Jon’Spot

Dec 8 - 9

I got underway by 11:00 the next morning, with 4-5 hours of riding ahead of me - back up (literally) the motorway, then heading northeast on SH2 up into the Rimutaka Mountain Range. The road sign indicating that the route I was taking was “open” foretold what would be the most difficult hour of riding I’d do on my entire trip. Not only was the mountain pass was as winding as any other that I’d see on my trip, but the headwinds and crosswinds tossed me around in my narrow lane more violently than Lucky treats a pen he’s found on my desk. I don’t know how long the ride to the top was, but I did make it, with one short stop in a turnout along the way. I was afraid to get off the bike for fear the winds would knock it over, but I really needed a break, and besides, I had to check out the view I couldn’t enjoy on the way up. I grabbed my camera from the back of the bike as it swayed back and forth and took, then spent 10-15 minutes fighting the wind and using increasingly short exposure times. Unfortunately, the cafe was closed (whether permanently, or just until enough tourists arrived, I couldn’t tell), so I repacked the camera (bike still far less stable on the kickstand than I would’ve liked) and started down the other side.

I tried to use a semi as a windbreak for a few km (not sure that it was particularly effective), but on one of the curves, the driver insisted on pulling off to the side a bit to let me pass, so I had to continue on my own. Although there were still stiff winds, they really didn’t feel as bad on the descent. the rest of the ride to Napier was uneventful, and I honestly don’t remember much about the terrain, except perhaps that the road felt relatively straight. I did start seeing wineries along the way, but as I had very limited time in Napier, I was more concerned with getting to my destination.

After unloading my bags at Pinehaven and locking my bike nearby, I wandered across the road to the beach. The wet sand had this beautiful shimmer to it (which I’m sure I completely failed to capture on film), and I found hundreds (if not thousands) of what I first thought were tiny white stones, most of them smaller than a dime. I eventually came across a larger piece, at which point I realized that what I was really seeing was highly polished shell fragments. I discovered a couple pieces of pumice, just sitting on the beach (rather than in a bathtub, it’s natural habitat). As was my tendency through much of the trip, I spent a great deal more time taking photos of the crashing surf and seagulls than they really warranted, but it did give me practice in following moving subjects.

I continued walking along the beach, then turned left past a fountain and into town in search of dinner. After being mostly destroyed by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 1931 and subsequent fires, Napier was rebuilt in using the popular architectural styles of the day, and is now widely known for its art deco buildings. This town definitely had the most unique architecture I’d seen on my journey. Unfortunately, I was more concerned with food than photos, so you’ll have to rely on other sources if you’d like to see for yourself.

I eventually ended up having dinner back where I started on the Marine Parade. My table was situated next to these large windows that ran the length of the outside wall, and although they opened like doors, they didn’t go quite all the way to the ground. Napier is obviously used to a much milder climate than we are, and the windows proved all too tempting for a young boy passing by on the street to jump up onto (much to his mother’s shock ;)).

After dessert (consisting of a large amount of chocolate, of course), and a not so short game of billiards against myself, I wandered back out to try taking some evening/night pictures of an illuminated fountain nearby. I think they came out pretty well, though there were at least a couple lights that had burned out. I also tried to grab a couple shots of the neon clock tower on my way back to my room, though by then it was too dark to get a particularly sharp picture.

The next morning after breakfast, I loaded up the bike and started to depart before remembering that I wanted to take some pictures of the Pohutakawa trees across the street (as I was not convinced I’d managed a good shot of one yet). As I parked, I also discovered a the sunken gardens, to which I returned after visiting the trees. The gardens had an abstract sculpture which occupied my attention for a while, along with a group of people practicing some sort of meditation.

Once I’d had my fun at the garden, I almost stopped at the mini golf place next door, but it had already remained longer than I had wanted, as I also wanted to spend some time in Taupo on my way to Rotorua…

Dec 4 - 8

Heading south from New Plymouth along Highway 1, I began to think I had left sheep behind in favor of herd after herd of cattle (which should have come as no surprise, given what I’d learned in Puke Ariki. I travelled for quite a while without seeing a single sheep, but they did start to appear again, so my previous comment still stands. Overall, the ride to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, was uneventful, though I spent most of the time fighting strong winds coming off the Tasman Sea, which - as you can probably imagine - made for a tiring afternoon. For the first time on my trip, I arrived at my destination at the time I had planned (6:00). This was to be the first of my 4 night stops, staying in the lovely Bouqet room at Annaday Homestay, with a beautiful view of the city and harbour. As I was unloading the bike, Anne and Dave were kind enough to invite me to join them for an early Christmas dinner, which I naturally couldn’t refuse. A very nice ending to an exhausting afternoon.

