Coromandel and Northland

Orokawa Falls

looking through Cathedral Cove

The Coromandel certainly lived up to its reputation.  All the drives were scenic, with frequent waterfalls and loads of punga trees.  The beaches were pristine with white sand and turquoise water.  We stopped for a scenic walk out to Cathedral Cove.  The walk was a bit of a mission, but the end result was well worth it; there is a beautiful walkway carved out of the headland  by the sea that connects two beaches.  Nearby, we went snorkeling in Gemstone Bay.  It’s in the middle of a marine reserve, so the fish and other critters were abundant.  If you swam slowly they would come and swim around you, almost as if they knew they were protected by law. 

Snapper

We spent an afternoon in Auckland.  After not really having been in a proper big city for months, we were a bit wary of the urban unknown.  It turned out to be a really lovely city.  It is busy and there is plenty to do and see, but it is also quite chilled out, especially for a capital city.  

From Auckland we headed north along the east coast.  We got some swell that was generated by a tropical cyclone, so we had a few good surf sessions over a couple of days, and went for yet another scenic hike at the Mangawhai Cliffs (be sure to check out all the photos by clicking on the link in the top right corner of the blog!)

We camped at a place called Sandy Bay for a night, and in the morning woke up to a second day of rain and wind.  We didn’t want to drive through what we knew was very scenic coastland on a day that the mist was so thick we couldn’t see past the next bend in the road.   I made the ironic mistake of asking, “What are we going to do today?”  just before we got in the van.  I got my answer a couple minutes later when Mitzy (that’s the nickname we’ve given our lovely Mitsubishi) wouldn’t start.

Thankfully, we had paid a bit extra along with our insurance for roadside assistance.  Of course, that would only be of any help if we could actually call the company to let them know we couldn’t start our van, and our mobile phone didn’t have any reception.  Luckily, there was a nice guy named Billy on his “lunch break” (which seemed to be a few hours long) who had stopped to check the surf.  He drove me up a series of hills until his phone had a bit of reception, and we called for assistance. There are much worse places than Sandy Bay to be broken down, so we really couldn’t complain, but it took about 4 hours for the tow truck to arrive.

We were nervous waiting for the mechanics to let us know what was wrong with the van.  We were afraid it would take a couple of days to get her fixed.  Mitzy’s not just our automobile, she’s also our home, so leaving her in the shop for a couple of days would have cost us a pretty penny in hotel fees.  Fortunately, it was just a buildup of carbon in the carburetor (Tom calls it a carboretta) and she was back on the road in about 2 hours. 

That evening we headed north and camped at the southern end of the Bay of Islands.  The next morning, we got up early and, based on the advice of the New Zealand Surf Guide (Tom’s bible for the year) we headed to a place called Elliott’s Bay.  It was already a pretty remote location, but in the interest of finding even better waves, we walked over a couple of headlands until we got to a secluded bay with nice waves.  It had started out as a cold morning, so I had set out with my jeans and a hoodie.  The treck was long and somewhat difficult, so by the time we were half way to our destination I was already sweating and regretting not having brought my bikini.  Luckily, we were in the middle of nowhere, with hardly anyone around for miles, so I spent the morning naked on the beach.  I went swimming and got a couple of good photos of Tom surfing.  Even by Tom’s high standards, it was an exceptional morning’s surf.  There was good swell, no wind, and it seemed as though he had the entire ocean to himself.  

Tom's wave of the day

We stopped that afternoon to use the public toilets in Kawakawa.  As funny as this may sound, they’re a bit of a tourist attraction because they were designed by a famous artist called Friedrich Hundertwasser.  

I know it's nothing epic, but that's me!

That night we camped near Taupo Bay and Tom got another good session of surfing in.  I also managed to stand up on a few waves.  Surfing is much harder than it looks.  I will say that what it lacks in ease it more than makes up for in quality of workout; if I don’t lose my bingo wings this year, I doubt I ever will.  

The following day we went a bit further north for more snorkeling in Maitai Bay, part of the Karikari peninsula.  Unlike Gemstone Bay in the Coromandel, we were not in a marine reserve, so there weren’t quite as many fish, but still plenty to look at, and crystal clear water made for great visibility.  We saw squid, a large sting ray, a few shoals of small fish, and in the deeper water some big and interesting fish.

From there we headed up into the region known as the “far north”.  The drive wasn’t as scenic as some of the others we’ve been on, but the northernmost part of the country was worth it.  It is home to New Zealand’s largest sand dunes, as well as the world’s purest silica sand deposits.  We rented a couple of body boards and slid down “Psycho Slope” a few times.  It wasn’t quite as big or steep as Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes in Michigan, but certainly the biggest and steepest dune I’ve even been down on a body board.  We would have loved to have spent hours going down the dune, but unfortunately we had to climb it each time and were exhausted after just an hour.  

