Seven places to Visit in New Zealand*

1. Tongariri crossing
Probably the highlight of the trip.
Something that G was doubtful that I could do....but then relented after my many mornings of slogging the firetrails around here.
It's a 19km walk, past volcanic cones and the most inbelievable-coloured lakes.
There are lots of ups and downs.
There are also lots of people as it is THE best day walk in NZ (and possibly THE World).
You will not get a feeling of wilderness exploration....but what you will get is gaspingly gorgeous scenery, a sense of achievement and a lot of happy puffing people to chat to along the way.
It is part of a network of tracks around Mount....(Mount Doom, from Lord of the Rings - yes, really!)
It is best walked from....to ...as you start higher and finisher lower....and it is a very,very long descent.
There are shuttle buses to take you from your car to the start of the walk, it is all terribly well organised.
(Unless you are 3 young euro au pairs who hitched a lift with us)

2. Waitomo Caves

G did an adventurous abseil/caving thingy. I did a pretty glowworm cave and another cave with stalactites and stalagmites.
As a canyoner from way-back G wasn't super-duper impressed with his tour but he has a highish thrill-threshold.
There were some raw beginners who had to learn how to abseil and even one person who couldn't swim! Interesting when it came to the water challenge!
But they all survived and I think it would be a good experience if you wanted to challenge yourself.
My tour included a rubber-ducky "ride" in a fantastic glowworm cave.
The boat is actually tethered which is comforting when you hear the sounds of what-seems-to-be-a-waterfall. Even that was too much for a lady in my group.
It is dark. So you cannot see. But the ceiling and walls of the cave are covered with glowworms.
After a cuppa and bickies we walked along to the second cave which has the formations, and some bones!
Our tour guide was very chatty and filled us in on the local stuff.

3. Rotorua
Yes, yes, you all know about Rotorua - hot springs, Geysers and all that stuff.....and that was all really great,
but the very-best-thing was the zip-lining through the native forest.
OH! MY! WORD!!
This pushed my limits a bit....but what fun!
Whooshing through the forest canopy, hugging 2000 year old trees.
Learning how the tour operators are renewing the forest and ridding it of pests.
We were the only ones on the afternoon tour, and there were 3 guides. It drizzled. Then it rained.
And it was still THE MOST AMAZING FUN.

4. Napier
From one extreme to the other really.
So totally civilised. Napier is an amazing town full, yes, totally full of art deco buildings.
Plus there are wineries all around - this is the Hawkes Bay wine area. There are bike paths and great cafes and
a fab little crafty shop.
I could have stayed longer here.

5. Bay of Islands and Waitangi
So this is cheating a bit because they are two great spots but you can see them both from the comfort of a central accomodation.
To see the Bay of Islands properly you need to get on a boat.
They will tell you that you'll see dolphins and all sorts of ocean life.....yesh, well...they do give you a lifetime voucher to return
As if!

6. Cape Reinga
I'm a nerd. I admit it. A geography nerd.
The most southerly, most westerly, the confluence of, the source of etc....and I'm THERE!
So Cape Reinga is THE most northerly point of New Zealand.

7. Kauri forest.
Big trees.
Big old trees.
They are like the trees from Avatar - you expect to see a colony of people living in them.
It rained.
which possibly made it even more atmospheric.

*North Island only!

A southern sojourn

It's a funny time of year to head south but we had a reason for doing it.
And actually it is rather nice.
We are camped in the caravan park at Corrimal next to the beach, it is very quiet (apart from the building work going on at the surf club next door) there is hardly anyone here.
It's like being on holiday!

There are many things to like about Wollongong.

1. There is a bike path that stretches for many ks along the coast. It weaves from beach to beach and passes many cafes and places of refreshment. It goes right next to where we are staying.

2. Beaches. Great beaches for swimming or surfing. It's a bit cool for swimming but there are plenty of surfers out there.

3. Ocean pools. It seems like every beach has an ocean pool. They are not very popular at the moment  (see above) but are a great thing for families in the winter.

4. Likewise there are many playgrounds that we have seen along the bike path. The local council certainly seems to put a bit of effort into facilities here.

5. The setting of Wollongong is quite scenic, sandwiched between the ocean and the escarpment - even if the steelworks are a bit of an eyesore. The escarpment is home to some nice bushwalks: up, down and along. Mount Keira has a network of tracks and spectacular views from the lookout.

6. Good food. A bit of a treat for us country hicks. 

7. ....shopping, coffee, fresh fish, coffee, boutique brewery, cinema, art gallery, entertainment centre.....

 

 I'm sure we'll be back!

A Winter's Trip

On the road again - with our buddies P & D....this time we hit the road to get to Lightning Ridge.
Our first stop was Uralla, a decent enough day trip for us towing the caravan up the hill from Wauchope.
Uralla has many delights and deserves a blog post of its own as I took a barrel of photos.
It was cold: minus 1 in the caravan in the morning.
Sensibly we had a powered site in a cute little caravan park.

The next day we met our buddies in Guyra, stopped for lunch in Tingha,

* photo stolen from Diana Davey

 and ended up camping at Cranky Rocks Reserve near Warialda.
This is a great spot, very surprising as you just drive through a lot of farming country and then this outcrop of rocks appears.

A shortish drive took us to Collarenebri which is on the Barwon River and has a free camp.
What more could you ask for?!
The town is a bit sad and neglected which makes me sad : (
But I have some more photos somewhere!

Then onwards to Lightning Ridge.
When drove into town, on a Sunday....lo and behold there was a market happening!
What's more one of the stalls was selling Holy Goat coffee! Win!!

Lightning Ridge is an opal mining town.
And it has a pretty typical mining town vibe.
Dusty streets, ramshackle buildings, piles of mining debris everywhere....but I kindof like it. It's different.
One of the very best things about this part of the world is that there is deep, hot, subterranean water....and that means hot baths!
The ones here are free and open 24/7.

We camped just out of town on Lorne station.....this isn't it!
But it was  good place for us to stay as we could bush camp and there were toilets and hot showers and a camp kitchen and you could have a fire, if you could find enough wood.

Then we parted ways (just for now) with out buddies and we toddled over to the Pilliga forest, between Coonabarrabran and Narrabri and Barradine.
On the first night we were the only people camped at this campsite in the national park.
It was bliss.

There was enough to see to keep us well-occupied for a day and I have more to blather on about....
so watch this space.

That is an abridged version of our winter trip to the outback of New South Wales.

Woody Head

It was a while ago now but we went camping at woody Head in northern NSW with some friends.
It is a National Park and there is a great campsite there with all the facilities.

The weather wasn't the best as I recall but we managed to get a mornings paddling on the pristine Esk River.

Meanwhile back at the campground....

there are rock platforms to explore and some friends locals!

The long, deserted (when we were there!) beaches are perfect for beachcombers -

You can walk south along beaches and through rainforest to Iluka -

where you can share your fish and chips with the pelicans and wave to Yamba over the way -

Woody Head is part of Bundjalung National Park.
The campground is suitable for tents and caravans and there are some cabins if you don;t want to BYO.
There is an entry fee as well as a camping fee.
Here is a map if you are interested in visiting.
And there is more information on the National Parks website