Sun 20th and Mon 21st March

We left Paeroa in the rain which put paid to our plans to bike in to the Karangahake Gorge on the cycle trail. Maybe we will do it on the way back down the East side. When the showers cleared a bit we did cycle 15kms of the Hauraki Cycle Trail and picked up a few geocaches. After a visit to Thames we made our way into the Coromandel Forest Park for the night.

We awoke to a showery morning so abandoned the planned walk on a mountainbike track. The road in to the Forest Park was very full of potholes so we didn’t venture beyond the first campsite. We called back in to the DOC Visitor Centre on the way out and were pleased we did. They had a brilliant video running about the history in the Kauaeranga Valley of logging kauri. It is just unbelievable the hardship, scale and engineering abilities of the guys. They used dams to collect the massive logs (most 2 mtrs diameter) and one time released a sequence of 28,000 logs down the river. When you see a huge living kauri now it just seems so sad to think they were cutting down trees over 1200 years old. When I see one I feel like hugging it!!! 

We made full use of the free library Wifi to pay some wages and bills then ventured further North up the pohutukawa lined coast to a free camp at Tapu. Even though there have been showers on and off it is still really warm.

 

Fri 18th and Sat 19th March

We travelled up the east side of Lake Taupo and then on to Putararu. After a 2 hour walk in and out on the Te Waihou walkway we parked up for the night at the Putararu Club. We had a meal in the hige complex with just 6 other patrons!! The Club is not doing so well on a Fri night. Rob popped $2 in a pokie machine as we were leaving....had no idea what he was doing but lights flashed and the machine began spinning itself..... ending up $56 richer so Lotteries also were not doing so well in Putararu!!

Sunday we drove off the beaten track to the Te Tapui Reserve and walked to the summit of Mt Maungakawa. It was a loop track quite steep up but better gradient down. We were chatting to other people at the top while having lunch and remembered to turn on the GPS and found one more cache. Couldn't convert the guys to 'followers' I don't think.

 

On the road again 15th - 17th March

Bluebridge carried us across Cook Strait at 2pm which meant we had a bit of traffic to deal with headin out of Wellington. We only ventured as far as Paremata. The Ngatitoa Domain was already quite full but we managed to find a spot. Wed saw us drive a few kilometres to Queen Elizabeth Park for a stretch of the legs biking trail and some geocaching. It was lovely along the sea coast and then back through farmland.Then we struck out for Wanganui and arrived to a smiling Sally in her new rented house.

We left Wanganui around 12 on the Thurs and drove up the badly flood damaged Parapara road. We stopped numerous times for driver changes and geocaches of course. The Last Spike was to mark the engineering significance of where the last spike was driven in by the Prime Minister between National Park and Ohakune in 1908 for the Wellington to Auckland service.

 

Back in Blenheim

Blair took us to the airport to begin the last leg of our journey. Sad to say goodbye to him, he has been very good to us while camped in the 27th storey apartment, but he will be home again in January. After flying out of Vancouver at 8.00pm on Wednesday 24th September we headed into the west and 14 hours later safely landed in Auckland, at 5.00am on Friday 26th September. Those times are 33 hours apart so somewhere we were short changed....such is the pleasure of jet airline travel.

A short trek and wait in Auckland and then we were on our way to Blenheim, one hour twenty south. There at the airport was Hayden holding a sign saying "Lawrence", perfect, great to see him again. Sadly our trip has finished.

But in our last blog we need to say some thank you's.

Firstly to those that generously opened their doors to us. Grant, Bea and Jada in Sydney where we were introduced to geocaching! When we returned for my Dad's funeral, Simon and Anna in Hamilton were wonderfully hospitable, to us and our two boys for the best part of two weeks before we got flying again.

My sister Sally in Chiang Mai where she moved out of her bed for us which was beyond the call of duty. Michelle in Prague provided us with a wonderful base to explore this old city and spend some time with her and Ondra, what a neat couple. Claudia and Thom in Austria, and your girls, what great times. I am so pleased that Netherlands won their first game of the World Cup....what a treat we were put on. Carla in Lisbon - you were so good to us, as you have been to both our boys over recent years. You left us your flat when you went away, you wouldn't let us not sleep in your bed and the fiasco around getting to the airport is something we won't forget for many a year. Thank you.

