Singapore Revisited 16-18 March

Weds 16 March
It was good to have only a ten-minute drive to Auckland airport and the car rental returns place was easy to find. We'd allowed plenty of time before our flight so did some last minute shopping to use up our NZ currency. The flight itself was good on the Airbus and we each watched three different movies, great choice once mote and I enjoyed seeing Star Wars - The Force Awakens for the second time as well as The Big Short and Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation. On landing we jumped into a taxi and were soon enjoying a comfortable room at the Holiday Inn Express, even if the taxi driver did take us to the wrong one first! So having enjoyed doing so much walking in NZ, today's only consisted of walking through airport terminals, not quite the same is it?!

Thurs 17 March
We had a good night's rest despite the change in time zones, the Holiday Inn even provides pillows marked Soft and Firm and really comfy beds. After breakfast we walked to a nearby MRT station (underground) and went up to the Botanic Gardens where we spent a lovely couple of hours, including the incredible, large and diverse Orchid Garden. Then we took a bus down to the famous Raffles Hotel where, after a tasty, cheap lunch in a nearby Hawker centre (street food), we indulged in Singapore Slings in the Long Bar, just as we'd promised ourselves we would when Maxine took us there almost five weeks ago.

Something else that Gary & Maxine had suggested we might like to do was afternoon tea at The Fullerton Hotel, so despite the Singapore Slings we navigated our way there from Raffles and made a booking for tomorrow, we're both looking forward to that very much.

(Maxine, your guided tour of a few weeks ago was invaluable, we didn't once get lost today so thank you again so much).

Fri 18 March
Woke up early again, goodness knows what our body clocks will be telling us once we're home. Another leisurely breakfast was followed by taking the MRT to Bayfront and looking round the Gardens by the Bay, a quite unusual place. We then did what's always counter-intuitive to me by going into the Marina Bay Hotel and making our way to the 57th (top) open floor, which is the ship you can see balancing on the top of the hotel's three towers. The views were incredible and I didn't even mind the height as I couldn't feel the building wobble!

Fortunately we didn't have to abseil down as the lifts were working fine so after riding back down we wound our way round past the Merlion to The Fullerton Hotel where we spent a good couple of hours enjoying our somewhat indulgent afternoon tea. At one point Nicky said she felt a bit guilty doing that, but when we talked about it we realised there was no reason to, that's what holidays are all about; we wouldn't have wanted to return home without doing things like that, only to regret it later, especially as we're unlikely to return this way again.

I'm writing this from our hotel room as I managed to talk them into letting us have an 8pm checkout for a good rate and wanted to post it before our final flight. I can't honestly say we're looking forward to coming home, apart from being back with family and friends. Even the thought of work is tiring and not at all inspiring, but I'm sure we'll cope. Hope you've enjoyed following our trip on here, I've enjoyed recording everything we've done.

Return to Auckland Tues 15 March

Uh oh, here it is then, our last full day in this lovely country.

Something unique to the North Island are the Kauri trees, the timber from which used to be exported for use in ship construction amongst other things. There's an area called the Waipoua Forest in Northland that's home to many Kauri so that's the route we decided to take as it's also where the oldest Kauri tree is to be found, more of which later.

Our first destination was a small village called Opononi, known for a dolphin named Opo that spent the summer of 1955 playing with children in the water but was then killed by fishermen unknown. There's a small statue that marks its grave, very touching. On the far shore there were enormous sand dunes higher than many hills back home, above is a picture of one.

After Opononi we headed for the forest and specifically Tane Mahuta, the giant, oldest Kauri in the country at over 2,000 years old (some estimates are circa 3,500 years old!). A short walk into the forest from the roadside brought us into the immense tree's presence, I was in absolute awe of this giant that words cannot describe, it was humbling to be there and to think of all that's happened in the world during its lifetime, such as many ages of man, the birth of Christ and everything we know about really.

Our next stop was the Waipoua Forest visitor centre (as mentioned in our guide book). I suppose the 1km unsealed road should have hinted at what a disappointment this would be, not much more than a small shed, no information and staff who didn't want to help. We didn't stay there long!

