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James & Tracey


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James & Tracey World Tour

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Thats really quite old!

Waipapakauri, New Zealand


June 5
We drove to the Ninety Mile Beach and walked onto it for a little while, then decided as it was raining we had had enough so got back into the van.
We arrived at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom. This turned out to be a workshop and shop specialising in carving Kauri wood. The timber they use is 40-50,000 years old found in the nearby swamps. They excavate these gigantic trees and turn them into some beautiful furniture and carvings. The trees are from anything 300-1100 years old when they feel into the swamp and have been preserved ever since. The centrepiece that the shop has been built around is a piece of a 1096 year old tree that died some 40,000 years ago. The original piece excavated was 110 tonnes however, not surprisingly this was too big to cart around so they cut off a 50 tonne section placed it onto a thick bed of reinforced concrete and carved a spiral staircase up through the centre. The carving of the staircase took a total of something like 500 man hours. The staircase is really great and its gorgeous walking up the centre - I want one!

We drove to Kaitaia and went on the internet. We stopped for lunch just outside Herekino and drove towards Kohukohu to wait for the ferry to take us across the river to Rawene. When we got onto the ferry and paid the $26, the man went to the front of the van and took a small bird (a native fantail) from the front of the van (one we had hit earlier) and said he would give it the appropriate burial by lobbing it over the side!
It took a mere 15 minutes to cross the river. At the other side we drove for a couple of hours before reaching the Waipoua Forest where we stopped by the side of the road for the night.

When Trace went outside to turn the gas on, with torch in hand as there were no lights and it was pitch black. James thought it would be really funny to scare the pants off her by throwing a couple of old bananas in the bush. At this point she didn't realise it was James as she swirled round to see if a strange animal was heading towards her from the bushes, only to hear James giggling to himself out loud then she realised it was him - Not very funny!

June 6
We had heavy rain overnight which kept us awake, especially when it started to drip on us!
We drove a bit more into the forest to get to the first big tree stop. We arrived at Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest). It is the largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand, its apparently difficult to accurately estimate the age of the tree, but they gave it a go by saying it may have sprang from seed around 2000 years ago. The trunk height is 17.7m, with a total height of 51.5m. The trunk girth is 13.8m and trunk volume is 244.5m. So really bigger than your average tree!
The next lot of big trees was at Kauri walks. We gave a man $2 in the car park to guard our van, as apparently they have break ins around here - we guessed it was the right man as he had a clipboard!
The first part of the walk was to the Four Sisters. These are 4 trees clumped together really close. thats about all we can tell you as there wasn't a sign for this one!
We went to the next track towards Yakas, as it started to rain. Handily we had left our waterproofs in the van, as it was sunny when we started. Yakas is named after a native Dalmation bushman and gum digger, Nick Yakas. The trunk height is 12.04m with total height 43.9m. The trunk girth is 12.29m and trunk volume is 134.2m. This tree is one of the only 'big ones' that you are able to touch, and even hug.


The final walk we went on was to the second largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand, Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest).The trunk height is 10.21m, Total height29.9m. Girth 16.4m (thats big!) and trunk volume 208.1m.
By the time we got back to the van it had stopped raining, it didn't matter as we were both soaked.

We had lunch at Kai Iwi Lakes, by the biggest one Taharoa Lake which had a sandy edge.

We then headed to Katakohe, to the Kauri museum. This place goes through the history of the Kauri forest bushmen, sawmills, and the felling of the Kauri trees. It has a massive cross section of a whole Kauri tree in the middle of it. The gum room was quite disappointing as there were just a whole load of old gum, that looks a bit like amber.

We then drove for a couple more hours to find a picnic spot for the van between Warkworth and Wellsford.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 5, 2007 from Waipapakauri, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Cock-a-doodle-doo

Kerikeri, New Zealand


June 3
In Kerikeri we went to hte liquor stoer and after looking in many shops we finally found Tracey's choice bottle of wine which we were unable to pick up on the South Island due to the battery running out - Hooray!
We found ourselves a nice carpark by the river to spend the night. At 8.30pm (when we were already in bed tired from the days diving) A man came knocking on the windows to tell us he was locking the gates but he didn't care if we stayed there as the gates would be unlocked early in the morning - what a nice guy.

June 4
What a night! At 1am the fire siren went off (Air rade siren), then at 3am about 30-40 Cockerals started continuously cock-a doodle-dooing and continued all the way until the sun rose at 6am. At which point they all stopped - stupid birds!
From the carpark we followed a walk towards Rainbow Falls.


After 3km, again the track was closed, but this time it was due to a bridge being constructed. So we turned round and wandered back to the van trying to find an unfolding frond of a fern - this is a big symbol in Maori and New Zealand culture and means new beginnings.

