North to South NZ

Coromandel Peninsula

Our first stop south of Auckland took us to the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula, the northern end of a range of mountains which sticks out into the sea off the east coast. A single road winds along the coast to the northern tip where we found a fantastic coastal camp site and a beautiful walk along the cliff tops. To reach the eastern side we had to return along the coastal road and take a small gravel road through the mountains.

Cathedral Cave

Cathedral Cove

Dropping down on the east side we stopped at hot beach - two hot springs emerge at the edge of the beach and flow down to the sea, and lots of people were digging their own hot tub in the sand, OK when you are under the water, but a very chill wind off the sea for exposed parts of the body. A few kms down the coast is Cathedral Cove, where a large arch has been formed by the sea and when the tide is low you can walk through the arch to the next beach - near sunset is was quite beautiful. After a glorious weekend Monday dawned drizzly so we drove to Waihi - a current gold mining town with a long history where the hundreds of kms of tunnels cut in the late 1800's and early 1900's have now been excavated as a huge open pit, with much newer tunnels dug under the town - all to extract a very small percentage of gold. The small local museum had some excellent displays of the history and the lady managing the museum provided lots of information about the current issues as the mine want to extend the pit even further. Just down the valley is another gold mining area where lots of the legacy of the mines can be seen, including a walk along the old railway, through tunnels beside the river gorge.

Rail tunnel to gold mine

House sit

Boiling mud Pools

We had another 4 days house sitting in a fabulous location about 20kms inland, but elevated so we could see the sea, and had the pleasure of looking after their dog and two ponies. It was a great relaxing time enjoying the sun, views and space. As we retuned to the van and headed to

Maori Church in Rotorua

Rotorua the weather turned wet again for a couple of days, but we enjoyed seeing the steaming lakes and bubbling mud pools, and were fascinated by talking to the warden at a Maori church about the issues facing Maori's today. A tour round another Maori village gave insights into how the locals used the thermal springs and water in their everyday life, including for cooking.
With the weather in the centre and west looking poor we headed to the dramatic east cape of New Zealand, a mere 150kms from 180 degree line of longitude and a place accessed along a long gravel road with little habitation, it felt like the edge of the world. The rocky shoreline is home to beautiful paua shells, and we enjoyed a couple of hours scouring the shoreline collecting some samples.

Tongariro and Mount Doom

Afetr a few days we headed back to central N Island and the volcanic region around Lake Taupo where the weather cleared to sparkling sunny days (and cold nights) and again lots of thermal vents, and stunning snow capped volcanoes including Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. We managed several kms along the Tongariro crossing path before we reached the snow line, but as we only had trainers decided not to progress further, hopefully Ed will walk it on our way back north in November.

East Cape - just 80 miles from 180 degrees longitude

Male NZ Fur Seal

We completed the tour of the north island by driving down the west coast with a couple of lovely campsites on the coast where we watched the locals fishing for white bait, before arriving at Wellington. The sunny weather had continued and we walked to Devils Gate to see the seal haul out - male seals rest up there to prepare for the mating season due to start in September. Wellington is a working port and is built entirely focussed on the harbour with the ferries to South Island departing from the centre of town.
We had a fantastic crossing - one of the most scenic ferry journeys we have taken winding out through the wooded hillsides of Wellington harbour, crossing the rather choppy Cook Straight, then a long trip us the flooded valleys of Marlborough Sound to the tiny port of Picton.
Heading west on South Island we visited the Abel Tasman National park and out to farewell spit and Cape farewell on the north west.

West coast beach near Cape Farewell

South of cape farewell the mountains of Kharangi National Park prevent any direct road access so we had to first head east then loop round south. Various roads head into Kharangi National Park and we climbed a steep road to the bottom of the Mount Arthur track where we met our first Weka, a ground bird about the size of a chicken, but very inquisitive, having a go at anything left outside. A lovely walk up through beech forests brought us to a rock spur above the treeline where we had fantastic views of snow capped mountains all round.

