December 31st - Dunedin

Okay, maybe Dunedin is redeeming itself slightly. For one thing, the sun shone today! So we went back up the Otago peninsula - where we'd gone the other day and not been able to see two yards in front of our noses - and had another go at visiting Lanarch Castle.
The guy who built it wasn't born in England, but his family were. And he made his money in banking, not gold. The castle was amazing, and so was the story of its restoration. I particularly likes the 1 ton marble bath, copied from one in Pompeii, and lovingly installed on the very topmost floor of the castle.

We saw more birds - we stopped on the way there at a memorial, and I saw a skylark rise from the ground and climb up, singing, until I lost sight of it in the blue of the sky. I've read about that so often, but never thought I'd see it. Also a bellbird, at the castle - the loveliest song, though nothing like the skylark's.

Next stop was some even more exciting birds - there's an albatross colony at the end of the peninsula, so for the first time ever we got to see albatrossossosses. They are huge! Immense! And their wings fold up like a cantilever - I guess with wings that long, they'd have to. Some of them were sitting on the nests, as this is the incubation period, and others - the juveniles - kept wheeling by on their enormous wings overhead.

Because it's a sanctuary, lots of other wildlife is flourishing there too - seals, Stewart Island cormorants, black-backed gulls - and red-billed gulls by the zillion. The sun shone, the views were amazing, and the birds were incredible. Maybe I would recommend visiting, if not Dunedin, then the Otago peninsula.

December 30th - Dunedin

Even the forecast was for wet today! Another downward shift on the barometer of Rob's mood...
But at least fore-warned was fore-armed. Rob heroically agreed to go shopping with me in the morning - as is usually the case, when you specifically go shopping, you can't find any of the things you are looking for (namely, birthday presents for the clutch of close friends who all have early January birthdays. It seemed an opportunity missed not to buy something New Zealand-ish).
We also went round the Anglican Cathedral - not very inspiring, architecturally, though it did have a four-manual Willis organ, dating from 1919. The cathedral was started in 1915, and dedicated in 1919, but not finished...It had a temporary chancel, while they tried to raise some more money to finish it off, complete with a tower. Fifty years later, everyone finally admitted that the temporary chancel was never going to be built to the original idea, and a modern chancel was added, without tower!
The railway station, on the other hand, was fascinating as far as architecture went. And finished. Beautifully finished, with 700,000 Royal Doulton tiles making up the mosaic entrance floor, and fabulous glazed wall tiles, and stained glass in the ceiling lights. I took some photographs.

In the afternoon, the rain came down in earnest - happily, we'd found a second-hand bookshop the other day, so where better to go? The guy who ran it sounded totally New Zealand, and was born here - but his parents came from Barnsley and Bradford. Good swop really, as far as views and countryside goes...
The museum has a fantastic butterfly house - warm, for one thing - so that took care of the rest of the afternoon, and the butterflies were amazing, especially watching one of them come out of its chrysalis. Dunedin has still been the most disappointing place we've visited, though. Too gloomy, for one thing, and most of the people we've passed on the streets look gloomy as well.

December 29th, Dunedin

So in the morning, we thought we'd go out along the Otago peninsula, visit Lanarch Castle (New Zealand's only castle - and built by an Englishman, who got rich on gold), admire the gardens and the amazing views from them, and see the albatross colony.
The weather was a little rainy and cloudy - Dunedin seems to have its own weather system, though my personal theory is that, having built all this dour Scottish architecture, they then attracted dour Scottish weather to go with it. We drove out along the coast road, and then went uphill to Lanarch Castle. And uphill into the cloud cover, which got lower and lower (or we got higher and higher), and rainier and rainier, and the visibility got less and less...and we turned round and went back home again, and had lunch!
After lunch, we got back into the car, and went off in the opposite direction - into sunshine! And blue skies! And big wide views for miles and miles. Rob's mood improved noticeably with each moment. We went out to the Sinclair Wetlands, with the binoculars and the camera (my new one!) in the hope of seeing some local birds, and did. Fantails again, some really good views of Silvereyes, and also a grey Warbler, or Riroriro (you hear the song and know why that's the Maori name for it), as well as black swans again, scaup, mallards and barnacle geese. Or Canada geese - whichever one it is that has the black face with white cheek patches.

We also saw a shag with black and white patching on its front - haven't found out what that is yet - and what I think was a skylark. Also a harrier again.
The views were open and lovely - New Zealand is the landscape that's in my heart, wide, wild and full of promise and adventure. The sun shone, though it wasn't very warm, and the air was full of birdsong and the occasional bleating of the sheep around the reserve. It reminded us both of Rye and the Romney Marsh in some ways - and then we'd look around at the totally different plants and birds, and remember that we really were on the other side of the world after all.

