ruth and ed in nz

After a brilliant day of diving, we headed north and drove up to Maitai Bay – another isolated DOC (Department of Conservation – who have so far sponsored our trip) campsite at a stunning beach. We arrived as the sun started to go down so we took our camping chairs to the beach and drank beer by the water’s edge watching the tide gently come in over the rocks.
The next day we drove up to 90 Mile Beach (which is actually about 90km, not miles long) down a loooong dirt track – poor old Serena (that’s the van, by the way) is not happy with this…
We chicken out of actually driving ON the beach (as many do) for fear of getting stuck and Serena getting cross with us; also not sure that the AA will pick us up if we do get stuck… we are a long way from nowhere in particular.
While we stand on the vast, empty, windy beach, a sand boarder appears from nowhere, sails over to us and asks, “Do you know exactly where we are?” He was fulfilling a life long ambition to sand board the length of the beach and had a map but his friend (?!) had burnt half the night before so he didn’t know how far he had got or how long it would take him to get to the end. We offered our guess as to where we were and off he sailed – a surreal encounter…
Further north, we pulled in to the first place that rented ‘sand boards’. From the house/garage at the top of the hill where there were two gnarly hillbilly type dudes waiting to give us the low down on how do this “awesome thing”. After the battered old boogey boards came out the chaps gave us a quick lowdown on how and where to do it safely and off we went. Down to the dunes at the top of Te Paki stream. After a few more clicks down bumpy unsealed roads and quick cheese sandwich out of the side of the van we set off into the dunes. First few slides on the front down a nearby dune, digging toes in to slow down or turn left or right and doing a few tentative standing descents. Once happy with this we faced up to Big Bertha. About 130m high we think, it certainly took a long time to get to the top! After a few slides down the Bertha we wandered down to the wonderfully deserted 90 mile beach again. The walk took about 40 minutes from the dunes down a shallow stream bed and we were able to do the whole thing barefoot which was lovely.
That night we pushed on up the last section of State Highway 1 which is unsealed and bumpy. Cape Reinga – the very top of the road is a very spiritual place for Maori people as they believe it’s where departed spirits leave from. Now there is a car park and a light house there – a sure sign of western colonisation. However, it remains a beautiful place where two waters (South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea) meet.

… the ship named by the Greenpeace plank holder after he had read a book about the Warriors of the Rainbow who would come down from the sky to save the planet once fish started floating in streams and birds would fall from the sky. It was blown up by a pair of French SS agents while anchored in Auckland’s harbour – all except one crew member survived. France, who had ordered the agents to prevent Greenpeace sabotaging planned nuclear tests there, later apologised.
So, anyway, now it has been sunk in the Bay of Islands (just off the Cavalli Islands) to become a reef and is bejewelled with anemones of rainbow colours. Swimming around were many fish: John Dory, a 4ft long Moray eel resting between the hull and the sand, Snapper, Gem Nudibranks, 2-spot Demoiselle, …
The wreck was 40ft long – we swam along it and over it and peered in to the inside cabins. A school of big eye fish were hanging around in the dark, lit only by the light from the port hole.
Ruth spotted a dive knife on the floor so Ed bravely (or stupidly, he later thought) tucked it in to his BCD pocket.
After a stop on a deserted island beach for lunch, it was back on to the little boat for dive 2: a reef dive next to one of the Cavalli Islands. Not as many fish as at the Poor Knights (we were spoilt there) but beautiful nonetheless. The treat of the afternoon was to see three huge stingrays. Warned to steer clear of the ‘Irwin end’ as it’s now called, we were relieved to see them sleeping!!

So as you can see, we are now well and truly on the road. We were soooo relieved to get out of Auckland where we had spent a rocky week looking for vans. We’ve since been camping on secret beaches (Mimiwhangata), Ed has been negotiating the drive down cow-filled, windy, unsealed roads, Ruth has been cooing over little new born lambs (James – I have seen sheep – the photos are on their way), diving the Poor Knights Islands and seen soooo many different types of fish (wrasse, demoisselles, black angel fish…) and things called Nudibranches – odd things – hmmm… Beautiful place though – really special 🙂
Other things… ah yes, Ed got a Maori tattoo all over his face (looks special I think) and Ruth has the tattoo just on her chin (that’s the traditional thing for Maori women so best to fit in to society – as the Romans do, etc.)
Camped out last night in a forest – the first time we could find a suitable place that wasn’t a campsite or a town car park – lush to wake up to the sounds of Tui birds though 🙂 Yet to see a Kiwi…
Off to dive the Rainbow Warrior tomorrow – very exciting!! Then off to 90 mile beach before heading back down past Auckland (not going near it with a barge pole though).

