New Zealand once again

We arrived in Auckland where we picked up the rental car we had rented for the next 2 months.

We drove to the marina where Mike and Devala our good friends from Sea Rover had their boat. It was lovely to see them again and we spent the night on the boat reminiscing about the wonderful adventures we had shared with them. The next day they took us to an amazing pub on a lovely north shore river bank where the food is good and live jazz entertains the large number of people who come out for the day.

Our next destination was to meet up with Tracy and Ken from Calgary who we had last seen in Malaysia when they had joined us on Cop Out. We had rented a 2 bedroom motel on the shores of the Coromandel Peninsula near Thames to share with them.

We spent a few days there with them timing the tides at Hot Water Beach perfectly. You dig a hole in the sand which fills with hot water from the nearby springs. Some places it is so hot you cannot sit in it and you wait for the tide to come in bringing the cooler sea water.

The other major attraction in the area is to go up the hill in the train which was first built to dig clay by a local potter from the nearby hill. It has become a tourist attraction in its own right and now several trains go up and down the tracks filled with tourists. All profits have been put back on the land where they are replanting native bush and restoring the hills to their former beauty.

Next stop was Rotorua where we joined them and Tracy’s nephew who had arrived from Canada. We went to the thermal park with the mud pools and geysers along with the large numbers of Chinese tourists who have replaced the former Japanese bus loads.

We had booked a day at Hobbiton where “my” Ken had as a number one “must do” and Tracy was also a dedicated fan. The tour itself was well done although the cottages were only facades built into the hill. The tour ended with a beer or cider at the Green Dragon pub and we all enjoyed it.

So far the weather has been exceptional and we have been able to have an amazing time.

We would now leave them and make our way to Wellington to stay with Kristen and her family and see my 92 year old mother still living on her own.

We stopped for one night at Napier where we discovered it was in the midst of Art Deco Week. It was incredible with the whole town dressed as “flappers” and retro music, vintage cars and festivities abounded. We were sad to be wearing our normal clothes as the imagination displayed in many costumes was amazing. Vintage aircraft were flying loop de loops overhead and NZ with their relaxed alcohol laws enabled us to purchase a bottle of wine and 2 glasses as we wandered and enjoyed the atmosphere.