Treve & Katrina Travel The World

Happy New Year to you all from Dargaville in the west Northlands! We've just packed our tent ready following our last night in New Zealand and, in fact, the Southern Hemisphere. This evening, we take to the skies again for San Francisco, Californ-i-a.

Now, where were we?

A wet and grey day in Christchurch prompted us to get our skates on and get out of the city as soon as possible. Katrina's amazing navigational skills brought us to the delightful permanent caravan park (town) where we were soon neighbours of the likes of Marg and Tony, who were the real kind of salt-of-the-earth people you meet out here - extremely friendly and helpful.

Dunshiftinn - home, sweet home!

After a night listening to the relentless patter of raindrops bouncing off Sandy, we headed north for a luxurious Christmas Eve dip in the thermal pools at Hamner Springs. Idyllically surrounding by mountains and pine forests, the natural hot springs heat the pools to temperatures up to 40 degrees centigrade and leave you feeling very relaxed and sleepy (which didn't mix too well with having to continue driving north-east to Kaikora!)

Thermal pools at Hamner Springs

Over to you, Mrs Slokeham!

We raced back towards the east coast to reach Kaikora in time for a few Christmas Eve drinks in the late afternoon sun. Kaikora (Maori for "crayfish", which are abundant along the coastline here) sits on a large bay, flanked by impressive mountains that were covered in an unusual sprinkling of snow - the closest we'd get to a white Christmas this year.

Invasion of the Crayfish!

Festive crane on the wharf at Kaikora

Christmas Day was always going to be wierd this year, but nevertheless we got into the spirit of things and bought some prime New Zealand beef steak which we barbequed along with the other happy campers. It seems as though this is the way Christmas is done down here.

Christmas Day on the beach? Fantastic!

Preparing the Christmas Day lunch

Out-doing the neighbours, kiwi-style

A Boxing Day sprint up the east coast, through the vineyards of the famous Montana wine estates and we were soon back in Picton (where we'd started our South Island adventure 3 weeks earlier), cooking another sumptuous meal al-fresco with the incredible backdrop of the Marlborough Sounds.

Treve whips up a Boxing Day feast

Our ferry was due at 5am the following morning, so we kipped in the terminal car park, thus freeing up $30 to spend on coffee and cakes the next day. Bleary-eyed and confronted with dozens of crashed-out travellers in sleeping bags strewn across the departure lounge, we checked in and were soon gliding towards the Cook Strait, watching the sun rise over the hills in a cloudless sky.

Dawn passage through Marlborough Sounds

Early morning crossing back to the North Island

Sandy, our trusty van, was due back in Auckland the following day, so it was a case of just pressing on as far north as we could on a diet of little sleep and copious caffeine.

Passing a dormant volcano in Mordor country

We stopped off at Wild West-style towns along the way, where tumble weeds practically whistled down the deserted, ramschackle streets and children kicked around on sweet shop steps. We came across ski hire shops in the most unlikely of places - it's hard to imagine how these towns might look in peak season, with a dusting of snow.

Luxurious ski hire shop

We finally succumbed to fatigue 2 hours short of Auckland in Te Kuiti (near the famous Waitomo Caves), the self-proclaimed "sheep shearing capital of the world"! We were treated to the warmest of welcomes from the 2 lovely Maori ladies running the camp site. We were offered a night's stay in a genuine Maori village, but we had arrived just a moment too late - damn!

Sandy was reluctantly returned to her owners (and the full $1000 deposit amazingly returned to us, despite covert visits to the Rob Roy glacier down south!), and it was a case of hanging around in Auckland until the much anticipated arrival of Tink and Justin for Kamilla's wedding. Finally reunited, we spent a couple of days exploring Auckland with Maria and Ann (some old pals from Putney, now back in their homeland).

With Maria & Tink on Mt Eden

Katrina climbs the volcano at Devonport, Auckland

Everywhere we went in New Zealand, we'd heard that Mt Maunganui (based around another old volcano) was the party capital of NZ and the place to be on New Year's Eve, so we all piled into Tink's hire car and headed out east to The Mount! A cross between Clacton and Newquay on a summer's day, it was petrol-head heaven (Treve is now tempted to bolt a baked bean tin onto the Polo's exhaust pipe!), with the local boy racers cruising the strip endlessly. Thankfully for the locals, this only happens around New Year and for the rest of the time Mt Maunganui is a beautiful holiday resort lining a long sandy beach.

Kamilla and Coops had cleverly decided to get married on the beach on New Year's Eve (also Kamilla's birthday), so it was time for a party. Before we got stuck into the celebrations, it was time to work off the Christmas excesses and go for a tramp in the sun around the Mount.

Walking-off the Christmas kiwi

In true "Four Weddings and a Funeral" style, the 4 of us dashed along the beach just in time to see Kamilla appear over the sand dunes for the wedding ceremony. Dressed in flip-flops (or is that "jandals"?) and pin-striped shorts, the wedding party looked a perfect picture of the relaxed kiwi style. Formalities done and dusted, we tramped up over the dunes for pie and ale celebrations at the sports club - a great night had by all!

Celebrating Kamilla & Coops' wedding

New Year's Day was spent with the boys, floating around more thermal baths and climbing the Mount - a sort of self-flagelation (or is that flatulation?!) for the previous night's excesses!

Mr Hastings plots his next venture on Mt Maunganui

Tink and Justin had a date with destiny (oh, and the ferry to the South Island), so we stopped off to see a familiar couple of geysers in Rotorua. We bade our emotional fairwells (sniff!) in Taupo, where we picked up our own hire car - this time a sporty Ford Fiesta - and our 1* accomodation for the coming week - a lowly tent (God, we're skint!)

Napier, the Art Deco "capital of the world" (heard that somewhere before?!) was next on the menu, so we rode on the coat-tails of a westerly gale eastward to our first night's camp in Hawks Bay - and what a night it was! Fumbling with the instructions, we finally managed to erect the tent - which was better than our neighbour managed, as we awoke the next morning to see them snoozing under collapsed canvas - amateurs, eh?! We didn't envy the boys crossing the Cook Strait that day!

Danger! This erection is liable to collapse at any moment!

Art Deco, Napier

Fancy seats, Napier

Over the following days, we tracked back north, around the Coromanel Peninsula, about which we'd heard so much on our travels. The landscape returned to the dramatic twisting hills and coastline, similar to what we'd seen and loved on the South Island.

NZ's answer to St Michael's Mount

Fat-boy tucks into another sandwich

We were treated to spectacular views of hidden coves nestled amongst attractive camp sites and old gold mining townships, which appeared to have changed little since the rush of the 1860s.

Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula

The region is famous for it's mussels and oysters, which just had to be sampled in the local cafe in Coromandel - a late Christmas treat for us!

Which way now?! Lost in Coromandel township

We've just spent our last couple of days in New Zealand touring the Northlands (not surprisingly the region north of Auckland) and on one occasion fell asleep to the sound of the kiwi band The Feelers rumbling in the distance. We've endured screaming kids on their summer holidays, who seemed to find the guy ropes of our funny little tent just a little too interesting - why, you pesky kids! Otherwise, camping has been fun, fun, fun (and more importantly, cheap!)

So that's all folks from NZ. Must dash off to the airport for another dose of airline fodder and some new adventures in San Fran, man!

Take care & see you soon (very soon!)

Lots of love,
Treve & Katrina xxx