|
|
|
Fri, 28 Feb 2003
Yesterday was the first day of racing in living memory. Ok, perhaps a
slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. I had left the hostel in
the morning and took one look around and almost turned back. I
couldn't imagine racing taking place in conditions like they were.
Visibility was way down with a heavy mist and drizzle coming down.
Looking off to the horizon didn't reveal any potential improvements.
The wind was up too, with the surf pounding strongly along Orewa
Beach. I knew I'd never forgive myself if the race went ahead and I
wasn't there to watch it live, so I forged ahead. I sent Barry an SMS
asking for info from the website, and fortunately he came through with
the goods in mere seconds. The race was on. I got Barry's message
just as the bus was pulling up, so I got on and went out to Manly.
On arriving at Manly I walked out to my vantage point. I had to put
on my bright yellow rain shell to keep dry(ish). I got there and set
up my thermarest camp chair and borrowed a cinder block from a nearby
construction site, which I used to keep my radio and other goodies
dry. I could barely see the spectator fleet and the boats through the
fog. Nevertheless, the race started at 1:15pm sharp in a breeze of
about 20+ knots and swells of 6 feet. Alinghi got a super start,
hitting the line at full speed exactly as the gun went off, while TNZ
was a half a boatlength behind. Alinghi was able to leverage that
into an 8 second advantage at the first mark. Both boats screamed
down the second leg under spinnakers. It was an amazing thing to
watch. Alinghi was even able to extend their lead somewhat. Going up
the third leg I lost sight of the boats as a big squall rolled through
the course. The wind was up to 28 knots for a few minutes, but both
boats came out of it alright and I had reestablished visual contact,
which makes watching the race more enjoyable for me. A few minutes
later, the station I was listening too (TV One) went to commercial. I
took a moment to grab a drink of water. When I looked back, one of
the boats was missing! I grabbed my binoculars to get a better look,
and I could see Alinghi still sailing on. Then I noticed the black
blob a little way behind and I could see the broken mast. Then TV One
came back from commercial and explained what had taken place: TNZ went
through a sequence of three big waves, and on leaping out of the water
between the second and third, the slamming into the third wave was too
much. A shroud had broken and the rig came tumbling down. Alinghi now
lead 4-0.
Brad Butterworth said it correctly in the press conference later,
about how you don't like to win races that way. The question is, how
did this happen? The picture is slowly coming into focus. TNZ has
apparently been under tighter financial pressure than people had
expected. They could only afford to build two race-quality masts,
which meant that when they were training in a strong breeze they had
to throttle back since they couldn't risk any breakage. This lines up
with their breaking the boom in Race 1 for essentially the same reason
- they hasn't taken the time to determine the limits of their
equipment. Ed Baird talked about the timing of setbacks like this.
Alinghi had broken a mast, but they did it on a non-race day months
ago. They also had four race-quality masts, not two.
Anyway, today's racing was supposed to be Race 5, but it was canceled
due to lack of wind. This is starting to disturb me. I've got a
cheap non-refundable non-changeable ticket to fly to Christchurch to
start my South Island trip for Monday. If Alinghi doesn't win
tomorrow, I'll have to delay my trip and fly stand-by when the Cup is
finally completed. Ah well, it is important to be able to adapt to
conditions outside of one's control. I had built plenty of extra time
into the South Island trip so I can afford a couple of days of waiting
for the end of racing.
Oh yeah. A few days ago (Tuesday) I scratched off another item from my
'To Do' list for Auckland. I went to Kelly Tarlton's aquarium. This
is a two part place, the first being Antarctica oriented, with a
penguin enclosure and a snowcat ride and the second being a fish tank
with a conveyor belt for people where you ride under an acrylic tube
at the bottom of the tank. I'm glad I did it, but it wasn't worth the
$25 they charged for it. I was especially disappointed how hard they
made it to take pictures. This now leaves the Sky Tower, a walk around
Devonport and a ride on either NZL-40 or NZL-41 as the only activities
I haven't done yet.
|
Sat, 22 Feb 2003
|
That was what Brad Butterworth, Alinghi's ace tactician, said when he
was asked how he felt by the race committee about racing being abandoned
on Thursday. He did say it with a good wry, sarcastic tone, since it
was obvious to everyone that conditions were unsuitable. Well, the
boats never even left the dock yesterday, and racing was again abandoned
today. So now I'm the one who is bitterly disappointed. I've come
halfway around the world and spent over three months watching the
Louis Vuitton Cup and waiting and waiting for this event. Now we've
had three consecutive days of racing thrown away. Yes, I'm disappointed.