In the United Kingdom we were especially spoilt. In Scotland, Helen and Moira put us on a great fuss. It was so comfortable staying with you, we were very much at home in Dundee and over the course of six weeks we kept coming and going and you always made us so welcome. We really do hope that we can catch up with you again very soon. Further north in Scotland it was great to stay in the old "Smithie" with George and Shona for a couple of nights and heart warming to have your family around for a meal together.

In London Mike and Merima were brilliant. We enjoyed your company so much and one day hope to see you in New Zealand again, maybe your girls will come visiting with a backpack in a few years. Thank you also for the GPS...saved us a fortune in petrol and disagreement in direction.

In North America we flew into Iowa City, not top of the tourists itinerary but near the top of ours. Brian and Lesley were wonderful hosts and we had a good look around their patch of the World, great fun. On to Canada and Vancouver where Blair and his flat mate were especially generous to us. Somehow Blair had convinced Jan that his parents would be bearable for a few weeks......and she bought it! Thanks Jan, we really appreciated sharing your home on the 27th floor above Vancouver. Thanks to Blair for giving us his bed while he camped on the sofa.

While in Vancouver we were able to catch up on some of Diana's relatives. Unfortunately the Lawrence family tree is a bit of a fizzer however if you marry the right girl.......well, Diana has whanau on both sides of her family tree. We had a fantastic time meeting a family of Fisher's whom Blair was fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with last year. It was most appreciated that someone had sent out an all points bulletin and got the family under one roof for us to get acquainted. Thank you very much Jim and Lisa - the superb local salmon was a treat. And to Bryn's family...what a night. Delectable smoked steak from the BBQ, mini lemon tarts and I counted 5 bottles on the table - without corks.....we were a bit slower the next morning but thoroughly enjoyed an evening with you.

Further, on the family front we were very fortunate to be invited out to Pam Pearse's house at Abbotsford. We spent the weekend with Pam, her two boys Mitchell and Lucas and her man, Terry. What a wonderful experience, true blue Canadian hospitality, such a special family to know and we can see why Blair so enjoys your relaxed company and home cooking.

So many people were so very very generous to us and have etched themselves into our memories forever. We would love to return that generosity to you all one day and while NZ is a fair distance away for many it is a first class destination for any traveller....we can show you that.

All is good back in Blenheim for us. Hayden has managed the hostel well and there were no problems to be sorted. Diana is back into work there, just like old times. I am seriously considering finding a paying job....not rushing yet but will have to soon.

Lastly a thank you to all those people that read our blog and sent us encouraging comments....blog writers enjoy that, I think. We certainly enjoyed the adventures that created material to write, hopefully we can do some more travelling soon....we'll keep you informed.

Till next time.......

 

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Vancouver...home........20-24 September

 

Back from Seattle for the weekend and Blair had decided a trip to Whistler was next on our itinerary. After a wet day at Mt. Baker yesterday we were well pleased to be heading to debatably the number one ski destination in North America, home to the Winter Olympics in 2010. Interestingly, Canadians have "Olympics" and "Summer Olympics",..they also have "hockey" and "Field Hockey". We spent the day at Whistler, taking a ski chair lift to the top of a 1850m mountain and then taking a cable car from one peak to another across a deep valley. That was a 15 minute ride, 4.5 kms in length. There was not a cloud in the sky, over 30 degrees and no jerseys required even high on the slopes. Magnificent day out in some spectacular countryside.

 

 

Racing back to town we managed to make the start of the Vancouver Giants against Victoria ice hockey opening match of the season. "We" had a 3-1 win and I think won both punch ups (on points) so a successful day and night had by all. Surprised to find that the stadium wasn't full but then this was an NPC type grade as opposed to the Canucks who are the super team for the province. Tickets to their matches are all sold out and 5 times more expensive than the Giants.

