New Zealand North Island 3 (Turanga, Te Puke)

24 March 09. On the way to Turanga from Auckland we found a few Indian names such as Bombay Hills. On the way we saw a number of eye-catching road warnings, such as "Speed plus alcohol is equal to dead end". This is a good warning to those drunk driving people in this wine producing country. But during the time we drove in NZ, we haven't seen any car accident. The roads are narrow without sufficient road shoulder. The narrow road shoulder made it difficult for us to stop to take interesting photos or to change driver. It is harder to drive there but most drivers were careful accept for a few crazy ones.

On the way to Turangan, we stopped at a seaside town called Waihi which was a gold town where we lingered for a while at the seaside before moving on . I picked a few seashells for Najidah as souvenirs. Since we took a different road, we missed the Athenree Gorge but was compensated by a quint town called Katikati. This is a mural town - every wall space in town is decorated by attractive murals done by local artists initiated by Katikati Open Air Art Inc. It becomes the pride of the town. There is not a single graffiti to mar the work of those artists.. In fact I came across the artist, Irene Tusera Falconer who was repainting and retouching her mural which was done in 1991. We came across intereting quotes such as 'It is better to have love and lost than to have a psycho in the house.' Hei, isn't it an interseting reminder of whom you share your house/life with. Beside murals, Katikati also exhibits sculptor which we found one in the garden by Donald Peterson entitled 'BARRY: A Kiwi Bloke'.
















Indra and Chom at one of the murals in Katikati.














Katikati Fire Station - purple in colour, established in 1955. The first time I saw a fire station other than red in colour!








Turanga is a busy harbour town. We checked in Cobblestone Court Motel, Turanga in Chapel Road. We weren't interested spending time in the town but instead we drove to Mt. Maunganui which is situated at th end of a tanjung with beautiful beaches. The scenery is so calming accompanied by soft tantalising wind from the deep blue South Pacific Ocean. Chom and I decided to climb the path around the mountain, not knowing that it was a long way around. Indra had to wait for us and we were sure she would be annoyed for being forced to wait over an hour for us. I tried to call her but we knew she left her handphone at the hotel. Poor Indra!! But Chom and I had a good walk around the mountain with magnificent scenery of part of Turanga.






The beach at Maungunui Mountain, Turanga.












Mount Maunganui, Turanga.

The seafront of Mount Maungunui.

At dusk. Chom on the walking path around Mount Maunganui, Turanga.

25 March 2009. We left Turanga towards Te Puke ('Te' in Moari language is 'the' in English). I wanted to see kiwi fruit trees and along the way, we stopped at Kiwi 360, a kiwi fruit farm. I was amazed and tickeld when I was told by the staff there that kiwi fruits are from vine, not trees. No wonder from far we saw what we thought was vineyard. This is quite a big learning for me. Since we were early, we took the first tour and got all the attention from Simon, the guide who patiently answered our curious questions. I learned:

1. Kiwi fruits grow on vines.

2. There three types of kiwi fruits:

a) the normal hairy skin that we found in our supermarkets.

b) smooth skin, yellowish in colour - gold kiwi, expensive, very sweet mostly exported to Japan.

c) kiwi berry, thumb size, extremely sweet and expensive, not exported.

3. kiwi fruits are originally from China.

Kiwi fruits aplenty - the normal hairy skin that we found in our supermarkets.

Kiwi bird is nocturnal. We did not see them in their natural habitats. The kiwi birds are protected specie. So we found a huge one in Kiwi 360!!

We left for Whakatane to check in White Island Rendezvous Motel but was disappointed that the White Island Tour has left for the day. White Island is famous for it accessable live valcanoes as a natural attraction. However we enjoyed the serene harbour. I managed to capture a sunset scene at the harbour. We left Whakatane the next day to Gisbourne and Napier.

At White Island Rendezvous Motel, Whakatani.

In Whakatani town, small, cozy and quint with colourful impatients generously flowering in variety of colours.

New Zealand North Island 2 (Paihia, Cape Reinga)

Map of NZ North Island - road map to Cape Reinga.













The most awaited trip - Ninety Mile Brach and Cape Reinga on 22 March 2009. The coach picked us up at 7.30 am at the Motel. To go there on our own, we have to rent a four-wheel drive but since we were not sure of the condition of the place, MSL arranged for us to go by coach. Most of the tourists in our coach were from UK and we were the only Asians - all senior citizens. I was not disappointed at all with the trip, in fact, I was so glad that I insisted to go there.

Manginangina walk to see the laarge kauri tree over 1,000 years old.














Hugging the huge kauri tree with a local boy.

The trip was so fascinating, especially when we stopped at Puketi Kauri Forest seeing the amazing over 1,000 years old kauri tree which was so unbelievably huge at Manginangina walk. I hugged the trunk of this awesome tree and my arm barely reached a quarter of it. I guess, it takes about five or six adults, hand in hand to hug the trunk. I have seen huge trees in Perth, Adelaide, Redwood Forest in San Francisco and other forests offering sights of trees of fantastic sizes but this one is the winner!! The couch took us through Doubless Bay and of course the view is breathtaking. For those who don't enjoy isolated and quiet landscape it might be boring but to me it was so beautiful and serene and I was awake throughout the journey.

