I dropped Sabine off to work, came home, then a little later dropped the cats off at Orokonui Cattery. I didn't get one meow from them in the car! Not even a murmur! Not until the entrance to the cattery did they start up. Silly kitties. The lady who knows us served me. I was there for 7.55am.
I'm collecting Sabine later at 12pm, then at 5pm we are being picked up by Super Shuttle to Dunedin Airport, and flying to Wellington this evening.
Take off was at 7.45pm. Touchdown at 8.43pm. I have had a cold since yesterday, and the pressure on my right ear during the decent was immense.
Things to take note of, normal bus shelters, live pub bands and skyscrapers. Normal for most folks but haven't been in these city conditions for a while.
The Ibis hotel is nice.
22 Sat-
My right ear is being weird. Every time I swallow it makes popping noises. My cold is blaughh too. (This stopped doing this in the afternoon).
We had breakfast buffet which is included with our hotel booking. After that we decided to visit Zealandia (formerly known as Karori Wildlife Sanctuary).
Beforehand we walked along Lambdon Quay and stopped off at a Starbucks.
We caught the free shuttle bus from the city isite. At Zealandia we saw a hell of a lot of things. Baby Fantails, Green Parakeets, Saddlebacks, Takahe with chick, and plenty of Stitchbirds on a feeder. They were awesome. Never seen one until now. We also saw a pair of Californian quails and a stupid NZ robin trying to sun itself, and baby duckings, cormorants, diving ducky and a swooping Falcon over my head which I never saw but Sabine did (this was on a bush track on the hill). Also saw a giant Weta. The weather was awesome. We also had a salmon bagel with a 'Whittakers' hot chocolate at its cafe.
The shuttle bus back took us to the cable car, so we walked back to town via the botanical gardens which was also nice, but I was flagging. Barbara invited us to a BBQ in Upper Hutt, but I declined. My cold had got the best of me at this point. We had dinner at Wagamama and watched a DVD movie called Hugo.
23 Sun-
It seems like the Wellington electrical busses have been replaced by normal buses. No more overhead power lines :(
Apparently the new buses are electrical anyway, and now they can have double deckers. They are not operated by Stagecoach anymore though.
The weather was a bit rubbish today so we went shopping. A lot has changed around in the last 12 years, but the Whitcoulls book store has taken over the building that once was Borders.
We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant near that McDonald's that is on a corner.
At 3pm we met Barbara and I treated her to a cafe nearby the hotel. That was nice catching up.
This evening we watched a film called Eye of the Dolphin.
24 Mon-
Today we caught a bus to Wellington Zoo. The bus actually took us to within a 10min walking distance from the zoo as there isn't a direct route. Not a problem. The zoo was fantastic. It started with Otters and then went to monkeys then a Kiwi house, then the farm animals, then Giraffes, other boring things, then towards the end we saw the Red Panda. To be honest the only memories worth taking away with me were the Kiwi, Red Panda and the Otters. The zoo was a great day out, but the stars were the Red Panda and Kiwi.
The Kiwi's (2 of them) are enclosed in a nocturnal house, which switches its light/day cycle. It was rummaging around the leaves and coming up to the small fence where we were, sniffing in the air at us. It didn't mind small children shouting either. Amazing. We could have touched it if we wanted too.
The Red Panda was awake and alert, and soon enough was joined by a team of four people and a zoo keeper. The 4 people had obviously paid to get alone time with him, and it ran onto their laps, eating the apples and grapes from their hands. The animal was being stroked whilst being fed, but as soon as the food ran out, he was off back up its tree.
We bought a Red Panda plush toy and went to the zoo cafe.
After that we went to Queensgate, Lower Hutt, by bus, to look around and enjoy being in a decent shopping mall.
We came home and watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, which Sabine didn't like. Then we watched a new anime called Hiiro no Kakera.
