But the other one, which had apparently not been sleeping in the protection of the shed, seems to have provided dinner for Mr. Fox, so we're down to three.

The garden is looking seriously overgrown:

And there's a rather massive pile of post to deal with.

And that's about it. It all seems a bit of an anti-climax after our adventures, but it is nice to be home again.

Thanks for reading our blog.

Charlie & Barbara

P.S. several days after we got back, George, the broody hen we'd thought had been eaten, turned up unharmed and eventually her hiding place has been tracked down and she's being reintegrated into Normal hen society!]]> Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=68575 0 51.7 -1.7833333 SeaTac International Airport at Seattle, but the Boeing 777 was very prompt and set off more or less on time and landed very close to the scheduled time as well, but neither Barbara or Charlie got much sleep.

It was good to see the old country again:

complete with the usual traffic on the M25.

We found Aurian easily in Terminal 5 and within 45 minutes of landing, we were on the road on the final leg home.
]]> Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=68574 0 51.4666667 -0.45 Got everything repacked and stuffed into the boot (trunk) of the car. Lucky we have the big car we do as there wouldn't have been enough space in a smaller one.

We had a look in Bremerton for the Naval Museum but failed to find it and so decided to just get on the ferry for the 45 minute cruise across to Seattle.

Our ferry, the Walla Walla arrived in due course:

And we were efficiently loaded aboard, and then off at a very respectable speed. The harbour seems to be home to a huge range of boats from the smallest rowing boats and inflatables, right up to naval aircraft carriers and destroyers:

Some passengers decided to try and get a free ride:

There were good views of Mt. Raainier again:

And after a pleasant ride, we got in to the hustle and bustle of central Seattle. It wasn't easy to find anywhere to park, at least with the minimal cash we had available, so headed out of town across a big bridge:

Then we heard this strange noise that seemed to be coming from underneath the bridge, so pulled off, parked and walked back to investigate.

As we walked under the bridge, a large hand came down and nearly grabbed Barbara:

It already had a VW Beetle as a trophy, so probably wasn't too interested in her, as she'd only have been a small mouthful:

We managed to get away from the troll and drove out to Boeing's facilities and “Future of Flight” exhibition to the north of Seattle. It had some interesting stuff and across the apron could be seen this strange craft:

Then we drove across town to the airport, and after a few hassles, found the right place to drop off the car, lugged our luggage into the terminal and checked in. Bags safely sent off, we had to get through security next and they are even more thorough in the USA than most places and you even have to take your shoes off.

And that about finishes it for America. We're waiting now at gate S10 for our 777 to arrive and take us home. Heathrow next stop.

And a late addition, here's our 777 being readied to bring us home:

Then off to the nearest beach for Charlie to have a last swim in the Pacific, or at least, Puget Sound. Well, that was the plan, but although the water was quite cold, it was the scum floating on the surface of the water that put Charlie off getting right in. The thought of a green beard was somewhat offputting!

That's Mt. Rainier, an active volcano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rainier) in the background by the way.

After a lovely barbecue at David's place, we went for a bit of sightseeing and started planning our leaving of the Seattle area tomorrow, and there are several ways of getting across Puget Sound to Seattle:

This is the Bainbridge Island ferry, there's also the Bremerton Ferry; here are the two Bremerton Ferries passing each other:

And another shot of Barbara and David (Betty Ann's brother) watching the Bainbridge Island ferry go past, with Seattle in the background:

We also spent a bit of time with Betty Ann's dogs:

And then Betty Ann showed us her new car:

Then up to a nearby harbour to enjoy the sunset from a harbourside bar:

Nice views of the church and other parts of the town:

And a lovely sunset with the boats bobbing at their moorings and the occasional seal swimming around between them:

Just time then for a farewell photo as David & Betty Ann have to work tomorrow and we have to pack and get ready for the flight home:

]]> Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=68326 0 47.5675 -122.63139 After a bit of shopping in Eugene for things like a new bag to hold all our souvenirs for the flight home, we set off on the longish haul up to the Seattle area.

It could have been another boring drive, but various stops helped quite a lot, including a nice one at a rest area where some local church people were doing free coffee and refreshments as a safety aid for long distance drivers like ourselves.

By mid-evening we'd got to our chosen motel and checked in, then arranged to meet Betty Ann at the McDonalds on Bainbridge Island. Charlie has known Betty Ann since college days in 1968, and although we've seen each other several times in the intervening years, it's been a very long time since we met up in America.

We found each other okay and went off to a nice little place by the harbour for drinks, eats & chats:

And that's about it for today. More socialising tomorrow. ]]> Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=68115 0 47.5675 -122.63139 A brief tour of Klamath Falls for some photos for the record, and then north towards Crater Lake, which everyone said was worth seeing.

It's very warm here, in the 90's even in the shade, and the sun is extremely hot so we were a bit surprised when they warned us that some roads around the lake were still closed by snow, and there was basically only one way in and out.

We set off past Upper Klamath Lake:

and Barbara was delighted when she spotted not just one, but two pelicans on the lake. Klamath Falls has the pelican as an emblem and we hadn't seen one until then, so it was nice to see they are still around.

We continued north along some very scenic roads and stopped in a very small place called Fort Klamath for a coffee/lunch break in very friendly and somewhat eclectic café/store where I was warned that if I removed my cap, it was considered to be the café's property! I kept it on as the sun outside was still very strong.

