North Island to Auckland

The day that we had in Tongariro National Park, was unfortunately pretty cloudy as Cyclone Pam skirted the North Island. I was hoping to take Keith and Emma on a climb to the rim of one of the three volcanoes in this park, as I did many years ago. While we did do a short climb up one of the three volcanoes here, the tops were all shrouded in cloud. We did stop on the way down though, to check out this cool waterfall and to climb on the rocks. 

Imagine finding a beautiful, naturally flowing stream, complete with a small waterfall in the middle of a cool green forest. Now imagine that it's steaming and bubbling like a hot tub. Welcome to Kerosene Creek, New Zealand. Our adventure began as we left Lake Taupo. We decided that we would spend our sightseeing money on a Maori cultural show rather than a Geothermal Park. As such, we asked at the information centre where we might go for a free or inexpensive hike in a natural setting to see some of the geothermal geysers, mud pools and hot pools of the North Island on our way to Rotorua. We were disheartened by the response, "There's nothing free around here." All of the options we were being given seemed expensive for a walk in nature. Certain that all of the geothermal natural areas couldn't be privatized, we turned to the power of the Internet. After deciphering the directions, and driving down a rather rough logging road for several kilometres we found this relaxing and soothing natural oasis. What a find!

The real Maori Haka performers.

The guy in the back is Daddy.  Doesn't he look funny?  He is dancing the haka (very poorly I might add).  A Maori dancer took them up to the stage and taught them how to do the haka.  I would not like to do that, I do not like going on the stage. - Emma

As well as the Maori cultural show, Te Puia in Rotorua features some pretty spectacular geothermal sights. Magma from the earth's core comes within 7 km of the ground in this unique and fascinating city. The air smells like sulfur which comes from the bubbling mud pools that are everywhere. The photo above shows the fumerols which constantly release steam. Below are geysers releasing pent up hot water, steam and minerals high into the air. This place is Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahio, or 'the gathering place for the war parties of Wahio'. The Maori used different natural waters to bathe, drink, and cook in. Hundreds of years ago, having hot and cold running water was a precious commodity, so Rotorua was an ideal place to live for the Maori people. 

One last swim in the warm waves of the South Pacific, near Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty. We all managed to catch our final few body surfing waves, and this beach was amazing for collecting shells which Emma was very good at. Paring them down to a manageable number that we could bring home was another story. This is also the main Kiwi growing region of New Zealand, as we found out when we drove by this...

The final three days of our trip were spent in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. Our timing was excellent as we managed to hit their annual Arts Festival including a clown workshop and an excellent play for the whole family on the day of our flight back to Vancouver. This is Aotea Square which had free live music every day. 

Emma loved these giant trees in Auckland's Albert Park, perfect for climbing!

Much like Vancouver, Auckland has a North Shore across the harbour. We took the ferry across and climbed this hill in Devonport, with amazing views of the city. 

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We are now safely back home in Vancouver.  We hope that you have enjoyed this blog as much as we have enjoyed creating it. Thank you to the wonderful friends we visited who sheltered, fed, and entertained us. Re-connecting with friends far away was a driving factor behind this trip, and was both joyous and cherished. To our faithful readers (and you are many), thanks for your feedback, support, and love.  

All the best Keith, Steve, and Emma.

Up the West Coast and into Wellington

Freedom camping is alive and well in New Zealand.  As long as you are self contained (you can take care of your waste) you can camp on almost any public place.  This allows for some spectacularly isolated campsites.  Here we found a secluded spot beside a river bed and explored it in the morning when we stumbled across this rock.

This is me making a friend for the other Inukshuks in the riverbed. I pointed out a sign that said waterfall ahead. Even though we were in a hurry to find a campsite, we stopped. We found thousands of baby Inukshuks, and a few that were bigger. -Emma

We have came across many road signs but this one made us laugh...and drive a little slower.  Alas no little fellows on this stretch.

New Zealand is called The Land of the Long White Cloud.  It could easily be named The Land of Flowing Waterfalls.  So many stunning waterfalls around every corner.  Emma is exploring the river bed that lies downstream from Franz Joseph Glacier.

Towards Westport on the west coast of the South Island, we came across the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.  Over time caves and canyons have been shaped by persistent waves.  At high tide the incoming waves cause huge spouts of mist from crevices in the rocks. The rocks are called pancake rocks because they look like stacks of pancakes. 

