Auckland, Northland

 

 

After landing in Auckland we quickly started on some business: we got phones, set up a bank account, and bought a car. We had planned on busing around New Zealand, but there are many inexpensive Japanese imports here, so we went to a car fair and went for it, and it's already given us much freedom. It is a sporty black 1994 Nissan Bluebird, and I'll have a photo of it right after the next full moon (when the spoiler reflects the light in just that way).  We will resell it to another backpacker when we leave.

For our first tramp (no allegiances here, it is just a cooler word than hike) we took a 20 minute ferry out of Auckland to Rangitoto, a very young (about 600 years) volcanic island. It was about an hour and half climb to the summit, where we found some amazing 360 degree views of Auckland and the surrounding islands. The short climb was moderately challenging, mostly because we are only now getting acquainted to life with our 30-40lb death packs.

We returned to Auckland and enjoyed some of the big city's pleasures, including a dinner at the French Cafe, one of the best meals of my life. It feels a little like a fantasy now, and I don't have the descriptive powers to do it justice, but I hope the photographs begin to show off the beautiful food. Beautiful I did not look after the meal.

After about a week of errands and day trips, we finally left Auckland for Cape Reinga, the northernmost part of New Zealand, where the Abel Tasman Sea collides with the Pacific Ocean. It was a relief to leave the city for the green countryside and coast, here was the NZ I had imagined. We went for a two day tramp on the coastal track, climbing steep ocean cliffs, taking in some terrific views of the drama below. We passed the cape and descended onto a long, crescent moon beach, above which we camped for the night. It was an amazing spot, totally secluded.

We awoke, however, to our first major lesson in not fucking with nature. We had intended to turn around and hike back the way we came, but (due to a recent cyclone we later learned) the high tide was more intense than we expected, covering the entire northern section of the beach. We tried to climb across the bottom of the beach cliff where the waves crashed into the rocks, and we managed to get most of the way there, but it became increasingly dangerous to try to hold our footing on the wet rocks as the waves hit us. We eventually came to a tide pool that was too deep to ford, and too steep to safely climb out of, so we opted to turn back and wait out the tide, or at least the rain, which was then coming down heavily.

Instead we found an unmarked track, taking us inland and eventually (we then hoped) connecting us with Cape Reinga Rd. This track took us over dunes, through a forest, and eventually over large livestock fields, meeting many friendly cows and sheep along the way. We were thankful to see the animals, as Christina said, where there are cows there are humans, and we carry part of them with us on the bottom of our boots today. I'm suddenly tired now, so I'll just say we made it back safely, and are now preparing to drive all the way down to Wellington, where we take the InterIslander ferry to the South Island on the 25th. 

Big shout out to Luke Moore Gellert, who no doubt already has the brain power to read this and correct my grammar.

Low Pressure Zone, Low Spirits







 

We arrived in Nadi (pronounced "Naan-dee," I learned just today), Fiji early morning January 8, clearing customs before sunrise. After a two hour, extremely choppy jetboat ride to Waya Island, we arrived at the Octopus Resort in time for lunch. Unfortunately, some serious storms followed just behind, the ominous view of which you can see above. The rain never quite left: the mornings were generally overcast and dry, and heavy rains came in in the afternoon, often lasting until the next morning. But if you thought you could not get sunburned through clouds, or in my case rain storms, you did not attend the Susan Walton school of sunblock. Christina was also sick and without a voice for much of our time on Waya. She has recovered her voice now, and while that deep, raspy whisper had its charm, I continue to be thankful she is not a lifetime cigarette smoker. The real sadness might have been all the trips that were cancelled due to unsafe or wet conditions. I think we both left regretting the things on the island we were unable to do.

Woe is me I was in Fiji. We did go on a guided hike across a mountain ridge, which was incredible. And a Sunday boatride to a local Methodist service conducted in Fijian was a major highlight (beautiful music). The Octopus was wonderful. We ate very well, swam lots in the ocean, and made a few friends (mostly lizards). For every night except the last we stayed in a dorm, which need not be photographed, and then on our final night Christina surprise upgraded us to a Bure, which was out-of-this-world cool.

We are back in Nadi tonight and we fly to Auckland tomorrow. Fiji has a significant ethnic Indian population, mostly brought over as indentured servants from Britannia, I think, and we enjoyed a fabulous Indian lunch today. Our brief time in Nadi taught us some about Fiji's national history and character, which I'm thankful for. I've run out of time on this computer so the rest is left to your imagination. I basically just wanted to try setting this blog up. Expect the next post to be either more or less interesting.

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