Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: April 2015

It’s been a bit of a while, but what with having two Tuesday 21sts, bad men in the computer, California driving meltdown and Freedom camping fuck-ups, I hope we’re back to a degree of normality. If you can really call this place normal…

To round off our New Zealand adventure, we decided to put in some big miles (they call them kilometres in NZ and they’re not as big) and luxuriated in natural hot springs in Rotorua, coming out after two hours with skin as soft as, well, think of a non-cliché simile.

We then hoiked (not very far) to Taupo, where it was cold, so we went to see ‘Shaun The Sheep’(!!!) I kid you not. Gillie’s dream date…Great free camp by the side of the lake within spitting distance of the town centre.

We had to go and see Mt Egmont/Taranaki, only 296k away, but that’s only half the story. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, driving in NZ is part of the adventure and we had a great drive before we reached a lovely campsite within view (sort of) of the fabled volcano. Caught a great glimpse of it in the setting sun, but it was hidden by cloud the next day, so we were lucky.

Part of the attraction of going to Mt Egmont/Taranaki is driving east back to Taupo via the Forgotten World Highway. Steve and Kathy had told us how wonderful this drive was and we set off with high expectations. This road is 150 km (12 of them unsealed) of windy roads and brilliant hills with four saddles – natural high passes – where we had to stop to marvel at the views and stunning landscape. Taupo that evening saw us take in another movie – ‘What We Did on our Holiday’ a lovely comedy with some top British actors.

Our next stop was Ohope, where we decided not to drive around the Bay of Plenty as we only had two days and would have been rushing it, so we relaxed and talked about how we would make that trip next time…

Relatively short hop to Papamoa Beach where we sat on the chilly but sunny beach all afternoon and watched a new form (for us) of beach ‘fishing’ where the bloke sent a vessel out by remote control; it then sank and waited a couple of hours for the fish to bite. The aforementioned bloke then calls it back in and fills his coolbox with the ‘catch’. Sport eh?

Third film of the week was the next day as the rain was of truly biblical proportions all day and was not going to relent, so we walked/waded to the cinema to watch ‘Woman in Gold’ – excellent drama with Helen Mirren about the Klimt painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer(?) and her quest to have it restituted (is that a word?) from the Austrian government.

We returned to one of our favourite spots for our last full day’s camping in NZ – Tararua near Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula, a free spot with brilliant sunsets. Our amazing sojourn in New Zealand was given a bit of a bump when we were awakened the following morning at 7.30 by a knock on the window. We were getting an instant ticket for bylaw infringement as, although we were completely self-contained, with the proper holding tanks for waste water (etc), we didn’t have the correct stickers and licences on display outside the vehicle, so were up for a fine of $200!

When we took Meg back to the hire place that afternoon, words were spoken, I can tell you. We may yet have a happy outcome on this as we have not yet heard and the chap at the hire office said they might be able to write it off. Fingers crossed.

Our last morning in New Zealand was tinged with sadness. We had said goodbye to Steve and Kathy when we set off to Auckland, but because we were in the same country, they felt very close, as did the girls, who were only two hours behind, but setting off for Los Angeles meant we were moving right out of their time zones.

Thanks so much Steve and Kathy, you really looked after us and were so kind. It was great being able to spend proper time with you again. Stay in touch you bastard!

Our check-in baggage is now 23kg each, so Gillie has definitely smuggled some more shoes in! but our carry-on bags are probably much the same. Not sure how we managed to get away with it…

Last Tuesday 21^st April was a strange one. We left Auckland at 12.45 pm and arrived in LA at 12.30 pm on the same day after about 13 hours of flying and five and a half hour stopover in Fiji. Just after we left Fiji, we crossed the International Date Line, so we gained an extra day in our lives, which we then proceeded to waste by taking the wrong highway from LA airport and finding ourselves three hours and mega traffic jams later on the way to Las Vegas – Wrong!! We eventually found our way back to the correct road and arrived at Hannah and Jai’s house at 8 pm. Hannah was expecting us about 4 pm!

The fabled LA weather was not happening for us last week, so we had to settle for looking longingly at their pool for a few days, but we went in yesterday – and it was freezing!

We have been slowly getting ourselves organized for the next part of our adventure, which kind of took a big step forward when we bought an RV (big motorhome) last Saturday, by winning the bid on Ebay! We bid the reserve and nobody outbid us – bit scary, but we were reassured when we went to see it on Saturday. It’s a 1988 26 ft Ford Jamboree, which feels enormous after our recent experiences.

Having a few problems getting insurance for the vehicle though, as Andy has to get a California driving licence in order to be able to buy any insurance. So he’s going for the written test tomorrow (Thursday) and if he passes he’ll try to get booked in for the ‘behind-the-wheel’ test as soon as possible after, as we hope to drive down to San Diego on Sunday until Wednesday for a trial run. Keep everything crossed for us, please!

We are returning to LA on Wednesday as we are going to be staying at Jai and Hannah’s house for a couple of weeks while they go with baby Leo to visit all their relatives and friends in Yorkshire during May. Unfortunately their cat, Bob, was attacked by a coyote, out on the street in front of their house last Sunday morning! He gave a good account of himself apparently, but has a broken jaw and is now recovering, but will need some TLC while they are away and we’re more than happy to help out after their wonderful hospitality.

Leaving you all on tenterhooks wondering how Andy got on with the written test…

PS What a lot happens in a week!! We are having such a lovely time in LA, Hannah and Jai are being so kind to us and baby Leo is just gorgeous. Last Sunday we did the ‘tourist’ bit and went to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Chinese Theatre and the handprints and footprints of film stars old and new (the Harry Potter actors were there next to George Clooney and Fred Astaire!). Andy is now waiting for the ‘call’ as there are still a few spaces left…..