Tom, 3/4 of the way to the top of "Psycho Slope"

Afterwards, we drove to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga.  It used to be a 10,000 watt bulb, powered by diesel and manned by a lighthouse keeper.  Now it's 50 watts, solar powered, and monitored by a computer in Wellington.  Tom’s favourite part of the scenery there was being able to see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.  There were waves breaking far out at sea, and closer to the shore we could see them washing up on the beach in two different directions. 

That night we went for an evening surf and then waged a full on war with the mosquitoes.  We made sure the windows and doors were shut tight, but the little buggers kept finding their way in somehow.

We’ve been making our way down the west coast of the north island since then.  We preferred the eastern side of the island because here on the western side it’s a bit more difficult to access the sea.  When we did access the sea, it was on places like 90 Mile Beach (which is actually something like 80 km).  It’s golden sand for as far as the eye can see. There are plenty of places to rent quad bikes, go horseback riding, take 4x4 tours, etc., but there wasn’t a whole lot to do without spending money.  It doesn’t help that the weather has been pretty horrendous; it’s been raining and windy for 4 days straight.  It’s taken a bit of the romance out of living in a van.  There isn’t much to do inside the van besides read our books, it’s difficult to cook in the wind and rain, and the seal on the window above Tom’s clothes has a leak, so he’s quickly running out of clean dry t-shirts.

Our exhaust pipe broke off on a Saturday evening.  Nothing was open Sunday, so we’ve been driving around in an embarrassingly loud van for the last couple of days.  Fortunately we found a place that should have it repaired for us soon, and we’ll be able to get back to exploring the country without announcing our presence a kilometer before we actually arrive.

East Cape and Bay of Plenty

We stayed at Lucy and John’s place to look after their dogs and chickens for the first couple days of January.  We had a chocolate and a black lab, internet, tv, a trampoline and lots of toys.  They tried to pay us for our “trouble” but we had enjoyed it so much we couldn’t accept the money.  Instead, Lucy sent us on our way with loads of courgettes (zucchini), cucumber, plums, strawberries, a kumokumo, and a jar of her homemade picallily.  We didn’t have to stop at a supermarket for days.

We left Gisborne and headed north up highway 35 through the East Cape.  When we were first leaving town we commented on how spoiled we had become.  We knew the scenery around us was lovely, but noticed we were taking the hills and valleys of the Gisborne area for granted.  No more than 20 minutes later we came around a bend and, once again, had our breath taken away by a stunning view of the sea.  When we had a chance to take a detour off highway 35 to be closer to the sea, we decided to take it.  The map showed a road that went into Waipiro Bay, and another that would take us north to join back up with highway 35.  Not far from Waipiro Bay, the road we had been travelling on turned to gravel.  We were quite nervous that we had taken the wrong road, but hadn’t seen any other likely options, so we carried on hesitantly until we had to pull off the road to let a construction crew through.  They assured us that the little gravel road did indeed join up with “the main road” so we continued on, glad that we had taken the detour in the end; it was well worth the views of the sea.

We stopped for a surf near Te Araroa, not far from Hicks Bay, and then took a small road out to the end of the East Cape, to see the most easterly lighthouse in the world.  The road out to the lighthouse was spectacular.  To one side were steep cliffs.  The tops of the hills were covered in cloud, so we couldn’t quite make out how high they actually were.   The other side of the road fell straight into the sea.  It was one of our favorite roads in New Zealand, and considering all the places we’ve been, that’s really saying something.

The villages around the East Cape are small, and we found ourselves worried about running out of petrol.  After travelling for 2 hours through mountains without passing a single petrol station, we were relieved to see one in Raukokore, just on our way in to the Bay of Plenty. 

the view from Mount Maunganui

The Bay of Plenty is quite a lot different than the East Cape.  We certainly wouldn’t struggle for petrol here.  It’s the most urban of places we’ve been so far.  There are even roads with medians/central reservations, sometimes with three lanes on each side.  It’s also a bit more touristy, but manages to be quite charming at the same time.  Cities like Whakatane, Tauranga, and Mount Maunganui have more trendy bars and shops, but fortunately lack the flashing neon lights and loud slot machines of seaside towns in the UK.

The major crop in the Bay of Plenty is the Kiwi.  They don’t need picking until March, so we’ve decided not to stick around looking for work.  We’re headed to the Coromandel Peninsula next; it’s renowned for its amazing scenery and coastline...