I awoke the next morning to thick fog and rain. Luckily the fog lifted and the rain tapered off as I ate breakfast, though I waited until fairly late in the morning to head out for the day. After the previous day’s long ride, I thought it would be nice to do a walking tour of Wellington that was in one of the travel guides I had brought. I started at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa… and didn’t leave until they closed at 6:00 that evening. The four levels of exhibits and art galleries covered a wide range of New Zealand culture and history, and amazingly has no admission fee (as I’ve found with most government-run sites - though brochures must be purchased, and donations are accepted of course).

Immediately inside the main entrance to the museum, I found one of the replicas of Burt Munro’s bike used to file The World’s Fastest Indian. The display also corrected some information in one of my previous posts: the speed shown in the movie (>200 mph) was an unofficial time - the official record he set that year was 178.971 mph.

After taking several shots of the bike, I wandered through their geological exhibits, though most of the material covered was nothing new to me. I did learn that New Zealand was not formed through volcanic activity, as I had assumed. It was actually part of Gondwalaland, the southern supercontinent that eventually broke apart to form South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The islands do have a major fault line running through them, and the country has certainly been shaped by earthquakes and volcanic activity. Among the exhibits I found a touch screen which showed the locations of major earthquakes in New Zealand’s past, along with a list of recent quakes that had been recorded. Next to this was a small “house” on hydraulics in which you could experience a simulated quake.

Next to the geological exhibits were several fossils. Most memorable among these was a spiral shell about 4 feet in diameter. I believe I’ve heard of larger having been found, but this was impressive enough. They also had a large moa (extinct, flightless bird - looked a bit like an ostrich, but with no wings at all) which showed evidence that it had been attacked by an eagle (also extinct, I believe). Imagine an eagle (no bigger than any species alive today) hunting a 7 foot moa!

After wandering through the exhibit of New Zealand’s flora and fauna, I opted to take the lift to the top floor and work my way down. The top two floors were devoted to art galleries and installations. One large room had dozens of examples of work done by Bernard Roundhill, a prolific commercial artist. Seed packets, labels for canned goods, magazine covers, calendars, health posters, and probably half a dozen other types of items I’ve forgotten. It was an impressive collection, and quite beautiful. Nearby was Stamped, an exhibit dedicated to New Zealand’s postal history. Besides a couple mail boxes, “Postie” uniforms and bikes, were numerous stamps, from the first used in New Zealand, to recent stamps in various shapes (circle, triangle, …), a holographic stamp (commemorating the moon landings, iirc), and a collection of four stamps honoring New Zealand Olympic medalists (each of which showed a slightly different scene of the athlete, depending on the angle at which you viewed the stamp). This exhibit also included letters sent to and from soldiers in wartime, including a few examples that had been censored in transit (with either thick black marker or scissors).

The highlights on the next floor included Culture Moves!, a displays of polynesian dance costumes from around the Pacific. The costumes presented were from the 2005 ASB Auckland Secondary Schools’ Maori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival (Polyfest), and the displays included video and photos from that festival. After wandering this hallway, I passed through Made in New Zealand, an exhibit devoted to Kiwi history, culture, and inginuity. At this point in the day, I think I was a bit overloaded on information, so I don’t remember much detail from the exhibit. the main thing I remember is a station wagon clad in “heavy guage corrugated iron”, and an audiovisual show with hundreds of images and sounds from Kiwi history, accompanied various animatronic items, from a moose head, to tin soldiers, to a soldier’s uniform.

Before the museum closed for the day, I decided to check out The Time Warp, two motion simulators that take you through New Zealand’s history (influenced in part by both geological evidence and the Maori story of creation), as well as 50 years into the future. I enjoyed the former (Blastback) more than the latter (Future Rush), though Future Rush did have an interactive room which sensed your body position and motion - for instance, you could snow board by crouching and leaning left and right.

