there is so much to do here but so little time. I went up on the cable car to the top of the local mountain. They have various mountain bike runs (not for the faint hearted) plus zip lines and roller luge runs. I settled for the roller luge and did five runs each 3/4 mins. After each run you go back up on a chair lift...the weather was a pleasant 22/24 degrees so the lift back up was really welcome.
Thought about the zip wire and then read all the exclusions etc. so reckoned the old back might not take it...maybe I'm just chicken. Went to a geyser / Maori reserve and whilst standing in the queue I heard two families describe it as a waste of money...so about turn. Because of this I have decided to change my itinerary and instead of heading to NAPIER tomorrow I will go to Lake Taupo and stop off at a geological park which has a geyser that goes off every day a 10:15. I all probably cut my time in NAPIER back to one night. Apologies for the lack of photos I cannot upload photos from my Nikon or Olympus to the iPad and need to rely on my iPhone. Will try to get more.
Dining out again tonight as the campsite tomorrow is a bit remote and I will probably end up with beans on toast. The professional tourers that you meet seem to cook just the same as at home...I saw a woman the other night construct a beef lasagne for six from scratch.
I find everyone very helpful no matter what age or nationality...they are eager to give tips and advise on what to see. If I took it all in I would need six months minimum. I am going to change the way I planned to do things...I will now try to do something at place where I overnight before travelling on.
I can the get something done late afternoon at the destination. I was worried about the campsites being full but I am assured by all the travellers that the high season is over and there should be vacancies.
That is it for today...it is nearly five o'clock ...early to bed tonight.
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Monday, 23 February 2015
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Campervan day one
Auckland to Coromandel peninsula
Picked up the campervan on Sunday morning at 09:30. They all have names and this one is called ETTIE, I will get a photo on the blog shortly. She is an old bone shaker with over 420,000 kilometres on the clock. Unfortunately she is automatic and doesn't like the hills, either that or I cannot drive one very well. The journey was painless I got directions out of Auckland from the concierge at the hotel and then picked up the signposts for the coromandel peninsula..simples. The roads after you leave the main highways are not the best...a bit like like Skye after a hard winter. When I left the main roads it was very much like being in Skye, the high passes, the bikers (hundreds) and the old grey haired dude (me) driving the campervan at 45/50 mph. The only difference is all the lush foliage at the side of the road...I can see why they want to adopt the FERN as their flag symbol. I stopped briefly at two towns enroute, THAMES & COROMANDEL TOWN for comfort breaks and to investigate if I could stock up with provisions ..no success. I crossed over the peninsula via a steep mountain pass to the larger town of WHITIANGA (pronounced FITIANGER) where there are two large supermarkets, so I am stocked up with essentials,they sell STELLA ARTOIS but I opted for TSINGTAO as it was a better deal. I then drove round to the other side of the bay about twenty minutes away by road but around five mins by water taxi if you are on foot. This is where I spent the night at COOKS BEACH RESORT...this is an upmarket campsite with loads of facilities and the kitchen / ablution areas are immaculate. If the future one turn out to be like this I will be sorted.
Sorted out the van and went to the local chippie which is run by a Glaswegian Woman who has been here for twenty one years...the clue was in the the name of the shop"FRYING SCOTSMAN". Hoki and chips = £3.90 the best bargain I have had since I arrived.
OBSERVATION...they have extremely strict controls on booze here and the onus is on the pub manager or supermarket supervisor (who must be named on a board) to be responsible for the customer. Example: I was in a bar watching England getting cuffed at cricket when this young oz guy (24) came in to enjoy the spectacle. Because he only had an Austrailian driving licence with him to substantiate his age he could not be served. He would have needed his passport to prove his age.
The bar manager must not serve you if you are drunk. The pubs in Falkirk would be out of business within a week if this was applied at home. When alcohol is purchased from the supermarket the checkout operator needs the supervisor to sign off on age and sobriety (I passed on both counts)
The first night was relatively comfortable, a couple of tweaks and I should have this sorted. The sound of the continuous rain on the roof is quite comforting .
Still waking up at 05:30 same as at home...
Will get a photo on the blog of ETTIE once it is light.
