Hawaii 1st – 8th June

Aloha Hawaii! What a fabulous place to arrive after a whole month of winter…(has that made you sick yet)?! Hawaii memories seem to merge into one big relaxing smile, so I shall summarise as best I can…

North Shore Backpackers

We decided to stay here for the full week and have a 'base' as such after so much moving around. We opted for a private room in a shared 'tree house' which was pretty chilled out. It had a great communal area with a kitchen and big sociable table as well as a veranda which stretched the whole way around the front of the building filled with squashy sofas. As the name suggests, we opted for the quiet and relaxed north shore of Oahu rather than the built up and popular area of Wakiki, just south of Honolulu. Boy did we make a good choice, I fell in love with the North Shore immediately. The staff at the Backpackers were good fun – one played the guitar and we spent many a night sitting on the veranda reading listening to him strumming away in the background mixed in the with the sound of the waves. We went to a BBQ they organized one night and met some other fun people with who it was great to share travel stories with.

What did we do?

For the first few days? Bugger all! I read about 4 books, went swimming and just generally had a very relaxing time!

Cycling

However, incapable of being inactive for too long, we hired old rusty granny bikes one day and cycled off along the shore in search of a dive shop, which we found in Halei'wa, the main hub of the North shore. The bike ride was great, passing many gorgeous beaches to our right and lush hills on our left. Halei'wa is a fun little town with great coffee shops, an excellent marina and loads of surf shops (MT: and great shops selling tiny bikini's). The sign outside the dive shop confused us a little stating 'parking in rear.' We opted to leave the bikes out in the front. We booked a dive & also treated ourselves to new snorkel and masks as we were bored of the hire ones always filling up with water. I bought a new bikini then we cycled back towards home stopping at one of the beaches to snorkel with the resident Giant Turtles which come up onto the sand to sleep in the day. It was fantastic being in the water with them – they are so big, gracious and of course, ancient!

Diving

We got up early and rode the granny bikes the 5 odd miles down to Halei'wa marina. We went out to a couple of sites – the visibility was excellent and the scenery underwater very different to any other dive location. Huge volcanic mounds have created eerie looking stumps and holes in the lava which are great fun to swim through. There were also very cool air bubbles coming from various rocks on the ground and if you looked up when you were swimming through a cave, you could see the bubbles stuck on the ceiling, looking like something out of the Terminator films. The first dive took us through a turtle cleaning station where we saw the huge creatures relaxing while other fish kindly attached themselves to the shells for a bit of spring cleaning – rather like a carwash for turtles. We saw a few Moray Eels, a sting ray and lots of nudi banks. We perhaps did not see as much marine life as other places but the lava tube environment made it a very special dive, and besides, you never have a bad day diving!

Beach life

The hostel was located right next to a great little beach but then all the beaches in Hawaii are fab. We were 5mins walk from the famous Waimea beach where all of the big surfing contests are held each winter. Luckily the waves are small in the summer, so you can swim safely and also snorkel. Shark's Cove is another place where the season was a bonus as in the winter, it's apparently just a wash of foam and during the summer there's fantastic snorkeling in calm clear waters. Armed with our fancy new masks, we had a great time snorkeling and saw lots of fish/turtles, etc. There's a great swim you can do from one beach to another which goes around the point and takes you more into the open ocean. It's quite exhilarating being so far out and I was certainly glad that I had my mask so that I could see what was going on beneath me – still good fish and definitely more of a chance of seeing macro-life.

Surfing

You cannot come to Hawaii and not try out the surfing, if you like that kind of thing. Having had a taster in Australia, Mark and I were very keen to give it another shot. A dude at our hostel called Craig who has lived on the North Shore for years offered to take us out and we waited every day to get the word from him that the surf was big enough, which it was not, until our last day at about 5pm, where he said, 'let's go'! So we dropped everything, pulled on the boardies and jumped into his car. He took us to a spot which is not visible from the road and we could certainly see the white water breaking on the reef out at sea. The wave break point was a long way out, perhaps 300 metres and the waves stopped rolling just before the reef. Craig explained that there was a channel where we could swim out to behind the waves and not get too many breaking over us. He also kindly told me to be careful climbing over the rocks with my board and not to cut my toes and it attracts sharks quickly…I kind of wish he had not told me that beforehand, but I guess it was an incentive to catch the wave properly. Craig was a great guy – really laid back and totally obsessed with surfing. As we paddled out, the waves were getting bigger and bigger – he had explained that for some of the really big ones, we would need to jump off our board. It was pretty full on as some waves would be rolling up to us with Craig shouting 'get ready to jump off your board' with this big monster towering over our heads, then we wouldn't get the call and would bob over it. I remember looking at Mark knowing he was also thinking 'they didn't look this big from 300m back on the beach but this is awesome!'