We headed up the coast to Matauri Bay, near the Cavalli Islands. Here we found the most amazing beach, quite a rarity in this world as there were no buildings, or tourist shops, or hotels along the whole stretch of beach or the valley. Apart from some caravans it was just as nature had intended. The sun was out and it was lovely and warm, well warm enough for James to walk along the beach in his shorts and flip-flops - a first (and maybe a last) for New Zealand.

We then went further up the coast and passed Doubtless Bay, and while the sun was sinking in the sky we headed up to Waipapakauri and to Ninety Mile Beach. You can drive along this beach all the way up to the most northern point of New Zealand. We headed out onto the sand to have a look, but straight away James decided to keep the van moving, turn around and get off the sand as our campervan showed signs that it would not make it very far. We had read warning of up th ebeach there being quite a few vehicles which had got stuck and been left as a reminder to others in the surf.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 4, 2007 from Kerikeri, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Brrrrr

Tutukaka, New Zealand


June 2
After stopping the night in a picnic area, we drove the 24km to Tutukaka, and headed straight for the marina. Which much to our delight, found we could stay there and use the marina facilities for free.
We sorted out some diving for the next day, we then made our Whangarei Falls. The falls were quite impressive.

but we fancied a walk and there were signs pointing down the river, so off we set just as the rain finally caught up with us. We followed the river for 3-4km, where the path ran out due to the bridge being missing, haven been knocked down or taken away! Annoyed, we turned round and headed back, when we got back to the base of the falls, up one of the trees we noticed a sign saying the track was closed which some funny person had chucked up there.

We made our way back to the Marina and as it was raining we did the washing and chilled out in the van listening to music, reading and Sudoku.
That evening we headed for dinner at the Marina Pizzeria. Here we enjoyed a lovely candlelit dinner overlooking all of the boats.

June 3
First thing we made our way to the dive shop and were kitted out with thick 2 piece 7mm wetsuits. We sailed straight out to see on 'Perfect Day' to the Poor Knights Islands. This dive site claims to be the worlds best sub-tropical diving. Our first dive of the day we dropped down and followed the side of a wall. The water was a chilly 19 degrees, we saw a few Moray eels and a Scorpion fish. On the way back we swam over and past lots of Kelp. There was quite a swell in the water, which along with us using the thick wetsuits for the first time made controlling our buoyancy quite tricky. After a spot of lunch on the boat, we sailed round to Rikoriko Cave, which has the largest volume of sea cave in the world. The cave was easily big enough to fit the big dive boat in.
For the second and final dive of the day, it was decided that we would dive in the cave. It was quite dark under the water, it was a bit different as there was not any coral or many fish, so we headed out towards the sunlight at the entrance of the cave, where there was a definate line where all of the sea life started. Trace got a video of James and a John Dory fish swimming up face to face. The John Dory fish is very thin and swims towards its prey head on, small fish do not realise its such a threat until the John Dory opens up its extending big mouth and swallows it whole. However, it decided this fish was too big for him and he swam off. Shortly after this Trace had had enough of being freezing, and her lips had turned blue, we decided to head back to the boat for hot showers and hot drinks.
We then sailed back to the Marina and set off on the road again for Kerikeri.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 2, 2007 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Where are the Goats?

Warkworth, New Zealand


June 1
We left Sheepworld and headed to Goat Island. Which is a Marine Reserve, it was the first one to be estabished in New Zealand, and has views of Hen and Chichen Islands in the distance.
In the past, they used to livestock on these islands to breed, so if people were shipwrecked they had something to live on. However, as they were never any goats on the island it is though that passers by named it, as it was only good for goats, but they didn't have any spare to leave. At some point there were pigs on the island, but they decided it wasn't right for them so they swam to the mainland (50m away).
However interesting this may be we were there for the large amounts of fish and aquatice life, which are found in surprisingly shallow waters and next to the shore.

In the summer this place is heaving with tourists, the conditions of the fish is so good they stick around. We braved the cold water with hired 7mm thick dive wetsuits, comlpete with hood and a few other hardy fools. Straight away found large Snapper withtheir big mouths and sharp teeth showing us they were not at all scared of us. In fact were swimming straight at us. I think this must be due to a lot of tourists feeding them, this is a shame as it ruins the local environment but it does let you get very close and personal with some scary looking fish.
We snorkelled through and over some kelp forests to Goat Island with some of the Snapper. Especially the larger ones following us all the way there and back again - quite an eery sensation.
Back up the hill for a cold shower followed by a hot chocolate.

We made our way up the coast, stopping in at Wellsford for a take away roast dinner. Not bad for a few quid, a full roast dinner in a plastic tupperware box. Probably quite a rubbish roast dinner but as the first one with all the trimmings I've had in a long time, it did the job.
We then drove for an hour, found ourselves a good picnic spot for our nights stay, we settled in for an evening of competitive card games.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 1, 2007 from Warkworth, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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We're rich!