Picked up the campervan on Sunday morning at 09:30. They all have names and this one is called ETTIE, I will get a photo on the blog shortly. She is an old bone shaker with over 420,000 kilometres on the clock. Unfortunately she is automatic and doesn't like the hills, either that or I cannot drive one very well. The journey was painless I got directions out of Auckland from the concierge at the hotel and then picked up the signposts for the coromandel peninsula..simples. The roads after you leave the main highways are not the best...a bit like like Skye after a hard winter. When I left the main roads it was very much like being in Skye, the high passes, the bikers (hundreds) and the old grey haired dude (me) driving the campervan at 45/50 mph. The only difference is all the lush foliage at the side of the road...I can see why they want to adopt the FERN as their flag symbol. I stopped briefly at two towns enroute, THAMES & COROMANDEL TOWN for comfort breaks and to investigate if I could stock up with provisions ..no success. I crossed over the peninsula via a steep mountain pass to the larger town of WHITIANGA (pronounced FITIANGER) where there are two large supermarkets, so I am stocked up with essentials,they sell STELLA ARTOIS but I opted for TSINGTAO as it was a better deal. I then drove round to the other side of the bay about twenty minutes away by road but around five mins by water taxi if you are on foot. This is where I spent the night at COOKS BEACH RESORT...this is an upmarket campsite with loads of facilities and the kitchen / ablution areas are immaculate. If the future one turn out to be like this I will be sorted.
Sorted out the van and went to the local chippie which is run by a Glaswegian Woman who has been here for twenty one years...the clue was in the the name of the shop"FRYING SCOTSMAN". Hoki and chips = £3.90 the best bargain I have had since I arrived.
OBSERVATION...they have extremely strict controls on booze here and the onus is on the pub manager or supermarket supervisor (who must be named on a board) to be responsible for the customer. Example: I was in a bar watching England getting cuffed at cricket when this young oz guy (24) came in to enjoy the spectacle. Because he only had an Austrailian driving licence with him to substantiate his age he could not be served. He would have needed his passport to prove his age.
The bar manager must not serve you if you are drunk. The pubs in Falkirk would be out of business within a week if this was applied at home. When alcohol is purchased from the supermarket the checkout operator needs the supervisor to sign off on age and sobriety (I passed on both counts)
The first night was relatively comfortable, a couple of tweaks and I should have this sorted. The sound of the continuous rain on the roof is quite comforting .
Still waking up at 05:30 same as at home...
Will get a photo on the blog of ETTIE once it is light.
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Auckland
Auckland is a very modern city...I did the ubiquitous bus tour which was poor quality when compared with those I have done in other major cities. there is not a lot to see here except to walk around and absorb the atmosphere. I reckon it would be good to go offshore to the surrounding islands but the queues for the trips have been enormous or full charters caused by cruise vessel passengers. There has been a cruise vessel in each day since I have been here. The food though is fantastic if you like Japanese/ Chinese/ Thai (which I do)
I find everything here expensive by comparison to Scotland even although the rate of exchange at 2NZD to the pound is quite good
The weather on Thursday was bright and sunny with the temperature in the mid twenties but today (Friday) it has been overcast with rain showers. I had planned to go up the sky tower but when the visibility is not good it would be a waste of money. There is a jump off for £110 which is a controlled descent from about the same height as the Eiffel tower but don't think the back would take it. Will leave all this adrenalin stuff for later on. In the apartment at the moment creating this post with the TV on...the programmes are virtually the same afternoon rubbish that is on our channels at home.
I don,t reckon I will be watching afternoon tv when I commence my semi retirement .
This city reminds me of Toronto so much they even have the same type of "plastic" banknotes in NZ as they do in Canada.
I can see what people see in living here, the climate and the outdoor lifestyle.
I cannot wait to get my camper van and have been to the hire company to sus out the vans as they all have different paint jobs.
Not much else to report or comment upon at the moment will post again tomorrow before my current wifi subscription runs out.