28th December - Dunedin

Changeable is the only word to describe today's weather - a bit like Rob's mood, which faithfully mirrored it. Sun shone? Mood went up. Sun went in? Mood went down! So we did things that weren't affected by the weather (apart from lots of washing) like going to the museum (free - mood went up!), where I saw a woolpack like the one in Ngaio Marsh's Died in the Wool, so now when I re-read that, I'll know what it looked like. Plus lots of skeletons, Maori history and an exhibition of motor cycles from 1910 to the present day - the first ones were exactly like push bikes!
The sun came out later, and we went to the Botanic Gardens (free!) and round the aviaries there. Saw a Tui in the wild - actually, we heard it first: its call is exactly like its name - so that's another bird for me. The gardens are lovely, with a glass house full of orchids, some of which looked like they were only two steps away from appearing in a Doctor Who episode. As something scary. And cacti featuring the Fibonacci sequence quite obviously - Rob photographed those for his Fibonacci collection. Whatever that is...

We also found a second-hand bookshop - a proper one, with shelves everywhere, probably extending into L-space - and stocked up on text - most of which we're going to have to dump before we fly back up to Auckland because of internal flight weight restrictions. I'll try and keep the Erle Stanley Gardner for Sammie to read though - she likes Perry Mason.
Evening, we went for a walk and saw two fantails really close to, flirting their tails at us for ages. The street we're on is quite flat, but every single side road off it is just like Church Bank. The architecture's fascinating, and I want a book about it! Must go back to the bookshop...
The rest of the evening was just like being at home - we borrowed a silly DVD from the reception here, and did the ironing to it. Very relaxing.

27th December, Napier to Dunedin

Today was mostly travelling – we left Napier in lovely sunshine. The airport was small and surrounded by the most amazing scenery, and blissfully casual – no endless queues at scanners or anything like that.
Flew to Wellington, and as we got nearer the pilot announced that we were in a holding pattern above the airport. And there were several other planes in the pattern. And we were all going to take it in turns to try to land…It was pretty windy, but the pilot made an impressively smooth landing. Wellington was not sunny. It was windy and wet, and Wellington boots were what you needed. Inside the airport was fine though, and there was some impressive ceiling architecture…

Dunedin was sunny again, and full of more spectacular scenery. Rob was remarkably cheerful about the sunshine – until the clouds came down from the hills. Not only did the city have Scottish architecture, it also had Scottish mist and rain. Not so impressive…

The motel’s really smart though, and has a washing machine in the room – tomorrow, I know what we need to do! And we’ll see what the weather’s like for the rest of the day.

Boxing Day - Napier

Rain! This is not what we came to New Zealand for! We can have that for free at home! So we went shopping and to the art gallery and museum. The museum had an exhibition about the earthquake, which was both fascinating and moving in equal measure.
The other place we went – good rainy day thing to do – was the Aquarium, where we saw penguins being fed, fish being fed by a diver (I had to go away and sit down and practise breathing normally after I’d watched that for a while. You know like you have to on James Bond films when he’s underwater with a shark nearby?) and lots of other fish, turtles (including one that was practically Discworld-sized, swimming around underwater) and kiwi, in a special nocturnal house. Which is as close as we’re going to get to a kiwi while we’re here. But it’s okay, Fiona, I won’t count it as really seeing a kiwi!

Christmas Day - Napier

Christmas Day! And totally unlike any I’ve ever had before – warm, sunny, and going to church in a cathedral on Christmas morning. We still had stockings in bed in the morning – very small ones, because of flying – and opened the presents my family had sent with us. Emma’s decorations and the tiny paper crib that Sammie gave us are now up and on display, and greatly appreciated! Rob liked Sammie’s present to him as well…
The cathedral at Napier is like everywhere else, rebuilt after the earthquake. And consequently unlike any other cathedral I’ve ever been in, except possibly Coventry. Not that it looked like Coventry, but there was that same rising-out-of-the-ashes feeling about it. The service was an odd mixture of quite formal and laid-back New Zealand style both at once. The Dean mentioned both Tom Wright and T. S. Eliot in his sermon!
We spent the afternoon going out for a walk or two, with pauses for cups of tea. Saw some new birds, but my photographs of them didn’t come out – we think I was too gentle with the camera button. Saw gannets (I could identify those) and a shore bird I haven’t discovered yet, that looked rather like a ringed plover – next time I’m in a bookshop, I’ll look it up. I also took lots of architecture photographs that failed to come out as well – poooey.
We’d booked dinner at a hotel – just as well, because the only other place that was open was Kentucky Fried Chicken! Strawberry and fizz cocktails when we arrived, and then hot bread rolls, followed by butternut squash and apple soup (I have to try that out at home), turkey and bacon terrine (me) and tomato, mozzarella and basil salad (Rob), then a carvery with all the usual suspects, a pudding that was three puddings in one, and more than we could eat, and tea and Christmas cake (we took that home with us).
Then we went out for a walk along the seafront, and watched the sky grow dark, and discussed the fascinating book we picked up in Hamilton, called Why Men Hate Going To Church – v. thought-provoking, and quite a bit of it I agreed with for me, and I’m not a man! It was a lovely day, even if it didn’t quite feel like Christmas day, and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

Christmas Eve - Taupo to Napier

Apparently, Taupo to Napier used to be a journey fraught with danger and difficulty. The scenery was certainly a) spectacular and b) vertiginous in parts. I was the one who was driving when we were going up a hill that strongly resembled Sutton Bank in Yorkshire - which I hate driving up!