As the museum was closing (with about a floor’s worth of exhibits left unexplored), I turned in search of food. The parking garage I left the bike in was next to a food court and cinema, the latter showing (among other things) the new Harry Potter movie. Tired of walking, I grabbed some Indian fast food and a smoothie, then bought a ticket to the show. The movie cost as much as in the US (adjusting for the exchange rate), but unlike theatres back home, this one had assigned seating (for evening shows at least), and the seats were much more comfortable than any I remember. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie (better than the previous, I think), though I did miss the surround sound found in newer theaters like at Crossgates. After the movie I spent half an hour or more trying to navigate Wellington in the dark to return to my room, and then proceeded to spend half an hour or more trying to take more night photos from my room…

The next day was much the same, though I got an earlier start. I headed right to the museum - well, almost, as it took me 10-15 minutes to find the parking garage I had found relatively easily previous day (only $2.50NZ for parking a bike all day!). Back to the museum, I wandered through the Maori exhibits for quite a while. This was my first big introduction to Maori culture, but I’ll save that for my post from Rotorua. Next to this was a section on The Waitangi Treaty and The Waitangi Tribunal. The latter was created in 1975, and charged with making recommendations on Maori claims of violations of the treaty (originally just future violiations, but later expanded to include past grievences). I finished up by taking a walk through the Bush City, an living outdoor exhibit which “offers the feel of New Zealand’s rainforest”. This was next to a small pond with several ducks and as many cute little yellow ducklings paddling around (though according to one of the museum’s staff, many of the ducklings don’t survive - most visitors just feed them bread, which of course doesn’t provide them with sufficient nutrition).

In retrospect, I’m not sure how I ended up spending the entire afternoon at the museum again, but I again left as they were closing (though this time satisfied that I’d seen everything I wanted to see). Sick of walking, I grabbed the bike and headed along the coast for a while, though I turned back when the road I was on led through some sort of military installation… back in Wellington, I wound my way up to the lookout atop Mount Victoria, where I spent the remainder of the evening taking photos - first of the clouds, highlighted by the sun, then of the city as the light faded and the lights came on. For the second night in a row, I arrived back at my room later than planned (though this time I did a bit better navigating the city).

The weather improved a bit for day three, so I decided to take a walking tour of the city. First stop was a clothing store for rain pants, in case my luck didn’t hold out and I needed to ride in a downpour. Finishing that, I made my way over to Wellington’s cable cars. Wellington used to use cable cars like those in San Francisco (with a moving cable running under the street which the car would grab onto), but that was eventually replaced with a newer design - two cars connected by a cable run around a pulley, balancing each other with one ascending the mountain while the other descends - both cars sharing a single track, which splits halfway up the hill to allow the cars to pass each other. A couple of old cars are on display at the Cable Car Museum at the top of the hill, along with the machinery that ran the old underground cable.

Next to the museum sits the Wellington Botanical Gardens. Naturally, the gardens sit amongst steep hills (along with much of Wellington), but starting at the top made finding a nice downhill route path quite easy. I wandered by the observatory and (more importantly) planetarium, but decided not to stop for a show as I had already spent much of the previous couple days inside, and I feared that I would have to cut short my walk. Next to the observatory, I found the Sundial of Human Involvement. By standing on the current day with your hands in a point over your head, you become part of the sundial with your shadow showing the current time. The sundial is even correct during Daylight Savings Time, as staff members adjust the numbers on the markers twice a year to compensate.

Continuing on the path, I came across a few Pohutakawa trees, with it’s bright red, bushy flowers that bloom each year around this time, for which it is sometimes called the New Zealand Christmas Tree. This was the first time I had seen one since leaving the Bay of Islands, so I delighted in taking pictures - with several large bees collecting pollen as a bonus! (I’m not sure why I’m so fascinated in taking pictures of bees and other insects, but it certainly is a challenge.)

Continuing, I passed some kids skateboarding (sitting, not standing, as I recall) down the windy path, a group of young school girls on a lucnh break playing on a playground, and (of course) many other trees, flowers, and busy bees. The telephoto lens I bought right before the trip makes a halfway decent macro lens, and I think I ended up with a number of nice close-ups of various flowers and bees.

As I reached one of the streets bordering the park, I had to choose my route to the Rose Garden (and just as importantly, the cafe next to it) - either the “easy” route downhill along the street, or the “hard” path over the hill. As I’d had a fairly easy walk thus far (and was no longer sore from Mt. Taranaki), I opted for the walk over the hill, which was not as bad as I’d feared. This led me to a small herb and spice garden, then provided a beautiful view of the rose gardens as I descended the switchbacked path down the hill.

I resisted the temptation to wander around taking pictures of all the different roses (just a few), but I had to spend a bit of time with the fountain in the center of the garden, not to mention the ducks sunning themselves on the grass nearby. I then grabbed an ice cream and wandered over to the Waterfall and Peace Flame next to the garden, where I found ducklings! After swimming around the there for a couple minutes, they all made their way up onto the sidewalk, then waddled across the road towards the fountain area, with mom in the lead. I would’ve had a great “Make Way for Ducklings” shot of them crossing the road, but it’s quite difficult to get out and use a camera with an ice cream cone in one hand!