We continued south and made our next stop at the Kauri museum at Matakohe, what an interesting insight into the timber and gum (Kauri gum that is) industries it provided. The lonely, grubby, tough life most of the gum diggers led is hard to imagine but the ingenious methods they developed to make themselves more efficient were great to learn about.

And so to our final leg of our four-week NZ journey. Our host at The Retreat had suggested we stop at a fish & chip shop in Orewa before we got back into Auckland and, thanks to him, we had our last meal here sitting by a beach watching the world and lots of hungry seagulls go by. We then navigated back around the city and found our nice airport motel where in the morning we'll try to pack everything back into our bags for the flight to Singapore. Thank you New Zealand for the people we've met and the so many amazing places we've seen.

Paihia, Bay of Islands 11-14 March

Fri 11 March
We woke up on Friday morning to a really unusual weather event. It was raining a little, the first time since we've been in NZ. We threaded our way out of the city, across the big, high harbour bridge and headed north on State Highway one. It took a couple of hours to shake the rain off but we succeeded by the time we reached Whangarei where we stopped for a break and some lunch by the Town Basin, a lovely area with shops, cafes and many boats at their moorings.

We carried on towards Paihia and, as we were about to pass a sign for Kawiti Glow Worm Caves, we made a spur of the moment decision to turn off and we were so pleased we did. We were taken on a three-person guided tour of some glow worm caves that of course were quite cool and damp, with huge stalactites and stalagmites all around us, including some appropriately named 'Headbanger'! The magic happened when the guide, a 13th generation young man of the same Maori family that's owned the area for all those generations, switched off his torch. As our eyes adjusted to the dark, first tens and then hundreds of glow worms were revealed to us, it was like when you're somewhere without light pollution and you stare up at the stars and more and more become visible. Quite majestic.

And so on to The Retreat, the place we'd booked as our R&R spot for four nights, knowing that by now we'd be likely to be feeling tired after four weeks of travel, which in fact we were. Our accommodation was more like a little cottage with a deck/balcony giving great views towards Paihia and the Islands, an ideal spot to relax.

Sat 12 March
We drove up to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the site of the signing of a treaty by 40 Maori tribal leaders in 1840, a significant place and event if ever there was one. We were treated to an informative guided tour by the great great grandson of one of those original signatories, giving us even more of an insight into the Treaty than we had learned up to now. There was then a nice cultural performance of song and dance. A new museum opened on the site in February 2016 so we looked round that too, it was very interesting and very well done.

We were at the Treaty Grounds for about four hours and after a picnic lunch we set off on a 1.5 hour walk to the Haruru Falls that we had read about. Most of the walks we've done up to now have taken us less time than described so we half expected this one to only be an hour on the outward leg, however we were wrong as it did take the full time to reach the falls. Along the way we'd seen and heard a tree full of white headed herons with their young, we'd been followed by the sweet little fantails and had also walked through mangrove forest on a long, winding boardwalk so lots to see. The falls when we reached them were very impressive, as you can see in the photo below. I recorded the walk on Strava to see how far it was and was surprised when we finished to see we'd walked 5.9 miles, but we did more than that because I didn't remember to start recording until after the first half hour. That's why I'm grateful of the comfy chair I'm sitting in writing this, looking onto the bay in such peaceful surroundings.

Sun 13 March
So, what to write about today? There was bound to be a day like this when our wires were completely crossed, has the sun addled our brains perhaps? We set off for a drive northwards, aiming for a spot near the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach. We stopped at a few places and saw the Stone Store at Kerikeri, stopped for coffee at Mongonui and walked along the beach at Cable Bay within the larger Doubtless Bay. The almost completely deserted beaches has been quite a surprise, must be because there are so many and the sun shines so much more than the odd day in the UK that causes gridlock on the roads and between beach towels. After Cable Bay we continued on to Waipapakauri Beach and were stunned by the awesome sight of waves breaking along Ninety Mile Beach. We had a beach picnic watching the surfers and people sea fishing and it was around then that our crossed wires sparked, with me thinking we were going to start making our way back with more stops but Nicky wanting to go further north. For those Game of Thrones fans reading this, it wasn't that I was afraid of going North only to discover an evil race there, just that I hadn't envisaged spending too long in the car while up here. So anyway, we did go further north but were thwarted in two separate attempts to drive to a beach because of unsealed roads, the shortest of which was 4km. So we turned around and stopped at Houhora Heads and then again at Tokerau Beach, with a final stop at Whangaroa where there was a lovely little harbour.

