Day #16 New Zealand Adventure - New Plymouth to Dargaville

Today we left New Plymouth after having breakfast with Bruce Petty who moved to New Zealand over 12 years ago. He used to be a nuclear medicine technician at Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo but he developed a wanderlust and retired to New Zealand to write about the history of World War II and to give enrichment lectures on the Princess Cruise lines. He is married to a Pediatrician and they are raising three children with a better quality of life in New Zealand. Health Insurance for a family of 5 costs him about $2500 NZD per year.

New Plymouth is a great town with everything you could desire in terms of services, culture, schools and climate. The only negative is that it is near a dormant volcano that could erupt at any time. :(

After we left New Plymouth, Earline and I said we still needed to see an original growth Kauri tree to complete our bucket list. Thus we decided to drive north to the Waipoa Forest to see the largest and oldest Kauri tree in all of New Zealand, probably the oldest in the world. 

This represented a long drive of 6 1/2 hours today but we still have a day and a half to be in New Zealand and we wanted to see what the more distant North Island was like. Once we got through the horrible traffic of Auckland, we drove north on Route 1 to Silverdale where we stopped at a service center to refuel and to learn how to pay for a toll road that goes through a tunnel. They don't have toll booths but instead you go to the counter and provide your car license number to the desk clerk who enters it into the computer. You pay about $5.60 NZD for a return trip on the toll road and you get a receipt. As you drive the road, cameras take a picture of your license plate and I guess it compares your plate to the computer entry. Hopefully, I will not get a fine. I better keep the receipt.

There is a lot of empty land in the North Island as well and the industry seems to be mostly of dairy farming. 

Traveling north you will find Route 12 that crosses the land from east to west and that leads you to Dargaville, the Kumara Capital of the World, that is near the Waipoa Forest that has the old growth Kauri trees that we hope to see tomorrow.

Kumar  (Click the link)

We found a nice motel called "Hobson's Choice" for $130 NZD. The internet was speedy and the room was quite nice. We went into town to find a place to eat dinner and lucked into an establishment called "The Northern Wairoa Hotel and Restaurant." The place had atmosphere and excellent food and we learned what Kumara is. It is a root vegetable similar to a large sweet potato but with a slightly different taste.

Tonight was Halloween and I saw kids running around doing much like what our kids do in the USA. Tomorrow morning at 5:00 am will be the World Championship Rugby match between New Zealand and Australia. The entire country is anticipating this game and praying that the All Blacks, the New Zealand team, wins. If they do, it will be their third world championship win. It is fun to be here in New Zealand at this particular time and to watch the country get behind "their" team. :)

Day #15 New Zealand Adventure - Interisland Transfer and Drive to New Plymouth

We got on the Interislander ferry and it was sparsely populated with passengers. The last time we transited the islands, it was the Labor three day holiday weekend and it was packed with people going from Wellington to Picton. Today, we also chose to go with the Premier Plus upgrade because the lounge is comfortable and they serve a great hot breakfast, provide free Wi-Fi and unlimited coffees or wine. Earline certainly made use of the free wine privilege. :) I however, got a bit seasick half way across the Tasman Sea and had to remain still with my eyes closed. Fortunately, I did not get sicker and needed to expel my breakfast. :(

Once we exited the ship, obtaining a new rental vehicle from Avis was very easy. Someone was at the desk, had the contract prepared for me to sign and gave me the keys to an ugly blue Toyota Corolla.

Since I had been driving a nice grey car of the same make, there was no problem in trying to adapt to a new car in the Wellington traffic. We loaded our luggage that had some difficulty being offloaded from the ferry because they could not get the doors to open. Someone forgot to grease them I think.

We set the navigator to New Plymouth because the brother of a friend of Earline’s has been living in New Zealand for many years, and Earline wanted to get an update on his status for her friend. Bruce was a history major and ended up writing history books on the WWII about the Pacific Theater.

About the author of the books:  http://www.voicesfromthepacificwar.com/about

http://www.voicesfromthepacificwar.com

The drive took about 4 3/4 hours but went through some interesting coastal landscape that was constantly changing. There were many small beach towns with sheep farms abutting the houses and in some cases interspersed to the houses.

Approaching New Plymouth, you can see Mt. Taranaki, the stratovolcano that is nearly a perfect cone. This is the Maori name for the volcano but Captain Cook called it Mt. Edgemont after John Perceval, second Earl of Edgemont, a former first Lord of the Admiralty who had supported the concept of an oceanic search forTerra Australia Incognita. Cook described it as "of a prodigious height and its top cover'd with everlasting snow," surrounded by a "flat country ... which afforded a very good aspect, being clothed with wood and verdure."

