Scuba Poor Knight's Islands

Today, I sang in a cave. A cave where also Neil Finn gave a concert!!
I had booked a "Discover Scuba" trip to the Poor Knights Islands, a group of vulcanic islands constituting a marine reserve. The 2 main islands used to be the home of Maori but are now being won back by the regenerating forest of pohutukawa and other natives. Because of the marine reserve no one is allowed to set foot on shore but the area welcomes diving parties almost every day of the year.
The famous cave is large as a cathedral. Over lunch time the skipper motored us right in and did a little tour inside before stopping the engine. that's when I couldn't help myself. I first gave a little shout and when that came back nicely, it was a more melodious "Good morning, good mooorning".
Someone generously boosted my ego asking me for another one and so I went for a shortened version of Gounot's Ave Maria. It was amazing to play with the space and the accoustics of this water cave. I sang in different directions to feel how the sound reacted and it was huge!
By the time I finished and looked down from the cave ceiling, I saw everyone had come up on the sun deck around me. It was just amazing to sing in these top-accoustic conditions!
Oh, and the water was cold on the first dive,just 16C, and it was hard to breath normally as the cold water sneeked into my wetsuit every move I made (including breathing). In the afternoon a nicer 18C made it more comfortable. Very nice to dive in these sub-tropical waters.
That morning, as the Calypso (yep!) mored off I heard someone say, Are you Brucelle? His google alert had signaled the blog entrance I posted the day before. An American neuro-psychologist, he is working here in the Northlands where only 10 'head-doctors' are available for the whole population. I learned a lot about the situation here. Very interesting. (BTW: stay in touch ;-)

Tutukaka!

Mm, that sounds like a proud toddler stepping off the pottie...
Check this one out: www.sandsmotel.co.nz and find out what I'm talking about! The very bay this motel is on has been recommended to me as one of the best snorkeling areas, so I'm off to hire me a wetsuit and stuff and enjoy!
Tomorrow, Dive Tutukaka is taking me to Poor Knights Island for a couple of dives in this area Cousteau himself recognised as one of the 10 finest diving places in the world!!! (note to self: cut down on the exclamation marks).
Yesterday, I stayed at Carlos & Kelly's place in Auckland. I'm happy to get to see them 3 times dring my stay here as they've invited me to also stay on my last night next week. Leaving them early in the morning I took my time to get here. Drove West from Aukland to Karekare beach where they shot the famous beach scene for The Piano, then North through Helensvill where they have kept most of the old building giving this city a nice feel. (uploading the pictures as I write this. If the slideshow is not up yet go to http://picasaweb.google.com/donacn2/FromSouthToNorthWanakaToTutukaka#)
By then, I felt the weight of the past days driving and decided to cut short on the touring and to head straight up to Whangarei to book a sleeping place before driving on to Tutukaka.
And that's how I got to Whangarei today, to find me a webcafe and book the diving thing. All I need to do for today is some shopping for food and drive back to the motel along that beautiful country road lined with stone walls and young Kauri's.
Signing out from Whangarei (Fangarai), this is Dona

Crossing the Straight & Southern Glaciers

Picton is still there to see me return to the North Island. I've arrived here an hour ago, just in time to pick up the sandals I'd left behind in the Sequoia Lodge and to take pictures of a local little church I notice on my way down. It is painted in the most daring colours: a very vibrant blue on walls and roof and a kind of bright light green on doors and windows.
Wanaka was finally the most southern place I visited. I didn't intend to go this far South but I met Volker, a german guy in Punakaiki who convinced me to go see the glaciers. And see the glaciers we did! We chartered a little Cessna 185 - just like what I used to fly!!!! - and it took us over the whole area around Mount Cook (LOTR!), Fox glacier, Franz Josef (Franzel for the friends) glacier and Tasman Glacier where we landed and stayed a while with the engine off..........
Let me tell you this: GLACIERS ARE BIG BAD MOTHERS !!!!!
I never figured they moved as much stone until I actually saw it with my own eyes. After the flight, we went to the glacier lake, filled with icebergs and surrounded by a 20m wall of rocks the glacier had pushed on before retreating...
WOW!
OK, back to the here and now.
After the glaciers Volker and I went our separate ways - unfortunately because we had good fun - and I started driving back North (Geraldine, Christchurch, Hanmer Springs, Murchinson, Blenheim, Picton) on my way to the Poor Knights Island that is said to be one of the world's best diving and snorkeling places. And I intend to do both!
My drive up North will probably be very simple: tonight I sleep in Wellington, at the Stillwater Lodge like on my way down and then it's straight up North towards Auckland and Whangarei. I'm not clear yet exactly which road to Auckland I'll take. Taupo or not Taupo.

Allrighdy, time to go check in for the Ferry. I hope to get to upload the pictures I took of the glacier flight and afterward before too long.
Until then, signing out from Picton, this is Dona.

