Day 2 of our four-day transit back home, today from Auckland to Nadi.
Our flight was at 9:30am so we decided to get through all the airport lineups and then have breakfast in the terminal.
We had a little wrinkle cause we only had a one-way ticket to Nadi (our flight to Toronto was part our return ticket from Toronto to Nadi). So we we couldn’t checkin online, and instead had to go through a couple longer lineups to show proof of on-going voyage. It was pretty crowded so we wore our masks the whole time, including the flight.
The exit immigration process was fully automated. We’re dreading having to go through Pearson in a few days, which is the opposite of the experience here.
The flight was really pleasant on Air New Zealand. We got totally engrossed in our movies (Elvis for Heather, Tenet for me) and neither of us realized we had even taken off until we were about to land. Perfect movie lengths for a three hour flight!
Cause I booked our flights so many months ago I was able to book seats near the front of economy, and so we were first off the plane and first through immigration. Good thing cause there were only a couple agents and slow going.
Got a taxi to the DoubleTree. We’d taken the route a half dozen times during our Fiji leg of the trip and it was very familiar to us.
About half the staff at the DoubleTree recognized us, some of them even remembered our names which was really impressive, given the number of guests they encounter.
It was 1pm and our room wasn’t quite ready, so we had lunch while waiting. The downside was that we were still in our cooler weather clothes and it was 29C here. Oh well.
We were reunited with our left luggage and took a golf cart to our bure. The rest of the afternoon we spent rejigging our luggage yet again, this time with carryon for our overnight in San Francisco. We had our carryon suitcase now so had more room (on the flight here, our carryon was our weekend pack).
Had dinner yet again at the Doubletree. They had just changed menus so we had some new items to try. We both had fish dishes, both of which were walu, a common fish for eating here in Fiji. I also had a couple Fiji Bitters :)
Monday, January 16, 2023
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Auckland, New Zealand
It was a beautiful morning in Waiheke. We didn’t have much time to enjoy the view from the bnb cause we wanted to catch the 11am ferry back to Auckland. This was our first of four transit days to get back home.
Things were going to plan until my Gmail app decided to upgrade itself while I was trying to look up the lockbox code to leave the car and house key (attached to the tow hook on the car). Heather was able to look it up and then we rushed over to the ferry line up. We made it on the 11am with minutes to spare.
Took an Uber to the Novotel at the airport, and then camped out for the rest of the day. We had lunch and dinner at the in-house restaurant which got only 2.6 on Google but wasn’t too bad. Had one last local Hazy Pale Ale :) I had read about the Nelson and Manteuka hops before we got to NZ, I really enjoyed them.
Our room had an excellent view of the runway and landing planes, as well as of Manukau Harbour and the surrounding mountains. It was really quite scenic. Heather also liked watching the little cars pulling the cart trains like little doozers.
We repacked our stuff to maximize our carryon in case our luggage didn't make it.
We took a little walk after dinner. We actually retraced our route from the international to domestic terminal just for fun. This was the path we had taken in miserable weather and in a big rush when we first arrived in NZ, unsuccessfully trying to catch our connection to Christchurch. It was much more pleasant today, a really nice sunset too.
Things were going to plan until my Gmail app decided to upgrade itself while I was trying to look up the lockbox code to leave the car and house key (attached to the tow hook on the car). Heather was able to look it up and then we rushed over to the ferry line up. We made it on the 11am with minutes to spare.
Took an Uber to the Novotel at the airport, and then camped out for the rest of the day. We had lunch and dinner at the in-house restaurant which got only 2.6 on Google but wasn’t too bad. Had one last local Hazy Pale Ale :) I had read about the Nelson and Manteuka hops before we got to NZ, I really enjoyed them.
Our room had an excellent view of the runway and landing planes, as well as of Manukau Harbour and the surrounding mountains. It was really quite scenic. Heather also liked watching the little cars pulling the cart trains like little doozers.
We repacked our stuff to maximize our carryon in case our luggage didn't make it.
We took a little walk after dinner. We actually retraced our route from the international to domestic terminal just for fun. This was the path we had taken in miserable weather and in a big rush when we first arrived in NZ, unsuccessfully trying to catch our connection to Christchurch. It was much more pleasant today, a really nice sunset too.
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Another day focused on eating (that’s one of the main reasons why folks come to Waiheke!) We were lucky that our time here was over a weekend - dinner is only available on Fri/Sat at most places.
We had lunch reservations at The Oyster Inn, in Oneroa. On the way in we stopped at the Ostend Market (it’s open Saturdays). It has a real community feel to it. We browsed through the stalls, some of the food stalls looked amazing if we didn’t already have lunch plans.
Anyways onto Oneroa. We were a few minutes early for our lunch reservation so checked out some of the art galleries along the main strip.
The Oyster Inn is in a prime location on the strip, with its 2nd-floor balcony overlooking the street and the bay beyond. We had the Te Matuku Bay oysters which were excellent, deep shelled like those from Bruny Island but meatier. We also had crudo with avocado, another popular dish in NZ, here served with wasabi peas. I tried a Pale Ale from Alibi Brewing Co, run by the same folks who own Tantalus, where we were having dinner tonight.
On the way back home, we drove up Trig Hill past our bnb to the lookout point, as suggested by our taxi driver yesterday. It had also been mentioned in Waiheke Local when I was surfing on what to do here. Anyways it’s a really cool lookout point, and relatively unknown. Great views of the island and its bays and inlets, as well as across to Auckland.
We had dinner at Tantalus Estate, which shows up on lists of top places to eat in Waiheke and also Auckland. (It’s not uncommon for folks from Auckland to just come to Waiheke for dinner).
On Saturday the only option is their tasting menu, paired with their wines. The food was really good, although we did find the courses a bit busy. The real star was their wines, which were all excellent. Unfortunately they don’t export to Canada.
Most other folk got up to walk around the vineyard in the middle of their dinners, a sort of 7th inning stretch as Heather called it. So we did that too, just before sunset. It’s actually not a bad idea for a longer meal.
It turned out our server was from Ajax, a suburb of Toronto. Five of the staff, as well as one of the owners were also Canadian, and over the dinner they all took turns coming over to chat. This was more Canadians than we had seen over the rest of our trip combined!
Our taxi ride home got a bit delayed (another customer was in a hurry and the owner asked if we minded getting bumped). The owner offered us another wine sampling, and then took us on a tour of the bar and private dining room in the cellar (and then also covered our taxi fare). It was quite cool to see the cellar.
Anyways it was a nice unofficial end to our long vacation. (The next few days are just getting home).
We had lunch reservations at The Oyster Inn, in Oneroa. On the way in we stopped at the Ostend Market (it’s open Saturdays). It has a real community feel to it. We browsed through the stalls, some of the food stalls looked amazing if we didn’t already have lunch plans.
Anyways onto Oneroa. We were a few minutes early for our lunch reservation so checked out some of the art galleries along the main strip.
The Oyster Inn is in a prime location on the strip, with its 2nd-floor balcony overlooking the street and the bay beyond. We had the Te Matuku Bay oysters which were excellent, deep shelled like those from Bruny Island but meatier. We also had crudo with avocado, another popular dish in NZ, here served with wasabi peas. I tried a Pale Ale from Alibi Brewing Co, run by the same folks who own Tantalus, where we were having dinner tonight.
On the way back home, we drove up Trig Hill past our bnb to the lookout point, as suggested by our taxi driver yesterday. It had also been mentioned in Waiheke Local when I was surfing on what to do here. Anyways it’s a really cool lookout point, and relatively unknown. Great views of the island and its bays and inlets, as well as across to Auckland.
We had dinner at Tantalus Estate, which shows up on lists of top places to eat in Waiheke and also Auckland. (It’s not uncommon for folks from Auckland to just come to Waiheke for dinner).
On Saturday the only option is their tasting menu, paired with their wines. The food was really good, although we did find the courses a bit busy. The real star was their wines, which were all excellent. Unfortunately they don’t export to Canada.
Most other folk got up to walk around the vineyard in the middle of their dinners, a sort of 7th inning stretch as Heather called it. So we did that too, just before sunset. It’s actually not a bad idea for a longer meal.
It turned out our server was from Ajax, a suburb of Toronto. Five of the staff, as well as one of the owners were also Canadian, and over the dinner they all took turns coming over to chat. This was more Canadians than we had seen over the rest of our trip combined!
Our taxi ride home got a bit delayed (another customer was in a hurry and the owner asked if we minded getting bumped). The owner offered us another wine sampling, and then took us on a tour of the bar and private dining room in the cellar (and then also covered our taxi fare). It was quite cool to see the cellar.
Anyways it was a nice unofficial end to our long vacation. (The next few days are just getting home).
Friday, January 13, 2023
Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Our bnb host had recommended driving out to the east coast to Man O War winery, so I had made a reservation for lunch. Part of the attraction is the drive there.
I was getting more accustomed to the larger vehicle. We were also glad to have the SUV as most of the drive was over a rougher gravel road. The road curved its way through hilly farmland and the occasional vineyard. It was quite beautiful. Saw some sheep - I had been wondering if we had seen our last sheep back in Te Kuiti.
We arrived at the winery just before noon. It’s an iconic NZ coastal setting - there were families on the beach having picnics, other kids playing pétanque on the lawn in front of the winery.
