Today 28th feb is the last day of summer in NZ, but thankfully it is still hot and dry.

We travelled to see Lake Rotorua. The road does not closely follow the lakeside so we could not get the views we had hoped for.

We continued along the route 5 past the blue and green lakes. We reached a view point where you can view both lakes, the blue to the left and the green to the right. Depending on which way you stand!

The blue lakes colour is due to white salts on its bottom and the green lake is shallower and has a sandy bottom. The green lake is sacred to the Maori and so no fishing or boating is allowed.

Just past the Blue and Green lakes near lake Tarawera we found the buried village.

It was a tourist spot in the 1800s as there were pink and white terraces made of salts. On June 10th 1886 Mount Tarawera volcano erupted and buried 3 villages and the beautiful terraces. All were covered in 2 metres of thick volcanic material. More than 150 people died there.

One family for 80 years has excavated this spot. There is a museum and a route to follow where the village is being dug out. It was very interesting.                                                          This is the end of a maori canoe they dug up

But the best part of the visit was the waterfall there. The 30 metre Wairere Falls. There are signs saying how steep the walk down and up again is. Needless to say we 2 adventurers went for it…..

Our legs still recovering from Cathedral Coves were challenged again. We did it!

The steps were all different heights and cut into the hillside steeply all the way down. The spray from the waterfall crashes down in 3 stages. The water falls down in different channels over the sheer rocks. It was spectacular to see.

Back at the top was a tea shop in the museum. Grandad wished he’d taken his tripod to photo the waterfall. So he went to get it ,and left me drinking lemonade, to return down the steep path to the bottom of the falls and back once more. I admire his dedication.

Later we went along the road further to see the view of the caldera ( volcano hole). It is a hugearea covered in forest. You could see the lake in the distance. The water from the falls eventually feed into this Lake Tarawera

We travelled back past acres of fruit trees, mainly kiwi fruits.

Now we are in the motel we feel exhausted, a bit too much sun too I think.

Hope my photos show the magnificence of what we saw xxxx

THIS IS GRANDADS FABULOUS ONE

April Fools day tomorrow xxxxx Hope you all 6 try out to trick mummy and daddy and brothers and sisters! And in Sheffield, your friends Anona!

That was a great April’s Fool by my mistake 😉

A long siren went off at 4.30am this morning in the town. It wasn’t the fire dept siren it had a different sound. We decided as no one else moved it was ok. Tsunami warning did come to mind!

To get to Tauranga you go down a Gorge. It is famous for gold mining. We stopped here and walked down the gorge above the river.

” The Karangahake Gorge lies between the Coromandel and Kaimai ranges, at the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand’s North Island. A sharply winding canyon, it was formed by the Ohinemuri River. State Highway 2 passes through this gorge between the towns of Paeroa, Waikino and Waihi.” I copied this from Wikipedia

We visited the 3 towns mentioned and at the first one Paeroa, a” world famous” soft drink was made with spring water and lemons.  Have you ever heard of it?

At Waikino we parked by the sea and walked along the shore. It was another white sandy bay full of shells and sea birds and no one on it except a few families swimming in the wharf.

From Waihi onwards we saw many orchards of avocados and kiwi fruits.

Now at Tauranga we are in a smart motel close to the sea front. Grandad and I walked down to the volcano by the sea and watched the sunset.

Happy Birthday Blandine hope you have a lovely day xxx

We did it we walked to Cathedral Cove.

It is a nice day today blue skies and cooler. I decided we should try to reach Cathedral Cove by foot.

Grandad has not let me forget that I saved him $10 by making him park in HaHei town carpark instead of taking the park and ride. Consequently we had a 20 minute walk up a very steep curving road before we even started on the trail. He would have gladly have rather paid the money and saved the energy. Oops! (but we did have yummy pancakes bacon banana maple syrup and cream for breakfast! Near that carpark)

So from the top of the road we set off. It was an easy walk in that it was all tarmacked and no rocks or trees to impede you.

BUT it is a very steep walk down and then up steeply and then down down and finally very many steep steps down to the Cove.

Really proud we did it and you have fit grandparents/parents! In need of volteral now lol!

We loved it down there. The tide was coming in quite quickly but we got there in time to walk in the cave and to take the iconic photograph. We took lots of pics. There were lots of people down there and lots swimming in the surf. So pleased we did go and made the effort.

Then was the long walk back up. Both thought it was harder walking down than up though.

When we got back to the car we travelled to the cafe in the orchard (that we stopped at on Saturday ) for a cup of tea and cheese cake.

We had a little stop by the sea in the town where the jet ski races were,on Saturday.

Back in Thames we went down to the wharf to see it surrounded by sea water.

We have a gorgeous sunset tonight

Off to Tauranga tomorrow then! Mann Tours continues……

We spent the whole day birdwatching today. There is a coastline nearby all Along the Thames Firth. It has bird wetlands and reserves. Miranda is the seabird Centre. We travelled up from Thames to Clevedon, south of Auckland, where we had lunch and then back.

