Up to the Bay of Islands

It's with a heavy heart that we have to leave Hawke's Bay to find some work up in the Bay of Islands, in time for the start of the kiwifruit picking season, which runs from April to June. Napier has been our home for the last 5 weeks, and there have a lot of highs and thankfully only a few lows.

We've met some brilliant people at our hostel, Archie's Bunker (the same hostel we stayed at on our original trip!) and we even managed to find some temporary work, although the whole apple picking fiasco was the only sour point of our stay. It eventually turned out that despite what you're told, employees are entitled to the minimum wage in New Zealand even on piece rates and if you don't get this then your employer is breaking the law.

For the last three weeks I've been working for Judd Dougan Team Architects (originally Natusch and Sons), one of the original members of the Associated Architects in Napier who were the principals of the four major architecture practices. It provided an interesting insight into the architecture industry in New Zealand, which isn't dissimilar to the UK in that there has been quite a slow down in the last couple of years, but it's showing signs of recovery from the global recession.

One of the last things we did on our final weekend in Hawke's Bay was to scale Te Mata peak, located a short distance from Napier (25 km away) on the outskirts of Havelock North. Legend tells us that the ridge is meant to be the body of the Māori chief, Rongokako, lying down after having choked on a rock as he tried to eat his way through the hill. At the very top of the peak you can get beautiful panoramic views across the Heretaunga Plains - on a clear day it's supposedly possible to see Mt Ruapehu in the heart of Tongariro National Park.

Lizzie in front of the 399m high limestone bluffs

View looking back to Napier

Hopefully we'll be back in Napier before too long, but for now Kerikeri is our ultimate destination as we head up to the most northern region of the North Island to check out the much touted Bay of Islands. Famous for its sub-tropical weather and beautiful blue waters with around 150 islands punctuated throughout, the area also holds enormous historical significance for the Māori as well as the first Europeans who settled here, when the British started colonising Aotearoa or New Zealand as it's now known.

Driving north of Napier along the Thermal Explorer Highway (State Highway 5) where we stopped off in Rotorua via Taupo to see some familiar sites at Kuirau Park (a public park with lots of geothermal activity) and down by Lake Rotorua - the second largest lake on the North Island.

Continuing along State Highway 5, we eventually stopped off at Hamilton to break up the journey and spend the night there, although I can't say I was impressed by the small part of Hamilton we saw and I don't think we'll bother making a return trip!

Kuirau Park is a good place to see free geothermal activity in Rotorua

The next day we left early to drive up the motorway through Auckland, as it was still another 5 hours to Kerikeri. Taking a brief detour to avoid the Northern Gateway Toll Road, we briefly joined the Hibiscus Coast Highway where we stopped off in Orewa for lunch. From there we drove State Highway 1 all the way up to Kerikeri for roughly 210 kms.

The place we're staying at is on the outskirts of the town, called Kerikeri Farm Hostel. It's an animal lovers paradise so Lizzie feels very much at home! There are two dogs at the hostel, a one year old Labrador called Nika - she's a lovely dog who's very excitable but also likes to jump up at you and chew your hand if she gets too carried away! There's also another dog called Weewee who is a little older and very affectionate, although she's a little overweight and is currently on a diet. Apparently, there's an elusive cat around called Mr Stink, however he's quite shy and we haven't seen him yet.

Throw Nika a stick and she'll be your new best friend

Weewee loves her back being scratched!

The farm hostel also has two female kunekune pigs (which means 'fat and round' in Māori), a sheep called "Fluffy" and a whole host of free range chickens, which are quite tame and friendly.

These were once cute little piglets. Oink oink!

The cockerel is a reliable morning alarm clock

This chicken wouldn't look out of place in the film Tron!

Exploring the local area we ventured 2 km from town down to the Kerikeri Basin, which was the site chosen by Samual Marsden for the Church Missionary Society's second mission in New Zealand. The site is home to New Zealand's oldest standing European buildings - the Stone Store and  Kerikeri Mission House (Kemp House). The Stone Store is the oldest surviving stone building in New Zealand and was constructed in 1836 - it kind of reminds me of the old wool mill buildings back at home in Witney, Oxfordshire. The store served as a central provision store for the Church Missionary Society. Nearby is Kemp House, which is New Zealand's oldest European building constructed between 1820-21. Although, it's less than 200 years old, Kemp House still pre-dates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (New Zealand's founding document) by almost 20 years.

