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James & Tracey World Tour

a travel blog by James & Tracey


Welcome to James and Tracey's World tour Blog. We will try and update the tour as we go around (or whenever we get on internet!).
We hope you enjoy reading all about our adventures and dont get too jealous.
Please post any questions, thoughts or wishes.
We look forward to hearing from you all soon

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Where are the Goats?

Warkworth, New Zealand


June 1
We left Sheepworld and headed to Goat Island. Which is a Marine Reserve, it was the first one to be estabished in New Zealand, and has views of Hen and Chichen Islands in the distance.
In the past, they used to livestock on these islands to breed, so if people were shipwrecked they had something to live on. However, as they were never any goats on the island it is though that passers by named it, as it was only good for goats, but they didn't have any spare to leave. At some point there were pigs on the island, but they decided it wasn't right for them so they swam to the mainland (50m away).
However interesting this may be we were there for the large amounts of fish and aquatice life, which are found in surprisingly shallow waters and next to the shore.

In the summer this place is heaving with tourists, the conditions of the fish is so good they stick around. We braved the cold water with hired 7mm thick dive wetsuits, comlpete with hood and a few other hardy fools. Straight away found large Snapper withtheir big mouths and sharp teeth showing us they were not at all scared of us. In fact were swimming straight at us. I think this must be due to a lot of tourists feeding them, this is a shame as it ruins the local environment but it does let you get very close and personal with some scary looking fish.
We snorkelled through and over some kelp forests to Goat Island with some of the Snapper. Especially the larger ones following us all the way there and back again - quite an eery sensation.
Back up the hill for a cold shower followed by a hot chocolate.

We made our way up the coast, stopping in at Wellsford for a take away roast dinner. Not bad for a few quid, a full roast dinner in a plastic tupperware box. Probably quite a rubbish roast dinner but as the first one with all the trimmings I've had in a long time, it did the job.
We then drove for an hour, found ourselves a good picnic spot for our nights stay, we settled in for an evening of competitive card games.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 1, 2007 from Warkworth, New Zealand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Brrrrr

Tutukaka, New Zealand


June 2
After stopping the night in a picnic area, we drove the 24km to Tutukaka, and headed straight for the marina. Which much to our delight, found we could stay there and use the marina facilities for free.
We sorted out some diving for the next day, we then made our Whangarei Falls. The falls were quite impressive.

but we fancied a walk and there were signs pointing down the river, so off we set just as the rain finally caught up with us. We followed the river for 3-4km, where the path ran out due to the bridge being missing, haven been knocked down or taken away! Annoyed, we turned round and headed back, when we got back to the base of the falls, up one of the trees we noticed a sign saying the track was closed which some funny person had chucked up there.

We made our way back to the Marina and as it was raining we did the washing and chilled out in the van listening to music, reading and Sudoku.
That evening we headed for dinner at the Marina Pizzeria. Here we enjoyed a lovely candlelit dinner overlooking all of the boats.

June 3
First thing we made our way to the dive shop and were kitted out with thick 2 piece 7mm wetsuits. We sailed straight out to see on 'Perfect Day' to the Poor Knights Islands. This dive site claims to be the worlds best sub-tropical diving. Our first dive of the day we dropped down and followed the side of a wall. The water was a chilly 19 degrees, we saw a few Moray eels and a Scorpion fish. On the way back we swam over and past lots of Kelp. There was quite a swell in the water, which along with us using the thick wetsuits for the first time made controlling our buoyancy quite tricky. After a spot of lunch on the boat, we sailed round to Rikoriko Cave, which has the largest volume of sea cave in the world. The cave was easily big enough to fit the big dive boat in.
For the second and final dive of the day, it was decided that we would dive in the cave. It was quite dark under the water, it was a bit different as there was not any coral or many fish, so we headed out towards the sunlight at the entrance of the cave, where there was a definate line where all of the sea life started. Trace got a video of James and a John Dory fish swimming up face to face. The John Dory fish is very thin and swims towards its prey head on, small fish do not realise its such a threat until the John Dory opens up its extending big mouth and swallows it whole. However, it decided this fish was too big for him and he swam off. Shortly after this Trace had had enough of being freezing, and her lips had turned blue, we decided to head back to the boat for hot showers and hot drinks.
We then sailed back to the Marina and set off on the road again for Kerikeri.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 2, 2007 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
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Cock-a-doodle-doo

