A metre goes a long long way.....

Lake Taupo, Aoetaroa. 24/02/09
Kia Ora

We sit here on a beautiful sunsetting evening catching up on what has been a decrasingly hectic few days.
It is now a week since we arrived in Auckland with no plan whatsoever as to how we were going to spend the next 41 days.
All we knew was that we where due to pick up exactly the same motorhome as Mavis.

Then it appeared, a whole metre longer than our previous home- ELL1.
We love Elli- she is new(ish), shiny, Tardis-like and has only 38000km on the clock!

However, love was not going to provide any answers to our dilemma of which way to go. But Kimi superman, Steve Scarborough stepped in and saved the day.
We had 1 phone number of someone we knew in Auckland and it was golfer Steve and his lovely wife Jo. We touched base.
With an invite over to dinner and a overnight berth for Elli on the driveway we hatched a plan. The following morning however it was seriously dashed by an atrocious hangover- which also resulted in us leaving our laptop at Steves. So no photos until it catches up with us.
The result of our evenings exploits- we headed south to Waitomoand it's amazing limestone caves.
En route however we called in at A&E after Bugs was smacked in the face by an errant kitesurfer. She is totally fine now although a serious black eye looked really tough for a couple of days!

In the tiny village of Waitomo, which has only 41 permanent residents, Bugs and 1 experienced Glow worm caving whilst Lu, Mads and Geotried Black Water Rafting.
Torrential rain for 2 days had spiced things up a bit and we are now all addicted to adventure tourism, Kiwi style.
Hving then spent the evening in Elli, in a storm, watching the original Danny Kaye version of Hans Christian Andersen, we have been unable to shake off the movies furry, soft focus and rounded view of the world. New Zealand looks good like this....

Rotorua brought us more adrenalin activities, amazing Geothermal mud pools and geysers but most memorably our introduction to Maori culture. Initially i was rather cynical about atending such a touristy event but we decided the kids would enjoy Temaki- an evening in a Maori village. It turned out to be fantastic however with Bugs now firml;y believing that tribal villages full of facial tattooed warriorslurk in every forest. She also did comment that 'Maori food is so much better than what the aborigines eat.'

Our next destination is Napier on the west coast's Hawke Bay- home to New Zealand's finest red wines. So named after and english soldier, Charles Napier, the town was devastated by an earthquake in 1931 measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale and was then rebuilt at the height of the Art Deco movement. Unfortunately for us, it's annual Great Gatsby was last weekend - it is supposed to be superb- but at least we have the vineyards to host us!
Farewell. Pics when we get our laptop back.
Andy, Lu, Mads, Geo and Bugs
xx

Things that go bump in the night

Valentines Day, Devonport, Tasmania
Within a couple of hours we will be on the ferry back to mainland Australia where we shall have a bustling day, firstly meeting up with Saran and Dave, then Indra and Johnny before returning Mavis II and getting a late flight to Auckland, arriving at around midnight. Plenty of time though to contemplate Tasmania.
This is a truly fascinating place with an extremely laid back attitude to everything. Lu and I caught on to that quickly, but it has now enveloped us all. In packing the van this morning we noticed the kids have not touched tv, i-pods or playstation the entire 12 days we have been here.
Given that, we have covered a lot. After the tranquillity of Lake St Clare we headed south to Hobart for the weekend. An unscheduled stop en-route at Russell Falls saw us trek to some amazing waterfalls, take an absolutely exhilarating ice-cold shower under one of them and then attend a presentation by a Park Ranger on Tasmanian Devils who are slowly being wiped out by a facial cancer disease. Fortunately there are many good people working hard to save them as they are pretty cute animals and dont totally deserve the 'Taz' reputation they have got.

Taking an impromptu dip in the ice cold Russell Falls!

Hobart. Our campsite was not in a great place- some 14km from the city centre and in a pretty ‘bogun’ part of town. It proved tough to shake off our first impressions. However an invite to dinner with old golfing buddy Rich Sampson, very pregnant Fi and kids Olivia and Claudia changed things around. By the time we left town on Monday we had shifted camp to their ‘ranch’ just outside the city where Rich very ably demonstrated his recently acquired Aussie barbie skills. And we even fitted a round of golf at Pomeina Disc Golf course.
Farewell Hobart and on to Port Arthur where we had decided to take the nightime ghost tour. Port Arthur is the site of the old penal colony on Tasmania. Established in the 1830’s as a secondary offender institution, it housed the toughest of the convicts which had been already sent to Aussie. By the time it closed down some 30 years later it had left an awful lot of residents- almost entirely ‘spiritual’ ones.
Nightime fell, Maddie pulled out feighning sickness. We were advised Bugs was too young and would find it too frightening but that didnt account for parents who would also s___ themselves!! It was genuinely scary although we can report we did not see any ghosts- Georgia because she walked around with her eyes shut most of the time and Lu had covered almost every part of her body in case a hand tapped her on the shoulder. I was just scared.
As we left the following morning, we discovered ‘Federation Chocolate.’ Run by a kind elderly lady who makes her chocolate to order, it claims to produce the only Apple chocolate in the world. Bugs was in heaven.

