12 April 2017 Arrival in South Island

POP Paddock at Koromiko (Freedom Camping) $5 per van

cloudy and wet  - view from the Cook Strait Ferry 

Arriving at Picton - we stayed up the road before making the journey dowm to Blenheim.

Always a joy to stop here - peaceful and with delicious water from the bore in the paddock. Loads of space and this time no sign of the famous Kevin - schools had returned I guess.

Soon we were on our way to Blenheim to meet with friends and see the Air Show.

9 - 11 April 2017 Plimmerton near Wellington

NZMCA  - a new site! Plimmerton 

We stopped here for a 3-night low-cost option - a dump station and water available. Right next-door to a reserve where dogs are allowed (hooray!) and also a nice mini-town just 5 minutes walk away - including a beach!

beach at Plimmerton

Plimmerton is an interesting place because it's one of those rare NZ towns with a rail service into the city. I was surprised this wasn't made more use of though - the tation car-park was not full at 8.30am when I would expect it to be. Especially when everyone knows how hideous the Welly traffic can be...

Whilst here, we met various friends and acquaintances and enjoyed coffees, dinners and lunches at various places in and around the area. Welly is always a delightful culture-full place to visit - and for our stay no wind at all! Highly unusual! Highlights have already been added to Tripadvisor but the Polish restaurant - Topor was a new experience for us. So special to be able to introduce Kiwi friends to authentic European food - and excellent it was too! Service was slow - but who cares in this environment? A small bistro serving delicious sausage and potato and green veggies - beautifully presented. One of our guests also treated themselves to a cocktail! 

Tomatoes & spicy pork stuffed cabbage leaves - a dish as Topor.

The foodie European-theme continued at lunch at the wonderful German 'Munich' - which serves a large selection of proper cold beers on the quayside in Welly central (the pavement tables always great for people-watching). It was interesting to see the students all busy at the back of the restaurant taking advantage of the wifi on offer. Last time we were here, this would have been me - but we are now armed with the NZMCA Wireless Nation connection at the caravan - expensive, but well worthwhile to keep on top of the writing...

The beach at Plimmerton was a lovely place for Dizzy to run around freely. And I was surprised to see the interesting artwork that was dedicated to Christchurch and victims of the earthquake:

Some Shakespearean text - one of many pieces of artwork along the Plimmerton beach houses..

In contrast to the symbolic meaning of this medieval text, in the underpass through to the town was the most patronising artwork I've ever seen in a public space. OK. so it was created/aimed at kids (I think?) but even so, it is so pathetic to see the Government marketing propaganda so blatantly plastered on a wal that so many people pass by every day:

Murial on a wall at the Plimmerton rail underpass. It illustrated the binary aspect of the 'us and them' language that DoC emphasises without evidence or logic.

As if connected to this pathetic message - it was disappointing to see that the reserve and park nextdoor to the campsite had recently been sprayed with chemicals -  a sign warning against blackberry-picking was on the entrance. 

Sign at the entrance to the dog park and recreational area at Plimmerton.

Such a shame as I really miss this aspect of my English Autumnal routine - making blackberry jam used to be essential. But in New Zealand it seems almost impossible to be able to guarantee that any blackberry bush is poison-free. This particular herbicide is a lethal mixture of Picloram and Aminopyralids (amongst other toxins). Not a sensible choice considering it is toxic to aquatic life and that colder temperatures make these types of hormone-affecting chemicals bio-accumulate:this area is a wetland (ducks in abundance over the grassland ditches).

Ho hum. Just another example of the poisons ever-present in this land and water...

Before long, it was time to board the ferry and head over to South Island again. By this time, the weather had closed in and the clouds surrounded us - making it impossible to see the otherwise glorious view of the Cook Strait to Picton...

8 April 2017: Raetahi enroute to Wellington

Raetahi Cosmopolitan Club -  Gold Coin Donation POP

Inside the Cossie Club - homely and full of interesting artifacts!  

We took a different route down to Welly this time - via the West side of Ruapehu. At Raetahi 'Cossie' Club friendly staff helped to welcome us after we parked overnight in their large car-park (for free). Inside was a cavern of interesting memorabilia from hunting times gone by... 

above the bar - and interesting diorama of taxidermy

Of course while were there, along with the sampling the local grog, we had to take advantage of the hot food available - and the fish & chips was a welcome hearty meal after the plummeting mountain temperatures outside set-in (a frost in store for tomorrow at this height above sea-level).