Moving on, we drove along the side of a very steep valley and on stopping and looking down, could hear but not see the river at the bottom as it was so steep. There was no barrier at the edge of the parking to prevent unwary pedestrians from stepping over the edge, and although the drop was not vertical, it was so steep and slippery that going over the edge would have meant sliding about 500 feet down the slope, with no chance of getting back up, even if you survived the fall.

A little further up, we encountered the first snow. It was relatively deep, and we were rather puzzled as to why it hadn't all melted because it was still very hot outside the car, and we very much still needed the air-con on. These two pictures were taken at the same time & place, outside and inside the car:

Climbing steadily up the twisting mountain roads, we got eventually to a good sized car park at Rim Village, and hoped to find some 'facilities' as the coffee was working its way through.

We found the café/gift shop .....

and the 'facilities':

and a warning sign:

but fortunately did find a way in as well:

and with 'facilities' available, had another coffee and bought some souvenirs.

Then off to admire the views:

And here it is, unobstructed by grinning tourists:

This is just a little corner of the lake, the whole panorama is simply wonderful, and awesome to consider that this is the stump of a much bigger volcano which blew its top off.

Walking around, there are some interesting points such as the poles to mark where the roads are when it snows in the winter:

And although it's summer here, snowy activities are very much a possibility. Here's a hiker with crampons on coming down from higher ground while Barbara was washing the car screens:

And we discovered that they weren't joking when they said that some of the roads were still closed by snow:

So we had to go back down south before we could go north again, which meant going past our eclectic little café again with its unusual salt & pepper pots:

But most interesting, apart from the chat with the owner, was the collection of over 1,000 caps and hats of all shapes and sizes donated by visitors from all over the USA and other countries:

Having deliberately bought myself a new cap up at Rim Village, I was very pleased to donate my faithful blue Team-Subaru cap to his collection, and was given free coffees in return. :-)

A long and sometimes boring drive, but scenic in parts, up to Eugene for the night.
]]> Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=68000 0 44.05222 -123.08556 Our cheap motel was okay, but some of the neighbours were early risers. It's got air-conditioning and good, free WiFi Internet so it gets a good rating from me.

After our free breakfast, we set off up Main Street for the County Museum where we'd been told that we could find cemetery records, and lo and behold, after a relatively short search through our first book, Barbara found where Charley should be.

Charley was her granny's brother and emigrated to Canada in the early part of the 20th century then moved to Klamath Falls, where he married the widow of a friend.

Barbara knew she'd found the right burial record when she found both Charley and Alta next to each other. We couldn't find anything else out until we'd looked at the graves, so after a short drive, we got to Klamath Memorial Park.

Once we'd figured out the numbering system, we went straight to their graves, which made Barbara very happy:

And here they both are:

Armed now with their birth and death dates, we went back into town and looked through further records in the museum, library and county clerk's office to try and find Alta's previous married name which we hadn't known.

We found a rather complicated set of records with some confusion over the names, but interestingly, we found that Charley had served in WW1:

And a photo of him:

And that's about it for today, apart from joining a meeting of the Klamath Falls History Society this evening, which may be interesting.

P.S. the meeting was interesting, and we were able to thank many of the people who'd spent many hours recording grave details in all the local cemeteries, and some of those who'd helped us today in other ways.

On the way out, the sky appeared to have caught fire, and a good storm seems to be brewing:

]]> Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=67758 0 42.225 -121.78056 We had a comfortable night in our expensive motel. This is the pool from our room and it's not obvious, but the tree on the left is a lemon tree with fruit on and there was an orange tree with fruit on as well on the far side of the lawn:

After breakfast in the adjoining restaurant, we set off north in our Ford Grand Marquis (note the nice bougainvillea bush outside our door):

Barbara thought that the coast road looked nice, so I programmed that into the GPS. What a bore! Yes it was on the coast but the land was flat and boring and mostly mudflats. It eventually got more interesting but then we got onto various Interstate Highways for some 250 miles ...... yawn. The driving went from nerve wracking to being a struggle to keep awake. Regular coffee stops helped and at times the scenery actually started to get interesting as well:

This was a little part of Lake Shasta, which seemed to be well down on its normal levels.

Getting out of the air-conditioned car was a bit uncomfortable though:

that's 38.3°C for anyone who thinks in Celsius/Centigrade. The sun was every bit as hot as might be expected – I dashed from one bit of shade to another to avoid getting sunburnt. At least the nice rest areas on the interstates did have some shade:

Getting nearer to Klamath Falls, we went over a mountain pass at about 5,000 feet and had many good views of another volcano, Mt. Shasta (the leftmost peak) at over 14,000 feet:

There were a few dramatic thunderstorms in the area, but it was so hot at ground level that we could see the rain falling but evaporating before it got to the ground:

We got to Klamath Falls in the early evening and eventually found the cemetery where it's likely that gt. Uncle Charlie may be buried, but it's rather big and we didn't find him. However, the local ladies we spoke to were very helpful and we may well be able to get some better information tomorrow. We did also find the address on High Street where he used to live, but there isn't a house there any more.

