Auckland and home!

We drove south back to Auckland along Highway 1. A toilet stop in Whangerei turned into a delightful exploration of a lovely park, including a chicken(!) and a pukeko wandering about. For my Australian friends, the pukeko is like a larger and less timid version of our moorhen - here, try this video. (Sorry, no sound; the only sound recorded by my camcorder was the mower in the background.)

Lunch was a picnic beside the road in Wellsford. Eventually we made it to the Airport Harbour View Motel, across the bay from the airport. Our room was spacious and clean with a galley kitchen and a large ensuite. Our hosts (“under new management”) were very friendly and helpful. Highly recommended, if you have your own transport (it’s a couple of kilometres from the Onehunga Mall).

We went out for dinner to the Curry Leaf Indian Restaurant in the mall, after discovering in response to our inquiries that they only cook in vegetable oil. The meal was delicious and good value for money. Also highly recommended!

In the morning we packed our bags for the last time and put aside all the things we didn’t want to take back with us - cooking items mostly, and a little left-over food. Our friends Jacques and Sarah came to meet us at the hotel and collected these things, and then we went with them to a café for morning tea.

Finally we went to the airport and returned our car. We had driven it 5525km in thirty days.

We left Auckland at a little after 3:00pm and arrived almost four hours later at 3:50pm, getting back the three hours we lost on the way to Christchurch a month ago. My parents picked us up from the airport, and we met Laetitia’s parents at the Loving Hut at Mt Gravatt for dinner together before going home.

Waitomo

We arrived at the Waitomo Caves at lunch time, and the information centre (“the only place in town offering unbiased advice”) was quite busy, so we ate our sandwiches on a park bench first. We booked tickets for a couple of tours, deciding in favour of shorter experiences, and paid $2 extra for a very informative walk through and twenty minute movie in the discovery centre right there - very worthwhile.

Glowworms are not actually worms but rather the larval stage of a fly, and they are hungry, carnivorous beasts! About an inch long, they drop several silk threads down from their nest along which they spread sticky globules. Other insects flying up from the water below are tricked by the glowing lights into thinking that the glowworms are actually stars, and they fly upwards - and get caught on the sticky threads! And yes, they even happily eat other glowworm flies.

We then checked in to our accommodation, Waitomo Caves Guest Lodge B&B. Our hosts there (Colin, Janet and Gypsy the dog) were very friendly and quite happy to give us some useful, biased advice about food and activity options around town. Janet also gave us a tour of their lovely garden the next morning. Highly recommended!

We did the Aranui Cave tour at 3:30pm and then the (“world-famous”!) Waitomo Glowworm Caves at 5:00pm.

The Aranui Cave is huge and beautiful, filled with spectacular limestone features. It’s quite well lit and easily accessible, and our guide was friendly and well-informed. We saw the Pacific Rim “Ring of Fire” fault line from below and above (a little scary!) with some very long stalactites hanging down (the longest apparently four tonnes of stone!).

The Waitomo Glowworms were amazing. I was not expecting it to be particularly exciting (having seen them before as a child) but the boat ride in the dark and quiet, the cave ceiling all lit up with glowing points of light, the reflections off the water, .. I was blown away.

Each tour was about 45 minutes long, and both are definitely highly recommended!

For dinner we checked out a number of options. The newish restaurant across from our B&B, the Huhu Café, was reputed to be very good and able to cater for special needs, however the chef was very busy when we dropped in during the afternoon to ask and said he wouldn’t have time to prepare anything special for us. Several other places couldn’t serve us what we needed. But eventually we found the Morepork Pizzeria up the hill behind Curly’s Bar, where I had a “vegetable stack” (really more of a skewer than a stack) and Laetitia had fish, chips and salad. It was delicious.

At dusk (i.e. around 9:30pm), at the recommendation of our hosts, we grabbed torches and went a short way along the Ruakuri bushwalk - and saw glowworms on the cliff walls and under trees around the river. The moon was close to full, so the real stars were not very bright - it was easy to see how insects might get confused about where the stars and sky were.