Lucky we had reservations, as it’s a pretty small vineyard. Our table (half a wine barrel) had a little name tag, Reserved for Eric.
We hoped to try the Te Matuku Bay oysters but they were out; so instead had a charcuterie platter and some other nibbles.
A group of friends were gathering, looking like they were here for a wedding. Later, another person asked us excitedly if one of them was Dan Carter? We laughed and said we were the wrong people to ask. Then we asked them who Dan Carter was. (Apparently he’s a famous rugby player who played for the All Blacks).
Anyways we quite enjoyed sipping our drinks and enjoying the view of the bay.
We drove back along the southeast, passing by some more vineyards and a distillery. We hardly passed any cars at all - the main ferry access to Waiheke is on the west end of the island. It’s only about an hour to drive across, but most folks tend to stay on the west end around Oneroa where most of the restaurants and galleries are.
Later we went for dinner at Te Motu Vineyard. It was in a nice setting overlooking the vineyards. We had thought about walking there (it’s about 25 minutes) but ended up taking a taxi cause there’s no sidewalk. Dinner was good.
I was getting more accustomed to the larger vehicle. We were also glad to have the SUV as most of the drive was over a rougher gravel road. The road curved its way through hilly farmland and the occasional vineyard. It was quite beautiful. Saw some sheep - I had been wondering if we had seen our last sheep back in Te Kuiti.
We arrived at the winery just before noon. It’s an iconic NZ coastal setting - there were families on the beach having picnics, other kids playing pétanque on the lawn in front of the winery.
Lucky we had reservations, as it’s a pretty small vineyard. Our table (half a wine barrel) had a little name tag, Reserved for Eric.
We hoped to try the Te Matuku Bay oysters but they were out; so instead had a charcuterie platter and some other nibbles.
A group of friends were gathering, looking like they were here for a wedding. Later, another person asked us excitedly if one of them was Dan Carter? We laughed and said we were the wrong people to ask. Then we asked them who Dan Carter was. (Apparently he’s a famous rugby player who played for the All Blacks).
Anyways we quite enjoyed sipping our drinks and enjoying the view of the bay.
We drove back along the southeast, passing by some more vineyards and a distillery. We hardly passed any cars at all - the main ferry access to Waiheke is on the west end of the island. It’s only about an hour to drive across, but most folks tend to stay on the west end around Oneroa where most of the restaurants and galleries are.
Later we went for dinner at Te Motu Vineyard. It was in a nice setting overlooking the vineyards. We had thought about walking there (it’s about 25 minutes) but ended up taking a taxi cause there’s no sidewalk. Dinner was good.
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Another transit day, this time to our last stop on our trip before we begin the multiple steps to get home.
Auckland was originally our last stop in NZ, before we swapped out time in Suva with three days on Waiheke Island. This had to do with covid protocols at the time; spending less than 48 hours in Fiji on the way back meant we were considered in transit (and thus lesser protocols).
It did mess up other planning though. The car rental, booked much earlier at a really cheap rate, with changes not allowed, ended today. So we had to drive the car to the airport, and then Uber back to town so we could catch the ferry to Waiheke.
Some car rental stats:
South Island 2488km, 155km/day
North Island 1168km, 130km/day
Total 3656km, 146km/day
We also had to rejig our backpacks to fit into just a suitcase and our weekend backpack. It was an adjustment after having a car for six weeks which was an extension of our storage. The bnb hosts offered to take any items we no longer needed, like our cooler and freezer packs.
It was still drizzling as we made our way to the ferry line up. It drizzled pretty much the whole time we were in Auckland. Waiheke Island is a popular destination in the summer for folks in Auckland, and in the local media we’d read there had been some long lines for ferry. It wasn’t too bad though; we got on the next ferry (the 45 minute ferry runs hourly).
We reached Waiheke around noon. Our bnb here also included a car rental (a Hyundai Tucson). The car was available immediately, parked near the ferry; but we’d have to wait until 2:30pm before we could check in to the bnb.
We had lunch at Ahipao, which for a café servicing the ferry terminal crowds had really good food. I had eggs benedict, probably for the last time on this trip. It’s a popular menu item here in NZ.
The restaurant has some cool little milk dispensers for tea / coffee. They had the name of the ceramic place stamped on the bottom, from right here on the island (Waiheke Ceramics). So that’s where we headed after lunch!
Nearby was Obsidian Wines, and we were in need of a wine for dinner, so we headed there next. We got a bottle of their Montepulciano for our pizza take-out tonight.
That took us to 2:30pm, nicely timed to when we could checkin. Our bnb is in a cottage environment (most places here are), up a narrow road. To park you have to get the vehicle to hug the hill, so that there’s room to pass. It took me a few tries, I was still getting used to the larger vehicle. Anyways finally parked.
Lugged all our stuff up the stairs to our bnb. For the first time on this trip, we didn’t have potable water. So we had to head out to the nearby Four Square (a mini-market) for bottled water. And then park again. Although this time it took fewer attempts :)
For dinner we had take-out pizza from La Dolce Vita. (Nailed the parking this time!). The pizza was amazing, as were their salads. Went really well with our wine.
Auckland was originally our last stop in NZ, before we swapped out time in Suva with three days on Waiheke Island. This had to do with covid protocols at the time; spending less than 48 hours in Fiji on the way back meant we were considered in transit (and thus lesser protocols).
It did mess up other planning though. The car rental, booked much earlier at a really cheap rate, with changes not allowed, ended today. So we had to drive the car to the airport, and then Uber back to town so we could catch the ferry to Waiheke.
Some car rental stats:
South Island 2488km, 155km/day
North Island 1168km, 130km/day
Total 3656km, 146km/day
We also had to rejig our backpacks to fit into just a suitcase and our weekend backpack. It was an adjustment after having a car for six weeks which was an extension of our storage. The bnb hosts offered to take any items we no longer needed, like our cooler and freezer packs.
It was still drizzling as we made our way to the ferry line up. It drizzled pretty much the whole time we were in Auckland. Waiheke Island is a popular destination in the summer for folks in Auckland, and in the local media we’d read there had been some long lines for ferry. It wasn’t too bad though; we got on the next ferry (the 45 minute ferry runs hourly).
We reached Waiheke around noon. Our bnb here also included a car rental (a Hyundai Tucson). The car was available immediately, parked near the ferry; but we’d have to wait until 2:30pm before we could check in to the bnb.
We had lunch at Ahipao, which for a café servicing the ferry terminal crowds had really good food. I had eggs benedict, probably for the last time on this trip. It’s a popular menu item here in NZ.
The restaurant has some cool little milk dispensers for tea / coffee. They had the name of the ceramic place stamped on the bottom, from right here on the island (Waiheke Ceramics). So that’s where we headed after lunch!
Nearby was Obsidian Wines, and we were in need of a wine for dinner, so we headed there next. We got a bottle of their Montepulciano for our pizza take-out tonight.
That took us to 2:30pm, nicely timed to when we could checkin. Our bnb is in a cottage environment (most places here are), up a narrow road. To park you have to get the vehicle to hug the hill, so that there’s room to pass. It took me a few tries, I was still getting used to the larger vehicle. Anyways finally parked.
Lugged all our stuff up the stairs to our bnb. For the first time on this trip, we didn’t have potable water. So we had to head out to the nearby Four Square (a mini-market) for bottled water. And then park again. Although this time it took fewer attempts :)
For dinner we had take-out pizza from La Dolce Vita. (Nailed the parking this time!). The pizza was amazing, as were their salads. Went really well with our wine.
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Auckland, New Zealand
For some reason I had planned three full days in Auckland. After spending the three days, I’d say Auckland’s a really nice place to live, with all sorts of different neighbourhoods and little local cafes and restaurants. There’s a reason why Auckland routinely shows up on best places to live. But as a tourist, it’s not terribly exciting. I’d say the same thing about Toronto. I hardly took any pics either.
We checked out the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland War Memorial Museum and the New Zealand Maritime Museum, and walked around the waterfront and downtown core. The downtown is undergoing some major infrastructure work and is mostly under construction (also similar to Toronto). We used Uber a few times to get in and out of the core; it was pretty reasonable.
We ate at some pretty decent Asian restaurants in Auckland. We also had dinner one night at Freida Margolis, which was a really cool neighbourhood bar. Only later we realized it’s also written up in the Lonely Planet.
Another observation is that Auckland is very car-centric. There is pedestrian infrastructure, but the car is always favoured. Even at what appears to be crosswalks, it’s the car that has the right-of-way.
And that was about it for Auckland.
We checked out the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland War Memorial Museum and the New Zealand Maritime Museum, and walked around the waterfront and downtown core. The downtown is undergoing some major infrastructure work and is mostly under construction (also similar to Toronto). We used Uber a few times to get in and out of the core; it was pretty reasonable.
We ate at some pretty decent Asian restaurants in Auckland. We also had dinner one night at Freida Margolis, which was a really cool neighbourhood bar. Only later we realized it’s also written up in the Lonely Planet.
Another observation is that Auckland is very car-centric. There is pedestrian infrastructure, but the car is always favoured. Even at what appears to be crosswalks, it’s the car that has the right-of-way.
And that was about it for Auckland.
Sunday, January 08, 2023
Auckland, New Zealand
We had a checkout of 11am from our bnb in Te Kuiti and could only check in at 3pm in Auckland, so had a relaxed morning, and I was finally able to use a teapot to have a couple cups of tea :)
The weather was nicer today, and we could actually see the surrounding countryside on the drive. It was really beautiful, not the spectacular cliffs or switchbacks in the South Island but still really nice.
