I last posted whilst we were Rotorua. We’ve travelled a fair bit since then.
After Rotorua, we drove up to the Bay of Plenty - the northern part of the North Island east of Auckland. Had a nice walk along the beaches there. We then continued driving up to Auckland, and checked into a delightful motel with a wonderful view of a Saab garage. Well, it was cheap. We were planning on returning to Auckland later.
After an early start in Auckland, we made a bee-line to the Bay of Plenty, along SH1. A nice drive, punctuated with some nice beachy diversions. We arrived in the Bay of Plenty area mid-afternoon. Frances had set her heart on staying in Russell, which required a short (5-10min) car-ferry trip (thankfully cheap - not the Isle of Wight extortion rates, but a nice NZ$17 return) across. Russell is out on a peninsula. There’s a long gravel road alternative, but the Ferry was cheaper and preferable as far as the car hire company was concerned…
Russell is a nice town, right on the Bay of Plenty, and boasts a lovely sea-front. We parked up, and dug out the visitor information (easy to find out on the jetty!), and booked up for a Dolphin-spotting excursion. We also booked in to a “Boutique Motel”, which was a bit nice (well, a lot. No Formica work surfaces and decent crockery!!! Nice decor too. Almost modern, rather than 70s retro!).
Our trip out onto the bay was something special. Dolphins aplenty. More than Doubtful sound by far. We were even allowed to go swimming with them, but neither of us fancied the cold water. Figured we’d save that for Cairnes and the warmer tropical waters!!! Our boat trip took us through the other highlights - the Hole-in-the-rock was fun. The boat did fit easily through, but some good piloting required with the amount of surge! Lunch on a deserted island was fun too.
We stayed another night - this time in a cheaper motel - before continuing back towards Auckland. Stopped off to see Glow-worms nearby. Amazing patterns on the roof of the caves, and much more fascinating than just their glowing tails. We took the western route back, stopping off to admire the huge Kaori tree seen here. Over 2000 years old, and HUGE. Something like 18metres in circumference. Truly spectacular.
Back to Auckland after a stop over just north, and pottered about the park overlooking the city. We were a bit tired, so not really fancying a rushed tour of the big attractions. Cheap motel, as this morning we were up at 4.30am.
Auckland airport is a pain. $25 EACH departure tax/fee because Qantas doesn’t seem to include the charge in the ticket prices. Huge queues for the Customs departure forms, and TWO security screens. Oh what fun that was, without enough time for the caffeine intravenous drip I so required….
Still, we’re now in beautifully sunny Brisbane. Looking to explore this area for a few days before heading North.
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July 10th, 2004 at 9:34 am
Hi,
Just did a search on ex beez people and came across your cool site. I can remember you but you probably forgot me anyway…..
I used to work at beenz as the UK Web Content Manager. Shame but didn’t know you were in NZ as I have been living in NZ (Auckland) for the past two years and loving every minute of it. If you ever come back over must do and beer.
Currently work for a bank and still doing the web stuff. Came back to the UK in Jan 04 and got married and now have a baby on the way in Dec 04.
Cheers