Mon 14 March, my favourite.
(Written on our balcony in hot sunshine with a beer in hand, it doesn't get any better than this, as Greg would say in Masterchef, appropriate as I was simmering nicely in my sunscreen).
Oh dear, inevitably starting to face reality and the fact we have to return home five days from now! Very glad to have two days in Singapore to look forward to. Please crank up the Spring sunshine though folks otherwise we simply won't cope!

We made a leisurely start, driving into Paihia and catching the little passenger ferry across to Russell, less than twenty minutes across the water. What an absolutely lovely little village Russell is, hard to believe it was once nicknamed Hell Hole of the North due to its lawless nature, I blame the Aussie rum traders (or the French!). After a wander round and a nice large latte we followed a steep 20-minute walk over to Long Beach in Oneroa Bay and what a gem! Picture the warmest, sunniest, quietest, most picturesque beach you've ever been to and you're right here with us. Beautiful, incredible, delightful. I wish you could all have been with us there on that beach.

We popped back across the water, bought a few bits in the NZ equivalent of Tesco Express and then spent an ever so energetic afternoon on our balcony drinking beer and cider. As the saying goes, 'It's a hard life but someone's got to do it'!

If you time it right with the tides it's possible to walk down the hill from our cottage, along the beach and around the point to reach Paihia town, so that was how we decided to make our way in for an evening meal. It took only around half an hour to walk round and we found a table at Only Seafood, where fortunately the fish wasn't off. We had a really tasty meal and mine truly was one of the best of my life -
A large bowl of the huge green-lipped mussels in a gorgeous red Thai and coconut sauce, it was de-lic-ious! Nicky had locally caught Snapper that was also incredibly tasty. After the meal we had a choice between returning by the same route or on the pavement, so as the only light was from the partial moon and a galaxy of stars we chose to return via the sea route, which was a challenge with one small keyring torch. Yes, feet did get wet a few times as we navigated through rock pools and we even startled a crab that swiftly scurried away. A 100% glorious day.

Little side note - yesterday in the car there was a song on the radio that went something like 'One day you'll leave this world behind. So live a life that you'll remember'. How very true and apt.

Auckland 9-10 March

Weds 9 March
We made good time to Auckland, taking a couple of hours to reach Tamaki Drive where we had planned to stop for a bit of lunch and a stroll next to the beach, which is just what we did. Today's temperature was around 26 degrees with an almost cloudless blue sky, so our luck with the weather continued. We then found our motel in the Parnell district and, after the grubby accommodation of the previous two nights, opened our door with baited breath to huge relief to find it very clean and comfortable, what a difference a day makes, we're much happier here.

As the weather was so good we decided today would be a great day to go up the Sky Tower. We made the half hour walk along the quay to the well known Ferry Terminal building where, on Andrew's recommendation, we booked a table at the Botswana Butchery restaurant for the following evening, the menu looks great so we're really looking forward to that. We made our way to the Sky Tower via a nice walk around a marina area, bought our tickets and were whisked to the 50th floor in just 40 seconds! Stepping out of the lift and over to the edge Nicky asked me if I was OK as I had apparently gone white (I don't like heights!) I think I was fine! We then spent a good hour or so on the main observation deck on 51 and the Sky Deck on 60, taking in all our surroundings that were so clearly visible on such a fine day. Once again feeling blessed to be enjoying such perfect weather.

We walked back (uphill mostly) to our accommodation, stopping at a lovely Spanish tapas restaurant/bar in Parnell for a very nice meal, that's about our fifth or sixth different cuisine of the trip so far.

