Earth 2010

Campervan Day 1

Hi-de-hi, everyone. We're happy campers now for the next two weeks, and we're going to bring you a day by day, blow by blow blog of our camping exploits in the South Island of New Zealand.

The ferry slipped through the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound on a bright sunny day. We were surrounded by high forested hills dropping straight into the deep water. And then the ferry turned around a peninsular to reveal picture postcard Picton: probably the prettiest port in the world.

It is a spectacular introduction to the South Island. And the fun had only just started. As we waited for our luggage we could see our home for the next two weeks sitting shining in the sun, a big white Ford Transit turned apartment on wheels, who we've come to know and love as Kiki the campervan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided not to go anywhere that day, so we could settle into Kiki and enjoy a bit more of pretty Picton. Right choice. After a walk around the harbour we found a lovely café on the deck of a ship, the Echo, and ex-coastal cargo ship and sometime supply ship for the US Navy.

We had a lovely supper and a sunset walk along a path up the sound, returned to the camper and settled into our first night. 

Surprisingly comfy and cosy we set off in the morning to discover the South Island. 

 

Wellington

308 days since selling up, 100 days until the grand return. David Jones recording.

We had a whistle-stop two days in Wellington to conclude our tour of the North Island. We had only just arrived when the earthquake hit Christchurch, which was an awful shock for everyone. We spent some time watching the news with the rest of the city, but being able to do little, we set out to explore Wellington nevertheless.

We started with what became our favourite place in the city - St John's waterfront bar/restaurant. We had lunch there both days in a stunning art deco building. The food was superb and the interior stylishly reproduced the 1930s era. It was so good I even tweeted Sir Ian McKellen about it as he said he'd just arrived in NZ to film the Hobbit. Let's hope he takes my advice and get's to St John's when he has a break in Wellington (no news yet...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the next day we explored further afield riding the old red cable car up to the botanical gardens on a hill overlooking the city and the harbour. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the long, windy, ferny walk down from the botanical gardens back to the city we strolled through the old graveyard (half of which has disappeared under a motorway, just like Auckland!) and saw the colonial houses of nineteenth century Wellington including somewhere in amongst them the birthplace of Katherine Mansfield - famous author. Have you heard of her? I hadn't. I might add the literary guru travelling with me said he knew all about her, but had to admit he hadn't read any of her books.

We then had a fun-filled day exploring the rest of the city including the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. Where you can walk through NZ bush, see a giant squid, see and listen the stories of the Maoris and how they came to Aotearoa as they first called it, and of the British and other settlers in the nineteenth century. We also captured our first photo of a Kiwi, sadly the trick is to have them dead and stuffed in a glass cabinet. Photos from the museum and other sights are all in the album.

We leave you with the view as we sailed out of Wellington Harbour on the Interislander ferry heading for the South Island where our camper van awaited. Look out for daily blog updates from the camper van - wifi permitting. Bye bye 'til next time.

 

Napier and the delightfully decadent deco shindig

307 days since selling up, 101 days until the grand return. David Jones and Paul Twocock recording.

'You're the cream in my coffee, you're the salt in my stew. You're a necessity, I'd be lost without you!' It could be the theme tune to our whole world tour, in fact it was sung from the Shell Sound Stage on the waterfront in fabulous Napier during the heart of its decadent hoorah for all things 1930s - the Art Deco festival - and we were there to see it all.

We were in our element. Having secured one of the last three rooms left in Napier for the weekend, thanks to a midnight online booking cock-up by one who shall remain nameless (it begins with a Two and ends in a cock) we reached the seaside city of Napier just in time to see hundreds of 1920s and 1930s cars poop-pooping along Marine Parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cars, the streets, the cafés and the parks were all full of people in flapper dresses, 1920s summer wear and curiously a lot of Al Capones. A swing band skipped through rag time greats on the Shell Sound Stage and we all danced until the moon lit up the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday there was a Great Gatsby picnic all the way along the seafront, where the flappers and the aristos of New Zealand tried to outdo each other with the best picnic gazebo. And afterwards some of the bravest went for a late afternoon swim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had definitely come to Napier at the best weekend possible, all its art deco splendour came alive; you could just about imagine you'd gone back in time. There are a lot more photos in the album, take a look!

