Day 6 – Blue Skies are Smiling on Me

Blue days, all of them gone
Nothin' but blue skies from now on
Blue skies smilin' at me
Nothin' but blue skies do I see

Writer: Irving Berlin

Coromandel Peninsula

We took advantage of the watery sunshine to do a glass bottom boat tour from Whitianga.

These photos  are of Cathedral Cove, this is the beach where they filmed a scene in the Narnia – Prince Caspian Movie – see below!

These are the fish… from the glass viewing bottom. They were BIG Snappers, with blues and gold speckles, very pretty. Some of them were so big that they wouldn’t fit in the oven! These are in the marine park so are protected and can’t be fished.

The rock on this coast is very porous so there are lots of caves along the cliffs. This one was large enough to fit the whole boat.

Day 5 - Its still raining!

Coromandel Peninsula

Raining wet and miserable. Above, this is the nearest beach to our resort, a seven minute walk through the rainforest.   Shoe Island is in this photo.

All these beautiful beaches and we can’t see them, anyway we are here until Friday so I hope we get a bit of dry weather before then.

So, today we went for a drive to do a bit of recognisance.

We stopped at Whitianga for lunch. Wh is pronounced F. (Fet-i-anga)

We had, fush & chups…. ha ha, bro

Above is Buffalo Beach, named after the ship that was wrecked here.

Found a nice little art gallery and I bought a piece of silver jewellery from a local artist.

Some thoughts on the Coromandel.

• Good roads, very few pot holes considering all the rain.
• Lots of tight bends, narrow roads, hills and beautiful vistas. Bike riders would love it.
• Very little litter.
• Lots of one way bridges.
• Very green pastures, lush grass with clover.
• Fat dairy cows, with big udders, high stocking rate per hectare.
• Healthy sheep, lots of lamb twins, mostly Suffolk and English breeds, no merinos.
• Lovely gardens, must be able to plant things and then they just grow! Freesias, pink & red magnolias, camellias are all in bloom.
• Forests of HUGE tree ferns, thousands of them.
• The sea doesn’t smell very salty? – High run off of rainwater???

They say it will be fine tomorrow, we shall see….

Day 4 - Coromandel Peninsula

Auckland to Pauanui

Today we picked up our little hire car and travelled the 2 hours from Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula.

The paddocks are so green it hurts your eyes and lots of fat happy lambs about, a big contrast from our trip few months ago to Lightning Ridge.

We are staying at the Grand Mecure - Puka Park Resort,

which is in the seaside town of Pauanui. (pronounced power-newie)

We have a little apartment which is like a tree house built in the rainforest.

They had a big storm last night and 100mls of rain.

And we are again on top of a hill, you have to park in the bottom car park and trek up to the room. I’m going to be so fit by the time we get home!

Tonight we ate in the resort restaurant. I had confit Duck – yum.

Day 3 - Rain!

Friday – Auckland

Its misty rain and cold and they are expecting it to last all week…. poo…

So we spent today in galleries and museums.

 

Below is an exert from Colin McCahon’s ‘Northland Panels” (1958)

Beautiful Building – lovely timber (kauri pine?) and the floor was full of shell fossils.

The children above are busy with white Lego.

World Building of the Year 2013–2014

Auckland Art Gallery was awarded World Building of the Year at the recent World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Singapore. The accolade follows respective category wins in 'Completed Buildings - Culture' at WAF and 'Culture' category win for interior design at the INSIDE Festival - a partner event to the WAF. Congratulations to architects FJMT + Archimedia!

 

I played a game of spot the dog. (pointing out all the dogs in different art works)! lots of ‘Ruby’ dogs ( border Collie cross very popular in rural England and Scotland in the 1800’s), but I did spot Maya with the lady below….

 

NEXT – off to the Auckland Museum after negotiating the public bus system.

This is also their War memorial.

Some Maori stuff and a huge war canoe. 

 

Above: this fellow is  laid back and relaxed on the bow of the war canoe.

This museum has been renovated and very modern in some parts

On the top floor is the War Memorial,

and, a plane, a Spitfire, (also a Zero) they had to insert into the building and then build the building around it!

Tonight's dinner, pizza in the bar at the Pullman.

Day 2 - Kia ora

Thursday - Auckland

 

Our first full day in Auckland, and as they are predicting rain for the rest of the week, we thought we would take the opportunity for a ferry ride to Devonport while the weather held.

Devonport is a 12 minute ferry ride from the city. Very beautiful, but very expensive houses. Mostly timber ,, kauri pine with beautiful fretwork.

We took a little bus tour around the island, that dropped us off for short stop at North Head. This was a military base, starting from when they were trying to stop the Russians invading.

 

While we were there the Para gliders arrived trying to shoot the thermals.

Here I am below enjoying the sun and the view. (I forgot my sunnies and had to buy these groovy cheap ones at the chemist)

 

 

And,,, Grahams found a gun…

 

 

These hills are all extinct volcanos.

Devonport used to be an island, but they demolished one of the volcanos to use to reclaim the sea to make a link to the mainland.

The best views are from flagstaff signal station at Mount Victoria.

The signal station use to fly flags to show when the Clippers had arrived. That's why so many houses in Devonport and Auckland have observation towers, so the locals knew when it was time to go and meet the ship at the docks.

 

 

Oh and most excitedly I stumbled upon the “Best patchwork shop in NZ”,

Cushla’s Village fabrics,, I’ve even read about them!

I had to go in and I DID spend some money.

 

 

And guess what … the Pullman Hotel is also on top of an old volcano, which explains its steepness!!!

We got a taxi the kilometre up the hill tonight!(only cost $5)

 

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AND… poo poo poo – I can’t access my blog account on this laptop!!!!

I’m not sure why, I should have checked it was all okay before we left… sigh…

Anyway, I’ll continue to write drafts and have one big upload when I get home…

Day 1 - Across the Ditch

Wednesday – Armidale to Auckland

We off on holiday, after a stressful few months.

Spending a couple of weeks away, mostly in New Zealand.

A 6.30am flight from Armidale, then transfer in Sydney after clearing security.

Graham got to have a full body scan, but I got bomb tested… again.

And had to take off jacket, boots and jewellery to get through the metal detector.

 

Its always a good feeling to actually see your suitcases go onto the plane.

Mines the fat red & black one on the top!

 

We arrived in Auckland this afternoon and are staying at the Pullman Hotel.

Lovely place but we didn’t realise that it is on the top of a hill.

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We walked into downtown tonight to find dinner.

We ended up at a restaurant near the Maritime Museum called the Foodstore,

celebrating the uniqueness of New Zealand's food and wine.

 

 

Based at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour, is New Zealand's first unique live food entertainment experience. With the country's only true "open" and "interactive" kitchen you will get up close and personal with NZ's best chefs as they create their culinary magic.

At THE FOODSTORE you will experience creative menus using fresh,natural and organic New Zealand produce from local farmers with a focus on sustainability and the humane treatment of animals, genuine hospitality and whether you just pop in for a drink, a casual bite or a leisurely dinner the experience will always be memorable and more than anything, entertaining!

 

The walk back was very steep.

Review note:- This luxury hotel looks close to town on a map, but unless your young and fit, don’t expect you can walk to town and back.

We can just see the harbour between buildings from our room.