Kerikeri, New Zealand


June 3
In Kerikeri we went to hte liquor stoer and after looking in many shops we finally found Tracey's choice bottle of wine which we were unable to pick up on the South Island due to the battery running out - Hooray!
We found ourselves a nice carpark by the river to spend the night. At 8.30pm (when we were already in bed tired from the days diving) A man came knocking on the windows to tell us he was locking the gates but he didn't care if we stayed there as the gates would be unlocked early in the morning - what a nice guy.

June 4
What a night! At 1am the fire siren went off (Air rade siren), then at 3am about 30-40 Cockerals started continuously cock-a doodle-dooing and continued all the way until the sun rose at 6am. At which point they all stopped - stupid birds!
From the carpark we followed a walk towards Rainbow Falls.


After 3km, again the track was closed, but this time it was due to a bridge being constructed. So we turned round and wandered back to the van trying to find an unfolding frond of a fern - this is a big symbol in Maori and New Zealand culture and means new beginnings.

We headed up the coast to Matauri Bay, near the Cavalli Islands. Here we found the most amazing beach, quite a rarity in this world as there were no buildings, or tourist shops, or hotels along the whole stretch of beach or the valley. Apart from some caravans it was just as nature had intended. The sun was out and it was lovely and warm, well warm enough for James to walk along the beach in his shorts and flip-flops - a first (and maybe a last) for New Zealand.

We then went further up the coast and passed Doubtless Bay, and while the sun was sinking in the sky we headed up to Waipapakauri and to Ninety Mile Beach. You can drive along this beach all the way up to the most northern point of New Zealand. We headed out onto the sand to have a look, but straight away James decided to keep the van moving, turn around and get off the sand as our campervan showed signs that it would not make it very far. We had read warning of up th ebeach there being quite a few vehicles which had got stuck and been left as a reminder to others in the surf.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 4, 2007 from Kerikeri, New Zealand
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Thats really quite old!

Waipapakauri, New Zealand


June 5
We drove to the Ninety Mile Beach and walked onto it for a little while, then decided as it was raining we had had enough so got back into the van.
We arrived at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom. This turned out to be a workshop and shop specialising in carving Kauri wood. The timber they use is 40-50,000 years old found in the nearby swamps. They excavate these gigantic trees and turn them into some beautiful furniture and carvings. The trees are from anything 300-1100 years old when they feel into the swamp and have been preserved ever since. The centrepiece that the shop has been built around is a piece of a 1096 year old tree that died some 40,000 years ago. The original piece excavated was 110 tonnes however, not surprisingly this was too big to cart around so they cut off a 50 tonne section placed it onto a thick bed of reinforced concrete and carved a spiral staircase up through the centre. The carving of the staircase took a total of something like 500 man hours. The staircase is really great and its gorgeous walking up the centre - I want one!

We drove to Kaitaia and went on the internet. We stopped for lunch just outside Herekino and drove towards Kohukohu to wait for the ferry to take us across the river to Rawene. When we got onto the ferry and paid the $26, the man went to the front of the van and took a small bird (a native fantail) from the front of the van (one we had hit earlier) and said he would give it the appropriate burial by lobbing it over the side!
It took a mere 15 minutes to cross the river. At the other side we drove for a couple of hours before reaching the Waipoua Forest where we stopped by the side of the road for the night.

When Trace went outside to turn the gas on, with torch in hand as there were no lights and it was pitch black. James thought it would be really funny to scare the pants off her by throwing a couple of old bananas in the bush. At this point she didn't realise it was James as she swirled round to see if a strange animal was heading towards her from the bushes, only to hear James giggling to himself out loud then she realised it was him - Not very funny!