But after drinking lots of martinis and supping plenty of champagne we had to poop-poop ourselves back on the road and head south to Wellington, New Zealand's capital, and our last stop on the North Island.

But before we got there we found time to stop off to see yet more old cars at the Southward Car Museum. There were an old London Taxi or two, Marlene Dietrich's Cadillac, but for Paul the star attraction was the futuristic car from his favourite Woody Allen movie: 'Sleeper'. Well he got very excited anyway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All-in-all it we all had a spiffing time in the Art Deco capital of the world (well that's what they say!). Toodle Pip all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rotorua - what a stinker!

306 days since selling up, 102 days until the grand return. Paul Twocock recording.

I can still smell the putrid eggy smell that seethed all around Rotorua. All the volcanic thermal pools had names like the dragon’s breath, the witch’s armpit and the devil’s arse and it was easy to smell why. But we held our noses and set out to get up close and personal with one of the most volcanic regions in the world.

First stop Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland: and it was pretty wonderful.  It started with the very impressive Lady Knox Geyser. The park helps it along by triggering it at 10:15 every day – we were late, but it was still going and we had the place to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we moved onto the craters of sulphurous boiling water – a mix of different diabolical colours: orange, yellow, green or oddly grey which sat alongside giant cauldrons of bubbling mud. There were waterfalls of boiling water, and the very pretty but just as stinky champagne pool which had a bright orange rim and boiled like it was a freshly opened bottle of champagne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The volcanic trek ended in a flourish at the Devil’s Bath – which as you can see in the photo is a hellish bright yellow-green with a stink that made your hair stand on end!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Wai-o-Tapu we went onto the site of a devastating eruption of one of the region's many volcanoes. On 16 June 1888 Mt Tarawera exploded raining down ash and fire across a wide area and burying a popular Victorian tourist haunt – the village of Te Waiora. Some of the buried buildings have been excavated so you can see ovens, walls, lava covered whisky bottles and the like – although the most interesting bit was to hear the stories of those who survived and those who perished on that terrible night.

As a relief after all the disaster stories you get to wander along a stream-side path and into a valley with the most fabulous waterfall. And to top it all end up back at the buried village café for Devonshire cream teas (I kid you not – this is New Zealand after all – though the cream was not clotted!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop on our volcanic tour was a bit of a let down. The famed (well in all the adverts any way) Pohutu Geyser failed to rise up to 30m, but did do a bit of a half-hearted spray for us, you can see it in the album. As a compensation the very expensive park which includes the geyser also has a Kiwi house and we got to see our first Kiwi – they are a lot bigger than you would expect and even stranger than you would think with a huge yellow beak and a big fuzz of fluffy feathers.

After two days staying in the stink we had to leave, not just for some fresh air, but also because it was Art Deco festival time at New Zealand’s capital of Art Deco, Napier. Spiffing report of all that went on will follow in the next instalment. Cheerio chaps!

All our thoughts with people of Christchurch

Currently in Wellington but reeling with the rest of New Zealand at the awful news from the South Island as Christchurch is hit by another earthquake, worst than the one last year.

All our thoughts with the people coping with the destruction and loss of life.

lots of love

David and Paul

 

 

Auckland and the Northland

302 days since selling up, 106 until the grand return. Paul Twocock recording.

'The good thing about New Zealand is that nobody's here.' David Jones, February 2011.

An empty airport, long roads with few cars, open fields and hills with no houses and pubs and restaurants where there's always a table free, even on Valentine's night. And to top it all it all seems eerily familiar, but feels totally different. Auckland is a bit like Portsmouth with a supercharged Spinnaker tower and prettier suburbs (more wood bungalows). They were playing cricket on Sunday morning in the park, you can get a roast dinner with all the trimmings and the National Bank of New Zealand even has a logo that looks strangely like the leaping black horse of a famous nationalised bank in the UK.