At Waiharara we stopped for coffee at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom. This a cafe and a souvenir shop. What is so intersting is ,in this place, there is a huge old trunk of a kauri tree and the building was built around it. They carved steps in the trunk to go the next level of the shop. This is the place where tourists can buy stamps specially for Cape Reinga (not sold anywhere else) and post postcards or letters at Cape Reinga only. I bought 2 postcards and 2 stamps - one addressed to me and one for Izat, Razali's son who collects stamps. As the stamp is a collector's item, I am disappointed when I found out the card did not reach Razali at Unimas. This is the second time my postcard to Izat failed to reach Razali at Unimas. The other stamp and postcard I sent to Izat was from Cape Point in Cape Town, South Africa. Is it the fault of the post office or the fault of the delivery system in Unimas?

The kauri tree trunk in the Ancient Kauri Kingdom cafe and souvenir shop. The inside of the old tree trunk is carved with spiral steps. The shop is built around this tree trunk.

Anyone fancies a love seat? This kauri love seat costs over NZ$ 20,000 - heavy!!
















Sitting at the throne seat at the kauri tree trunk in the Ancient Kauri Kingdom - it's a big attraction with tourists.

Then the coach detoured to Ninety Mile Beach, driving on the beach itself almost near the edge of the Tasman Sea. The beach is well taken care of and so clean, We saw a dead whale and dolphin which were washed away on the beach and the seagulls and other birds had a good feast on them.

The dead whale. food for the seagulls and other birds.

The 90 Miles Beach is actually 68 miles in length with hard sandy beach - hard enough for cars and coaches to drive along it. Just next to it, there are sand dunes. That was my excitement. With a little bit of coaching from Barry, the coach driver, I braved the challenge to do sand-boarding but I chose a smaller dune!!. It was tough climbing up the dunes as my legs sunk into the soft sand every step of the way - just like walking in thick snow going upwards. But wow!!! the glide down on the board was sheer fun and exhilirating!!!! I was screaming my head off with glee, almost everyone screamed-young and old! That's it, just one try. I didn't want to climb again - too tiring. I am proud I did it. Chom and Indra declined - their loss.

Sand-boarding on the small dune. The red dot there is me!

The hard climb up the big sand dunes to sandboard down at breakneck speed.

With a hole in the rock as background at Ninety Mile Beach and the crystal clear Tasman Sea.

After the beach, the coach took us to Taputaputa Bay to rest a while before the drive up to Cape Reinga and the lighthouse. We had our lunch there accompanied by so many red leg seagulls enjoying the bits and pieces of food thrown by tourists. Inspite of that not even a piece of rubbish was found there.

Indra and Chom having lunch and feeding the seagulls at Taputaputa Bay.








Cape Reinga here I come. I have dreamt of walking on you for quite some time and here I was. As expected, Cape Reinga is isolated, beautiful and enchanting. The walk down towards the light house allowed our eyes to feast on the beauty of 2 oceans. On the left was the blue-green Tasman Sea and on the right was the deep blue South Pacific Ocean and both merged at the end of the cape. I posted the two postcards there. Thank you Cape Reinga for not disappointing me.

The light house at Cape Reinga where the Tasman Sea and South Pacific Sea meet.

The view of South Pacific Ocean from the top of Cape Reinga.

Barry, the coach driver (pic: he is on the left after picking fresh clams from the sea) was a real comic. Everyone just cannot help but laughed at every last words he said. He was such a joker that we hardly slept on our way with his jokes and chatter about the places we pased. That was very informative. I remember, when we were leaving Paihia towards Cape Reinga, he explained that NZ has built an underground condominium which is quiet and peaceful and that everyone is dying to get in there. And at that point, he asked us to look on the left and there was a cemetry!!! He was so hilarious.


We reached Paihia late in the evening, bought dinner at the Indian restaurant at the wharf and hit the bed with dreamless sleep or maybe dreamt of the next day cruise to Cape Brett Hole in the Rock.




Paihia from the wharf.











Only a millionair can own this piece of island - on the way to Cape Brett Hole in the Rock.

Monday 23 March 2009. It wasn't a good day - it rained! Our Cape Brett Hole in the Rock cruise was a disappointment. I wanted to see and sail through the Hole in the rock but because the sea was quite rough the cruise oat bcould not go through. We were not able to take good pictures either because of the heavy rain. Anyhow I was happy that I got to see it even though at Ninety Mile Beach we could see another hole in the rock from far.

We stopped for coffee at Urupukapuka island in the rain.







At this juncture, the three of us agreed that we should stay extra day in Paihia in order for us to explore more Bay of Islands especially Russell, the first capital of NZ. Anyone going there - stay at Paihia at least 3 days. More days if possible. I would like to drive to Cape Reinga again on my own to enable me to stop at whatever places that attracted me to take photos or just to explore. Traveling by coach was so restricting. We left Paihia in the afternoon to Whangarei ( pronounce Fangarei!) to reach Auckland again by evening and stayed at Oakwood Manor. We didn't stop at the town. Most of the time, we lost our way but we met friendly people who were helpful.

