Auckland and trip to Wellington

It was a long flight but we did manage to snooze through some of the 14 hours so it wasn’t quite as tedious as I thought it might be.  Graham picked us up at the airport at 6.30 which we were exceedingly grateful for and after breakfast and a quick chat I went back to bed for a few hours.  The next couple of days were spent looking for a car and now Satchmo (Red Honda Jazz named after the great Louis Armstrong) will take us for many a trip along New Zealand country roads.  We didn’t see much of Auckland but spent the time catching up with my uncle, cousins and friends and watching a bit of rugby (Wales vs Samoa in a pub with support from our red dragons made by Rochelle).  Yes the world cup has started and flags are flying, so are accents and there are volumes of camper vans on the road.

We left Auckland the following Monday and travelled to Taupo – why not delay our holiday just a bit longer?  There was a little bubble of excitement as we drove down through the Matamata countryside (hobbit land) - lots of sheeps, cows, pigs, mountains and spring flowers.  We stopped at Waimangu thermal village which we hadn’t been to before – no mud pools but some fascinating steamy lakes, sulphur terraces with a boat ride on Lake Rotomohanu thrown in.  This was the crater lake of Mount Tarawera before it erupted in the 1800's.  We saw some baby geysers and gazed at the spot where they think they have located the pink and white terraces under about 60 feet of water.  This is where Hinimihi (the little meeting house in Clandon Park near London) was nearly covered with ash but she stood her ground and sheltered 100 people or so during the eruption.

We arrived in Taupo (via the new deviation) rather chilled from the afternoon of walking through native bush to the Lake but it was o.k. Harry had promised me a 5 star hotel with a spa for our last night before we descended on Wellington and all the house shifting work started.  Yeah right!!  1 star hotel with character – first built in 1869 by Joseph Joshua who must have been watching westerns on tv even back then to have created the tavern, pool room and sleeping quarters – all it needed was a horse and cart outside and a couple of people in cowboy hats playing with pistols.  It didn’t get any better as we drove round the back to our room (was this a suitable environment for our new Jazz?) which was a chalet near a tumbled down building.  I mean this place has history -  the spa was built on the site for the armed constabulary during the Maori wars.  In 1869 a lean too structure was built over the steaming river and then  a wooden bath was also built so that all could enjoy the warm waters (including us but we spent most of the time in the pool psychologically preparing for the run back to the chalet). Joseph Joshua organised a meeting house to be carved in memory Chief Te Tama Mutu's wife.  It is now protected and the only privately owned meeting house in NZ - legally it can never be removed from NZ (looked great inside but needs a bit of maintenance on the outside).  The hotel is clean and provides all the essentials.  We read the following instructions about heating...‘Open the window at the back of the bathroom to let the heat in’.  Might sound silly but we did give it a go as there is a thermal stream close by which heats the pipe behind the building and also the pool we had a dip in.  In theory o.k. in practice not so 'hot' leaving the window open led to cold ankles while sitting on the loo.  And if we wanted breakfast (and it is highly unlikely we will given the look of the dining room) we can order an English one – bacon, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs and toast, or an American one (just add hashbrowns, baked beans, eggs and toast to the bacon), or a Kiwi breakfast – all of the above . After sampling a good Italian dinner down town we believe there might be a better breakfast place and it will probably have free wifi (and some views of the lake).
PS we thought this was our room for the night but it wasn't we were in a group of about 6 units slightly newer but with the same look and no pongas.

On the way down to Wellington we drove through the Desert Road and stopped to throw a few snow balls.  It was a bit cloudy and so we couldn't see much of the mountains which was a shame as there were a number of rugby fans doing the same thing as us. We also had a quick look at the Makohine Viaduct which is on the route for the main railway line between Wellington and Auckland.

We stopped for lunch at Bulls.  The town is apparently named after James Bull who was a carpenter from Chelsea in London who arrived in his mid twenties in Wellington in 1857. His claim to fame was he built a chair for the Parliamentary Speaker. He set up a timber mill along the Rangitikei River and a general store in 1859 in High Street (now the home to the local RSA).  Given his building experience it isn't surprising he then moved on to constructing the courthouse and a few hotels.  Bulls has made a real marketing thing about its name - quite clever really.  The town is "live-a-bull and unforget-a-bull" and its where the people are "hospit-a-bull and befriend-a-bull".  By going to school you can become "knowledge-a-bull and educate-a-bull" and if you are younger daycare is "love-a-bull an care-a-bull". The museum is "memor-a-bull and visit-a-bull" and the Information Centre is very "inform-a-bull".  There's lots of places to eat that are "eat-a-bull" but McDonalds is also "McValue-a-bull" and the drive thru is "drive thru-a-bull".  If it is a paper or some milk you want you can go to the local diary which is "avail-a-bull". Antiques are "afford-a-bull and collect-a-bull" and the local fire brigade is "Extinguish-a-bull" and the local police is "const-a-bull"...you get the picture.
And then onto Wellington