Jan 14 – It was a short flight to Auckland (quicker than Montreal to Wabush…..). Thanks Qantas!! Service was OK, but Brent misses Air Canada’s service.
Entry into NZ was computer managed. Walk up to the passport controlled gate – and voilà – Open sesame – New Zealand! We had no trouble with biosecurity and didn’t even get to play with the dog. It was a longggg wait (about an hour) for the rental car shuttle – I suppose that’s what you get for the bargain basement car rental. Good news is the little Toyota Yaris seems fine (with 136,000KM on a 2 year old car).
It was a welcome sight to see lush and cool New Zealand. So different to our recent Australia time in the drought and fires. So many ferns! So much green! Clean air! Accents we can understand! Our house for the next few days is a great apartment hotel with dishwasher, oven, and laundry – the trifecta.
Jan 15 – There were a few things on our shopping list – cooler bag, and camping chairs, so we spent the morning doing that. In the afternoon we checked out One Tree Hill and had a fantastic walk around Cornwall Park.
The relief about not checking every single foot placement for snakes was huge. Seriously – every single bushwalk in Australia came with a base level medium stress about meeting snakes. It was so freeing to just walk care free!
Jan 16 – We headed to the west coast in a repeat of the first day of our 3 week trip here 6 years ago. *Side note – how was that possible 6 whole years ago! I would have guessed 4 maybe.* The drive was significantly less scary now that we are totally acclimatized to driving on the left and weren’t completely jet lagged. First stop: A short hike to a lookout over the Auckland area and a jaunt in the Kauri forest.
Forest diseases deadly for the Kauri trees are being aggressively managed. You can not just walk into a Kauri forest without sanitizing your feet inbound and outbound. The photo below shows the sanitization station. The process is reportedly video monitored to ensure the health of the forest.
Then we headed to Piha beach. It is seriously stunning with tall volcanic peaks and glistening soft black sand. We love this beach!!
Jan 17 – A lazy start to the day to wait out the Auckland traffic and then we were off towards Turangi – a good half way choice on our way to Wellington. The roads seemed familiar and it was smooth sailing. The petrol price is a bit shocking $2.05-2.30/l NZD, ($1.75 – 1.96/l CAD) but the car is pretty gentle on fuel, and we have a $0.12/l discount card if we shop for groceries at Countdown (which is the Kiwi Woolworth’s), and get petrol at BP. We got to town in plenty of time for an 8km hike on the Tongariro River Walk.
Jan 18 – The great hikes here are around every corner, literally! It is Bron’s Disneyland. The hardest part is choosing which hike to do. First thing this morning we decided some geothermal action was in order and did a short walk at Tokaanu springs. The ground was steaming, lots of bubbling pools and mud pots, and a lot of warning signs! The entirety of the Great Lake Taupō area is volcanic, and rivals Yellowstone in size.
North of Palmerston North, we detoured onto the Manawatu scenic road. It was a pretty exciting narrow road with steep drop offs, rock falls, endless curves, gorgeous trees, and millions of sheep on rolling hills. Brent discovered it is unwise to either read maps or drink water while Bron is driving a scenic route. At the end of the scenic route we arrived at Manawatu gorge which we’d read about as a worthwhile hike. Bit of a grind up the ridge initially, but then the forest and views were worth it. They just do trails so well here.
The last part of the drive from just north of Wellington over to the Hutt Valley where our Airbnb is was also very scenic. One of the guide books says New Zealand is a country where you will say ‘wow’ every day and so far that has been true for us. We are looking forward to the next couple months’ adventures.
Brent And Bron Abroad 