I was feeling a bit peckish so we stopped for a snack at a cafe in Whatawhata. Got a sausage roll which maybe wasn’t the best thing cause the pastry wrap was very flaky. So ate outside the car and then we carried on. It was very yummy.
The drive into Auckland was taking us right past Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill, which was on my list of things to see cause of the U2 song. It would also give us something to do until 3pm. Plus, according to the forecast today might be the only nice weather we’d have while in Auckland.
We were lucky to find a parking spot in the park. It was then about a 15 minute walk up the paved path to the top of the hill.
I had read that there’s no longer a tree so we weren’t surprised when we didn’t see any. The view was great from the top - Auckland sits at a narrowing in the North Island and we could see the water on both sides. We also had a view of the downtown and the Sky Tower, a 328m tower completed in 1997. (By comparison the CN Tower is 553m tall). Anyways it was a nice day to see the views from the peak.
We hadn’t had lunch so had a quick bite in a cafe, rushing to eat before they closed at 3pm. (We’re the world’s slowest eaters so rushing may have just been normal speed for others).
We then drove to our bnb. It was a bit different driving in a city again!
Our bnb was at the end of a dead-end street, in Grey Lynn, a residential area similar to Leslieville (where we live in Toronto). Unfortunately most restaurants were still closed for the holidays. For dinner we ended at Pocket Bar, a neighborhood wine bar. It was a nice atmosphere.
The weather was nicer today, and we could actually see the surrounding countryside on the drive. It was really beautiful, not the spectacular cliffs or switchbacks in the South Island but still really nice.
I was feeling a bit peckish so we stopped for a snack at a cafe in Whatawhata. Got a sausage roll which maybe wasn’t the best thing cause the pastry wrap was very flaky. So ate outside the car and then we carried on. It was very yummy.
The drive into Auckland was taking us right past Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill, which was on my list of things to see cause of the U2 song. It would also give us something to do until 3pm. Plus, according to the forecast today might be the only nice weather we’d have while in Auckland.
We were lucky to find a parking spot in the park. It was then about a 15 minute walk up the paved path to the top of the hill.
I had read that there’s no longer a tree so we weren’t surprised when we didn’t see any. The view was great from the top - Auckland sits at a narrowing in the North Island and we could see the water on both sides. We also had a view of the downtown and the Sky Tower, a 328m tower completed in 1997. (By comparison the CN Tower is 553m tall). Anyways it was a nice day to see the views from the peak.
We hadn’t had lunch so had a quick bite in a cafe, rushing to eat before they closed at 3pm. (We’re the world’s slowest eaters so rushing may have just been normal speed for others).
We then drove to our bnb. It was a bit different driving in a city again!
Our bnb was at the end of a dead-end street, in Grey Lynn, a residential area similar to Leslieville (where we live in Toronto). Unfortunately most restaurants were still closed for the holidays. For dinner we ended at Pocket Bar, a neighborhood wine bar. It was a nice atmosphere.
Friday, January 06, 2023
Te Kuiti, New Zealand
I was excited about breakfast cause our bnb had a teapot, but then we slept in a bit so only had time for one cup, as we had a couple more Waitomo Caves excursions this morning, the first (Waitomo Glowworm Cave) starting at 9:30am.
We had checked in yesterday and already had our tickets, so just made our way to the waiting area, in the main admin building.
The glowworm excursion was much more organized than yesterday’s Aranui Cave tour. There’s a tour with 16 people that starts every ten minutes and the guides showed up on the dot.
At 9:30:00 our guide welcomed all the 9:30 tour people, and scanned our tickets on entry. First thing was a bunch of green screen pics. Photography isn’t allowed in the glowworm cave so they photoshop you in pics you can buy later.
There’s a short walk through some stalagmites and stalactites, similar to yesterday’s Aranui cave. It also got progressively dimmer in the cave to make the glowworms more visible.
We all boarded a boat and then the guide pulled us through the caves in the dark using an overhead rope system.
We entered the first cave, with an impressive clustering of glowworms, about 15’ x 15’, about 20’ above us. It was larger than any cluster we’d seen in Te Anau Glowworm Caves, although those were much closer overhead.
We circled underneath the glowworms for about five minutes, before continuing on. That however was it for the tour. That’s when I noticed the tour is called ‘Waitomo Glowworm Cave’, with a singular cave. Te Anau had a series of caves with glowworms and I had figured this would be the same.
It only took 45 minutes for the whole tour so we had time to check out the gift shop before driving over to the Ruakuri Cave. Its entrance is close to the Aranui Cave.
This was also pretty structured. They had a limit of 16 people, and asked for our names to check in (so we didn’t need to show our ticket). There was a constant stream of walk-ins trying to buy tickets, only to be put on a waiting list. I think it’s just to make them feel better as there’s hardly any no-shows.
Our guide met us at exactly 11am and we walked about five minutes to the entrance. Our guide was good, the best of the three excursions we had here. We entered the long spiral walkway down 45m to cave proper. Once in we were completely in the dark, to help our eyes adjust.
At the bottom, we passed through a series of airlocks, like we were in a James Bond movie. Our guide explained the airlocks were to maintain the airflow as nature had designed. They had learned from other cave systems in the world, where entrances built for tourism caused subtle changes in cave life from airflow that were only noticed over years.
These caves were the same age geologically as Aranui, but much more extensive and a far better experience with the smaller group. It’s a 90 minute loop that returns back to the spiral walkway. As a bonus, you can also see glowworms! In fact we felt the glowworm experience was better here in Ruakuri than on the Glowworm Cave tour.
Overall if you only have the opportunity to do one of the Waitomo Cave experiences, I'd definitely recommend the Ruakuri Cave tour.
And that was it for our day. It was still drizzling (it’s been miserable since we got to Te Kuiti). Which I guess as we had been touristing in caves didn’t matter that much.
We spent the afternoon at our bnb, catching up on reading, laundry, and our travel blog posts. We checked out the green screen pics from earlier in the day, we looked photoshopped in. We had grilled lamb and a Greek salad for dinner which all turned out rather well.
We had checked in yesterday and already had our tickets, so just made our way to the waiting area, in the main admin building.
The glowworm excursion was much more organized than yesterday’s Aranui Cave tour. There’s a tour with 16 people that starts every ten minutes and the guides showed up on the dot.
At 9:30:00 our guide welcomed all the 9:30 tour people, and scanned our tickets on entry. First thing was a bunch of green screen pics. Photography isn’t allowed in the glowworm cave so they photoshop you in pics you can buy later.
There’s a short walk through some stalagmites and stalactites, similar to yesterday’s Aranui cave. It also got progressively dimmer in the cave to make the glowworms more visible.
We all boarded a boat and then the guide pulled us through the caves in the dark using an overhead rope system.
We entered the first cave, with an impressive clustering of glowworms, about 15’ x 15’, about 20’ above us. It was larger than any cluster we’d seen in Te Anau Glowworm Caves, although those were much closer overhead.
We circled underneath the glowworms for about five minutes, before continuing on. That however was it for the tour. That’s when I noticed the tour is called ‘Waitomo Glowworm Cave’, with a singular cave. Te Anau had a series of caves with glowworms and I had figured this would be the same.
It only took 45 minutes for the whole tour so we had time to check out the gift shop before driving over to the Ruakuri Cave. Its entrance is close to the Aranui Cave.
This was also pretty structured. They had a limit of 16 people, and asked for our names to check in (so we didn’t need to show our ticket). There was a constant stream of walk-ins trying to buy tickets, only to be put on a waiting list. I think it’s just to make them feel better as there’s hardly any no-shows.
Our guide met us at exactly 11am and we walked about five minutes to the entrance. Our guide was good, the best of the three excursions we had here. We entered the long spiral walkway down 45m to cave proper. Once in we were completely in the dark, to help our eyes adjust.
At the bottom, we passed through a series of airlocks, like we were in a James Bond movie. Our guide explained the airlocks were to maintain the airflow as nature had designed. They had learned from other cave systems in the world, where entrances built for tourism caused subtle changes in cave life from airflow that were only noticed over years.
These caves were the same age geologically as Aranui, but much more extensive and a far better experience with the smaller group. It’s a 90 minute loop that returns back to the spiral walkway. As a bonus, you can also see glowworms! In fact we felt the glowworm experience was better here in Ruakuri than on the Glowworm Cave tour.
Overall if you only have the opportunity to do one of the Waitomo Cave experiences, I'd definitely recommend the Ruakuri Cave tour.
And that was it for our day. It was still drizzling (it’s been miserable since we got to Te Kuiti). Which I guess as we had been touristing in caves didn’t matter that much.
We spent the afternoon at our bnb, catching up on reading, laundry, and our travel blog posts. We checked out the green screen pics from earlier in the day, we looked photoshopped in. We had grilled lamb and a Greek salad for dinner which all turned out rather well.
Te Kuiti, New Zealand
We had breakfast on our way out from Tongariro, at the same place we had lunch yesterday (Creel Tackle House). The staff remembered us and gave us a warm welcome.
Our last little adventure on this trip was a series of caves in Waitomo. The caves are very popular and you need to book ahead, although probably not months in advance like us.
