40 – Whale watching at Kaikura to Sailing at Akaroa - 19th to 25th March

See more pictures at - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/40Blogpix
Rick's blog....

6 sperm whales, 200 Dusky dolphins, dozens of fur seals, 12 Hectors dolphins, a handful of yellow eyed penguins and one fantail that decided to join us in the campervan....our current tally of wildlife that we’ve seen over the past week in Canterbury (apart from flattened possums).

Walking the Kaikura peninsula we zigzagged though dozens of very dozy basking seals on the beach, with lots of pups dashing around in the water, then joined the whale watching trip which Rosi had been so looking forward to since we arrived in NZ. From the powerful catamaran we got really close to 6 huge sperm whales who were feeding in the 960 metre deep water canyon. Zooming off across the bay we then came across hundreds of Dusky dolphins, with several jumping clear of the water next to the boat, a great trip which Rosi enjoyed despite not having any sea legs.

Despite Easter we managed to camp in Christchurch and spent a day exploring the centre, including the old trams which I thought were great and the Arts Centre / market, which had Rosi spending all our ready cash. The Centre is housed in old University buildings modelled on Cambridge University (they even have punting on the local river) and is evidently a great place to have a studio. On market days they also have continental food stalls, where I tried the spiciest sausage I’ve ever eaten and Rosi had her first taste of Souvlaki. We saw some excellent paintings, including this one, which looks just like our friend Chris Rogers!

Our route east took us on to the Banks Peninsula, which Captain Cook mistakenly thought was an island, and we set up camp for a few days on the Banks of Arakoa Harbour at French Farm. At this delightful free camping spot we met several travellers, notably including Heide and Helmut from the Emscher Valley in Germany with whom we nattered for ages...at least Rosi did to Heide as she was also a teacher! Neighbouring Farmer Verne (75 years old) also zoomed round on his quad bike with a gift of peaches from his orchard.

We also had lengthy chats with Gavin and Tanya from Cromwell who are travelling in their newly acquired ‘Housetruck’... We were spellbound by one of these trucks in the ferry queue at Wellington and were full of speculation as to what they might look like inside....So you can image how excited we were to be invited in for a guided tour! Beyond the drawbridge and porch are two double bedrooms (both upstairs), a fully fitted kitchen with woodburning stove (and back boiler) and a washing machine, a bathroom (even with a tiny zinc bath) a dining area, and lots of very neatly fitted storage cupboards. All had been lovingly put together by the previous owner using local timber with solid brass fittings and nice touches like stained glass windows (all double glazed with safety glass).

A short trip around the bay took us to Arakoa, New Zealands first French settlement (although the English staked a legal claim first!). A very pretty village full of French road names, millionaires bungalows and lots of Easter visitors. The fish and chip lunch was a bit steep at £6.50 but it did include a Bundaberg ginger beer which is now a firm favourite (and about the only soft drink here not made by the wretched Coca Cola company).

After lunch we boarded the sailing ketch Fox II to sail round the harbour in search of more sea and birdlife. We saw Hectors dolphins...the smallest and rarest in the world and unique with their rounded fin, and in the distance some very shy Yellow Eyed penguins who were being mobbed by Cormorants (Shags in NZ). The Captain (a New Yorker) gave an interesting running commentary in between nattering to Rosi as he has plans to tour Europe this summer in a campervan.

Next stop Mount Cook, and the Hooker Glacier.

11th – 18th March 2008 Waitomo (North Island) to Kaikoura (South Island)

For our other photos, see http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/39BlogpixWaitomoToKaikoura


The Waitomo area was so fascinating; its highly eroded karst limestone geology has left it riddled with caverns and ravines, craggy outcrops, potholes and natural bridges. We visited Aranui Cave with a very talkative guide, a Rolf Harris look-alike – we learnt lots and saw some spectacular growths, all Blit. Rick liked the technical commentary (although the Chinese tourists looked very confused).

During our nocturnal walk around the Waitomo/Ruakuri Walkway, we saw thousands of twinkly lights of glow-worms (arachnocampa luminosa), which are actually lavae that mimic spiders by using silky/sticky threads to catch prey –clever stuff, eh?). We also came face-to-face with weta, a hand-sized cave cricket, although ours wasn’t quite as big as this one (Will’s lizard would meet its match!).

This area is also noted for its extreme activities – caving, climbing, canyoning, canoeing – some involving fitting rubber rings to your wet suited bottom.......

Wellington is a delightful capital city of coffee and culture. The highlight was undoubtedly Te Papa, the National museum, on the waterfront – what a super building! Information and ideas were so well-presented that I think I’ve finally grasped volcanoes, earthquakes and continental drift. The Chinese earthquake detector (132 AD!) was intriguing and the Maori version of the creation is much more dramatic and exciting than the alternatives. The Whale exhibition was brilliant – I simply have to see one!