New Year 2011 at Rhythm and Vines

early in the evening

the VIP tent

Rhythm and Vines was a huge success.  We worked a lot of hours, met some really great people, and had an absolutely brilliant New Years Eve.  The festival was a really good one.  In amongst the hills and grape vines were:

·         About 6 stages, (including one with a natural amphitheatre made by the hills around it)

·          food and drink vendors (where we got free staff meals but still managed to spend too much on drinks)

·         a water slide ($2, unless you go naked, then it’s free)

·         hammocks (a whole hillside full of them!)

·         a really lovely VIP tent (we impressed the boss, so we got in free)

·         about 25,000 other people

·         a wicked fireworks display at midnight

The main stage, just before midnight

the hill of hammocks

We managed to stay up and be amongst the first to see the light of 2011.  Someone told us Rhythm and Vines was ranked the 2^nd best place in the world to be for New Years Eve.  Paris was supposed to be the first, but I’ve been to both and I prefer the hills of New Zealand’s east coast.

The east coast has been seriously lacking any swell.  I haven’t even had any little waves to practice on, and Tom certainly hasn’t seen a good wave since Boxing Day.  We should have asked Santa for some waves.

We’ve really enjoyed Gisborne, but we’re ready to move on and experience a bit more of the country.  I keep finding myself singing Willie Nelson.   When we get “on the road again” we’re going to take the long way around the East Cape and in a few days should be arriving in the Bay of Plenty.  Hopefully we’ll find more work when we get there, and loads of amazing scenery in the meantime.

A happy holiday, indeed!

Tom and I finally found work at the Rhythm and Vines festival in Gisborne.  It started ten years ago as a relatively small music festival in a vineyard and has been getting bigger and better ever since.  A few weeks ago we signed up to volunteer in exchange for admittance because we had heard it will be loads of fun, but knew there was no way we’d be able to afford the $200 tickets.  We got emails saying that there were enough volunteers, so they wouldn’t need us.  Thanks to Tom’s experience at See Tickets in Nottingham, we were able to score paid work instead.  So far we’ve been working 12 to 14 hour days, but we’ve been told things will slow down and we’ll be able to celebrate the New Year.  The live music the night of the 31^st goes ‘til 8:00 a.m., so if we manage to stay up that late after a full day of work we’ll be some of the first to see the light of 2011.

Our Christmas Eve camping site

We worked Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, but managed to have a really lovely Christmas in between.  We drove back down to the Mahia Peninsula to celebrate, and camped on the sea, surrounded by Pohutukawa trees in bloom.  It was really strange to be wearing a bikini and loading on the sun screen instead of spending the day out in the snow or in a warm kitchen.  We went for a walk on the beach, then met up with our friends John and Angela from Taranaki.  The four of us went for a surf and then had some really nice food.  We had New Zealand mussels, sirloin steak with portabella mushrooms, nice salad, and ham from the pigs we helped feed a month ago.  After fishing and a small bonfire we sat around a picnic table with our lantern, drinking beer and wine and having a good laugh.  Boxing day we got up early, went for a quick surf, and got back to Gisborne in time for work.

Dear Santa,

I'm not sure if you read my blog.  I was going to send a letter to the north pole, but we couldn't get much farther from there unless we went to Antarctica, so I don't think it would get there in time.
We're not sure where we're going to park the van on Christmas eve. We're also not sure how you're going to land all the reindeer on the roof.  Since we don't have a chimney, will you squeeze in through the exhaust pipe?
We don't have an oven to bake you cookies.  Do you like fish?
We also don't have anywhere to hang stockings or put up a tree.  Where will you put our prezzies?
It will be really, really hot here in your Santa suit.
Maybe, to save you all the trouble, we could just give you our bank details and you can transfer some money? We've been really good.


Thanks, and safe travels,


Katie and Tom

still unemployed, back in Gizzy

First off, I regress.  In my last blog I translated what I thought was an American phrase for my British friends.  How daft of me!  I should have known better than to think that there’s a phrase, other than “go figure”, that the Americans have and the British don’t.  When I mentioned my error to Tom, he took the mick a bit.  I’m sure I heard the words “plonker” and “numptie”.  My apologies, Brits.  I should have asked Tom, but he was probably off looking at fishing supplies when I wrote that bit.  Go figure.

One of Tom's new friends

We gave up on Napier.  We spent a few days looking for work but no joy.  We had to spend some money staying at camp sites, the library charged for internet, and the sea wasn’t nearly as fun (i.e. no surf or snorkeling) so we came back to Gisborne.  We decided if we’re going to be unemployed we may as well do it somewhere where we can have fun in the sea and work, instead of pay, for our stay.  Murray is letting us stay at his orchard, and in exchange we’re spending a couple of hours each day clearing the bramble and other nasty plants out of his citrus trees.  There are sheep in the orchard.  They follow us around waiting for us to feed them.  We were surprised to see them eat oranges, but they love 'em!  