Back to the Peace Flame, I found a block of stone from one of the buildings destroyed by the atomic bomb blasts that ended World War II - from the Nagasaki Town Hall, I think. The flame itself, I have since learned, was originally ignited by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. New Zealand passed legislation making itself nuclear free almost 20 years ago (refusing port access to US ships with nuclear weapons or utilizing nuclear power, which as you can imagine, still results in political friction).

My walk then took me out of the gardens, and through an old graveyard divided by a motorway. Many graves, both marked and unmarked (many unknown) were relocated to make room for the highway. Back on the streets of Wellington, I passed the parliament buildings (including the building known as “The Beehive”), with more Pohutakawa trees (and bees!). My next stop was Old St. Paul’s Church. A beautiful little wooden church, with a young organist practicing inside when I arrived. (Dad, the organ was built by the South Island Organ Company, replacing the original which was moved to the newer church which was built to replace this one - hopefully one of the pictures I took of the console came out ok.)

Wandering back down town (with a brief return to the church to retrieve the lens filters I left behind), I walked along the wharf to find the first street bagpipe musician I’ve ever seen (and probably will see, except perhaps outside Scottland). After taking a few photos for proof, I continued on to the watch the kayakers and rowers (plus take some pictures of yet another fountain) before turning towards my evening plans.

In addition to it’s nicknames of “Windy Wellington” and “Wellywood” (as home to many of New Zealand’s film companies, including Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop and Weta Digital), Wellington is also known as the art’s capital of New Zealand, so I had long since decided I wanted to see a show before leaving. I considered seeing It’s a Whanau Thing at Circa Theatre, next to Te Papa, which was written and set in New Zealand, but fear that there would be too many local jokes to make the performance enjoyable for an outsider led me instead to see Little Shop of Horrors at Downstage. First I had to find the theatre, but naturally I didn’t remember the address, and the i-Site was closed. They had given me directions that morning before I set out on my walk, but I had failed to find it then, so I started wandering around the downtown area trying to find it again (I had seen it while looking for parking that morning, but of course had little sense of where I was at the time). After walking the equivalent of at least 20 blocks, I finally managed to find it.

Fortunately, I had time to grab a quick bite to eat after buying a ticket for balcony seating (which I normally prefer over orchestra seating). When I came back, I ordered a glass of Chardonnay at the bar (as this was the first night I knew I wasn’t going to be getting back on the bike right away), and after browsing the photos from past productions I headed up to my seat. It’s an intimate little theatre, capable of seating up to 250, according to their web site, though the main seating area was set up with tables and candles instead of traditional rows of chairs (I tried to count, but don’t remember my final estimate of the number of seats). The program, included explainations of a number of American cultural icons and terms referenced in the show - Lucy (Ball), FTD, Rose Bowl, … - though perhaps they should’ve included “Howard Johnson”, as I think I was the only one who reacted to that reference. I had been looking forward to watching a show with Kiwi accents (another reason I opted for a show I knew, as I sometimes have difficulty understanding lyrics in shows), but I hadn’t even considered the fact that they’d likely adopt appropriate (American) accents for the characters. I must say, they did a fantastic job with the accents, though I think there was one word that felt like Boston to me, not New York (but then again, I’m no expert). I enjoyed the show, and was pleasantly surprised to see the cast acknowledge not only the orchestra, but the crew during the curtain call - a custom I’ve only seen practiced by the RPI Players. I spoke with the light op after the show, who said she believed the company at Circa also practiced this courtesy, but wasn’t sure how widespread it was.

The next morning was much like the previous - cloudy and not looking particularly promising, but it was time to get going, so I packed up the bike and headed North towards Napier…

Dec 2 - 4

To get to New Plymouth, Janet (my other host at Waitomo Caves Guest Lodge) suggested I take the “coastal” route, rather than heading immediately back on the highway. After estimating the distance I’d be travelling before finding a petrol station (maybe 100km) and how far I thought I could go before I’d need to fill up (maybe 125km), I set off. I reached a park with a short walk to a natural land bridge (where a cave had mostly collapsed, leaving just a narrow bit of its roof), which had been a recommended stop. I wandered along the entire trail loop (took some pictures of various sheep and flowers, of course), before getting back on the bike to continue on my way.