First things first though we needed to attend to our laundry (a little reported but constant issue for travellers who don't like being smelly). Did I also mention that in New Zealand you keep coming across sudden time warps - things you thought belonged in a museum a long, long time ago. But if a mangle's all that's available...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfully we're canny enough to make sure we never too far away from the essentials: in fact Down Under they seem to understand the need for regular laundry and we have never had such a clean wardrobe. Sometimes with had our very own machine, so it almost felt like home again:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But we haven't spent all week in the laundry room. After two days recovering in Auckland from our 24 hour journey from Honolulu, we headed north in a clapped-out green Mazda (it's a 'supasaver' according Ace Rent-a-Car) to explore the Northland - the peninsular north of Auckland. We were based in Whangarei which had a lovely harbour vaguely reminiscent of Cowes, and a waterfall which was like nothing else (no long hike to get to it and a beautiful pool at the bottom).

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We traced the coast northwards to the Bay of Islands (it’s a bay with lots of islands – it seems Captain Cook had run out of inspiration by the time he got to New Zealand) which is beautiful, particularly as seen from the old capital of Russell or Kororeka. We had a lovely waterfront lunch there which reminded us of the Waterfront at Totland Bay on the Isle of Wight.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The windswept west coast was a complete contrast: isolated, with big skies, windswept long beaches and dunes and a massive beautiful harbour with not a yacht in sight. But clambering up to the lookout above Hokianga Harbour and the Tasman Sea was a bit like climbing Tennyson’s Mount. See the album for some extra pics.

One thing you can’t get on the Wight is a massive Kauri tree. This one’s the biggest in New Zealand towering over David:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nor can you get a cliff shaped like the face of Shakespeare gazing out over the bay where Cook anchored up to watch the transit of Mercury across the Sun. Take a careful look at the photo, can you see the face of the bard?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One face you can't miss is the Queen on the 20 dollar note – she reveals a little seen toothy grin, like something has really tickled her.

So many echoes of England, but it really is a long, long way away. And we’ve only just cracked through the surface. Next stop the volcanic pits of Rotorua, one of the sacred places of the Maori, and then on to Art Deco Napier and the capital Wellington. Stay tuned for more from down under.

Hawaii Five-0

In the second season of the remake of Hawaii Five-0 two newcomers have been cast has the famous detectives Steve McGarret and Danny "Danno" Williams.  Our cameras have followed them around Honolulu and the island of O'ahu whilst creating the new opening credits for the season.

 

 

The Ilikai Hotel in the background.  This is where Steve McGarrett stands on the roof.

 

 

 

 

 

The boys had a busy time in make up to get dressed for the part before moving on to their next location. 

 

 

 

The famous shot of King Kamehameha 1st with the new detectives, and another close up without.

 

 

 

 

 

The boys also had to dash to the law courts to help re-create the original scenes:







 

We believe their first assignment of the new season is based around a mysterious murder on an incoming cruise liner.







 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The episode will be set around the famous "Aloha Tower" which has welcomed many cruise ships to Honolulu.



  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We have lots more photos in our Hawaii Five-0 album, following the boys on their first filming asignments.  We leave you with the famous hula.

 

The latest news just in: the boys acting career has not gone so well. We believe they have now left Hawaii and are heading for New Zelaand.  Find out more in the next blog.  Have fun!

Lava! Lava!

286 days since selling up and 122 days until the grand return.  David Jones recording.

Here we are on the big island of Hawaii, sitting in the laundry room of the hotel doing our washing: travelling can be so glamorous.  What to say about the big island? It's big, has five volcanoes and in our short time here we have driven over one thousand miles.  Which has been great fun in our Jeep Wrangler convertible, meaning we could get some sun whilst driving around.   

 

 

 

The only mishap we had was when we arrived at the hotel we surprised the car park attendant by pulling into the car park and stopping at her booth on the wrong side of the road.  She looked at us strangely and politely said "Aloha".  It was at that point I realised as the passenger I shouldn't be sitting next to her and we all laughed.  For the next 8 days every time we drove in and out she shouted and waved at us "Hi, it's you again!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second day was turtle-tastic. We discovered a bay with many rock pools and in each one were 2 or 3 turtles.  At first we were looking for tropical fish and then started to notice these large rock formations in the black lava pools.  Very slowly as your eyes became adjusted the pools filled with turtles.