First stop was in the other direction though - Rob said he couldn't leave the geothermal area without seeing a geyser, so we went up to a place called the hidden valley. Where there was so much to see that Rob flattened my camera battery taking photographs of geological formations! They're not all on the end of this post; only a selected few.
It was a beautiful place though - far quieter than Wai-O-Tapu, and in some ways more domestic. There were tiny pools by the edge of the path, bubbling away gently, and a large terrace with lots of little streams running across it, carving channels into the ground. If you stood and listened to them, it was like being up on the fells, but instead of curlews there were bell birds and the endless chirping of sparrows (introduced into New Zealand to eat insects off the crops. Except that they ate more grain than insects).

The tour round finished with a path back to the ferry through the bush, which was all native trees, and green and quiet, and un-English but not tropical, despite the amazing tree ferns. Saw what I think was a silver-eye on the ground in front of us, eating an insect. And I definitely saw a fantail on our way over to Napier, when we'd stopped to look at a view. They're so well-named! They really do open and close their tails just like a lady's fan!
Napier, we're staying in a motel - v. common here - so we found the nearest Pak'n'Save (a bit like a cross between Morrisons and B&Q), found some food and had a light tea, so as to have a good appetite tomorrow for the Christmas dinner at the County. Also found a very nice bottle of Pinot Gris for less than a fiver...

December 23rd Taupo: Rotorua

The original plan was to go to Rotorua, visit the museum and then go on to see more geothermal features. We began according to plan...drove to Rotorua (New Zealand roads have the most amazing scenery, and are amazingly unbusy as well) and went to the museum first.
The museum is inside the old bath house, built right at the beginning of the century, and soon attracting visitors coming from all over the world to take the cure there. It had its fair share of teething troubles - the highly sulphurous steam in the bathhouse reacted with the lead-based paint primer used on the furniture and turned it all black, so it had to be stripped back and repainted only a few months after the baths opened. And what it did to the pipe work and the metal fittings is nobody's business.
The museum has a fascinating display telling the story of the Te Arawa tribe from their landing in the area through their subsequent history up to the present day. And there was lots of geology as well for Rob, including an account of the major eruption in 1886 that destroyed the famous Pink Terraces that were such a feature of tourism in the area. I liked the accounts of the female Maori guides who were such an amazing collection of women, and the collectable souvenirs featuring them for Victorian to buy and take home with them.
The museum was so interesting that we never managed to go and find any geysers for Rob to see...but there was always the next day:)

December 22nd Taupo - Wai-O-Tapu

The views from Kauri Point are amazing - I'd love a house like this one! Gail and Robert are really welcoming too, and the house is lovely. So are the gardens...
Today we went to Wai-O-Tapu; one of Rob's I-really-want-to-go-there places. Basically, it's all geothermal stuff, and remarkably smelly in places. But fascinating - some bits were really beautiful, some were totally weird, and some were quite scary, like the hole where you could hear water boiling away at the bottom of it, sounding like a Victorian pumping station, it was so loud.
It was hot and sunny, and the trees were full of noise from the weta, the native cricket-like insects. The greenery was all soft sage greens and greyish-brownish bark - olive grove colours. Loads of people there, and lots of Chinese and Japanese and other far eastern tourists, all holding up umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. I had factor 30, and Tilley, my hat!
Birds so far, especially for Fiona - Pied Stilt (see photo below), and two more I managed to identify from a bird book here, but saw in Auckland - Domenican Gull and Red-billed Gull. Apart from the bird, yesterday's photographs are all of geological formations...

December 21st - Auckland to Taupo

You would think that picking up a car would be fairly straightforward...but you would be wrong! Having booked a manual, Budget wanted to Fob Us Off with an automatic - which I wasn't going to drive. Rob began to get mildly steamed up, and his opinion of Budget sank to zero. But - the guy behind the sales desk went above and beyond (the extra mile!) and finally tracked one down for us at the airport, drove us out there to collect it, and set us on the right road from the airport. And came out with the best description of good service and why you should give it on the way.
The drive down from Auckland was beautiful: endless amazing scenery. The hills are pointier and closer together, and everywhere is so green at the moment. There are enormous ferns growing as high as trees. Just for Fiona - today's new birds: Australian Magpie, Australasian Harrier, and Myna. No photographs, because I saw them all from the car, but definitely those birds - v. distinctive.
Had lunch in Hamilton, and found a second-hand bookshop there - very refreshing. The bookshop, I mean., though lunch was pretty good too.
Kauri Point, where we staying at the moment, is really nice and the owners are very friendly. Lake Taupo is a caldera, and huge - that must have been one massive eruption.

This is the old Post Office in Hamilton - built early 1900s, it's an old building!

Sunset over Lake Taupo.