At least they realize they are running out of time and have agreed to
attempt a race tomorrow, which was scheduled to be a lay day. The forecast
doesn't look to promising to me, though, so I'm going to keep my expectations
from raising too high.
|
Mon, 17 Feb 2003
Well, it's a whole new ballgame. This morning I turned on the TV and
was very gratified to hear Dennis Conner saying that he thought Team
New Zealand's NZL-82 was the faster boat, and he gave the exact same
reasons that I'd been giving. Today Alinghi seem to have found a
reserve of more speed in SUI-64, bringing them up to parity with
NZL-82. I was rather surprised. Alinghi caught a very nice shift in
the opening 10 minutes of the race, and proceeded to demonstrate
textbook tactics in holding off NZL-82 for the rest of the race. Is
SUI-64 really as fast as NZL-82 with its revolutionary hula? I don't
think so. I think that the defeat TNZ suffered in race 2 where they
were passed on the final downwind leg of the race has seriously shaken
TNZ's confidence. Now we're seeing the repercussions on the race
course. If the kiwis want to hold the Cup, they are going to have to
dig deep and find a new strength of character to prevail.
Now it's time for some other observations on life in New Zealand.
First, let me talk about the three-phase traffic lights. They have
about a dozen intersections in downtown Auckland that behave this
way. Phase 1: traffic moves in the north/south direction. Phase 2:
traffic moves in the east/west direction. Phase 3: all traffic stops,
and pedestrians cross in all directions, including diagonally. It
takes a bit of getting used to, but I kinda like it now. Second, kiwi
drivers tend to be supercareful about pedestrians in or even near the
crosswalks. However, heaven help you if you cross a street and you
aren't in the cross walk. This can be a problem as there are many
traffic circles and they tend not to have crosswalks. I've had
several close calls in the past week and it is starting to disturb me.
In terms of my activities, let me bring you up to date. A couple of
days ago I watched the America's Cup recap on TV at 11pm, except it
didn't run until almost midnight. This was because the race itself
had run so late that other programming had to be moved back and there
was a domino effect. During the commericals, I watched the kiwis
playing cricket in the world cup against South Africa. It turns out I
like watching cricket, so I ended up staying awake until 5am to watch
the end of the match. So of course, yesterday I slept in. Yesterday
was mostly a lazy day, though I did finally get to the supoermarket
and restock my staples and perishables and whatnot. Then I made
dinner (tuna casserole). Tonight I'll have more left-over casserole
and I also promised another hostel resident that I'd make
American-style biscuits for her, since she had shared her extra corn
fritters with me a couple of days ago. Her name is Griselda and she's
78 years old with the heart of a 20-something. She reminds me a lot
of my grandparents.
|
Sun, 16 Feb 2003
Yowza! What a race! Alinghi has gone up 2-0 and I'm speechless. Ok,
let me go on record as saying that I believe NZL-82 is the faster
boat. I think it's faster upwind, I think it's faster downwind. I
think it's faster in heavy air, and I think it's faster in light air.
So what's going on here?? It looks to me that Coutts is the much
smarter skipper. Don't get me wrong, I think SUI-64 is a fast boat,
too. But somehow Coutts has this ability to sucker his opponents (he
did it against Oracle and USA-76 too) to sail in a seriously
suboptimal mode when it really counts. I think that if Dean Barker
had stuck to VMG sailing down the last run, possibly gybing a couple
of extra times to keep his boat in clear air, TNZ would have won the
race and leveled the series.
Today's race was interesting for another reason. It is fairly
uncommon for an America's Cup race to have a lead change, where one
boat is ahead and then the other boat is able to pass the first one.
This race was unusual because it had not one, but two lead changes.
The boats were bow-to-bow up the first beat despite Alinghi getting a
good 10 to 15 degree favorable windshift, but Alinghi were able to get
around the first mark before TNZ. Then TNZ passed on the first
downwind leg. TNZ led around the bottom mark, the next top mark, the
next bottom mark and the final top mark. Then Alinghi passed on the
last downwind leg. Very dramatic stuff, and it was a blast to watch.
