North Island Tour

Although the weather isn’t warm yet, and we haven’t really settled in yet, we decided to take a tour of the North Island because the kids had a two-week holiday. Uncle Rick even flew halfway around the world to join us.

Our first stop was Thames on the Coromandel peninsula. Thames is an old mining town and once, one of the largest towns in New Zealand due to the discovery of gold tucked within its rocks. We had a picnic lunch at a playground next to a Warehouse (the “WalMart” of New Zealand). The playground had a huge wooden ship (the size of a tracker trailer) which the kids found perfect for a game of hide and seek. New Zealand has many playgrounds and most are quite creative and actually a lot of fun, albeit at times, a tad dangerous. You can’t sue in New Zealand. This has encouraged a huge industry of adventure businesses to flourish. Hence, the ubiquity of “flying foxes” (zip wires) and bungee jumpers throughout Kiwi land.

Given that Thames is famous for gold, we stopped to visit an old gold mine after lunch. The one man working there gave us the tour of the mine, hard hats and torches (Kiwi for flashlights) included. He was an outpouring of information but because the mine shaft was long and narrow, only the two kids standing next to him up front could hear him well. Most of the information he provided went over their heads (and to be honest, over our heads too) which is quite remarkable given that there were only a few centimeters between our heads and the mine ceiling. It was a muddy and claustrophobic experience, but gave us a first-hand sense of how difficult it must have been for someone to work for hours under those conditions.
After the gold mine we went to a butterfly house located “naturally” in a trailer park. The greenhouse was nice enough, brimming with beautiful and unusual butterflies, but most of the specimens were not native to New Zealand. Yes, we had arrived at our first tourist trap and the $50 entrance fee didn’t even buy us one half hour of amusement.

We drove north from Thames on our way to the town of Coromandel. The drive to Coromandel was quite an adventure – a narrow and very windy road with essentially no shoulder on the left-hand side followed by a rather steep drop to a beach or the ocean. It was nerve racking for Rick as he was the passenger on the left-hand side. The ride was also a problem for Quentin and especially Annick due to motion sickness. Annick kept a beach bucket in her lap for nearly the entire drive, but fortunately it was not needed.

We arrived in the late afternoon at the holiday park in Shelly Beach. Happily, the rain had ended by the time we arrived and the children headed straight for the jumping pillow. A jumping pillow is like bouncing on the outside of a “moon bounce” – imagine a rectangular piece of parachute like material, 40 feet long and 20 feet wide, tied down at its edges and filled underneath with air so that it is forms an 8 foot high dome. You get on top of the dome and bounce. Should you roll down the edges, then you would land in the sand box that surrounds the pillow.

We planned several activities for the next day, the first of which was the Driving Creek Railway. About 35 years ago, a man purchased about 600 acres and started to build his own narrow gauge railway through the jungle and up to the top of a hill with a spectacular view of the local farms and the coast. The one-hour train ride was pleasant and the weather was cooperative. Next, we headed to the Waiau Water Park – a collection of eccentric art and activities mostly based on water power. For example, there is a section with three water cannons in which three children (or adults) can shoot sprays of water at each other. There were two flying foxes (metal wires that you slide down at fast speeds and come to an abrupt stop), a huge tire swing, and best of all, a gerbil tunnel – a six-foot diameter, eight-foot wide cylinder that children (and again, adults) can enter and make spin around at dizzying speed. Remember, this is not the land of liability, so if your kids’ heads collide as they slip and flip in this gerbil tunnel while laughing, then this is your problem.

Next stop of the day was a grove of kauri trees – New Zealand’s giant trees. They are not as big or old as the sequoias in California, nor as tall as redwoods, but they are quite impressive nevertheless. Unlike sequoias, they make great lumber – tall, straight and hard, which is why nearly all of the really old trees (they can live to over 2000 years old) have been chopped down in New Zealand. A grove of old growth kauris is a real treat and clearly a tourist attraction. Furthermore, they tend, not surprisingly, to be in remote locations. This makes for a dangerous recipe – out of the way places with tourist vehicles parked and unattended.

