19th April 2009: Sailing on Thelma

We were offered another day's sailing on the classic yachts, and this time were back on Thelma. We are starting to know quite a lot of the crew, and I had a lovely day chatting to Nanda and to Tony's wife Fiona.

The sailing went extremely well for us, even down to the forecast rain holding off until we were home. Tony really is a very good sailor, and was helped by a gentleman named Bruce who sat in the cockpit planning tactics with him. Thelma crossed the line first and a leg ahead of any other boat we could see.

Our return to the dock was more exciting than usual. As we moored, an unfamiliar yacht came in beside us. A crew member had fallen off our sister ship Waitangi, and this yacht had picked her up. The poor girl was pretty shaken. It was her first time sailing and she didn't know what had happened; we later heard that the boom had nudged her off the afterdeck. She was wearing a lifejacket and was picked up quickly, so hopefully no great harm done.

After tidying the boat we went for a drink with the crew, and I got talking to a lady who had been with us on Thelma. Chatting about flat sharing and the kitchen equipment we collected over the years, she mentioned that she had lost most of her belongings when she was on a ship that sank. Gosh, tell us more about that, we said.

We found ourselves listening to a story that could have been straight out of a book. In 1982 she had been crewing on a classic tall ship which had leaky planks, and in some heavy weather the leaks had let in more water than the bilge pumps could handle. The ship sank pretty fast, and our storyteller swam to one of only two life rafts that had been released. One crew member drowned. They then waited a week (a week!) to be picked up by a passing ship that happened to see their torchlight. Apparently the captain had decided to ration the water on the life rafts to 30ml per person per day.

We were told all this in a very matter-of-fact manner. But seriously. Can you even begin to imagine?

14th-15th April 2009: Taupo, Orakei Korako and Rotorua

With the wine tasting now over, we finished up our Easter trip up by visiting Taupo and Rotorua with my mum and Ian.

We managed to squeeze in a late visit to Orakei Korako, reputed to be one of NZ's best thermal areas, and it's certainly the best we've seen. Huge silica terraces with boiling water flowing out, a big cave with a hot pool at the bottom and excellent bubbling mud. I've since been told White Island is very impressive too, so that's now on the list.

Our last evening's dinner was memorable. We went to Bistro Lago in the Taupo Debretts resort. This is another Simon Gault restaurant, just like Jervois Steak House in Auckland. He has a certain truffle-loving style that I do seem to get on well with.

The following morning, after eyeing up distant Tongariro and Ruapehu from our B&B, we took in Huka Falls and Aratiatia Rapids and headed to Rotorua. We dropped Mum and Ian at Te Puia for their dose of Maori culture and geysers, while Sophie and I went looking for a walk. We found the very pretty Redwoods forest, just outside Rotorua. Redwoods somehow feel a little out of place in NZ: they're quite unlike any of the native trees, but impressive nonetheless.

To finish our trip we went up the Skyline gondola for a view and a spot of luge. The luge is much more fun than it deserves to be - an experience a bit like skiing but sitting down. Mum took to it particularly well, getting her luge up on two wheels on occasions...

12th-14th April 2009: Napier and Hawke's Bay

The next stop on our trip up the east coast was Napier and the Hawke's Bay region. Home to some of New Zealand's best known wineries, this has been on our must-do list since we got here.

Napier was largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequent fire in 1931. The rebuild happened over the next few years, in contemporary style, and as a result the city now has an amazing collection of art deco buildings - one of the best in the world. The art deco society organises good tours of the town; our guide's mother-in-law had experienced the original earthquake.

Having made a nod to culture, we proceeded to the main business of the day: wineries. I heroically offered to drive everyone else around for the day, as the wineries are too far apart for cycling.

We started at Te Mata, then made it to Craggy Range where we promptly got side-tracked by lunch for three hours. By the time that was over, we barely had time to race around Trinity Hill and Salvare Estate before they all closed for the day. The lunch was worth it though: great food under the steep cliffs of Te Mata peak, with the trees in their glorious autumnal colours.

Wine making at Sileni: old and new technology combined

We finished off our visit to the region with a tour of Sileni Estates winery the next morning. They do an interesting 30-minute trip around the winery, which processes a lot of NZ's olive oil as well as its own wine. The large vats of fermenting merlot grapes gave off a heady scent: we had to restrain Sophie from diving in.