Mount Maunganui, New Zealand


May 31
We stayed the night at the base of Mount Maunganui, which was situated in the perfect spot by the beach.
However, we woke with a start to the noise of the campsite toilet block being smashed to the ground by a big digger, at 7am in the morning! Don't these people know that life's a holiday?
After having a shower in a porta-shower (we were paying for all this luxury), we headed off and walked to the Summit of Mount Maunganui. It was an amazing view from the summit.

During our time in Oz and New Zealand we have looked through many shops for perfect bikinis to no avail, except in this small town we struck gold! Trace bought 2 bikinis - Result, I don't think we need to look anymore!

It was then time to hit the road once more, heaed off for the next 250km section.
We went through Paeroa, which is where the world famous in New Zealand drink L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) was founded. So we decided we had to stop in a garage and buy a bottle - this stuff really makes you burp.

New Zealand really does have everything - because we managed to get stuck in a traffic jam as so far we have hardly seen any traffic.

We got to Warkworth in trying to find ourselves a free spot for the night, but this area seems a bit too built up for that. So found a space at Sheepworld for the night. We were greeted and shown round by an absolute mad character called Ian, but quality salt of the earth type of guy.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on May 31, 2007 from Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Hells Gate

Rotorua, New Zealand


May 30
After our unsuccessful trip to see Geothermal activity and with some advice we went to 'Hells Gate'. This reserve was formed over 10,000 years ago as a series of geothermal eruptions when ancient lakes drained to form Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotorua. The removal of water caused faulting of rocks allowing violent escapes of steam, gases and hot fluids. The heat source here is only 1.5-2km below the surface - this is very close. (and lots of crazy people live here!)
We walked round and passed many bubbling mud lakes with the odd mud volcanoe and lots of steam. This place stinks of Sulphur.

We then found the Skyline Gondola and went up a nearby mountain. Apart from the great view the main aim to go up there was to come zooming back down on a Luge.

As elegantly shown by James in pic.
This was great fun. There were 3 tracks - the scenic, intermediate and advanced. We did have these tracks to ourselves, until a bus load of Koreans arrived! For this great activity we invented our own head cam. Using our head torch, we managed to strap our camera to our forehead and kind of successfully videoed our trips down. One shows James successfully crashing into the barrier at the end of the run.


permalink written by  James & Tracey on May 30, 2007 from Rotorua, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Flying Pink Tin Can

Taupo, New Zealand


May 28
During the 3 hour drive up to Lake Taupo, we phoned up and enquired into doing a sky dive. After much deliberating over different companies, we popped into one when we got to the airport, which was only 10 mins after finishing on the phone. Within another 20 mins they had persuaded to jump with them, stuck us in overalls and kit and bailed us into a tiny, yet very pink plane.

We barrelled along the runway and just about made it into the air. Considering it was such a still day, the plane was moving from side to side a lot (I would not like to be in this plane in any sort of wind). While they kept shoving the video camera in our faces, trying to capture us looking scared, they briefly described how we were going to make it down to the ground, hopefully not too flat.
First to go was James, he moved to the doorway shoved his feet under the plane, as the instructor strapped to his back pushed them both out, his shouts soon disappeared as he plumetted from view. Straight away without any delay it was Tracey's turn to be turfed out of a kind of perfectly good plane. As she left the plane the instructor thought it would be a good idea to do 2 backwards somersaults just to really make sure Trace was wetting herself! After that both of our instructors decided it would be funny to then spin us round and round and round as quick as they could. Trace didn't find this very amusing at all - and shouted at the bloke to stop as she wanted to be sick (you may get this bit on the vid!) Both the instructors then took this opportunity to explain to us how we were going to land - this basically involved lifting our legs, landing on our bums and sliding to a stop.

In a daze we finished our jump all in all from initial enquiry by phone to landing took under an hour - Mad!
After our free coffee/tea and T-shirt we headed off to the nearest bar to have proper drink and calm our frayed nerves.

May 29
After a freezing night in campervan, we had a day of walking. First stop of the day was Huka Falls. The Falls are formed by the river narrowing from 100m wide and 4m deep to 15m wide and 10m deep. This is due to the river passing some very hard rock which wears away very slowly. This makes for a very angry looking stretch of water.