Just before we arrived at the parking lot for the trail to the grove we were passed by a vehicle traveling far too fast for the narrow gravel road we were on. We thought they were merely young kids driving too fast, but a few moments later we arrived at the parking lot to discover that the two cars parked in the lot each had windows smashed to bits and both of their boots ( trunks) were opened. Quickly, we deduced that the silver sedan we passed driving too fast was responsible for the car break-in crime before us. We immediately called 111, which is New Zealand’s 911. As Beth was talking on the mobile, a police office pulled into the parking area – mind you, this parking area is about 15 kilometers down a dirt road. Needless to say, we were shocked at the speed of this response. However, upon talking with the police officer we discovered that there had been another break-in at the same location only two hours earlier and he was only coincidentally returning to the scene to make sure everything was alright. It appears that “lightning” had struck again, and, luckily for us, a few minutes before we arrived at the carpark. Unfortunately, we could only provide the officer with the vaguest of information – a silver sedan with two occupants, the driver wearing a white sweatshirt – we didn’t know the make of the vehicle nor the registration (license plate) number. Incidentally, the kauris in the grove were indeed special, but we took turns hiking and guarding the car.

Our final activity for the day was to stop at a waterfall on the way back down the 309 road. It was a short hike down and quite chilly, but Xavier, Quentin, Annick and Papa braved the elements. They donned their bathing suits, gingerly inched their way into the crashing waterfall, posed for a picture and then scurried out screaming about how cold it was.

Route 309 road crosses through the middle of Coromandel and it is the shortest distance between Shelly Beach and Hot Water Beach, our first destination the next day. Although it is shortest way to cross the peninsula, it is a windy dirt road, so traversing it took quite some time. As a result, we arrived at Hot Water Beach a bit later than we planned which was almost a problem. To explain, Hot Water Beach is interesting because hot water literally bubbles up from under the sand, hot enough to create your own private spa or to burn your feet if you bury them in the sand too deep or too long. However, the hot spots on the beach are on dry sand only during low tide, and only if the low tide is sufficiently low. We did arrive just before low tide, but the tide wasn’t low enough, so the hot spots were in about a foot of water. Even though we could not dig our own hot water pool, it was interesting to have your calves freeze in the cold ocean water while your feet roasted in the hot sand beneath.

Cathedral Cove was the next stop after Hot Water Beach. As we arrived at the trail head, the weather improved considerably – warm and sunny. It is a short walk along the coast to the cove. The cove itself is a beautiful sandy beach with sea stacks 50 meters offshore and a huge cavern that leads to another beach. Postcard images everywhere. Very much worth the short walk. We ventured back west to the holiday park the long way, given the condition of the 309 road on the trip east in the morning. The kids leaped onto the jumping pillow and had a good workout. Eventually, Beth, Gerard and Rick joined in too. What fun!

Our next stop was the Rotorua area of New Zealand, a very touristy town replete with adventure activities and thermal areas to explore. We drove south in a torrential rain that hampered any plans we had to picnic or do a small hike. We headed straight for our cottage near Lake Rotoma on the grounds of a deer farm owned by two delightful Brits who love animals. They have cows, elk, two horses, goats, dogs and chickens. By the time we arrived, it was freezing cold, but the rain had subsided. We wandered around the farm and hoped that our trip to White Island the next day would not be cancelled due to the nasty weather.

Luckily, the White Island trip was scheduled to leave and so we climbed in the car that morning and drove to Whakatane (pronounced fah-kah-tah-nay---in Maori, the “wh” is pronounced like an “f” which leads to some interesting place names like Whakahoro and Whakapapa--no, I am not kidding). White Island is an offshore active marine volcano. It can be impressive to eye even from the shore of Whakatane, as it is usually steaming profusely. The day before our trip, another volcano, Ruapehu, had erupted and consequently, White Island was not so steamy. Also, there was still a fair amount of wind from the earlier storm and that may have dispersed the plumes.

The boat ride out was long and rough. Annick vomited, but she is getting good at discerning when she needs the “bag”. Gerard also tossed his cookies at the end, despite valiant efforts to keep it down. We had to load up six passengers at a time into a rubber dinghy to be taken to a slippery iron dock with waves crashing angrily. We were convinced that we would all be soaked and miserably cold by the time we all got settled on the island. Fortunately, only Xavier suffered a bit when he got doused on the backside with a whippy wave.