The next morning we returned to the Ruakuri walk to complete the full circuit in daylight. The natural tunnel through which the river flows was quite spectacular, and the path goes through some smaller natural tunnels as well. There were many steps on the walk, though, along with some steep inclines, and we were quite tired out by the end.

Our hosts recommended State Highway 30 “all the way” to get to Rotorua, which turned out to be a delightful scenic drive indeed. We stopped for lunch in Whakamaru, where we enjoyed a delicious pizza along with great friendly service and conversation at Fred’s Pizzeria. Very highly recommended!

Kaikoura

Arriving in Kaikoura in time for a late lunch (and far too early to check in), we drove through the middle of town and decided after some dithering to try the Thai Siam for lunch. All the options we saw were quite expensive; it’s evidently not a cheap place to stay (we paid NZ$125 a night) nor eat out. Our lunch was tasty enough, but not really worth the price. Laetitia tried abalone (NZ paua in fact) and says the flavour was indistinct.

After lunch we checked in to our accommodation, the Comfort Inn Mediterranean Motel at the north end of town, and then visited the local quilt shop, A Patch of Country (good range of fabrics, friendly staff, more expensive - says Laetitia). For dinner we snacked in our room, which was spacious enough with a small kitchenette (full sink, microwave, electric frypan but no other hotplate).

In the morning we enjoyed a 40-minute guided tour of a limestone cave just to the south of town with a garrulous and enthusiastic guide. This cave was discovered by accident when the wall of the limestone quarry outside fell through. Probably there are many other caves in the area, but nobody has bothered looking for them.

We had lunch in town at Coriander’s Indian Restaurant, a remarkable find on the main highway rather than in the busy and expensive town centre. Our satisfying meal cost us less than $NZ40. Highly recommended.

After lunch we drove out to Point Kean to see the seals. The tide was out but starting to come back in, and we walked out over the rocks following the fishy smell. We saw three seals, one male moving around a bit and two females sleeping, as well as a variety of birdlife. In the car park there was a mother duck with three ducklings, all quite bold in looking cute and hopeful.

Then we drove just northwest of town to the lavender farm, where we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the scent-heavy gardens. Already a little tired beforehand, the rich lavender in the air was enough to make me feel very sleepy, so from there we returned to our motel and I had a nap.

We had originally thought we might go whale-watching but the miserable weather (cold and occasionally drizzly) and the expense put us off.

Dinner was a stir-fry cooked in our room.

The next morning we left early because we had a ferry to catch just after midday.

Queenstown

We stayed at the Sherwood Manor Hotel on the highway between Frankton and Queenstown. After checking in we headed into town and found the Skyline gondola and Kiwi Birdlife Park. The gondola was still operating until 9pm, so we went up and also took a ride on the luge at the top. Great fun!

Dinner was left-overs from Wanaka.

The next morning we decided to pass on the jetboats and instead spend a few hours enjoying the excellent Kiwi Birdlife Park. We saw their kiwis (what is the plural, anyway?) which they house in special buildings where they artificially switch day and night (because kiwis are nocturnal). They were cute, surprisingly large and very active, running about scratching and pecking at the ground. The park also has a selection of other native birds and also some tuatara lizards. We enjoyed the Conservation Show which also included some introduced Australian animals (a possum and a rainbow lorikeet) which are pests in New Zealand.

For lunch we got a take-away from Freiya’s Indian Restaurant (delicious food and quite cheap - highly recommended!) in the centre of town, and took it to the beach by the lake in Frankton, which was pleasant and quiet except when planes took off overhead from the airport right behind us! The view was spectacular.

Then we headed south towards Lumsden before turning off west to Te Anau. We stopped briefly in Garston (apparently “New Zealand’s most inland village”, pop. 106) to taste-test and buy some small pots of local honey.