June 6
We had heavy rain overnight which kept us awake, especially when it started to drip on us!
We drove a bit more into the forest to get to the first big tree stop. We arrived at Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest). It is the largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand, its apparently difficult to accurately estimate the age of the tree, but they gave it a go by saying it may have sprang from seed around 2000 years ago. The trunk height is 17.7m, with a total height of 51.5m. The trunk girth is 13.8m and trunk volume is 244.5m. So really bigger than your average tree!
The next lot of big trees was at Kauri walks. We gave a man $2 in the car park to guard our van, as apparently they have break ins around here - we guessed it was the right man as he had a clipboard!
The first part of the walk was to the Four Sisters. These are 4 trees clumped together really close. thats about all we can tell you as there wasn't a sign for this one!
We went to the next track towards Yakas, as it started to rain. Handily we had left our waterproofs in the van, as it was sunny when we started. Yakas is named after a native Dalmation bushman and gum digger, Nick Yakas. The trunk height is 12.04m with total height 43.9m. The trunk girth is 12.29m and trunk volume is 134.2m. This tree is one of the only 'big ones' that you are able to touch, and even hug.


The final walk we went on was to the second largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand, Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest).The trunk height is 10.21m, Total height29.9m. Girth 16.4m (thats big!) and trunk volume 208.1m.
By the time we got back to the van it had stopped raining, it didn't matter as we were both soaked.

We had lunch at Kai Iwi Lakes, by the biggest one Taharoa Lake which had a sandy edge.

We then headed to Katakohe, to the Kauri museum. This place goes through the history of the Kauri forest bushmen, sawmills, and the felling of the Kauri trees. It has a massive cross section of a whole Kauri tree in the middle of it. The gum room was quite disappointing as there were just a whole load of old gum, that looks a bit like amber.

We then drove for a couple more hours to find a picnic spot for the van between Warkworth and Wellsford.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 5, 2007 from Waipapakauri, New Zealand
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I want to buy some cheese.

Parakai, New Zealand


June 7
As we left the picnic spot in the morning it started to rain.
We drove down the coast, then across to Puhoi. Here Trace wanted to go to the cheese factory, except when we got there it wasn't actually a factory, more of a Cafe that sold cheese that was made next door. To compensate for this loss we headed down the road to Puhoi Cottage for a Devonshire Cream Tea. The cottage is 100 years old and has been a Tea house for the past 33 years. They also make very big scones!

After a bit of a disaster of a morning, and also driving in a big circle we headed for Parakai. We drove up to Shelly Beach and saw lots of birds beach (we think they were Oyster cachers). We drove to the head of the Penninsula (South Head). We parked at the top and walked down a really steep hill with pine needles on to Mosquito beach, with black sand. We walked the whole length of the beach picking up shells and made patterns with them.


Trace saved a jellyfish that was stuck on the sand and moved it into the sea with 2 sticks, then a bit further down the beach she stood on one - this one wasn't so lucky as it was very squished! We walked back up the very steep hill and headed to the Aquatic park. The Aquatic park was right next to the campsite so we got a deal for the 2 and got the cmpsite for $2 each for the night - bargain! We treated ourselves by having our own private spa for half an hour, except the water was 40 degrees and far too hot to stay in there for that long. We then went in the outside pool which was a cooler 33 degrees, swimming under the stars. James managed to find the water slides, saying it was the best water slides he has ever been on. The slides were very quick and pitch black so you couldn't actually see when the next corner was coming up - very good! We finally had a relaxing swim in the 37 degree water before retiring to the campsite next door.


permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 7, 2007 from Parakai, New Zealand
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Auckland

Auckland, New Zealand


June 8
We left the campsite and drove the 50km to Auckland to yet another campsite. After plugging the van in we set off walking to the bus stop and catching the bus into the city. We headed towards the Sky Tower, except first had to take photos of it from a distance. We went up to the main observation deck at 186m. As James was standing on the glass floor I made him jump by pushing him - very funny!