Thurs 19 March
A day wandering the city was on the cards, so we walked in again but this time through a large park called Auckland Domain, which is the site of one of many volcanic domes. Nicky's sat nav on her phone got quite confused with all the different paths, as did we, but three days later, or maybe 30 minutes later, I forget which, we emerged on the city centre side and walked in through the university campus. We did a bit of exploring, Albert Park was very nice, a great place for students to hang out, and after a coffee we went down Queen Street and did some shopping. As you might imagine, having been away almost four weeks we were getting fed up with each other's company so we decided to part company. Well that was my excuse for jumping on the ferry to Devonport to seek out a New Zealand cycling jersey I'd seen online and luckily for me the shop in the ferry building had just the one. After I made the return journey (only 10 minutes) and was reunited with Nicky we wound our way back to the motel.

And so to the meal. Again we (Nicky) decided we should walk in and we found a nicer route along The Strand and then Beach Road, arriving at The Botswana on time where we were shown to our table. There was a nice atmosphere there, something we find makes quite a difference to a meal out. With lots to tempt us on the menu, Nicky chose salmon while I went for lamb. So how good was the food? My lamb was the most tender, melt in the mouth lamb I have ever had and the accompanying vegetables and sauces suited it to perfection. Nicky's salmon was equally good, so it was a great place to have had our 'treat' meal of the holiday, thanks Andrew for the recommendation. After the meal we walked to where we could see the Sky Tower illuminated and then made our first NZ bus journey back to Parnell to end a great two days in Auckland.

The Coromandel 7-8 March

Mon 7 March (or amazing Hobbiton!)
I'm a great fan of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books and the incredibly well made films, so before coming away we had booked the Hobbiton Tour near Matamata so this was where we headed for when we left Rotorua. We arrived at The Shire's Rest where we waited for our Hobbiton Movie Tour coach to pick us up. On the coach a great guide called David told us about how the movie set was discovered by a scout back in 1998 and also how it came to be a permanent fixture here. His enthusiasm was infectious, a good guide really makes a huge difference and even Nicky, a self-confessed non-fan, admitted she was really looking forward to the tour. The magic started as we descended towards Hobbiton, with views down to the Water Mill, the lake that Gandalf's giant dragon firework flew over and The Green Dragon Inn, all of which made it feel we were right on set. A detailed guided tour followed, stopping off at Hobbit holes here and there including Bilbo's and also Sam & Rosie's and other places like the party tree. We learnt a little of director Peter Jackson's passion for/insistence on the level of detail, for example a tree (not a real tree) had to have 200,000 leaves individually made, painted and wired on to it and it didn't even feature in the final cut. We walked over the delightful stone arched bridge to The Green Dragon Inn where we were given a choice of beers brewed exclusively for The Shire's and drank them by the roaring fire. What was great was that Nicky said just how much she'd enjoyed the whole tour as it was so much more authentic than she expected. Our rainy Sunday afternoons back home will now no doubt be filled with watching all six films. The tour really could not have been any better.

After the tour we drove up to the Coromandel peninsula where we'd booked into the Seaspray motel for two nights. At this point I really do need to say something about the considerable inconsistency we're finding between accommodation price and quality. In common with most of today's travellers we researched each of the places we were staying (17 in all so this took a while!) to find accommodation suited to our budget and requirements, which consisted of a combination of Trip Advisor and other review sites. So when we arrived at the Seaspray we were very disappointed to find that it felt like it hadn't had a thorough clean for quite some time; we needed to wash things before we used them; it was suffering from a distinct lack of TLC; basically it wasn't up to scratch, whereas Fiesta Court in Wanganui that cost about $30 less per night was clean, fresh and felt very modern in comparison. I'm going on a bit I know but this makes us both cross, especially when you're expecting much better. Hasn't the NZ Tourist Board implemented an across the board rating system to stop this happening (or maybe it has one that doesn't extend to motels?). On a brighter note we're looking forward to exploring the peninsula tomorrow which will hopefully include a walk to Cathedral Cove.