Then off to find a bed for the night and a nice meal in the Chinese Restaurant opposite the motel.
]]> Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=67532 0 42.225 -121.78056 We sat around in the airport after a few hassles with the luggage and getting it transferred from the Quantas flight to our brief hop on an American Airlines flight to San Francisco. The flight was absolutely full, so there'd been no chance of getting better seats, or even seats together, but it was only an hour or so, so we could cope.

Our plane, a McDonnel Douglas DC80, arrived at bay 40 and we all waited patiently for it to be cleaned before we could board:

Eventually, everyone was jammed in, and all the commuters' big wheely-bags jammed into the overhead lockers and the world changed from boring, static and horizontal, to exciting, fast moving and angled:

Some nice views of sea, coastline and big hills later, we were descending fast towards what appeared to be the sea. When we were about 50 feet above it, the end of the runway mercifully came into view and we touched down and taxied rapidly into our parking spot, and the usual scramble to get out ensued. As we had bags in the hold, we didn't bother rushing as they always take that bit longer to unload. The carousel eventually disgorged all four of our bags/boxes safely and we staggered off under the weight of all our bags to find the car rentals, because the trollies cost four dollars (unlike any other airport we'd so far visited) and we didn't have the relevant change (black mark for SFO).

The driverless rapid transit system:

took us efficiently to the car rentals and eventually we got a car with Avis (partnered with BA for the air-miles) but they only had a choice of one for a one-way drive to Seattle – a Mercury something-or-other. Much bigger than we'd have chosen it is at least comfortable but probably drinks petrol in typical American style, so very un-green – sorry planet, we'll make up for it when we get home.

Found the car in the multi-storey parking lot and then spent quite some time trying to figure out the multitude of controls. Barbara's first problem was that the passenger seat was so far forward, she couldn't even get in and it wasn't at all obvious how to move it back. When we found the electronic controls that moved the seat up, down and round-and-round, normality returned and I gingerly set off, trying desperately to remember to drive on the wrong side and figure out all the confusing signs as to who gives way to who.

Barbara said we must see the Golden Gate Bridge, so we programmed that into the GPS and set off through the San Francisco rush-hour traffic – unnerving is something of an understatement!!!

We drove a good few miles with hitting anyone or being hit, though I'm still not sure how we managed that, and found ourselves on one of those hills where they film the car chases, with the steep bits punctuated with horizontal intersections:

The steep bits are seriously steep (not like Baldwin St. in Dunedin) but not far off, and the intersections are worrying as you have to stop and give way, which means multiple hill starts, and despite being an automatic, this car did have a tendency to roll back, even in forward drive.

We (and the car) survived that as well and eventually found the impressive bridge, and fortunately drove north over it which didn't involve having to pay. I insisted on a photo for the blog, so we drove around in circles for a while until finding the best road up a nearby hill, which was being used by cyclists for suicide practice at the time.

We stopped at the first parking spot and got out for the photo:

It was windy! And relatively cold. Up until then, San Francisco had seemed very comfortably warm and the air-con in the car was in gratefully used.

So when we'd driven a bit further up the hill and found an even better spot for a photo, this was the most Barbara was prepared to expose:

By then, it was mid evening and time to find a bed for the night, so a random choice of motels on the GPS got us to Novato and a pleasant enough place for the night with free WiFi internet access – full marks on that score.

Tomorrow, time for some serious mileages.
]]> Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=67313 0 37.775 -122.41833 The days/dates above are right by the way. Day 35 was our last day in New Zealand, and day 36, our first in America, but both days have the same date. It was interesting watching the GPS change from 179°E to 179°W as we crossed the International Date Line, but apart from the numbers changing, nothing else happened to tell us that we'd just lost a day.

Back to day 35. We had tried to plan our food so that we would be able to use up the last of it on our last day in New Zealand, and we did quite well apart from having rather a lot of fruit left over. The campsite in Manukau City was obviously very popular with departing travellers as the kitchen had a well stocked surplus food container, and an even better stocked surplus condiments container:

We hoped that we might be able to finish the fruit at the airport so decided to take that with us, and left a few bits for other travellers. With the motorhome's tanks filled and emptied as appropriate, we left our campsite and headed for Wilderness Motorhomes. However, we hadn't packed so found a suitably quiet car park to sort everything out.

Once all the nooks & crannies had been emptied and all our accumulated stuff forced into bags various, we found Wilderness Motorhomes very easily and were welcomed by a sign with our names on and by the delightful and friendly Hannah. There wasn't much to do in the way of formalities, but we had a relaxed and pleasant chat with Hannah over a coffee before she drove us to the airport.

We couldn't have been happier with our choice of motorhome and company. Everything was as near perfect as we could have wished and everyone we dealt with at Wilderness was very helpful.

We deliberately got to the airport early in the hope of getting a better choice of seats than those we'd been pre-allocated, which were awful - we weren't even sitting together and would each have been trapped in between two complete strangers.

The kind man on the Quantas check-in desk took pity on us though and tore up the boarding cards he'd printed and did some new ones. I thought I'd misheard when he said "upgrade" and "business class", but no, there were our boarding cards in row 4 clearly printed. As in most planes, the rows are numbered from the front, and that applies to a Boeing 747-400 as well, so there we were, in the very frontmost cabin (normally first class):

sitting underneath the pilot.