The tower is the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere at 328m. When the tower was built the construction workers consumed over 500,000 meat pies and 1.2 million cups of tea. We went up another 9 storeys to 220m sky deck viewing platform. We then went down to 182m to the sky lounge, relaxing with a glass of wine whilst watching people throwing themselves off the top of the building.

We walked round town for a bit, went into a pub for some lunch. We both had our hair cut (well needed) then had to run for the bus, as we realised it was the last one going back for the next 2 hours, just made it as we made the driver open his doors at the traffic lights.
We had to pack our rucksacks when we got back to the van - difficult to fit it all in after 4 weeks in the van!

June 9
We were up early to clean the van out and get it back to Kea. We were greeted by a speeding fine for James - costing $80 (doing 65 in a 50 limit). The bright side is because he is foreign, he doesn't get any points - its good here! They also wanted to charge us for 3 chips in the windscreen at $85 per chip, we managed to negotiate this and only ended up paying for one! Even though when a lorry had gone past it pummeled us and created about 30-40 chips, oh well!
Jen picked us up and we headed out of Auckland.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 8, 2007 from Auckland, New Zealand
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Going Underground

Waitomo Caves, New Zealand


June 9
We diverted off the path to Jens house to go to Wiatomo Caves. Here James went black water rafting, this involved James putting on a wetsuit and picking out the right size inner tube to fit around his bum.

The group then went off into a little hole in the ground. The group followed an underground river with a cold temperature of 10 degrees, through lots of caves and tons of glowworms. At certain parts the water ran very fast and sat in the inner tubes the sharp cave walls and stalactites zoomed by. We were underground for approximately for 1 1/2 hours and with no gloves and lots of paddling in the cold water he was ready to get out.

During this time Trace and Jen had a more serene as Jen had a broken toe and Trace didn't fancy the freezing water. They went for some lunch in a warm cafe and caught up on some gossip. We went for a little walk following a blue coloured post, until we lost the post, as we were nattering too much so just headed back to the car.
After picking James up we drove the 180km or so to Taupo. To break up the journey we had dinner in a pub which happened to be showing the All Blacks against France. New Zealanders are very passionate about the All Blacks. Jen had offered to buy us dinner and ordered it from the bar, however she forgot to order her own dinner, but fortunately there was enough to go round with the 2 that were brought out.
We continued on our journey and arrived back at Jens house in Palmerston North at about 12.30pm.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 9, 2007 from Waitomo Caves, New Zealand
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Windy Miller

Palmerston North, New Zealand


June 10
As our first day in Palmy Jen decided to show us a few of the local highlights. First on the agenda we headed up to Te Apiti wind farm. It was very windy and cold up there, winter is definately on its way here and there have been a lot of reports of snowfalls in the south island, with the ski resorts set to opn around the same day we leave - gutted.

As it was so cold up there we took a couple of photos and headed off towards Himatangi Beach. This is Jens favourite local beach due to the amazing amount of driftwood of all sizes, from twigs to full trees that line the edge. We made a shell message in the sand and took photos, as we were doing this it started to rain and got very windy, so as soon as we finished we headed back into town and picked up some take-away lunch. We took this lunch to Jens mate Taras house (who is a black stic, just not playing today) to watch the international hockey game of the Black Sticks versus England. A bit wierd 3 English people watching this game with a black stick, especially when we won 1-0 (Come on England!)
For the evenings entertainment we decided to get a couple of DVDs. The first being DeJavu which was really good.For the evenings entertainment we decided to get a couple of DVDs. The first being DeJavu which was really good.
For the second film we watched All the Kings men which turned out to be quite wierd and dull so we turned it off half way through.


permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 10, 2007 from Palmerston North, New Zealand
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Famous last words