Stage One – fresh from the dodgy dealer

Stage Two – seats out

Stage Three – bed in

Stage Four – let the faffing commence

Stage Five – on the road…

Apologies for the delay in adding photos up here – it takes ages to upload them so here is a link to the flickr website where we have uploaded the best ones so far. We’ll try to do some more soon when we find a cheap internet cafe! The link is also on the left hand side under the links heading – ‘Our Photos’. If it doesn’t work, please let us know.

Flew out of Adelaide and went back to Sydney. We had planned to go up to the Blue Mountains for some camping but there were bush fires in nearly all the campsites so we postponed that and drove over to a beautiful beach (near Newcastle – very different to the one back home) where we could camp on top of the hill looking down at the sea and watch the vast numbers of coal ships on the horizon drift round with the moving tides.
How beautiful to fall asleep to the sound of the crashing waves… and then wake up the next morning covered in ant and mozzie bites!!
It was all about the surfing – Ed got much better at standing up, Erin learnt to stand for the first time (much to Anna’s dismay as she has spent a long time learning this) and I surfed for the very first time – it was brilliant!!
Later that day we went up to the top of the hill and looked down at the bay. Performing for us were a school of dolphins – what a perfect place.

Back to Sydney so Anna could take an exam and then the next day we spent the day in the Blue Mountains. Didn’t see any sign of fire in the bit we were in but saw some smoke from one fire on the horizon at one point. The views from the mountains are spectacular. We were in the very touristy part where we enjoyed a ride around on an open topped bus, straight from the Tottenham Green depot in London – hilarious! Then we went on the world’s steepest railway – it’s so steep that the seats are actually tilted at 45 deg so that you are upright when it’s moving. We sat right at the front and it was a bit like a roller coaster ride. The walks around the mountains were beautiful and if we come back to Oz on our way back, I’d definitely be up for going bush and exploring past the tourist trails…
A final night in Sydney – Ed and I made dinner for Anna, Erin and their temporary flat mate Meri (a medical intern who’d just finished a year in Cornwall of all places). We barbecued some fish which was delicious (sword fish, salmon and blue eye – cod I think?) but didn’t do justice the brilliant hospitality of Anna and Erin – thank you both for putting up with us and our bags for so long!! We miss you already!!
So now we’re in Auckland and we’re in the process of buying a campervan – we have a Toyota Townace (a little white van for those who are not in the car trade!) lined up that we hope will pass its test on Tuesday afternoon (cross your fingers for us!!). And then, at last, we’ll be on the road….

Writing now from the YHA in AUckland and in posession of a Mobile phone brought from a china man at a reasonable price with a vodafone sim card so we are ready to communicate with the NewZealanders. However if you feel like sending us a text or even calling to hear our dulcit tones the Number is 0064 210635821.

Finishing off the Oz part:

Thursday we got up early packed up the tent and made it to MacKenzie falls which were majestic and mystical until a group of short wearing loud teenage europeans clambered over the well maintained horizon and preceeded to take photographs as if the area needed forensic analysis after we had visited.
On our way back up from the falls we saw a kookaburra and there is a photo which will appear at some point. They are quite big, and unafraid of humans as we later found out..
Driving on southwards to get back to the coast we saw a few ‘roos and had a bit of a close encounter with one as it stuffed its face, which was magic.
We ended up spending the night further on towards Adelaide after a few coastal towns and a hint from the tourist office about a good campsite by the Glen Elg river. This was where a Kookaburra landed on an open car door and wouldn’t be dissuaded until the boot was opened and shut very loudly.

Friday we woke up to a sparrow like bird lodged between the fly sheet and inner tent. I’m not sure who was more panicked, it or us.
Once again packed up and munched some brekkie and set off again for the biggest day of driving yet. We drove almost non stop 10:30 ’til 6:00 between us to get through the Coorong and close enough to Adelaide to make it in time for the car drop off.
The Coorong was deserted long stretches of road, quite beautiful. We stayed in Port Elliot campsite, just like the ones in france tidy with little power supplies and tons of old age campers retired and travelling around. We had Fish and Chips and watched out for “schoolies” – school leavers up to no good. There was a really nice Swimming beach just at the bottom of the campsite.