It is a privilege to be able to visit White Island. It is strictly controlled by the Department of Conservation (ironically, however, it is privately owned) and you must be properly outfitted with hard hats and gas masks to tour the island. We saw an impressive array of steaming fumaroles, bubbling mud pits, bright yellow sulphur rocks and the violent, churning cone of the volcano. Oooh, aaah. The big adventure was yet to come, however, as the wind had gathered strength and the ocean looked like it was throwing a temper tantrum. Big, inconsistent waves splashed on shore and the little dinghy had very little control in making a landing. We went back to the iron dock, then got sent over to a little cove and then back to the dock and finally back to the cove where they evacuated us two by two adorned in life jackets bouncing up and down all the way to the larger boat where we were tossed up and down some more. It took about two hours to get us all off the island safely and one of the crew members dislocated his shoulder in the process. Unfortunately, no one was in the mood to seek out dolphins or penguins on the way home.

The following day, we drove an hour south of Lake Rotoma to the thermal area of Waiotapu. We saw their one geyser, Lady Knox, erupt precisely at 10 a.m. (with the help of some soap powder!) and got to tour more bubbling mud pools, sulphur lakes and beautiful terraces. There were some brilliant colors, enhanced by the day’s sunny weather.




After Waiotapu, we went up to Rotorua so that the kids could go zorbing. This is one of those unique New Zealand adventure activities that you would never witness happening in the states. There are different forms of zorbing and if you are really interested, you can look it up on google and see videos of people doing this nutty activity. Our kids did the two-person hydrozorb. Our kids paired up and were inserted into the center of a huge, bouncy ball with the center “womb” filled partially with warm water and then they rolled our dear children down a hill. So, yes, they were courageous and are now christened zorbonauts. We only wish that the hill were longer – the 20 second ride down the hill cost us $25 per child.

To finish off the day, we took a dip in the hot water spring next to our cottage. The water was very warm and a little too brown for comfort – it wasn’t clear if the warmth was due really to geothermal activity or to the brown patches of organic goop floating by, which we hoped was not related to the cows nearby. They say the water has healing powers, but we weren’t putting our heads under to test the theory.

When we woke up the next morning, we were delighted to see that the weather gods were smiling on us for two days in a row! It’s a miracle! We packed up and headed to the site where we were scheduled to go on a four-hour river rafting excursion. We had an awesome guide who was warm and patient with those of us who did some “pretend paddling”. The river was sufficiently rumbly and tumbly to keep us all screaming and laughing to the end. The scenery was stunning and it was a really fun day for all.

Leaving the rafting site, we traveled south to Turangi at the southern end of Taupo Lake, Trout Center of the World. We spent our first and only full day in Turangi hiking the Tongariro Crossing, a trek regarded as New Zealand’s best one-day tramp. It is a ten-mile strenuous walk up to the ridge of two volcanoes, overlooking a crater and a couple of volcanic lakes. Given that it was still the beginning of spring here down under, there was plenty of snow at the top of this hike and the lakes, which are emerald and cobalt in the summer, were just frozen ponds; however, the snow-capped volcanoes were stunning and the views out over the countryside were truly breathtaking. It was a challenging walk for the children, but they did it.

On a whim the next morning, we decided to investigate New Zealand’s National Trout Center. Unbeknownst to us, it was Children’s Fishing Day. Of course, you had to be preregistered to participate, but we figured that we would ask anyway if there was any possibility that our children could participate. Luckily for us, a group of ten had cancelled due to the poor weather and so our children were whisked away to the trout pond, given one-day fishing licenses and a lesson in fly fishing. Each child caught a trout that was then weighed, measured and certified. Then, the folks at the Trout Center prepared and smoked the fish for us for dinner. How cool is that? We enjoyed the displays they had on fishing in New Zealand. The average rainbow trout caught in Taupo lake is 3lbs and the average in the Turangi River is 4lbs! Furthermore in the Turangi River, there are over 1100 trout on average for each 2 kilometer stretch of water! Amazing! Just throw your line in and you are sure to catch a monster fish. The kids also got to feed the trout while we were there. Going there was an act of spontaneity that worked out nicely.

You may have caught the use of “pounds” rather than “kilograms” to describe the fish in Turangi. We have noticed that while New Zealand is officially on the metric system, the English system appears frequently in conversation (and indeed, the Department of Conservation reported the average weight of trout in pounds). They even seem to mix the two systems – for example, the “mileage” on a car is how many kilometers it has been driven, maybe because “kilometrage” sounds so funny.

After the Trout Center, we drove further south to Waikanae Beach, near Wellington. The weather just got worse and worse. The whole North Island was struck with intense storms. Down by Wellington, while we were there, there were buckets of rain and winds that blew up to 60 mph. Needless to say, our trip to Kapiti Island was cancelled.