The old Stone Store across the Kerikeri River

More info about what the store was used for can be found inside

Opposite the Kerikeri Basin Reserve is the start of a walk along the Kerikeri River to Wharepuke Falls, where we got an awesome view of a Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus).

A Pukeko (New Zealand Swamp Hen) on the opposite side of the river

The Kingfisher is also known by its Māori name, Kōtare 

Wharepuke Falls are a 20 minute walk from the Stone Store 

The track follows the north bank of the river, passing through some kiwi habitat and regenerating native trees such as kauri and tōtara. Further up the river are Rainbow Falls (or Waianiwaniwa, which in Māori means "Waters of the Rainbow"), which are 27m high. There's a decent lookout from the top and the falls certainly lived up to their name as there were lots of rainbows created by all the mist in the air. It's possible to walk to the base of the falls but you are guaranteed to get a little damp from all the water vapour drifting in the air!

A rainbow formed from the spray of Rainbow Falls

There's no safety barriers to stop you falling in if you get too close!

Aotearoa: the land of the long white cloud

Kia Ora from New Zealand! After an action packed couple of weeks in Singapore and Australia, it’s been down to some more serious business for the last few days with setting up banks accounts and applying for IRD numbers (or tax numbers), as well as scoping out potential motors. However, it’s not all been plain sailing in the City of Sails, especially when you’re treated like “The Great Unwashed” (Lizzie’s new phrase) when trying to set up a bank account… the main culprits being the front desk staff at ANZ and the National Bank, who aren’t even New Zealand owned despite being “the National Bank”. Based on a recommendation we opened an account with Kiwibank who are part of the New Zealand Post and they were much more helpful and welcoming.

The area we’re currently staying in is a suburb west of the city called Ponsonby, which kind of reminds me a little of St Kilda in Melbourne in that it's quite a popular place to be, but it doesn't have the same effortless coolness or pretentious yuppies.

View of the old Ponsonby Post Office against the city skyline

Since we’ve arrived in Auckland we haven’t had many opportunities to explore the city apart from frequently walking down Queens St and past the Sky Tower on numerous occasions. It’s hard to miss the Sky Tower as it dominates the city skyline, especially as it’s the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere.

The impossible-to-miss Sky Tower from Ponsonby

Buying a car in New Zealand seems a little less straightforward than at home, especially as all the cars within our budget seem to be 20 years old and have over 200,000 kms on the clock. I’m guessing this is fine if your expectations are low are and you don’t mind owning a car which has changed hands more times than Mario Balotelli has been sent off in his career (!) but having a car really does open up your opportunities for sightseeing around New Zealand as regular public transport outside the big cities can be non-existent.

After checking out Auckland City Car Fair we headed over to the Auckland Domain, which is the site of the Pukekawa volcano. This covers an area of 80 hectares and contains sports fields, formal gardens, sculptures and the Wintergarden. As it was quite a hot day we decided to start off in the cool house to check out the collection of temperate plants, before heading into the hot house and the relative shade of the fernery where we saw the iconic silver fern – the national symbol of New Zealand.

The "Lover's Walk" track at Auckland Domain

View of the tropical hot house at the Wintergardens

Walking through the Domain we headed over to the Auckland Museum (Tamaki Paenga Hira), an impressive neo-classical building which is also home to the war memorial. The views from the top of the hill were excellent as you could see all the way across to the harbourside suburb of Devonport.

The Auckland Museum is considered one of the finest Greco-Roman buildings in the Southern Hemisphere

On a separate occasion, we took a short trip out of the city to Mt Eden (Maungawhau) as this is the highest  volcanic cone in Auckland at 196m. The 360^o views from the top were truly superb and it’s not too challenging a walk to the summit. The main crater is 50m deep and is known as Te Ipu Kai a Mataaho. It’s considered to be sacred and there are several signs warning people not to enter the crater (more for their own safety as it’s quite steep) but inevitably this doesn’t stop the occasional moron venturing down, although one couple were told to stop pretty quickly!

Lizzie by the massive 50 metre deep crater

As tempting as it is, you're not allowed to go in the crater

View looking North to the CBD with the crater in the foreground

Unfortunately, we haven’t covered as much of Auckland as we hoped but I wouldn’t be surprised if a return visit was on the cards soon. The plan for the next couple of days is make our way over to Napier for the Art Deco Weekend via a stop off in Taupo.