As I came to another point of interest, I suddenly realized just how late it had become (4:00 or so) in relation to how far I had to travel (at least another 3 hours), so unfortunately I had to content myself with admiring the scenery as I rode along. It wasn’t long before the road turned to gravel (lots of fun on a bike, even one with tires designed for it!), which continued for much of this part of the trip. As I continued to ride up and down the hills, around various sharp corners, I watched my fuel guage dropping lower and lower, and my odometer get closer and closer to my estimated range. As this is all farmland, with the occassional logging operation, I saw very few houses, most of which looked empty, and in two hours of riding through the back country, saw maybe half a dozen other vehicles (not counting a few other tourists at the scenic stops near Waitomo). With no detailed map of the area, and virtually no signs to tell me whether I was still on the right road, I was becoming quite concerned that I would either end up stranded with no fuel, or have to stop at someone’s house and hope they could help me. Just as I was considering the latter fairly seriously, I came across a gravel truck heading in the same direction as myself, which I took to be a good sign. Perhaps 10 minutes later, I finally saw the end of my road, where it intersected with highway 3. Even better, there was a petrol station just a couple hundred meters after I turned onto the highway (and upon filling the tank I found that I wasn’t quite as low as I feared). Of course, I still had another couple of hours to reach Kindear House in Oakura, just past New Plymouth.

I finally arrived at about 8:00. After unloading my luggage, I popped down to a nearby pub for dinner, which brings up an observation I’ve made on the food in New Zealand - Kiwis don’t know how to make simple foods. You don’t order a cheese pizza with a topping or two, you choose from a selection of pizzas, each with half a dozen toppings. For dinner, I had “The Monsta” - a burger with an bacon, a fried egg, sprouts, and a few other vegetables I have since forgotten. Quite filling, and not bad, though I’m not sure I’d have one on a regular basis.

The next day I popped up to Puke Ariki, the visitor’s center and history museum in New Plymouth. (As a side note, I have been quite impressed with the number and quality of visitor centers (called “i-SITE”s) I’ve seen throughout New Zealand.) I planned to take a quick look through the museum, but ended up spending a couple hours wandering through the exhibits and learning about the region’s history. In particular, they had a section on dairy industry in the area. They showed the evolution from hand-milking in small milking sheds to the modern circular milking sheds, where the cows are milked en masse on a large turntable (heads in the middle).

Once I’d finally finished my walk through the museum, I headed over to St. Mary’s Cathedral, the oldest stone church in New Zealand. The cemetery outside has some big, beautiful trees (one of which had artificial supports helping to hold up one if it’s lower limbs). There are also many graves for those that died during early conflicts between the Pakeha (Europeans) and the Maori.

At around 2:00, I finally headed out of the city to see Mt. Tarakani (a.k.a. Mt. Egmont). The area around the mountain is generally quite flat, and Mt. Taranaki towers above it all, along with a couple smaller volcanos nearby. Mt. Taranaki is currently dormant (having last erupted about 250 years ago), and tall enough that it still has quite a bit of snow around the cone. After riding through a series of switchbacks up the base of the mountain (fun!) I stopped at the visitor’s center for Egmont National Park, where I decided to hike a 2 hour trail. The trail, of course, immediately started out as a series of short, but very steep hills (both up and down) through dense vegetation, before settling into a steady climb. It was pretty clear to me that I was probably not in sufficient physical condition to do the trail, but I was too stubborn to turn back - until the wind picked up and I saw what looked like storm clouds coming around the mountain. As I was less than halfway along the path, I quickly turned around and headed back to the start.

Back near the visitor’s center, I finally thought to look up to see the mountain towering over me. (Why I hadn’t done so before is a mystery.) Half the time, the cone was obscured by the clouds rolling, but I think I got some nice photos. I also met a man setting up some rather extensive radio equipment, preparing to contact other people with similar equipment around the island (think short-wave radio, but with a eight foot antenna).

Tiring of this spot, I got back on the bike and headed back down the mountain, where I followed the road around to the south of the mountain, and up the next road (more switchbacks). More spectacular views of the mountain, this time with the sun behind it illuminating the clouds that were rolling over the top. The clouds actually seemed to be disappating as they passed the mountain, so the mountain looked as if it was wearing a fluffy white cloak. Putting my back to the mountain, provided a beautiful view of the surrounding areas. Lots of photos, of course, though it remains to be seen whether any will be worth sharing.

For my next stop, I headed along the third road up the base of the mountain (still more switchbacks - I think my riding skill is increasing on this trip). This time, the focus was Dawson Falls. It was a relatively short walk to the view point for the falls (all downhill, of course), and I even went so far as to take the steep stairs down to the bottom. I played with the camera a bit, though the light was starting to fail (not that the sun was preparing to set, but that I was in the shadow of a very large mountain). I love taking long exposures of moving water.