Glaciers

On our third day we drove south along State Highway 6 to Franz Josef. We had wanted to do a few walks up to lookouts in Greymouth before we left, but with the low-hanging clouds and continuing drizzle we decided there wasn’t much point. We also stopped briefly at Shantytown, just south of Greymouth, to check out the tourist attraction there, but again decided against spending $30 each to wander around in the drizzle.

We stopped for lunch at Hokitika. We checked out the Jade Factory as well as the views from the lookout at Sunset Point, at the head of the river. The weather was starting to clear by this point. Unfortunately the Jade Factory no longer runs the make-your-own jewellery carving course, so Laetitia had to cross that off her wish-list. We took a short walk through a patch of regrowth forest called Bushman’s Rest, then had a picnic lunch.

The drive down the coast included more and more steep inclines - up one mountain, down the other side, a one-lane bridge over a river, then up the next mountain.

When we got to Franz Josef we checked in to the Top 10 Holiday Park, which was excellent, and, with the weather continuing to clear and a sunny forecast ahead, we booked ourselves in for a heli-hike onto Fox Glacier the next morning. For dinner we had a stir fry cooked by ourselves in the kitchen next door to our room. What a pleasure to have a “home”-cooked meal!

The next morning dawned beautiful and sunny, with patches of drifting fog obscuring and then revealing different parts of the rugged mountain peaks. We headed off to Fox township and checked in for our helicopter ride. It was amazing! They flew us right up close to the walls of the valley and did some tight swooping curves over the glacier. We got to see right down a deep, deep hole into a waterfall down under the glacier! Then we landed on the ice. They gave us crampons to attach to our boots and a walking pole, and we set off up the glacier. Spectacular! It was a bit tricky to begin with, but after a while we got used to how to step to keep the crampons spiked firmly into the ice.

We saw ice caves, crevasses, a small lake atop the ice. (Yes, the water was cold!) The top surface is white where the sun has warmed it and the structure is disturbed, scattering the light, but the solid ice underneath is quite blue.

After a few hours the helicopter came back to pick us up and we returned to the township below. We had lunch there at the Cook’s Saddle (delicious, not too expensive, friendly service: definitely recommended!) before driving on southwards along the coast.

Christchurch, New Zealand!

We flew into Christchurch on Wednesday afternoon. We left Brisbane at 9am, where it was already over 20°C heading for about 28°C, and arrived three hours later at 3pm. Don’t you love travelling between different time zones? (But not to worry, we’ll get those three hours back on the way home again!) When we arrived it was grey, about 18°C with a stiff breeze making it feel closer to 10°C.

We sorted out a local prepaid SIM card for Laetitia’s phone, then called for a pickup from our hire car company (Apex). They gave us a manual Nissan Sunny for just under $40/day, with an Interislander ferry ticket included (for the car only; we have to pay extra for ourselves).

We stayed the night at Tui Lodge Motel. They upgraded us to a larger room, and the lady running the place was very friendly and helpful. They had beautiful roses in the gardens in front of the rooms. Unfortunately the pillows were a bit lumpy and there was an unpleasant musty odour wafting around the back.

For dinner we went to the Welcome Vegetarian Chinese Café, which we spotted while buying some groceries and our hotel host said she liked when we asked her about it. It was fantastic! The menu has a symbol to mark dishes that aren’t vegan, and they don’t cook with capsicum at all (which Laetitia was very pleased about). The food was delicious! Highly recommended: it’s on Wharenui Rd at Riccarton Rd.

The next morning we took a little drive around Christchurch, seeing the fenced-off areas in the city where so many buildings were damaged in the earthquake earlier this year, and stopped for a walk in the Botanic Gardens in Hagley Park. It was beautiful there. We especially enjoyed the giant pine trees.

Then we drove off to the west along State Highway 73 through Arthur’s Pass. The scenery was (of course) beautiful. Lush green forest, high mountains and wide valleys, many one-lane bridges. The rivers were quite clear water rushing over rocks and pebbles.