We had tickets to Aranui Cave at 3pm. Our bnb had said we could check in early, which worked out great for us. So we drove straight there, about 2.5 hours, arriving around 1pm. Our bnb was surrounded by farmland and rolling hills, about five minutes outside Te Kuiti. The drive in reminded us of the Azores, lined with purple and white flowers.
We quickly unloaded the car, checked out the kitchen facilities, and then went over to the supermarket (New World) for groceries, before heading over to the caves.
It’s a bit confusing to figure out how to get to the cave entrance, as every cafe and store is a ticket agent for the Waitomo caves, and they all have signs looking like they’re the official. It’s similar to buying tickets online for the Vatican Museums.
We followed the road signs and google maps in the general direction. We stopped at the i-Site, which had been the official agent in other tourist attractions. They were very helpful, showing us on a map where to stop to check in, and then where to drive to start the excursion.
So we continued down Hwy 37 to the check in location. It’s the main admin site for the various Waitomo Cave excursions. We showed our receipt from our months-old online purchase, and they gave us tickets for each of the three excursions (Aranui Cave, Waitomo Glowworm Cave, Ruakuri Cave) we’d signed up for.
The start of the Aranui Cave excursion was another 10 minutes down the road. We parked and then waited for the guide at the starting point, which was very helpfully signed as ‘You are in the right spot for the Aranui Cave tour. Please wait here, your guide will be along shortly’.
Our guide showed up as promised by the sign. The group was much larger than I had expected - there were over 30 of us. We didn’t have to show our tickets, which I found odd. The guide collected tickets from folks who volunteered them but that was it.
The excursion starts with a five minute walk to the cave entrance, including a few dozen steps up. Backpacks and food/drink aren’t allowed, just water and cameras.
Once inside the cave, it mostly follows a raised boardwalk, single file, with railings. With 30 people it was slow going, especially with everyone wanting pics. We were near the back and didn’t hear much about what our guide was saying.
The caves themselves are relatively young geologically. We found them less impressive compared to other caves we’ve seen, such as those in Mulu Park, or the Jeita Grotto in Lebanon.
It’s a 20 minute walk to the furthest accessible point in the cave, at which point we turned around and retraced our path back to the entrance. For the return walk the group was more spread out, and so more enjoyable. Overall though, if we had skipped the Aranui Cave we wouldn’t have missed much.
We drove back to our bnb and had a coffee. Later we had dinner, spaghetti with meatballs, for a change in menu. The kitchen had a great view of the rolling hills and sheep grazing, a very typical NZ scene. We also saw a double rainbow!
Our last little adventure on this trip was a series of caves in Waitomo. The caves are very popular and you need to book ahead, although probably not months in advance like us.
We had tickets to Aranui Cave at 3pm. Our bnb had said we could check in early, which worked out great for us. So we drove straight there, about 2.5 hours, arriving around 1pm. Our bnb was surrounded by farmland and rolling hills, about five minutes outside Te Kuiti. The drive in reminded us of the Azores, lined with purple and white flowers.
We quickly unloaded the car, checked out the kitchen facilities, and then went over to the supermarket (New World) for groceries, before heading over to the caves.
It’s a bit confusing to figure out how to get to the cave entrance, as every cafe and store is a ticket agent for the Waitomo caves, and they all have signs looking like they’re the official. It’s similar to buying tickets online for the Vatican Museums.
We followed the road signs and google maps in the general direction. We stopped at the i-Site, which had been the official agent in other tourist attractions. They were very helpful, showing us on a map where to stop to check in, and then where to drive to start the excursion.
So we continued down Hwy 37 to the check in location. It’s the main admin site for the various Waitomo Cave excursions. We showed our receipt from our months-old online purchase, and they gave us tickets for each of the three excursions (Aranui Cave, Waitomo Glowworm Cave, Ruakuri Cave) we’d signed up for.
The start of the Aranui Cave excursion was another 10 minutes down the road. We parked and then waited for the guide at the starting point, which was very helpfully signed as ‘You are in the right spot for the Aranui Cave tour. Please wait here, your guide will be along shortly’.
Our guide showed up as promised by the sign. The group was much larger than I had expected - there were over 30 of us. We didn’t have to show our tickets, which I found odd. The guide collected tickets from folks who volunteered them but that was it.
The excursion starts with a five minute walk to the cave entrance, including a few dozen steps up. Backpacks and food/drink aren’t allowed, just water and cameras.
Once inside the cave, it mostly follows a raised boardwalk, single file, with railings. With 30 people it was slow going, especially with everyone wanting pics. We were near the back and didn’t hear much about what our guide was saying.
The caves themselves are relatively young geologically. We found them less impressive compared to other caves we’ve seen, such as those in Mulu Park, or the Jeita Grotto in Lebanon.
It’s a 20 minute walk to the furthest accessible point in the cave, at which point we turned around and retraced our path back to the entrance. For the return walk the group was more spread out, and so more enjoyable. Overall though, if we had skipped the Aranui Cave we wouldn’t have missed much.
We drove back to our bnb and had a coffee. Later we had dinner, spaghetti with meatballs, for a change in menu. The kitchen had a great view of the rolling hills and sheep grazing, a very typical NZ scene. We also saw a double rainbow!
Wednesday, January 04, 2023
Tūrangi, New Zealand
We weren’t doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing today but we still wanted to do some trekking. The Tongariro River Trail that looped near our lodge, a 15km trail along the river, seemed perfect for us.
It was drizzling a bit as we set out. Google Maps satellite view was very useful to help us find our way from the lodge grounds through back trails to the actual trail itself, which was then really well marked.
It took us 90 minutes to walk to the Red Hut bridge, our crossing point. The other side ran adjacent to the town (Tūrangi), and so there were a few more casual walkers. We saw only joggers and dog walkers on our first half. There were also numerous anglers in their waders in the middle of the river. We kept our voices down so as to not disturb the fishies.
Got back to the lodge after three hours, an enjoyable little walk.
We quickly freshened up and went out for lunch. At first we tried to get into Hare & Copper, but it was a little fancy for us having just finished hiking. So we went over to Creel Tackle House & Cafe, which even from its name sounded more our thing. The front half of the place caters to anglers, and the back half is a busy cozy cafe. We had excellent sandwiches and coffees.
Got back to the lodge, and later that evening went down for dinner. The main chef probably had the night off as the dinner was not as good as yesterday’s duck.
It was drizzling a bit as we set out. Google Maps satellite view was very useful to help us find our way from the lodge grounds through back trails to the actual trail itself, which was then really well marked.
It took us 90 minutes to walk to the Red Hut bridge, our crossing point. The other side ran adjacent to the town (Tūrangi), and so there were a few more casual walkers. We saw only joggers and dog walkers on our first half. There were also numerous anglers in their waders in the middle of the river. We kept our voices down so as to not disturb the fishies.
Got back to the lodge after three hours, an enjoyable little walk.
We quickly freshened up and went out for lunch. At first we tried to get into Hare & Copper, but it was a little fancy for us having just finished hiking. So we went over to Creel Tackle House & Cafe, which even from its name sounded more our thing. The front half of the place caters to anglers, and the back half is a busy cozy cafe. We had excellent sandwiches and coffees.
Got back to the lodge, and later that evening went down for dinner. The main chef probably had the night off as the dinner was not as good as yesterday’s duck.
Tūrangi, New Zealand
Onto the next part of our New Zealand tour, through the geothermal area in the middle of the North Island.
There’s a few geothermal parks around Taupō and Rotorua. We had chosen to visit Orakei Korako, based on our research it’s one of the more underrated ones.
The forecast called for rain to start there around 2pm. It’s a 2.5 hour drive from Havelock North, so after breakfast we drove pretty much straight there. We did stop to fill up on gas just outside Napier, good thing we did cause there wasn’t another gas station until we reached Taupō.
Also just outside Napier we passed through Esk Valley. We’ve had wine from there a few times this trip. The last vineyard we passed had along Hwy 5 had a sign, “last vineyard tasting in Hawke’s Bay”, lol. We’ll be back in another wine region when we get to Waiheke Island.
Arrived at Orakei Korako Geothermal Park & Cave around 1pm, the lot was about half full, which boded well.
Bought our tickets online, they had QR codes plastered everywhere with the link to their website, instead of having to staff a ticket booth.
It’s a two-minute boat ride across the Waikato River (included in the ticket). The boat goes back and forth on demand so it’s never a long wait (I guess unless there’s crowds backlogged).
The path through the geothermal park starts immediately on the other bank. It was pretty cool to see, different from anything else we’ve seen on this trip (as frequent readers may know, we like to have a variety on our trips otherwise it gets monotonous for us).
The walkway takes about an hour to complete, passing by geysers, mud pools and hot springs. There’s no railing on the side of the walkway, so we had to be careful when taking pics, that we didn’t take a step back into the boiling water.
Anyways it was really well done. It seemed like we were the only tourists in most parts; partially that’s cause it’s well designed. For whatever reason, it is under-touristed. We really liked it.
We had lunch at the on-site cafe. It started raining just as we were leaving, so we timed this really well!
It was an hour drive to our next place, Tongariro Lodge near Tūrangi. The town and surrounding area is one of the top places in the world for trout fishing. We were staying here cause it’s also a convenient jump-off for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing Walk.
