Day 4 Whirlwind tour in Whangarei

Day 4 Whirlwind tour in Whangarei

Today I thought would be a little bit cooler and I was planning to give Claude the day off from driving me around the country side. I did sleep in though considering the time difference with home I have gotten up early and that includes when daylight savings does appear sometime this weekend with a big boot. I did end up with my jumper around my waist the entire time and I was wearing trousers too.

The walk I went on was truly random as I was wanting to look at Whangarei falls and then head along a path. I was wearing my hat and had my ipod, which I listened to the entire time I was walking. The falls I thought would be going really well after all the rain we have had and I was getting wet with the mist from it as I never really do have that happen on my last few trips to New Zealand and to this area. A path I knew about was something I wanted to walk and I always wondered where it ends. I ended up at another waterfall that was an old quarry and now the A.H. Reed memorial park. I found that there was a homestead across the park well was one that was there owned by A.H. Reed. I think he was prominent person in the town during the early years of Whangarei. I should check to see if he pops up again sometime. My boots did get a little dirty with the mud and there were not many people hiking around the area. Might not be as popular as going to The Hokianga to visit Tane Mahuta. It took me several hours before I went back to granny’s place and I had a quick pie for lunch with a drink at the Dairy.

Since it was granny’s birthday and her 80^th, I was going out with them to a restaurant called Gengy's. How it worked was you chose the meat, then the vegies, then the sauces and the oils after. The last bit you can add ginger, olives, garlic, salt etc. Its all you can eat and my cholesterol will go kaboom! The last time I went up I drowned it in soy sauce and garlic oil. The chef who then cooks it looks at me and I laughed. He did have to wipe his arms down and tools too Brad will fart garlic gas....... Experimentation for the guy who cant smell or taste. I suppose I will pay for this tomorrow. Seems in those restaurants you do not drink soup out of the bowl as there is the need for a spoon although the bowl does happen to have two little handles for that use. Confused, but not worried I am. Who am I to argue with the lady who shows us our seats. I do like how she explained how to sort out our food. I think I will be going for another hike out to another place tomorrow, which should do me all the good in the world to get back into walking. Mum told me where to go when i spoke to skype, but I didn’t know I could walk from where I am currently located. Now that will get me to all sorts of places.

Something I did learn to do was to use an ereader though plugging in a kobo into an Apple Mac is to me a pain in the butt as I have no idea how to borrow books properly, but I do think the reader will help immensely with book space and my tendency to buy books, but I really doubt that idea. I still love the physical book. I worked out a long way to help my grandparents and that should work, but I am used to doing things on a PC.

Day 3 Whirlwind Tour of New Zealand.

Day 3 Whirlwind Tour of New Zealand.

Today the weather was cloudy, no rain and was sunny with lots and lots of wind. It was hot when you were in the car, but while in it you were a little shivery. Its all cool though as it wasn’t raining at all during the day. I was happy for that as I didn’t have to get wet today at all, but I did have a jumper. The car drive was pretty good and worth going on one day that is really nice. The plan was to head to Waipu, which I had gone through several times on the bus to Whangarei.

The trip to Waipu was really nice and I was happy it wasn’t raining and we had waiting for a nice day to leave. Before we went to the town, Claude took me out to the new bridge that had been built and does open several times a day to let boats through. The bridge does show on a car ad over here in New Zealand as it is pretty new. I took plenty of pictures and then we were off again. I was happy to get into the Waipu museum for a little cheaper as the lady thought I was a student. I didn’t complain as they thought I was a younger kid with my grandfather. I am a student, but didn’t have my uni card on me at all. I had though the people had come straight from Scotland. It wasn’t the full story as the Reverend Norman McLeod had taken people to Nova Scotia as times had become tough for survival in Scotland with rents going up and people being pushed off farms. They had heard about Australia from their strict Calvinist preacher Norman who was known as The Man as he did have power amongst his followers. When they went to Australia after building their ship they found Adelaide to be in drought and Melbourne in the grips of a gold rush. After a short stay in Melbourne they went to New Zealand after correspondence with Governor Grey. It was in Auckland where they were looking for land and found Waipu in Northland New Zealand in an area called Bream Bay named after Captain Cook had caught fish there. I did buy some books about the area and I will buy the book about trains in New Zealand before I do leave for home as it would be cheaper in Whitcoulls.

After some wandering around town and to see where they play the highland games during New Years on the footy field. I did learn the kids learn Scottish dances during their breaks at school. Seems no other schools do this. There was the memorial to the coming of the settlers and also the war memorial outside the church grounds, which housed the old school house and teachers house as well. We did head down the road towards the area called the Cove. The Waipu cemetery was where the reverend Norman McLeod is buried. Claude and I were both wondering where wondering where in the cemetery he was buried and the location turned out to be easier than we thought as his grave was signposted at the end of the rows. It was a nice wander, but it was windy and cold, so I wandered back to the car.

After the cemetery we drove down towards the Waipu Cove to have a look at the beach, which was nearby. I had been following some of the site numbers, which were part of the heritage trail for the Waipu area. The toilet block down at the beach did have some great murals painted of life from the past including of Reverend Norman. After a spell in the area, Claude took a drive to the refinery where Claude had worked in the past with the construction of the area. After visiting the refinery showroom which is a very basic museum, we did learn the refinery is the only one in New Zealand and takes crude oil and processed it into fuels and other products. There is also a pipeline that goes from Marsden point to Auckland and the flow can be controlled and sent to the right storage areas. The refinery does operate 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It was an interesting tour and I had seen the information about it the night before and was not too sure. I am glad I got to mark this place off the list and we did make it home before dark.