After travelling for a couple of months in SE Asia, we've been a bit blown away by the prices in both Australia and New Zealand. Thankfully New Zealand has some incredible places where we've been able to camp for free, which is promoted as "Freedom Camping". Here I'm jumping for joy at the gorgeous beach we're camped at near Westport, and it didn't even have any sand flies.  We had a great meal of chicken with a curry sauce and a bottle of Pinot Noir made by Lynn with grapes nurtured and cared for by Gary. 

I was hoping for my last west coast sunset at this camping spot. I was disappointed that the beach faced north, but in the end the reflections off the clouds made it truly spectacular (this photo is basically facing east).

Wellington is New Zealand's capital and has lots going for it, from a massive natural harbour where we arrived on our ferry from the South Island, to a fantastic museum, Te Papa (the museum of New Zealand), and excellent nightlife. Our evening there included a free circus performance, sitting on the grass by the harbour with a nice locally made pale ale... very civilized!

This photo was taken at the top of the historic tram ride, where we found a great playground, and as usual some new best friends.

Queenstown, New Zealand

A big part of the rationale for taking this trip was to visit and catch up with old friends from believe it or not... high school. For some reason, many of my best friends now live very far away??? Thankfully I've tracked them down! One such friend who rarely gets back to Canada is Gary, now living in the far flung reaches of far flung New Zealand. In fact, it's so far that I'd never even met his wife, Lynn, or daughters, Scarlett and Lucia. It was fantastic to finally meet the whole family, including two very fierce dogs, Chico and Monica, seen here overlooking some very posh vineyards we visited near Wanaka. Gary was amazing, even managing to take time away from his career as a viticulturist to tour us around Queenstown and do several beautiful hikes in the area. - Steve

I am with my friends Scarlett and Lucia, Lucia is on my back.  I am the horse.  It costs five colourful crystal rocks for a ride.  We were waiting for our pizza and lemonade ( I wish I had lemonade right now).  - Emma

The kids had a great time playing together, and Emma was an excellent "big cousin" which she's practiced lots with Alexandra and Keira (my sister's kids. Here they built themselves a little teepee using a Hudson's Bay blanket (very Canadiana) which we sent Gary and Lynn for their wedding. 

I have decided that Gary wins the prize for living in the most beautiful rural place (I'd like to think that our place in Vnacouver qualifies as the most beautiful urban place). Here are a couple of shots on day trips we did with Gary.

 

Everywhere you travel in New Zealand there are references to The Lord of the Rings.  Whether it was a location for a specific scene, Orcs and elves in the national museum, the maker of 'my precious' ring shop, or a Hobbit village, you cannot escape Middle Earth.  Below Emma is dressing me up as a forest creature using spanish moss she gathered in Mount Aspiring National Park. - Keith

Christchurch, New Zealand

The biennial Te Matatini ('mata' meaning face or faces and 'tini' meaning many) was taking place when we arrived in Christchurch.  What extraordinary luck to be treated to the very best Kapa haka ('kapa' meaning to form a line and 'haka' to dance) in the world.  We watched this group practicing in the parking lot of our holiday park. Incredible voices, Maori dancing, and an emotional performance.

We visited the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch. This is where several countries base their Antarctic program from.

The best part of it was when I froze my hands off.  I put my hands in freezing Antarctic water.  There was a timer and I got to eight minutes.  It was really COLD!

Wearing coats we went into minus 23 degrees Celsius in the Antarctic room for five minutes.  First you see the Antarctic with a snowmobile, an igloo, a wind chill machine, and snow on the ground.  Next the lights go dim and we hear a voice announcing that a storm is coming. We feel excited when hear and feel the wind howling. It was so cold that we went into the igloo because it was warmer inside.  It was awesome!  -Emma

I visited Christchurch about 17 years ago, and remember it as a charming, historic city. Unfortunately, it has been devasted by the earthquake of Feb 22, 2011, which claimed 185 lives. Wandering around the city centre four years later it's still quite depressing as you go block to block filled with either vacant lots (buildings already fallen or torn down), or buildings condemned and awaiting destruction. One bright spot was the ReStart mall, which was a set of shipping containers which were brightly painted and acting as shops, bars and restaurants for business left homeless after the quake.

We even visited the temporary home of Christchurch Cathedral which was brilliantly created from giant cardboard rolls. The fate of the city's namesake cathedral is still being debated between those wanting a new building and those wanting to keep as much of the historic original as possible.

Apparently the economy has suffered quite a blow (our taxi driver in Auckland was a transplant), although if you're in construction there's plenty of work to do.