As comfortable a flight as we could have hoped for with as much champagne as we fancied:

and very nice food, not to mention the fully reclining seats. Bye bye Auckland:

The flight was rather bumpy at times, but that wasn't Quantas' fault.

Eventually, after a brief night with minimal sleep, we came down through the clouds to land in LA. First impressions were that it was a little bit different to NZ, the roads for instance are a bit bigger:

Then after a bit of a wait, on to San Francisco. ]]> Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=67084 0 34.05222 -118.24278 The day started wet, but relatively mild. The flag was flying rather limply:

And as we are moving on to the U.S. of A. tomorrow, it was time to find it a new home in Hokitika, so here's a last view of it:

As we're on the outskirts of Auckland, we couldn't leave without doing all the things tourists in Auckland do. So we found the relevant bus into town and an hour later we were wandering around Downtown Auckland.

You can't help seeing that there's a rather noticeable building in Auckland:

(http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Attractions/Skytower.html)

It's called the Sky Tower and is “the southern hemisphere's tallest tower”. Looking at it closer up, it looks rather high:

And has an interesting structure right up near the top, a sort of walkway and platform:

So I went in the doors and spoke to a nice young lady who gave me a rather fetching yellow and blue suit to wear and then strapped me very tightly into something like a parachute harness. She then put me in a lift and told me to get out at the very top floor. She didn't warn me that when you stand in the lift and look down, you can see all the many floors of the Sky Tower, rapidly disappearing below your feet through the glass floor:

So I got to the top in about 40 seconds, and after admiring the view:

tried to find which of the many glass panels was actually the door to the great outside. I found it eventually and two enthusiastic young men welcomed me onto to a platform some 630 feet above the streets below:

They suggested that I peer over the edge, which I did and saw this:

It looked to me as though the crossroads with the large red bus turning, was directly below me, but I was assured that in fact the red target area below that in the picture was actually directly below us:

Then it was time to prove that I was the only person in Auckland on the 25th May 2009 who was brave (stupid) enough to jump off the Sky Tower on a rather cold, windy winter day. So I jumped .....

and then I stopped!

I was suspended a few metres below the platform by two blue cords holding me in position, but facing basically downwards. Look up for the camera they said, but it wasn't very easy, my neck didn't bend that far.

Instead, as I spun round and round, I became aware of rather a lot of people in the restaurant below the floor I'd been on a few seconds previously, taking photos of me as I hung there 20 feet away from them with a 620 foot drop below me:

I was expecting that the (hopefully) strong cable I was attached to would allow me to descend at a reasonably controlled rate.

It didn't! So far as I could tell I was in freefall and the target area was approaching very fast, but the guys up top knew what they were doing and I rapidly slowed to a halt, still in a horizontal position, onto the target platform feeling a bit foolish that I hadn't landed on my feet like all the youngsters in the promo videos! (http://www.skyjump.co.nz/)

But the nice young lady on the target area:

was very polite and helped me to my feet and asked if I'd enjoyed it.

When I'd recovered my breath, I said that I thought I had enjoyed it and she then told me that as nobody else was idiotic enough to jump off the tower today, they'd be happy to let me jump off again for free as they needed the publicity of people being seen to jump!

Actually, that's not quite accurate, but I did go up for the free second jump and this time went off the platform backwards and without the pause for the diners. It was every bit as exhilarating as the first jump and I landed just as embarrassingly.

Then I managed to find Barbara, who'd determinedly ignored my flying lessons and had gone off to find a post office to send the flagpole off.

We had a nice cup of coffee, especially well decorated:

And went back to being normal tourists, looking at the gift shops, walking around the harbour, etc.

Off to LA & San Francisco tomorrow, so reports of our progress may be delayed.
]]> Mon, 25 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=66703 0 -36.9666667 174.8 Another bright start; we've been really lucky with the weather considering it's going into winter here.

An early start as we had a longish drive over the Coromandel Penisular to get to Coromandel in time for the 10:15 train, with a brief stop to admire one of the many lovely views:

We made it with minutes to spare and bought our tickets.

Barbara had read about this railway line (http://www.drivingcreekrailway.co.nz) in some of the guide books we'd bought in England, and was obviously excited about the trip:

Once we were all seated in our little narrow gauge railcar:

and our driver/commentator had checked our tickets:

we were off, rattling up the narrow track into tunnels:

over bridges with frightening drops and through dense rain forest at what seemed to be great speed, but probably wasn't quite as fast as it seemed:

One of the more spectacular engineering feats (the whole thing is incredible) is a bridge over a deep gorge:

it is not just an ordinary rail bridge, but a double-decker:

The line twists and turns, goes around in sharp loops, up 1 in 14 gradients, and where the hillside is too steep even for that, it zig-zags up the side of the hill so that one moment the train is going one direction, it stops momentarily while the points are changed, then sets off uphill again, and we're looking down twenty feet to the track we were on just seconds previously:

All the way, there are interesting items of pottery to amuse and entertain:

and unusual construction techniques such as these restraining walls made of hundreds of wine bottles:

The story of this railway is that Barry Brickell, an artist and potter, but also a self taught civil and mechanical engineer, constructed this amazing railway virtually single handed over several decades to get clay and firewood down the hillside for his pottery.