We arrived on the last weekend of the of the NZ Festival, so saw rowing races and Formula One speedboats looking like horizontal rockets. England were also playing the Second Test at Wellington...and won!

About 1 in 4 vehicles on the roads seems to be a campervan - whether car/truck-sized, converted bus or home-made. Most are hired and only have a bed, so we feel very superior! It’s clearly the way to see NZ. Rick has been intrigued by Reg’s book ‘RVs; Handy Hints’ which includes ideas for conversions...another DIY project for us perhaps?

Everyone advised us to head straight for South Island while the weather was fine, so we took the 3 hour ferry from Wellington to Picton, then headed south along the East Coast, through Marlborough Wine country - beautiful scenery.

We’ve been lucky to have such glorious weather for the amazing walks we’ve done - fantastic coastal scenery, dry stony river-beds – breathtaking at times. Everywhere, we’ve met friendly people - this has to be the most welcoming country we’ve visited.

There are plenty of corrugated iron rooves, but cars...?

We’ve found some lovely places to camp, including DOC (Dept of Conservation) sites and free places. One stunning DOC location was at Marfells Beach, with nothing between us and Chile except Easter Island – what a view to wake up to!

The East Coast of South Island is home to lots of wildlife and we’ve been greatly entertained by hundreds of seals, some just 10m away from us – amazing! And tomorrow, we go whale watching in Kaikoura – can’t wait!

To New Zealand

23rd Feb – 10th March, 2008 Italy, France, England and New Zealand (whew!)

At last we’ve found some time to catch up with the blog..... for more international pics, see http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/BlogpixAlpsToNewZealand

Skiing in Italy was great fun and we discovered La Thuile by accident (trying to cross Le Petit Col de St Bernard, which we (but not Autoroute) now know is closed for 6 months of the year...). We skied with a Scottish couple, also in a Hymer, taking time off work and who’d built their own house........sound familiar?

After crossing France we spent 2 days with Phyllis and Ken (thanks for having us -and our van!), flew Home to Sheffield for 2 days, then sat on a plane for 24 hours – OK if you like aircraft food and jet lag, but bad for passing around cold bugs (sadly, we got caught).

Diane and Reg kindly met us at the airport at midnight, and we stayed 2 nights with them in Albany. Many thanks to them both for being so welcoming, hospitable and helpful! Their Trailite campervan is lovely; similar size/age to ours and very comfortable, just right for us touring NZ. Diane provided loads of maps and information (and fruitcake – thanks), all essential as there’s just so much to see, it’s hard to decide where to go. So - thanks everyone for your suggestions, especially Erik, who highlighted a really good route for us around the 2 islands.

Aukland feels a clean and green city, with parks, nature reserves and lots of trees. It’s built on creeks, estuaries and hundreds of bays, so there are loads of wonderful beaches. Sailing boats are everywhere – possibly the highest per capita in the world.

Rick was intrigued by this clever machine that switches linked concrete blocks from one lane to another to manage the tidal flow system over the bridge – no dangerous red crosses and green arrows here.

It was so good, and much fun, to catch up with Janet, Fraser and Rory, whose house is 50m from Takapuna beach, with stunning views over Browns Bay and Rangitoto Island volcano (currently inactive!). We talked and laughed a lot, and met their friends. Some of us tried out the Woodhill Forest mountain bike circuit – prize for the most stamina went to Rory, close second was Erik, and trailing rather was Rick (who cites his cold in mitigation but did manage one ramp....). Very many thanks for having us and we hope Fraser feels better now. See you again in 5 weeks (and we’ll get a photo then).

Aukland’s Sky Tower took 545,000 meat pies, 1,245,000 cuppas and 28,000 tons of concrete to build. This is where mad people free fall down 192m, albeit well-tethered - they look surprised to find they pause after 10m, to become a photo opportunity for the more sane in the public viewing area....

Aukland Museum was a good place to learn more about Maori history and see some of their intricate carving – the original tongue piercing? I suspect we’ll see more. Aukland is built on a volcano field, dormant at the moment.......but the museum exhibition showed what might happen to the City when (not if) activity starts...Pompeii has given us an inkling!

It was great to meet up with Sue and Sandy in Warkworth (40 km N of Aukland and 11000km from its Northumberland namesake) – thanks for taking us to some fabulous places. They not only treated us to excellent fish and chips, but took us to eat them on Omaha Beach, a lovely stretch of typical-NZ sand, surf and sky – just beautiful, and where the over-50s had to go paddling.....

They also showed us Goat Island, where we watched big blue maomao fish in the wonderfully clear water, with rock pools cut into intriguing volcanic rocks. This was soooo beautiful that we plan to return to investigate further.

We’ve only been here 5 days but already, I’m running out of superlatives, so expect repeats of words like ‘amazing’, ‘stunning’, ‘glorious’ and ‘fantastic’, interspersed with ‘ooh’, ‘aaah’ and ‘WOW’.

Off to the glow worm caves in Waitomo now...............