Having been to the Auckland Museum some months ago, we went back to finish it off at the weekend. We didn't quite manage that but have now explored the majority of it. This time we split up so that Tim could spend more time looking at dinosaurs and volcanoes while I meandered around the design section.
Tucked away among the war displays on the top floor, there is a reconstruction of shops from the Auckland of 1866. We were fascinated by a reproduced advertisement for a ship offering passages from St Catherine's Dock in London to New Zealand. Each passenger was allowed to bring ¼ to ½ a ton of luggage, which we thought generous compared to airline allowances today - until we read that a ship's ton was defined as 40 cubic feet, making the luggage allowance around 2 large suitcases.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Monday, 15 June 2009
14th June 2009: Kitesurfing Lesson Two
I had my first kitesurfing lesson a couple of weeks ago. My ambition this time was to get up onto the board. I managed that, but I've got a very long way to go until I can call myself competent!
I had to spent another hour or so body-dragging myself around behind the kite before the instructor let me have a go with a board too. I thought that I was getting pretty good at flying the thing (hey, it's just a kite!) but once you've got to think about flying the kite as well as balancing yourself on the board, things get a little trickier. You could say I was a touch over confident.
After a few face-plants (it's only water), I managed a few times to stay on the board for around 10 seconds before stacking it. Mostly I was alternating between sinking and being launched skywards, not quite how I remember those guys on the videos doing it. It seems you've got to get the kite maintain a smooth power delivery, without really looking at it. Not easy.
While I was drinking seawater, the instructor was teaching the more advanced students how to jump. He could effortlessly lift himself 5m into the air, before landing and blasting off in a different direction. And he made it look so easy!
Thursday, 11 June 2009
6th-7th June 2009: Coromandel Peninsula
Coromandel is another trip that has been on our to-do list since we got here, but we saved it until winter, knowing that the weather would still be passable up here when it got cold further south. We were rewarded with a balmy weekend and a brilliantly blue Pacific.
Tim's colleagues James and Ken came along for the weekend and we drove around the standard tourist haunts. Hot Water Beach was similar to the one we previously visited at Kawhia, but with even warmer water - plenty of people were wallowing in their bikinis despite the fact that it is really not quite summer any more, even here.
Cathedral Cove was beautiful, with weather-sculpted rocks towering over the water. Some local walkers pointed out an eagle ray in the shallows and we watched it for some time. It was hard to get a good sight with the sun reflecting off the water, so Ken waded in to get nearer, much to the detriment of his jeans. He wore them for the rest of the weekend anyway.
Anything for a good photo
In Coromandel Town we enjoyed a surprisingly good meal at the Peppertree Restaurant, one of only two restaurants in the one-street town. Coromandel is a centre for farming green-lipped mussels and these ones were particularly succulent. We stayed away from the local wine though, assuming there was a good reason we hadn't seen it on menus outside the peninsula. Maybe it was great and we missed out.
The next day we took a tour bus to the tip of the peninsula to walk the Coromandel Coastal Walkway. Our driver was a very well-meaning lady who told us everything she knew about the local history, and persisted in referring to our three-hour amble as a great achievement, even giving us certificates for completing it. She advertises it as a 7km walk, but told us after the walk that it was 10km, but she doesn't tell people in advance because they wouldn't do it. The DOC website lists it as 8km. Sigh.
Tim colour-matches with the Pacific
After the twisty, unsealed road back to Coromandel Town in the bus, we got back into our rental car (a cheap-as Nissan Sunny of 1990s vintage) for another 3-hour drive home. Our mood was lifted half an hour later though, when Tim spotted a pod of dolphins in a bay by the coastal road. We stopped to watch and saw lots of fins and a few leaps. These appeared to be bigger than the dolphins we saw in the Bay of Islands, and there were plenty of them, maybe 15-20. The road home seemed much shorter after that.
More photos here.
Tim's colleagues James and Ken came along for the weekend and we drove around the standard tourist haunts. Hot Water Beach was similar to the one we previously visited at Kawhia, but with even warmer water - plenty of people were wallowing in their bikinis despite the fact that it is really not quite summer any more, even here.
Cathedral Cove was beautiful, with weather-sculpted rocks towering over the water. Some local walkers pointed out an eagle ray in the shallows and we watched it for some time. It was hard to get a good sight with the sun reflecting off the water, so Ken waded in to get nearer, much to the detriment of his jeans. He wore them for the rest of the weekend anyway.
Anything for a good photoIn Coromandel Town we enjoyed a surprisingly good meal at the Peppertree Restaurant, one of only two restaurants in the one-street town. Coromandel is a centre for farming green-lipped mussels and these ones were particularly succulent. We stayed away from the local wine though, assuming there was a good reason we hadn't seen it on menus outside the peninsula. Maybe it was great and we missed out.
The next day we took a tour bus to the tip of the peninsula to walk the Coromandel Coastal Walkway. Our driver was a very well-meaning lady who told us everything she knew about the local history, and persisted in referring to our three-hour amble as a great achievement, even giving us certificates for completing it. She advertises it as a 7km walk, but told us after the walk that it was 10km, but she doesn't tell people in advance because they wouldn't do it. The DOC website lists it as 8km. Sigh.
Tim colour-matches with the PacificAfter the twisty, unsealed road back to Coromandel Town in the bus, we got back into our rental car (a cheap-as Nissan Sunny of 1990s vintage) for another 3-hour drive home. Our mood was lifted half an hour later though, when Tim spotted a pod of dolphins in a bay by the coastal road. We stopped to watch and saw lots of fins and a few leaps. These appeared to be bigger than the dolphins we saw in the Bay of Islands, and there were plenty of them, maybe 15-20. The road home seemed much shorter after that.