When the costs of building the railway became significantly greater than the return he was getting on his pottery, his bank manager suggested he should open it to the public. It now carries typically 35,000 passengers annually, more than most of the Rail New Zealand lines!

Up and up we went. At one point the line suddenly turned away from the hillside and started going out into the void:

Hoping the brakes were working, we again waited a few seconds for another points change:

before setting off for the terminus of the trip, the Eyefull Tower:

Ten minutes there to enjoy an explanation as to how the railway came into being, and the views:

then it was back to the trains for the descent to civilisation:

All in all, a very worthwhile stop – highly recommended.

On south down the Pacific Coast Highway again to the Waiau Falls. Not quite as spectacular as we might have hoped, but we got a photo there anyway:

And on the way back down the unsurfaced road, we stopped in at the Waiau Waterworks (http://www.waiauwaterworks.co.nz); a fun park with all manner of entertaining watery creations. This huge pendulum clock is water powered:

and amusing things to read and see:

And animals including some alpacas in various states, alert:

awake (just):

comfortable:

Then, with our sightseeing finished for the day the weather changed to miserable, which didn't matter in the slightest as we only had to drive to Manukau (near Auckland) to camp for the next two nights in preparation for leaving New Zealand.

]]> Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=65808 0 -36.9666667 174.8 Another lovely start to the day, and it only got down to freezing point overnight, so warming up a bit!

The Top-10 site at Papamoa Beach was good, and our site had a great view of the Pacific as well as being close to all the amenities:

Sea, sand, surf and s--!

That's sun by the way, lots of it today.

We set off after breakfast to follow the Pacific Coast Highway to the Coromandel Penisula. A stop at Katikati for coffee, then on through Bethlehem to Hahei and the 'Hot Water Beach' where you're supposed to be able to dig a hole in the sand at low tide, and it should fill up with hot water, in which you can then have a pleasant soak.

Unsurprisingly, it was a popular beach and lots of people were digging holes, but we weren't aware of anyone finding a seriously hot bit. But it was a nice beach in its own right, with surfers doing their thing:

And occasionally wiping out:

It was interesting watching them getting out through the big waves; quite a challenge. One young surfer in particular seemed like a good subject to follow:

The fact that this surfer was young, blond and wearing a bikini, was of course, irrelevant ....

As she swam out, the waves got increasingly daunting:

A brave young lady! When I'd been swimming in waves very, very much smaller than this the previous day, they had seemed daunting enough. Waves this size must look horrendous when they tower over you:

Moving on, a short drive took us up to the parking area for the Cathedral Cove. A moderate walk with significant ups and downs took us along some lovely coastline:

And the usual array of different flora and fauna:

Cathedral Cove was very nice. At the highest tides it would have been cut off from the more southerly beach the footpath leads down into. A sizeable arch allows passage through a headland to the cove:

At the state of tide when we got there, it only involved a paddle to go through to the cove:

but well worthwhile, many lovely views:

Including this one before we set off back:

A last view of the island strewn coast before finding our campsite for the night:

]]> Sat, 23 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=65746 0 -36.8885453388342 175.825109481812 A bright start, but what a cold night; inside the cab of the motorhome it was -2°C, so presumably colder than that outside.

The Top-10 site in Rotorua was a bit disappointing, the internet access was so slow that I wasn't even able to upload the few photos and text for the blog in the one hour of time I paid $7.50 for (I did get a refund) and the hot tub was locked well before 8pm (its advertised closing time), so we didn't get to enjoy that either.

Anyway, we moved on to Whakatane, in the Bay of Plenty. We'd read that there was a waterfall somewhere and were directed a little way down Strand Road, where we found a big rock with a tunnel through it:

But no waterfall .... we did find some steps though, and they had some interesting decorations. Apparently, this is called the World's first Vertigraph:

A few hundred steps later, many of them beside a small waterfall (rather insignificant due to the lack of recent rain here), we came out at a viewpoint high above the town:

There were some good views out over the bay:

Then on to the Okere Falls:

In the midst of yet more rain forest, a fairly sizeable river drops through a series of moderate drops between foaming pools:

The water alternates between black, dark green and white, and looks immensely powerful:

We met a canoeist at the end of the track we climbed up beside the river, who told us that the river was currently still quite low at about 400 m³/s, it can get up to 1,400 m³/s apparently.

Along the way, we encountered some nice examples of the Pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) tree, also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree:

Moving on, we arrived at our next camp for the night at Papamoa Beach (http://www.papamoabeach.co.nz/). Another great location, literally on the beach with the pounding Pacific surf just a few tens of metres away:

And great views up the beach of the sunset:

Despite the scepticism of the girls in the site office, I was determined to get a swim in the New Zealand Pacific, even at this time of year (they thought it rather too cold), but I have a good covering of insulation:

]]> Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=65567 0 -37.7333333 176.3 Another bright sunny start to the day after a cold night. Elsewhere on the North Island, roads were blocked with snow, so we're not complaining. Our campsite in Hamilton was basic, but had all we needed.

We found some interesting fungi sharing our parking spot:

Then set off for Cambridge, where we parked outside the town hall for a coffee and some shopping:

Moving on again, a very pleasant drive through interesting countryside to:

Another coffee, this time with an interesting backdrop, note the rocks steaming gently in the background:

When we were ready, a boat came to take us across Lake Ohakuri. Barbara gritted her teeth for the crossing, even though it was only about 30 seconds!

