New Zealand, 2008 — Part 2
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The North Island On Saturday, March 29, we took the bus from Christchurch to Picton and then boarded the ferry to Wellington on the North Island. It was quite beautiful traveling through the Queen Charlotte Sound, though not much different from the mailboat trip on Pelorus Sound — except that our vantage point was much higher above the water on the huge, oceangoing ferry, and it was cloudy verging on rain.
This somewhat arty photo was actually taken on our first trip to Picton, but it shows the boat on which we later sailed to the North Island. This is probably the LAST PHOTO in this website! |
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Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is a real city, built around a huge harbour. It was raining when we arrived, and continued to do so on and off throughout the next day, Sunday. We stayed at a big YHA Hostel in the center of town, quite a decent place, where we had a tiny but immaculate little room. We were all evacuated by a fire alarm and fire engines at 10:30 pm, but it was a false alarm.
We decided to take the Sunday night bus to Auckland and on to Whangarei. It didn't leave until 7 p.m., so we had all Sunday to relax. We didn't do much except to visit the national museum, Te Papa, which was only a few blocks from the hostel. (Good thing, because it continued to shower on and off throughout the day.) It was a fine museum, but we didn't see as much as we might have done in part because Wally was pretty sore, especially one foot and a knee, from humping our luggage around the day before. (The backpack he wore and the bags he carried totalled something like 125 pounds, too much for someone just turned 65!)
The night bus ride from Wellington to Auckland and Whangarei was quite an ordeal, not as long as the flight to New Zealand but damned near, and even more uncomfortable. The ride to Auckland took about 11 hours, and then, after a two-hour layover, another three hours north to Whangarai. Needless to say, we were glad when one of the hostel owners picked us up at the bus station. We had the afternoon of Monday, March 31, to do nothing but rest and recuperate — except for Wally's long trudge into town for groceries.
The bikes arrived as promised, first thing Tuesday, April Fool's Day. Noel and Peter, owners of Bunkdown Lodge, where we stayed for three nights, were very helpful, and Noel drove Wally in her van to the shipper's warehouse so that he could pick up the bikes.
Wally spent all of Tuesday afternoon assembling the bikes, and there was still more to do on Wednesday morning. Things were slowed a bit by another broken spoke — it may have happened during shipping — but a bike shop in town took care of it and may have improved the wheel somewhat. On Wednesday afternoon we rushed through a 55-kilometre ride to see some of the waterfront around Whagarei. It was hilly, to be expected on the North Island, but not hard when we weren't carrying anything!
Wednesday evening we tried to finish our packing, and Wally tried to finish these notes. Noel and Peter are going to store our bike boxes and lots of other things that we are not taking on this loop through Northland. We decided, because of the hilly terrain, to leave behind our sleeping bags, cooking gear, and much else. We'll pick it all up when we return to Whangarei, shortly before our but to Auckland and our flight home. Obviously we'll be staying in hostels and other indoor accommodation for the next two or three weeks.
The laptop is among the many things we have decided not to carry during this loop to the North Island. That means there will be no more pages posted on this website until our trip is over. Friends and family, please remember that WE WILL STILL BE CHECKING EMAIL EVERY FEW DAYS. IT WOULD BE NICE TO HEAR FROM SOME OF YOU!!
LOVE FROM US, FROM DOWN UNDER
Wally and Barbara