Raetahi is a small local community, it's good to support these friendly partnership clubs where we can always get a bit of an insight into the rural way of life. OK - so the drunkards at the bar weren't a great look for the club (it was only 7pm too), but it was a Saturday, so I forgive them for that (!). And the many stuffed animals are perhaps too archaic an aesthetic to bear (especially overlooking your meal table), but this to me is real New Zealand - warts and all. Let's not get too hung up on the politically correct here - no-one else is. There's a lot of poverty in New Zealand and artificially alienating these isolated communities isn't good for anyone. And for us, it's what makes the learning journey that is travelling so worthwhile.

7 April Ngongataha NZMCA near Lake Rotorua

We had an interesting drive from Whakatane to Rotorua (known locally as 'Rotovegas' partly because of its 'strip-like' tourist-focused main 'drag' and although the casinos were never allowed to be developed here, there were plans during the 1980's apparently, in partnership with a Native American management team). Still, Rotorua remains THE number one spot for the tourist dollar in the whole of the country - and the close connection to the Maori iwi who profit from that income bears a strong resemblance to the (Native) American economic equivalents all those miles away....

It took us longer to get there than anticipated because of the damage the weather had done to the roads - many diversions were in place and this was the 'stop/go' work happening around the lakeside road (the main route to Rototua):

carefully driving around the landslide - the right hand side of the road was a sheer drop!

Camping overnight again at the popular Ngongataha NZMCA site was fortunately lots easier and the weather was still fine. This campsite has the luxury of water and a dump station and a massive library inside the happy hour shed. Later we met up with friends and were treated to a lovely dinner at a venue we previously hadn't tried - the restaurant at the top of mountain 'Aorangi Peak'. It's quite an experience getting there up the Gondola  - and the cost was very reasonable too!

Justin enjoying the sunset views of Rotorua from the Gondola ride to the restaurant

More views of the city as we climbed higher!

What was interesting from a environmental perspective, was seeing the farmed deer below us that were grazing in the fields underneath the Gondolas. Mmmmm the sceptic in me wonders whether these mammals are 'strategically' positioned there for the many tourists that travel up and down this mountain each day. You see wild ones are seen as 'pests' and routinely, inhumanely poisoned in Compound 1080 poison aerial drops. The less attractive farmed herds however largely escape this fate under the banner of economic benefits. That doesn't mean they always avoid being poisoned - some are victims of being on the borders of poisoned areas or when helicopters inevitably wander over the prescribed areas, and/or drop the poison into a wind that carries it into farmed areas  - or the water that feeds those cattle. Of course the sub-lethal dose for mammals are unknown and untested, so the knock-on effects for this species are guesswork....



What makes me suspicious about this is partly the location. Next door - literally - to this mountain is the "Fairy Springs" centre where DoC bring the numerous Kiwi eggs/chicks that recent OIAs reveal they often steal from Kiwi birds flourishing in non-poisoned areas, to be hatched and grown-on in what I see as an artificial and totally unethical environment. This not only prevents the kiwi from being naturally shy of human interaction, but skews the statistics of what and where 'successful' breeding pairs of kiwi are and how they react to poisoning operations. Looking at the poor quality of the 'science' that is published in this area - it's little wonder that these flaws in methodology in data and control groups etc is used to promote the poison industry propaganda by DoC agencies.

Anyway, putting that controversy aside for the time-being, we enjoyed a fantastic meal at the Stratosfare Restaurant at the Skyline. This is a real smorgasbord of food - every possible combination of cuisine imaginable. And with a view to die for!

From the Stratospfare's own website - the buffet selection from heaven!

From freshly-cooked steak to sushi and wonderful fresh salad and veggie combinations - soup to ice-cream, curry to noodles. Truly an inspiring experience - and unusually even the service was amazing. 




Great company and delicious food and wine. It was a real treat to be here after camping for so many weeks. We'll definitely go back there when our travels are over...

6 April 2017 - Whakatane Golf Club before the floodCaptures

When we arrived at Whakatane we saw how serious the flooding had been - the large tree outside Paul's place had fallen over to reveal rotten roots and a large hole of water. 

After the wonderful Paul had sorted our small water leak, we stopped over-night at nearby Whakatane Golf Club, which luckily was high above sea-level as the recent floods had devastated nearby Edgecumbe, and many of the fields were still underwater after the River had burst it's banks and overcome flood barriers. Apparently, the tragedy of this situation was no surprise to local residents as they had been aware of the weakness of the out-dated infrastructure for many years.

No surprises there, some of you will say. The failure of crucial infrastructure is a common story, as we are beginning to discover along our journey....

But the $10 per night site (power and showers included) was a superb place to overnight before heading down South again. 

Setting-up for the night - opposite the golf club...

View from the club house - beautiful weather after all the relentless rain that caused so much misery for locals.

It was only afterwards we heard more details being exposed about the flooding situation. And the high winds that came along the following day caused damage to Paul's workshop.

Captured from the caravan window: Dizzy on intensive cat-watching duty!