25 Tues-
Christmas Day. Everything is closed, and it's raining. Sabine and I did go out for a walk, despite the weather. She saw an open sign to a Japanese red bean fish place. I took a look at it and sure enough the sign was indeed talking about it being open TODAY. So we headed up a steep alleyway street and found it. It was tiny, but the guy working there served us each a red bean fish, and a nice Japanese tea. The music was Japanese themed too, not the Christmas crap blaring out of the hotel reception/ dining area.
Walking around town we also saw one newsagents open, but that was IT.
Sabine didn't want to join me going to Silverstream, but I did. I kinda wasn't in the mood and didn't want to go because of the weather, but I'm pleased Sabine made me go. It was worth it just to see the bush back to how it used to be 30 years ago.
She stayed in the hotel and watched her anime. The train ride was free today. All busses and trains are free today. Its amazing the services are running at all, let alone for free!
This evening we watched Albert The Christmas Tree!! It was so bad it was good! XD
on TV we saw the endings of both Home Alone 2 and The Little Mermaid.
Wellington Related Photos:
26 Wed-
Got woken up in the middle of the night by Chinese people talking loudly and entering their room at 2am. They were loud from the moment they came out the lift. The stupidly paper thin walls are so bad you can hear every sound. They were so annoying I dressed and knocked on their door. A small Chinese woman answered and I made the gesture of 'shush' with a finger on my lips. They were quite after that, but I decided to sleep the rest of the night with ear plugs. AirBnB's are greater than hotels. For sure.
Skyped my parents this morning. They gave me some money for Christmas. Sabine and I packed and went to Starbucks for a bit.
We had some spare time, and watched a bit of The Little Mermaid 2 on TV. It was awful.
We got the super shuttle and got to the airport. We waited for a while then got the Jetstar plane to Auckland. I spent most of the ¾ of an hour looking at a Wheres Wally in the In-flight magazine. We used a super shuttle to get to our AirBnB, in a huge apartment complex in the city center.
Our place is small but incredible. It will be an ideal place to crash.
It wasn't long before we were walking around the city. Its boxing day sales so its the busiest day of the year for shoppers. We went to the top of the SkyTree tower, which is Auckland's 60 odd floor needle. The view was, well, high!
We went around the shopping district next. Very very busy of shoppers.
There are a lot of these Lime scooters around. South Park may have introduced them to me, but I thought it was a joke. But alas nope. These rental scooters are going to be everywhere in the future, if they aren't already in densely populated towns and cities.
We ate at an Italian. The entrée was nice but the mains were small. My heart sank when they arrived. Sabines was a 6inch pizza, mine was the same size as a ready meal. Didn't taste special either. I had a subway sandwich afterwards, then we headed back up to the Sky Tower for a cafe treaty and watch the city get dark.
27 Thu-
Today we decided to visit Auckland zoo. Yesterday at the isite we asked regarding buses to the zoo, so we knew what to do this morning. The bus was caught near Sky Tree tower, which took us almost directly there.
The Red Panda was behind glass, though he was curious and was looking around and wandering about, which was good. The zoo itself was big, a decent day out. A lot of the animals were behind glass, including the kiwi. But the aviaries were good. The NZ forest housed a few Saddlebacks and green parakeets. To be honest this was todays highlight.
The giant tortoises were cool. We weren't so fussed about the African animals, nor the monkeys.
Once back we flopped on the bed and fell asleep for an hour. Tonight we will go watch Aquaman at the cinema (I know right?! I have no idea why she wants to watch a DCU movie).
The movie was good. A bit quirky but should have been camper. There was a fire alarm that sounded just after we bought the tickets. The whole complex evacuated. Lucky after they gave the all clear, our movie was shown on time and uninterrupted.
28 Fri-
Today we decided to go to Tiritiri Island. The weathers nice so why not.
The boat left at 9am. We sat on the top deck and I put sun cream on us both. Not long later Sabine noticed that she was missing one of her Dolphin earrings. :( its gone.