10th-12th April 2009: Martinborough

Having scooped my prospective parents-in-law off the ferry, we set off to conquer the wine regions of the North Island. We started at Martinborough, north-east of Wellington, and stayed in the charming and comfortable Martinborough Hotel.

Martinborough is unusual in that most of the wineries are small and close together. This makes cycling an ideal way to get around them, allowing for a long day of tasting and a wobble home afterwards. Luckily for our livers (and the drivers of Martinborough) we were only able to get bikes for the morning.

Ian, making good use of the bike's drink holder

We visited Martinborough Vineyard, Winslow Wines, Ata Rangi, and Benfield & Delamere. Winslow was the most memorable, both for its excellent wines and the interesting but long-winded discourse from the owner on matching wines to food; it took an hour and a half to taste four wines. Ata Rangi is the source of the delicious Pinot Noir given to Tim by Nishan, but we weren't allowed to taste it that day.

We finished up with a late lunch at the Alana winery. Winery restaurants always seem to have good food and great settings. By the end of lunch we were fit for nothing more than a snooze before dinner.

The next day we set out for Hawkes Bay, but stopped on the way for a short walk in Holdsworth. We battled up a steep track to a viewpoint with great views of Mount Holdsworth and the surrounding hills. By all accounts the walking at the south end of the North Island is great - shame it's such a long drive from Auckland.

9th-10th April 2009: Overlander and Wellington

Tim's mum Karen and stepfather Ian came over to NZ for a holiday, and we joined them for a week on the North Island starting at Wellington. As I'm not working at the moment I decided that, rather than flying, I would spend all day getting there on the Overlander train from Auckland. Tim joined me in the evening, flying in an hour the distance that took my train 12 hours to cover.

Long-distance trains in NZ aren't really serious. They are only used by tourists, typically run once or twice per day, and there are only a handful of routes. This is not the Pendolino from London to Manchester. The trains do, however, pass through miles of fantastic scenery, sometimes in places that are nowhere near a road.

On this particular journey the highlights are in the Tongariro National Park. Low cloud meant that the mountains were not visible, but I didn't mind - I have seen them before and climbed one of them. We went through some spectacular valleys, over several viaducts, and climbed the Spiral at Raurimu, an 11km section of track that loops back on itself around hills and valleys to create a gentle gradient while climbing some pretty steep hills. Google has a good aerial view. It was great fun to watch our progress through the large back window of the train.

One of the many viaducts

Wellington is a pretty place with a picturesque waterfront. It has more of a holiday feel than Auckland's harbour, and we watched a guy diving off a plank built into the sea wall, evidently for that purpose.

We spent the morning in Te Papa, Wellington's excellent museum. It is huge: the introductory tour lasts over an hour, only giving an overview of the exhibits. Our Maori guide was great fun, friendly and enthusiastic, but also quite feisty and certain of her own opinion. Very Kiwi. After the tour we went to see the colossal squid, the largest specimen ever caught.

We finished up our day in Wellington with a ride up in the cable car, built in 1902, and a walk back down to the city through the Botanic Gardens. After that we just about had time to collect our bags and jump in a taxi to meet Karen and Ian off the Interislander ferry.

5th April 2009: Sailing on Panmure Lagoon

At their excellent BBQ on the 4th, Claire and Graham invited me to come sailing with them at Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club, a small club in south Auckland.

The people there were friendly, and it's remarkably good value:  NZ$25 to hire a nearly-new Laser. The race that day was up and down the Tamaki river, taking about 2 hours. There wasn't much wind - good for me since I hadn't sailed a Laser for some time.

I did quite well, coming third (out of twelve or so).  My sailing skills aren't too rusty after all! I'll have to go back and see if I can improve.

29th March 2009: Muriwai Beach

Another Sunday, another beach...

I've been wanting to go to Muriwai beach for a while as they rent out Blokarts there, and I'm dying to have another go after our previous brief sail. Unfortunately there wasn't quite enough wind on this occasion - it seems they only operate when it's really honking.

We went anyway, in the hope of the wind building. Ken (from CHP) came too, planning to catch a few waves. The wind didn't pick up enough for the karts, but we did have a good go with the kite.

We'll be back when the winter storms start rolling in...