Alighting on the the far side, we walked a short distance to find a warning:

and indeed, a little stream of water just under Barbara's hand by the boardwalk had water that was too hot to leave one's fingers in. Elsewhere it was much hotter:

This particular thermal system (Orakei Korako) has amazing variations in a relatively small area, from steaming jungles:

to cliffs with caves where boiling water erupts at regular intervals from caves, sending steaming torrents down the hillside:

And then there are delicate plants in amongst the violent extremes:

Curiously, this seemed to be Manuka, from which bees make the honey, but the plant also has another name it seems:

Further on are boiling pools:

which bubble and writhe like a living animal:

Some pools are deep and clear, but still hot:

There are cliffs like solidified waterfalls The Golden Fleece Terrace):

Steam frequently obscures the views;

And almost everywhere, little pillars of steam rise up:

There's a big cave:

With nice silver fern trees around the outer edges:

And boiling mud pools, which make the most deliciously disgusting gloopy noises:

And appear to almost be alive:

We had to drag ourselves away eventually as the day was ending and the park was closing. Even the car park bade us a steamy farewell, then on to Rotorua for the night.

]]> Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=65055 0 -38.139822262275 176.246967315674 Another sunny start to the day. Here are the pools we enjoyed (photographed on the way out):

We were sorry to leave this particularly nice campsite (http://www.waitomopark.co.nz) as it would have been fun to try out the cold pool and the trampoline and the many other facilities.

But we had booked three activities, eschewing the Black Water Rafting (like white water rafting but in total darkness! http://www.waitomo.com/black-water-rafting.aspx) in favour of the more sedate options, so set off after a good breakfast (black pudding now on the menu :-) )

First on the list was:

A lovely introduction to the caves of Waitomo with many stalagmites, stalagtites, pillars, etc.:

All nicely lit and no restrictions on photography as is so often the case in such places, so that you have to buy their postcards in order to get a picture to remember it by. The whole tour was much longer than we expected, but all at a gentle pace, and well commentated on by our guide.

Once finished, we had a bit of time to spare before the next underground adventure, so we set off on the Ruakuri Bushwalk, which was lovely. Dramatic views of waterfalls, fast flowing rivers and rain forest, from some nicely constructed walkways high above the forest floor:

Then back to wait for our guide to the next cave system:

While waiting, we studied some of the flora:

and fauna:

before our friendly guide Rich:

led us through a substantial steel door into a dimly lit tunnel with small multi-coloured lights illuminating just the floor as far as another door. This further door wouldn't open until the first door was closed and pressure differentials equalised. It opened onto another dimly lit chamber, but instead of going horizontally away from us, this chamber disappeared vertically in a dizzying drop of spiralling orange lights:

As our eyes accustomed to the low lighting levels, we could see that the chamber had a pathway winding down and round the walls of the cylindrical chamber at a gentle slope; easy enough that wheelchairs could even be used to descend the 60' depth to the start of the cave tour.

The cave itself was spectacular. Loads of weird and wonderful rock formations in all sorts of differing patterns:

There were delicate curtains:

But best of all was our first glimpses of the incredible glowworm displays:

These glowworms are mostly larvae (otherwise called maggots, but that didn't sound as good in the advertising) and illuminate the end of their tails to attract flying insects which come in through the river caves. Once an insect gets close enough, it gets ensnared in the sticky threads exuded by the larva:

And for the record, here's a photo of us deep underground:

A bit further on, we came out onto a platform suspended above the river that flows through the caves (and brings food to the glowworms). In addition to the noise of running water and distant waterfalls, we could hear various shrieks, oohs and aaahs from the intrepid black water rafters. In fact, 'raft' is a rather misleading term as they are all equipped with a personal tube, just the right size to sit in. Here's a group en-route to the caves:

As we stood on the platform in the dark, the group of unsuspecting rafters floated past us, unaware that we were there. The whole underground trip was surprisingly long, and the cave impressively fitted out with steel walkways suspended above the cave floor to minimise the impact on the environment.

On exiting, after our first coffee of the day, we then set off for the last of our trio of subterranean sorties. This one not only had another interesting and informative commentary, and a long underground walk, but culminated in a gentle boat ride down yet another river. This one also had glowworms, but where we'd previously seen maybe hundreds of them, here there were thousands. Some were close, many further away, covering, it seemed, almost every surface of the cave.

Sadly we weren't allowed to photograph or video in this cave, but realistically, it would have been all but impossible anyway from a moving boat (the previous glowworm photo required a four second exposure time).

All too soon, it finished and we left Waitomo for a relatively short drive to Hamilton.....

Practice night, 8 bells, but only 6 of them up and not many ringers due to absence. It was nice to ring again, but my last opportunity until I get back to Fairford!

This is the tower with Jeremy Burslem's brother whose grandson is also learning to ring. St Peter's Cathedral sounds very grand doesn't it, but only 8 bells with a heavier tenor than ours (St. Mary's Fairford). The web site (http://www.stpeterscathedral.nzl.org/bellringers.php) is good. They finished at 9 pm especially for me as they would otherwise have gone home at 8.30!

