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From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek
Touring New Zealand with Brisbane City's Captain Sandy Stewart. My wife Elaine and I live at Sandstone Point near Bribie Island Qld Australia. At 4.00am. on Friday February 2nd 2007, there was a knock on our door. It was the morning that we, together with our eldest daughter Sharon, were scheduled to leave for 'AOTEAROA', the land of the long white cloud.
The knock at the door was from our Limo driver, who was due to pick us up at 4:30am. Yours Truly was still in bed. "This is a good start!" I mumbled to myself. In due course I was ready and set off to the airport where we boarded flight NZ 802 at 8.00am Brisbane time. It's a three hour trip across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. We landed at Christchurch, 'The Garden City', at 4.30pm N.Z. time.
Our plans included spending a few days with our daughter's friend on the South Island of New Zealand before setting off on a 16 day bus tour of the South and North Islands with Grand Pacific Tours.
As we cleared customs in Christchurch, a lady from Grand Pacific Tours , seeing that we had Grand Pacific bags with us, came and asked us if we were ok. This was very nice of her except that we were not scheduled to start our tour until Tuesday 6/2/2007.
He checked with the Hostess from G.P.T. and got precise directions as to where to drop us off on Tuesday night. From the airport we traveled for 40 minutes to Kyle's place at Rangiora, 30 kilometers north of Christchurch on the Canterbury Plains. The first thing we noticed was the beautiful flowers and well kept gardens. Here we met his wife Suzy, his cat and two dogs.
Saturday 3/02/07-Today Suzy had to work so Kyle took us to his local beach at Waikuku. It is on the East Coast of New Zealand out of Christchurch. That means we went for a paddle in the Pacific Ocean. Sunday 4/2/07- Both Kyle and Suzy had the day off so they took us to the Alpine Village of Hanmer Springs. We had brunch at the springs overlooking the Village which was built around 1926.
Monday 5/2/07- Kyle's mum Gloria took us to the French Village of Akaroa near Christchurch. It was magnificent; all the streets had French names and were full of beautiful little cottages. On the same day there was a great hot rod rally involving 100 cars at the Akaroa show grounds.
Afterward we went for a tour, travelling through the Christchurch tunnel to look at the old port and later traveled back by Corcoia Bay and around the mountain to the city. It was about 4.00pm when Kyle dropped us off at the Kingsgate Hotel Christchurch to book in for dinner and for our first night on our Grand Pacific Tour. At dinner there was a surprise for Elaine. As it was her birthday, I arranged with Harry the piano player and the hostess for the whole troupe to sing happy birthday to her. Wednesday 7/2/07- On the first morning of our tour our wake up call came at 6.00am. We organised our bags and had breakfast at 7.00am and by 8.00am. were on the bus. The Hostess introduced us to our Coach Captain Paul Dodds who immediately said, "Enough, my names Paul, I'm not your Coach Captain, I'm Paul your bus driver". So with introductions complete we headed off on a morning tour of Christchurch.
We traveled through the South Canterbury Plains of the South Island where we saw many sheep and then many more sheep, before arriving at Lake Tekapo whose waters are a brilliant turquoise blue colour. The amazing colour is created by 'rock flower'; very fine particles of glacier ground rock that stay suspended in the water. We took some pictures of the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Sheep Dog Statue which is dedicated to all the sheep dog's in New Zealand. Although there were 31 Aussie's aboard the bus, it was very quiet. From Lake Tekapo we headed off to our next stop, Aoraki, Mt Cook, which, at 3754m is New Zealand's highest peak. "How good is this!" I kept thinking to myself while looking at the Snow covered peaks of Mt Cook, Mt Tasman and the Tasman Glacier. We stopped at the Mt Cook Heritage Resort and took pictures of Sir Edmund Hillary's statue while Mike a fellow tourist went for a plane ride over the Tasman Glacier and Mt. Cook. Our first night on the road we stayed at The Heritage Gateway Hotel at Omarama, a one horse town that had two Motels, a service station which doubled as a Tourist Center, and a pub with only three poker machines. Thursday 8/2/07- Afteer the usual 6.00am wake up call we headed off to Dunedin, the Scottish City of the South Island. Leaving Omarama we traveled to Lake Benmore. Lake Benmore is the largest man made solid earth dam in New Zealand and supplies the North Island with power by the cook strait cable from the Benmore Power Station which became fully operationally by 1966. The lake holds 1.5 times more water than Wellington Harbor. We followed the Waitaki River to Oamaru where the famous Oamaru Limestone comes from. Our friend Kyle Fielden is building his new house at Christchurch using those limestone blocks. But I digress.
