roadquill1

Days 35: (March 7)
The day begins with showers and forecasts are gloomy, but in our hearts the sun shines as Montana announces that she is cancelling her plan to bus it back to Auckland, and would like to continue with us (“if that isn’t putting you out”). As if!!
We head north and stop to see a historic site called the “Stone House”. It is closed, but chickens running loose in the parking lot entertain us for free for a while. Good deal! On we drive – passing small villages as our route follows the coast. We arrive at our Ninety Mile Beach Motel at Waipapakauri by 1:00, and the management has managed to find us a bigger room with an extra bed. All is well – except for mosquitos and flies. (No screens on windows which must be open as there is no air conditioning – very muggy and warm).
We quickly unload and drive on – first a few hundred metres down the road to the beginning of the 90 Mile Beach, and then on towards Cape Reinga at the very north end of the North Island. By the time we arrived, strong winds had picked up, and mists were blowing across the high headland above the Cape. We quickly donned shirts and headed off to join other brave souls on the hike out to the lighthouse at the end of the headland. It is no longer “muggy” or “buggy”! Those conditions cannot exist in these winds. (Double string of Tilley required!) By the time we complete our trek, temperatures have dropped somewhat, and the rain has begun. We scramble into the car, and make our way back to a town called Kaitaia, a few kilometres south of our motel. (I very annoyingly correct our GPS’s pronunciation of this word every time – but Rooby won’t learn!) Just after we arrive back at the motel, VERY HEAVY rains hit. It is monsoon time!

Day 36 (March 8)
During the night, mosquitoes feasted on Montana, and in the morning, since we don’t have a kitchen in our unit, we move to the communal kitchen, where rainwater lingers on the floors. We take one last look at the rain damages at the parking area by the beaching then we are on our way through Kohukohu to catch the Hokianga ferry across the narrows to Rawene.
(An aside: As I drive, news on the car radio informs us that the extremely heavy rains have flooded large sections of the Coromandel Peninsula, that folks are trapped, and roads washed out. This is a setback for our plans as we planned on heading there after a return through Auckland.)
Past Omapere, we stop to walk the trails to the headland above the Hokianga Harbour. The sun shines, and all is beautiful, and warm (27°). After that stop, the road climbs and twists, and it is difficult to find pull-offs to let tail-gaters pass, but eventually we find one of our destined stops – the giant kauri tree known as the Tane Mahuta. It truly is awesome at an age of approximately 2000 yr with a 13.77 m girth! Clouds return, and heavy rain hits shortly after. I have to pull off the road because it is so intense!
A second stop is scheduled at Nelson’s Kairu Kauri – a place where manufactured swamp Kauri wood products are sold. As usual, these wood products are truly spectacular, but even more interesting is the story behind the “swamp Kauri”.
After the supply of green Kauri logs ran out, farmers began to drain swamps to gain more farmland. Lumps appearing in the drying land turned out to be ancient kauri trees – as old as 25,000 years, some with leaves and bark still on them. It is surmised that these forests were wiped out by a catastrophe – perhaps a tsunami. The wood is excellent still, and the property we were visiting had a large supply of swamp Kauri stumps on its acreage. I tried very hard to figure out how to get some home! Not gonna work! On to Dargaville, which turns out to be a rather drab and neglected town – in my estimation. However, our room was a two bedroom large place, and dinner, selected by Montana was takeout from a place featuring “Indian and Pizza”. Good food, but strange combination! I broke away from my vegetarian plan to have meat on the pizza. (Montana did not share it with me – but Sandy did – the next day.) The television shows us the vast flooding, road closures and “slips” (mudslides) on the Coromandel from Thames around to Gisborne.

Day 37: (March 9) Return to Auckland
Today was a rather straight-forward, if a bit sad, drive, for we finally say our good-byes to Montana. She has been a real trooper putting up with a couple of seniors who go to bed early (…and an uncle who lingered too long in a beautiful museum showing the area’s Kauri tree story, and logging history. I eventually found the two ladies reading in the car.)The biggest issue has been how to dig a preference out of her…”whatever you like” and “I’m okay with anything”. (And she truly has been…okay with everything! What a treat to share this part of our journeys with her! We will miss her!) We drop her off in Auckland and head on to our next evening stop in Huntly, where we find a converted hospital (not for the insane this time, but for maternity.) Our room is great, but a review of weather channels confirms more rain for the next week, and Coromandel has not recovered from the first blow. Our plans are to visit Hobbiton, near Matamata – the movie sets for “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”.
So…good-bye to Montana, and now on to our next adventures.
Much love to all, and we want you to know that we both enjoy the comments from the postings, and I would respond to them, but as you have seen, I struggle just to keep up with the story – and the pictures! Know that we are grateful to you!

Tony, (the Quill) and Sandy (the Quilter)

Lynn, and Philip Chatfield show us Auckland

Rangitoto volcano – erupted and appeared 600 years ago

A plaque honouring the first explorers – Puke, and Captain Cook, settlers, and the Treaty of Waitangi

A view of Auckland from one of the many volcano hills in the city

A visit to Mahurangi Regional Park

A living relic in the park

The McKinney Kauri tree in Parry Park – age 800 yr, girth of 7.62 m, first limb at 11.89 m

Heavy rain at Chatfield’s in Coatesville

Looking out to the patio from the living room

The Chatfield house overlooks the property after the rain

Montana joins our travelling troupe – at the top of Mount Hobson

The view from our Rustic B&B near Whangerai

Head for the beach – watch your step!