Here's Charlie waiting outside the cathedral in the motorhome:

Back to the campsite. A bit grim as it's very cold and not nearly as good as last night.
]]> Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=64671 0 -37.7833333 175.2833333 A bright, warm and sunny start to the day. Barbara enjoying the sunshine while brushing her hair:

A metre or so from the back of the motorhome, a blackbird was also enjoying the campsite:

In due course we set off for our next destination and stopped in Inglewood for stamps and found this nice water feature commemorating the Polish settlers' contribution to the development of the district:

It was an interesting place generally:

And provided us with tantalising glimpses of the snow covered slopes of Mt. Tanaka (aka Mt. Egmont) but still not the whole thing:

Then we turned onto the:

What a wonderful road! Not for anyone in a hurry, it winds through steep valleys, some forested, others left as pasture for sheep to gently graze.

And for much of the way, the route is followed by a railway which, if it were used by passenger trains, could be another of the great rail journeys of New Zealand. Sadly, it has not been used by passenger trains since 1983, though the track is in good condition and can be seen below us here where it goes into a tunnel under us:

It reappears on the other side of Pohokura Saddle:

Spectacular though the views are, the huge areas of pasture and woodland were once rain forest like this at Whangamomona Saddle:

but much of it was cleared by slash & burn (as they're doing in South America currently) about 100 years ago.

Apart from the odd sheep farm, there was little habitation until we got to the Republic of Whangamomona with an interesting hotel that we couldn't pass up as a coffee stop:

It was filled with interesting old photos:

And the internal décor was as nice as the outside:

With a warm fire to encourage visitors to stay a little longer:

But the road beckoned, so on we went, Barbara now driving. The road changed to unmetalled, but still basically good, though we did notice and comment on the unusual preponderence of potholes. Had it been in England, we would have expected much worse, but in New Zealand, this was quite unusual, even in such a remote and little used road as this:

And then rounding the next corner, what should we find:

A team repairing all the potholes, who helpfully moved the truck out of the way so that we didn't even have to stop. With a friendly wave to them, we continued on our way down a much improved surface:

Another stop was at a parking place in a fairly remote bit of rain forest, where there was the sad tale of the surveyor Joshua Morgan, who died here of peritonitis in 1893 aged 35, before help could be brought to him. The spot is beside a fast running stream with little waterfalls:

Pressing on, we hadn't seen any signs warning us of rockfalls, but it was obvious that they were a possibility as Barbara was having to pick her way around numerous obstacles:

In places, the road was still passable:

And in others, long sections were one-way only:

Fortunately, we didn't meet any of the heavier traffic in such sections:

Quite how these drivers coped with the seriously narrow bits, hairpin bends and steep slopes, we don't know, but there were more of these heavy vehicles than motorhomes/campers as we found on most other routes.

In due course we got to our destination for the day and checked in at one of the nicest campsites we've yet been to:

After supper we spent a very pleasurable half-hour sipping wine in the open-air hot tub, admiring the Southern Cross above us (picture witheld for reasons of modesty!).

]]> Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=64452 0 -38.2666667 175.1 A calmer night last night, and we woke to a great view over Pukerua Bay with dappled sunshine on the breakers. Once we'd packed and sorted ready for travel later in the day, we popped over to Margaret & Ashley's where we met friend Prue and had a nice chat about all sorts of things.

While chatting, the weather changed from Normal to exciting! Torrential rain, gale force winds, sharp hail, thunder, lightning, almost everything the heavens can offer except snow. Fortunately I'd already backed the motorhome down the steep slope and onto the road below, because it would not have been easy after the weather arrived.

It eased off after a while and we set off at midday with fond farewells to Margaret & Ashley for somewhere north of Pukerua Bay; we weren't too sure exactly where, but New Plymouth was one target. We made good progress despite a few stops for coffee and lunch in an interesting wooden café with a little turret and spire in Waverley.

Driving north up Highway 1, then through Wanganui on Highway 3, took us onto Highway 45 – the Surf Highway. It sounded more exciting than it actually was. We could see the sea in a few places, and even the odd breaker, but it wasn't as exciting as the west coast of the South Island.

All the way around the Surf Highway, we had our first volcano to our right: Mt. Taranaki, 2,518 metres high, but the most we could see of it was some distant foothills as it was constantly shrouded in cloud. Therefore, we didn't end up taking a single photo today, so here's a satellite view of the area thanks to Google:

]]> Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=64219 0 -39.0666667 174.0833333 Wow, what a night! Winds of 140 kph (87 mph) reported, though I reckon that we (our motorhome) was being subjected to even greater speeds than that due to its high position at the top of a slope. The motorhome was rocking and creaking and because we were parked at the top of a very steep slope, I was really worried that if the handbrake partially failed, we'd be going backwards into something or other at a significant speed. So at some early hour of the morning I got out of bed (neither of us had got to sleep anyway due to the noise and movement) to try and pull the handbrake on even harder.

I was also worried about the flagpole which was still up, but I wasn't convinced that I'd be able to keep my feet on the sloping ground, in the dark, and in the terrific winds, so that had to just fend for itself.

Eventually, the alarm went off at 7am, a bit earlier than usual as we needed to catch an early train into the centre of Wellington for Barbara to ring at the cathedral for the morning service.

