Wanderlust

So the day had finally dawned, Mummy and Daddy Ziebart were on their way to New Zealand! After many weeks of planning (which basically involved me producing seriously impressive spreadsheets mapping out their itinerary from dawn until dusk every day), managing to book Emirates and not Qantas so their A380 wasn’t the one that had to crash land and surviving the rains of Sydney they finally touched down on New Zealand soil. Kz and I waited eagerly at the airport to collect them, after having been permission to leave work early, and we waited, and waited…..

Eventually, after waiting nearly two hours we decided to phone them and see why they hadn’t appeared. Mum answered the phone in a hushed voice, ‘We’re in immigration being searched!’ Apparently, on your form into NZ it is apparently not a sensible idea to declare 1) that you have ‘illegal’ drugs in your possession (in this case Dad’s blood pressure pills) and 2) that you’ve been walking in the countryside – this necessitates you having your suitcase opened, everything being searched and your shoes being sprayed and cleaned until every visible speck of dust is removed.

Finally, they arrived through, blithely unaware that we had been waiting for two hours and Dad just rather pleased with himself that he’d got his shoes cleaned for free!

After a couple of days exploring Auckland we decided to take them further afield and set off early in the morning to visit Wai O Tapu on the way to Napier. Our first stop was the Lady Knox Geyser which erupts daily at 10.15am. We were slightly disappointed to realize that the reason it is so regular is because they drop detergent into it and apparently that helps the erupting process! It is pretty impressive though as the jet of water reaches up to 20metres and can last for over an hour. Interestingly too, because the geyser was only discovered early in the 20th century, it has no Maori name, unlike almost every other thermal feature in the area.

Waiting patiently...


There she blows!!

Mum and Dad then spent a few hours wondering around Wai O Tapu (longer than most people take because Mum kept stopping to look at birds – this became a theme of our travels!) whilst KZ and I enjoyed reading our books in the sun.

We carried on to Napier thinking we would get something to eat on the way, not realizing that it was basically a road through the middle of nowhere! Eventually, just at the point when we were about to gnaw our own arms off we discovered somewhere to stop and ate some of their rather dubiously named food…

The 'Bugger Burger' (yes it really was called that)


The view for a lot of the journey...

We finally arrived in Napier at our bach just in time to have a bbq and plan the next day's activities.

After getting over his initial horror, Dad learns to 'grill outside' (AKA bbq with gas)


Our lovely bach

Waking to another beautifully sunny day, we decided what could be a better way to see the area than a bike ride round the vineyards, particularly after the success of our bike ride round Margaret River. The slight difference this time however was that it was self guided tour! This proved to be something of a problem as I struggle to map read at the best of times, Mum was too busy looking at birds and critiquing the person giving directions and Dad needs all his concentration to stay on the bike in the first place! So Kz was duly designated the task and a fine job she did of it too. With her in the lead and me at the back, chivvying up the stragglers, we spent a really great day taking in (literally) the delights of Hawkes Bay.

The intrepid explorers



How to make Dad happy at 10am...


Mission Estate winning the prize for prettiest Winery

Mum strikes a pose

The action shot

Napier itself is famous for being the Art Deco capital of the world. The reason for this is that in 1931 there was a massive earthquake which pretty much destroyed the town and as well as being the popular architectural style at the time, it was cheap to build in Art Deco style as it is mostly concrete which is cheap.

It’s not everyone’s style but it is pretty great to walk around …see for yourself….

'Pania of the Reef' - amazingly stolen a few years ago but found in a random backyard!

Mum and Dad loved the sign asking for 'passive recreation'!



Dad strikes his best Charleston pose

Every February the Masonic hosts an Art Deco weekend


Dad is shocked at the rationing of his ice-cream!

On the drive back to Auckland we decided to come back via Te Mata Peak. It’s 400m about sea level so the views are pretty impressive – on a good day you can see all the way to Ruapeha (Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings). Now the road up there is somewhat of a mission, extremely windy and very narrow, so cue slightly fraught car journey with lots of involuntary breaking, gasping and gripping of the seats from Mum and Kz.

As ever, there is a Maori legend surrounding the peak, so if you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll begin….Many centuries ago the people living in pa (fortified villages) on the Heretaunga Plains were under constant threat of war from the coastal tribes of Waimarama. At a gathering in Pakipaki (near Hastings), a wise old woman (kuia) suggested that the leader of the Waimarama tribes, a giant named Te Mata, could be made to fall in love with Hinerakau - the daughter of a Pakipaki chief - and turn his thoughts from war to peace. This mission was quickly accomplished, and Te Mata fell under the spell of the beautifully Hinerakau.

However the people of Heretaunga had not forgotten the past and wanted revenge. They demanded that Hinerakau make Te Mata prove his devotion by accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks. His last task was to bite through the hills between the coast and the plains, so that people could come and go with greater ease.

Te Mata died while eating his way through the hills. His half-accomplished work can be seen in what is known as The Gap or Pari Karangaranga (echoing cliffs) and his prostrate body forms Te Mata Peak. The end.

The fabulous views were worth the drive

Looking towards Napier

The Family shot

We also made a little detour via Taupo and the Huka Falls. The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand. The volume of water passing over the falls varies between 32 and 270 cubic metres per second, or approximately 220,000 litres per second down an 11m drop at the end.

Roaring Huka Falls

Mum and Dad model their hatwear

Enjoying a picnic before hitting the road again...

It was a lovely trip and great opportunity to catch up, de-brief and prove to Mum and Dad that the sun can shine in New Zealand. Sadly when Mum and Dad went down to the South Island their illusions were shattered as the rain kicked in, but we soon cheered them up with another sunshine laden weekend in the Coromandal...but more of that in the next installment!