Things we learned: They call it call&talk for a reason

We love to listen to the radio here. They play good music, have some stations in Maori language and they pronounce the E so lovely.

And they talk a lot. They have a lot of call-in programs where they offer a subject and people can call and express their opinions on the subject. Even though the subject doesn’t really  seem to be of great importance. One day we listened to a show with “rodeo” being the topic. The show master was not really in favor of it as “this is the most terrible thing you can do to an animal” but encouraged listener who liked it to call “we want to hear from the ones who like it” she said, following by a 10minute rambling why it is terrible to do it. No rodeo-lover dared to call of course. But other people called. And they talked. About young people not showing respect to the elders. Problems with finding a job. “now I really want to hear from the people who like rodeo”. A lady who is knitting little patches that she sales was next on the line. Nothing really had to do anything with rodeo, but the show master just kept talking with whatever topic the caller came up with. A bit pointless really, but there were a lot of nice E’s in all the talking. So we loved it.

Stuff we saw:

Our fantastic little free campsite at the seaside

roaring waves

full moon and footprints

catchin’ a fish.. maybe

more full moon, more beach and more sea

sunrise 1

always pretty landscape no matter where you are in NZ

We visited a bird sanctuary and found this fella: a Kaka

not really shy when fed

This is another pretty one we found there

Kakas doing some climbing in the trees

the New Zealand pigeon

peeeeep!

The southern coast of the northern Island

we really enjoyed it.

250 steps up to get a nice view….

I think it was worth it….

everything looks like a dinosaur could walk out of the bushes at any given time…

250 steps down again….

that dude was right next to the road there…

just hangin’ around, you know!

I can sleep everywhere if I must

they are laying everywhere….

count the seals…

for a seal that looks real comfortable

sleeping in all positions

“what are you looking at me?”

backsleeper

sporty one

scene of the Lord of the Ring that didn’t make it to the movie: Frodo meets the Seal in Mordor

nice coast

great rock formations

sheeps are everywhere

guys going after white bait (we got to eat them later on… yummy)

A little lake right at the edge of the seaside

Lake Onoke

Stuff we did:

We drove down the east coast of NZ to a little DOC campsite. Directly at the beach. We watched the sunset and returned after dark. The full moon reflecting on the pitch-black sea. The reflections on the little waves turned the sea to silvery lines all the way to the horizon.

Out of this world experience. Peaceful and wonderful.

We got up in the morning too. To see the sunrise. We really made most of this amazing beach that we had to us all the time.

ON our way down south, we stopped at another seaside attraction. There is a little lighthouse with 250 stairs up the hill. But that was not the attraction. The attraction are seals. They hang around there. On the rocks, swimming in the sea, on the grass and underneath the bushes.

We spent hours to watch these clowny animals. Watching them with their funny way to climb on rocks and slide on the grass I thought they probably really enjoy humans swim. As clumsy as these animals on land, as gracious, elegant and acrobatic they act under water.

For them, humans are probably the clumsy clowns in the water, and acrobatic on land.

Things we learned:

The huge carrot and other fantastic sights.

New Zealand is an amazing country. The beautiful landscapes, unusual plants, wonderful animals and the friendly people are the attractions of this country.

A lot of Lord of the Rings fans travel around here too of course, even though there is little to see from the original sets beside Hobbington, which is a zoo apparently.

Even though it has too much to offer every little thing in New Zealand is made into an attraction. Every gurgling river that drops more than 1m is displayed as a waterfall and there are some really bizarre attractions: a fence hung with bras, another one with toothbrushes attached and a huge carrot standing around somewhere.

We stood in front of the bra-fence and thought how this had become an attraction with all the amazing landscape surrounding it.

The toothbrush fence even made it into a really funny New Zealand sitcom: The flight of the Conchords. “It’s amazing: a fence entirely full of toothbrushes. At least 50 or so. Your have to see it to believe it”

You just have to love New Zealanders for this.

Stuff we saw:

We saw a farmer trying to hold the fence for the sheep to cross the road. So we came an helped.

lots of sheep

hey buddy!

you can make 200 pairs of socks out of this fella’

top of the view

thats the sheeps view

more sheep and cows

the roads winds beautifully through the landscape

more cows… they seem to like it here

cutdown season for the trees

windy road -> happy Andy

Napiers is a nice little town

access to beach in Napiers

sea is always nice

Getting to know the plane, a well maintained C172. Cassandra the Flight Instructor is with us on the flight.