For the next 6km we walked up the cliff and along the top, following the river, passing many vantage points and therefore many photos.
The next stop of the day was a place called Craters of the Moon. Where steam rises out from the ground due to Geothermal activity. However, when we pulled into the carpark an elderly lady took much pleasure in explaining to us the park closed at 5.30pm, the walk took one hour, as it was 4.35pm we were not allowed to go in or even look - Park Rules you know!
So undeterred, we headed down to the Dam. This is where the water builds up during the day and was let out at 2.30pm. Apparently according to the signs this is quite spectacular. Our luck with timing really isn't with us today.
Again we followed the river along for a walk and enjoyed the sun setting over the river and hills.
After a couple of hours driving, we neared our next stop of Rotorua and found ourselves an available layby for the night.


permalink written by  James & Tracey on May 28, 2007 from Taupo, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Jenbolina (and broken toe)

Palmerston North, New Zealand


May 27
We drove the quick 200 km to Palmerston North at break neck campervan speed.
Jen met us outside her flat, waving her Crutches madly in the air, due to her newly broken left big toe (from hockey last week).
We spent a pleasant evening at Jens new home with a couple of her mates, a homemade, tasty lasagne, and plenty of chatting.

May 28
A lazy morning uploading photos to web and catching up on other internet things, taking full use of Jens free broadband.
We then jumped in our campervan and headed north.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on May 27, 2007 from Palmerston North, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Wellywood

Wellington, New Zealand


May 26
The ferry ride to Wellington was very slow - 3 hours and 10 mins! When we arrived in Wellington Kevin and Megan were waiting, and waiving us by the dock. After a quick hello and hugs, we headed off to Hutt City (to Megan's Mums house). We had drinks and dinner then headed out to the night of the year - Quiz Night.
We bought raffle tickets, got 3 for $5 (a pink, blue and yellow one). James told Megan he had the winning yellow ticket and would she swap her losing yellow ticket for his winning one, she decided to take the risk and swap it.
Our team name, chosen by Megan, was Kiwi Fruits and English Cox. Vicky (Megans sister in law) won a prize for having a sticker on her chair. Megan won a prize for knowing the next NZ census was in 2011. I won a prize for knowing Golden harp logo was for Guinness. The lady said "I'm not surprised you knew that with your accent" Didn't really want to say I was English!!
During the mid way stop and buffet the raffle was drawn. The first winning ticket was Yellow number 10 - Megans!! Yup, thats right James gave away the winning ticket - Fool! She won a massive Hamper of food and stuff.

At the end of the Quiz we were drawing, bottom. We had a decider question and the other team were so stupid that they answered the question correctly! Therefore we won the booby prize of beer and chocolate and went home with the most prizes - Suckers!
We enjoyed a Spa when we got back to Megans mums. Relaxing under the stars - bliss.

May 27
We had the best nights sleep as the bed was the most comfortable ever - well in comparison with the campervan. Megan came in and gave us Juice in bed - Service is supreme!
We went to Kevin and Megans house set on the side of a hill and amazing views.
We then headed for the seaside for some Brunch. The first choice was full so we headed round the corner, where it was a much better view.
After stuffing ourselves, we were taken to Mount Victoria lookout. The lookout bit was closed but Megan and Kevin found us an alternative. We then walked along the waterfront and around the town in the sunshine.
We said our good byes for now and continued on our way in our trusty campervan.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on May 26, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Cycling to the next glass of wine

Renwick, New Zealand


May 25
We enjoyed a lie in, then some free toast and homemade jam.
We hired a bike each (James had a pannier on the back of his, where he put his cycle helmet!) Our first stop was about 5 minutes cycle from the backpackers and a small winery called Mayi. We tasted 4 wines here and James actually liked the Sav Blanc more than the Pinot Noir. I liked the Pinot noir, as it was fruitier than most I've tried - check out the connoisseurs!
Another short cycle to a winery that was closed for the winter - not fair! So on to the next one - Grove Mill. The lady serving us explained all of the awards they have won for their wines ("enough already just pour the wine"). We tried 2 wines here (and bougha bottle of Sav Blanc). Another taster came in whilst we were there, she took a long time to smell the wine and swirl, then after sipping she spat it out - what a waste!
Another short cycle we got to Seresin Estate. Here we tried 4 wines and 2 types of their organic Olive Oil. We bought a bottle of Pinot Noir, some Lemon Olive Oil and Honey.
We stopped off on the side of the road and snacked on some cake, then set off again to Framingham Estate. It was a bit posher than the others and had a cellar to look round. We tried another 4 wines here and Bought a bottle of red (Tracey's choice!).
We decided at this stage we had had enough (Trace of cycling) and if we carried on to the other 14 wineries may not physically be able to stay on the bikes, so we headed back to the camp for some fish and chips.

May 26
After a slow start having breakfast and waiting for the winery to open to pick up Tracey's choice of wine from yesterdays tasting, we packed the van up and were ready to go.....Except the van wasn't! The battery was flat. We tried jump leads, but wasn't powerful enough, so had to ring for assistance. We were asked if it was urgent - Yes, as we had to catch the ferry in 2 hours!!
We managed it with half an hour to spare.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on May 25, 2007 from Renwick, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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