I find everything here expensive by comparison to Scotland even although the rate of exchange at 2NZD to the pound is quite good
The weather on Thursday was bright and sunny with the temperature in the mid twenties but today (Friday) it has been overcast with rain showers. I had planned to go up the sky tower but when the visibility is not good it would be a waste of money. There is a jump off for £110 which is a controlled descent from about the same height as the Eiffel tower but don't think the back would take it. Will leave all this adrenalin stuff for later on. In the apartment at the moment creating this post with the TV on...the programmes are virtually the same afternoon rubbish that is on our channels at home.
I don,t reckon I will be watching afternoon tv when I commence my semi retirement .
This city reminds me of Toronto so much they even have the same type of "plastic" banknotes in NZ as they do in Canada.
I can see what people see in living here, the climate and the outdoor lifestyle.
I cannot wait to get my camper van and have been to the hire company to sus out the vans as they all have different paint jobs.
Not much else to report or comment upon at the moment will post again tomorrow before my current wifi subscription runs out.
The journey: Scotland to NZ
For all you followers who have been waiting for the scintillating details of my adventure so far, I need to apologise as the WiFi has been dodgy on the journey and on arrival. This is first time I have been able to get things working using my own iPhone as a hotspot...right here we go with a condensed version so far
The journey Glasgow / Dubai / Melbourne / Auckland took well over 30 hours. The flight from Glasgow was delayed by some oil rig worker (Scottish) throwing his teddy out of the cot because he was in the wrong seat ...he was trying to get upgraded onboard but it did not work delayed aircraft by 45 mins and subsequently missed the slot. Dubai airport is awesome the size of a large shopping mall but because of the delay in arriving did not have time to fully look around...will leave this for the return journey. The next leg from DUBAI to Melbourne was the longest I have ever sat in the one place at least I had good neighbours a young Dutch girl and an Irish guy (same age as me). The final leg Melbourne to Auckland was delayed awaiting the arrival another flight with a load of pax for the flight. I am surprised that I did not catch something onboard as all the other old people were coughing and sneezing. Did not get more than three by 20 minute snoozes mainly because some Middle Eastern child repeated "fasten your seat belts" for periods of five minutes plus every time the pilot switched the sign on, and there was lot of turbulence over the equatorial region. The 380 (double decker) is a fantastic aircraft so I can see why the eejit wanted to get upgraded to first class.
On arrival Auckland immigration was exceptionally fast because I still have an old style non chipped passport. The q for the chipped was over 100 but for me 5. The customs though were something else...I fortunately declared my chocolate as when they X-rayed the bag it was noticed and they swabbed my bag interior for drugs. They are paranoid about anything coming into the country to contaminate their environment. There was one guy getting grief for having a dirty pair of old walking boots which were going to be destroyed. I did not give much hope for the carton on the luggage carousel which was labelled Gaunchou beef company.
Set off from Glasgow at 21:30 on Monday 16th and arrived at my hotel in Auckland at 17:00 local time on Wednesday 18th...quite a marathon...checked in straight out for a beer and a burger and bed for 12 hours straight.
Reckon I might have an issue with adding a photo here and I therefore don't want to lose this dialogue
So I will close and publish this and update things later.
DavidH
The journey Glasgow / Dubai / Melbourne / Auckland took well over 30 hours. The flight from Glasgow was delayed by some oil rig worker (Scottish) throwing his teddy out of the cot because he was in the wrong seat ...he was trying to get upgraded onboard but it did not work delayed aircraft by 45 mins and subsequently missed the slot. Dubai airport is awesome the size of a large shopping mall but because of the delay in arriving did not have time to fully look around...will leave this for the return journey. The next leg from DUBAI to Melbourne was the longest I have ever sat in the one place at least I had good neighbours a young Dutch girl and an Irish guy (same age as me). The final leg Melbourne to Auckland was delayed awaiting the arrival another flight with a load of pax for the flight. I am surprised that I did not catch something onboard as all the other old people were coughing and sneezing. Did not get more than three by 20 minute snoozes mainly because some Middle Eastern child repeated "fasten your seat belts" for periods of five minutes plus every time the pilot switched the sign on, and there was lot of turbulence over the equatorial region. The 380 (double decker) is a fantastic aircraft so I can see why the eejit wanted to get upgraded to first class.