Tue 8 March
Just back from our longest day out in the car after about 11 hours exploring, with today's highs reaching 28 degrees so still hot hot hot! We drove up the west coast to Coromandel town that we thought might be worth a look, but it wasn't, nothing to see really. Nicky had picked out Driving Creek Railway just outside the town as something she was keen for us to go to, so we found it and bought our tickets and waited for our train. It's a curiously interesting place thanks to the creativity and ingeniousness of the man who created it all, namely Barry Brickell. In essence, Barry personally laid every inch of a 3km narrow gauge railway over a few decades, a line that climbs through dense bush land and includes three tunnels, viaducts and several places where the train changes direction in order to reach its end at an incredible view point. I could certainly never have achieved (or conceived) such a feat and I'm in awe of the ingenuity and determination of people like Barry.

An even more windy road took us across to the east coast (yes, Nicky had to be driver for the day) and we found a stunning bay to stop for a picnic, the sun was shining, waves breaking on the beach and the views were oh so good. We carried on south until we reached Hahei, where we parked at another amazing and almost empty huge stretch of beach and set off on a hour's walk to Cathedral Cove. In contrast to the Abel Tasman walk, we had incredible views for much of the way and the steep sections ensured we had a good workout. Descending to the cove we could see why this is somewhere so many people come to see, it's beautiful.

After walking back from the cove we drove to Hot Water Beach and had a nice walk along the water's edge before the drive back to the motel. We had some chocolate waiting in the fridge to look forward to, always a positive that one!

Lovely smelly Rotorua 5-6 March

Sat 5 March
Before leaving Taupo we watched some of the 1300 international Ironman competitors starting out on the 180km cycling stage on the lake front, which followed their 3.8km swim. All shapes and sizes were taking part so there's hope for us all!

Wai-O-Tapu was our destination on the way to Rotorua. The North Island has lots of areas of geothermal activity and the Thermal Wonderland was quite incredible. Walking round the whole site took us a couple of hours and the sights and smells of the gurgling mud pools, sulphur-yellow rocks, and steaming pools and streams was quite different to anything we've experienced before. If anyone had told us before we came here that we'd actually grow to love the slight rotten eggs smell that floats around this area we would have thought them mad, but they would have been right.

Our motel here was a little disappointing in its size and standard but hey-ho. In the afternoon we rode the gondola to the top where we had three rides on the luge, which was in a different league altogether from the one in Queenstown as the tracks were much longer and more enjoyable. Great views from the top too. In the evening we walked into town and found Eat Street where we had one of the best Indian meals ever.

Sun 6 March
Can you imagine a better way to relax on a Sunday morning than by soaking in a private hot spa pool fed by a thermal spring overlooking the Sulphur Bay area of Lake Rotorua? Well neither could we so we popped down to the Polynesian Spa, paid our money and spent half an hour in a luxuriously warm pool. Afterwards we spent a couple of hours walking from the spa around Sulpher Bay and back into the town.

So a pretty fine day so far then and yes, it was dry and warm too. However, the day wasn't over for us as we had booked an evening at Mitai Maori Village as we were keen for an insight into Maori culture. If we thought we knew what to expect then our expectations were exceeded. The evening included seeing (and hearing) Maori warriors rowing a war canoe down a stream, a really excellent cultural show of weaponry, story, song and dance and a haka, all finished off with a Hangi feast where food is baked in the ground, similar to how food was cooked at the luau we went to in Hawaii.

Every day of this holiday seems to bring something new and different, how very lucky we are.

Inspirational, hot, welcoming Taupo 2-4 March

Weds 2 March
We seem to have developed a lucky knack of choosing which bit of driving to do. After saying farewell to the lovely people at Fiesta Court in Wanganui, Nicky drove the first 70 miles or so that was mostly on windy, hilly roads, so better for her to be driving than as a passenger. We made our way to Tongariro National Park where we found the visitor centre and decided to do the two-hour Taranaki Falls walk and what a great choice it turned out to be. With a good variety of terrain and different vistas it was our favourite walk of the trip so far, at one point we could see for many tens of miles to the far horizon, at another we walked next to a boulder strewn river (quite unlike Horsham's Riverside Walk!) and elsewhere we were on the edge of a lava flow. The highlight was the Falls themselves, a great waterfall that tumbled into a churning pool below.

After Tongariro we continued on to Taupo. En route there was a scenic lookout we decided to stop at and we were rewarded with a gob-smackingly awesome view of the enormous Lake Taupo, it was a lot to take in, not surprising I suppose as it's the biggest lake in the whole of NZ.