I can't wait for the 11pm recap on TV.
Today was Sunday (fyi, the America's Cup races take place on days that
start with either S or T). Of course, there was the somewhat typical
wait for the sea breeze which didn't fill in until after 3pm and then
they had to herd a bunch of uncooperative spectator boats off the
course. Of course, Sunday is the lame day for bus service with runs
only every other hour and the last bus at 5:30. Since the race didn't
end until after 6:00, I had a choice: I could walk back to Orewa or I
could get a taxi. I figured that since I was planning on doing the
Kepler Track when I got to the South Island, my feet needed some
training. Two hours later I was in Orewa.
|
Sat, 15 Feb 2003
Lots more pictures
have been posted. They include everything I did when Barry was out here,
as well as my trips to Tauranga (for the Around Alone) and Napier, and time
spent in Auckland in the week prior to the America's Cup.
Poor TNZ! A horrible string of gear failures forced them to retire from
race 1 of the America's Cup, after looking like they had better boat
speed for the first 10 minutes of the first upwind leg. First they were
accumulating a lot of water in the boat, then the tail end of their boom
broke, and finally the tack of their genoa ripped out. Alinghi sailed the
test of the course alone to score the point.
|
Fri, 14 Feb 2003
Since there was no work for me to do with the Tommy Hilfiger Around
Alone campaign, I decided to take a few days in one of the few places
on the North Island that I hadn't yet seen but really wanted to:
Napier. Napier was built mostly during the 1930s, and as such is a
seriously Art Deco city. I went down there by bus on Feb 5th. After
checking in to the YHA, I was relaxing in the main lobby area of the
hostel, when I notice that the music playing softly over the PA system
wasn't your standard rock-n-roll or pop music. Waitaminit, that's
"The Dubliners"! Who the hell plays obscure Irish folk bands? Well,
it turns out that the owner, Bob, of the Napier YHA used to own and
manage Auckland's only folk music venue (it has since closed - the
Kiwis don't go in for folk music). We sang some songs back and forth
for a while. It was a great bonding experience.
The next day was Feb 6th. This is a national holiday in New Zealand -
Waitangi Day. The Treaty of Waitangi is the legal document which,
controversially, transferred ultimate authority from the various Maori
leaders to the UK. I walked around town and snapped some pictures of
the architecture.
On the 7th it was time to get down to business and make some plans for
March. On the assumption that the America's Cup won't runneth over
into the reserve days, I purchased tickets on Qantas for a round trip
from Auckland to Christchurch, giving me three weeks on the South
Island. Made fried rice for dinner, after Barry's recipe.
Got up early and did laundry on the 8th. I had picked up two pairs of
zip-leg pants before leaving Tauranga, since Barry said so many nice
things about them. I got these just in time, as my light blue denim
shorts were now torn through in several places. I threw them out,
along with the "Latitude 38" t-shirt I had won at a crew list party
which had developed several holes as well. I took the bus back to
Tauranga and checked into the Tauranga YHA.
Tauranga is a town with some limitations. For example, their citywide
bus service doesn't run on Sundays. I had to take a taxi across the
bay to Mt Maunganui. It turned out that the spectator boats for the
Around Alone restart had all sold out, so I was going to have to watch
from land. The taxi dropped me off way out by the Mount and I had to
hike around to the side which faces the sea. The restart was
extremely uneventful, especially for someone who had gotten used to
the rough-n-tumble of an America's Cup start. All the boats just
reached off away from the start line, and then turned around and
paraded across the line in good order. That night turned out to be
the worst ever for me in a hostel. There was no ventilation in the
room, so it became stiflingly hot. Combine that with the loudest
snorer I'd ever heard, and I wasn't able to sleep. I ended up taking
my bedding out to the TV lounge and arranging some cushions on the
floor and sleeping there for a couple of hours.
It was time to head back to Auckland. I traveled on "declaration day"
which is when Team New Zealand and Alinghi each have to pick one of
their two boats to race in the America's Cup. Nothing to see here, so
I didn't mind being in transit that day. The next day was "keel
reveal" day, and boy did I want to see that. Alas, it was not to be.