The 19.4 km / 8 hour trail is considered one of the top day walks in NZ. It’s mentioned in all the guidebooks as a must-do. We booked the accommodation to have the option; but as we did more research we decided not to. For one thing, it’s now very popular - over 3,000 people walk it every day. This causes bottlenecks at the start and finish - you need to arrange for bus transfers. It’s sort of like the pics you see at the top of Everest, although I might be exaggerating. But the point is that we enjoy the isolation of walks in nature. Walking with 3,000 other folk just doesn’t have the same attraction for us.
Another reason for staying here is the excellent restaurant. We had the daily special, seared duck breast, which was excellent.
There’s a few geothermal parks around Taupō and Rotorua. We had chosen to visit Orakei Korako, based on our research it’s one of the more underrated ones.
The forecast called for rain to start there around 2pm. It’s a 2.5 hour drive from Havelock North, so after breakfast we drove pretty much straight there. We did stop to fill up on gas just outside Napier, good thing we did cause there wasn’t another gas station until we reached Taupō.
Also just outside Napier we passed through Esk Valley. We’ve had wine from there a few times this trip. The last vineyard we passed had along Hwy 5 had a sign, “last vineyard tasting in Hawke’s Bay”, lol. We’ll be back in another wine region when we get to Waiheke Island.
Arrived at Orakei Korako Geothermal Park & Cave around 1pm, the lot was about half full, which boded well.
Bought our tickets online, they had QR codes plastered everywhere with the link to their website, instead of having to staff a ticket booth.
It’s a two-minute boat ride across the Waikato River (included in the ticket). The boat goes back and forth on demand so it’s never a long wait (I guess unless there’s crowds backlogged).
The path through the geothermal park starts immediately on the other bank. It was pretty cool to see, different from anything else we’ve seen on this trip (as frequent readers may know, we like to have a variety on our trips otherwise it gets monotonous for us).
The walkway takes about an hour to complete, passing by geysers, mud pools and hot springs. There’s no railing on the side of the walkway, so we had to be careful when taking pics, that we didn’t take a step back into the boiling water.
Anyways it was really well done. It seemed like we were the only tourists in most parts; partially that’s cause it’s well designed. For whatever reason, it is under-touristed. We really liked it.
We had lunch at the on-site cafe. It started raining just as we were leaving, so we timed this really well!
It was an hour drive to our next place, Tongariro Lodge near Tūrangi. The town and surrounding area is one of the top places in the world for trout fishing. We were staying here cause it’s also a convenient jump-off for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing Walk.
The 19.4 km / 8 hour trail is considered one of the top day walks in NZ. It’s mentioned in all the guidebooks as a must-do. We booked the accommodation to have the option; but as we did more research we decided not to. For one thing, it’s now very popular - over 3,000 people walk it every day. This causes bottlenecks at the start and finish - you need to arrange for bus transfers. It’s sort of like the pics you see at the top of Everest, although I might be exaggerating. But the point is that we enjoy the isolation of walks in nature. Walking with 3,000 other folk just doesn’t have the same attraction for us.
Another reason for staying here is the excellent restaurant. We had the daily special, seared duck breast, which was excellent.
Tuesday, January 03, 2023
Tuki Vineyards, New Zealand
One of the classic pics of Hawke’s Bay is from Te Mata Peak at sunrise. We had three nights within a 15 minute drive of the peak, but the weather didn’t cooperate, it was overcast and rainy every morning.
Later this morning the clouds parted a bit, so we drove over to Te Mata. You can drive all the way to the peak; many people instead park at the lot at the main gate and then hike up the rest of the way. We drove further in to a parking lot about 500m drive from the top, cause the remaining road was single car width and takes forever to drive.
So we parked and walked up to the peak. It wasn’t too busy, about 50 or so other tourists also at the top. The forecasted rain probably kept some folks away. We quickly took our pics, cause we could see the rain showers approaching us. We made it about half way back to the car when the rain reached us, we had our raincoats so we were fine.
We didn’t have much else on our itinerary today. We drove to Hastings, a twin town to Havelock North, and took more pics of art deco buildings. Almost all the stores were still closed for the holidays.
We got back to our place and got ready for some wine tastings. There’s a couple vineyards within walking distance, so I had called earlier in the morning to book the tastings.
First up was Black Barn Vineyards. It’s a popular stop on the tasting route, they’re set up to handle about 100 people. They did sell charcuterie pick-your-own boards which was great for us, as we hadn’t had lunch. So had some cured meats and cheeses and sampled some wines. Can't go wrong with that!
Te Mata Vineyards was a five minute walk back towards our place. They’re a smaller vineyard with a more intimate tasting room.
We then walked another five minutes to get to our cottage. It was cool that both vineyards were within walking distance , I hadn’t planned around that. Otherwise it’s not really feasible for me to do any tastings as the driver.
Later in the evening we had our dinner, grilled steak paired with a Cabernet blend from Te Mata. I haven't really liked any of the bbq's at the bnb's we stayed at, they don't get hot enough for a decent sear. Oh well, at least the wine was good!
Later this morning the clouds parted a bit, so we drove over to Te Mata. You can drive all the way to the peak; many people instead park at the lot at the main gate and then hike up the rest of the way. We drove further in to a parking lot about 500m drive from the top, cause the remaining road was single car width and takes forever to drive.
So we parked and walked up to the peak. It wasn’t too busy, about 50 or so other tourists also at the top. The forecasted rain probably kept some folks away. We quickly took our pics, cause we could see the rain showers approaching us. We made it about half way back to the car when the rain reached us, we had our raincoats so we were fine.
We didn’t have much else on our itinerary today. We drove to Hastings, a twin town to Havelock North, and took more pics of art deco buildings. Almost all the stores were still closed for the holidays.
We got back to our place and got ready for some wine tastings. There’s a couple vineyards within walking distance, so I had called earlier in the morning to book the tastings.
First up was Black Barn Vineyards. It’s a popular stop on the tasting route, they’re set up to handle about 100 people. They did sell charcuterie pick-your-own boards which was great for us, as we hadn’t had lunch. So had some cured meats and cheeses and sampled some wines. Can't go wrong with that!
Te Mata Vineyards was a five minute walk back towards our place. They’re a smaller vineyard with a more intimate tasting room.
We then walked another five minutes to get to our cottage. It was cool that both vineyards were within walking distance , I hadn’t planned around that. Otherwise it’s not really feasible for me to do any tastings as the driver.
Later in the evening we had our dinner, grilled steak paired with a Cabernet blend from Te Mata. I haven't really liked any of the bbq's at the bnb's we stayed at, they don't get hot enough for a decent sear. Oh well, at least the wine was good!
Sunday, January 01, 2023
Tuki Vineyards, New Zealand
The restaurant was closed at Porters, our hotel in Havelock North, so we checked out and went out for breakfast. There was a bit more open this morning, although a lot was still closed, some through till Jan 11!
We had an excellent breakfast at Bay Espresso. It was super busy but we still got our food and coffee fairly quickly. Their eggs benedict was pretty good (it’s a fairly common breakfast item in NZ).
Our next place was under ten minutes away, a cottage on Tuki Vineyards. Originally we wanted to do a chasm walk near Martinborough but it was closed on Jan 1; so instead just booted it up to Hawke’s Bay. Tuki was already booked so we ended up at Porters for one night.
We couldn’t check in until 2pm, so drove over to Napier. In 1931, there was a 7.4 earthquake in Napier which wiped out most of the Hawke’s Bay area. The buildings were rebuilt in the Art Deco style of the 30s and many of those buildings still stand today.
We walked around the central area of Napier taking dozens of pics. It started raining so we decided it was a good time to see their museum. The sun was poking out again when we exited so walked around a bit more.
On the way to Tuki we bought groceries for dinner for the next couple days.
Tuki is a small wine producer, and they have a single cottage on the vineyard. We wanted to stay at a vineyard for a night or two on this trip, and so here we were!
We had pasta with chicken and lemons, mostly cause the lemons are in season and looked amazing in the store. The pasta turned out pretty good.
We had an excellent breakfast at Bay Espresso. It was super busy but we still got our food and coffee fairly quickly. Their eggs benedict was pretty good (it’s a fairly common breakfast item in NZ).
Our next place was under ten minutes away, a cottage on Tuki Vineyards. Originally we wanted to do a chasm walk near Martinborough but it was closed on Jan 1; so instead just booted it up to Hawke’s Bay. Tuki was already booked so we ended up at Porters for one night.
We couldn’t check in until 2pm, so drove over to Napier. In 1931, there was a 7.4 earthquake in Napier which wiped out most of the Hawke’s Bay area. The buildings were rebuilt in the Art Deco style of the 30s and many of those buildings still stand today.
We walked around the central area of Napier taking dozens of pics. It started raining so we decided it was a good time to see their museum. The sun was poking out again when we exited so walked around a bit more.
On the way to Tuki we bought groceries for dinner for the next couple days.
Tuki is a small wine producer, and they have a single cottage on the vineyard. We wanted to stay at a vineyard for a night or two on this trip, and so here we were!
We had pasta with chicken and lemons, mostly cause the lemons are in season and looked amazing in the store. The pasta turned out pretty good.
Havelock North, New Zealand
The most interesting thing of today was getting the car out of the carpark in Wellington. There was no ticket or anything when I drove in three days ago, it’s all digital. I entered my license plate at the machine to pay, and it brought up a pic of me entering. It calculated how long I’d parked. I then paid, and then when I drove out it recognized the plate and opened the gate! Maybe this sounds boring if you’ve seen it but I found it quite cool compared to the archaic parking lots I’ve used in Toronto.
We drove four hours to Havelock North, stopping for lunch at Hell Pizza in Palmerston North, one of the few places we saw open along the drive. We walked around Te Marae o Hine (The Square) and then carried on with the drive.
Even in Havelock North there was hardly anything open (and the town is known for its multitude of cafes and restaurants). We stayed at Porter’s cause of their restaurant, but due to lack of staff, their restaurant was closed Sun/Mon. One of the few (only?) restaurants open in town was the Rose & Shamrock, the local pub. It was really lively, full with a nice mix of ages and families, locals and tourists. We managed to snag a decent table for two. Ordered some pub food and had some beers. It was a nice night out.
We drove four hours to Havelock North, stopping for lunch at Hell Pizza in Palmerston North, one of the few places we saw open along the drive. We walked around Te Marae o Hine (The Square) and then carried on with the drive.
Even in Havelock North there was hardly anything open (and the town is known for its multitude of cafes and restaurants). We stayed at Porter’s cause of their restaurant, but due to lack of staff, their restaurant was closed Sun/Mon. One of the few (only?) restaurants open in town was the Rose & Shamrock, the local pub. It was really lively, full with a nice mix of ages and families, locals and tourists. We managed to snag a decent table for two. Ordered some pub food and had some beers. It was a nice night out.
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Wellington, New Zealand
We didn’t have much planned today, just a couple sites to see plus the City Gallery Wellington, a contemporary arts gallery.
Most stores were open today so we did some browsing. Heather got a bunch of merino wool tops (replacing the one she lost in Savu Savu when she handed in her laundry, which seems like ages ago).
The first site on the list was the Beehive, which is the local nickname for the beehive-shaped government buildings. It’s beside the parliament buildings; the whole area is nicely landscaped and worth the walk over.
Nearby is Old St Paul’s, a gothic revival cathedral built in 1860. It’s a beautiful church to see. It’s a little out of the CBD so doesn’t see as many tourists but if you’re in Wellington you should go see it.
Had lunch at a random Turkish place, it was okay. The owner was super-friendly though.
Last for today was City Gallery Wellington. It had some cool exhibitions, including a feature by Joanna Margaret Paul that we really liked. By coincidence we had seen an exhibit by her husband, Jeffrey Harris, in Christchurch. Both the exhibits had a segment reflecting on the death of their 2nd daughter, which is how we made the connection.
We were hoping to grab a coffee at gallery but their cafe was closed over the holidays.
We were close to the waterfront and could hear the sound checks for the NYE celebration.
We had dinner reservations at Highwater Eatery, one of the few places I found that was a) open b) took reservations and c) didn’t have a big NYE dinner / buffet. Cause it was NYE it felt more like summerlicious with the kitchen just constantly pushing out the same food. It was probably the best we could expect on NYE.
We got back to our apartment around 10pm and were asleep well before midnight. The new year would have to wait until we woke up.
Most stores were open today so we did some browsing. Heather got a bunch of merino wool tops (replacing the one she lost in Savu Savu when she handed in her laundry, which seems like ages ago).
The first site on the list was the Beehive, which is the local nickname for the beehive-shaped government buildings. It’s beside the parliament buildings; the whole area is nicely landscaped and worth the walk over.
Nearby is Old St Paul’s, a gothic revival cathedral built in 1860. It’s a beautiful church to see. It’s a little out of the CBD so doesn’t see as many tourists but if you’re in Wellington you should go see it.
Had lunch at a random Turkish place, it was okay. The owner was super-friendly though.
Last for today was City Gallery Wellington. It had some cool exhibitions, including a feature by Joanna Margaret Paul that we really liked. By coincidence we had seen an exhibit by her husband, Jeffrey Harris, in Christchurch. Both the exhibits had a segment reflecting on the death of their 2nd daughter, which is how we made the connection.
We were hoping to grab a coffee at gallery but their cafe was closed over the holidays.
We were close to the waterfront and could hear the sound checks for the NYE celebration.
We had dinner reservations at Highwater Eatery, one of the few places I found that was a) open b) took reservations and c) didn’t have a big NYE dinner / buffet. Cause it was NYE it felt more like summerlicious with the kitchen just constantly pushing out the same food. It was probably the best we could expect on NYE.
We got back to our apartment around 10pm and were asleep well before midnight. The new year would have to wait until we woke up.
Friday, December 30, 2022
Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington has a walking tour of outdoor sculptures so we figured we’d start with that, it’s a good way to orient ourselves in a new city.
We started mid-way through the suggested tour cause it was beside our bnb. The tour then wound its way to the waterfront, past Te Papa (the National Museum). The pics of the waterfront redevelopment reminded us of Toronto. They’ve done a great job here creating public spaces.
The sculpture tour continued along the waterfront to the train station, at which point the tour cut into the city core and back towards our starting point. Wellington has compact core, very lively and creative. We liked it.
We had lunch at Dragons, a Chinese restaurant a couple doors down from our bnb. Heather had noticed it yesterday, it looked busy enough. Turns out it was super packed and we were lucky to get seated without a reservation! We had dim sum for the first time since covid, it was excellent.
After lunch we relaxed for a bit at the bnb and then went to visit Te Papa. It’s free admission so we gave a donation (which you can do with tap here).
The lower floor was very busy so unlike Drake we started at the top. They had some really interesting exhibits by Māori artists. It took us a couple hours to get through the 5th and 4th floors; we quickly walked through the rest.
We didn’t have dinner reservations for this evening. I had booked something in October but they had since emailed to say they were closed over Christmas due to lack of staff. So we wandered down Cuba St which has a high density of restaurants. Ended up at Floriditas where we had a really nice bottle of Grüner Veltliner which the sommelier was happy that we tried. The food was okay.
We started mid-way through the suggested tour cause it was beside our bnb. The tour then wound its way to the waterfront, past Te Papa (the National Museum). The pics of the waterfront redevelopment reminded us of Toronto. They’ve done a great job here creating public spaces.
The sculpture tour continued along the waterfront to the train station, at which point the tour cut into the city core and back towards our starting point. Wellington has compact core, very lively and creative. We liked it.
We had lunch at Dragons, a Chinese restaurant a couple doors down from our bnb. Heather had noticed it yesterday, it looked busy enough. Turns out it was super packed and we were lucky to get seated without a reservation! We had dim sum for the first time since covid, it was excellent.
After lunch we relaxed for a bit at the bnb and then went to visit Te Papa. It’s free admission so we gave a donation (which you can do with tap here).
The lower floor was very busy so unlike Drake we started at the top. They had some really interesting exhibits by Māori artists. It took us a couple hours to get through the 5th and 4th floors; we quickly walked through the rest.
We didn’t have dinner reservations for this evening. I had booked something in October but they had since emailed to say they were closed over Christmas due to lack of staff. So we wandered down Cuba St which has a high density of restaurants. Ended up at Floriditas where we had a really nice bottle of Grüner Veltliner which the sommelier was happy that we tried. The food was okay.
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Wellington, New Zealand
We said goodbye to the South Island today, taking the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to Wellington.
We had breakfast at Sime’s cafe on the way out of Kaikōura. We had just missed the end of breakfast yesterday and so I was able to have their eggs benedict today which was excellent. The food came out quickly and we were back on the road a little after 10am.
It’s about a two hour drive from Kaikōura to Picton. The drive is beautiful, as all drives here seem to be. We were back in wine region, this time Marlborough.
We arrived at the ferry around noon and checked in. I had bought our tickets as soon as their summer schedule was released back in May. In the local media there’s warnings about how busy the crossing is right now and to book ahead, so lucky we knew our itinerary so far in advance.
We waited in line until 1pm when they started boarding. We parked our car and grabbed some good seats for the 3.5 hour crossing.
There’s the option to book car rentals where you drop off the car in Picton and then get a different car on the Wellington side. But that meant dragging all our luggage across as carry on, and also chancing that there may not be a vehicle waiting on the other side. So we booked a single car for the full trip and paid for its ferry crossing.
The ferry departed right on schedule. The first part was interesting, through the Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui. It looked similar to sounds we saw in Fjiordland except the hills are much lower and flatter. But still very scenic.
The waves increased slightly when we left the protection of the sounds and entered Cook Strait. The swells were about 1m which is considered good. There’s websites that forecast the swells and so we knew in advance what to expect. We only really noticed it when we got up and walked around.
It took a while to disembark in Wellington. We docked around 5:30pm and we didn’t drive on to shore for another 45 minutes. It gave me time to memorize the route to our bnb in the centre of town.
We had got used to remote areas and parking anywhere to unload the car. It’s a whole other story in a busy city. We parked in a loading zone and hoped we wouldn’t get a ticket. There’s a few very popular restaurants on our street so all the meter parking was occupied.
I then drove the car to a carport about five minutes away, while Heather finished getting everything up the stairs and into our apartment.
We had reservations at 8pm so rushed to get ready. I then looked up a similarly sounding restaurant in Google Maps and we walked 8 minutes in the wrong direction. So I called the real restaurant and let them know we were running late so they’d hold the table.