After the steep climb back up the hill to the bike (my legs would be sore for at least a couple days), I again realized I was running low on fuel. A staff member at Dawson Falls Mountain Lodge was kind enough to direct me back to Stratford for fuel - about 20 kilometers away. With my fuel guage reading empty, I coasted down the mountain, and maintaining a very light hand on the throttle I did make it to Stratford, to find the first station closed, and the second having just closed. Fortunately, this was a major route, and there were a couple stations just a little ways further. Given the late hour, I broke my promise not to eat at any chain restaurants I recognized from the states, and grabbed some takeaway from Subway to eat back at my room. The fare was mostly recognizable, of course, but with a couple differences - I had my sub on a garlic bread of some sort, and had ice cream for desert.

The next morning was largely uneventful, aside from having to ride up to New Plymouth in search of an ATM. After finally locating one that was in service, I finally managed to get on the road for Wellington…

Nov 30 - Dec 2

So the ride South to Waitomo Caves village was relatively uneventful. Boring really, though I did get to see the machine that moves a portable barrier between lanes of traffic on the Auckland Harbour Bridge (creating more lanes in one direction or the other, as needed).

Waitomo Caves Village is tiny. According to one tour guide, there are only 40 people living in the village (plus a number of farmers in the surrounding lands), though they see around 400,000 tourists each year. The village sits on a large limestone deposits, which have been eroded over thousands of years (as limestone is wont to do), to form miles and miles of caves. Unfortunately, I only planned two nights in Waitomo, as I didn’t realize how extensive the cave system was.

Besides the caves themselves, many tourists come to see the world famous glow-worms. I arrived too late to do much, but while checking in to Waitomo Caves Guest Lodge, my host Colin suggested I take a trip a couple kilometers up the road to a nature reserve at night to view to the glow-worms. After a bit of dinner, I grabbed a flashlight, my camera and tripod, and headed up as suggested. I must say that wandering around a narrow trail by flashlight is both exciting and a little bit intimidating. It didn’t take long to start seeing the glow-worms along various rock faces. I actually managed to find a place to set up my tripod and attempted to take some photos, though I don’t think they came out very well. Not that I expected much - it was night-time in the forest, so at best I got a couple dozen blue specks against a black background - but it was fun trying to figure out the correct exposure to even get that much.

Ok, so what exactly are glow-worms? Well, they’re not really worms, but actually related in some way to the mosquito, I believe. They like very dark places, preferably near water, or some other source of insects. They start their life as eggs, of course, which hatch into larvae. The larvae form dozens of “fishing lines”, which hang from the ceiling. The larvae also emit a bluish light from their tail end. As various insects are washed into the cave by the current, they see these lights and are naturally attracted to them. The glow-worms feed on the insects, and spend 8-9 months eating, growing larger, and storing as much energy as they can for the final stages of their life. Once they reach maturity, they pupate, and become an adult, at which point they have no mouth with which to feed. They must rely on the energy they’ve stored to sustain them for these last few days of their lives, during which they mate and start the whole process over again.

After I got tired of taking 3 minute photos (not to mention, started to wonder what sorts of animals might live in this particular forest, and what they might do to me if they found me), I wandered back out to the parking area, where I was treated to a beautiful night sky. I love starry skies, and in all my planning I completely forgot to read up on southern constellations. Not that this stopped me from trying my hand at taking photos of the night sky (more 3-6 minute exposures… boy, those drain your camera battery fast!). As I sat there waiting for the results, I kept hearing various noises from the nearby trees. Of course, every time I shined my flashlight in the direction of the sound, I saw nothing - except once, when I actually discovered some sort of rodent sniffing around the grass, maybe 20 feet from me. At first I thought it was a possum (which were intentionally introduced to New Zealand, but have now become quite a threat to the native plants and animals), though after a more careful look I wasn’t so sure. Naturally, it got tired of me shining a light in its eyes before I could set up my camera for a shot, and waddled over to the nearest tree to disappear from my sight.

After my late night, I almost woke up too late for breakfast, which made for a late start to the day. I think I finally made it out of my little cabin around 10:00, and proceeded to head back to the reserve I had visited the night before, to see what it really looked like. According to Colin, this was one of the “10 best short walks” in New Zealand. It was a fairly nice little loop, through the forest and looking into a couple little caves, though there were a couple steep sets of stairs to remind me how out of shape I am :). The loop takes 30-40 minutes, though I’m sure I spent over an hour there.

