Tirau

Decide to stop here for a day and night because of the use of corrugated sheets to make some unique sculptures. As it happens a day was more than enough.

Very much the feeling of ' a local place for local people'. A one horse town, and that was going backwards.

Has about 8 or 9 tea/coffee shops. Mike asked for a black coffee and was told they only do white. (This is a local cafe for local people). Apparently the coffee only comes in packets with 'creamer'!!

There were no 'home stays', just a bed and breakfast place and a Motel. Opted for the Motel as it was close to the corrugated dog and sheep buildings.
It was imaginatively called 'The Tirau Motel'. Yvonne and Mike renamed 'The Itchy and Scratchy'.

On the plus side we did have a nice meal at the local hotel/pub, (does not do rooms). Got the impression that everyone would have rather been elsewhere.

Once settled for bed and lights out the bed seemed to come alive. Turn the lights back on and everything seems fine, lights off again and one feels like a blanket of bugs crawls over you.
Needless to say did not have a good night.
Surprisingly did not greet the morning covered with bite marks. May have been
psychosomatic, however both felt Itchy and Scratchy.....

Spent the next morning walking up and down the main Street, waiting for our bus to Rotorua.

Leave you with some photos...
Dog, Our Motel, Bus, Sheep. zzzzzz

Hamilton

Paihia to Hamilton. In order to get to Hamilton you have to go via Auckland if you use the naked bus.

Staying at Pete and Dayle's, picked us up from the bus stop. Nice room in their house. About 2km from Hamilton city centre. They both work as wine agents... Suites Mike.

Spent 3 days exploring. Hamilton has a fantastic sequence of gardens built on what was a rubbish dump.

New Zealand's longest river, the Waikato, (Maori for running water) runs through the town. Some nice walks along the bank.

There is not a lot of stuff for younger adults to do. It's all very quiet. It feels like a cross between 1950's small American town, and an English rural village. No real buzz.

Yvonne and Mike thought that the average Kiwi would be a slender, super fit specimen of humanity. Not the case at all. Lots and lots of fast food takeaways, and the fact that almost everyone drives, means that obesity is quite a big problem. Pete and his wife, Dayle inform us that local people do not take part in a lot of activities as they are geared for tourists, and expensive for the average Kiwi. Getting to be too expensive for everyone!!

Catch a bus to Waitomo, famous for its limestone caves and glowworms.
Don wetsuits, and rubber rings, plunge in. Down the subterranean river/stream with our way lit by glowworms. Go over a waterfall a couple of metres drop, down a sliding incline of 5 metres, and at the end, joy of joys, a steep climb of 100 steps to the surface. Mike was ecstatic...

Both Pete and Dayle turn out to be a good laugh, and we enjoy our stay with them.

Next stop, Tirau, famous for its corrugated sculptures, (and it's infamous Motel, which we rename 'The Itchy and Scratchy'. More of that later....

Leave you with some photos...

Enjoying a drink, outside Hamilton gardens, in the gardens, glowworm caves, crazy golf            (Yvonne won, crazy girl!)

The Naked Bus

The Naked Bus is a company that specialise in moving backpacker's (and others) around the country. There was an offer on. Buy an unlimited ticket lasting a year, with a 51% discount, so we did. Book online and jump on!

Lots of New Zealanders are now offering their spare rooms and independent summer house's for rent through an app called 'airbnb'. Most will do bed and breakfast. It's a great way to meet real people, and a whole lot cheaper at about £55 for both, per night... New Zealand prices are on par with the UK for any other accommodation. No Asian prices here unfortunately.

So caught a bus up north to a place called Paihia (bay of Islands). Staying with a family who have an independent building in their garden.

One trip Yvonne was looking forward to was swimming with the dolphins.

Booked the boat, and off we went.

There are 144 islands in the bay. It is where Cook first set foot in New Zealand.

Several dolphin pods use the bays to play and feed. However, our luck was out. Not a dolphin to be seen. On the plus side we did see some fish, and seagulls....

There will be other opportunities to swim with the dolphins, and frolic with the penguins on the south island.

Leave you with some photos. Our Accomadation, Yvonne Dolphin hunting, at the harbour, on one of the 144 islands.

Auckland

Arrived in Auckland some 34 hours after leaving home. Then confronted with the bio- hazard officials.

New Zealand takes steps to ensure that no plants, fruit, seeds, mud on boots, dirt under fingernails, etc, enters the country. Big fines and worse for non compliance. So after filling in the two page decoration, having all our body hair removed, and swimming through the human equivalent of a sheep dip, were finally let in the country. 

In fact don't blame them at all, in the light of the Australian eco disasters, (rabbits, cane toads, Japanese bind weed, various Australian prime ministers, etc).

Booked into a Motel to recover from jet lag.
Two story wooden structure. A room on the ground floor. At 4 pm thought an hour nap, then food, then sleep. However, Mike was woken at 10 pm by slamming of doors and what sounded like wet sacks of sand slithering over the floor in the room above ours. This was followed by a series of wet gargling/spitting sounds, a loud passing of wind, squeaks, what sounded like nostril cleaning by blowing without a handkerchief, a flushing and more sandbag shuffling. Mike's first thought was of Vorgon poetry, after which he became unconscious until 6.30 the following morning.

Yvonne was wearing ear plugs and eye mask. Mike finds her application of commonsense amazing!!

Moral is to avoid wooden buildings, difficult in New Zealand as most are! Or, indeed, wear ear plugs and an eye mask!!

Tomorrow catch the 'Naked Bus' to Paihia (bay of islands).

Leave you with some photos...
Our paper thin Motel, Yvonne at Auckland harbour, Mike at the harbour.