"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

March 25th

Having come back to North Island, we're very close to the "Shire" so we couldn't resist going to see where Bilbo and friends hang out.

As you would expect in New Zealand the Shire is actually a sheep farm, tucked away in the middle of nowhere. Director, Peter Jackson, spotted this perfect location from the air. Amazingly it had sufficient land that had no electricity wires, roads etc and even had a big pine tree that was essential to the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings story. The canny farmer has developed the Hobbit site into a very popular tourist attraction. No Hobbits to be seen of course because they mostly sleep during the day! 

Amazing amount of detail has been put into the site. The landscaping had to be made to look English so appropriate hedging, flowers etc have all been imported and planted. The big oak tree that features in the stories was built by repositioning the trunk of an existing tree and then leaves were made in Japan, all of which were carefully wired to the tree! It is starting to look a bit patchy now as the leaves get blown off. However the overall effect that's been achieved is pretty good. The thatched roofs being the exception. Apparently the production team learnt how to thatch from U tube. They have a way to go before they get expert!

Bilbo's house

Assortment of Hobbit dwellings

The Green Dragon pub

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him"

Views over the Shire

Beach, Kiwi and a new life!

March 22 - 24th

Fabulous weekend with Jo and Blom Blomfield at the Sherlock family apartment in Mount Maunganui, a town in the  Bay of Plenty, located on a peninsula to the north of Tauranga.

Mount Maunganui is also the name of the extinct volcano cone that rises above the town, now officially known by its Maori name "Mauao", colloquially known as The Mount.

The apartment is just a few metres from the sea so were gently rocked to sleep by the sounds of the ocean. The beach here is a beautifully long stretch of golden sand. Tried to summon up the courage to swim but the water's still too cold! 

View of the apartment from the beach

Mount Maunganui beach

View from the balcony

   












Interesting area with lots of fruit production, especially kiwi fruit. Jo and Blom took us to see a kiwi fruit farm owned by friends of theirs. The fruit grows on vines - a bit like hops and in a good year, each vine produces loads of fruit. 

But the real excitement of the weekend was the arrival of Jo and Blom's new granddaughter, Elliott. The new mum, Tamara (wife to Ian), is apparently always well organised and true to form, little Elliott was born just a few hours of her due date. Mum and daughter are doing well and Ian has a very broad smile on his face!

Elliott Kay with her proud Mum and Dad

Art Deco and Culy “secrets” revealed

20th - 21st March

 And so on to the Napier, a city noted for its Art Deco architecture. Most of the City was destroyed by a major earthquake in the 1930’s and those responsible for its rebuild created some lovely art deco buildings. The city planners had the forethought to bury all services underground so there are no overhead electricity cables, wide streets for the car and loading areas at the rear of shops to keep lorries out of the streets.

A sample of the  many Art Deco buildings in Napier

Strange tourist "bus" that goes on land and water

In addition to the neck craning architecture, the area has loads of wineries so once again, we were "forced" to try some local wines. The Mission winery is the oldest in NZ – started in 1851 by some canny Christians. Beautiful old style country mansion. great wine and as always, some interesting staff serving it. Trevor, originally from the UK, is now a mainstay at The Mission and does virtual wine tastings with folks in London via skype! (Yes, they do have real wine to taste, it’s sent over in advance!). 

Front of The Mission Winery

View from the rear of the Winery

The highlight of our visit to Napier was meeting more of the Culy family. Here we met Mike’s cousins Margaret and Brian his wife Lee Ann. Margaret and Brian uncovered a box full of family memorabilia including photos of a trip to the UK by their parents to Mike’s parents and Uncle David and Aunt Edith. 

Perhaps the most interesting documentation was about the religion started by Mike's ancestor, David Culy in 1695 in Guyhirn, near Wisbech St.Peters, Cambridgeshire in the UK. The dissenters from the Baptist Church who supported this new religion were known as “Culimites”. David even wrote what was effectively his own version of the bible! The locals held him in such high esteem that he was known as the “Bishop of Guyhirn”. All seemed to be going well but after David’s death in 1725 the Culimites declined in numbers and in 1755 and the religion was declared to be non-conformist and died out. Prior to his death David also ran into a bit of trouble for having a dalliance with a married woman parishioner!

Left to right - Margaret, Brian, Gill and Mike

left to right: Margaret, Brian, Lee Ann and Mike

One of the many interesting things about the Culy family is their creativity and talent. Amongst them are jewellery designers and makers, artists, sculptors, photographers, cabinet makers and weavers!Brian's house (pictured above) is full of fabulous photos that he's taken and wonderful materials that are produced by Lee Ann and Brian's company.

Warm welcome in wet Wellington!

