Category Archives: New Zealand

New Zealand, Photography

52. Russell

Friday, April 3: Sunny to begin with, clouding over but still warm

Wainui

Redback
Keeping Aussies out, Russell, snapshot

I was first up and through with cooking my breakfast before Christine and Alexander needed all of the available space to get their stuff together (and then they forgot their food in the food bin and a can of coke on the fridge, and had to come back and pick it up). I went on to process yesterday’s pictures and secure them on the hard disk, and then there was clarification of the partial/full eclipse of the moon story, with timeanddate.com (which claimed yesterday that the eclipse would only be partial, and me wondering whether a full eclipse in the northern hemisphere might only appear partial if you were far south enough, or vice versa) now claiming that the eclipse will be full in Auckland as well, which solved that problem. Read more…

New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping

51. Rawhiti – Russell (Cape Brett Walkway)

Thursday, April 2: Some cloud came over during the course of the night and there was rain in the early morning, clearing to a fine & sunny day

Tramping: Cape Brett – Rawhiti, 15.1 km

Wainui Lodge, 92D Te Wahapu Rd, Russell 0272, tel.: +64 9 403 8278, double as single, only two rooms, max. 5 guests (BBH, $50 + 3)

Cape Brett Cliffs
Cape Brett Cliffs, snapshot

I had photographed three fixed time sequences during the night: One of the rising moon, one of the moon @ full zoom (A470), and one of the Southern Cross (SX120) until the batteries gave out. The camera was retrieved due to increasing cloud, but the tripod had been tied to the picnic table with a new twist-and-tighten mechanism which I was unwilling to untie late at night.

The hut was still very warm, but there were no bugs so I slept on an open sleeping bag. It started getting light about 6:30 and by 7:15 the sun was rising. Now this would have been a good sunrise to shoot, but I was concentrating on getting out alive. Breakfast was quickly dealt with, the salt shaker seemed to work fine and everything was washed, dried (including the sox) and packed away by 8:30. Swept out the hut (a little bit of grass cuttings had found its way into the hut) and then I was ready to go. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Tramping

50. Paihia – Rawhiti (Cape Brett Walkway)

Wednesday, April 1: Sunny with a few clouds on the horizon; quite warm

Tramping: Rawhiti – Cape Brett via Deep Water Cove, 16.3 km

Cape Brett Hut (DOC, $15, gas cookers, no heating; $30 track fee for private land)

Managed to struggle up at a quarter past seven and fry two eggs for breakfast, pack everything up into the backpack for the hike and then everything else into their bags and into the car and was ready to go by 8:30.

Cape Brett View to Go
Cape Brett View to Go, snapshot
Short drive to the ferry and was soon on the other side (car $11) and down the meandering road to Rawhiti. I had been considering walking via Whangamumu and that track entrance was 5.4 km down the road (a gravel road for the most part at that) but as we will see that wouldn’t have been such a good idea.

Found someone’s front yard to park the car in ($5) and swapped shoes for the hiking boots and was ready to tramp by 9:45. Views of the bay begged to be photographed but the batteries packed in immediately and once on the track the next bay beckoned likewise so I got out a box of batteries and kept them in an outside pocket just in case. Read more…

GPS Tracks, Kayaking, New Zealand

49. Paihia

Tuesday, March 31: Sunny with a few clouds and a bit of a breeze on the bay

Kayaking: Paihia – Bay of Islands – Waitangi, 5.7 km

Centabay

In the night the keys had slipped off the towel rail and dropped onto the floor among the stuff packed there and it took a little while of thinking to work out where they had to be. Was awoken by the manager to get me to move the car and I moved it onto the street where a 120 minute slot was free. About the only business that had to be transacted was printing out the DOC ticket for the walk tomorrow and since the library had banished all wifi users to the park I tried a commercial operator in an “adult” shop. First computer had something wrong with the graphics card, but the second printed out the pdf just fine for $1.6. A couple of things had to be bought for the hike and I thought that – just for the two days – I would opt for bread and have sandwiches made up for both days’ lunches. Short inquiry at the i-site about safe parking – apparently possible at either a camping ground or the backpackers. Read more…

New Zealand, Photography

48. Ruawai – Dargaville – Paihia

Monday, March 30: A day for four seasons

Centabay Backpackers, 27 Selwyn Rd., Paihia 0200, tel.: +64 9 402 7466, twin as single (BBH, $35 + $3)

Auckland Green Gecko
Auckland Green Gecko Naultinus elegans at Peter and Sara’s farm