At a rest stop on the eastern side, just after one long one-lane bridge (long enough to have a passing bay in the middle!) we saw our first Kea. It was fat and green and curious. It was so fat it waddled! Later, in Arthur’s Pass itself, we saw many more. They are as cheeky as their reputation, and yes, they are definitely very interested in door seals! We even saw a couple staying on car roofs for a few seconds as the cars drove away.

Portorosa, Fremantle

Footsore from a day of walking around Perth and weary at the end of our Western Australia holiday, we were looking for a nice place to rest our feet and have dinner while sampling the ambience of Fremantle. We found it at an Italian restaurant on Market Street called Portorosa.

It's tucked in amongst several other restaurants, including another Italian place right beside it. We sat outside to enjoy the cool of the evening after the rather warm day.

They assured us that their pizza dough contained no milk products, so Laetitia ordered a pizza and I a calzone. We were simply amazed when they were brought out: They were absolutely huge! And delicious. A fabulous end to our day.

Definitely very highly recommended!

Thai Esarn, Bayswater

When we got back from Geraldton, we were feeling a bit worn out, so we caught a taxi to the Bayswater Hotel even though we knew it was near the train station. The hotel reminded us of the place we stayed at in Glasgow back in 2003; it had obviously been built from several adjoining buildings, and the route to our room was up, down and around several different flights of stairs, half-steps and sharp corners, passing through several doors along the way.


And we were really too tired to go into town for dinner, so after a relaxing drink at the bar (having discovered that the hotel bistro couldn't feed us), we went for a short walk around the nearby streets. Sure enough, we found a Thai restaurant, and despite my scepticism Laetitia managed to convince me to give them a try.

Once more, I'm glad she did. They had no trouble feeding me, after listening carefully as I explained my needs, and patiently putting up with my wariness about the Thai tendency to put some kind of fish product in everything they cook. The meal was delicious.

Recommendation: Worth a visit, if you're in the area (or can catch a train to Bayswater—it's right near the station).

Golden Tandoori Restaurant

On our second night in Perth's city centre, we thought we'd look for a different place to eat from the previous night. Walking along James St, we found an Indian restaurant Laetitia suggested we should try. And I'm so glad she did!

The Golden Tandoori Restaurant has a wide range of meals on their menu, including not only traditional Indian fare but also some cross-overs with Italian-style dishes (what they call “Mediterranean Fusion”). The restaurant was very quiet when we were there, although there was a steady stream of people coming to collect take-aways.

But the best thing about the Golden Tandoori was the service. From the moment we walked in, hesitatingly asking whether they could cook without ghee, they smiled and waited on us and provided just what we needed. They had no problem catering to our diets, and took the time to check and confirm when they thought there might have been a misunderstanding.

The food was delicious! Very tasty, spicy but not too hot, most satisfying. If only we weren't staying in a hotel room without any way to make use of left-overs.

Recommendation: Absolutely fantastic! Five-star service, delicious food.

Formosa Vegetarian Eating House

Worn out and hungry in a strange city, we asked our Perth CBD hotel concierge where we might find some vegetarian food. She wasn't sure, but suggested we take a short walk to James St because there were quite a few restaurants there.

She was right. Amongst a wide variety of different options, we found the Formosa Vegetarian Eating House, and it reminded us of a favourite restaurant back home (The Loving Hut in Mt Gravatt): everything on the menu is vegetarian, sometimes in spite of the name and picture! There's a couple of large rooms filled with tables, and when you arrive you take a menu—which has many, many options and colourful photos to help you choose—as well as an order sheet and pencil, and write down what you want to try. The prices are quite low. Once you've chosen, you take the order form to the counter and pay, and then when it's ready (which wasn't too long in our case) they bring it out to you at your table. There's also a selection of cakes and sweets near the counter, but while vegetarian most of them were not vegan, so we didn't try those.

