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.

 

Eventually we arrived in Auckland after an annoyance at the check in with Jetstar. But that’s another story and to be resolved.

The journey to the North up to Bay of Islands took longer than expected

These are views from a view point over the bay of Islands

We arrived by 5pm and are in a Spanish style motel a short walk from the sea front.

It is a tourist resort with many motels and bars and restaurants. The ferries and boats can be booked to explore the islands from here. We just walked along to the town and the sea shore this evening. Here are a few pics

More tomorrow xxxx

Missing you all

We set off to travel along Arthur’s Pass and the temps rise gradually from 12*c to a much warmer 24*c during the morning.

The sky was full of clouds but we could see the mountain tops of the New Zealand Alps. Our first stop was Castle Hills.

It is a limestone area with huge out crops of boulders sticking up from the hills. Some of them were as large as stone henge boulders. Again it is a Maori sacred place and very well visited.

3 years ago we visited them on a grey drizzly day but today they looked so much better. We spent ages there climbing up to them and walking through and around them. We took many photos but don’t worry I’ve only uploaded a few! You could see “faces” in lots of them with a bit of imagination.

We continued as far as Arthur’s Pass town

then made our way back slowly, stopping to see the views and the lakes we had passed.

In one area you can clearly see the snow fields. It has been another fab day to remember.

We are busy sorting our things for the flight. The suitcases still weigh less than maximum thank goodness.

We will be staying north of Auckland in a town on the coast called Paihia

More from there watch this space xxxx

Not a very long blog tonight. We are now in Christchurch.

We left a rainy and cold 12*c Kaikoura. The temps drop so quickly from day to day. Along the coastal road the traffic was light because it was Saturday and early and poor weather I assume.

We only stopped at Cheviot for a coffee break and so arrived at Christchurch by lunch time.

We walked through the city centre and saw the broken cathedral. Then we strolled along the riverside. There are Maori mosaic paths and points of interest like Captain Cook statue. The walk goes on for a couple of miles.

Our hotel is right by the airport.So that’s handy for when we leave early Monday morning .

We went to the seaside nearby at New Brighton and had dinner. The sun has been shining and it’s warmer 20*c now

Tomorrow we are going to explore Arthur’s Pass.

Has half term started now? I hope you enjoy it xxx

We decided to do and go to our favourite places today.

First we went to our fab coffee shop and then onto South Bay Kaikoura.

The tide was in and we climbed over the jagged white rocks looking in rock pools and looking for sea birds.

There were quite a few cormorants in the fir trees and while we were watching them a heron came behind us quite close by.

I found some fossil marks on the rocks. It looks like plant leaves doesn’t it?

While I was chasing a white headed heron and an oyster catcher I was so pleased to find a large Paua shell! I had to dig it out of the wet sand but it was intact and beautiful.

We sat in the sunshine and then decided to go along the main road towards Christchurch. The coastal road is so picturesque. We went as far as Cheviot and had lunch there in our favourite cafe.

At Gore Bay we were watching a man on a paddle board when grandad noticed a dolphin jumping out of the water.

We kept watching and found there were 3 dolphins near to him. They were Hectors dolphins. These are found in NZ and are rare. The man came to shore and chatted to us. He was pleased I’d got a few pics of him with the dolphins and I promised to email them to him.

Back in Kaikoura we had fish and chips at a shop near our hotel and then went back to South Bay one last time.

So pleased we did as there was a royal spoonbill there.

So sad to leave Kaikoura but we’ve both vowed to return one day xxx

We had a morning in the grounds of the motel sending emails and sorting photos. I managed to get all the washing done too.

Next we went into the town and shared a cheese sandwich, we know how to be indulgent!

At South Bay the tide was high and covering the rock pavement. The colours of the sea and the white rocks looked so beautiful.

Here is where the whale watching boats depart from. There were kayakers being instructed and some divers exploring the shallow waters.

We had our long lenses to take wildlife pics and saw cormorants and a heron.

There is a walkway along here that continues up over the headland to the north bay. There are Maori carvings there and an information area.

It was so peaceful here and lots of shade from the hot sunshine. We spent ages here walking along and appreciating the views.

We had a chocolate milk shake and a pudding at a cafe in town and then came back to the hotel to escape the heat.

Later on we had a valentines dinner and then went off to Ohau to see the baby seals and their mothers at the seal colony.

It’s our last day in Kaikoura tomorrow.

Happy Valentines to you all xxxx

PS the sea was so calm today not like yesterday, wish we’d gone whale watching today never mind.

Whale watching is a treat we always do when we can. And today was that chance.