A protected nesting area

Our private beach

Uncertain currents

The 5 Peaks

Whangerai Falls

…with friends

…T and Montana

Photos from further north will follow…

T

Days 29-34 (March 1 to March 6): Montana and Maori – the early North Island Experience

Hello dear friends and family,
We are not lost…we are stalled briefly by weather, and thus I have been given an excellent opportunity to catch up on our travels. FYI…we are sitting in a beautiful, but elderly motel in Rotorua where our hosts have welcomed us warmly. Heavy rains last night, and in the forecast, have led us to request extra nights, and our hosts have agreed to extend our visit. Because I have neglected to keep up with the blog posts, I will split the events into two or more.

To pick up where I left off…

Day 29 (March 1): Auckland
Philip and Lynn Chatfield showed us their beautiful home and property in the daylight, and then Philip chauffeured us around to show us some great stops to the north of Auckland. We visited Mahurangi Regional Park (excellent viewpoint and secure Maori vantage point), the village of Puhoi, Parry Park and the McKinney Kauri tree, and then on to several other parks and beaches before heading home to beat the first wave of heavy rain that we have seen.

Day 30 (March 2): Auckland
Sandy helped Lynn move caterpillars and release Monarch Butterflies, and then Philip and Lynn drove us into Auckland to pick up our rental vehicle. On our own once again, we made our way across town to a motel near where our niece, Montana Mjaaland is staying. She will join us for a number of days of explorations north of Auckland. Montana and Sandy spend the evening on the internet mapping out travel plans.
Day 31 (March 3): Whangerai (n.b. “wh” is pronounced as “f”, and thus this city is “Fangerai”, and although I know “f”ere it is, I am not sure “f”y it is pronounced that way!)
The booking that we made on booking.com was listed as “Rural”, but the reality was way more rural than we expected. After 35 km of driving out of Whangerai, and the last 5 of it or so on very washboard gravel, our GPS announced “You have arrived.” The nearest house was behind us about a half kilometer. No house appeared ahead of us. After ranging up and down the gravel road a couple of times, we finally proceeded to the end of the road, and there was the house – a lone house overlooking a lovely pastoral scene (have you heard this before) – and a touch of ocean view down through the fields. Our host, John, showed us our accommodations and then left to return to work. We were very dismayed to discover that this was a B&B, and not the private suite that we had expected. We felt better at reducing our stay to 2 nights instead of 3 after we learned that we could only pay with cash.
We had a lunch and then hiked through the pastures, sidestepping cow-pies, to the beach in the distance, where we spent our first prolonged time sunbathing since we arrived down here. Since there was almost nobody else around, I was uncertain about currents, and so we stayed out of the water. By the time we headed back to our rooms, we had realized that our place was truly quite beautiful, if not what we expected. We met our other host, Amy, and 2 year old son, Harley. We like all three of them! Sandy declares that that night’s sleep was the best that she has had on this trip. Her initial disappointment has disappeared.

Day 32 (March 4): Whangerai
Visited the market in town, and then hiked the trails at Whangerai Falls. In the afternoon, we drove a bit further north through Tutukaka to Matapouri Bay. Again, we lay in the sun without swimming, but this time because of a slightly chilly breeze. Back at Whangerai, we had supper at The Fat Camel – a restaurant with excellent salads and falafels! (Since Montana is vegetarian, I have decided to forego meat while she is with us. All is good!)

Day 33 (March 5): Paihia and the Bay of Islands – in sunshine!
Sandy and Montana found us a cabin in Paihia, so we stop in Whangerai at a used book store for Sandy to buy more weighty tomes. En route to Paihia, Sandy declares that we must stop at the Kawakawa Toilets. (Notice the capital T! This is NOT just a pit stop! It is a tourist attraction – Google it!) Our hosts in Paihia show us to a beautiful cabin with a deck overlooking the fields below. This place is MORE than we bargained for, and Jim and Sylvia, our hosts are exceptionally helpful and welcoming.
In the afternoon we head out to look at Harura Falls, and then to the Waitanga Treaty Grounds where for $40 each, we are given a tour and opportunity to attend a Maori-hosted ceremony. This is a very beautiful place and we were all very glad to have visited it, even though closing time found us only part-way through touring the grounds, and seeing the amazing war canoes, museum and exhibits. At the end of a great day, Montana has decided to stay another day with us. YAY! We book a second night at the cabin.

Day 34 (March 6): Paihia and Russell Island in sunshine!
After catching the foot passenger ferry to Russell Island, we designed our own walking tour of the village. After a lunch in town, we climbed the hill over to the far side of the island where there is a typically inviting beach, and we sunbathed…and we swam. Then, we climbed an even steeper and higher hill to overlook the town below and Paihia in the distance. We catch the 5:00 ferry back to Paihia, buy a few groceries and make our supper at the cabin – again…vegetarian. We are sad that Montana has booked a morning bus back to Auckland.

But wait…there’s more…in the next posting! Y’all come back now…ya hear!
Love and best wishes for early Spring to all you winter-weary warriors!
Tony and Sandy