I had another horrible night, this time due to street noise. Another
lousy night of almost no sleep, combined with an early reveal ceremony
(8:00am for Alinghi and 8:30am for TNZ) and I decided it wasn't worth
it. I admitted defeat and slept in. I spent the day reading
"Sharpe's Prey" by Cornwell. Just the kind of light fiction I needed
for a lazy day, and I was lucky to find it in the hostel's book
exchange shelves.
Now I had a few days to spend in Auckland before the America's Cup was
to start. I had made a list of activities a long time ago, and I
resolved to cross off at least one per day. First up: The Auckland
Art Gallery. Not a huge museum, but one of fairly high quality. The
first section of New Zealand historic art was extremely good. The
price was right (free, except for the Two Chinese Emperors exhibit
which I skipped). After doing the museum, I found a private art
gallery across the street. I strolled through and on the way out,
found a pamphlet called "Take a Walk of Art" that listed all the
nearby private galleries. Since I was in the mood for more art, I
decided to see what the Auckland art scene had on tap. I was feeling
a bit mischievous, so I invented a story about being on a mission to
buy a birthday gift for a family member. I was amazed at how
differently I was treated when people thought I was planning to buy,
instead of idle browsing.
This brings us to the 13th of February. Another day, another
adventure. This time I picked MOTAT - the Museum of Transportation
and Technology. I figured I need some exercise, so I walked there.
It was a good hour and a half. When I got there, I had sort of a
sinking feeling, since from the outside it looks kinda cheesy.
However, I went in, and I was pleasantly surprised, though it is a bit
of a work-in-progress. The museum was created in the first place
after the ancient pumphouse was decommissioned. They added all sorts
of old trains, trams, busses, and planes. There was a huge exhibit
for Jean Batten, an aviation pioneer. There were also the seeds of a
damn fine science museum, with a pair of whisper parabolas, a
built-your-own-arch demo, and lots more along those lines. I wandered
around for a while and found their HO-scale model train, the same size
of model trains I had as a kid. A guy in a blue jumpsuit carrying a
bottle of Windex and a large pack of paper towels came in. I started
talking with him, and it turns out that he's responsible for
maintenance of both the model trains AND the pumphouse itself. There
weren't any signs or anything explaining the pumphouse, and I asked
him if he'd be willing to walk me through it. Well, half an hour
later, I knew more about beam engines, condensers, and two-cylinder
steam power than I had imagined I could. His name was Mike and he was
a very interesting guy. His explanations and enthusiasm was able to
transform an inelegant contraption into a beautiful machine for me,
and I'm grateful. He totally made the MOTAT experience work for me
and I'm really glad I met him. I also walked another half an hour out
to the MOTAT extension, which housed most of their aircraft. That
part wasn't as interesting - I felt it was a tad too focused on the
romance of the Kiwi military experience in WW1 and WW2. I walked back
to the main MOTAT campus, and then took the bus back to the City YHA
hostel.
For my last full day in Auckland, I wanted to see the RZNYS Sail Past.
This was an event scheduled to support Team New Zealand, with hundreds
of boats sailing past the RZNYS in Westhaven. I was underwhelmed, as
in fact all the boats motored past. And none of them got at all close
to where I was sitting, so I couldn't get any good pictures. I guess
for the partyers inside the yacht club it was a great event, but I
didn't get much out of it, other than the one hour walk to get there
from the hostel, and another hour walk to get back.
|
Mon, 03 Feb 2003
Right, so Rae, Barry and myself piled into the car and set off for
parts north. We knew it was going to be a long day, so we got an
early start. The drive was uneventful, though we did stop for an hour
in Orewa to use an internet cafe and to grab a light lunch. We
arrived in Paihia in the early afternoon and checked into the
Saltwater Lodge. Barry and I went immediately to a dive shop to find
a boat to take him to the Rainbow Warrior. He signed up for a two-day
deal, with two dives each day, all in various different parts of the
Bay of Islands, one of which was in fact the Rainbow Warrior. Fair
enough. On the first day of Barry diving, I took the car and drove up
to Cape Reinga. Oy, that was a long day. It was easily 3+ hours each
way. The views were nice once I got there and it felt cool to be
there and imagine the Around Alone boats going past. One the way back
I took a short detour over 12 miles of the worst gravel road I'd ever
been on. This let me out onto Ninety Mile Beach, which was fairly
dramatic. It faces the Tasman Sea, is fairly wide, almost perfectly
flat, and stretches off in both directions as far as the eye can see.