Flightless weka

The north west coast of south island has long been mined for coal, and we visited Denniston where coal was lowered from the 600m high plateau down an inclined plane, right up until they stopped mining here in the 1960's. Lots of the old equipment is still lying round with excellent explanatory boards describing the processes.
At the northern end of the road another access the Kharangi National Park took us to the Oparara basin, a syncline of the limestone lying directly on top of granite where the water had eroded a couple of spectacular arches, well more like tunnels, but 20 to 30 metres in diameter.

Peaceful morning at Lake Kaniere

With the weather fantastically clear and settled we then made our way south along the west coast stopping at various interesting rock formations before following the main road to Arthurs Pass. Here we spent a couple of days walking some of the network of tracks and enjoying spectacular mountain views, especially from the lovely camp spot we discovered, where we were surrounded by snow capped peaks.
Dragging ourselves away we have eventually reached Christchurch.
    

Camping near Arthurs Pass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Zealand

Krush

Kreol

Following the departure of the van we were fortunate to find a house sit for just over a week in Maroochydore on the sunshine coast, where we had the pleasure of looking after Krush and Kreol - two very friendly but large French Mastiffs. They are both relatively young and very strong, so we had to take them separately for their daily walk, which fortunately was a circuit including 1km through parkland along the shoreline.



Glasshouse Mountains



Sydney Opera House

During the week we were able to explore more of the locality taking trips out to several nearby National Parks and visiting the beautiful coastline around Noosa Heads where we watched sharks and dolphins in the shallows and whales playing further out to sea, and the strange Glasshouse Mountains - cores of old volcanoes. With a couple of days to spare between the end of the house sit and flying to Auckland we went down to Sydney and treated ourselves to an evening at the opera house - La Traviata sung in Italian with English sub titles, but set in the 1950's. A wonderful way to end out time in Australia.


Sky Tower Central Auckland

Arriving in Auckland 3 days after the container was offloaded we contacted the shipping agent to find that the vehicle had cleared both customs and quarantine! We just needed to get the Carnet stamped by Customs, drive the vehicle to a test station to get it approved for use on NZ roads and we were all set to go. Anticipating a week to get the vehicle out we had arranged a couple more short house sits on the outskirts of Auckland so were able to reorganise the vehicle at our leisure, and also make the necessary minor adaptations so the vehicle complies with the NZ self contained requirements, enabling us to use a wide variety of low cost and free campsites. So just over a week after arriving we set off.









Beaches of the NE Coast

Heading North from Auckland (to delay travelling south into colder winter) we took our time following first the east coast, stopping at beautiful deserted sandy beaches, and visiting some of the historic sites, like Russell - the first capital of  New Zealand, and taking some walks along the craggy coast between the bays. For the middle of winter the weather has been lovely, mainly warm sunny days, followed by cold nights, with any rain occurring at night.



Cape Reinga - North Tip of NZ

The north of the island is very rural with rolling pastureland and plenty of open space with big skies and fantastic sunsets. Lots of sheep and cows! Cape Reinga is at the north tip of New Zealand where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea, and has suitably turbulent water and appropriate rocky headlands.



Cape Reinga Lighthouse



Te Paki Sand Dunes

To the south and west of Cape Reinga at Te Paki is a 10km x 1km area of huge sand dunes up to 150m high. Surprisingly the sand is firm and easy to walk on, and there are several businesses hiring body boards so you can go sand surfing. The climb to the top was worth it to see the bleak coast and the dunes rising and falling into the distance

Te Paki Sand Dunes



90 mile beach
 

South of Te Paki is 90 mile beach - actually 90kms of wide flat sand which effectively serves as a road at low tide. It is extraordinary driving along at 40mph beside the sea, and seeing commercial vehicles using it as a fast short cut.

Giant Kauri Tree

Our route back south to Auckland took us through the remains of the Giant Kauri forest, where a few remaining pine trees up to 2000 years old survive, with trunks up to 20 feet in diameter.
A fantastic museum displays the history of the local forestry industry and the range of special equipment which was developed to fell, extract and handle the enormous tree trunks, as well as the huge sawmills developed to cut the timber. Felling the Kauri trees has been prohibited since the late 1950's but there has developed a business in extracting fallen trees which have been preserved for the past 30,000 to 50,000 years in the peat bogs. Once dried the timber is used to make beautiful furniture and household items.