Now that it was light and the winds had eased a bit, it seemed safer to venture out. I found the Union Jack windsock tangled in an adjacent hedge, nearly at ground level, and the pole looking as though it was half the length it should have been. But I unstrapped it and lo and behold, the pole was absolutely fine, but a couple of sections had just telescoped into each other as they're supposed to do, and the windsock was okay too, just its hook a bit bent. It looked as though the pole must have got blown right over until the windsock was nearly at ground level, and then it got tangled and eventually the hook gave way due to the tensions involved.

It was still wet and windy on the short walk to the station, so we were dressed appropriately. The train arrived nearly on time, and we had a comfortable ride into Wellington centre through all the suburbs.

A bit of detective work resulted us soon finding a big pink building:

which we concluded must be St. Paul's Cathedral, and Charlie even managed to locate another ringer who let us in the ringer's door at the side. There must be something about the look of a ringer that sets them apart from 'normal' people!

The cathedral has several unusual aspects to its bell tower. Firstly, visitors are actually encouraged to come up and watch:

And the access is via a lift:

And when you get into the tower, not only can you watch up to 14 ringers ringing:

But you can also see on a reasonably large screen TV, a really good live view of the bells moving in the chamber above, as the ringers pull on the ropes:

And for any ringers who might be reading the blog, here are the bell details (27¾ cwt tenor):

Then it was time to finish for the 10am service, the ropes were put away and a few ringers showed us the way between several high-rise buildings to Old St.Paul's Church.

What a beautiful church! Constructed all in wood, it's now so hemmed in by modern buildings and trees that it's difficult to photograph from the outside, but this drawing gives a good impression:

Inside it was just as lovely – all dark wood with slightly lighter pews. Also not easy to photograph as it was so dark, this photo was a ½ second exposure:

And the five ringers were equally difficult to photograph as the ringing chamber was tiny – no room for anyone else in there, but a gated doorway did allow a view in. Here's Barbara (very blurred due to the ½ second exposure again) and another ringer:

An interesting aspect of this ring was the perspex floor to the bell chamber allowing visitors to see the actual bells just above the ringers.

When the ringing was finished there, we were kindly invited to a coffee in the vestry, before we set off into town to be tourists. A very pleasant harbourside walk, especially as the rain had by now been replaced by bright warm sunshine, albeit with a bit of a breeze:

took us to Te Papa Museum which had all sorts of fun and interesting exhibits from Maori culture:

to other 'cultures':

Then we found our way to the famous old cable car, which started off underground, or so it seemed. Presumably built over by more high-rise buildings, but eventually climbed steeply out of the more commercial areas of Wellington, through residential areas for the wealthy, and up to the University and Botanic Gardens, where the views just got better and better:

The Botanic Gardens had a nice map showing where the cafe was (it was lunchtime and we'd skipped breakfast) and all the other good things to see.

It looked like a straightforward and pleasant walk to the far end of the park for lunch, so off we set. What we hadn't realised was that the map didn't include contours, and contours there were in abundance. Our knees were starting to protest by the time we found the delightful cafe, populated by friendly people and many sparrows.

Many nice flowers:

And interesting plants later:

We made our way back to St. Paul's Cathedral:

for a third ringing session. There were still lots of ropes:

and Charlie was by this time having difficulty staying awake, so as soon as it was finished, we made our way back to the station and back to Pukerua Bay, where Margaret had prepared another lovely meal for us.

Hopefully a quieter night tonight.
]]> Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=64058 0 -41.0333333 174.9 A grey but very mild start and looking like rain for our crossing of the Cook Strait and up early to ensure that we were at the ferry terminal in plenty of time for the 9am check-in.

We were indeed early and sat in the rain in the queue of cars and motorhomes for quite some time:

But eventually we got aboard, just behind all the lorries (trucks to some readers?) which meant that we'd be one of the first off. We settled down to enjoy the trip, though it didn't look as though we'd see too much at first:

But there were some bright patches and no end of rainbows:

And inside things were looking up as well once we'd got our first coffees of the morning:

And off we steamed, predominantly east at about 40kph according to the GPS. A mercifully calm crossing as Barbara is not the best of sailors. Bye-bye South Island:

Coming into Wellington we passed a sister ship lying at anchor, so although it wasn't quite the same as ours, it seemed like a good idea to photograph it as an example of the sort of thing we were on:

The first thing we noticed on coming ashore on the North Island, apart from the strong winds, was how mild it was, even warmer than Picton. After a short and straightforward drive, we found Margaret & Ashley's lovely place in Pukerua Bay where they were flying a Union Jack in our honour:

A neighbour kindly allowed us to park the motorhome in their drive; one of the few flat areas around here, and as it was quite windy, it seemed like a good test of the flagpole:

While Barbara and Margaret went out to visit an old family friend, Ashley and I talked motorbikes and I got to see his beautiful 1914 500cc Humber, amongst other old BSAs and an MG:

It looks really complicated to ride, with multiple levers on both handlebars, as well as the hand gear-change and oiler to worry about. You can also see in this view, the air-horn and acetylene lamp:

And that's about it for today, apart from the view from inside the motorhome out across Pukerua Bay. It would be even better if it was sunny, but even on a grey day like today, with fading afternoon light, it still looked pretty good:

]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=4878 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=63926 0 -41.0333333 174.9