The boat was very full of people. It was difficult trying to be alone with the birds once on the island. We didn't see a Kokako unfortunately, but there were plenty of Saddlebacks, stitchbirds, whiteheads and the normal birds. We even saw a mother Brown Quail with chicks in the forest floor. Oh, as well as Red Crowned Kakariki's (green parakeets).
This evening we shopped for things to take with us tomorrow. We tried the apartment pool but it was very cold. We had showers and dined in a New York Pizza place. Very nice it was too!
29 Sat-
Much the same as yesterday, though we headed north at Tiritiri and avoided most of the crowd. We saw a really interesting ground bird which we later found out was a Fernbird, and two Dotterels on the beach. Still no sign of a Kokoko.
We went to a Japanese restaurant tonight which was very authentic.
30 Sun-
Caught a bus to Mt Eden. It was a short but steep climb to the top where there is a crater covered in grass. Very interesting. The view overlooking Auckland was cool.
Back in town we had lunch at a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant.
We walked to the hire car place using the GPS on my phone, and now we have our car ready for tomorrow's trip to Kerikeri. Parking behind our apartment complex was easy somehow and it's a Sunday so we won't be charged.
This evening we went to a Japanese restaurant next door to where we dined last night. It was downstairs and sitting at the bar. They served small bites to eat.
We packed this evening.
Auckland Related Photos:
31 Mon-
We left first thing, driving north along the SH1. We firstly stopped at a Pac N Save, then headed along north again until road signs warned of a toll road approaching along the stretch of SH1. It mentioned a free route so we took that instead. I need to mention that Sabine forgot to pack our GPS so we are relying on my HereWeGo app, which is nearly as good to be honest.
Along this alternative stretch of road we stopped at Wenderholm Regional Park where we went for a walk to a viewpoint of the beach and surroundings. There was also an historic home that was on the flat near the second car park.
Next stop along the way was A H Reed Kauri Memorial Park, which had a few tall Kauri trees and a waterfall. This was great because it wasn't full of tourists. Then we drove to Whangarei Falls which had more tourists. The waterfall here was nice too.
We drove directly to our AirBnB at Kerikeri, arriving at 3.30pm. It's bloody hot. As hot as Irvine was. In fact I've just checked that the latitude is similar but on the opposite side of the earth. Interesting. If in the other side of the world we would be in Morocco right now. We dined at a restaurant in town called Rock Salt. The pasta was nice.
There are two kitties here which are sweethearts. Both are white.
January 2019
1 Tues-
Today we started at Kerkeris Rainbow waterfall, then we drove to a nearby cafe which was nice, and it was by a river with geese.
We next walked to the 'secret' waterfalls that has recently been made accessible only two years ago. This footpath took us actually nearby our AirBnB. I love how Kerikeri has a lot of country footpaths leading into each other.
Next we visited Paihia. It was overrun by tourists so instead we visited Waitangi. The entrance fee was cheaper for us as we could somewhat prove we are residents (although they only asked to see our NZ drivers license).
This is the famous site where the Maoris signed the treaty with the English, officially forming the country of New Zealand.
The film show was good and informative. The Maori show was very good too. At first it seemed like it would be dead serious, but then they turned it into something more fun and with a bit of tongue and cheek.
We dined back at the Rock Salt. Nothing else was open as its New Years Day.
We used the cinema room at the AirBnB this evening to watch our DVD called The Rip Tide. Their DVD collection isn't very great.
2 Wed-
We only did one thing today, that being visiting Cape Reinga, the most northerly point you can access by car, and the start/ end of State Highway 1. It also has a lighthouse to visit. It was a 3 hour drive one way. Sabine drove there, I drove back. The countryside is nice around here.
Once back we had a kebab then came home and watched Anne of Green Gables, a movie with Martin Sheen.