We found our home for the next three nights, the Adelphi Motel, which was very clean, spacious and close to the town. We got in touch with Erin (Emma's university friend who's out here for a year or more) and we spent a lovely evening chatting and generally catching up.

Thurs 3 March
Erin met us at the motel and very kindly gave us a mini tour of Taupo and took us to a lovely place called Huka Honey Hive where they sell a huge range of bikes. Oh sorry, that was wishful thinking, I meant honey! Anyway, it was so great to see and hear just how much Erin's loving life out here, you could see it in the way she talked about the place, hats off to her.

The afternoon brought some unexpected inspiration. One of the great things about any holiday is the people you meet along the way and I don't think when we went to do some laundry we expected it to be particularly eventful. When we were there we got chatting to a friendly Canadian lady called Maureen, who's here to compete in this weekend's international Ironman competition that will be her seventh. That alone is impressive enough isn't it, but she told us she's 67 years old! Oh my word! So next time I think I'm too tired for a ride or something and am tempted to waste time doing nothing, I'll think of and be inspired by Maureen. We're so thankful for the people we've met. We finished the afternoon with a lakeside walk on what had turned into as hot a day as we've had so far. We heard yesterday that there had been a snow/sleet storm in the south east UK with low temperatures - we'll try not to trouble ourselves with that:-)

Fri 4 March
We decided to hire bikes for the second time to ride up to Huka Falls and then a dam beyond. Contrary to the shop staff's description, the route was very up and down with numerous tight bends on tricky, twisting and turning narrow single track. It therefore came as a relief to reach the falls, the views of which were great. We pressed on to Aratiatia Dam and were glad to have the company of waves of butterflies tickling the air around us, this was another hot (30 degrees) day so anything was good! It was also lovely hearing the different, tropical sounding bird song as we rode along. We made it to the dam in time to witness its two-hourly opening, whereupon water came rushing down the river, quite a sight. We struggled our way back to the shop - I had come off by this time with scratches and blood on my legs and we were hot and tired too after about six hours. After a short rest (Nicky doesn't let me sit down for too long) we drove up to Craters of the Moon, where an hour-long walk took us past lots of steam vents and some mud pools, it was a really interesting place.

To round off our stay in Taupo, Erin's host family Andrew and Arial had very generously invited us round for a BBQ. We spent a really enjoyable evening meeting their three lovely children, chatting about all sorts of things and tucking in to some good food, they certainly made us feel very welcome. We hope to invite them round to ours if they're ever in the UK.

Wanganui and why we're here - 1 March

It was great getting into the car today and to look forward to driving as we hadn't driven at all yesterday and not too much the day before. Before leaving Wellington proper we drove up to a lookout at the top of Mt Victoria that provided great views all around. We then followed a 16 or so mile scenic drive along part of the coastline, parts of which are home to various varieties of penguin but of course as it was day time we didn't see any as they spend the day in the sea feeding.

We then turned our attention to the drive to Wanganui, the first several miles of which were on the only motorway we've come across. The difference in geology of North Island was immediately apparent as it was less mountainous but still a good variety of scenery along our route. We passed through a settlement called Foxton but I don't think there's any connection with Bruce Foxton, the bassist of The Jam!

We crossed the wide Wanganui river and found out motel easily. On arriving, we were given the sad news that the owner, Paul, had passed away only the previous Friday (today is Tuesday) but they were still accommodating us even though other people had been moved to other motels. It transpired that Paul was only 55 years old and died very unexpectedly and this really emphasises the whole reason why we started doing these big trips back in 2007 with Canada - live for today as you never know what might be around the corner.

After we had checked in we walked to Durie Hill, where after walking along a 200 metre Tunnel you get in to a manned elevator that's been in operation since 1919, where you're whisked to the top for just 2 dollars each. At the top there's the tall tower in the photo, erected in memory of those from the local area who fell in The Great War. We climbed the 176 steps to the top for amazing views of the surrounding area, we could see a long way as, once again, we had been blessed with a dry, warm day.

After this we had a stroll around the town and discovered the velodrome pictured below, shame I left my bike at home.