roadquill1

Day 38: March 10
Forecast for the day is for more rain, but it holds off as we miss two turns on Rooby’s planned route, and end up taking many back (paved) roads to make our way through to Matamata where we have booked our bus seats for the tour out to Hobbiton. We just missed our scheduled bus, but we were placed on the next one as crowds were not as big as expected. (Too much rain??)
For those of you not familiar with the stories, “Hobbiton” was the name of the Shire community where Bilbo Baggins and other Hobbits lived in the novels, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings (LOTR). When Peter Jackson was looking for a setting for his movies, he found the Alexander family property near Matamata, NZ. Originally, after the movie The Lord of the Rings was completed, the sets were dismantled. Later, when Jackson decided to film The Hobbit, the Alexanders asked for a more permanent legacy, and the current Hobbiton was built, used in The Hobbit, and then turned into a major tourist attraction with as many as 5000 visitors a day. I found a website with some wonderful images and a full explanation at:
Hobbiton is a Real Place in New Zealand. This is What it Looks Like
Check it out!
Sandy had not originally been all that enthusiastic about the visit, but even she was enchanted with the place! And…the sun shone down upon us!!
We eventually made our way in the afternoon to Rotorua – renowned for its geothermal and volcanic activity. We had booked what turned out to be a lovely 3-bedroom motel room in the Santa Maria Motel. We had sleeping space for 7 people! We were so happy with the hosts and the room that we hurried back to the office and booked a second night.
Day 39: March 11
By morning, it was pouring rain, and thoughts of exploring the town did not appeal, so we sat around watched Rugby Sevens from Vancouver and, as I explained in my last entry, caught up on email and blog postings. Seeing no break in the weather forecast, I asked our host for a third night to try to get time for the sights around town.
The afternoon brought a break in the downpour, so we wandered around the townsite, waterfront and beautiful parks. Steam pours out of many sulphurous hotsprings around town and in folks’ back yards. The smell pervades! Just as we return to our rental car a couple of hours later, the heavens open.
Day 40: March 12
Still heavy monsoon-like rains! We sit and watch the Rugby Sevens Championships and are very proud of the successes of the Women’s team, and the marvellous performances of the Canadian men – even though they finally ended in 7th place – tied with the New Zealand team. We missed some of the games, of course, but apparently our great nephew, McLeay, was featured on the jumbotron a few times! I predict that he will be a force!
When we find a break in the rain, we head for Okere Falls. We embark on the 20 minute hike to the parking lot at the other end of the trail. The falls are in full, powerful flood, and although kayakers run the river in normal times, it is closed to them since the height of the waters would endanger them from lower branches. The trail is beautiful, but a bit rough because of the rainfall. At the end of the trail, our intention is to take the road back to our vehicle, but less than 50 metres down the road, the heavens open up again. Our Tilleys cannot withstand the drenching, and we duck under some bushes for about 20 minutes until the rain abates. The trail back is awash, and muddy, but we manage to preserve a few dry places on our bodies. The evening provides even more heavy rains, and our parking lot at the motel is a lake!
Day 41: March 13
We leave our hosts, Jason and Emma, and head down the road towards Taupo, Turangi and Palmerston North.
An aside…In the mid-1990’s, we had purchased a hot tub from a New Zealand transplant named Chris Long. He not only installed it, he rebuilt and extended our deck to accommodate it. He did such an impressive job that we hired him to renovate our kitchen, living-room and dining-room. We became good friends!
When we decided to visit New Zealand, I wanted to look him up. When I called the number that I had been given for him, he told us that he had heard we were coming and had tried to call us at home, but we had already left. He warmly invited us to visit and stay with him at his farm near Palmerston North – “…a day or two, or longer if you can! Permanent residency occurs after 6 months!” With that warm invitation, we eagerly included Palmerston North into our itinerary.
En route, the rain lets up, and the clouds began to break up. We take advantage of some sunshine to explore the trails alongside Huka Falls, before heading into Taupo. The sun shines, and we walk through town and along the windy (and chilly) lakefront before heading on our journey to Turangi where we find Judges Pool Motel off the highway on a quiet back street. We walk into town for supplies and then along the river path – for exercise.
Day 42: March 14
No quilt store sightings for days! So far, Sandy is showing no withdrawal signs, but I watch for early signs of distress.
