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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 20

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 The sun was shining brightly this morning as I sipped my tea on our deck, watching the town come to life, and one keen swimmer stroking strongly through the sparkling water.  After breakfast we decided to walk the 2 kms to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. As we rounded the point on the waterfront walkway, it was evident that the expected cruise ship was at anchor in the bay. Looking across the inlet to Waitangi we could see the unmistakable orange of cruise ship tenders pulled into the dock and plying the water back and forth to the ship as thousands of passengers were disgorged from the vessel. This made us question our decision to visit Waitangi this morning, however as we neared our destination, we could see a line up of buses, taking many of the passengers away from Waitangi to explore other destinations, so we continued with our plan. Arriving at the Treaty Grounds, the first thing we noticed was that the cafe was no longer operational, so we backtracked slightly to the neig...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 19

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 I began the day with an early morning walk, hoping to catch the sunrise over the water. Sadly the clouds descended from the hills behind Paihia before the sun made an appearance. It was a beautiful walk along the shoreline despite this, and I was able to conduct a study in the character of the town as I queued for our morning coffees with a range of local identities who were also up early. We had booked tickets on the Kawakawa vintage train, just a short 20 minute drive away on a very windy road. The train, a remnant of the local coal mining era, is unique in that it travels down the centre of the main shopping street in the small settlement. We had time for another coffee at the quaint railway station before we boarded, along with a large school group and a contingent of children and staff from a childcare centre.  From the relative quiet of the front carriage we travelled through wetlands which contained the remnants of old orchards, and avoided a couple of young steers bel...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 18

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If yesterday was wet and miserable, today was the opposite end of the spectrum, both warm and brilliantly sunny.  We left the Heartland Hotel at 9 am on the courtesy shuttle bus which took us to the airport and Budget car hire. We were all kitted out with a brand new Mitsubishi,  and on the motorway out of Auckland by 10.  We had decided to take the Twin Coast Discovery Highway north,  which took us up through Helensville where we stopped for morning tea, and then along a scenic coastal drive with views over Kaiparu Harbour on the west coast. Joining State Highway 1 at Wellsford we now took a hilly,  scenic inland route. At Waipu, we were back on the east coast and stopped to take photos of the Whangarei Heads and a very cute calf which was on duty in the paddock beside the lookout. We sought some more coastal scenery down towards Marsden Point and One Tree Point where we hoped to find a cafe with sea views for lunch, but there were plenty of new housing develop...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 17

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 There had been a lot of wind through the night and when we woke this morning it was obvious the change had arrived, bringing grey skies and a smattering of rain.  Today our group was divided into those continuing by rail back to Hamilton, Pukekohe, or Glenbrook, and those travelling to Wellington by coach.  There were approximately 20 in the Wellington coach. Leaving about 50 on the train.  Although it was quite a bit cooler today, Wallsy and I again opted for one of the wooden carriages as we boarded at Palmerston North. These are much less airtight than the ‘tinnies’, but ironically, the older seats are more comfortable.  The journey was retracing lines we had already travelled, so the weather not being conducive to good photography didn’t really matter too much. The day was spent listening to my audio book, reading my kindle, or just gazing out the window, interrupted only by the arrival of the morning tea and coffee trolley, the delivery of our lunches, and...
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