Summer has finally arrived and it’s boiling…30+ today, or 90+ in old money. The house is really lovely, very spacious with a lovely pool and a back garden that looks over to the mountains. Every night we are eating outside and marvelling at the amazing sunsets. Aren’t we lucky?? We are beginning to plan the next stages of our trip and hope to ‘experience’ Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, before we head north towards Yosemite and San Francisco…Bye for now, love to all G. xxxxx

Mt Egmont/Taranaki in the evening

Just one of the amazing views on the Forgotten World Highway

Mountains of Mordor, left; Mt Doom, right. From Lake Taupo

Study of beer bottle in sunset. Thames, Coromandel Peninsula

Our lovely hosts Jai and Hannah Mistry, with baby Leo

Graumann's Chinese Theatre - tourists!!!

Gillie gets her hands on Gorgeous George!

Whereas Andy is much more cool

A chilly tree in Rotorua

Jacuzzi fun!

I’ll come to that later. Suffice to say that we have had such unexpectedly lovely weather, combined with wonderful experiences and a dearth of wifi over the last two weeks, that the blog has taken a bit of a back seat. If you care, please accept our apologies. If you don’t – well, you won’t have read this far!

As with many things, in blogland less appears to be more, if you get my drift, so we’ll condense this one into a bit of an edited highlights package, which should be more manageable, dear reader.

Our Airbnb in Auckland was lovely, just a shame we couldn’t have stayed longer, but the open road was calling and we headed intrepidly north, staying in the car park of a community sports and athletics club on the Friday night. Our new campervan, who we have christened Meg is the biggest yet. We can both stand up and move around in her at the same time! And the shower and loo are ‘capacious’ – as the estate agents would have it.

On a whim, we booked a trip up 90-Mile Beach to Cape Reinga for the Sunday and had a completely brilliant time – shooting along the beach in a converted lorry with a coach back, with a great commentary from a very passionate driver. Lunch, visits to The Gumdiggers’ Buried Forest and the cape, plus – a highlight – sand-boarding down a 150-metre sand dune! Wild horses too!

Anyway, we got back in time to see New Zealand’s cricket adventure come to a sticky end against the Aussies. Just wait till The Ashes…

The next few days saw us taking in some fabulous walks and stopping at some beautiful spots: Whatuwhiwhi; Doubtless Bay, Mangonui; a seven-hour round trek from Paihia to Russell, followed the next day by a strenuous hike around Otehei Bay. Some of you may have noticed my feeble attempts at punning a couple of those places. Still looking for a pun on Urupukapuka…any suggestions?

After our marvellous outings around the Bay of Islands – surely one of the most beautiful areas in New Zealand, if not the world – we had a couple of freebies and some awful Easter traffic before arriving at the National Jazz Festival in Tauranga. Mmm nice.

Actually it was completely awesome. Check out The Carnivorous Plant Society and Hipstamatics, both excellent and very different bands, who we saw for a grand total of $4 on Easter Sunday. Then off to the Jazz Village on E Monday for more great music. Especially a young lad no more than 15, looking 13, fronting a three-piece with his little sister on drums! They were called Situation Vacant and he was playing some of the most mature and confident blues/jazz lead guitar. Think Pat Metheny or Joe Bonamassa in five years.

The reference in the title to Idiot Dancing…anyone of a similar age to ours who went to gigs and festivals in the late Sixties/early Seventies will surely remember the idiots who always stood up in the middle of the crowd and danced as if there was no-one watching. Well they still exist in NZ and it was great watching them strut their stuff to some of the most undance-able music!

After the festival we drove back towards the Coromandel Peninsula and stayed at a couple of beaches – Waihi deserves a mention only because we don’t know how to say it, as with Hahei – go on, have a go! Cook’s Beach was where Capt. Cook first landed in New Zealand and determined the Longitude for the place by aligning with Mercury, or something. Anyway, it’s in Mercury Bay. Go figure.

During our trolley around the Peninsula, we have done some more excellent beach walks – to New Chums Bay, where we didn’t make any and Cathedral Cove, where we did – and are now in Coromandel Town thinking about dinner.

A word about the driving. While the stopping – campsites, free camps, beaches, mountains, forests, lakes, rivers and everything have been truly lovely and awe-inspiring, the driving has also been a delight. Or it would have been if all Kiwis were banned from doing it. The roads are much better maintained than in Oz and the routes are spectacular – you really know you’re travelling some great drives, with massive switchbacks and zigzags both up- and downhill, long slopes with amazing views, hitting the top of a mountain and descending into primordial rainforest. As some sloganeer once said ‘Getting There Is Half The Fun’. In this case (s)he was right.

Probably one more from Kiwi-land then off to LA and the start of a new adventure. Bye for now.

PS It’s Friday again and nearly ‘wine time’ so I’m going to be quick! One thing Andy didn’t mention with regard to NZ drivers is we’ve heard that they don’t have to learn to drive! Also there are only two driving schools in the whole of the country for those that think it may be a good idea if they did. Scary or what?? Apart from that we have been so delighted with the far north of the North Island, especially the Bay of Islands. The scenery is out of this world, sooooo beautiful and Paihia and Russell the most gorgeous of little towns, right on the bay looking at the turquoise blue sea. They both have a great atmosphere with lovely shops, bars and restaurants. Bliss! We have been mostly blessed with blue, blue skies and lovely hot sun...maybe our big woolly jumpers brought for NZ will come in useful in LA?? Spring will be springing when we arrive so hope not. The day we fly out of Auckland, 21^st April will mark 7 months since we left the UK! Thanks to all those who are keeping in touch, we love to hear your news.

Now where’s that wine…?

Loads of love G. xxx