i walked backto my room and began to get dinner sorted. When I took my fish kebabs down to the communal kitchen to use the grill, there was a large group of students hanging around. We got chatting and there was a mixture of Kiwi and, oddly, German students. I was soon invited for a drink. After a couple I decided to head to bed early as I was going to wake up at 1am to watch the first race of the America's Cup in Valencia. It is a national obsession here, especially when team NZ are the challengers. It was a good race but by about half way it was clear that the Swiss had the upper hand. The Kiwi's lost the 1st race but in a 9 race series they had not lost hope and TV pictures still showed them in high spirits.

The following morning was a fairly early start again so I could go to the internet cafe and phone home. Then I hopped on a bus to Onehunga, a suburb to the south of the city. This is the location of Dress-smart an outlet shopping centre. It was fab, 4 tops, a pair of jeans, a piar of rip curl shorts and a bra for $120 which is less than 50 quid. Having plundered the place I headed back home feeling suitably reatil therapy-ed.

By this stage Rob and Kate wereback from the Bay of Islands. The 3 of us headed to Foodtown for supplies and I grabbed a pizza from the local takeaway on the way back. Very meaty pizza, yum! Early night as I have an early elective C-section (or Caesar as they call it here) tomorrow.

22/6/07 Back to work

Had a pretty quiet week at work. Started with a couple of days of fertility, then some gynae day surgery and outpatients, all mixed in with teaching. Plenty things the same and plenty different. Fertility treatment was fairly similar, a few of the drug names were different. However, what really astounded me was that, unlike the UK, it is possible to get pubically funded IVF if you and/or your partner already have children. Then the wait for publically funded IVF is only 7 months compared to the 3-4 years in the UK. In teaching I also discovered that all deliveries past 20 weeks gestation must be registered. Therefore any terminations between 20 and 24 weeks (the legal limit) are registered (as still births) and consequently New Zealand's still birth rate is huge compare to the Uk where both cut offs are 24 weeks.
Otherwise a good week and am ready for a break at the weekend.

18/6/07 Waitangi and Haruru Falls

Feeling slightly worse for wear I crawled out of bed to get my stuff together and check out of the hostel. After locking my stuff in the secure room I headed off on the walk to the Waitangi Treaty Ground. This is considered the birth place of New Zealand as it was here that the Maori cheifs signed the treaty of Waitangi and in doing so became a protectorate of the British crown. As well as a small visitors centre there is a Waka (or canoe) that was built to help celebrate the centenary of the signing ofthe treaty. This, however, is no ordinary boat. As well as being ornately carved from a Kauri tree, it is also about 100 yards long! I walked round to the treaty house where the representative of the crown, James Busby, and his family had lived. On the lawn outside there is a flag pole which marks the approxiamate site where the treaty was signed. The view across the bay to Russell, the former capital of NZ, was awesome and the water the most beautiful turquoise.
There is also a Maori meeting house next to the treaty house. Intricately carved and decorated, you have to remove your shoes to enter this sacred place. Unlike other Maori meeting houses, this one has no name as it belongs to the people of New Zealand, as opposed to any particular tribe. It was a short walk from here back to the visitor centre . I then decided to walk the 5km to Haruru Falls. Unfortunately the scenic path was closed so I walked by the road. This took you near to the summit of Mount Bledisloe and then down into the village of Haruru Falls, with its river running through it, it's very picturesque. I walked down to the small but, none the less impressive waterfalls form which the village takes its name. Having taken a few pictures I stripped off my shoes and socks and went for a paddle in the shallows above the falls. It was seriously temting to jump into the deeper areas for a swim, especially as by now the weather was swealtering. I then headed off on the walk back into Paihia.
It was on arrival back at the hostel that having walked 12km on rough track, my right ankle decided to do a very good impression of a melon. Very puffy!
Soon a very hungover Ginny was ushering us onto the bus for the trip back to Auckland.
About half way to Whangerai, Ginny announced that the 'in-flight' entertainment was to be in the form of a film. The film in question was 'Once Were Warriors'. A NZ made film about a family of Maori descent living in South Auckland. A powerful, if at times shocking, movie, it mdae you realise that there was more to NZ than the shiny tourist friendly image. Like most other countries in the world it has it's own inherent social problems.
It was just outside Auckland, whilst discussing the previous nights antics, that Ginny offered to sort the rest of my journeys with Kiwi Experience. Through various deals and driver discounts she managed to save me $300, about a hundred pounds. Just goes to show that getting pissed does have its benifits.
Arrived back in Aucklnad, going over the harbour bridge from where the night time view of the CBD was particularly mesmorising. Since all the other passengers 'de-bused' at Queen St, Ginny offered to drop me at my accomodation as it was on her way to the bus depo. I was soon in bed, knackered, after an unforgettable weekend.

17/6/07 Cape Reinga

Today was an early start again. We were going to Cape Reinga, the northern most point of mainland NZ. On the way north our first stop was the Puketi Kauri forest. Kauri are enormous trees, the wood of which was used by the Maori people to carve boats and tools from. Then when the European settlers came most of the trees were felled and exported to make houses and furniture. The forest we visited was one of only 3 Kauri forests left. They represent approximately 1% of what was origianally there.