We then toured the city stopping at Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world, and took pictures of Robert Burns statue as he sits with his back to the church overlooking the town square and seven pubs. Robert Burns was born 25/1/1759 and died 21/7/1796. Then we visited the famous Historic Dunedin Station with its beautiful gardens. As an extra bonus, the Taieri Gorge Train was at the station with its antique carriages. We arrived at our accommodations, The Mercure Leisure Lodge by 4.00pm. That night we had a very special evening, for it involved the ceremony of bringing in the Haggis; a Scottish Tradition. Robert Burns described the Haggis as 'the great chieftain o' the puddin-race'. We were down in the bar having a drink when Paul introduced me to Roy. Roy said: 'you're my volunteer for tonight's ceremony - come with me'. I went with him to a back room where he had Mike and Diana bailed up and it became obvious that we were to be the floor show for the night. We all were given caps and kilts to wear, and I had a great sword to carry. Diana carried the Haggis while Mike carried the scotch. Then the piper came along. Let the show begin, 'The piping in of the Haggis'.
The piper led, then I followed, then Diana, Mike and Ron. Well you should have seen the uproar when we came into the room, you could here Elaine laughing from all over the place. The show went well and we toasted the Haggis and downed a nip of scotch. It was a "great lark". Then we went for dinner where we got to taste the haggis. Friday 9/2/07- We set off to Te Anau. We traveled out along the Otago Peninsular to Larnach Castle. New Zealand's only Castle, located at 145 Camp Road Otago Peninsular. As we arrived at the Castle it started raining, and we immediately made a 'bee line' for the door. The Castle was bought by the Barker family in 1967. William Larnach built the Castle in 1871 for his first wife Eliza. It has forty three rooms including a ballroom, and needed a staff of forty six servants. The views from the tower are spectacular. As a center feature in the main foyer, is the plaque of the Order of the Garter, the motto of which translates to (Evil be to him who evil thinks), and the motto of the Order of the Thistle which means "Touch me not with impunity". The Castle is reputedly haunted by the ghost of Larnach's daughter Kate who died only days after her 21st. birthday. Larnach himself committed suicide in 1898, but that's another story.
The Chalet has a wonderful view of the harbor and is a great place for weddings. We stopped there for a Devonshire tea that had scones with cream and jams to die for. We spent the rest of the day traveling through the towns of Balclutha and Gore, noted for salmon and trout fishing, before arriving at Te Anau which is situated on New Zealand's second largest lake; 42 miles long covering 132 square acres. It's a great fishing spot for brown trout. It stopped raining as we pulled into The Luxmore Hotel at Te Anau. Saturday10/2/07- It was 14 degrees as we left Te Anau on route 94, driving along the lake to Milford Sound. After traveling through the Homer Tunnel we arrived at Milford Sound for a luncheon cruise. We cruised down the sound to the Tasman Sea. At the mouth of the sound was an ocean going cruise liner. Returning to Milford we passed Mitre Peak which rises 1,682m above sea level and we passed the spectacular 160m Bowen Falls (Rere Hine Te Awa-waterfall of the girl of the stream). We spent the rest of the afternoon traveling back to Te Anau and on to Queenstown where we were booked in at the Mercure Resort for two nights.
Sunday11/2/07- Our free day. After a late breakfast we took the bus into Queenstown, stopping off to take the gondola ride to the top of the mountain over looking the town. Then we went to the markets where Elaine bought some mugs which were very lightweight for pottery. Others of our crew took the chance for a jet boat ride on the Shotover River or take a 4x4 wheel drive along Skippers Canyon. Skippers Canyon is where they shot The Lord of The Rings. Other locations around Queenstown are Kawarau River, River Anduin, Arrowtown, Pillars Deer Park Heights, The Remarkables, Closeburn, and Wanaka. In the afternoon we boarded the vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw, named after Mt. Earnslaw and which was launched in 1912. We cruised across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Station for a high country cuisine dinner. After dinner we had a farm tour and watched a sheep shearing demonstration. Then we reboarded the TSS Earnslaw and had a sing along around the piano as we cruised back to Queenstown.
Monday12/2/07- We left Queenstown for the Fox Glacier, arriving at Arrowtown in just 20 minutes. Arrowtown was born out of the 1862 gold rush on the Arrow River. This is an historic town so we visited the old Chinese gold mining section and the Lakes District Museum. Afterward we traveled via Wanaka where the international air show is held and where you also can visit the New Zealand Fighter Museum, on to the Hast Pass and the snow capped peaks of the southern alps. We also saw Thunder Creek Falls on the way to the Fox Glacier, and stayed the night at the Scenic Circle Glacier Hotel.
