Karangahake/Paeroa/Auckland 26/6/16-27/6/16

Drove out of town to an ulu area where Colenso Cafe and Orchard is. Nice salad brunch with my roast pork being "the best Shao Rou" Ms Blur has ever had. Haha. Mandarin Orchard was also nice but that's only because the sun was smiling at us in the orchard. 

 

First stop, Plan B 

 

Fish-fillet lookalike roasted meat. Drooling as I type this 

 

With a chill out zone. No one cos the sunny picture is slightly deceiving, it was a cold morning 

Ah Dong and Ah Key was chilling when we reached then Ah Dong came over to us the second time we go to their barn and Ah Dong went Eeyoh Eeyoh like in the cartoons. First time hearing their call in real life and was quite fascinated by it to be honest. 

 

Shen me Dong Dong 

Anyway, we left the cafe to make full use of the elusive sun. Drove another hour to reach Karangahake Gorge where we walked an hour through the old railway track in this gold mining town. The 1km long tunnel was hippy but Ms Blur didn't like the creepiness of it. 

 

Here we go...

 

Adventureeee!

 

Left over toys neh keep 

 

Shallow but Super rapid

 

Xiao shag

 

And this, the creepy tunnel. Now after Train to Busan, it's slightly creepier than it was haha 

I found these leftover rivets more creepy though 

 

 And the ruined power house. The Angmoh inside also creepy lol 

 

No more creepy shot but the name is kinda creepy haha. Interesting find though; what's the electricity for? Hmmm (it's not automatic) 

Survived the gorgeous gorge and reached our car just in time to siam the drizzle which became rain shortly. 

 

And passed by Paeroa town! Just nice we had an L&P in our car so we spontaneously decided to stop for 10 minutes seeing the clouds were slightly slower than our car. Huge risk just for this photo 

 

And history of this yummy and addictive but probably unhealthy drink haha 

Drove away from the storm for another hour or so to finally check in at our last accommodation: Ibis Airport Budget Hotel! 

First time camping at a hotel instead of the airport sofa for an early flight the next day. Dropped out luggage and headed out for dinner, trying our luck for Japanese food again after doing some research. But fate has it that we are really not destined for it; arrived at the restaurant to lights and humans within but it was a private function! They are closed on Sunday during winter! And so we left sort of dejected (though mentally prepared as I mentioned along the way about how it will be so darn dissatisfying if they were to be closed on Sunday... And they did). 

 

Final dust. Staring into the runway we'll run away in the next day 

Decided to vent our anger on KFC and I got a 3 piece and she got a 2 piece chicken. Not too bad a substitution I must say, at least they claimed that their chickens are locally farmed and not genetically modified. 

 

Nomz

Some last minute shopping to help the duo get their honey that was confiscated at the custom (cos theirs weren't sealed) and small gifts for friends. And then it's back to chilling in the hotel lobby after we returned our car (and the rain stopped for us once again for us to walk back to our hotel just across the street!). And yup, as usual, spent the last night watching movie. 

 

Bye bye~ thanks for serving us well and not failing in the middle of nowhere 

Next morning was without drama; and one last thing before we leave NZ: Jap food. Persistency paid off, sort of. 

 

Lol. One last try! 

 

And it's time to bid goodbye~ till next time, Aoteroa! 

Oh, and also two MacDonald's meal in Sydney airport cos everything else is just not worth it. 

 

Aussie Angus at least haha. And pretending to be healthy with salad. Futile attempt at the end of the trip lol 

Whitianga/Mercury Bay/Hot Water Beach 24/6/16 - 26/6/16

Wanted to take the famous 309 route but Navman took us on the state highway instead. Slightly dejected, we continued on with yet another bout of disappointment. After a series of super windy road, we reached the town of Whitianga 50 minutes before time, but without lunch. So we quickly parked our car by the wharf, crossed the road and checked out the cafes. Walked into one or two and when we were trying to leave Espy cafe, we sort of got stopped by the staff to check out their full menu; and so we did, and so we stayed. 

 

Nothing impressive 

Food was good but nothing impressive; saw that their milkshake won the national competition but was too rush to try it so we thought maybe later. Met Ken, our skipper, just on time at he wharf and the sun came out for us after the rain died out while chasing us. So off we go! 

Snapper viewing with cool equipments; beautiful singing in the echoing cave which is one of the biggest by volume in the world; fishing birds diving straight into the water; and of course, the cheeky rocking of his coast guard vessel (super stable though) to catch the girls in horror. 

 

Check this improvised device out 

 

Find Shakespeare. This cliff is named after him 

 

Bigger version of Alice's rabbit hole

 

Cathedral cove, so big you can walk in. We didn't cos the boat can't get near anyway 

 

Won't wanna fall into the water with these hungry snapper inside 

 

Mirror. Sort of 

 

Is it Christmas already? Cos Santa's here...

 

And yep, that's the captain with his cheeky ethics. Haha 

Ended the full tour of the cove and marina reserve gaining some volcanic formation knowledge and it was time to bid goodbye. Would definitely recommend this "private tour" for less than what you would pay to the bigger operators! 

And then it's time for milkshake and I tell you, it's really deserving of the title. 

 

Legit

I may be slightly biased since I like richer milkshake with nutty taste but it can't be that the whole nation is wrong! And Ms Blur also agree that it's good haha. 