 

Sunday morning was again fine so we packed a lunch and after abandoning the idea of going to Bowen Island due to number of hours left in the day after breakfast and the fact that we had a dinner date with Jan and Ruby we opted for a walk in Lighthouse Park. And that was a great afternoon of walking on the north west side of Vancouver. Considering the length of the tracks, the magnificent sea coast and the fact that again the day was beautiful, it was pleasing that there were more squirrels to be seen than people!

 

 

Dinner at a posh Japanese restaurant looking out over the harbour with Jan and Ruby on Sunday evening was very pleasant. Not sure why but Blair insists on wearing shorts and jandals to all eating places and pubs in the city..says that Vancouverites are very non-judgemental, and he seems right, they don't bat an eye. More than happy for him to make a statement in this fashion rather than have "Love you Mum" tattooed on his forearm. Jan is Blair's flat mate in the apartment and Ruby a local lawyer is a good friend....lawyers always make good friends I think..?

 

There was still a big tree in Stanley Park that we hadn't got to see so we set off on Monday with that in mind. Stanley Park is a great place to go wandering and we did find the big tree....well past it's prime. The tree is a western red cedar reportedly 800 years old (but then again it is dead! ...do we keep counting?) and is now hollow due most likely to lightening strike. Considered by some as as liability, and potential health and safety risk, it was doomed to felling about 8 years ago.. Such was the outcry from the locals, the friends of... (One group set up as "Stanley Park Hollow Tree Conservation Society"), the greenys..the whole shooting box, the tree remains, trussed up like Forest Gump in the opening scenes of his movie. While in the park we spotted some unexpectedly wildlife. A family of raccoons were going about their evening business and it was possible to get quite close.

Raccoon

Tuesday we made a dash to Granville Island in probably the heaviest rain we have had to walk in on our entire journey. Granville Island seemed to be home to a lot of artisan type people working in their factories and studios while selling goods at the front door. Also big fruit and vege market.....produce always looks so fresh in these markets. Unfortunately we are on our final day out so no purchases were made.

 

 

 

 

Dinner out on our last evening with one of Diana's paternal relatives, Peter Pearse and his wife Penny. We were fortunate to catch up with these two as they lead a fairly busy life even though Peter is into his "Octo" numbers in age. We were interested to hear that Richard Pearce of NZ aviation fame is a relative.....Josie will have to get onto that! Peter is also known in New Zealand as the man that developed the idea of fishing regulation quotas. He sold the idea to our Minister of Fisheries, Doug Kidd, back in the late 80's. Peter visited us in Blenheim back then and has strong affection for NZ and for our government. Blair gained little traction when expounding his views on voting, somewhat contrary to Peter's. I think a further meeting was arranged so that Blair could begin studying "Democracy 101". It was fun evening and we were again spoiled by Penny insisting that the hosts pay the bill.....hopefully we can return the favour in the not too distant future.

Wednesday 24 September today, our last day of journey barring the flight home which will take 14 hours, leave Vancouver on a Wednesday at 8.00pm and arrive in Auckland at 5.00am on Friday...14 hours? I fear a thief in the night! Some hours are going to get away on us.

This has been a wonderful journey, beginning with touring in our Motorhome in January this year and about to finish after 8 months travelling. If someone said "...the Pacific is closed, sorry, you'll have to go back the same way you came......", I'd be thrilled. Do it all again in a heartbeat (or perhaps again...... if the bank balance would stand it!). I will write one more blog once home with a brief roundup....see ya next week.

 

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Seattle and Washington State. 15-19 September

We headed south in Blair's car on Monday morning, aiming to hit the Canada/USA border at Blaine a little after lunch. That was the plan to avoid delays caused by the guards taking time off for lunch...didn't work, we spent best part of an hour waiting but flew through once we met the guard.