When Barry and I met up late that afternoon, we were both too tired to
cook, so we went out for a light dinner.
On the morning of the Jan 29, Barry again left early for his dives. I
loitered over breakfast and tried to decide which of the nearby small,
historic towns I felt like visiting. There was a woman at the next
table finishing her breakfast and we got to talking. Her name was
Lorraine, and we decided to set off for Kerikeri together. The two
oldest buildings in NZ are there, one made of stone and the other of
wood. There is also a Maori "pa" (village on a defensible hill) and a
neat hike to some pretty waterfalls. When we got back to Paihia we
found Barry, who had caught a large crayfish during his dive. These
crayfish are about the same size as a hefty Maine lobster. We boiled
it up for an appetizer - I was stunned at how much meat was really in
this thing - much more than a comparable lobster. And quite yummy,
too. While eating this crayfish we had attracted some attention,
including a young German named Phillip. Anyway, Barry and I wanted to
charter a sailboat, so that I would be able to say that I had
skippered a boat in NZ waters. It was going to be a tad expensive, so
we wanted to find some people to share the costs with us. We were
able to convince Rae, Lorraine and Phillip to come along. After a
light dinner, the lot of us went shopping to provision the boat for 24
hours in the Bay of Islands.
Up early again next morning. Got down to Opua to the Moorings base
and started on the paperwork. Took the boat out of the dock around
11am. We steamed north past Paihia and Russell and then hoisted the
sails and set off to the north, hoping to make for Hole in the Rock.
The breeze was light and shifty for a couple of hours, and then filled
in solidly in the low teens of knots from the northeast - which is
exactly where we wanted to go, of course. Sailing is often like that.
After a couple more hours it was clear we weren't going to make it, so
we settled for anchoring in Urupukapuka Bay. Barry did a bang-up job
barbecuing the chicken, once Phillip and I figured out how to keep the
darn thing lit. After sundown I noticed some sparkles in the water -
bio-luminescent critters! Clearly it was time to go skinny dipping.
Alas, I could not convince anyone else to go, as they all thought the
water would be too cold, or they were scared of sharks, or whatever.
Anyway, I had a great time. Once I came back on-board we all settled
down to sleep. Since it was cool but not cold out, I decided to sleep
in the cockpit. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful it was that
night. Barely a cloud in the sky, and a light breeze, and not a
single man-made light anywhere nearby. The view of the stars was
breathtaking. I've never seen so many shooting stars.
The next morning we all had breakfast. After raising the anchor we
sailed south and southwest heading back toward Opua. A little before
noon we dropped anchor in a small cove at the east end of Roberton
Island, which is the first bit of land Captain Cook set foot on when
he first explored these parts. We had lunch and then proceeded back
to the Moorings Base. The docking (sort of a med-moor raft-up) was
actually a little challenging, and I had to bail out of my first
attempt and come back with a better angle. Did the wrap-up paperwork
and then drove everyone back to Paihia. Alas, Lorraine had missed her
bus to Auckland, but since Barry and I were driving there anyway, we
gave her a lift. Barry and I stayed in the City YHA.
Barry was scheduled to leave on the 1st of February, but not until
late in the afternoon. We treated ourselves to a nice brunch (I had a
stack of pancakes for the first time in months) and then decided to
see a movie which Barry had wanted to see for a while. It was called
"Whale Rider" and I'd recommend it. Not only does it paint a good
picture of New Zealand and Maori, but it's got a positive feminist
message to boot. I drove Barry to the airport and hung out with him
for a few minutes before he went through security. Then I went back
to Auckland and checked into the Auckland International Backpackers
(aka Alan's Place) which I cannot recommend - it was a tad on the
grungy side, but I wanted a place out of the central business district
since I had the rental car for two more days and I wanted an easy,
safe, cheap place to park.
