New Zealand - The First Few Days

Our second day in Auckland (Nov 2nd) is mostly done and our feet are tired again.

The hike around Devonport was really quite nice - lots of shops, a chance to try some Kiwi beer (Speights is nice) and finally, around 2 pm, a lunch of pulled pork and very excellent fries. We finally found a real grocery store and were able to satisfy our curiosity about some prices here. I think, basically, prices here for many things are somewhat like Canada's or a bit more. Some things are a lot more. The currency rate does give us a bit of a break.

We hiked to the top of two little hills in Devonport, both extinct volcanoes, and both of which had been used as gun stations in years past and which are now developed into public parks. Although the guide book describes the views from each as "spectacular", I think that's bit of hyperbole, at least to us. The views were nice, they were certainly panoramic, but I don't think I'd describe them as "spectacular". However....not to quibble too much.

So far, I haven't found a free Internet connection that's been fast enough to be bothered using. Maybe it's just the distance between NZ and the rest of the world :-). I may have to give up and go to an Internet cafe and see if that's better.

The flowers and other plants in the yards we've walked by are most interesting and generally quite different from what we have back home. Lots of nice big blooms and good smells everywhere. I did see a New Zealand Goldfinch - colored quite differently from the North American kind and quite attractive.

We had part of an evening out with the son of one of Catherine's good friends in Saskatoon. He lives in Auckland and plays for the New Zealand Symphony. Supper at an Asian restaurant which was very crowded, very noisy (chaotic, even), but with excellent food. We ate far too much and "took the air" on Mt Evan, overlooking the city.

On Tuesday (Day 3), we picked up the camper van. This involved getting up earlier than our bodies really wanted to and taking the shuttle bus back to the airport and having the rental company pick us up. After the forms and an overview of the rig, we tentatively drove off down the street, Catherine navigating us to the nearest grocery store where we stocked up before heading north. Today merited an early stop and we finally, after some searching, located a campground and spent some time unpacking, organizing the small space in the camper and having a restorative snack. A walk on the beach, supper and some writing, and it's time to get ready for bed. We're both pretty tired, proof being Catherine falling asleep while I was driving. That's not unusual in itself, but for it to happen in a new country, while we're trying to get used to driving on the left, on narrow, winding roads.....

The next days, Nov 4 and 5, we used to travel further north, with Cape Reinga being the ultimate goal, the northern-most point in New Zealand, that you can get to by road, at least.

On Nov 6 (Friday), we finished the drive to Cape Reinga in about an hour from our campground, hiked around, lay about on a very nice beach for awhile, got cleaned up and decided to head south because it was too windy to be really pleasant. A drive of somewhat over 3 hours got us to Rawene, a small town of about 500 people on the west coast of the Island, where we finally found a campground with water. Water does seem to be an issue here. It's often not available or available in small quantities or it needs to be boiled to make it safe to drink. Some campgrounds we've been in didn't have any water at all.

Today, Nov 7th, is a glorious day - sunny, warm but not hot. We're off to explore.....