Awoke around 8:00 and had breakfast of some sort of cereal with yoghurt and raw milk, hot cross buns and coffee with Sara and Peter, packed my stuff together, and was ushered out to see and handle the geckos. Sara has a licence to keep them and I was shown all of the species and had them crawling all over me. A couple of shots. Then she was off to her voluntary work and I was left with Peter. Gave him a copy of the book, which I had to dedicate and sign, and he accepted it as payment for last night’s dinner, which was a reasonable deal. Then there was a never-ending conversation until both of us decided we’d had enough. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping

47. Papakura – Auckland – Ruawai

Sunday, March 29: Rain at first clearing to cloudy through to sunny with a shower or two

Tramping: Tokatoka, 0.6 km (return)

Peter & Sara’s (airbnb, $50)

It was pouring when I got up, and I had my breakfast and was finished well before Michelle got up. I was in no hurry and it was raining so I leisurely packed my stuff. In time she was up and under the shower; then I gave her a copy of the book and was off to Tom’s.

Bella
Bella watching the sheep from Tokatoka
Was there pretty much on the dot of 11:00 and Cather & the boys were still collecting their stuff for the day’s programme. Charlotte was very enthusiastic and had to be taken outside. Eventually all were ready to leave and Tom & I went down to Takapuna to a very posh place with all-organic, gluten-free etc. stuff for brunch. Tom had some scrambled eggs and I opted for the chilli chicken on ciabatta, both with flat whites. Read more…

New Zealand, Travel Planning

46. Whitianga – Papakura

Saturday, March 28: Rain in the Eastern Coromandel which disappeared over the mountain range towards Thames; one or two showers with some sunny periods

Michelle’s (airbnb, $45)

There was time for a shower this morning and breakfast was over before the girls got up. Everything was packed away neatly and I was ready to go by 9:30.

For the first part it was very rainy, so perhaps the car was a bit cleaner, but the rain dematerialised very quickly on the downward approach to Thames. In Thames itself I parked the car opposite the i-site and went for a walk up and down the main street. There was some sort of charity event on and eventually found a place with a steak pie for $3.2. The library had closed at 12:00 which was pretty exactly the time I arrived there. Down the SH2 I kept a lookout for a place to stop to have lunch but only found the Café Bugger, and one picnic place where it was very difficult to drive onto it, so I continued on and was pretty quickly on the motorway. Then there was a fruit-and-veg place with an opportunity to park and I had the (by now lukewarm) pie there.Read more…

New Zealand, Photography

45. Whitianga – Coromandel Town – Waiau Falls

Friday, March 27: Overnight rain, sometimes quite heavy, lighter rain in the morning, cloud in the hills, a bit of sun in Coromandel

On the Beach

I was up fairly bright and early but the day didn’t look like it was going to be up to much so I waited around a bit, had a look at the surf and could tell that the kayaking would be off again. The alternative was to drive to Coromandel and see if I could do one or two short walks. sandwiches were prepared and off I took at around 11:00 after seeing that my bookings for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were in the bag. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping

44. Whitianga: Cathedral Cove

Thursday, March 26: Some fine spells in the course of the day but mainly cloudy, and rain in the evening

Tramping: Cathedral Cove, 3.3 km

On the Beach

Cathedral Cove Archway
Archway at Cathedral Cove at high tide. Median pixel of ca. 540 shots

The two Chinese girls were very well organised and after their instant noodles for breakfast and some chocolate they had packed up what little they had and were downstairs on the dot of 10:00 to wait for their bus, which as far as I could see was some time in coming. In the meantime I had gone for a walk in the direction of the outer settlements and had not seen very much, except for one heron who allowed me to get very close.

Tourist trap extraordinaire
Tourist trap extraordinaire. [download id="1966"]
I decided on driving out to Hahei to see what the story with kayaking was, although the waves today looked no smaller that yesterday’s – because the brochure said, “Daily.” Had a quick lunch of some toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches and then took off down the road (~30 km) with most of the equipment I thought was needed. Found the place in Hahei, but no one at home; only a handwritten sign that the morning had been called off but that the afternoon was running. Found some phones at the tiny shopping centre and called but the afternoon tour had also been called off; was advised to call back tomorrow morning. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Tramping

43. Whitianga

Wednesday, March 25: Sunny and warm, one big dark cloud in the afternoon, but no rain

Tramping: Shakespeare Cliff Walkway/Ferry Landing, 5.7 km

On the Beach

Comfortable stroll
Comfortable stroll. [download id="1960"]

Everything was very laid back and late this morning. I extended for another two days and asked about the kayaking, but the waves were too high today, so I grabbed a body board instead. The waves were indeed high and crashing very close to the beach, although there didn’t seem to be an outgoing current. One or two places much further down the beach seemed to have better breaking properties, and I was only trying out the waters for a bit. Came back, showered the sand off, went for a stroll around town, withdrew some cash and bought a couple of tomatoes for the cheese sandwiches I was having for lunch. Managed to get them toasted (or rather, fried) and that was fine. Read more…