So we got lined up to catch our waves – Miraculously I managed to stand up on my first one and ride it all the way back to the reef, which was so brilliant – the ride was so much longer than what I had done before. Mark also did well and caught them in too. On two of the waves, I stood up and then another wave seemed to come in on top of the one I was riding sending me through the washing machine and my board pinging up in the air. This was to be expected except I found myself caught in the middle of a big set of waves right at the breaking point and as soon as I came up another one crashed over me and to make things worse my board cord twisted around both legs so I couldn't kick, which was a bit scary. However, the set finished and I got back to the channel with a big 'doh' look on my face. Craig gave us a hand, giving a push to help us get enough momentum to get onto the wave. The funny thing was that he was obsessed with getting the biggest and best waves (of course) so we would sit out at sea bobbing around like seals waiting for 'the wave' – I was very happy to take his advice, although I did say to him a couple of times that I didn't mind not getting the 'biggest' wave, as the 'too small ones' powering in looked pretty big to me! The whole experience was so exciting – sometimes we saw a turtle popping up for air as we were sitting on our boards, the sun was setting and the light was beautiful and when you did manage to get a wave, it was such a rush. It was definitely an adrenaline rush and quite scary, but in a very good way. Big thumbs up for surfing in Hawaii and I think I may need some more practice before trying out the winter waves…JG

Auckland 28th – 30th May

Driving into Auckland was quite a shock after spending time in the rest of NZ. It's a large cosmopolitan city and seems so busy, especially after seeing Wellington and Christchurch. That's not meant in a negative sense, more one of pleasant surprise. We did a recky of the city first, driving through the centre and then along by the port which all looked very beautiful at night. We had a walk along the sea, a quick beer in a really cool bar which was like an old warehouse and then into the van to find a sleeping spot as it was pretty late. We ended up camping on the edge of a large rugby pitch which worked well, although one of the bollards on the way into the car park is a little flatter now than it used to be…oops. We went to a late film in the evening to celebrate being in a city again!

We decided to be culture vultures and visited the Auckland National Museum, which is full of interesting exhibitions and gives a great insight into the history of NZ. The section on the wars is particularly good as was the impressive Maori room with the 50ft plus preserved wooden long boat, which was used in various gruesome battles.

After a long walk into the city, we pottered around talking in the ambience. At around 5pm we took a ferry to Devonport which is a lovely little place sat on top of one of the many volcanoes in Auckland. We climbed to the top of Mt. Victoria and marveled at the fantastic view of Auckland's twinkling lights by dusk. You could also see the many small islands that make up the city, as well as some very impressively sized cargo ships and Navy boats. We boarded the ferry after sampling some of the town's yummy hot chocolate and headed back to Auckland city. It was a long walk back to the van and we were happy to finally get there. We drove to a random track near the airport ready to hand the van back the next day.

In summary, NZ is a country with such outstanding natural beauty. Where most countries will have beautiful areas, such as the Lake District or Yosemite, it seems that everywhere in the South Island is just stunning & the novelty did not ever wear off. For outdoor enthusiasts I would wholeheartedly recommend NZ. I am definitely going back one day to do more hiking, particularly the Tongariro mountains and The Remarkables. It also made a huge difference having a camper van – the joy of the outdoors is getting away from it all, and that is truly possible in a van. While the 'Kiwi Experience' buses seem like a great fun thing to do when you are under 21, giving you company, somebody organizing you and parties, it would not have been for me. I liked waking up at the bottom of Mt. Cook in the eerie quiet and being the first to crack the ice on the puddles. JG