Napier, New Zealand


June 11
Since December Hawkes Bay has had only 1 or 2 days of rain and is experiencing quite a bad drought. This is a little wierd micro climate of New Zealand. As a break from all the wind and rain we decided to make the 2 hour journey over there and check out the town. On the way there it felt as though we were taking the rain with us and Jen reassured us that it never rains in the bay. However when we got there, much to the locals delight, it was absolutely tipping it down. There's not a lot to doinNapier in the pouring rain so we visited the local museum, which explains the 1931 earthquake which leveled the whole of the town and shows how the town was rebuilt. The majority the fashionable Art Deco style of the time. It also had some local Maori art and bizarrely enough an exhibit of clothes worn by London clubbers, particularly in the Trance and Techno scene. The clothes shown in tis exhibit were very futuristic and looked like they'd been taken straight from a Star Wars/Cyborg/Matrix film, Not sure quite where they got there research from - but clothes did look quite cool!
The next indoor activity, as it was still chucking it down, was the aquarium. After our trips round Singapore and Sydney aquariums this one really wasn't anything new, except for the rather randomly placed Kiwi Display, where we managed to see 2 Kiwis. One pecking at the ground, and the other manickly running backwards and forwards prodding at the ground.
As it was still raining when we left the aquarium we decided to knock our day at the beach on the head and went to the outskirts of town where we popped into the Oldest winery in New Zealand, Mission. Here we sampled 2 or 3 wines each, then went into their restaurant for a lovely spot of lunch. Trace had the biggest mussels she has ever eaten - delicious!

We then spent the next 2 hours in Jens car and soon enough were back in Palmerston North.


permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 11, 2007 from Napier, New Zealand
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Jenbolina's Palmy

Palmerston North, New Zealand


June 11
Jen dropped us off at her flat whilst she went into work for a couple of hours. We spent this time chilling out. When she got back we went out and grabbed a Thai take-away with a couple of bottles of wine for the evening.

June 12
James spent the morning getting up to date with the world of computing as Jen wanted us to help her choose a new laptop. While Trace and Jen did some chores around town (returning the hire car) when they returned, James then had to try and fix Jens car window which they had managed to get stuck in the open position. After taking most of the door apart he gave up in defeat and we then took it to a garage. Whilst it was being sorted we popped in to Harvey Norman (John Lewis equivalent) to show Jen what was available in her price range. Within an hour we left the shop one top of the range laptop and warranty in hand. She really didn't want to mess around. To celebrate we stopped at a coffee shop.

The rest of the day was spent chilling in Jens lounge playing with Jens new toy and finishing off last nights take away.

June 13
Whilst James was on the phone to Microsoft and Toshiba getting various issues sorted with the new laptop and Vista opperating system, Trace and Jen walked to the shop to get some breakfast, in the sunshine!
Jen dropped us in town as another problem had occurred overnight with James' i-Pod - it had completely stopped working. To his dismay the man in the shop told him there was nothing he could do and he needed to buy a new one (James doesn't believe him and wanted another opinion). Broken hearted we headed for the liquor store to get a bottle of wine. For lunch Jen had prepared a Roast pork with all the trimmings. This along with a glass of wine was making James feel a little better!
Jen had to go to work in the evening, and Trace went with her. We arrived at the Turbos (the local rugby team) training ground and watched them do their training. We both got to stand on the scrum machine whilst 6 huge men attacked it. Quite a scary experience but great fun!!
When we got back to Jens we finished off the wine and had apple and blackberry crumble for dessert.

June 14
Jens holiday was now over so she got up early and went into work. James and I caught up with internet stuff and chilled out, and got our stuff sorted for posting home.
We met up with Jen for lunch at Burger fuel and had a great burger!
We then went to the post office and sent a huge parcel home (with waterproofs in, so hopefully we now wont need them!) This cost us $130, so just a small parcel!

In the evening we picked Jen up from work, got ready and went in to Palmy.
We went to the Flying Fish. This is a very cosy bar where tey specialise in cocktails. We all had 2 eachbefore heading to the cinema for the Movie Premier of Oceans Thirteen. There was a fund raising for the New Zealand Masters Hockey team so we has drinks and buffet in the cinema. It was the best cinema ever, as we have never been to the cinema and drank a glass of wine during the film, the film was pretty good too!

permalink written by  James & Tracey on June 12, 2007 from Palmerston North, New Zealand
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