They have a small stage area and several large screens, playing karaoke music in several (mostly Asian) languages. Apparently they have karaoke competitions there. I'm glad we missed that!


Recommendation: Good food, cheap, wide range of choices, all vegetarian. Try it!

The Loving Hut

After the wedding, for dinner that night we decided to try a new restaurant reviewed by a friend. It's called The Loving Hut, and it's on Logan Rd in Mt Gravatt (right near Photo Continental).

And it was fabulous! For people with special diets, eating out can be a real bother. But in this restaurant, everything on the menu was vegan! Yippee! What a pleasure.

And it tasted great. It's been so long since I had a nice satay, so I chose the Satay Nuggets, and I wasn't disappointed. Delicious! Finished with a rich apple cake and whipped coconut cream. We went home very full, with food left over for lunch the next day, and it wasn't expensive either.

Yum! Give them a try. Thanks, Annie, what a find!

The long drive home, and a surprise at the end of the journey

Back home in Mackay.

In order to bring our old couch to Mackay, we had arranged to collect a brand new trailer from a factory in Brisbane and deliver it to Mackay Trailers, run by a friend of ours here in Mackay. So on Thursday we went over to Brendale to pick up the trailer, then spent the rest of the afternoon finding things to put in it: our couch (which we'd lent to our previous church, Fairfield Christian Family), our push-mower (which we'd left with our friend Audrey since we house-sat for her in mid-2004), and a few other bits and pieces. My father and I put quite some effort into wrapping the couch matress thoroughly in in builder's plastic to keep the rain out—which was reasonably successful, but not perfect, as we discovered when we finally unwrapped it again this evening.

On Friday morning we took everything out to the car and packed it from floor to roof. With the back seats folded down, our Corolla has a large and almost rectangular cargo bay with no lip at the back, which was most convenient for loading in the cupboard inserts (which we'd hoped to be able to bring back with us, since my poor mother has been putting up with them lying sideways on the floor of my old bedroom in Browns Plains since early 2003).

Finally we left. It rained or drizzled almost the whole way, finally stopping around Miriamvale. We made it to Rockhampton around 7:15pm before stopping for the night. Hotels are not cheap in Rocky! (We paid $95 for the night, which included breakfast.) We considered ordering pizza for dinner, but changed our minds when we found out it would take an hour and a half to arrive! So we asked our hosts, who suggested a short drive to a nearby pub. But near the pub we found an Indian restaurant called Sitara, from which we got delicious (and quite spicy!) take-away food which we took back to eat in our room.

On Saturday after breakfast and filling up the fuel tank (isn't petrol getting expensive!) we drove on to Mackay, arriving around 1:30pm… to discover that our dodgy circuit breaker had flipped off while we were away, turning what little food we had left in the fridge and freezer into stinking mould! *Sigh* Laetitia gallantly cleaned the fridge out while I went off to buy groceries for restocking.

Zafron

We went out for dinner tonight, with our parents, to “Zafron”, a Persian/Mediterranean restaurant on Brunswick St in the Valley. Let's just say they don't cater to vegans. Only one dish on the menu seems to be okay… but no such luck. All the rice is prepared with butter; no, they can't do up any more. The lavash bread is pre-stuffed with cheese and who knows what else. The chef came out to chat, but she wasn't very helpful. In the end she offered to mix and match a couple of items from the menu, including a few dips with some Turkish bread.

Our meals were served on very large plates, of a most interesting variety of shapes. But the servings themselves were not especially large. Laetitia and I basically shared a few slices of Turkish bread and dips, and a small helping of char-grilled vegetables. Laetitia's mum was disappointed that her “Lamb Shanks” turned out to be “Lamb Shank” (no plural). The flavours were certainly delicious, and the texture and preparation excellent… just there wasn't enough of it to satisfy. (And they charged Laetitia and me $15 each for the privelege. Our parents' meals were quite a bit more—the meal total for six adults was $120.)

Recommendation: Don't, unless you're a rich meat-eater.