We sped south on the freeway, it was 4 lanes wide 50 miles from Seattle and the road was full. A bit disconcerting doing 70 miles an hour in the middle lanes with 18 wheeler trucks each side, gotta keep your nerve and concentration in the right proportion. Diana enjoys driving on the freeways but tends to find other things to do when we hit the cities. Generally the drivers are most courteous and we haven't felt too far out of our depth apart from not knowing some of the local rules. Turning on a red light if there is no traffic coming takes a bit of a battle with the brain saying ".....don't do this, it is not allowed...", but it is here.

Seattle landscape

Once settled in to our B&B in Seattle we headed off to have a look at the attractions. We spent a few hours walking in Discovery Park and hunting out a few geocaches (as you do!). This is a big park, still pretty rustic and easy to wander about in and very close to the city centre. Following this we visited the Public Market near the waterfront where there is any number of different stalls selling things from all round the World but very little attracted our attention. That evening we dined with a very generous friend of Blair's who works in Seattle for Amazon. 20,000 people in Seattle work for Amazon....that is almost the number of people that live in Blenheim! Goddamn that is a lot of pay packets to sort out......doubt they use NovaPay! Aside from Amazon, there is also Microsoft, Google, and Boeing. Ryan was an extremely generous young man and saw to it that the evening didn't cost us a dime.....didnt take us long to figure out that Blair has wonderful friends here in North America.

Our itinerary the next day included a visit to the HQ of the Geocache game. Seattle is the founding place, Centre of the Universe they say, for caching which began with the first hide being made on 3 May, 2000. There are now 11 million of us hunting for over 3 million hidden treasures with numbers growing rapidly. While in that part of town we spotted a few new caches including one in the middle of the public area in their office.

Back into town and we planned to visit a glass and garden attraction and I must admit I had no idea what this was going to be about. Turns out that it is all about an artist extraordinaire called Dale Chihuly. Seattle has a whole display just of his work, took about two hours to get through and was really intriguing. Basically he blows glass and puts them into colossal displays or "plants" them among flower gardens. I've seen a few glass blowers (and the bottom of a few glasses!) but this guy is out on his own. The size of his works and the huge spectrum of colour were very impressive, we loved it.

Our last day in Seattle gave us enough time to visit the music museum, buy a few more clothes (please note a different shirt from one of the 3 that I have worn during the past 6 months) and race north to try and catch the Boeing Factory before it closed. The music museum was an excellent visit. We spent quite a bit of time checking out the tragic story of Kurt Cobain and the short life of Nirvana including young member that Blair had introduced us too a few years back, Dave Grohl. He now fronts his own band called Foo Fighters, of which Blair has a couple of tee shirts (proof that he attended the concert I believe). Also on show was a history of Jimi Hendrix which took us a while to get through. A neat place to visit, they also had an area set up with instruments that you could play and instructions on how to make your own tune presentable. I made an attempt on one of the machines, putting out a reasonable sound I thought, in the same vein as "P Money" and "50 cent". I think I will be calling myself "Two Bob Rob" in line with other no-hopers!

Once a short frenzy of power shopping was complete we sped north to the Boeing facility. There are 737's parked like a car park for Toyota's. Spotted an all black one with a silver fern among those parked up. Didn't get a chance to check out a new Dreamliner but it was a good place to look around and see the advances that the aviation industry have made in efforts to become more efficient and more environmentally acceptable. I still think that our upcoming flight will be 14 hours go to whoa and it will feel like all of that and some.

On our last day in Washington State we took a drive East towards Mt Baker, the second highest active volcano in N.America. It was a rainy sort of day and we held out hope that the cloud and rain would lift a little earlier than predicted but unfortunately, for only the second time on this whole trip that we can remember, the weather let us down. The views were great but only for 100 metres. We had to keep moving to get to the border and then get back into another little bit of USA that the draughtsman have stuffed up to pick up a package for Blair. Have a look at Point Roberts on Wikipedia. This little bit of US is only attached by Canada and if they get crook they are flown to Seattle by helicopter for attention. Blair gets purchases made from Amazon sent there then drives down the one hour freeway to pick up as this saves paying import duty......strange!!?

We got back to the 27th level apartment later in the evening and were pleased to see Blair again after the week away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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