Every now and then I have to remind Tom to get back 

to work, otherwise I swear he'd just play with the sheep all day. 

The van from half way up the hill,
on my way to the caves

Our way back to Gizzy (the local nickname for Gisborne) was interesting.  We spent the night beside a beautiful lake, and then stopped to check out some caves.  Tom’s foot is still hurting from our trip to the Rere waterslide so, as much as he hates it, he’s been taking it easy over the past week.  The hike to the caves turned out to be up a steep hill, so I went on my own.  It was a lovely clear day, so when I got to the top of the hill I could see for miles in every direction.  I heard a funny slapping noise, and when I turned to see what it was I saw a magpie flying straight at me.  It got pretty close to my head.  I thought to myself “that was weird” and kept walking.  I must have been close to his nest, because he kept flying at me.  He’d swoop close to my head, then fly straight up into the air, and dive bomb me again.  The only protection I had was a camera bag on a long strap that I kept swinging around like num chucks.  At first I was using it to protect myself.  I eventually started trying to hit the damn thing just to get it to leave me alone.  It was psychotic.  I ran in multiple directions to get away from its nest, but by that point I don’t think it mattered to him any more; he wanted my eyeballs on his talons.  If I hadn’t had that camera bag, I’m pretty sure he would have gotten them.  I never did get to the caves; I finally retreated, looking over my shoulder the whole way down the hill.  Bastard psycho magpie.  I wish someone could have seen it.  Better yet, I wish someone could have taken a video; I could have sent it into the Alfred Hitchcock Society and scored a leading role in the “Birds” sequel.

I had to Google an image of the Australian Magpie
because I was too busy using my camera bag as a weapon
to get a photo of the one that attacked me.

one of my first times standing

I've had a little more success with surfing.  I’m to a point now where I can stand up on my board.  Tom originally thought it would take me about 15 sessions in the sea to get standing, but I've done it in 4.  I’m wobbly, and they’re only little waves, but I’m standing nonetheless.  I'm itching to get better.  Unfortunately the swell has dropped off, so the sea resembles a pancake at the moment, but it should pick up before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas…it’s a bit surreal having it in the southern hemisphere.  It’s the middle of summer here.  We spend the day in shorts, T’s and flip flops, and then when we walk into the supermarket we hear Christmas music.  It’s a far cry from the snow everyone’s getting in the northern hemisphere.  Back in the US and UK, the days are short, and everyone’s been hearing about Christmas for a couple months now.  The Giborne street decorations didn't go up until a week or so into December.  It just doesn't seem to be as hyped up here, which is quite nice.  

Tom fishing the golden hour

Whist there's no swell, we've been entertaining ourselves with fishing.  Prawns are so cheap here we buy them to use as bait.  It seems a waste to use such nice prawns as fish bait, but they're often cheaper than actual bait, so we buy 2 packages: one for the fish and one for our dinner.

a close up 

Tom fishing under a Pohutukawa tree

There are trees called Pohutukawa trees, sometimes nicknamed the New Zealand Christmas tree, that bloom in red flowers this time of year.  They get massive, they’re everywhere, and they’re lovely.  

We're hoping to spend Christmas day on the beach.  I'm planning to wear my bikini and a Santa hat.  If the weather's nice we're going to buy a disposable barbeque and grill out on the beach.  I'm a bit gutted to be missing my third Michigan Christmas in a row.  I wish we could have all of our friends and family here to celebrate with us.  We've decided to buy each other lotto cards instead of proper presents... so maybe next year...

Unemployed

We picked tons of citrus.  4.7 tons to be precise.  3,437kilos (7561lbs) of Tangelos and 900kilos (1980lbs) of Navel Oranges.  We were happy with the pay.  We got paid by the weight, but if we had been paid by the hour we would have made a bit less than minimum wage.  It was under the table (Brits: this means “cash in hand”) so we were quite pleased.  When you factor in the shower, kettle, and toilet that we had for the week on top the cash, we did quite well in Gisborne.

Cooks Cove

Hole in the Wall

Other side of Hole in the Wall

 We had a lot of fun there as well.  It was raining one day so we left the orchard to find some waves.  We passed the surf spot we were looking for, and ended up at Cooks Cove.  It's named after Captain James Cook, who landed there in 1769 on one of his three voyages around the world.  The rain let up just long enough for us to make the hour and a half hike to the cove and a place called “Hole in the Wall”.  After a bit of exploring we noticed the sky was looking a bit ominous, so we missioned back to the van, but not in time to beat the wind and rain.  It was nice to be able   

to make a couple of bowls of hot soup after over 2 hours of hiking in bad weather. 