Tuesday13/2/07- We had been booked on a helicopter flight over the Fox & Franz Josef glaciers but when we got up, we were advised that because the glaciers were fogged in, the trip had been canceled. While were we having breakfast however, our driver Paul came in and told us to 'get a move on' with breakfast, because the mountain was now clear again, and the helicopter flight was back on. Elaine was still eating as we boarded the bus to the chopper.
When we got off the chopper we found ourselves on pure driven snow which crackled beneath our feet. Elaine could not contain herself and started throwing snow balls at me. What fun! After spending a while on the snow, we took off again, and saw some hikers on the glacier, one of which, according to the pilot, was his Daughter. Flying back over the Franz Josef Glacier we returned to land and found our tour bus waiting for us. On our way to the face of the Franz Josef Glacier, our bus passed many 'rata' trees; like xmas trees with red berries all over them. On the Glacier we were allowed to walk to the lookout to get some incredible photos. When that was finished we headed off to Hokitika, the jade and gemstone capital of New Zealand. The nephrite jade, greenstone or pounamu is found locally. After the women did some shopping, the tour continued on to Arthur's Pass where we boarded The Transalpine train for the rest of our journey to Christchurch. On the train I met Jimmy from Colombia and he told me all about his home town Bogota. It was really interesting. When we arrived in Christchurch we headed off to the Kingsgate Hotel where we lodged for the night.
We traveled north from Christchurch along the east coast to Kaikoura, and on the way stopped to see the sea lions. At Kaikoura Elaine lost her small purse and her photos. Talk about 'see' lions! After we had a bite to eat we were off through Marlborough Country, (very famous for food and wine) and then on to Picton. As we drove into Picton we could see the Interisland Ferry waiting for us for the 1.15pm. sailing. It was there that we had to say goodbye to our friendly bus driver Paul, and his mascot Bonaparte, a toy dog that sat on the bus dashboard. Leaving Picton we cruised through the Marlborough Sound across the Cook Strait and arrived at Wellington at 4.30pm. Onboard the Interisland Ferry our tour group traveled in comfort in one of the lounges, which I thought was rather good. After an excellent crossing we arrived at Wellington,'The Windy City', the Capital of New Zealand, located on the North Island. Our new bus driver Chris and our charming hostess Debbie were waiting to meet and greet us, and then took us to stay at the Ibis Hotel.
Thursday15/2/07 - We took a morning tour of Wellington, taking in the famous Beehive and Parliament Buildings, St.Pauls Cathedral, past the historic cable car ride and Lady Norwood Gardens, then onto the summit of Mt. Victoria where we had a 360 degree view of the city and the harbour. Then we travelled north on the Desert Road past Mt. Ruapehu; an active volcano which has a crater lake and is on active watch.On 18/3/07- it spewed out rocks, earth and water 4m high before entering the Whangaehu River. We were well out of the way and back home by then.
From there we went to Lake Taupo which is one of the best trout fishing spots. Lake Taupo is the size of Singapore and the largest fresh water lake in Australasia. We next visited the spectacular Huka Falls. Wow! What a sight!The speed and the amount of water! What a rush! We carried on along the Thermal Explorer Highway to the geothermal wonderland of Rotorua, the spiritual home of the Maori of Te Arawa. There we booked in for two nights at the Lake Plaza. Friday16/2/07- We had to be up early that morning because we had to take a gondola ride to the Skyrides Restaurant where we had a buffet breakfast. Both the breakfast and the grand view of Rotorua were spectacular. After breakfast we had a ride on the luge. (It's like a go cart that you ride down hill on a track). Elaine went first - hurtling down the winding track to the bottom of the hill, and from there to take the ski lift back up to Skyriders.
After that we went to the Agrodome where we saw sheep dog trials, as well as performing sheep. Sharon was called up on stage with three others to take part in a cow milking competition. She did pretty well and received a certificate for her efforts. From there we headed back to Rotorua to visit the thermal pools. The geysers were awesome and the bubbling mud pools were going plop! plop! plop! Then we went to the Maori Village of Te Puia for a traditional Maori welcome. While we were waiting on the Marae (The traditional meeting place of the Te Arawa tribe) we were taught the "Waiata", a song of support, the English translation of which goes: Greetings to you all, to my new friends, we whom have arrived, at this time, to this place, therefore, to my new found friends, greetings to you, to one and to all. The Maori version is: Tena Koutou, E hoa ma, Kua tae mai nei, I tenei wa, No reira ra, E hoa ma, Kia Ora ra, Tatou Katoa.
Then we had a private Maori concert and hangi to attend. The Chief and the Elders were waiting on the Marae to invite us into the sacred meeting place for the concert and we were asked to join the performers on stage. We all had a great time. Afterwards we attended a traditional Hangi. (A Maori feast) The food was great. When the party was over we made our way back to the Lake Plaza for the night. Saturday17/2/07 - We started the day off by visiting Paradise Valley Springs Trout Farm where we fed the trout. Following that, we departed Rotorua and headed for the Waitomo Caves, traveling through Matamata Waikato country, the home of Hobbitown - in Lord of the Rings. The actual village movie sight is 20 minutes out of Matamata on Ian Alexander's farm.