Slice through a single tree

We have just completed the tour of the north and are back near Auckland having visited the nearby gannet colony. several hundred birds are just in their nest building phase having returned after the winter and are making nest sites a few feet from the boardwalk and viewing platforms, completely unconcerned by the people nearby. As the sun set we made a quick call at a bird hide just south of Auckland and were rewarded with some lovely views of various waders.



Gannet Colony
 



Pairing Gannets



Huge Skies



Beautiful Sunsets

Our plan now is to work our way to the south of North Island over the next three weeks before crossing to South Island.       

 

Pied Stilt
 

 

Godwit
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Dinosaurs Past and Present

Undara Lava Tubes

Having reached Cooktown in the north we headed back south visiting some extraordinary places en route. Our first stop was at Undara Volcanic National Park. Here are the remains of the longest lava tubes in the world which were only discovered in the 1980's when a local farmer went to find cattle and found some had fallen into deep gullies. These were the remains of lava tubes formed some 190,000 years ago when a volcano spewed lave for around 12 months across the tablelands, forming lava tubes up to 160kms long. The remains of the lava tubes can be seen in impressive caves some 20m in diameter and gullies across the dry tablelands where dense forest still occurs, leaving a green trail where the tubes have collapsed.


Cassowary at Etty Beach

Cassowary

From Undara we returned to the tropical forests of the coast determined to see a Cassowary, en route finding a platypus foraging in a small river on the Atherton tablelands.

Platypus

Having heard Cassowary could be seen at Etty beach we parked at the beachfront and while sitting having a coffee were startled when a 4ft cassowary came up behind us, before strutting off along the beach, its bright blue head and dangling red wattles making an extraordinary sight.


Dinosaur footprints

Dinosaur Stampede

Our route back south took us inland to the outback where we stopped at Winton, the home of Waltzing Matilda, and an extraordinary set of dinosaur footprints. Discovered by accident when cattle were being rounded up they are now excavated and available for general viewing. Some 3000 footprints have been uncovered from 3 different species of Dinosaur. It is believed a mixed herd of small chicken and turkey sized herbivores were drinking on a mud flat by a pool when a larger carnivorous therapod  the size of a pony arrived and caused panic. The prints are exceptionally well preserved and well defined allowing the scientists to determine the speed they were running and even seeing the therapod accelerate and turn.
Nearby on the dry plains they also started to discover the bones of large 90 million year old sauropods, and each year are excavating at least one site, with a large fossil cleaning workshop established. Gradually they are creating a fine collection of fossils, and have plans to build a large museum to display them as well as dinosaur fossils from across Australia.

Aboriginal rock art

Carnarvon Gorge
 

Our final week before reaching Brisbane was spent in a variety of National Parks including Carnarvon Gorge where the sandstone has been eroded into a sheer sided gorge where overhangs have been used for thousands of years by the aboriginals as special religious and meeting sites, and now are covered in spectacular aboriginal rock art. Narrow fissures and side gorges have been eroded into spectacular chambers.
With forays into some of the remaining temperate rainforests 100km inland of Brisbane we eventually returned to the Gold Coast where we spent a week cleaning the van before it was finally put into a shipping container for its journey to New Zealand.

The birdlife in Australia has been fantastic, colourful, noisy and with huge number of raptors and we have been fortunate to see and identify over 230 species. The east coast has provided us with viewings of platypus and echidna as well as a very large rock python and offers a huge range of habitats from dry outback to coastal mangroves, tropical and sub tropical rainforests with their huge and diverse species of unusual trees, and dramatic landscapes ranging from beautiful sandy beaches, forest covered mountains and deep canyons with numerous waterfalls.

 



Budgerigar                                                                              Echidna

Hinchinbrook Island



 

Strangler Fig                                                                             

 

The Outback near Winton

Sub tropical rainforest

Van loaded ready for shipping to New Zealand

 

One of many stunning sunsets