After finally getting all the gear I need, I went for my fist surf in Gisborne.  Remember those MasterCard adverts that went something like “Roast Chicken with all the trimmings: $21, Bottle of Wine: $19, Chocolate caramel cheesecake: $12, Having a nice dinner with the family: priceless.”?  Well I have my own version:  “Wetsuit: NZ$300 Surfboard: NZ$500, Booties: NZ$ 50, Surfboard Leash: NZ$60, Dropping into my first big wave, falling off my board and then having it hit me in the head from behind: Pretty bloody expensive.”  Hopefully I’ll be able to edit that in the next couple months.  I’m hoping standing up on my first wave will make the initial expense “priceless”. 

We went to the ReRe falls and waterslide.  We had seen it on a tv program before we even came to NZ , and really wanted to find it.  We found out when we were in Gisborne that it was only about ½ hour from where we were working.   The falls were nice, but the real highlight was the waterslide.  It’s a giant slope of rock with a steady river of water rushing over it into a deep pool at the end.  The rock is mostly flat, but there are just enough cracks and bumps to keep it scary.  We borrowed a couple of body boards and had loads of fun sliding down it.  Tom attempted to slide down standing up, and not surprisingly hurt himself.  He keeps saying he needs to quit acting reckless and try acting his age instead, but I have yet to see that happen.  Maybe in his 30’s. 

climbing back up for another go

There was a guy called Tony who worked for Murray and was in the garage almost every evening working on his stock car.  Every two weeks he enters it in a race, smashes it into a bunch of other cars, and then works every evening to fix it up just in time for the next race.  We had a good time watching all the events, and it was especially fun to have someone to cheer for.  The people watching was good too. 

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with our new friends Lucy and John.  Well actually, we went to their house for dinner, and somewhere between the chips and dip and putting the meat on the barbeque I said, “is today Thursday?  I think it’s Thanksgiving today.  Happy Thanksgiving!”  John and Lucy (and lots of other Kiwis) were under the impression that Thanksgiving is just part of our Christmas celebrations.  I guess that’s because they only see or hear of it on tv around Christmas time.  We had a lovely salad with roast veg, potato salad and lots of different meats on the barbeque.  It wasn’t exactly traditional Thanksgiving food, but it was a feast indeed, and we sure have a lot to be thankful for. 

after the storm

sunset from Kaiti Hill

The Mahia Peninsula 

The result of not wearing makeup for months:
I look horrible, but catch snapper.

We heard that there was stone fruit (peaches, apricots, nectarines, etc.) to be picked in Napier, so we left Gisborne and headed south along the coast.  We stopped in the Mahia Peninsula on the way and had a lovely time there.  When the sun is shining the water is a gorgeous turquoise colour, and looks like something you’d see in a flyer for a tropical holiday/vacation destination.  It seems to be the divide between the two types of sand we've seen; one side of the peninsula is Blacks beach, with black sand, and the northern side has golden sand.   We went fishing both nights that we were there, and had snapper for breakfast both mornings.   I caught two the first night, and Tom caught one the following.  It was nice to actually catch fish, especially because the last few times I’ve been fishing in the UK with Tom we haven’t caught anything.  It seems our luck has changed (or maybe we’re just fishing in far better seas.) 

Unfortunately, the luck we’ve had fishing hasn’t transferred to our search for work.  We’ve been in Napier for a couple of days now and haven’t had any luck finding work.  It’s getting discouraging; to the point that we’re considering getting “real” jobs for the summer.  I’m really disappointed.  I wanted to spend a few weeks in Gisborne, then a few weeks in the Bay of Plenty, then the Coromandel Penninsula, and then northland (the northernmost part of the north island).  That would be entirely feasible if the work was available now.  However, the fruit picking doesn’t really pick up for another 2 weeks, and we’re not sure what to do in the meantime.  We can’t really afford another two weeks of holiday, so it looks like we might be “settling down” for the summer.  I know I can’t complain, but I still want to.  What’s the point in living out of a van if we’re going to park it in the same place for the summer?  Tom assures me we’ll still go to all those places, but going for a week won’t be the same as spending the next couple of months exploring.  Then again, we're not even sure if we'll be able to find proper jobs for the summer, so we may just have to take the next 2 weeks off and live on noodles and the fish we catch with bait we find in the rocks...