We went on the 10am slot this morning and got back to Kaikoura about 1.30pm.

The whale we saw was a sperm whale. Sperm whales have the heaviest and largest brains of all living mammals.

We also saw 2 types of dolphins and special seabirds…albatrosses and petrels.

These photos are Grandads because I was terribly seasick all the time and even grandad was seasick too. That’s unheard of isn’t it until today! There was quite a swell. We were on a smaller boat that was rocking around. I would go again though as it’s such a great feeling to be close to a huge whale. Hope you can all do this one day.

The sperm whales sink to the ocean floor to eat giant squid for about 45 minutes before they surface for about 10 minutes.

It’s cooler today 24*c and cloudy.

We have hot water again now So happiness has returned. Xxxx

We went to the Kaikoura museum this afternoon. There is a display of the devastation of the earthquake nov 14 2016. It was the most severe in Modern times in NZ. 8.6 on scale. Parts of the area rose up to 9 metres and there are thousands of after shocks still happening since. The area is still slowly moving towards north island even now. There were videos and photographs and personal accounts of that nights earthquake. The wildlife and seaweeds and shell creatures really suffered too. It was very interesting to read.

The rest of the museum is interesting too about the settlers who first came to the area. This Irish pub is from one of those first settlers and his family still run it to this day.

There were moa bones and whale jaw bones and fossils but interestingly hardly any mention of the maoris!

We leave here on Saturday so still 2 more full days to enjoy Kaikoura.

Hot hot hot again😎😅

We headed South along the coast road from Kaikoura towards Christchurch. We were going to Cathedral Caves and it should have just been a short journey. We hadn’t allowed for the road repairs. There are major works all around Kaikoura in every direction, repairing the road and rail network destroyed by the earthquake.

They have put new bridges over rivers, new tunnels through the rocks and new crash barriers. The traffic is controlled in relays for miles as there is little 2 way traffic enabled as yet.

I didn’t mind as wherever you stop its along the coast and you can gaze at the sea. We saw boats chasing whales and dolphins flipping out of the sea racing along with the boats. The waves were crashing on the rocks as it was high tide and very beautiful.

As we got nearer to the cathedral cliffs we stopped at a tiny town called Cheviot and

The Bay was called Gore Bay and we parked the car along side the sea. The surf was terrific and noisy. We stayed ages watching it and sitting in the sunshine.

Do you know we saw hundreds of white butterflies in this area. Even as we travelled down the roads they were all around. I tried to photo them but they were too fluttery.

The way back led up over the top of those white cliffs and there was a viewing place to see Cathedral Cliffs. They did look like organ pipes I thought.

Then we hoped to go further to Port Robinson, but it was a gravel road 35 km so we didn’t bother!

Back in Kaikoura we stopped for an ice cream.

We’re now sitting in the shade looking at fluffy clouds and mountains behind our motel. And eating our dinner outside.

Bad news when we got back to the motel, they’d had a power surge and we have no hot water in our room, cant be fixed until tomorrow and all other rooms are full, oh noooooo

 

I hope you like my photos, especially look tomorrow as we are booked in to go whale watching ….I’m so excited!

Sorry to rub it in but its scorching hot again today! We slip slap slopped with sunscreen and hat and decided that the cool from air conditioning in the car was needed.

So we went inland to Hamner Springs. It is a 90 minute drive through valleys and hillsides and wonderful scenery. We took it slowly and stopped where we could to take pictures. There are no especially made viewing points, so we stopped by farm gates. You legally  have to park off the road. When we reached Hanmer Springs we found a small village with huge oak and fir trees and giant red woods. There were tourist shops and hotels. In the centre are the hot springs.

I thought you would be able to walk through the forest to see them in their natural form but no… They are made into large swimming pools in a complex with spars.

There is an historic hospital next to the complex. The public are free to wander round the grounds. Built here in 1918 the soldiers from the WW1 with shell shock were treated in the spar springs. We could peep into the complex from there for as you can see we didn’t want to pay a fortune to go in!

I said, “I’m pleased I’ve seen what we didn’t go to”                                                                         Dad says that’s the quote of the holiday so far!!!

So after a cool ride back to Kaikoura…. I’m sitting in the Irish bar writing this and Grandad is having a nap in our room.

We are going to see the baby seals when it gets cooler and I need to walk as weve not had much exercise.

You will all be waking up in about 4 hours. When I told Otis we were having breakfast this morning, as he was having his birthday party at 6pm he said you should wake up sooner grandma hee hee!

Hope you like my photos take care all of you and pleased matthew and the children are over the flu now xxxx