Day 2 Whirlwind tour of New Zealand

Day 2 Whirlwind tour of New Zealand

It is still wet over here in the land of the long white cloud, but at least I feel more awake than I did yesterday. I needed a full night sleep to get everything sorted. I don’t have any plans for today other than going out to the library to help learn about the use of a kobo ereader. I didn’t mind going at all to do this as the same library had the research area for Northland family history research. It looked like the rain was going to clear up and I was thinking I could go for a walk too.

I did find the library had free wifi though it was to do with Whangarei council and you got half hour for free. We spent over half hour sorting out the kobo stuff and it was beyond me as I don’t use apple macs. I would know if I had a PC and was borrowing ebooks, but a different thing, nope. Something was wrong with the gateway and needed to be reset. I have never heard of this at all. I will play with this later to learn. I had a coffee with my grandpa and then went upstairs to do some research. I wanted to take pics of the ad I had seen last time and forgot which folder it was in. I thought it was a book, but nope was a folder. I found what I was after, but will need to do research in Kauri logging or location of some pubs in Northland.

Afterwards I had to go get a birthday card for granny as I somehow left it in Australia, but I did get a nice one. I thought I had packed it, but I cant find it in my bag. A look through the bookshop told me what books are around including a John Howard autobiography and Gangs of New Zealand. After lunch and a slight spell, Claude and I went to see uncle Don in the retirement village as he is in the ward for dementia patients. I think he remembered me, but it wasn’t too bad as we were told stories from the past and by the time we left the weather had set n again and it was starting to get dark too, so I wouldn’t be going for a walk. We did have fish and chips for dinner and the plan for tomorrow at the moment is to see the Waipu museum. I think it should be interesting. It wasn’t a busy day and did need a relaxing day where I wasn’t running around like a headless chook.

Day 1 Whirlwind New Zealand tour..

Day 1 Whirlwind New Zealand tour..

It was a cool night and i didn’t seem to sleep that well though I did get some sleep and that was better than nothing. When I did get up around 830am NZ time I looked out the window and it was actually raining. Luckily I hadn’t much to pack and posted my first blog on my trip. My plan for the little time in Auckland was to hunt down this super yacht that had cruised in the day before. It is Russian owned and looks like a submarine. I did know to walk down to the maritime museum and that was it. I needed food before I went any further and then went for my search. A little surprise before I ate something walked up Queen street. A marching band for the graduated of Auckland University was not what I expected and exciting. It was along line and the cops were giving an escort to them too. I do wonder if other unis in Australia have a parade like this?

I had never seen a super yacht before so was looking at all the boats and seen something that looked like a cruise ship. The cruise ship was actually the super yacht and bigger than I expected. I was happy to finally find it even though I was in the rain. Luckily I had a brolly and was wearing my leather jacket. I got a little damp. I was going to enter some properties along the water to see if I could get the bow of the boat, but I think I would get into a little trouble if I did try to do that. My aimless wandering does take me places and I spoke to the guy who was security around the boat and he wouldn’t allow me to walk around the wharf the boat was docked at. He allowed me to use another one though. I had the thought I am no train spotter, but a boat / ship spotter.

I was hoping my grandparents were going to meet me at the bus stop as I wasn’t sure of the details I had given them. I seen my grandpa waiting inside the bus shop and knew then he had the right details. It was good getting in late afternoon although it was wet and windy. Apparently the weather has gotten worse as we have been hit with a storm of sorts. I think the entire North Island has been covered. No worries for me as I am warm and dry. Tomorrow I will be going to the library for some research and to learn about the kobo ebook reader.

Day 0 to Whirlwind tour of New Zealand

Day 0 to Whirlwind tour of New Zealand

I had a near full day at home sorting out what I needed before getting a lift to the airport. I did even have time to finish watching a movie and finish a book I was reading so I wouldn’t need to take it with me. I was over and hour early for checkin and I read a magazine with a coffee. When I did go to checkin I was sent to another line where it had Chinese tourists at the front getting their visas sorted. It was around 20 mins before the line actually moved with others being filtered off to another line to be sorted out. One lady going to Melbourne found out she was in the wrong line being in international. How you miss looking at two big international signs is beyond me, though I was the one who thought domestic could check me in when they did not though some had been sent to that area. I do wonder sometimes about Jetstar.  I even got to see the full body scanner and it was beautiful. I asked the customs lady if anyone ever said energise around it like in Star Trek and she said they muck around and be funny when no one is around. I never got into the scanner, but I do like the look of it in person. You also have to put your hands in the air like you are surprised or a mime behind glass.

The flight was uneventful and I got through customs pretty quickly on the New Zealand side. It was all cool though and is pretty warm here at 1am. I have to wait around 20 mins for the shuttle as the one I seen was going in the wrong direction. All is good though and at least I am now planted in New Zealand. At this time of morning all the shops in the airport seem shut. The hilarious part of walking into the airport was the sounds of New Zealand life and sheep were baaing as I walked past. Tourism NZ has outdone themselves again.

The fun ensued once I went to check into the hostel. The bloke wasn’t at reception and that was fine, no worries as he has work to do. I was given a room on the third floor and when I entered I found the room to be full. Down I went and more apologies I was given a private room. I am amused and never lost my temper. It never even rated on any scale from 1 – 10. I have a double bed and the morning is slowly approaching.