Life in the Lucey Camper!

I think the initial sole purpose of including Tassie on our trip was to see Wineglass Bay. A big hike over Mt Amos took us there. The beaches here are pretty spectacular but this one ranks towards the top. Despite its tranquil appearance the history of this place is pretty gory. It was named in the 1850’s when the local population was doing its’ best to wipe out the Southern Right Whale. They very nearly, but thankfully didn’t, succeed but in the process the sand and waters of this beautiful place were stained blood red. The names remains but luckily the true colours returned.
(Apologies if I sound like a tour guide, you can imagine how Lu and the kids feels sometimes, but you gotta know your stuff!)

Wineglass Bay

We then discovered our Paradise. The Bay of Fires is ranked as one of the places on the planet you have to visit. It is a remote, totally unspoilt and absolutely magnificent area. We were welcomed by ‘Serena’- a bronze bikini clad statue who marked the entrance to Binalong Bay (‘been a long’ what we didn’t find out).

The Amazing Binalong Bay

Our breath was then taken away by miles of luminescent aquamarine water, white sand and no people. What makes the place unique however is the scattering of house size orange and green lichen boulders that litter the coastline. The landscape is almost alien. We camped by the beach and had a magical night. I think we will carry the memory of this place for a long time to come.

On the rocks in Bay of Fires.

Take care all.

Andy and Lu

Close to the Edge of the World.....

Lake St Claire, Tasmania. Thursday 5 February.

Tinselvania, as Tasmania has become to be known in our trip, was soon upon us. On the overnight ferry from Melbourne we held a toast- ‘hello Tinselvania!’ It was rapidly followed by Olivia’s announcement of ‘and Goodbye ricecakes.’
The source of this little ditto, for those who have ever tried to feed Olivia will know, lays in her appetite, or rather more like, lack of appetite. Despite much thought given to this subject on our daily supermarket sweeps, the vast majority of her lunches have consisted of cucumber, carrot, peanut butter and ricecakes. So it was quite logical for her to celebrate leaving mainland Australia after 4 months by toasting the food she has probably consumed the most of, hoping never to see them again!

'The Spirit of Tasmania'

Tasmania was a relatively late addition to the places we both wanted to see on this trip, but after less than 48 hours here, we are all hooked. From the moment we boarded the ferry and found we had our own cabins (so exciting) , to standing on the edge of Lake St Claire this evening at dusk, you can feel there is something special about this place.
On our first morning we made paper, discovered the source of an amazing Tassie cheese we have been eating, and met Australias ‘Officer Friendly.’ In addition we had also spent 15 minutes in the company of the first Wiszla we have seen since leaving Fire at home. Jasper the 2 year old dog, probably did not know what hit him as 5 people jumped out of their camper to mob him and his owner.

Being greeted at the door at the amazing Creative Paper Factory in Burnie.

Strahan, pronounced ‘strawn’, where we have stayed for 2 nights, lies on the west coast of the island and on the beautiful Macquarie Harbour. Apart from being 9 times bigger than Sydney’s harbour, this places real fame is as the home of the infamous Sarah Island prison and ‘Hells Gates,’ the 70m wide rock strewn entrance to the harbour from the Southern Ocean. This is one of the roughest and hostile seas in the world but on the day we took a harbour tour, it must have been the stillest and most placid of the year. Our boat tour took us out between the rocky Gates and into the ocean. There were no waves but we immediately felt we were on an enormous rollercoaster as the Arctic rollers hit us. The relief as we turned back to the calm of the harbour was felt by everyone.

'Hells Gates'- a millpond!


The drive from Strahan to Hobart is 5 hours of wiggly mountain pass followed by miles of majestic plains, so have stopped ½ way at Lake St Claire, which at 147m deep is Australias deepest lake. For an island so small Tasmania seems to have an extraordinary number of big mountains, huge tracts of bush and big expanses of water. In addition it has 3 varieties of snake, all deadly poisonous. After a close encounter today, Maddie now knows and will never forget that the Tiger snake is jet black, about 4 foot long and is the 4th most venomous snake on the planet. I shall save the tale as I am sure she will enjoy telling when we are back home!
Hobart tomorrow for 4 days and I may even get to play my first round of disc golf since leaving home.......
Andy & Lu