I arrived into Auckland on Tuesday 13th September to rain, wind and cold. Not terribly impressed by that. Spent the next few days in the city, catching up with rellies and friends, taking a look around and getting my insurance claim sorted (hopefully). I must say, the inside of the Vero building is FLASH! Wouldn’t mind working there…lol
I was struck
by how many birds we have here. Even
when I was inside with the windows closed I could still here the wonderful
tones of our wood pigeons (kereru), the tuis and the bellbirds just outside –
ah…home at last :)
I rented a
car and left Auckland on the 16th, spending the next 9 days
travelling south, sightseeing and catching up with friends along the way.
From Auckland
I travelled to Mt. Maunganui, taking a detour up the Coromandel Peninsula for a
look. One word – beautiful! Well, actually there are more words that need
to be used so here goes…
Winding round
the narrow road in the wild and woolley extremes that can grace any NZ
shoreline from time to time, I was still struck by the beauty of it all. Regardless of the weather, this country never
ceases to amaze me. The drive to the end
of the peninsula reminded me a lot of the drive out to Portobello down in
Dunedin, but with Pohutakawa trees lining the road most of the way. The stomach definitely feels the same by the
end of it that’s for sure! Amidst the
rain and wind there were some fine spells much to my delight and the camera was
made full use of during these times lol…
From the
Coromandel I took the Karangahake gorge route to Tauranga. I discovered that there used to be quite a
lot of gold mining in these parts and there’s still plenty of evidence around
of this. Unfortunately by the time I
reached the walking tracks it was getting dark so that will have to be saved
for another time. Still, the drive
through the gorge was lovely, albeit a little short.
Either side
of the gorge farmlands and rolling hills greeted me warmly with their bright
green grasses and oddly patterned cows.
There’s this type of cow I kept seeing that’s completely black front and
rear and just has this band of white around it’s middle!
Most of my
Saturday was spent at the Mount. It
really is a lovely place. Beautiful
light sand, clear azure waters sparkling in the sun (sadly no surf breaking
today though), Tuis sing-songing merrily in your ear as they make the most of
the early spring berries on offer.
Although there were still a few persistent showers and it wasn’t quite
weather for shorts, the sun did make an appearance as we walked up on the
island in the bay and it was just glorious sunning ourselves on a rock for a
bit. From the Mount I continued south
towards Taupo. Along the way there were
many newborn lambs frolicking in the paddocks (SO CUTE!!!) and a gorgeous
sunset just past Tokoroa. Have I
mentioned I love our country… :D
I continued
on from Taupo on Sunday morning enroute to Wanganui (Whanganui now for those
you who don’t know). I didn’t realise how
sulphurous Taupo was. You could smell it
faintly here and there from time to time.
Not as bad as Rotorua though. I
also didn’t realise Taupo had heaps of geysers just randomly here and there
about the place, on the roadside etc.
Crazy!
Unfortunately
the weather didn’t play ball for me so my idea of seeing Tongariro, Ngarahuoe
and Ruapehu in all their finery was smooshed. :( It was still a beautiful drive through the
National Park and I did get a small glimpse of Ruapehu through the clouds at
one point.
From Wanganui
I ventured east and was thinking of going all the way to Napier, but as there
was a RWC match there today I decided better of it and ended up down a crazy
windy farm road out to Castlepoint where I slept by the beach in my car to the
sound of the lapping of gentle waves on the shoreline – magic.
My Monday
morning greeted me with an amazing sunrise at Castlepoint. From there I made my way south by way the
coast, stopping off at Riversdale beach, Lake Ferry and Cape Pallisner, before
heading across and back up the west coast towards Paraparaumu visiting the
beaches along the way.
Having spent
a few days in Wellington seeing friends, looking round the bays and visiting
the Weta Cave, I then crossed the strait and jumped on the train bound for
Christchurch. Arrived over 2hrs late
into Christchurch due to a freight-train/car collision at a level crossing
further down the line. It was a little
surreal to see Christchurch without most of its old buildings and empty lots
where there were once homes. Still, a
win to the All Blacks tonight and most seemed in generally good spirits.
Sunday 25th
September I arrived home safely to Gore, thus ending my trip of 300 days. I left here last November 29th
around 0400 in the morning and arrived back around 1545 today. Tony picked me up at Dunedin following my bus
journey from Chch. Not terribly much fun
getting up this morning as my 0800 bus ended up being 0700 due to daylight
savings – grrr…
Monday 26th
September 2011
Spent my
first day back in reality sleeping in and then trawling through jobsites on the
net applying for jobs. You never realise
how many odd jobs there are out there til you start looking for a job. There really is a position for everything! Now, if only I could find one for me………