More photos here.
Monday, 8 June 2009
1st June 2009: Montana Heritage Trail
It was the Queen's birthday bank holiday in NZ, so in amongst some wedding planning we did another trip out to the Waitakere ranges, 45 mins west of Auckland. This time, we headed to the northern end of the park to walk the Montana Heritage Trail, a track through the bush sponsored by Montana Wines who used to be based nearby.
We extended the walk a little to take in the Waitakere tramline. This line was orginally built for the construction of the nearby dam, but now occasionally takes passengers. It wasn't running when we were there but you can just walk along the track instead. It has an unusual railway station at Picnic Flats, a somewhat incongrous area of neatly trimmed grass in the middle of the rainforest.
On the way back, we passed along the Upper Kauri track, which has some of the best stands of mature kauri trees we've seen. It some parts you are surrounded by trunks over a metre thick, rising up like towers above you. One of the trees was wider than my arms streched out, around 2 metres across (photo). Much of this part of NZ would have been like this - before it was all logged early last century.
More photos of big trees here.
We extended the walk a little to take in the Waitakere tramline. This line was orginally built for the construction of the nearby dam, but now occasionally takes passengers. It wasn't running when we were there but you can just walk along the track instead. It has an unusual railway station at Picnic Flats, a somewhat incongrous area of neatly trimmed grass in the middle of the rainforest.
A novel aqueduct, taking a stream over the tramway
On the way back, we passed along the Upper Kauri track, which has some of the best stands of mature kauri trees we've seen. It some parts you are surrounded by trunks over a metre thick, rising up like towers above you. One of the trees was wider than my arms streched out, around 2 metres across (photo). Much of this part of NZ would have been like this - before it was all logged early last century.
Sophie gives some scale to the kauris
More photos of big trees here.
Monday, 1 June 2009
23rd-24th May 2009: Tiritiri Matangi
The bird sanctuary island of Tiritiri Matangi has been on our to-do list for months. Situated in the Hauraki Gulf, it is free of mammal pests such as rats and possums and home to many endangered bird species. Mammals introduced to New Zealand have wreaked havoc with the native birds, especially ground-nesters whose eggs are easy prey, so this is a big deal conservation-wise. Tiritiri Matangi is also the island that until recently said Ni (say the name in a high-pitched voice and you'll see what I mean).
We spent two days on the island, spending the night in the bunkhouse so that we could go out after dark looking for kiwis, which are nocturnal. But a couple of hours of peering into the dark bushes didn't yield any sightings of the elusive birds, although we heard plenty calling. It was quite windy so they may have been staying well-sheltered, or perhaps we just couldn't hear them moving over the rustling of the trees.
During the day we did better. Walking around we were followed several times by fantails, feeding on the flies our feet dislodged. We also saw dozens of honey-eating bellbirds and stitchbirds at feeding stations maintained by the park rangers, as well as saddlebacks, whiteheads, kingfishers, New Zealand robins, parakeets, and the more common tuis and pukekos. The best were the takahe. These football-sized flightless birds are extremely rare, but there are three living near the visitors' centre on the island who are almost overly friendly and all too keen to steal your lunch if you look away. Quite a surreal experience - somehow I expect rare creatures to be shy. Maybe this gives some insight into why they're nearly extinct.
Staying in the bunkhouse was, as ever, a fascinating experience. With us were a couple of other people on holiday and five or so volunteers and researchers who work on the island. Some had led very varied and interesting lives and told dinner-table stories that were well worth hearing. One man had been an airport customs officer, and told us about a woman who tried to take her dead father on a plane as a passenger in a wheelchair. (Do you have any idea how difficult it is to ship a body in a coffin?) Luckily he noticed before she boarded...
We spent two days on the island, spending the night in the bunkhouse so that we could go out after dark looking for kiwis, which are nocturnal. But a couple of hours of peering into the dark bushes didn't yield any sightings of the elusive birds, although we heard plenty calling. It was quite windy so they may have been staying well-sheltered, or perhaps we just couldn't hear them moving over the rustling of the trees.
A bellbird
During the day we did better. Walking around we were followed several times by fantails, feeding on the flies our feet dislodged. We also saw dozens of honey-eating bellbirds and stitchbirds at feeding stations maintained by the park rangers, as well as saddlebacks, whiteheads, kingfishers, New Zealand robins, parakeets, and the more common tuis and pukekos. The best were the takahe. These football-sized flightless birds are extremely rare, but there are three living near the visitors' centre on the island who are almost overly friendly and all too keen to steal your lunch if you look away. Quite a surreal experience - somehow I expect rare creatures to be shy. Maybe this gives some insight into why they're nearly extinct.
Tim bonds with a takahe
Staying in the bunkhouse was, as ever, a fascinating experience. With us were a couple of other people on holiday and five or so volunteers and researchers who work on the island. Some had led very varied and interesting lives and told dinner-table stories that were well worth hearing. One man had been an airport customs officer, and told us about a woman who tried to take her dead father on a plane as a passenger in a wheelchair. (Do you have any idea how difficult it is to ship a body in a coffin?) Luckily he noticed before she boarded...
Tim got a lot of good pictures - see here. Of course we also threw away lots of pictures of empty branches a bird had just left :)
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