Wellington to Martinborough to Whakapapa

1st January 2012 (Sun) (New Year's Day)

Left Travel Lodge at 11am & parked up in the town (Wellington) to take the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens 7 Cable Car Museum. Spent about an hour there & came down again in cable car. Parked at the harbour & had a walk about. There was an old crane ship called the Hokitia. It was being restored. It was built in Scotland and sailed down to Wellington with the crane erect in (?81 days) the fastest time ever recorded for a ship of its type with its crane erect.

We then drove to Martinborough. Journey started on the motorway but then onto a winding road up through forested mountains again. V scenic. Then down to farmland and vinyards.

Our accommodation is at the Martinborough Hotel in the 'majestic' town square. Other historic buildings also surround the town square e.g. the quaint museum& the general store run by the same family since the 1880's. Martinborough sits on the site of NZ's first sheep station established by an Irish immigrant, John Martin. In a gesture of patriotism he laid the streets out in the shape of a Union Jack flag! In the early 1980's the wine pioneers discovered that Martinborough's soil & microclimate are perfect for grape growing & it's now a centre for good wine.

We were upgraded and have a fabulous suite with stained glass windows , 3 piece suite, huge bed & a very modern bathroom with walk in shower and a claw foot bath. We also have a massive v private verandah surrounded by apple trees full of song birds. It has 2 wooden chairs & two wooden steamers!! Wish we were staying for longer than one night!I think we're going to have a bar meal tonight.

2nd January 2012 (Mon)

Had brekkie about 8am and after checking out we had a quick look around the centre of Martinborough. Very tidy place with quite a few smart bars, bistros and resteraunts. Apparently the wealthy young set from Wellington come out at weekends to socialize and take back boxes of wine from the many wineries in the town. Pinot Noir is the locally favoured grape and was sampled by the Breadens and found to be most acceptable.

Then out of Martinborough to State Highway 2 heading for Napier. Passed through a number of small towns which are typical of NZ & Oz in having the distinctive colonial architecture of single storey buildings with canopies over the shop fronts and verandahs on 1st floor level of the hotels. Virtually all of the residential housing is detached hence urban sprawl is extensive. The countryside is mainly rolling hills used for dairy farming, some vinyards and some sheep.

Arrived in Napier about 3pm and found our hotel (The Scenic Hotel Te Pania) right on the sea front where we have a glass wall overlooking the sea! There is a 2km promenade by the sea which is laid out with Norfolk pines, gardens and lawns - -very British!!

The town of Napier was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and when they rebuilt it they adopted the fashion of the time - Art Deco. The town is a treasure trove of Art Deco buildings painted up to maximise the effect of the architecture. We wandered around for 2 hours exploring these historic streets. We then went to Domino's for a pizza & chips & box of wine and pack of lager - -we know how to live!!

January 3rd 2012 (Tues)

Still at Scenic Hotel Te Pania. We were late to bed after Skyping Beth & Barry and Emma, John & George. & then had difficulty getting to sleep as we were in a 'normal' double bed which seemed quite small after the massive beds that appear to be the norm over here. So we had a bit of a lie in & a slow start. We had a quick look in the Tourist information place, called 'i site' over here, but there wasn't much that really grabbed us so we took a short drive to the wetlands area that had been formed during the earthquake of 1931. It used to be a lagoon. It is now a haven for bird life & has a board walk through it. We strolled around for about 2 hours. We sat down on a seat at one point & 2 fantails took a great interest in us. Although they are apparently common, we'd never seen them at such close range before & I think they felt the very same about us! As the name suggests they have these pretty fan tails that double their length & they also have drooping wings. V active & v vocal & v cute! We walked along a little way to where the water flowed under a bridge and saw a kingfisher. Then Pete spotted a huge fish, about 1m long. Further along we were serenaded by a skylark so high in the sky that we could barely see it. There were also several of the 'usual' birds like white faced herons, godwits & banded stilts. Supporting these were mud crabs- -450 per sq m!

We then had lunch and a look at some of the bays round about. Not too nice really - volcanic sand/grit & lots of driftwood. The sea wasn't suitable for swimming in either as there were steep drops and sudden waves.

We decided to go & have a look at the Gannet colony at Kidnapper's Cape 15k away. This was named when Captain Cook's Tahitian interpreters were 'kidnapped' off his ship. This was because the Maori assumed that they'd been captured by Cook & so they went on board and 'rescued' them!! One interpreter managed to escape & return to the ship! Anyway, when we got there we found that the only way to see the Gannet colony (60,000 pairs) was to go on an excursion which took 5 hrs. So as we have already seen Gannets diving off the E coast of Scotland we decided not to bother. We came back to the hotel to catch up with the washing.

Tonight, after dark, we hope to take a walk along the 'Prom' to see the Christmas lights in the v tall Norfolk Pines.

We move on tomorrow to Whakapapa.

January 4th 2012 (Wed)

Left Napier at 10.30am. Drove through vinyards and orchards. Joined the Thermal Explorer Highway to Taupo. Rolling hills and farmland now with deer, sheep & store cattle. The road ascends to pine forests with lots of logging trucks heading south. Then as we descend we find natural (deciduous forests. We ascend again through scrub/bush with a lot of ? pampas grass with some single pines dotted about (Kay's Forest). Also some Kowhai flowering bright yellow (broom type stuff). V variable 'cos we're back to pine forest on LHS & grassland to RHS with sheep grazing. Mountains in the background. We had lunch overlooking Lake Taupo.

We arrived at Skotel Alpine Resort in Whakapapa village around 2pm. This is the highest altitude hotel in NZ and is in the heart of the Tongariro national Park. We have a cabin style apt with a balcony. It's at 1st floor level & we have wonderful views of the surrounding counrtyside- -scrub & bushland & then mountains, some of them volcanic. There is not another building in site. Accommodation is pretty basic although we have a 'superior room' - -it's all pretty dated!

We went on a 2 hour circular walk to Taranaki Waterfall. It was lovely, v scenic, some of it beside a fast flowing rocky river. There were bridges over it in places. There was a lot of heather around and apparently it's becoming a bit of a pest now. Having been introduced by European settlers it is now competing for the same niche as native sp such as the tussock grass.

Eating at the hotel tonight as we are pretty remote - - no microwave, supermarket or fast food outlets!!

Tomorrow we move to Lake Taupo.