Coromandel 26th – 28th May

The Coromandel Peninsula is absolutely stunning. We drove up from Rotorua, stopping en route for walks and headed towards the east coast which is famous for its beautifully rugged coastline. There is a great walk which we did to Cathedral Cove which is a beach only accessible by foot. The path is stunning and snakes down the cliff through the woods passing other even smaller beaches where you can stop off and snorkel (there is lots of marine life due to the national park protection status). Cathedral Cove itself is famous for the huge arches in the rocks caused by years of sea erosion and certainly looks very impressive. We also visited Hot Water Beach where you can dig your own pools in the sand which are geothermally heated. Unfortunately the tides were not working in our favour so we settled for standing on the edge of the rocks and getting soaked by unpredictable waves coming over – great fun!

Coromandel town itself is very quaint and full of little delis, cute cafes and cosy bars. We spent a night there enjoying the local beer and wandering around the marina drooling at the yachts. Before leaving the next day, we made sure to visit the Smoke House which specializes in smoking fish. Lunch was a real treat of smoked tuna & a local fish as well as some chunky homemade seafood chowder, which was totally delicious and a nice change from pasta. The drive on route 309 was great fun – it's a bumpy dirt track through the mountains with lots of interesting and bizarre things to do on the way. The 309 Road is a 22.0 km, narrow, winding, gravel road between Whitianga and the town of Coromandel. In fact, it's the shortest route between Mercury Bay's Whitianga and the Hauraki Gulf's Coromandel township. Our first stop was the Waterworks museum, which is hard to describe. It's set in someone's large back garden and is designed to show you the different things you can do with water. It has some really cool structures & interactive activities which focus mainly on different methods of hydropower. In addition, there are many boards which have various quotes and funny stories, normally the sort of things you would read on an email forward, which was quite random. There was also a great adventure playground, which I think was meant for kids, but Mark and I spent a while on the death slide, although the amount the rope sagged under our weight made me think it was perhaps not meant for childish adults. I also gave Mark a giggle when I had a go on the human hamster wheel, forgetting how to make it stop and running faster and faster until it took me down with it (horrid thing). It took him a while to stop laughing as apparently I had an expression he had 'never seen before.' Hmmmm. Luckily the next section involved water pistols…

Driving further along the road, we got to a peak which we thought we'd try to climb called Castle Rock, an old volcano core. Getting to the start involved a precarious but beautiful drive up a tiny track with hairpin bends and steep sides. Much to our frustration there was a big sign saying that the path was closed, so we had our lunch with a view to die for and carried on.

The road also took us past some really tall Kauri trees which are famous for having Maori legends attached to them. We got our walk in and pottered around the forest marveling over the width of their trunks and how some had formed, particularly the impressive 'Siamese trunks.' With the light fading, it was time to drive towards Auckland for some city fun. JG

Rotorua

On route to Rotorua we stopped at Mata Mata which is home to the famous Lord of the Rings set 'The Shire.' Unfortunately the tour was extortionately expensive and the set had been mostly dismantled in any case, so we ended up camping by the village Green for the night and indulging in true hobbit fashion in some more fine Marlborough Pinot Gris and delicate campervan stove cuisine while continuing the chess championship deep into the night. Onwards to Rotorua, which you can smell before you see it; yes it is the hot spring capital of NZ with more bubbling sulphur than the special smell of a student fridge's fry up collection. Having been spoilt living in Hokkaido where you can jump in natural hot pools on the mountain top while skiing, I found Roturua to be too touristy and lacking in what makes hot springs special, i.e. uncrowded pools in the middle of nowhere. We had also just visited the Butcher Pools near Lake Taupo which were wonderful, so posh spas which charged you to get in just did not cut it. However, we did go to one tourist attraction which was very funny and definitely highly recommended: The sheep shearing show at The Agrodrome. This is very cheesy and commercialized but quite hilarious. In essence it's all about making the audience look stupid and involves much participation, for example feeding the lambs and milking a cow on stage (something which I think Mark was amused to realize I could do well – growing up in Norfolk was useful in some ways). We also had a good look at all of the sire prize rams which was interesting in particular the impressive shaggy haired Merino beast. The show was followed by a working sheep dog presentation which was very impressive.

Following the Agrodrome, we had a fun game of crazy golf, which in fact drove Mark crazy…hehe! JG