We saw hundreds of sea birds, no exaggeration, and more herons than I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of pied oyster catchers and some other types like a stilt and New Zealand kingfisher. The Shags were in trees on rocks and very photogenic. We enjoyed ourselves so much. The shoreline is of shells and pebbles all mixed up and the a strip of gravelly sand. It goes on for many miles.

It is wonderful to see nature in all its natural surroundings untouched by man. There are a few small villages and one or two grocery shops but not much more.

Not sure what to do on our last day tomorrow before we move to Tauranga. (Nice road and about 90 minutes drive away)

There is so much we’d like to visit again!

Hope back to school was ok lily and Otis. Louis you have another week in Pornic before school!

How is the dissertation going Anona? And my baby grandchildren Xavi and Alice you will have grown so much I’m sure!

Love you all

Grandmaxxxx

Dads birthday today and so we celebrated all day!! He really was pleased with all your birthday messages 🤗💕💕

First stop breakfast under a palm tree in the sunshine.

Lunch cheese cake

Tea starter was lamb sausages then sirloin steak green beans and chunky chips for main

I drove home from restaurant my first time with an automatic could get used to it!

Now drinking wine and watching the sunset just as dawn is breaking in Europe….

 

The west side of Coromandel is a road right next to the sea. The tide was high and the sea right by the road in places. Where there was a stretch of sand there were very many pied oyster catchers gathered together waiting for the tide to turn. They looked so comical.

We saw cormorants and herons and quite a few other kinds of sea birds. It was so great to see them in a natural environment and so close to us too.

We kept stopping all along the way to take photos and enjoy the views and beaches.

Eventually we reached Coromandel Town. Then the road climbs steeply into the forested mountain passes. We went over to the other side

Again we stopped at beaches until we reached Whitianga. Lovely sandy deserted beaches!

It was 4.30pm and we had now reached the roads on the east side that we had explored yesterday. We arrived back in Thames after crossing mountains again.

Grandad had a really lovely birthday day today and so did I xxx

Hope you like my photos.

This is a silted up jetty from the 1800s in Thames tonight.

Today after torrential rain all through the night, we set off with low clouds and drizzle. As we travelled along to the East side of Coromandel it gradually began to clear away. We crossed forested mountain sides to reach Pauanui. It is a shallow harbour with a long jetty stretching into the estuary.

On the sea side there was quite a strong current with surf waves.

The rare NZ dotterel birds nest there and we saw quite a few on the shore as well as other wader birds. There were old trees growing in the sand dunes and they had jet black tree trunks.

On the other side of the estuary was the tourist town of Tairua. There were lots of people sitting on the grass watching jet ski races on the water. We ate an ice cream and watched the races too.

Further up the coast we reached Hot Water Beach. It is fascinating. You can hire a shovel to dig yourself a hole in the sand. It then fills with hot water from the hot springs below. You can only do this at low tide.

In the photo you can see the people digging and laying in the hot water pools they have made.

A very nice young Maori man let me photo his pool and you can clearly see the hot water bubbling up. I put my hand in the water and it was quite hot! He told me the deeper you dig, the hotter it gets. Again it is a surfing beach and there were lots of sea birds there.

Next we reached Hahei. This is a beautiful beach as you can see with islands out to sea in the bay. From here you can walk to cathedral cove. It would take 90 minutes to reach the beauty spot over a steep cliff and hillsides so we didn’t do it. You could go via boat but the swell was too much today!

Last stop today was Cook Bay. Here Captain Cook landed in 1769 in theEndeavour .

He arrived just as the planet Mercury passed in front of the sun and so he named the bay Mercury Bay. There is a monument of Cook here.

We are very pleased with what we saw today and are keen to see the West side too

We didn’t race from one to the next but spent a while in each place. We had a lovely lunch of ploughmans sitting outside in an orchard. The ham was home cured and the preserves made by them and yummy pickles and cheese, all with tasty toasted bread

The weather was so good to us after 2 days of cyclone. It is cooler now but the rain cyclone has passed over North island and gone. It’s forecast for showers tomorrow and then sunshine for a few days

You have all had a good half term by the sounds of it and I’ve loved seeing your photos of the children thankyou. I do miss you all xxx

Cyclone tail hitting North island over the weekend and bringing Autumn weather

Today we were woken up early with rain hammering on the roof, at times it was deafening. We packed up and left The Bay of Islands. We had a 200 mile journey to do retracing steps south through Auckland and then down to the Coromandel peninsular

We are at a town called Thames and are here for 5 nights using it as a base to explore this part of the North Island.

We have a really fast wifi connection. Its like heaven after all the difficulties with communication we have had up to now!

The rain caught us up and it is pouring down here but warm too.Here is Auckland as we passed on the motorway!