Mt. Taranaki  (Click the link)

^{We were pretty exhausted when we got to New Plymouth and made contact with Bruce Petty to arrange to meet for breakfast in the morning. We chose a nice motel called B-K’s Edgemont Motor Lodge that was very tidy and had a jacuzzi tub and a small efficiency kitchen.} 

^{We walked into town (20 minutes) to get dinner at a local pub  called “The Black Harp” and had a good local dark beer. Earline wanted a hamburger and I wanted to try the “Roast of the Day” that was a pork roast with lots of vegetables. We have never seen a vegetable farm nor a pig farm and we are wondering where this stuff comes from. Maybe Bruce will be able to tell me?}

Day #14 - Our New Zealand Adventure (Ashburton to Picton)

This was our second long drive to get from the Fjordlands to Picton so that we can take the Interislander Ferry on October 30, 2015. As I mentioned earlier, because the Avis Company requires three days of rental after “each” inter island auto rental, we had to rush up the island to satisfy this rental requirement. Nothing much to report on different from our southern transit except perhaps Earline took better pictures of the two tunnels that you must go through to reach Kaikouri. 

She did and here it is. These tunnels seem like nothing on the return trip after going through the long tunnel at Milford Sound.

We did stop in Kikouri to purchase some “Greenstone” (jade) for Earline, my daughter and my granddaughter. There is a factory store there with many choices of nice jewelry. The store is located just at the end of the main street, across the river.

Factory Jewelry Store in Kaikoura

Earline's choices:

The drive from Kaikoura to Picton was otherwise uneventful except for stopping for a flat white coffee along the way. We got to the Gateway Motel in Picton where we spent the night. The room was drafty and cold and during the night there was a windy rainstorm that made lots of noise.  It costs $117 NZD per night but despite its proximity to the Interislander terminal, I might suggest you find an alternative place to stay.

Day #13 - New Zealand Adventure (Te Anau to Ashburton)

Today had to be a long drive day if we wanted to get to Picton for the Inter-Island transfer by Friday morning. We left Te Anau at 7:30 am and traveled up Route 6 towards Queenstown. The morning was beautiful with low lying clouds half way up the Alpine mountains.

Swinging to the east towards Cromwell, you pass the central Otago wine region that grows tremendous Pinot Noir grapes. We stopped for a late breakfast and the owner of the establishment told us the entire area was expanding like crazy. The large fields of grape vines were just fields of grass inhabited by rabbits a few years ago. This area will certainly become a world presence for wines in a few years as the vines mature.

The road then starts to go northeast to Omarama and then more directly north to Lake Pukaki where there is a visitor stop with a great view of Mount Cook. Also, at this point in the travel you see that they are farming Salmon in the canals that are fed with iridescent blue-green glacial waters of Lake Pukaki. Earline had some of the farmed Salmon in Ashburton and said it was absolutely wonderful.

Canals Farming Salmon

Lake Pukaki

Mt. Cook

Following Route 8 to the northeast, you pass Lake Tekapo at the town of Tekapo. This is a very touristy town that is centered around mountain wilderness activities in the warm seasons and skiing in the snow seasons. Several of the self-guided arranged tours plan stops in Tekapo. I personally would not see much use in stopping at this tourist town unless this was where you ended your driving day. At the town of Fairly, we traveled towards Geraldine before meeting Route 1, the costal highway to Ashburton where we spent the night at Hotel Ashburton. The cost was $139 NZD per night but this included a cooked breakfast for two that is worth about $40 NZD. It was good to get off the road!

Day #12 - New Zealand Adventure - The Milford Sound

Today we headed to the Milford Sound from Te Anau (pronounced Tay Ah New). The distance is approximately 113 kilometers and it takes about 2 hours of driving through incredible scenery to get to the sound. In reality, it is not a sound which is a channel formed by the sea flooding a river valley. A fjord is formed by a glaciated valley.

During this transit to the Milford Sound here are some of the fabulous sights. Pictures do not do the sights justice.

Interesting little mountain parrots.

Kea Birds

A very scary and long tunnel- The Homer Tunnel

The Homer Tunnel

Waterfalls Abound

Beautiful crystal clear streams

We reached the entrance to the Milford Sound

First order of business after coffee and a 2 hour drive!

We got there with 1/2 hour to spare for a 9:45 am departure. There are about 5 boat cruise companies and they all seem to go to the same places so I am not certain I can make a recommendation that one is better than the other. However, I would recommend getting there early as the place really packs up for the 1-2 pm departures as all the tour buses from elsewhere arrive.

As we pull away from the dock for a loop to the Tasman Sea, you see mountains more than a mile high rising many thousands of feet from the ocean floor carved out from glacier action. Waterfalls fall from more than a mile up with crystal clear water. If you think Yosemite and Half Dome are great, they are but a speck when compared to the Milford Sound.

Our Captain

I will try to post some videos of what the trip was like at a later date when I can edit them and place them on youtube.

I would highly recommend you place a trip to the Milford Sound or to Doubtful Sound (a two day trip) on your bucket list.

Here is what jade looks like in the raw. The Maori called it Greenstone and it is mostly mined on the west side of the South Island.

On the drive back from Milford Sound, make certain you stop at a place called the Chasm. It is well worth a short walk to watch the water flow through a narrow gap in the rocks. The video will be much more impressive.