After toilet and lunch stops it was time to head to Cape Reinga. This place is very sacred tothe Maori people as it is believed to be the place that there souls travel to, when they die, and depart from NZ, heading north west to Hawaiki, the ancestral homeland.
There is a functioning lighthouse on the end of the rock and you can actually see where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. There are huge waves where the 2 crash into each other. The view was amazing and just off on the horizon are a group of islands called the Three Kings (of which there are clearly more than 3) and you could see round to Cape Maria van Diemen, named by Abel Tasman, the first European to discover, but never set foot on, NZ, in honour of a friends wife.
We jumped back aboard the bus and headed south. We entered the Te Paki reserve before travelling down the Te Paki stream. The bus driver explained to us that we had to keep moving otherwise we would sink in a matter of minutes!!!
We parked up on a dry bit of ground, opposite the biggest sand dunes I have ever seen. The driver unloaded a pile of boogie boards. We grabbed one each and started the 10 minute walk up the dunes. After a a brief lesson from our driver we lay on our boards and pushed off. I went hurtling down the dune, head first, with only our feet to stear and stop us. My first attempt went very wron, I ended up sideways and then rolled 4 or 5 times ending up with everywhere! I had a few more attempts which were much more successful. My final run neraly ended with me and my board overshooting into the Te Paki stream at the bottom of the dune. Everyone was getting involved, including a 70 year old woman on our bus tour. She was quite good actually.
We attempted to rid ourselves ofas much sand as possible, a futile exercise. We reboarded the bus and headed down the stream again arriving, after a few minutes, on the 90 Mile Beach, which is actually only 64 miles long.
Our driver the proceeded to floor it and drive down the beach at aroun 100kmh. Not that fast on a road but very nerve racking on sand. After a while we stopped for a paddle in the Tasman Sea. It was surprisingly warm. I also ate a Tuatua, a shellfish from the clam family. You dig them up , give them a rinse in the sea, bash 2 together, which breaks the shells, and then eat the contents. They taste kinda like oysters but firmer. Very nice!

We then travelled down the beach with the driver pointing out various sights. The rock where, according to Mauri mythology, the demi-god Maui tied his boat before catching the fish that became the North Island and also a couple of cars belonging to tourists who had read the tide tables wrong. All you could see was some twisted metal.

We swung off the beach and after a brief stop, to wash the sand and saltwater off the bus, we headed back to the East coast, to Doubtless Bay. We stopped at Mangonui (meaning 'big shark'), a fishing port, formerly the centre of the area's whaling and export industry. We had pre-ordered a fish and chip dinner. At $6 for a good sized portion, I had to admit it was up there with the best I'd tasted, but maybe that was to do with the scenery. It was soon time to climb back on the bus to head back to Paihia.

On arrival back at the Pipi Patch I had a shower to try and get rid of the sand and then hit the bar. Soon I was involved in a bizarre drinking game, the rules of which I'm still not sur of, introduced to me by 2 canadians and a bloke from doncaster. Soon the whole bar was involved including Ginny, our Kiwi Experience bus driver for the following day. After several more drinks I was feeling fairly inebriated, when 1 of the canadians and the dude from doncatser proceeded to mount the bar and strip. I got a sudden surge of nausea and decided to head to bed.

16/6/07 Bay of Islands

Very early start today to get the bus up north. As we headed up the road our driver guide, the lovely Jamie, gave us a running commentary of the places we passed through and the history of the area. We went through Orewa, birthplace of Sir Edmund Hilary, of everest fame. He still lives in the Auckland area apparently. We also saw Whangerai, the northern most city in NZ.

During the drive we were also able to organise accommodation, book activities and organiose our pick up for the return to Auckland. Having looked at the list of activities I decided to do the dolphin swim as this also gave you a tour of the bay at the same time.

We arrived in Paihia, a small town on the edge of the bay, around midday. Jamie organised my bags to be taken to the hostel as I was straight on a boat to go and find dolphins.
We travelled around the bay for 1½ hours looking for bottlenose dolphins. The scenery was amazing and occasionally an island will come up for sale. I know what I want for my xmas!
The sun was shining and the water was amazingly clear and the brightest turquoise colour. We finally found a pod of about 10 bottlenose dolphins. I was able to go out and hang over the front of the boat to get a really close look. They were amazingly sociable, coming right up to us, and so playful, jumping 3 or 4 feet out the water. Judging by what 2 of them are up to, we may have some baby dolphins in about 11 months time.
Then the crew got us all sorted into wetsuits and snorkel gear. We were ready to hit the water.
Soon we were close enough to slip in the water and g o over to the pod. We had been encouraged to be as playful as possible. Diving down, spinnig and even singing would all encourage the dolphins curiosity. I swam to within a metre of the main group and dove down to meet them. It was only then I realised I was right in the middle of the group. There was a wild dolphin ab out 6 inches from my face. I was awe struck and waited a few seconds just staring at these amazing animals. I swam down further and rolled and spun around. I decided to spare them my singing talents. Possible the most surreal experience is swimming in the most gorgeously warm and clear water with dolphins above and below you. But bloody hell are they fast. After about 10 mins they began to swim off and there was no chance we were catching them. We jumped back on the boat and after 2 more dips we had to admit defeat. At least we had a while to play with them. We headed to the largest island in the bay to grab a shower and a hot chocolate before the trip back to Paihia.
This was definitely an experience I’ll never forget. Hopefully one of many I’ll have in the next 10 weeks.

We got back to Paihia and I headed upto the Pipi patch hostel. I got checked in and reunited with my stuff, including my blankie. I then had a dip in the hostel’s hot tub and got chatting to the other folk staying there. A mixture of those just starting their travels in NZ and those nearly finished and also lots of those who had been elsewhere in the world.
I had a quick shower and headed for the bar for the nightly BBQ. Steak, sausage baked potatoes and salad, there was even a free pint included, all for $12.
That left me with time to spare before sitting down to watch the All Blacks vs. Canada. Despite initial predictions that the game would end with a cricket score, the All Blacks played apaullingly and the Canadian’s played very well and very physically. The final score was 64-13, which is better than the french fared the week before.

In the midst of this I was refereeing a mammouth game of Monopoly a few of the other were playing. It very nearly ended in tears.