Christmas in the NZ

Was Christmas in New Zealand strange? Yes, but the good type of strange I suppose. Despite Christmas Day, the weather was spectacular and daylight lasted until around 10:00PM. But it wasn't just the weather that made it a bit surreal and abnormal, it seamed all of the Kiwis were a bit off as well. Perhaps it might have been the fact that there was no eggnog anywhere in site. Anyway, it didn't really seam like the holiday season, but we got on with it anyway. We did get a few scary indications that Christmas was around the corner such as this 50 foot Santa Clause erected on Queen Street down town Auckland. The scary part is that he mechanically winks and wags his finger at you as you walk down the street looking more like a perverted and deranged Santa than Jolly Old Saint Nick.


We also ran into this ragged fellow at a home brewing guild meeting. I had debated whether or not he could be the genuine article or part of the "Santa's Revenge" conspiracy to get us all drunk that evening (notice the beer font just in front of him).


Thankfully, Don and Barb came out to visit us over the holidays to help get us into the Christmas spirit. It was awesome to see family and have them over the holidays. They got into town just before Christmas. The plan was to spend Christmas in Auckland, and then head out on the open road to explore the Norths Island.

This is a picture of Don and Barb at Cape Reinga, the Northern most tip of New Zealand. On the first part of our travels, we set up home base near Paihia. Paihia is at the mouth of the beautiful Bay of Islands.

From this tiny port, you could take charters and tour boats to go fishing, swim with dolphins, and see all the sites from the water. We jumped on a tour boat that took us out to the Whole in the Rock, a famous island in the middle of the Bay of Island that has a cavernous hole through a portion of soft rock which has weathered away over time.

The photo above shows the island as we approached. There is a sailboat just in front of the tunnel to give you some scale. As we got closer, we found out our tour boat skipper intended on driving directly through the hole to the other side....and so we did....!


On the way back from the Whole in the Rock, we jumped off the boat at Russel which is a town directly across the bay from Paihia. Russell was once known for its reputation of being home to escaped prisoners, scoundrels, prostitutes, brothels, and too many ale houses to count. It was once known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific" by many back in the day. Luckily, times have changed, and Russell has turned into a quaint community. Small batches, cafes, and quiet beaches are now the attraction.


The next day we had arranged to take a tour bus to drive us up to Cape Reinga as I had mentioned before, and down Ninety Mile Beach. Literally, we took the bus along the whole length of the beach.


Of course, the beach is not really 90 miles long, it is more like 55 or so, and no one really knows how it got the name as it is today. Anyway, the beach itself during low tide is considered a legal highway, and is used by many tourist to drive up and down the coast. You just have to be aware of the quick sand spots that may swallow up you vehicle.


During our beach drive down Ninety Mile, we stopped off at a range of enormous sand dunes. Each person on the tour bus took a turn sliding down the dunes face first on a boogy board. It was good fun!

The bus tour was great, but a long day. Twelve hours in total. If it wasn't for our bus drivers strange and humorous stories, and frequent stops to little touristy places along the way, we might have gone crazy...

Anyway, we made it back to Paihia to rest up and tackle the next day of adventure...

Fishing and Wine tasting

We reluctantly left the Golden Bay area to see what was on the east coast of the South Island. We would have stayed even longer in the beautiful Golden Bay area, but we still had much more to explore. We took a course heading east over the mountains and past the Queen Charlotte Sound down the east coast to Kaikoura. We had heard it was beautiful in this area and was great for fishing. Below is the hostel where we stayed.
The area was nice, but small, and there was one drawback.....the fog. Kaikoura might have been the most beautiful place in New Zealand, but we would've never known. The fog covered every square inch of the peninsula town and it never lifted the two days we were there. Anyway, we got over the fact that we wouldn't get a glimpse of the towering mountains that are the backdrop for the Kaikoura Peninsula, and got on with our adventures.

We booked a charter to take us out fishing 4 or 5 kilometers off the coast. Above is the dilapidated vessel we chartered. Hmmm..... I am glad to say that the vessel did actually float, and we got on with our deadliest catch episode...

It turns out that we were the only ones that showed up for the charter that day, and we were glad at first that we would have personal attention from the skipper and deck hands. All was well right? Well, the three hour tour was more like a fishing trip for the skipper and the deck hands than for Denise and I. The giant seagull below had more to say to us than our hosts....

The good news is that we did catch some Sea Perch, Blue Cod, and a New Zealand Lobster, or cray fish as they call it here. The skipper was nice enough to give us some of our fresh catch of the day to take with us. We had a wonderful feast that evening, but the day was not the greatest in the NZ.


That was Kaikoura in a nut shell. Been there, done that, and don't need to go back.... Now on to wine country! We back tracked north, up the east coast to Blenheim where the sun was shining, and the wine was pouring. Apparently about 20 years ago, someone decided that this area had the perfect soil and climate for growing grapes. Over that twenty or so years, 48 different vineyard sprouted up. Conveniently, all of them are packed into an area that is assessable by bicycle if you are so inclined to try all 48.
Anyway, Blenheim was a nice quaint town, and most of the wine was delicious. We were unable to taste all 48, but put in a good effort. By the end of the day, I was shattered, and ready for bed....
The next day would be our trip back to Auckland and back to the grind. But first we relaxed on the back deck of the hostel we stayed at in Blenheim and watched the sun go down....