And then we thought it was too early to check in and since the weather is good, we thought maybe we can check out this end of the 309 road. And so happens that the only real attraction we wanna visit, the 308 Honey, is on this end of the route. And so we went, and we we were slightly disappointed once again after a series of lucky finds. This route seems super dangerous cos of the gravel road and narrowness. That's not all, the honey shop we tried to find turns out to be a small little stall in a deserted house with no one tending it; the only excitement was when we had to drive across a river stream and was greet with tail wagging aggressive dogs on the other end. That helped us to decide not going off the car and leave...

so we turned back after 5km on the 309 road, counting our luck that Navman didn't bring us here to waste our time when we were heading towards Whitianga. Checked in early and the host was welcoming; water view was really just a canal but it's quite a nice place nonetheless. 

 

Squint and you'll find the canal 

Headed out to town shortly after and went walking abit before we settled for dinner at Squids, as recommended by our host. And we were rather lucky as well, as they were having a Friday night promotion of two mains sets for $50 and so we got a "fish and chips" and a kilogram of mussels! Inverted comma cos it's really just pan fried fish with wedges and they were meh; but the mussels were delicious. 

 

Reminiscing our time in Europe 

Went over to the New World supermarket to shop for some tidbits to bring home and then we ended the night by watching 1/3 of a movie before we knock out...

Woke up to a rainy morning as expected. Slowly got ready to leave and then we headed over to the Lost Spring even though it was raining. Online review said it was perfect for rainy days but we thought otherwise when we were hopping around the various pools under the ice cold raindrops. Nevertheless, it was quite a nice (though pricy) place. Service was good but we didn't really make use of it. But us arriving early and opting for the dip-and-dine option meant we got nice seats reserved for us after our 90-minutes of mineral thermal spa. 

 

Satisfied and nua-ed

 

Older than your Grandmother 

Lunch was super worthwhile despite us forsaking our 10% discount for the combo option; risotto was tasty and the scotch fillet (along with the sauce) delicious. Rain also started to get even heavier after this so our timing was pretty on point. 

Yumzzz 

Next stop:

 

Jason of all Spade 

 

Master of nun! Hahah

Borrowed the spade from our host and off we go! Hot Water Beach was fun and not as crowded as it should be cos of the impending storm. Found a good spot but can't quite dig deep enough to find the joke... I mean to get enough depth to submerge our body 

Drove back to escape the rain; got back to return the spade that our host lent us and took a quick bath. Headed back into town to grab some dinner; tempted by the Chinese takeaway but was really too much and we did takeaway despite not having the intention to do so. 

 

Tabao. Portions are comparable to Europe's Chinese takeout. 

And then it's movie time! Now You See Me 2 is not too bad; if you like the first one, you'll probably like the sequel. And yea, finally fulfilled the movie "craving" in NZ and it's also my first movie in months! (Excluding those we had in our various accomms) 

Very cool promo

 

 And here we are! Super small cinema where the adverts are done with PowerPoint slideshow hahaha 

Got back to our accomm to finish what's left of our takeaway and some packing, and we're off to bed. 

Strong wind and rain woke us up the next morning but when I was finally out of bed, the sun was shining bright! Got to the front porch and absorbed as much vitamin D as I can while Ms Blur got ready to leave. Rain came and went but the sunshine prevailed; even as we bade our hosts goodbye, the sky was clear! So we set off to a hopeful morning, only to meet with disappointment the very first thing we set out to do: the Jap stall we wanted to have brunch at was closed on Sunday! And so we went ahead with plan B. 

Thames/Coromandel 23/6/16 - 24/6/16

Stopped by the Thames to walk about and it really gave off an old town charm; I guess development sort of stopped when the gold craze was over at this area.

 

Going back 50 years 

 

Only the cars betray the old world charm 

 

And this seemingly derogatory shop name actually gives hint of the town's history 

Took another stop at the Square Kauri after driving 9km of gravel road off track. Was pretty interesting but the heavy rain that came about 5 minutes after we reached might have made things way more interesting than we can handle if we lingered on. 

 

Too big/tall to be captured in our photo

So we took off, speeding while being careful of the slippery surface that might cause a skid but also worried about the landslides from the slope beside as well. The siren-sounding noise that the wiper made didn't make the paranoia any better. 

But we did make it out alive! And after the scare, we headed straight to our accommodation, where we were finally met with the sun once again. Amazing BnB with a view and a cozy cabin for us. 

 

Wew! Here we go! 

 

Oyster farm afar! 

 

And a chill out zone which we have no time to use but somehow reminded me of the Hobbiton haha 

 

Entrance to our small cosy cabin by the bay

 

 And this lazy cat of our owner's 

Settled down then headed straight back into town, got a light dinner at Umu cafe and then got back to chill in our nice accommodation. 

 

Dinner was Nice-style 

 

Storm is brewing and leaves are falling. Favourite kind of season really 

Next day is the only forecasted full sunny day in the week so there was abit of a panic. Got up early for a morning run through the Kauri Walk, washed up and off we go. 

 

Morning, flower! 

 

Spot the singing bird (I forgot what it's called). And I fell down trying to chase after it. Lol

 

Dandelion! 

 

Gold digger 

Breakfast took abit too long and we missed the 1015 train ride at the Driving Creek Railway and Pottery. 

 

Definitely necessary 

 

No time for Choo Choo in the end 

 

And that's where we go! 

Bought the 1130am one but decided to back out halfway when we called the cathedral cove guy to ask about the 4pm trip but he says it's not available at this time of the year. So we took the gamble that the drizzle will stop by 1pm over there, and rushed over for the 130pm trip.