Spent a very interesting and relaxing weekend in a windy and wet Wellington with Mike's Culy cousins. Megan and Shane live in a lovely house with fabulous views over the bush on one side and Wellington harbour on the other. 

Views from Megan's house

 Met three sisters - Megan, Gill and Joy and their respective husbands or partners.  They gave us a warm welcome and we really enjoyed getting to know them a little over the weekend and piecing together the family history. 

Three lovely sisters Gill, Joy and Megan

Chris, Gilll's partner and Mike

Megan's husband, Shane

Megan and newish husband Shane were fabulous hosts and Gill and Chris ably took over the baton on Saturday evening when our hosts had to go elsewhere, taking us on a whistle stop tour of Wellington. 

 Megan and Shane had the added responsibility of looking after daughter Paula's rat (actually a dog), Bruce. He's a tiny bundle of mischief and kept us entertained, particularly when we took him to the beach. He didn't take to the water!

Megan and Bruce the "dog"

Bruce, resisting a swim!

 

Wellington has a beautiful waterfront and it's a compact City so easy to look around. The presence of some extremely steep hills make it particularly scenic. Amazing numbers of homes built into the hillside with no road access, so the lucky ones have personal cable cars to carry them and their shopping etc. up and down! 

The Te Papa museum on the waterfront is a great place. Much more interactive than traditional museums. Managed two floors so lots left for our next visit. 

Mike and Mags and some new friends!

Locals were all cheering as the rain came at last in large quantities on Sunday and Monday. Ruined the chance for the English cricket team to win the second  test but we'd benefited from bad weather in the first match, so it seemed fair. 

Monday wasn't our best day. Struggled to find a parking space in the City, only to find that we'd unwittingly parked illegally and got a $40 parking fine! To add salt into the wounds the windscreen wipers on the camper van then packed up, in the pouring rain! Luckily a suitable garage was close by but they couldn't get the necessary part until Tuesday. Megan came to our rescue and very kindly gave us a bed for another night.

Despite the hiccups, our stay in Wellington was memorable in a good way. Meeting some of Mike's relatives was great - it's normally Sherlock rellies that we're meeting so good to redress the balance a little. Also went to a lovely little cinema in Petone. Very comfy with two seated settees for each couple! And ate one of the most tasty and best value meals so far at a local Turkish restaurant. Made us a bit homesick for Cyprus.

A stunning farewell!

14th/15th March

The journey back to Picton (home of the ferry terminal) was a fitting farewell to our South Island experience. Tackled Takaka Hill again. Only 20k or so of steep roads!

Takaka Hill

and then on through part of the Marlborough Sounds. Like the Milford Sounds these were formed thousands of years ago by glacial activity which form these fantastically beautiful flooded valleys. Another 20km or so of very windy roads but what a view! The journey took us twice as long as it could have done as we kept stopping to admire the view. 

Marlborough Sounds

Miles of beautiful scenery

What struck us is how quiet this place is. At one photo stop, there was literally no sound other than birdsong and the gentle lapping of water against boat moorings. Idyllic at least in good weather. Noticeable that all these roads have signs that indicate whether or not the roads are open and I can imagine that in bad weather, you would not be able to travel far.

Oh for a boat!

Governors Bay

And then finally to Picton and the ferry. Bye bye South Island - we've loved our time here and hope to be back.

Golf with a view and Pupu

10th to 12 March 2013

Enjoying a relaxing few days at Pohara beach in golden bay, near to the Northerly most tip of South Island. 

Sunsets over Pohara Beach. Just a few meters from our cabin!

Played our first round of golf on this trip to New Zealand at the local golf course. Luckily we’d borrowed a set of (men’s) clubs from our camp site as when we got to the golf club there were no officials, just an honesty box. So we put our money in the box and enjoyed nine holes in glorious sunshine. Much of the course overlooks the sea. Suffice to say that the view was a whole lot better than our golf!

Views from the Golf Course

We’ve explored the Golden Bay coast a little but didn’t make it as far as the “Farewell Spit”. This amazing spit is about 43 kilometres long and full of bird life and other natural wonders. However it will have to wait for our next visit. 

There’s a strong feeling of community here in Golden Bay with some colourful murals done by the community and various cafés and other shops raising cash for it. Feels a bit “hippy-ish” but very pleasant. 

You never know what’s around the corner in this country! We stumbled across the Te Waikoroupupu (Pupu) Springs. These are the “largest springs in Australasia and the world’s clearest water”. The water is amazingly clear, beautiful and bountiful. The springs produce 14,000 litres of water per second. That’s enough to fill 40 bathtubs!

Pupu Springs

We’re nearing the end of our trip to South Island. Over the next couple of days we will be heading back to the ferry and will travel back to North Island on Friday. It’s been such a memorable few weeks and would certainly recommend it as a holiday destination.