Although we had planned on one night with Chris, the warmth of our reception at the Long’s farm in Rongotea, northwest of Palmerston North results in us extending our stay with them for an extra day. We meet Jill and her 2 year old daughter, Arabella, who instantly charms us. We are then fed a fabulous leg of lamb roast – our first taste in New Zealand!
Chris’ house is massive, and the farm beautiful with a view out to the southeast towards the city of Palmerston. He took us out through the fields to see the extent of the farm, and the herds of very healthy beef cattle grazing on green fields. The farming, however, is mostly a hobby for him, as he runs a very successful real estate development company.
Day 43: March 15
We pile into Chris’s “ute” (utility vehicle i.e. pick-up truck) and head into town to check out some of Chris’s many current and completed projects. His crew does an impressive job, and in the process, we met his late-twenties son, Michael (born, like all of Chris’s 4 kids, in Nanaimo) who helps Chris out with some of the electrical work and equipment operations in the renovations. A tour of Palmerston is included as Chris shows us the University, the Rugby School, and a beautiful downtown riverfront park.
At noon, we head to Feilding for a cattle auction. This was great fun as neither of us had been to one before. Chris and the cronies that he met there guided us through the processes, and knowing how Sandy gestures when she talks, I had to hold her hands down so that we didn’t inadvertently acquire a herd of beef! A busy day! The sun shines throughout our visit!
Day 44: March 16
Chris takes us, and Michael, down to Foxton where he has a “reno” in progress, and a “bach” (bachelor cabin). Michael works on the reno, while Chris shows us his bach, and then Foxton Beach. At the beach, we spot a dilapidated house on auction. Chris is interested, and shortly a realtor shows us the house. Another “ball in the air” for the juggler, I guess. Another house or two to visit and then we head home, where we pack our gear in our car, put on sunscreen and follow Chris to Feilding, and the fairgrounds.
Today is “Field Day” in Feilding. (Yes, my spelling is correct!) This is an agricultural fair beyond compare! It has large areas devoted to displays of the latest farm equipment. We toured and gawked, and then met the eldest of Chris’s three sons – Christopher, who has designed and built loading pens to meet new animal care provisions. It sounded like he was having a successful day of sales! Like father, like son!! By mid-afternoon, we had had enough, and it was time to move on. We said our good-byes, and headed to Napier.
Day 45: March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day, and no green to wear in my knapsack!
Today was a special day for me! I have wanted to see sheep dog trials since we arrived here, and thanks to Sandy’s internet searches, and a friendly invitation from a local club between Napier and Gisborne, we head to a farm near Mohaka River. After a bit of meandering on a rutted road, we arrive at a barn where several guys are watching us drive up. “Are you lost?” (Our rental Toyota Corolla is very much out of place amongst the bigger utes around.) We are directed to follow a ute across a couple of fields to where we can see some action in the distance. When we arrive at a cluster of utes, and men with short-haired border collies, we see that the action is happening far up the hill above us where a dog is being directed by a handler near us – with a variety of whistles and shouts. The dog gradually brings three unruly sheep down the hill and has to gather them in front of the judge’s shack where the process is timed and evaluated. Luckily, the driver of the ute we followed takes us under his tutelage, and proceeds to explain the whole process of “long retrieve” to us – for the field we are in. However, next field over, there is another different “short retrieve” process underway. Our guide, Chris Reedsworth, then takes us to the second field where we watch and learn the second format. By early afternoon, we have had enough, and we finally take our leave and return to the fold in Napier. Baaa!
In the late afternoon, we stroll the waterfront of Napier, and then finally call it a day.
Day 46: March 18
Today is a travel day. We head along the coast to Gisborne. Several hours later we have landed, settled in, and had a few hours to reconnoiter the waterfront in town. It looks like the rain is returning to this area tonight. The fields will be even greener tomorrow…which reminds me…Happy (belated) St. Patrick’s Day to those at home!
Love and best wishes to all, and apologies for this “long retrieval”!
Tony and Sandy

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

Ursula and Gabe ensured a wonderful stay in Eden, and provided excellent weather!

And thanks to them, and to all who follow my blog – despite infrequency, and to those who have provided feedback! We love hearing from you!

Sandy and Tony