After a brief lunch, I wandered over to The Shearing Shed, where I watched them shear a German Angora rabbit! I must say, it did look a bit like the Spanish Inquisition, as they tied all four feet to stretch the rabbit out and hold him taught while they trimmed off the fur, but aside from a little nervousness at first, he really did seem to be fairly relaxed with the whole process, even as a dozen people walked by and petted him. This particular breed of rabbit grows such thick fur, that if it isn’t sheared 4 times a year, they would actually overheat, so I guess they probably do enjoy losing the extra insulation (especially as we approach summer). Not only is this the only place in New Zealand which produces garments with blends of wool and Angora, but they also sell items made with a blend of wool and possum! Believe it or not, but I think the garments with possum was even softer than those with angora!

Anyway, for the afternoon, I finally made my way to one of the cave tours. On Colin’s suggestion (again), I went on the tour of Ruakuri, a cave which has only been open again for about a year. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with it, though we did get to see a small glow-worm colony. The rest of the day was pretty boring - checking email and doing laundry - though as the stars came out again, I was surprised to see a constellation I recognized - Orion! He was upside down, but I couldn’t resist the chance to try taking some more star photos - I think one or two may have actually come out, too!

Before leaving the Waitomo Caves, I decided to try one more cave tour. This was the other “dry” tour that had been recommended - Spellbound. I’m so glad I did! We were first treated to a half hour drive through the countryside on the way to the caves. New Zealand is (geologically) very young, and the hills and mountains are very steep with very sharp features, unlike the smooth, glacier-defined mountains in Vermont and New York. With all the limestone in the area, there are also lots of sink holes, which only make it look that much more severe. Oh, and there are sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. Not to mention goats, some cows and the occassional horse, but especially sheep. In fact, just assume that everywhere I’ve gone and am going to that I saw sheep, until I say otherwise.

When we finally got to the cave, we had a short walk underground (wearing helmets with lights), giving our eyes time to adjust to the light. We eventually reached a raft, which we boarded and proceeded to turn off all our lights. Overhead was a huge colony of glow-worms - more points of light than I’ve ever seen in any night sky. We floated along the cave for maybe half an hour (out and back to the dock). My only complaint was that I couldn’t recline as I would normally do while looking up at the stars. If you ever make it to Waitomo, you must go on this tour - you really have to see it to believe it!

After emerging to the bright day, we were treated to hot drinks (as seems to be the custom on many tours), before heading to another nearby cave. Really, this was just another “walk in and see how a cave forms” tour, except there were a couple skeletons from animals that had apparently fallen into the cave via sink holes, and wandered around until they eventually died. There was a goat and a cow skeleton, but more importantly, there was a Moa skeleton - a large, flightless bird (it had no wings!) that was hunted to extinction by the Maori about 500 years ago.

The drive back to Waitomo was as pleasant as the drive out - a nice touch that we actually drove back by different roads, so we weren’t just passing by the same scenery. A thoroughly enjoyable trip overall, lasting around 3 hours.

I really wish I’d had more time in Waitomo - I wouldn’t have thought I’d want to try “blackwater rafting” (rafting through the caves), but once I got here and saw some of the options, it really does sound like fun. Ah well, just one more reason to come back another time I guess!

After lunch, ice cream, and a little shopping, I headed out through the back country towards New Plymouth…

Nov 27 - 30

So my first day didn’t go quite as planned… Breakfast was fantastic, but I forgot the bike needed petrol, so I missed the cruise I had planned on taking for the day. Instead, I bought a ticket for the next day and wandered up to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. The Waitangi Treaty was made between the British and 40 Maori tribe leaders in 1840, bringing New Zealand into the British Empire. On the grounds, they have the largest Maori war canoe, built for the 100th anniversary of the Waitangi treaty - it can carry 80 paddlers and 55 passengers! The grounds also afforded a wonderful view of the bay. After I finally tired of the treaty grounds, I geared up and took the bike inland a bit to check out one of the Kauri forests. The northern island is “sub-tropical”, and I believe the forests are actually considered to be rainforests, though I certainly didn’t get wet. Although the forest I visited does not have the largest Kauri trees known, there were still some pretty big ones… I tried to take a few photos with my widest lens, though I’m not sure whether any will be worth posting when I get back.