We walked through the magnificent cathedral area at Waitomo Caves and down into the grotto where we boarded a boat in the darkness for a guided tour to see the glow worms shining in the grotto. After that we traveled to Longlands Dairy Farm for a home cooked dinner. As we are running ahead of schedule, our hostess Debbie suggested we detour to a tourist spot where they made clothes out of Angora rabbit hair, and there we saw how they shear rabbits for that hair. After dinner, we left Longlands Dairy Farm and traveled via Cambridge to Auckland, the City of Sails. Our driver had a treat for us. The Queen Mary II was in port, and so together with thousands of other spectators, we went down to see her. The Queen Mary II is very very big. After that, it was off to the Ibis Ellerslie for the night. Sunday18/2/07- On Sunday we traveled from Auckland to the Bay of Islands via the new northern freeway. As we passed the turn off to the Pohoi pub, our driver told everyone that that was where I would like to go. Too right! Sadly though, we didn't stop, and continued heading North. Our first stop was Parry Kauri Park where we saw a huge kauri tree.
Next we stopped at the Kauei Museum in Matakohe . There we saw a sawmill, a replica boarding house c.1910, the gum room, and carved specimen pieces of New Zealand amber (copal). We also saw a 1909 post office, a church built in 1867 and an original school used in 1878. From the Museum, we traveled on through the town of Dargaville on the Kauri Coast. The Dargaville Kauri festival is held in September each year. Then we traveled through Whangarie to Paihia situated in the Bay of Islands. After that, we had a guided tour of the Waitangi Treaty grounds; the location of the signing of the treaty between the Maorie tribes and the British on 6/2/1840. (New Zealand has a public holiday for Waitangi Treaty Day.) At Hobson's Beach we saw the largest Maori Waka Canoe - the Ngatokimatawhaorua - which is 35m long and needs at least 76 rowers and which can maintain a speed of 27 knots. It was launched in 1940 and named Voyaging Waka. Then we returned to the Hotel Paihia for the night.
Monday19/2/07- Monday we had a great start to the day when we boarded the Fox 5 catamaran at the Paihia pier for a trip out to Cape Brett and the Bay of Islands. Out on the bay we stopped by the famous Hole in the Rock. The captain announced that because we are on the largest tour boat on the bay, we could not go through, but that he would get us as close as possible so that we could take photos. As we drew close to the hole and were clicking away on our cameras to get the best shots, the Captain announced over the P.A. that we we going through after all. What a ride! Not only were we nearly touching the sides, but the top as well. Wow! Of course he was only kidding when he said that we wouldn't fit through. The boat was fitted with laser navigation. From there we headed back to Paihia via a stopover at Otehei Bay. We pulled into the pier at Urapukapuka Island at the Zane Grey Resort; named after the famous American Western Author who first camped on the sight in 1926. After morning tea we returned to Russell Isand where we disembarked and stayed the rest of the day. After a walk around the town and after the girls had finished their shopping, it was time to catch a local ferry back to Paihia. After the girls spent even more money downtown, we walked up the hill to the Paihia Hotel where we stayed the night.
Tuesday20/2/07- After breakfast we traveled south via Whangarei to Auckland. Since we had some free time there, we traveled over to Skycity Casino to try our luck. We were even fortunate enough to see jumpers leaping from the 192m Sky Tower on a cable controlled jump. A little later, our tour driver took us on a city sights tour. We traveled past the sky tower, up Queen Street, along Ponsonby Rd, Viaduct Harbor, The Art Gallery, Victoria Park Markets, and on to Mt. Eden where we saw volcanic craters and had a 360 degree view of Auckland and it's harbor. After that we went back to the Ibis hotel and said our goodbyes to our driver Chris and our wonderful hostess Debbie. That night we had our farewell dinner, and a good time was had by all. We shared great food and great entertainment with great friends, and finished off the evening with a sing-a-long.
Later in the day we departed Auckland on our flight back to Brisbane. On arrival we met up again with fellow tourists Diana and Bruce who like us were left waiting for their transport to arrive. Although our limo got us home later than anticipated, when we did get home, we were glad. We had had a good trip, seen some wonderful places, made some new friends, and had a marvelous time thanks to Grand Pacific Tours and our drivers Paul and Chris and our hostess Debbie. Brisbane City's Captain Sandy Stewart. Email: c/- rpbendedek@hotmail.com Other Stories by Captain Sandy Stewart
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