Kapiti is the island where King Kong was filmed and where we were hoping to see some of the rare and interesting birds of New Zealand. Some of them only exist on the islands just off the coast of the main island because of invasive species that have been introduced to New Zealand, such as stoats, weasels, mice, rats, pigs and possums. Some of the offshore islands like Kapiti have been able to stay "pest free" and maintain bird populations that cannot exist on the mainland. New Zealand seems to be aggressively trying to eliminate all invasive species with the notable exception of trout, presumably because trout are not killing off the native birds even though they probably have eaten up all of New Zealand’s native fish a long time ago. Anyhow, we rescheduled twice, but the weather remained unstable. We did spend one of our days down south visiting the Te Papa Museum, the National Museum of New Zealand. We also traveled down another long, extremely narrow and windy road, to visit the Staglands Wildlife Park one morning, a place full of all kinds of critters. We strolled through an aviary where there were two resident keas, the large and cheeky parrots of the South Island. Xavier tried to feed it and got a nice pinchy bite on his finger. Ouch.

It was time to head back up north. We went as far as Egmont Village in Egmont National Park on the western side of the North Island. Egmont’s crowning jewel is Mount Taranaki which greatly resembles Mount Fuji – a conical volcano, standing completely on its own and dominating the terrain all around it. Snow had fallen on the mountain/volcano just before we arrived (during those crazy stormy days) and it appeared before us as we approached our accommodation there. Apparently, you are very lucky to actually see Mount Taranaki as it is often draped in clouds and fog. We felt very fortunate and started snapping away the camera, even though there were a few clouds decorating the profile.

We stayed in the “Eco-Inn”, a place designed and managed by an eco-engineer who runs his property exclusively with renewable energy sources---wind, sun and water. It was a rustic place with lots of charm. The kids loved it. There was an adventure playground with yet another flying fox, a tree fort with cots and torches ( flashlights) that were powered by magnets. There was a pond with kayaks, a hot tub warmed by a wood fire and lots of animals---dogs, chickens, cows, goats and best of all, a baby lamb named Lemmington who loved to play soccer with the children. They felt like they had died and gone to heaven.

When we got up the next morning, we were delighted to see the mountain once again, clearer than even the day before. Again, Beth raced out of the house with camera in hand, snapping photos. The clouds moved in quickly, but we drove up to the visitor’s center and got to enjoyed yet again, another awesome view of Mount Taranaki. We tried to hike around the mountain, but given the recent snow, it was too wet, cold and slushy. We abandoned our plans and headed to a lower elevation where we ended up hiking up to a secluded waterfall. In the end, the kids just wanted to hang out with the baby lamb and play in the hot tub, so that’s how we spent the rest of the day.

Our final destination was the Waikato region of the North Island. The drive up was quite scenic---rolling green hills falling into gorgeous beaches, peppered with cows and sheep, with some colorful splashes of spring wildflowers for as far as the eye can see. On our way to the rental property, we stopped at the Kiwi House so that we could see all those rare and interesting birds of New Zealand that we didn’t get to see in the wild in Kapiti.

The following day, we took a small tour of a glow worm cave in Waitomo. There is a special kind of worm that is found very rarely outside of New Zealand (there are some in Australia). The larva live in caves and look like slimy little boogers. They attached themselves to the ceiling of the cave and let down up to 40 sticky strands of goo which captures innocent insects who might be flying by. The bottoms of these worms light up to attract the insects and to see so many of these worms at once is really astounding. It looks like the cave has its own starry night. We spent about a half hour in a slow moving raft just staring at the abundance of these worms.

We visited a second cave with stalactites, stalagmites and lots of animal bones, including moa bones. Isaac, who had been totally obsessed with giant squid, has now shifted his energy to studying the extinct moa bird in all its glory. We are sure that by the end of the year, we will know more about moas than we ever imagined.

Next morning, we woke up, packed up and headed home on a beautiful sunny day, perfect for drying all that dirty laundry that we needed to wash. When we left in the morning, the Kiwis were beating the French 10 to nil in the rugby world cup, but by the time we arrived back in Puhoi, they had lost the match. The Phillies also managed to be swept by the Rockies. Bad sports karma. Oh well, or, as the Kiwis say “All’s good”.

Now we are back to school, music lessons and all the other routines we now have in our Kiwi lives. Until the next blog entry, kia ora.

If you want to see more photos of our adventures, http://picasaweb.google.com/bennett.cachon/NorthIslandTour