We heard meowing when we came back into the bedroom. We naturally thought the kitty was outside. Nope! Kitty was meowing from under our bed! How did he get in! Naughty cat! XD
I forget to mention that KeriKeri and Auckland have mosquitoes which I can't stand.
3 Thu-
We drove to Tane Mahuta today, New Zealand's biggest Kauri tree. I personally preferred the visit to the 'four sisters' and the adjacent kauri tree avenue. At the end of this walk was another huge Kauri tree where a Maori guy was giving a talk. There were only a few of us here which made it more private somehow compared to the over crowded Tane Mahuta. I loved hearing the Mauri children's story of how the Kiwi became flightless. We last heard it on Stuart Island.
After that we drove south to the middle of nowhere. There was a cafe-bar we stopped at a place called Paparoa which was funny because I "felt sorry' for the lemon cake which had been untouched/unsliced all day up until I chose it. By that point in the day it was roughly 3pm. It was also far better than Sabines chocolate cake.
After that we drove to Waipu Gorge to see the Piroa waterfall.
Back at Kerikeri we dined at The Black Olive and had a really nice pizza each.
This evening with our hosts I enjoyed looking out at the stars with them. The other AirBnB guests joined.
4 Fri-
So today we left Kerikeri. It wasn't originally planned however a few nights ago we decided it was for the best, as Sabine has an interview with Leeds at 12 midnight, and she needs to be comfortable for it. The place here was nice, but very echoey which would be totally unsuitable for a Skype interview for midnight.
This morning we were the first ones to enter Kerikeris 'Parrot Place' for 10am. They had many parrots in cages, open air and in aviaries to see. All of which were very cute. We even had a pot of seeds to feed them.
After that we drove directly to Auckland to the last minute booking we prepared yesterday. It's in the dead of town and comes with car parking. We would be here in the city anyway tomorrow for our last night staying at a place in the city, so one extra day doesn't make that big a difference. The apartment itself is suitable for Sabines interview so that's all that matters.
We had dinner at the American pizza place we tried last week.
5 Sat-
We packed and moved the car to a secure underground car parking place.
Then we walked to town and ate breakfast at a bar which was playing some britpop, including Blur's 'For Tomorrow' and 'There's No Other Way'.
Sabine is tired from the interview, though she didn't get a good vibe from it. We went to bed last night at 1am.
We browsed around the city and sat in Starbucks for a while.
We drove to this Westfield mall somewhere north of the city and spent the afternoon there. They had a cool Japan store. We also had a lunch/dinner there at one of the cafes.
We next drove to the last AirBnB place. This is in an area called Bucklands Beach, south of the city centre. Its okay I guess, but the bed dips in the center. It's going to screw with my sleeping tonight.
We watched a film called A Dolphin's Tail which was cute. Morgan Freeman was in it.
6 Sun-
We both slept awkwardly although we did sleep at least. The bed was crap.
This morning we started by packing and leaving before 10am. We went to a nearby garden center and having breakfast in its coffee shop with its sparrows begging for food. Next stop was a 1min drive to a neighborhood walk that I saw on the Herewego app. The walk itself reminded me of Irvine. Wakaaranga Creek it was called. Next we started driving towards the airport and came across a shopping mall along the way so we spent time there. Next we drove to a butterfly house next to the airport, only to find that their entry prices were ridiculous, so we skipped that and headed to the car rental place just down the road. Our car from Jucy was a good car overall. It's just a shame the Bluetooth wasn't working to make the smartphone music work over the car speakers.
Jucy gave us a free shuttle ride to the domestic airport where we spent ages. Even had a McDonald's just to waste time really.
The Air New Zealand plane was on time, getting us to Dunedin before 5pm. Super Shuttle got us home. The weather is totally crap. Its cold and raining back home. It was glorious back in Auckland.
Back home, we did a quick shop from Pac N Save, then came back to unpack.
Also I went over to Gerald, the next door neighbor, to give him a box of chocolates to say thank you for looking after our mail box.
Northland Related Photos:
