Anna & Tim's

Our second trip down to Anna & Tim's since they left Auckland, and the difference in the house is amazing. Photos back in November's blog show the metal frame of the house, now the weatherboards and roof are on, and the windows and ranch sliders in.




All of the internal walls are now up and being prepared for painting. One bathroom is almost installed and the kitchen due to go in next week.



Whilst there, they took us just down the road to a beautiful spot on the Waikato river - a popular place for a swim.




As the house is not yet habitable, we made the first use of our new tent - good preparation for our week away camping next month.

Craters of the Moon, Taupo

Today we headed down to Taupo to visit our friends Anna & Tim to see how their new house is developing. On the way we stopped off at a small thermal area - Craters of the Moon - run by the DOC so not particularly commercialised compared to some in the area.




It is a recently created thermal area, only springing up in the 1950s as a result of a nearby thermal power station reducing underground water levels. This led to an increase in steam vents and bubbling mud pools.



The thermal area is still growing and changing but fortunately there is a boardwalk going through the park so your feet don't get too hot!

Smoking Fish!

Today we finally got round to buying a smoker for the Kahawai fish Royston caught before the New Year (currently filling our freezer!). We're not sure what smoked cat will taste like...






...but the Kahawai were amazing - very succulent and flavoursome.



Even Charlie agrees!

Eastern Beaches

After the Historical Village we stopped off in Howick for lunch, which had the air of a seaside town with nice restaurants, and loads of seconds hand book shops and antique shops. From here we headed down to Howick beach - a popular area for smaller boats.




Moving north up the coast we stopped at several beaches along the way - firstly Mellons Bay with the view over to Rangitoto Island.




Then onto Eastern Beach - very popular with families due to the shallowness of the water heading quite a way out.





Finally we headed up past Bucklands Beach to Musick Point where an old radio station was based, and used predominantly during the Second World War. From the point we had spectacular views over the Hauraki Gulf, and in particular Rangitoto Island, with Browns Island in the foreground.

Howick Historical Village

Today we decided to explore the eastern side of Auckland, firstly heading to Howick Historical Village. This is based on the fencible settlements dating back to the late 1840s/early 1850s and has involved the transportation of buildings from their original sites to this dedicated area. The fencibles were retired soldiers from Britain offered a free passage to NZ with the promise of land and a cottage in return for 7 years military service. On arrival, they found that the cottages weren't built and had to live in either a tent or raupo until they were - an example of both in this picture.


Once the actual cottages were built, some of the owners transformed their front rooms to general stores or pubs.





The more senior ranked ex-soldiers were provided larger and better built cottages with more acres of land.





The old methodist church was built in 1852, and can still be used today for wedding ceremonies.






This homestead was built in 1861 and had to be split into several pieces to transfer to the current site. The village was a very interesting stop off and confirmed that NZ does have a little bit of history!

Tutukaka Coast

As today is a public holiday in NZ, we headed a couple of hours north to the Tutukaka coast, north east of Whangarei. Our first stopping point was Tutukaka itself, a marina and starting point for several fishing charters and dive boats heading out to Poor Knights islands, considered to be the best diving area in NZ. Now that Royston fancies himself as a fisherman, I think we will be heading back here soon so that he can go out deep sea fishing for tuna and marlin.


From here we headed around the coast to Sandy Bay, a favourite with the surfers and not particularly busy considering it is peak holiday time.






Back around the coast we then stopped at Woolleys Bay, again incredibly busy!!






We decided to settle here for lunch - not a bad spot for a BBQ! The deserted beach in the background is Whale Bay, only accessible by foot so one for another day.






On the way back we stopped off at the look out point for spectacular views - this is down to Ngunguru beach.





Whilst this is in the other direction back towards Tutukaka and Poor Knights islands.





On the way into Whangarei we stopped at the Whangarei Falls - very spectacular and a popular area for families with kids jumping in (but not over the falls!) and swimming.





Our final stop of the day was Whangarei town centre, with the Town Basin a particularly nice area with the marina and numerous restaurants and shops.

New Year's Day - Around the North Shore

The first day of 2008 was absolutely glorious so we decided to visit some parts of the North Shore where, even though we've lived there for over a year now, we had not previously ventured. Our first stop was Rothesay Bay a very family friendly beach.




Despite the wonderful weather, the beach was relatively quiet, mainly due to so many Aucklanders having headed off to their holiday homes or destinations around the country.




Around the headland gave a good view north to Browns Bay, our usual beach destination.





Further down the east coast we stopped off at Campbells Bay, again a family friendly beach and not very busy. There were a lot of beautiful houses backing onto the beach - if only we could find a spare $2-3 million!



Our last stop of the day was at Lake Pupuke on the outskirts of Takapuna. It was originally used to provide water to the whole of the North Shore many years ago. It is now a recreational lake with several people swimming, kayaking and windsurfing. The old pump house is now a theatre with a small outdoor amphitheatre used in summer.