I'm in a small town called Geraldine with a very poor connection but a very beautifull Peel Forest.
When I get to my next stop and a better connection I'll get the pictures up of this but also of the AMAZING glacier flight we took yesterday (!!!!!!!!) from Mount Cokk Village... I'm still very stunned.
Over and out.

Road music

I haven't talked about the sounds that go with the sights!

These are the CD's I listen to as I drive:
Loop 003 : 2 CD's, sort of NZ's buddah bar, a collection of NZ artists, cool
Trinity Roots-Home, Land and Sea : An NZ group, also kinda funky
"Once were warriors" soundtrack : Nice collection of NZ music and other stuff

Other stuff:
Bliss - Britten - Holst, a pastorale, Gloriana, Rig Veda: excellent for immense landscapes!
Pink, Funhouse : :o)
Soul Grooves *2: Another funky compilation, not NZ
Moby, Play: great road stuff

Loooosers:
Engelbert Humperdink, the collection : (only 5$NZ at a supermarket) I might finally learn the lyrics of "please release me"... (probably not :-$
Mozart's requiem (ed. Berlin Classics Basics): I think the first violin and the conductor are having relationship issues...

From a bus full of PC's very excellent internet speed in Franz Josef, this is Dona

Punakaiki

Punakaiki is located in the Paparoa national Park.
To give you an impression of the landscapes you find here, I would refer you to King Kong's Island in the last version (by new Zealand's own Peter jackson, of course).

From Punakaiki - Paparoa National Park

Today and tomorrow I'm going to do walks into the park. There's also the opportunity to do some kayaking and horseback trips. The horseback goes into private lands I couldn't go alone, so I may try that.
More soon, on this channel.
Signing out from Punakaiki, this is Dona

Pictures Updated!! and Children's books

My pictures are updated!!!
I've finaly managed to get them all out there. Some of them you can see on this blog but they now live on Picasa under 2 names: donacn & donacn2 (where I put the last ones)
You will also start to find comments with the pictures. The East Cape album is done now.
Children's books
And a little yummy for myself is the list of children's books I have found here. Pictures of their covers are in an album now on Picasa too, under donacn2 (http://picasaweb.google.com/donacn2/NZOzChildrenSBooks#). These books are all underway to my parent's house for them to enjoy as long as I'm out here :-)

Picton to Punakaiki

When I was walking around in Wellington I went through this - I think - typical crisis in every longer trip. "I'm going too fast. I can't keep up with what I'm experiencing". I get some of that with jet lags too.
As I realized this, I pulled the break and started thinking hard about what I really expect, what would make me happy. The simple conclusion is that there's too much to see, but also that there's a lot I don't want to see, at least now.
Quoting Janeton (drinking song character): "la morale de cette morale" is that I want to see trees, native trees and preferably forest-loads of them.
Picton is a nice base to get an impression of the Marlborough Strait and eventually do the Queen Charlotte walk. I did a the Snout walk out of Picton, as good climber and a bit of native forest, but learned from it that this area is not forest, it is only still reforestation. (Keep up the good work DOC)
A little visit to the Department of Conservation taught me that my dear forests were to the South, not at towards the Abel Tasman area - one down! - and mostly along the West Coast. So off I went.
Today's trip: Inland form Picton, over Blenheim, Murchinson to Westport, a bit of shopping & down to Punakaiki.
I'm staying at the Te Nikau Retreat. Imagin this: small buildings almost just huts, hidden under a jungle of fern trees and other native (yes! :-) growths. The PC I'm writing this from is in the main building but when I'm done, I'll be walking a few steps in the open and then down a narrow path descending into a narrow valley, under a roof of ferns and native trees. Still under this roof, some 20m further, the path franches off in 3 directions and my dorm house is just one of them. To the right it's to the beach and to the left it's to another cabin.
Outside, there's a big chicken without wings going about. It's a Weka, like a kiwi bird but with a shorter beak. Strange.
I might stay here for a few days.
I might even not go much further down the island, maybe just to Arthur's Pass and then back up, over Kaikoura.
Check out Punakaiki and Paparoa national park to find out why I can't leave too fast.
That's all for me tonight.
Check out the pictures in the top slide show here!!

The road to Wellington

The distances between place are not great in New Zealand but it takes you a while to get there. The maximum speed is only 100km/h and it is often slower due to road works, agglomerations or alp-like roads.
The road I drove take the diagonal from Center-East to South-West of the North Island and crossed a mountain ridge in the process. This mountain ridge was a big challenge to the European settlers and the then governement even "imported" scandinavians to beat the dense New Zealand forest. Town names remind you of the Danish Swedish and Norwegian ancestry.
I was tired when I arrived in Wellington. Neither of the two popular backpackers hostels looked attractive. Giving in to my lack of energy, I turned to the local "I Site" (tourism information point) who relocated me on the West coast, some 20 kilometers away. I am spending 2 nights in Mana, at the Stillwater lodge. Very pleasant and very accessible!
I have booked a ship to the South island on Wednesday evening so I have today and tomorrow to find out more about this city of wind and rain (Wellington, they call it). I must say, I think I prefer its atmosphere to that of Auckland. This city is more lively, diverse, cultural than Auckland. Or at least, it seems to be.

