Letter from New Zealand 11*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Late Again!.…

Kia ora.

So what’s been happening…

Liz & I had the great Northland Trek, 3600km adventure, scoping out the Bay of Islands and surrounding areas for the future (possibly). More later. . .

Richard and Yvonne came over for a week in January – it was so good to see them, particularly since the last time had been at Christmas just after we arrived in New Zealand, and the three new immigrants were in pretty poor shape. It was Rich and Yiv’s first visit to NZ, and we very much hope they’ll be back again soon. We had a lovely time while they were here and got out and about as much as possible. Fortunately, the weather picked up just after they arrived (which wasn’t before time!) and we were able to show them around Wellington and the surrounding areas. Friends of ours, Deborah and Gary (also incomers like us), invited us up to their place near Wanganui (about 3 hours from here) and we had a great day there. We also had a couple of bbqs in the garden and Richard and Yvonne got to meet some of our Kiwi friends.

Well, Spring has sprung, Summer’s been and gone, and for us ‘down under’ it is now officially Autumn. As I look out the new ranch slider door, I see brilliant sunshine and about 28 degrees heat. (Autumn appears good!)

I took these a few minutes ago, to show autumn. . .

and the new door before...

.

And after..

Max is torn between helping with the blog editing and sleeping..

needless to say the strain was all too much..

Liz and I went to the Festival of the Elements in Porirua, a spectacular all-day event with dancing, competitions and displays. This is held on Waitangi Day at the beginning of February.

And so to the ‘Trip’.

Once again Max wasn’t too happy about us going!

We set off heading north, drove most of the day (Liz driving the first 450km’s,) then stopped overnight in Hamilton. The next morning we cracked on and got to our accommodation around tea time. I don’t think we quite realised the distance involved, however we managed fine.

The more we see of New Zealand, the more we realise how spectacular it is. We drove over the Desert Road; it’s like a desert plateau with rough shrub growing everywhere. The NZ Forces use it as a training ground.

One interesting element of the journey involved driving past Mt Ruapehu, a very large volcano in the Tongariro National Park. The current problem is the imminent bursting of the lahar. For those interested, this is a link to a document that explains ‘stuff’

More about Lahars

From the car window..

stock pics to show lahar

The guy walking gives a clue as to the size and volume.

We managed to limbo on by and it’s still threatening to go.

We stayed about a week with Fredi & Douglas Jarvis at their Farm Stay and equestrian centre in Pakaraka, some 15 minutes outside Keri Keri. As can be seen from the pics it was a beautiful and peaceful place. The web site for anyone interested. http://www.nzbaystay.com/

And the view from the veranda at night…

Liz had a riding lesson and “was a natural” according to Fredi (who should know, with her pedigree)

This is Oscar (who liked getting his photo taken).

I, on the other hand, was befriended by Winston (with a head the size of a bucket!)

Not one to be ignored when he wants attention!

He also to a shine to Liz. (Just for the record. Liz was holding my cigar whilst I took the photo!)

We did the Tourist bus trip up to Cape Reianga , the northern most tip of the North Island. A lonely lighthouse and a gnarled, twisted pohutukawa tree on a windswept cliff top on the northern tip of New Zealand have a special place in the Kiwi psyche. Like Land’s End in Britain, this ultimate extremity of the dramatic landscape holds great historic and spiritual significance. The venerated pohutukawa is the Reinga, “the place of leaping” in Maori mythology, where the spirits of the dead leap off the headland and climb down the roots of the 800 year old tree, and descend into the underworld to return to their traditional homeland of Hawaiiki.

Just to give you an idea of where it is....

Where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet…

We also had a charge down 90 mile beach, where you can stop and eat pippies (clam style shellfish), where you scoop them out of the sand, rinse them, bash them together and eat them raw. We had a few just to try them and not be wimps. I think I ate more sand than shellfish.

Sand Dune sledging was also on the agenda: that hill looked a bit steep. The idea of climbing up it, never mind sliding down it again, getting every orifice filled with sand, didn’t appeal to us, so I just took pictures..

We stayed at the Ahipara Sands Apartments in Ahipara, near Kaitaia, right on the beach. And for anyone who’s interested, it’s up for sale as a fully going concern, with everything thrown in for a million US dollars ( it’s on the market in the States)

Liz took every opportunity to ‘hit the water’

Sunset at Ahipara (taken from outside the front of our apartment)

On the way back we stopped off overnight with friends in Orewa, just to the north of Auckland. This part of the North Island, renowned for little or no earthquakes, ended up having 3 in one night while we were there; we continue to have the ‘luck of the Andersons’ (Babs..)

Another thing we did was to visit the cinema.

We went to the Swamp Palace Cinema, a tiny cinema of some 68 seats, in the middle of nowhere, which shows up to date movies four nights a week. We intended to see Al Gores film about the environment.. ended up seeing a German film (with subtitles) called The White Masai with all the accompanying throat slitting and blood drinking of goats and cattle…Life is an adventure.

It was a long haul home, some 10 hours driving; however the trip was well worth it. It gave us a good look of other parts of New Zealand and will help us to decide our future (at a later date).

We finally managed to tame the monster plant.

Liz has volunteered to maintain the wine cork stock.

In the words of Billy Connolly, life here is “not too terrible”.

And finally a quick thanks to Douglas, who used his graphic design skills to give our car a ‘custom’ job.

Not forgetting the Kitties from Hell. Remember, if you want to see how the cats are doing:

http://andersoncats.blogspot.com/