I spent my second day in the Bay of Islands on the Cream Trip Supercruise, out of Paihia. Basically, we spent the day cruising around to various islands in the bay, in some cases making deliveries (mail, newspapers, boxes) to island residents. There were a couple dogs who have developed a special relationship with the boat. One has been taught to wave to passengers (after a very long sprint down to the dock). The other sits patiently at the end of the dock waiting for the boat to arrive. When the captain toots the horn, he then sprints back to the house to alert his people that the boat has arrived. I think I tried to take a couple photos of him sprinting down the dock, but I won’t know how they came out ’till I get home. After taking lunch on one of the islands and a short stroll past sheep and goats to the top of one of the hills, we headed out to the famous “Hole in the Rock”. It was a very windy day, and the waves crashing through the rock were absolutely spectacular, which of course means we weren’t able to actually take the boat through the rock, but I did try to take several pictures (of course, I had set the camera down briefly when we saw a particularly spectacular crest… :(). The rest of the cruise was fairly relaxed - we mostly hugged the coast on the way back, stopping in one bay for scones and tea. I got off across the bay from Paihia in Russell, and spent a couple hours wandering around town. I walked up a very steep slope to the top of Flagstaff Hill (where a series of flagstaffs were cut and/or burned down by various Maori upset with the British, until finally a group of Maori erected one themselves - I believe part of this flagstaff is still part of the current one standing on the hill). There was a very large sundial nearby, which I spent far too long figuring out how to read (another tourist and I tried to read the wrong edge of the shadow…). Back in town, I visited Christ Church, New Zealand’s oldest surviving church before taking the ferry back to Paihia, and riding back up to Kerikeri for dinner and sleep.

Wednesday morning, before hitting the road for Waitomo Caves, I stopped by Rainbow Falls, and took a couple photos. The sun came out a few times, and I actually caught a bit of a rainbow in the mist. I waited as long as I could for the sun to really peak out from behind the clouds for a better shot of the rainbow, but pretty soon it was too high in the sky. At around noon, I finally got on the road for my 6-7 hour ride down to Waitomo Caves…

Well, aside from some issues in Chicago, I made it to New Zealand ok. It was snowing when we left Chicago, so the flight was delayed for an hour and a half. The 12 hour, 25 minute flight from Los Angeles to Auckland was not as bad as I’d anticipated. I watched the first movie they showed (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), then proceeded to (more or less) sleep for the next several hours. They started serving breakfast at about 5:00 am (NZ time), during which I watched The World’s Fastest Indian, which is about a Kiwi (New Zealander) who spent years working on a 1920 Indian motorcycle, then brought it up to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to set a land speed record in 1967 (which was only recently broken, I believe). If the bike in the movie is at all representative of his real bike, it’s absolutely amazing (a) that he reached over 200mph, and (b) that he didn’t kill himself in the process.

Anyway, we got to Auckland on time (Sunday, 7:30 am) and the weather was perfect - sunny, with temperatures somewhere in the 60s. I picked up the bike and by 11:00 I was again travelling. After a couple stops along the way, I arrived in Kerikeri (near the Bay of Islands, about 3 hours North of Auckland) and pulled into Glenfalloch at about 4:00 that afternoon, 34 hours after I first arrived at Albany Airport. Needless to say, I was pretty drained at this point, so I took a short nap in a nice hot bath to try to wash off some of my travel grime. When I woke up, I met the other guests, a couple from England, and started to contemplate food… right as a storm blew in from the Pacific. My hosts were kind enough to give me a little bread and cheese so I wouldn’t have to go out in the rain :). (Fortunately, the rain cleared pretty quickly, and hasn’t been back yet.) I stayed up as long as I could that night, which is to say that as soon as the sun went down and it started to get dark (about 9:00), I immediately started to fall asleep. I gave up, and accepted the fact that I was not going to be able to adjust to the time difference in one day.

Well, it’s finally time for me to leave for New Zealand. I fly out of Albany at 2:17PM, and arrive in Auckland at 7:30 AM Sunday Morning (that’s 1:30PM Saturday here in New York - New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of the East Coast). Hopefully this flu I’ve been fighting has run its course - my temperature has been more or less normal for the past couple days, though I’m still coughing a lot. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to prepost blogs for various places I’m going to be (too tired from the flu, then too busy trying to get packed and ready for the trip), but I’ll try to post at least a couple times while I’m down there. If not, see everyone in 3+ weeks!

I’ve posted some of the photos I’ve taken over the past year to my gallery. Please feel free to comment on them. Now that my server has sufficient memory to handle the load required to process them (I love UnixShell.com!), I should be able to get some more up soon.

FedEX dropped off my new 60GB iPod as I was heading out the door for work. Guess I’ll be stopping by the Apple store on the way home from work to pick up a couple accessories I’ll be needing (camera connector, power adapter, and Firewire cable for my USB 2.0 challenged Mac). Damn, it’s gonna be a long day…

So I finally got off my lazy ass and have set up a web site again. I’m not really a big fan of blogging, but I figure this could be a useful forum for documenting my upcoming trip to New Zealand. I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to post much during my trip, but I’ll at least schedule a few posts with my itinerary.

I’m also setting up a Photo Gallery. I’ll start posting pictures sometime this week.