Mount Te Mata

Mount te Mata came to be because this god-guy wanted to impress a local skirt and took a bite off a mountain. It killed him but left a set of teeth marks in this one. By the way, she killed threw herself off the mountain and joined him in death...

I spent 1 1/2 days in Havelock North (the other Havelock is one he South Island, I asked) staying with Collin, a friend of my sister's. It is close to Napier, the city famous for its Art Deco center of town. I took a little tour. That evening, we drove up to the top of te Mata for a gorgeous view, had diner in a great Italian restaurant called Pipi (meaning seashell in maori I think) housed in a building totally painted pink and decorated with a great sense of humor. That night and the next, I slept in Collin's neighbour's transformed bus. This neighbour has turned a Japanese bus into a camper, complete with shower, toilet and widescreen TV!
The next day, we visited the local farmers' market, had lunch at the te Mata Cheese farm and took a nice walk around the Mohi Bush Reserve holding a nice collection of native plants. I took a picture of the golf range next to it where sheep graze around the flags.
That evening Collin cooked me a genuine New Zealand meal: a crown of lamb with an entree of barbecued asparagus and sides of some italian cabbage, pumkin and potatoes. Yummy!!!
The next day, I left early for the 300-something drive to Wellington.
Thank you Collin!!!

Rounding the East Cape

I promised you a story and here it is.
When I left Rotorua, the tourist trap, I drove off to the coast, to Whakatane where I slept in the Lloyd's Lodge kept by Dick and Kate. As we were only a few guests - a Swiss couple, a Taiwanese Australian, an Indian Kiwi and myself - we all had our own rooms. The Lodge itself is an old house that still is decorated the way it was made up 50 years ago. Yt in a surprisingly good state.
Not a very big town but the start of a beautiful coast line, Whakatane is named after a Maori chief's daughter who intervened where a woman wasn't supposed to, namely operate a canoe (or one of those big ones). When going out to great visitors, the men had left the women in the canoe. At some point the canoe started drifting off to the open sea. That's when this young lady undertook action against all 'savoir-vivre' and saved the canoe and its precious cargo. She has a statue in the harbor.
From Whakatane I had decided to follow the coast road all the way around to Gisborne and Napier.
The Pohutekawa tree is also called the Christmas tree as it blooms red around Christmas. It is a sturdy tree that grows into fabulous shapes when tortured by the winds.
Ohiwa harbor bay is an oyster farm area and a beautiful collection of little islands nested in lush vegetation (two dangerous words I'll want to use all the time here). It was hard to stop driving on that road because it was so beautiful. You'll see on my pictures that the wind was blowing very hard.
Opotiki, Opape, Hawai, Whiatianga, Okahu Point. I only stopped in Te Kaha, on a little peninsula where I found a spot sitting on some rocks, under large trees and with my feet on the dark beach sand, teased by some gulls.
Actually I made many stops on that road albeit to take pictures.
(SEE ALL PICTURES ON https://photos.app.goo.gl/420LbsUaP8E0Pspn2)
That afternoon, I kept driving until Te Araroa where I hoped to stay in a lodge that was recommended by the Lonely planet but heard that the owner had just sold this last lodging opportunity in the village. Mel's Place was apparently the place to go to. In Hicks bay on Onepoto (short bay) Beach Road. Mel and her husband moved to this bit of family ground some 19 years ago. There was only rocks and some grass then but they planted trees and after a while built their cottage and the side building that serves as a lodge. I took a picture of the view from the dorm, beautiful!
At Mel's, the sun wakes you up really early because there are no curtains. However she recommends that you wake up even earlier to drive to the East Cape lighthouse to see the sun rise even earlier. You'll be the first ones on the whole planet to see the sun on that calendar day!
I drove to the lighthouse around mid-day and even though it was well worth the trip over the gravel road, I was sorry I hadn't done it at day brake.
Tikitiki holds an old church that is probably the only Maori decorated building you get to visit freely. Normally the Maori carvings and paintings are on the Marae, the council houses, that are private to the Maori community.
Down in Ruatoria, the tourism information centre is held by a Maori. I assaulted him with questions about the Maori, about their political positions, about their economical views, on some key facts and figures and about much more. Thank you for your patience with me dear man!
The East coast of the cape is very different from the West. It is a coast of wide beaches and dryer weather. This is the coast where they shot "The Whale Rider"
GO SEE THE WHALE RIDER if you haven't seen it yet.
I spent that night in Tolaga Bay. Tolaga Bay has a delicious micro climate that makes you never want to leave......
It is also home to the longest pier in, was that in Australasia? I as more interested in the weather and the gorgeous looking streets in this small town. Streets called Endeavour, Resolution, Discovery and Adventure. It was hard to leave that cosy little cabin at the camping place next to the pier and my four and eight year-old neighbours.
From Tolaga Bay on the landscapes lost some of their fabulousness so it was easier to make a faster progress. I briefly stopped in Gisborne for books (nothing interesting), lunch and checking my emails. My ride ended on the Mahia peninsula. I drove around a bit to find something else than the motel in Mahia Beach the guide said was the only place but a lodge I found in Mahia was closed.
After checking into the motel I walked out the gates and onto the beach, adding some shells to my newly started collection. I was also tempted by a bit of driftwood that is now resting on the parcel shelve in the back of my car.
The Mahia peninsula hold a very nice little forest of native trees.
And that was the end of my trip around the East Cape.
From there I drove down to Napier to meet Collin, a friend of my sister Sophie. That's where i'm typing from right now. More in a next post.