Since I had the car, I decided to do some of the running around I had
wanted to do, but that was not obvious which buses to take. First, I
went to Westhaven, which is where all the Auckland yacht clubs are,
including the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. At the RNZYS I was
able to go inside and see the actual America's Cup. Amazingly enough,
even though it was Sunday, I was the only person there. The concierge
was nice enough to stay and chat with me for about fifteen minutes,
and he also took my picture next to the Cup. Quite the thrill. I
also took the time to grill him about any low key "beer can" races, as
we call them in the SF Bay Area. Here in Auckland they call them
"rum" races. The short answer is that pretty much any Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday there are races going on which I could just walk
up and find a crew position. This is good news, as I plan to be in
Auckland for five days after the Tauranga "Around Alone" restart on
Feb 9. I also went by the Syndicate Row. I had promised Eric (the
guy looking after my boat while I'm away) an Oracle t-shirt. Now that
Oracle has been eliminated, they are selling their merchandise at 30%
off, so I got one for him and one for me. Then later in the afternoon
I drove south to Mt Eden and One Tree Hill. This is one of the bigger
volcanic hills in the Auckland area and the view is quite nice.
This brings us up to yesterday. I went into downtown to an internet
cafe and typed up a big weblog entry. Then I drove over to the bus
station where I met the rental car folks. They took the car back, and
I caught an InterCity bus to Tauranga. Once in Tauranga, I checked
into the Mount Backpackers, which I also cannot recommend. Also, it
seems there was a fire on Mt Maunganui, so you aren't allowed to hike
up to the top! Very disappointing. I bought a copy of the NZ Herald
and the local Bay of Plenty Times to try to catch up on the shuttle
disaster. I felt very disconnected and the whole story sounded
completely surreal. No one here in NZ talks about it at all, so I
feel left out of the mourning process. I traded a couple of SMS
messages with Barry and Bridget in New Hampshire, so that helped.
Today I took a bus to the Around Alone village. I also walked the
docks and got up close looks at most of the boats in the race. I took
a lot of pictures, too. The race village is not too exciting, but I
imagine it's nice to have a social center for the skippers and their
families and all the crew and maintenance folks. It didn't look like
there were many spectators like myself, though. I asked at the info
desk about spectator boats for the restart and they had no idea. I
hope that gets sorted out soon, so I left them my mobile phone number
and asked them to call me when they knew more.
Now my plans are to take another bus south to Napier, one of NZ's
seriously Art Deco cities. I'll hang there for a couple of days and
then come back to Tauranga for the restart. Then Back to Auckland for
the America's Cup keel reveal ceremonies. While I'm in Napier I want
to take some time and make my plans for March and the South Island.
If I buy some plane tickets now they shouldn't be too expensive.
|
Sun, 02 Feb 2003
After Barry and I watched the last race of the Louis Vuitton Cup, we
wanted to go around and see some of the North Island. We initially
thought that the bus would be the best way, but after trying to catch
one from Auckland down to Waitomo it became obvious that we needed
more flexibility. Several phone calls later, we had hired (aka
rented) a car. I had really been wanting to try driving on the left,
so this made me happy. Barry agreed to pay for the car itself and I
said I'd cover the petrol (aka gas), as he has a job to go back to and
I don't. Before I go any further, I need to publicly tell everyone
that Barry is a great cook. Over the past couple of weeks, he showed
a lot of creativity and inspiration under sometimes adverse
circumstances (many hostels do not have well-equipped kitchens). If
you get a chance, eat Barry's food.
So, off we went south to Waitomo. We stayed a couple of nights in a
Top Ten Holiday Park, where we got a very small "cabin". The next day
was quite busy. Waitomo is famous for three things: angora rabbits,
caves, and glowworms. We started off with looking for a publicly
owned cave which we had trouble finding. So, we decided to spend some
money and go on a tourist trap excursion. This started with a walk
through some caves along with a guide who explained how the caves were
made. They were nice, but not like Howe Caverns or anything. The
second half of the excursion was on a boat. The guide stood up in the
bow and pulled the boat along a rope which had been installed in the
cave. This part was much more interesting, as there were no lights
and the ceiling of the cave was covered in glowworms. For those not
in the know, a glowworm is the larval stage of life for this insect.
The glowworm uses a similar strategy to spiders: it spins a dozen or
so strands of feeding lines which hang vertically from the ceiling.
The glowworm is bio-luminescent, so it glows with a dim greenish light.
Insects are drawn to the light and caught in the feeding lines. When
the glowworm is hungry it reels in a feeding line and has lunch.