We ate at Atlas, which was one of the better restaurants we’ve eaten at, probably only Restaurant Ö was better. Their website said they had a 3 or 4 course tasting; when we were seated it turned out it was actually a six course tasting. It was all excellent, with no misses. The wine pairings were good too. It hardly seemed like we started the day on the South Island.
We had breakfast at Sime’s cafe on the way out of Kaikōura. We had just missed the end of breakfast yesterday and so I was able to have their eggs benedict today which was excellent. The food came out quickly and we were back on the road a little after 10am.
It’s about a two hour drive from Kaikōura to Picton. The drive is beautiful, as all drives here seem to be. We were back in wine region, this time Marlborough.
We arrived at the ferry around noon and checked in. I had bought our tickets as soon as their summer schedule was released back in May. In the local media there’s warnings about how busy the crossing is right now and to book ahead, so lucky we knew our itinerary so far in advance.
We waited in line until 1pm when they started boarding. We parked our car and grabbed some good seats for the 3.5 hour crossing.
There’s the option to book car rentals where you drop off the car in Picton and then get a different car on the Wellington side. But that meant dragging all our luggage across as carry on, and also chancing that there may not be a vehicle waiting on the other side. So we booked a single car for the full trip and paid for its ferry crossing.
The ferry departed right on schedule. The first part was interesting, through the Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui. It looked similar to sounds we saw in Fjiordland except the hills are much lower and flatter. But still very scenic.
The waves increased slightly when we left the protection of the sounds and entered Cook Strait. The swells were about 1m which is considered good. There’s websites that forecast the swells and so we knew in advance what to expect. We only really noticed it when we got up and walked around.
It took a while to disembark in Wellington. We docked around 5:30pm and we didn’t drive on to shore for another 45 minutes. It gave me time to memorize the route to our bnb in the centre of town.
We had got used to remote areas and parking anywhere to unload the car. It’s a whole other story in a busy city. We parked in a loading zone and hoped we wouldn’t get a ticket. There’s a few very popular restaurants on our street so all the meter parking was occupied.
I then drove the car to a carport about five minutes away, while Heather finished getting everything up the stairs and into our apartment.
We had reservations at 8pm so rushed to get ready. I then looked up a similarly sounding restaurant in Google Maps and we walked 8 minutes in the wrong direction. So I called the real restaurant and let them know we were running late so they’d hold the table.
We ate at Atlas, which was one of the better restaurants we’ve eaten at, probably only Restaurant Ö was better. Their website said they had a 3 or 4 course tasting; when we were seated it turned out it was actually a six course tasting. It was all excellent, with no misses. The wine pairings were good too. It hardly seemed like we started the day on the South Island.
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Kaikōura, New Zealand
We didn’t sleep well at all, partly because we were worried about sleeping in through our 5am alarm. This morning was our big albatross tour!
We drove down to Encounter Kaikōura at 5:30am to check in for the tour. We were a few minutes early and looking for caffeine. The excursion folks suggested we try the Sudima hotel next door. It turned out their kitchen didn’t open till 6am, but the very nice person there made us a couple cappuccinos for takeaway, on the house.
Our guide / boat driver, Gary, met us at 5:45am. There were nine of us on the excursion (Encounter does small groups, one of the reasons I had booked with them). We drove five minutes to the jetty on the other side of the peninsula. We then got on the boat while it was dry docked, the first time I’ve had to do that. (I think the 2016 earthquake messed up the water depths at the jetty).
The water looked calm, but in a smaller boat even swells of 1m were making me and Heather feel a bit naseous. We went out about 3km to where the shelf drops off, which creates a natural feeding area for the albatross.
A few giant petrels followed us. They have a wingspan of 2m and looked pretty big. They are also a very mean bird, with a call that sounds prehistoric. Gary said you wouldn’t want to get in a fight with it. He probably didn’t need to give us the warning, lol, I wasn’t going anywhere near it.
We got to the shelf drop off and cut the engines. A few Royal Great Albatross landed about 100m in the distance; Gary said they are shy at first but would eventually paddle their way towards us. These were enormous, with wingspans over 3m! They made the giant petrels look small. We also saw two Wandering Albatrosses, with a wingspan of 3.7m, the largest flying bird in the world!
Over the next hour we saw 18 albatrosses, 16 petrels, 60+ shearwaters and a bunch of other birds. Gary kept track of the sightings for research purposes; and then gave us a copy back on shore.
Both of us were feeling seasick most of the time, we enjoyed seeing the birds but not as much as we might have. I also found looking through my camera lens threw me off. So didn’t get as many pics as I might have. Oh well.
We boated over to another location closer to shore, where we saw dolphins pods swimming about. And then we saw a random little blue penguin! It quickly disappeared in the waves.
The excursion was really well run, with respect for the wildlife. There was no chasing after birds or other sea life. Gary was also really knowledgeable.
We got back to shore and drove back to the Encounters facility. It was crowded with tourists getting ready for the later morning tours. The company also runs dolphin tours, including one where you can snorkel with them. That sounds way too cold for me, I much prefer Fiji waters.
We decided to have breakfast at their cafe. While waiting for our food, we overheard a lot of tourists come in to try to book same-day excursions, only to be turned away cause they were fully booked. Good thing we had booked ahead!
We decided to do the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway as soon as we got back to our bnb. We thought if we sat down we’d fall asleep and then lose momentum for the day. The weather had turned, it was now misty / cloudy and half drizzling. One thing I really like about smartphones is that they’re water resistant, whereas my camera stayed in my backpack to start.
There was a shortcut marked on the trail that allowed us to skip the in-town part of the walk. We had some difficulty picking out the trail markings for the shortcut at the corner of Cromer and Ward St but figured it out. It started with steps over a fence and through a sheep paddock. We had to watch our steps here! About halfway down to the shore we picked up another road, and it was a clearly marked trail the rest of the way.
We walked along Fyffe Quay to the parking lot at Point Kean. This is a popular tourist lookout for seals and was a bit crowded. The walkway went back up the cliffs to the Point Kean Lookout and then wound its way along the top of the cliff to a lookout over Whalers Bay. There were dozens of seals lounging about. They aren’t much for pics as a seal lounging about looks the same as a dead seal. The weather had cleared so I had my camera out again.
We continued along the walkway to the South Bay lookout, and then down to the jetty where we had launched for the albatross tour earlier this morning. It was about noon and starting to warm up. We had started the walk in 13C and drizzly and had slowly ditched layers throughout the morning.
Took another shortcut, this one more structured, called Tom’s Path, which brought us back to Scarborough St and back to our bnb. The full circuit took us just over three hours, although we did stop for a lot for pics.
Threw some water on our faces and then went out for lunch. We wanted to try Emporium Brewery along Hwy 1 but it was closed over the holidays. Instead tried out Sime’s Kitchen a few doors down. It was excellent! (Later I realized that our bnb host had recommended it too).
We crashed for a couple hours and when we woke up the weather had cleared and we had a beautiful view of the bay.
For dinner we had reservations at The Pier, one of the classic restaurants for crayfish. The region is known for crayfish, in fact Kaikōura means ‘eat crayfish’ in Māori. So we drove down and ordered crayfish :) it was pretty good, grilled in the half shell and served with garlic butter.
On the way back home we drove up to Kaikōura Lookout to watch the sunset. It’s a two minute walk from our place but it was super windy. You can see both sides of the peninsula from the lookout. Watched the sun go down and then drove home. It was a very full day.
We drove down to Encounter Kaikōura at 5:30am to check in for the tour. We were a few minutes early and looking for caffeine. The excursion folks suggested we try the Sudima hotel next door. It turned out their kitchen didn’t open till 6am, but the very nice person there made us a couple cappuccinos for takeaway, on the house.
Our guide / boat driver, Gary, met us at 5:45am. There were nine of us on the excursion (Encounter does small groups, one of the reasons I had booked with them). We drove five minutes to the jetty on the other side of the peninsula. We then got on the boat while it was dry docked, the first time I’ve had to do that. (I think the 2016 earthquake messed up the water depths at the jetty).
The water looked calm, but in a smaller boat even swells of 1m were making me and Heather feel a bit naseous. We went out about 3km to where the shelf drops off, which creates a natural feeding area for the albatross.
A few giant petrels followed us. They have a wingspan of 2m and looked pretty big. They are also a very mean bird, with a call that sounds prehistoric. Gary said you wouldn’t want to get in a fight with it. He probably didn’t need to give us the warning, lol, I wasn’t going anywhere near it.
We got to the shelf drop off and cut the engines. A few Royal Great Albatross landed about 100m in the distance; Gary said they are shy at first but would eventually paddle their way towards us. These were enormous, with wingspans over 3m! They made the giant petrels look small. We also saw two Wandering Albatrosses, with a wingspan of 3.7m, the largest flying bird in the world!
Over the next hour we saw 18 albatrosses, 16 petrels, 60+ shearwaters and a bunch of other birds. Gary kept track of the sightings for research purposes; and then gave us a copy back on shore.
Both of us were feeling seasick most of the time, we enjoyed seeing the birds but not as much as we might have. I also found looking through my camera lens threw me off. So didn’t get as many pics as I might have. Oh well.
We boated over to another location closer to shore, where we saw dolphins pods swimming about. And then we saw a random little blue penguin! It quickly disappeared in the waves.
The excursion was really well run, with respect for the wildlife. There was no chasing after birds or other sea life. Gary was also really knowledgeable.