Around the East Cape - Intro

A quick one just to introduce these beautiful three days I spent rounding the East Cape. Check your globe to spot it and prepare for the pictures I'll put on ASAP!!
From Gisborne, this is Dona

Rotorua, city of vulcanic activity and fast connexions

Rotorua is mostly promoted as a center of Maori culture, at least a place where tourist can gorge in maori events. It's the most advertised place in NZ. I haven't dipped my toe in it so I can't say how touristic or real-feel it is but I must say the idea of zoo-style stuff doesn't wet my apetite.
The best thing till now (arrived only last night ;-) is this internet cafe with a super high speed connection so I can finaly upload all my pictures. I'm going to set up slide shows on this blog and change them every time I check in so you get a nice feel of the action. (Note 2018: this doesn’t work anymore so just some pics)
Youth hostel kitchen !

Rotorua has a large range of spectacular vulcanic fenomenons such as hot pools, geisers, sulfur smell, and such. It is also an area rich in lakes so I'm hoping to do a nice walk this afternoon.
(SEE ALL PICTURES ON https://photos.app.goo.gl/VZ64oC1ymwZvlUas2)

this is a fun website to get an idea of the place: http://www.newzealand-webcams.com/tepuia/

Visiting Carlos and Kelly in Auckland

Neither Carlos nor I are very good at following up on stuff I thing like trying to reach people but anyway we did manage to connect and I met up with them at my arrival back in Auckland. At the Cathedral in Parnell, I had found they were playing Rossini's Petite Messe Solonelle and it was Beautiful!!

From there we drove to Devonport. A ferry will take you very quickly from the city center over the water but if you want to drive, you will have to go a long way around. On the other hand, driving around was the opportunity for Carlos to show me the area. Devonport used to be a bit shaby, a 'bohemian' neighbourhood. They considered buying something there but thought it was ridiculous to pay so much for houses that needed so much done. Now home prices have doubled and the population has slightly changed...
We went up Mt Victoria where I took the panoramic pictures shown here.

A cuppa tea in the afternoon sun followed by a walk by the shore and through the neighbourhood. I must come back here!
Kelly and Carlos took me around the map of New Zealand making all sorts of recommendations (I'm only here for a month!)
The next day, I visited a children's book shop up in Ponsonby and found a nice selection. The mail is taking them together with the Australian books I bought to Belgium, to my parent's house as I write. Some for myself (love'm) some for my new niece Julie (!!!!!), all to be enjoyed by all the family.
A quick lunch with carlos who had taken a day off for stuff and I'm on my way to Rotorua.
(SEE ALL PICTURES ON https://photos.app.goo.gl/JnhUrCplyXXB9WlE2)

Day 1 - Nov 1

I landed at 2pm. Just a 4hr flight but I had to wake up at 5am for it. Breakfast with Nina, an 8yr-old grand daughter who was sleeping over and was too excited when she heard me get up to go back to sleep.
My ethiopian cab driver studies accounting and has visited half the country in the 5 years he's been here.
At Auckland airport a bus took me to the car rental company for my new road buddy. A dark green tiny Toyota. Green just happens to be the theme for my trip :-)
9pm. I'm sitting in a piano bar, sipping on an OJ and listening to the local Fabulous Baker Boys...
Tomorrow, I'm meeting up with a friend from college (IHECS) to listen to a performance of Rossini's Petite Messe Solonelle in the Cathedral on Parnell road. Afterwards we'll have a walk on the other side of the harbor and then I'm spending one night at their home, in town.
Walking back to the hostel, I chat with a local. We discuss travel philosophy...