On arrival Auckland immigration was exceptionally fast because I still have an old style non chipped passport. The q for the chipped was over 100 but for me 5. The customs though were something else...I fortunately declared my chocolate as when they X-rayed the bag it was noticed and they swabbed my bag interior for drugs. They are paranoid about anything coming into the country to contaminate their environment. There was one guy getting grief for having a dirty pair of old walking boots which were going to be destroyed. I did not give much hope for the carton on the luggage carousel which was labelled Gaunchou beef company.
Set off from Glasgow at 21:30 on Monday 16th and arrived at my hotel in Auckland at 17:00 local time on Wednesday 18th...quite a marathon...checked in straight out for a beer and a burger and bed for 12 hours straight.
Reckon I might have an issue with adding a photo here and I therefore don't want to lose this dialogue
So I will close and publish this and update things later.
DavidH
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Saturday..14-FEB-15
apologies
I have not been on this blog for some time as I have been busy at work for the final last full time working week. I have a couple of things to do at work over the weekend and then Monday morning to finalise the full time job. When I return to work (23Mar15) I am on reduced days 2/3 per week and believe it or not I am looking forward to this. Anyway I am not thinking about this for the next 5 weeks.
I am just waiting for the EMIRATES web-site to open to allow the on-line check-in to take place. The bag is packed (22kgs), the cameras are all charged, the KINDLE is charged, the (2) mobile phones are ready and the i-pad is in the rufty-tufty protective case (Amazon state this is military grade)...reckon I'm ready to go at a moments notice.
The post Christmas weight did NOT come off as planned and therefore the large waisted trousers have been deployed. This is mainly due to the enormous amount of eating I have done over the last two weeks.
I do not want you followers to get your expectations up about the quality of the material you will see on this blog. There will be a lot of photos of food (this is to annoy the guys in the office who think it is naff to do this) and boring selfies (I have stick - courtesy of my daughter)
I have always been fascinated by NZ because of the variety of the topography of the country. There are not many countries in this world who have Volcanos, Glaciers, Geysers and Alpine mountains.
the other reasons for wanting to do this is that I have never been to the Southern Hemisphere where the night sky is different from us up in the North.
I have looked at numerous bogs from professionals and seasoned travellers who fired up my courage to ask my wife's permission to go on this odyssey but the one that inspired me was that of a young American girl who quoted C.S. Lewis "you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream" and I then thought, why not I am going to go for this.
The dream is now going to be a reality so watch this space for how it develops..speak to you soon
[there will be photos if i can master the technology]
DavidH
apologies
I have not been on this blog for some time as I have been busy at work for the final last full time working week. I have a couple of things to do at work over the weekend and then Monday morning to finalise the full time job. When I return to work (23Mar15) I am on reduced days 2/3 per week and believe it or not I am looking forward to this. Anyway I am not thinking about this for the next 5 weeks.
I am just waiting for the EMIRATES web-site to open to allow the on-line check-in to take place. The bag is packed (22kgs), the cameras are all charged, the KINDLE is charged, the (2) mobile phones are ready and the i-pad is in the rufty-tufty protective case (Amazon state this is military grade)...reckon I'm ready to go at a moments notice.
The post Christmas weight did NOT come off as planned and therefore the large waisted trousers have been deployed. This is mainly due to the enormous amount of eating I have done over the last two weeks.
I do not want you followers to get your expectations up about the quality of the material you will see on this blog. There will be a lot of photos of food (this is to annoy the guys in the office who think it is naff to do this) and boring selfies (I have stick - courtesy of my daughter)
I have always been fascinated by NZ because of the variety of the topography of the country. There are not many countries in this world who have Volcanos, Glaciers, Geysers and Alpine mountains.
the other reasons for wanting to do this is that I have never been to the Southern Hemisphere where the night sky is different from us up in the North.
I have looked at numerous bogs from professionals and seasoned travellers who fired up my courage to ask my wife's permission to go on this odyssey but the one that inspired me was that of a young American girl who quoted C.S. Lewis "you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream" and I then thought, why not I am going to go for this.
The dream is now going to be a reality so watch this space for how it develops..speak to you soon
[there will be photos if i can master the technology]
DavidH
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