One poignant spot I came across was a large armchair and footstool made from thousands of shards of china which residents donated after the quake. Also included in the description was a letter from a woman in her 80s describing the desperately hard life that her grandmother had had as an immigrant to New Zealand, saving until late in life she could finally buy a nice tea set with beautiful violet flowers. You can see them in the close up I took of the footstool. - Steve

Taronga Zoo - Sydney, Australia

Here is a cute and cuddly koala. Usually they are asleep in the daytime, but we were lucky to get this one awake. We paid extra  so we could go inside the koala pen, but we didn't touch it because that's illegal. -Emma

This is a Little Blue penguin that was so beautiful that I wanted to be a penguin in there with it. I reached out to it because I wanted to touch it (this is the actual size). It is the smallest kind of penguin in the world. Below is the Yellow Crested Penguin.

-Emma

This pelican was quite the character. He kept stretching his enormous bill over his chest, so you could see the whole inside of his mouth. When the zookeeper came by, he would literally run back and forth along the wall hoping for a fish. He had to wait though until the keeper went high above on a wall and made him catch the fish as they were thrown. He didn't miss a single one!

This kangaroo and wallaby below were in the Australian walk about section. You can tell the difference by the snout which is cone shaped on the wallaby and boxy on the kangaroo. Wallabies are also usually smaller (child sized) although these ones were all small (Emma and I petted one). In another part of the zoo they had the big Red Kangaroos which are much larger than adults. On this trip we only saw kangaroos in the wild in fields and at a campground. Years ago, on my trip with Kimberley and Gary around Australia, we saw huge red kangaroos bounding at the speed of our van, 80 Kmh per hour and boxing at the side of the road.  - Steve

These kookaburras made us sing the song we often sang to Emma when she was little.

Kookaburra lives in the old gum tree

Merry merry king of the bush is he

Laugh Kookabura laugh

Gay your life must be. -Keith

These are three jumpy lemurs.  They eat nuts, candy, and rambutan.  The little one drink milk, water, apple juice, sometimes pineapple juice, and if she can get hold of it, cream soda and root beer.   The older one drinks coffee and sometimes if they can get a hold of it, beer.  -Emma

Finally, the meerkats are awfully cute the way they sit up and look at you.

Sydney, Australia

This is the Bogey Hole in Newcastle, North of Sydney.  Long ago the warden of the prison made the convicts create a swimming pool  out of rock for his personal use.  It is filled with sea water when waves crash over the sides.  If you are sitting in the edge like Steve and Emma you are pushed into the pool by the crashing waves, very refreshing!

This is the iconic Bondi Beach. We had a great day here with excellent body surfing waves. We then did the gorgeous coastal walk to Tamarama and Bronte beaches. Emma actually preferred Bronte because the beach rises more steeply so she could get lots of crashing waves closer to shore. On our last day in Sydney, Keith had a shopping/sightseeing day downtown while Emma and I decided to make another trip to the beaches. She stayed in the water non-stop for an hour and 40 minutes, playing with three different kids who came and went. We then headed back to Bondi where the tide was lower, meaning that Emma came out and caught a few good waves herself! 

WATER!!

I see a wave of white coming to knock me over.

I hear a whoosh of water as a wave rolls over me.

I feel my knees hit my head as I tumble In the wave.

I taste salt when the wave hits me and I swallow water.

I smell seaweed as I trip and fall onto a patch of seaweed.

I am extraordinarily happy and alive! - Emma

Ahhh Sydney... I've decided that you are my favourite city in the world. I lived in your trendy heart, Paddington for several months, many years ago, and found you hard to leave behind. Your arts scene is vibrant, your harbour spectacular, your climate lovely, and your surf beaches divine. Best of all, you know how to have a good time, putting on some of the best drag shows anywhere. Imagine our luck being here the week before Mardi Gras (I did the planning). While Keith puts Emma to bed, I have a long overdue date with you! 

First stop, the GAYTM to get some cash... and we thought our Canadian banks were LGBT friendly?

After that, North Indian Flavour for 2 curries + butter chicken for only $8 (this is a steal for dinner in Sydney), followed by a beer at the Stonewall Bar with Dame Polly Petrie hosting her Sunday night show. Finally ending the night with an incredible drag extravaganza at ARQ followed by dancing till the wee hours. 

Alas, family obligations call, and I must leave you again.... but don't fret my gorgeous girl, for I will never forget you.  -Steve