On Saturday we drove the last part to Adelaide through vineyards and farms. We also stopped and had a dip in Brighton Beach! This was however horrible compared to the real thing. Not a pebble in sight and the sea was almost warm! It didn’t help that is was really sunny too, most disappointing.
After dropping the rental car back we had a nice Chinese in Adelaides Chinatown. Everywhere appeard to be closing as we walked round. Throughout our stay in Adelaide it gave the impression of a big city with out that many people in it.

Hello blog-fans. This is Ed’s first forray into the world of actual blog writing.. not just commenting or doing photo things whilst Ruths fingers buzz across the key board. We have an ‘arvo in Adelaide where it is hotter than a blue tounged lizards belly so it is adviseable to stay inside and not watch the Ashes! So.. After the last post (blog post, not trumpet solo) we proceeded as follows:

Tuesday 21st : Lighthouse with carpark under construction on Cape otway. We were back tracking a bit to see some more an accompany Nikky and Conrad on teir return(in the hope of just one more delicious impromptu meal) Saw a Koala up a tree not doing much. Said goodbye to the other half of Team Yaris (Nikky and Conrad). We drove back past some Apostles and saw some more amazing Sandstone edifices decaying in the enormous Antarctic swell.
We drove to a halt here at a small place called Killarney where we got a toilet key from a couple in a converted school bus when they charged us to camp next to an Aussie rules pitch. A nice walk along a beach that could have been in Ireland as it was grey, cloudy and windy.

Wednesday 22nd:
Eeek, no petrol. The indicator was flashing and we were sure there ahd been a bit left the night before. Also yesterday we had been noticing some fluid leakage from under the car whenever we stopped, not particularly smelly but unidentified so we surmised the worst. Not wanting to hit the highway and get stuck on the hard shoulder, we went to pow wow with the folks in the converted bus. After a pedigree Siamese cat was restrained inside the bus ( he had been the recipient of some expensive plastic surgery we were informed) the general concensus was that we were in a tight spot. Johnno, who had previously been sat by the club house watching the pitch being watered and presumably remembering some former Aussie rules glory, came to the rescue. The decided solution was definitely a blue job…. Johnno would suck (yes mouth to filthy hose) a few litres from the buses fuel tank so we could make it to the next town. Looking like he might do this sort of thing for fun anyway; Jonno being a good 65 or a bad 50, skin like leather that has been folded and pressed into shape and less than a full set of teeth; we didn’t feel to bad when we gave him 3 bucks and high tailed it to Port Fairy.
When there we had coffees and rang Hertz who despatched the RACV man from round the corner. He was there in a Jiffy and told us we had a dodgy petrol tank gauge and when you run the air con all day whilst driving the condensation makes a pool under the car. So that mystery solved we were on our way.
We drove directly inland from Port fairy into the Grampians. This change in landscape went from rolling yellow fields of grass and corn to the green and black hills jutting from the ground. The first one you see is aptly named Mt Abrupt. So motoring on we sighted a Kangaroo that was to be the first of many. Once in the range we stopped at Halls gap for Tucker – crisps, cucumber, tomatoes, gherkins, water, beer, homous, carrots.
We then drove up into the mountains to find our campsite. This ended up testing the Yaris’ off road capabilities on unsealed tracks. We eventually saw an Emu in the woods too. We pitched out tent in a clearing so as to avoid the sudden dropping of red gum tree branches which apparently happens all the time although we didn’t see it.

Signing off now as I have rambled for too long….

Met up with Nicki and Conrad, hired a car (a zippy little Toyota Yaris – soon to be covered in dead flies – nice) and drove out of Melbourne to Bells Beach – the one off Point Break. Strangely it looked quite different to the film and the waves were flat but sure enough, it was Bells Beach.
As we drove on the road followed the stunning coastline and we were glad we’d bought the no excess insurance as it was so tempting to look at the scenery instead of the road.
Got to Lorne for some lunch and a swim in the ocean – lush.
Zoomed on to get to the Twelve Apostles for sunset – found only 11 Apostles left as one fell down a few months ago. Took lots of photos anyway, drank some beers and waited (like the guide book said) until the sun had set and the crowds had left. Just as it said, a bunch of fairy penguins arrived on the beach below us and enjoyed a surf in the waves as the last light of the day disappeared.
Headed in to Port Campbell, set up camp and bought some tuna and steaks (and some other unidentifiable meat) for the barbie. Enjoyed Conrad’s chef-like work and ate dinner amongst some very cute (and hungry) dogs.