We got back to shore and drove back to the Encounters facility. It was crowded with tourists getting ready for the later morning tours. The company also runs dolphin tours, including one where you can snorkel with them. That sounds way too cold for me, I much prefer Fiji waters.
We decided to have breakfast at their cafe. While waiting for our food, we overheard a lot of tourists come in to try to book same-day excursions, only to be turned away cause they were fully booked. Good thing we had booked ahead!
We decided to do the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway as soon as we got back to our bnb. We thought if we sat down we’d fall asleep and then lose momentum for the day. The weather had turned, it was now misty / cloudy and half drizzling. One thing I really like about smartphones is that they’re water resistant, whereas my camera stayed in my backpack to start.
There was a shortcut marked on the trail that allowed us to skip the in-town part of the walk. We had some difficulty picking out the trail markings for the shortcut at the corner of Cromer and Ward St but figured it out. It started with steps over a fence and through a sheep paddock. We had to watch our steps here! About halfway down to the shore we picked up another road, and it was a clearly marked trail the rest of the way.
We walked along Fyffe Quay to the parking lot at Point Kean. This is a popular tourist lookout for seals and was a bit crowded. The walkway went back up the cliffs to the Point Kean Lookout and then wound its way along the top of the cliff to a lookout over Whalers Bay. There were dozens of seals lounging about. They aren’t much for pics as a seal lounging about looks the same as a dead seal. The weather had cleared so I had my camera out again.
We continued along the walkway to the South Bay lookout, and then down to the jetty where we had launched for the albatross tour earlier this morning. It was about noon and starting to warm up. We had started the walk in 13C and drizzly and had slowly ditched layers throughout the morning.
Took another shortcut, this one more structured, called Tom’s Path, which brought us back to Scarborough St and back to our bnb. The full circuit took us just over three hours, although we did stop for a lot for pics.
Threw some water on our faces and then went out for lunch. We wanted to try Emporium Brewery along Hwy 1 but it was closed over the holidays. Instead tried out Sime’s Kitchen a few doors down. It was excellent! (Later I realized that our bnb host had recommended it too).
We crashed for a couple hours and when we woke up the weather had cleared and we had a beautiful view of the bay.
For dinner we had reservations at The Pier, one of the classic restaurants for crayfish. The region is known for crayfish, in fact Kaikōura means ‘eat crayfish’ in Māori. So we drove down and ordered crayfish :) it was pretty good, grilled in the half shell and served with garlic butter.
On the way back home we drove up to Kaikōura Lookout to watch the sunset. It’s a two minute walk from our place but it was super windy. You can see both sides of the peninsula from the lookout. Watched the sun go down and then drove home. It was a very full day.
Monday, December 26, 2022
Kaikōura, New Zealand
It was drizzling and miserable as we packed up the car to leave Christchurch for Kaikōura. The weather cleared up as we headed north. We were now into NZ holiday season and there was much more traffic, with locals heading out of town, ‘caravanning’ as they call it. Mostly we were just in trains of cars, it was quite the change from earlier in the trip when we’d be the only car on the road.
We drove the 2.5 hours straight to Kaikōura. The last 30 minutes was spectacular, with seals lounging on the rocky coast and tunnels through the mountains which dropped right into the ocean.
Kaikōura sits on a peninsula jutting into the Southern Ocean. Our bnb was atop a ridge overlooking the town and the bay. It was a bit strange to enter the bnb. The host was vacationing on the west coast, and had left instructions on how to find the key to enter. All our previous bnb’s had lockbox codes or keycode entry. We weren’t sure we had the right house until we found the key hidden in a box of soap as instructed.
We drove back into town (if there were stairs down the cliff it would have been a five minute walk, instead it was an eight minute drive). It was a bit of a shock to see how busy it was in the main street, March Break-like.
Luckily we found a parking spot on the street, and then walked up and down the street deciding on a cafe for lunch. Had a bagel with smoked salmon at Chiwis, which was highly rated on Google Maps but maybe was overwhelmed by the crowds today. At least their coffee was good.
We had dinner reservations at Zephyr at 7pm so decided to do the Peninsula Walkway track tomorrow, as it’s a three hour walk and we didn’t want to be rushed. We had hoped to instead see the museum this afternoon. When we walked around earlier the sign had said it was closed until January, but then we saw someone walk in! So not sure what the sign was about, but the museum was definitely open.
We paid for two adults and toured around the museum. It wasn’t too bad. They had an exhibit about the 2016 earthquake that devastated the area, knocking them off-grid and inaccessible by land for weeks.
Got back home and cleaned up for dinner. I had made reservations at Zephyr back in September, which seemed a bit silly at the time, but we were glad we had it now that we’re in peak tourist season.
We drove the 2.5 hours straight to Kaikōura. The last 30 minutes was spectacular, with seals lounging on the rocky coast and tunnels through the mountains which dropped right into the ocean.
Kaikōura sits on a peninsula jutting into the Southern Ocean. Our bnb was atop a ridge overlooking the town and the bay. It was a bit strange to enter the bnb. The host was vacationing on the west coast, and had left instructions on how to find the key to enter. All our previous bnb’s had lockbox codes or keycode entry. We weren’t sure we had the right house until we found the key hidden in a box of soap as instructed.
We drove back into town (if there were stairs down the cliff it would have been a five minute walk, instead it was an eight minute drive). It was a bit of a shock to see how busy it was in the main street, March Break-like.
Luckily we found a parking spot on the street, and then walked up and down the street deciding on a cafe for lunch. Had a bagel with smoked salmon at Chiwis, which was highly rated on Google Maps but maybe was overwhelmed by the crowds today. At least their coffee was good.
We had dinner reservations at Zephyr at 7pm so decided to do the Peninsula Walkway track tomorrow, as it’s a three hour walk and we didn’t want to be rushed. We had hoped to instead see the museum this afternoon. When we walked around earlier the sign had said it was closed until January, but then we saw someone walk in! So not sure what the sign was about, but the museum was definitely open.
We paid for two adults and toured around the museum. It wasn’t too bad. They had an exhibit about the 2016 earthquake that devastated the area, knocking them off-grid and inaccessible by land for weeks.
Got back home and cleaned up for dinner. I had made reservations at Zephyr back in September, which seemed a bit silly at the time, but we were glad we had it now that we’re in peak tourist season.
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Christchurch, New Zealand
We had time yesterday to read up on all the attractions in Christchurch and pick the ones we wanted to see given we just had one day to see them. Oddly, the Lonely Planet recommended the Art Gallery and not the Museum, and the Moon Guide was the opposite. Based on other sources, the Art Gallery was the top site to see, so that’s where we started.
The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū has free admission, we left the suggested donation. It’s spread across six exhibits on two floors. We started with the upstairs. The gallery wasn’t busy at all, which surprised me.
We were really impressed with the exhibits. We spent over two hours just on the upstairs galleries. By then we were out-galleried and so left for lunch. It’s really a place that requires multiple visits.
We had lunch at Banh Mi EM, which was excellent, it really hit the spot. The part of town it’s in looked to be more where locals went out, as opposed to bars and restaurants on Oxford Terrace along the Avon River which looked more touristy.
Next on our itinerary was Christchurch Transitional Cathedral, commonly known as the Cardboard Cathedral. It’s the temporary cathedral while the original is being restored. There’s all sorts of rules about deconsecrating churches that had to be followed. The temporary cathedral was built in 11 months, partially out of cardboard tubes. It’s designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban (he also designed a temporary church in Kobe). Anyways it was interesting to see.
The final site we wanted to see was 185 White Chairs, a temporary exhibit commemorating the people who died in the 2011 earthquake. It was very well done.
Throughout the day we had crisscrossed the core a few times. There was much more open today, including most stores.
Before heading home we stopped in at Riverside Market, it’s filled with local food retailers, sort of like St Lawrence Market in Toronto. Had a 4-beer paddle at the Canterbury Brewers Collective kiosk, a great way to sample the local craft beers.
Walked back home and had dinner, wrapping up our tour of Christchurch.
The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū has free admission, we left the suggested donation. It’s spread across six exhibits on two floors. We started with the upstairs. The gallery wasn’t busy at all, which surprised me.
We were really impressed with the exhibits. We spent over two hours just on the upstairs galleries. By then we were out-galleried and so left for lunch. It’s really a place that requires multiple visits.
We had lunch at Banh Mi EM, which was excellent, it really hit the spot. The part of town it’s in looked to be more where locals went out, as opposed to bars and restaurants on Oxford Terrace along the Avon River which looked more touristy.
Next on our itinerary was Christchurch Transitional Cathedral, commonly known as the Cardboard Cathedral. It’s the temporary cathedral while the original is being restored. There’s all sorts of rules about deconsecrating churches that had to be followed. The temporary cathedral was built in 11 months, partially out of cardboard tubes. It’s designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban (he also designed a temporary church in Kobe). Anyways it was interesting to see.
The final site we wanted to see was 185 White Chairs, a temporary exhibit commemorating the people who died in the 2011 earthquake. It was very well done.
Throughout the day we had crisscrossed the core a few times. There was much more open today, including most stores.
Before heading home we stopped in at Riverside Market, it’s filled with local food retailers, sort of like St Lawrence Market in Toronto. Had a 4-beer paddle at the Canterbury Brewers Collective kiosk, a great way to sample the local craft beers.
Walked back home and had dinner, wrapping up our tour of Christchurch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)