New Zealand North Island 1 (Auckland, Tane Mahuta)

Map of New Zealand

Map of New Zealand (North Island) showing the route we took from 20 March - 31 Marck 2009.

19 March 2009, at KLIA having dinner before boarding MH131 to Auckland, with niece Umi Kalthom (Chom) and Indra.

20 March 2009, Chom and Indra at Auckland airport.

Decision to travel to NZ North Island was made last year with my niece, Chom, Budin and Zizah. Unfortunately Budin and Zizah were not able to join us and so Indra came along. With MSL Travel ground arrangement, we took off to Auckland on 19 March 2009 with MAS flight MH131. In 2004, Ika and I traveled to NZ South Island and I had enjoyed the trip so much which made me decide to see what's in store in the north island. NZ is such a squeeky clean country and wish Malaysia could be at least half of it if not totally clean. The custom is very strict about bringing food, fruits, plants etc. So, to be safe don't bring anything or declare if you do. The penalty is on the spot NZ$200 or maybe a jail sentence. They are doing the right thing to protect their country's industry.

I have read about the Ninety Mile Beach and the Cape Reinga at the tip of north island. These places are the actual attractions to me which motivate me to make the trip a reality. I heard a number of demotivating comments about going to these places such as rough ride, not so safe, not much to see etc. etc. Funny, it came from people who had never been there. I didn't bother much anyway. I decided if my travel companions didn't want to go there, I'll go alone.

Driving in NZ is easy but I promised myself that I will never 'kutuk' Malaysian signages when I drive around Malaysia again. I find the signages in NZ were just as confusing as in Malaysia. We got lost many times even though we followed the signages faithfully. Questions like at the junction where do we turn - left or right? Indra was a good navigator and we stopped many times at petrol stations asking for direction. Most petrol stations there especially in the big towns are manned by foreigners - mostly Indians.

20 March 2009, we arrived in Auckland and met 2 Malay senior citizens couples who were taking a trip around NZ too on their own. MSL has arrangened for us to get the car rental from Thrifty Car Rental, a Holden Commodore EET 147. With the help of a map we found our way to our hotel, The Oakwood Manor Motor Inn at Mangere, Auckland. After settling down we decided to go to the city by bus and paid NZ$11 for a return trip. This saved us the trouble to find our way and looking for parking in the city.

At Oakwood Manor Motor Inn in Mangere near Auckland airport.

The Red Festival at Auckland city.

A theatre bulding at the Red Square Festival, Auckland

As like any other cities, there are bulidings and more buildings. We came across the Red Square Festivals at the Civic centre and at the theaters and spent some time there looking around.

With Chom at the Civic Centre, Auckland.

21 March 2009, We left Oakwood Manor at 8.00 am to go north to Paihia and lost our way to find the highway north. The signboard was not helpful. I drove and on the way to Dargaville, we stopped at a quint historical village, Puhoi. It was a pleasue to see a very pretty, clean village with green surrounding and friendly people. An experience all of us had was the serving for scones at a Puhoi Cafe which belongs to Dave, the oldest cafe established in 1907. The scones were so big that one scone was enough for the three of us and we ordered 3! At Mustardmakers, we met the friendly owner, Morag and bought a few bottles of homemade barbeque sauce. I am sure Ika and Maz will like them.

Morag, the owner of Mustardmakers in Puhoi Historical Village, NZ

Faithfully logging in my travel journal at Puhoi Cottage Cafe which served huge papa scones.

Dave, the owner of Puhoi Cottage Cafe established since 1907, taking orders from Chom.

The highway to north with strange bridge across.

The picturesque NZ landscapes is so refreshing - green and fresh. We stopped at Matakohe to visit the Kauri Muzeum where for the first time I learned about Kauri tree - NZ iron wood. The drive north took us to lonely winding road at the Waipoua Forest. To go through this route you got to make sure your petrol tank is full. We made this mistake thinking there would be petrol stations everywhere. Lucky, our petrol was enough to get us through the forest road. The 1,400 year-oldTane Mahuta kauri tree was really amazing, to see such a huge tree still standing till today.

Self-explanatory Tane Mahuta kauri tree.

The huge amazing Tane Mahuta.

NZ landscape is dotted with fascinating pampas grass (bunga lalang) which turned colour from white to purpilish to pink.

At Dargaville.

Taharoa lake.

From Dargaville, we drove to Paihia, the Bay of Islands which shelters 144 islands. Paihia is a town in NZ that should be visited. It's so beautiful, cozy and the seaside is lined with resorts. There are a number of activities that one can do there including the sea cruises to Hole in the rock, swim with dolphins, fishing etc. We checked in Averill Court Motel. We have made arrangement to go by coach to Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Reinga the next day.

Paihia Wharf.

At Paihia Wharf.











Paihia wharf at dusk.

Tomorrow is the most exciting day - a visit to Cape Reinga and travel on the 90 Mile Beach.