More tomorrow, we have explored the town and wharf nearby in the rain but snug inside now watching the weather through the windows xxxxx

As you can see we spent most of the day exploring the Bay of Islands by boat.

Today was special to us as we met each other at a friends party on 21 feb 1970 and have been together ever since. 💕💕💕.

We had a tour of the many islands and met a pod of dolphins. They swam under the boat and in front of us for a while.

In the bay it isn’t too choppy but on the far side of the islands we met the full force of the waves in the South Pacific Ocean. I wasn’t sick as it was a one metre swell ( ideal kayaking swell for grandad, Lily and Anona.)

We went out to Motukokako, the hole in the rock island. The conditions at sea were ok to sail through it, weren’t we lucky?

There was a huge shoal of fish through the hole on the other side of the island. They were iridescent lime in colour and many sea birds on the surface above them.

We saw gannets albatross shags and gulls.

The boat stops for over an hour on one of the larger islands, Otehei Bay for a barbecue lunch. The bbq was very good lots of choice. You had only to pay for your drinks. Some people went swimming there and some went on the walks up the headland to see the view. We stayed on the beach!

The last stop was at Russell a half hour sea journey from Paihia. You could opt to get off here and return by another ferry for free. This is what we did.

Russell has lots of history. It was once the capital of New Zealand when they killed whales..no comment!

We walked along the shore to the right of the sea front up to the church.

This is the oldest church in NewZealand. I was so interested to see the history of the grave stones. Also the prayer mats were beautiful tapestries of life in New Zealand and its history. There were important Maori graves and statues and also ship wreck victims from past times.

Next was the museum with Maori carvings, a whaling ship and whaling stew pots spears etc lots of interesting items and info about Russell

Furthest along was the French Mission and writing press( Catholic Church) high up on the hill. It has a colonial shop and cafe.

We sat on the veranda and drank tea it was delightful.

Russell is a charming town. Remember we tried to reach it by dirt track yesterday!!

Today we explored the area a bit more. We made a huge mistake. It was grey and raining so looking at the map we decided to drive to Russell instead of taking the ferry to Russell. (It was poor visibility and we thought it was a waste to go by sea.)

The first part of the journey was along a pleasant valley and we saw 2 lime green birds flying over, that we think were woodpeckers. Then it turned to a gravel road. As we travelled up, the road went along a ridge with terrifying drops either side!

We soon decided to turn back and that was also hard,to find a part of that road where there was enough room to turn.

Back in Paihia we went to a waterfall,

in the rain it did not look good. At a nearby coffee shop the owner suggested we go on the Matauri Bay road further north. He was astonished we’d tried the gravel road! Only go to Russell by ferry!

This road was wonderful and tarmacked all the way an easy drive through spectacular scenery of the bay of islands and Takou bay. We got to Matauri beach. It had stopped raining and was a bit grey but warmer. It was a long sandy beach with small islands close by in the sea.

I paddled all along the beach and the water was warm and clear, there were lots of shells there too. Children were surfing and there was a camp ground at one end of the bay. No shops only a car park. We spent the afternoon there and slowly drove round the tourist route loop stopping at view points and back to the motel.

I hope your half term holidays are going well. I know you have good spring weather in Oxford and lots of snow and sunshine in Austria.

 

One of the main reasons we stayed north of Auckland at Bay of Islands was to be able to see the giant Kauri trees in Waipoua forest. The oldest and largest tree in NZ is there and is called Tane Mahuta.

We called in at the visitors centre in Paihia where are staying, to make sure the forest trails were open. The problems in this area are that the native kauri trees are dying from a disease. Yes we were told,they were still allowing people to visit,but you had to walk through disinfectant and brush your shoes so as to prevent further contamination of the forest. You have to walk on their board walks and not on the forest floor.

We joined the roads leading to the east coast. On the way we found such beauty. New Zealand never ceases to amaze us. The coast line was of turquoise blue seas and massive sand dunes and a huge inland estuary. The hillsides are steep and curved with ancient forests. The valleys have been cleared and are farmland. Limestone outcrops and sandstone I think.

We stopped at a town called Omapere and then walked up over the headland. Up here you could see almost 360* views.

There was a long mural in the town telling the history of the town.

Captain John Martin and his crew did not realise the danger their ship was in. Across the bay is a treaturous sand bar and huge currents. A Maori girl swam to them to warn them and helped to safely guide the ship into the harbour. She later married him and they had 3 children. The mural goes on to explain how the early settlers managed to colonise the town. It starts with the Maoris story and then the Europeans.

We still hadn’t even reached the Waipoua Forest, so we set off again. The first view point was the actual tree. It is a giant I’ll let you read it’s dimensions. The rainforest was full of those buzzing insects, but we didn’t get one bite today thank goodness.

 

Hope you like the photos. This has been another memorable day in our brilliant holiday.