Drain the plane

Pre-Flight check

Go throug the check-lists

nice views from the passengers seat

into the blue of the ocean

happy Andy

what a view

a lot of blue

along the coast it goes

happy Andy

Cape Kidnappers

nice landscapes from a different angle

on final approach

“Cleared to land 01”

some oltimers on a little rally

nice old cars and transporters

nice shape

the walk to Cape Kidnappers

the cliffs did look very stable

Christmas tree in NZ

nice view

Stuff we did:

We wanted to cross to the coast. Napier and Cape Kidnapper caught our attention.

The road there is a thin line on our map. So, we made sure it is not a grave road before we turned into it.

It is 100km and it took us 3 hours. Let’s just say there were plenty of reasons to stop. Stunning views, lots of sheep and cows, some nice birds and an amazing landscape all the way.

We found an ok campsite an took a cabin to escape the pollen.

The next day we took a little spin on a Cessna 172.

I took a Flight Instructor since I didn’t want to do the whole license approval for NZ. It was an amazing feeling to steer the plane to the coast and crossing the shore flying into an all blue: blue sky on the top and a deep blue ocean below.

What an amazing time. “Pinch-me-moment”

We found an outstanding campsite at the beach for the night.

The next day we slept in (something I could write almost every day, but this day it actually had a little consequence: we didn’t make it all the way to cape kidnappers. The incoming tide made it impossible to do the hike along the shore to the amazing cape that we saw from above the day before.

Things we learned:

We are not the only ones with 12-hour time difference

In many places, including Te Puia you can see Kiwis. They have a little birdhouse with massive doors. There is almost no light inside. In almost pitch black you slowly and quietly enter a room. One side is a big glass wall. Behind its Kiwi paradise: bushes, dry leaves on the ground, moisty earth with lots of worms. All lit in red, a color Kiwis don’t see very well. It is very dark though, so our eyes needed some time to adjust, but then we saw it: the stumpy body with the big feet runs around and hectically pushes his peak deep into the earth. Obviously, no worm here. Maybe here.. no, maybe her… no, maybe her… no…

It looks a bit grotesque this animal. The big clumsy animal on these large feet. You can hear it run around like a toddler who enjoys his new ability of using his feet.

Since the Kiwi is only active at night, they have changed the time schedule of the poor Kiwi, who is running on central European time now, so it is dark night for him when visitors come to see him: during the day.

Stuff we saw:

There is a geyser that erupts every hour for 15 minutes. It is a nice thing inmost the forest here in Te Puia

The eruption is lasting pretty long. Our guide grew up in the Maori village next to this area. The used to swim in the pools surrounding the geyser

tourist of course are led on wooden walkways…

bubbling swamps everywhere

hot stinky air whistling on many places

The Maori village here is embracing their culture and celebrate it. A haka, the war-dance is a popular display

he was actually a very friendly fellow… believe it or not….

The cultural craftsmanship is taught here to the younger generation

you can watch the school and see how they work on their pieces

Stuff we did:

Te puia was one of the few things that were on our list to do from the very beginning. It is an area of geothermal activity and an important site for one of the Maoris big tribes.

We got a tour with a lady who was born in the Maori village that is just behind the park. She showed us to some of their gods, the language and the schools that they have here. The park and the entrance fee for it supports these schools, where the Maori art is taught (such as carving and weaving).

Since the Maori did not have a written language, the wood carvings show the history of their ancestors.

On the tour we crossed the workshops on a little walkway, so that we would watch the students and teachers doing their work. It was fantastic. Outside, in a shipping area they had a huge trunk with incredible carvings on it. It is about to be sent to Belgium where the NZ Army fought in WWI.

There are some geysers that we could watch with very few people around. It was fantastic to hear and feel the roaring of the water being pushed through two little blowholes for more than 30 minutes. There are wooden stairways all around so that the tourists don’t get to near the dangerous areas.

Our guide told us how she used to play with the geysers and how they would swim in the hot pools next to the geysers. She was a great guide and we got a good insight on how the Maori live was in the past and about her past in particular.

We stayed overnight at a nice camping at the blue lake where we met Jim, a 74-year-old guy whose wife has passed away 4 years ago. So, he is up to some new adventures and made his first attempt of camping. He had a very warm and hearty character. When it got nighttime, he crawled up in the back of his Ford Focus to sleep (“there is not much of me” he said, meaning he was small enough for the little car to sleep in). I the morning when we got up he was already gone. We hope he made it alright through the night. He was is really trying hard to get a good time out of his life without his wife that he lived with for over 40 years.

What a pleasure to have met him. We hope he is doing alright.

One of the nice things with Top10 membership is, that you get some goodies sometimes. At this site we got a free Hot Tub. So, we took a hot bath in the bubbling water before going into our tent.