 

 

 

 

We also went to one of the active volcanoes on the island in search of real lava flow and discovered more than we thought...



 

Well, ok that's me standing in front of a picture board at the volcano park. 



 

That's what we had hoped to see, if fact there was no bubbling molten rock the day we went but we were treated to a strange mysterious landscape where lava had flown from previous eruptions.  We did see one of the active craters which had smoke pouring from the top, but unfortunately no fresh lava flow. But the whole landscape was quite magical and other-worldy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of our favourite places to visit was the sacred "place of refuge" a partial reconstruction of palace grounds and temples of the kings and queens of ancient Hawaii.  It was just so peaceful and spiritual.  A lovely place 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also took a journey to the east coast where we saw amazing waterfalls and rugged coastline.  Some of the recommended sights didn't live up to their name, like the boiling pots, which when we saw them were just small rock pools with still glass-like water, hardly boiling over.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every night we have seen amazing sunsets.  Creature of habit that I am, I have found my own particular spot at a local restaurant which we have eaten at as many times as possible and always tried to get the same table. Oh yes! We have a cocktail to start: mine was, of course, a Bahama Mama while Paul preferred a '57 Chevy with Hawaiian plates.  We will tell you the recipes when we get back.

We are flying off to Honolulu tomorrow the home of Hawaii Five-0 and our third Hawaiian island this trip.

I will leave you with a sunset from my spot at the Kona Canoe Club. Toodle pip!



Sunny days, leaping whales and blue merry buffins - south shore of Mau'i

281 days since selling up, 127 days until the grand return. David Jones recording.

Aloha! We have had a fabulous five days on the south shore of Mau'i. Hot sunshine, tropical breezes, romantic sunsets and walks along miles of sandy beaches: that's what the south shore is all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this time of year though there's an extra something to keep your eyes gazing out to sea: the warm waters of Mau'i are the humpback whales' favourite winter destination. And if you're lucky you get to see them leap for joy - right out of the water. I was lucky, I got to see loads of leaping whales, unfortunately my lovely travelling companion - the one with the expensive new camera and zoom lens - kept missing them. But in Mau'i it doesn't matter, every day's perfect anyway. The best whale picture is in the album - blink and you'll miss it. Though he did get a movie of one jumping in front of the sunset - which was pretty spectacular. Though I haven't seen this movie yet, I'll let you know....

Anyway one of the best times for whale watching was in the morning. After a long beach walk, we'd settle down at the Lau Hala cafe for a Mocha Frappacino and one of their gorgeous Blue Merry Buffins and look out to see if any whales had come out to play. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a day out to the old Hawaiian capital and ex-whaling port, Lahaina. It's a lovely town full of weather-boarded houses from the nineteenth century, sitting wedged between the high, spiky slopes of the West Mau'i volcano and the sea, under swaying palms and with one of the largest Banyan trees in the world. Of all places it was here that we found out the secret ingredient of Butterbeer. It had been haunting us since tasting it back in November (see the Florida blog). By chance we picked up a free sample of shave ice - which everybody raves about in Hawai'i - and it tasted exactly like Butterbeer. We went in to buy one and found out the bright green concoction is called Mellona flavour. Still don't what it is but it was lovely and it is definitely what Harry, Ron and Hermione have been drinking. We also came across our first lava flow in Lahaina - though it was one of a more alcoholic than geological variety. 

 

  

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did find a real lava flow right at the southern tip of the island at La Perouse Bay. Dark, dark fields of black rock rolling into the ocean forming lots of lovely little cove beaches, one of which we claimed as our own. Our other favourite beach was Little Beach where you could see lots of a completely different type of Blue Merry Buffin, but I'll leave that one to your imagination.

We'll leave you with the perfect end to a Mau'i day. Such fun!