a side trip to New Zealand
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Sun 10 Aug 2014 08:23
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A side trip to New Zealand
Last year when we decided to go to Australia, rather than
take Time2 to New Zealand, we agreed that we would find some time to do a fly-in
trip down to New Zealand. As we were still having a lot of wintery weather in
Queensland, early August seemed like a good time. Mike was keen to see
Auckland and see more of the north island, and we wanted to do some skiing.
After looking at some skiing brochures, we decided that a few days at Mount
Ruapehu (middle of the north island) and some road tripping by car, would be the
plan.
We flew into Auckland Airport and then next morning drove
south through Hamilton to Whakapapa, to the Chateau Hotel high on the slopes of
Mt Ruapehu. It is a lovely old world country hotel, with all the trappings. Lots
of chandeliers, a grande piano, full size snooker table, reading room,
formal dining rooms etc. All was looking good – except there was very
little sign of snow! Each day we drove the up the hill to the ski station
base and each day we drove down again. Not only was there very little snow, but
it was very wet and rainy and the facilities seemed quite limited. There was
only one lift going up to the middle mountain, which would give you a single 5
min run – as the higher lifts were closed. Not worth the effort! We
realised that this is a very marginal ski area – even though it was the middle
of winter, they are not high enough, it is too wet and they don’t have the
back-up snow making facilities that are usual in the USA or Europe. We were very
disappointed, as we had been “sold” this idea – but we made the best of it.
Enjoying the food and the rather pleasant warm water pool (37deg) and sauna in
the basement.
  The Chateau Hotel
We stayed for three days, as we had prepaid the hotel, and
then headed back to Auckland, this time via Taupo. It was a pretty drive
through beautiful farmlands, despite the on going rain. Interestingly enough,
there seem to be a lot more cattle here than sheep. We decided to stay in Half
Moon Bay, south of Auckland, close to where our friends Kerri and Andrew (sv
Mariposa) lived, and joined them for dinner that night. Sadly we had realised
that Mike was coming down with the flu, and I was not far behind. The hotel we
stayed at, was on a marina, with a nice restaurant precinct and a very
efficient ferry service to the city. While we did manage to take the ferry in
one day and go up the iconic Skytower – most of the time was spent in bed. Mike
and I managed to get very very sick with the flu and decided to travel no
more.
  At the
SkyTower
Auckland Marina
The day before we left we took a quick drive out to
Devonport, and to the massive Auckland marina, but in reality were just going
through the motions, as we felt so awful.
We flew back to Townsville – a trip that took the whole
day (taxis, 2 flights, a ferry ride and a lot of waiting) and then promptly got
back into bed for another 3 days....the reason this
bog is so late
I can honestly say that I do not recall ever having felt
this ill. Next year we are going for the the Flu jab
We are now on the marina at Nelly Bay, deciding on our
next adventure.
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