After the cave tour and boat-ride we went over to the shearing shed and
learned about angora rabbits. Barry bought some yarn for Bridget
since she loves to knit. After the rabbits we had lunch (no, we
didn't eat any rabbits). After lunch we did the highlight adventure
of the day: Tumu Tumu Toobing, which is run by Waitomo Adventures. This is a
cross between spelunking and inner tubing. They give you a wet suit,
wellington gumboots, and a helmet with a light. Then you go through
this cave system which has a small river running through it. Barry
and I were the only people who showed up that day, so we had the whole
place to ourselves. At first I didn't enjoy it, but it grew on me and
now looking back I'm really glad I did it. After dinner Barry passed
out. I still had some energy left so I drove out to the publicly
accessible cave and did a more extensive exploration. It was late and
I had taken my LED headlamp. I eventually found the cave, which was
underwhelming, but what was really cool was that I found lots of
glowworms along the trail on the way to the cave. It was neat seeing
them all over the place because during the day their are totally
invisible.
Next on the agenda was some outdoors hiking, so we drove down to New
Plymouth in the Taranaki district. I bought a pair of hiking boots,
and Barry and I went shopping for hiking food (I insisted we mix up
our own gorp). The next day was the big hike on Mt Taranaki. First
thing in the morning, we drove up to the visitor center to check the
weather and sign in (if you don't sign out by the end of the day they
come looking for you). We went up on the Puffer track, which was
actually a road originally intended for maintenance of the TV antennas
up there. We stopped for a bite to eat at a privately owned hut which
we couldn't go into because we weren't members, though they had a
small emergency shelter which anyone could use. Then we proceeded up
the Summit trail. This was tough going. There was a section with a
lot of steps, and we were up high enough that I felt tired from the
altitude. There was another section of very slippery small volcanic
rocks like ball bearings. Higher still the footing was better, but
the wind really piped up, making it hard to keep my balance. I had
wanted to get up to the snow-line, but it became clear we weren't going
to make it. We stopped about 100 yards short of the snow-line to enjoy
the view, took some pictures, and rested for light snack before
heading back down. Once we got back to the hut we rested again before
going down the Razorback trail. I definitely needed the boots and I
was surprised that I only got one serious blister since I had never
really broken them in. Back at the YHA we met Rae, a young woman from
England. I played some chess with her. Rae joined Barry and me for
dinner and then the three of us went out to see "Catch Me If You Can".
When we compared notes, we found out that Rae's plans were essentially
the same as ours: up to the Bay of Islands via the Coromandel. Since
she didn't have any transport, we invited her along. At 8pm the YHA
has a tradition of serving a complimentary chocolate cake in the shape
of the mountain. If anyone makes the summit they get their country's
flag on top of the cake. There weren't any flags that day, but I felt
I had earned my slice of cake.
On the way up to Coromandel we stopped in Rotorua. Barry did a wet
zorb, and then Barry and Rae took a soak in the Polynesian spas while
I went to check out the Orchid Gardens. The gardens were under heavy
reconstruction as they had recently been transfered to new management.
I saw all of two orchids, but I did spend some time chatting with the
Maori owner of the cafe in the gardens. He was a great guy, and as I
was about to leave to catch up with Rae and Barry, he gave me a hanga,
which is the Maori nose-touching greetings and parting ritual. I was
deeply touched with his kindness and hospitality. The three of us
piled into the car and continued on to Tauranga, where I got my first
look at the Around Alone boats, and indeed got my picture taken with
the one, the only, Brad Van Liew. Very cool. After spending the
night in Katikati, we continued on to the Coromandel, checking in to
the Opoutere YHA in late morning. This YHA has free kayaks, so we
grabbed three and went out into the estuary for a couple of hours. We
did get rained on, but it wasn't that bad. We beached the kayaks and
played around in the Pacific for a few minutes before heading back to
the YHA. I joined an impromptu soccer game being played between a
couple of families traveling together. After dinner I found a 175gram
frisbee, and met a guy from Seattle who was cycling around NZ with his
girlfriend. He and I played frisbee-keepaway from the kids. The next
day we drove to the other side of the Coromandel peninsula to
Coromandel Town itself. We made mussels in garlic and white wine
sauce over pasta for dinner, green-lipped mussels being a local
delicacy. Coromandel is a tremendously beautiful place to relax - not
much to do, but that's ok.
Well, I still need to cover the Bay of Islands, but I'm out of time.
I need to go catch a bus down to Tauranga. I'll try to bring things
up to date from there if I can find a good internet cafe.
|
|
