A Kiwiana Birthday

Another weekend in New Zealand, another weekend off in Carrie the Van... Our excuse this time was to celebrate Sarah's birthday. I'd been at a conference for the last half of the week, so after the final keynote Auckland city witnessed a man in a suit sprinting across town to jump in the van and beat the traffic. Kiwis like nothing better than getting out of the city at the weekends, and I tried my hardest to get in front of them!

This time, we decided to stay in the Auckland region (a huge super-city and regional area which stretches a long way North, encompassing lots of amazing parks). The plan was to tiki-tour around from one regional park to the next and visit the bays, wineries and villages on the way. As well as celebrate Sarah's birthday.

We got out to Wenderholm Park that night, and were the only people in a secluded field sat on a river delta, nestled in between the mountains. Just us and lots of Pukeko, the NZ version of British moorhens. Bring on the birthday drinks!

Sarah's new nautical cardigan, courtesy of her mum!

Next day, we left the van in it's spot and had a walk around the mountains looming above the sea. The parks up there were full of native bush and odd birds, the noises were like walking round a tropical jungle!

Chillin' on my tree

Back in the van, we headed further North - calling in at the Puhoi Valley Cheesery. Sarah insisted. We tried a lot of cheese. Sarah managed to sniff out the cheese which "apparently had to be eaten that day". We bought it. We ate it all that day. Nothing surprising there.

A sight for sore eyes!

Puhoi village itself was tiny - a little enclave formed by Czech Bohemian immigrants in the mid-1800s. Everything was super tiny - check out the vast library below!

Cheese and books.
What more could she need?

And south of Warkworth, a huge beehive establishment - with the complementary tourist shop and museum. And more free tastings.

bzzzzzzz

And then around the next corner? A Kauri tree reserve - the world-famous-in-New-Zealand tree of immense proportions. Check out this bad boy, a mere tiddler compared to NZ's biggest Kauri of around 50m in height and 5m in diameter. A proper big boy.

Spot the difference.

After plenty of sightseeing inland and at beaches, we hunted out our next spot - a site recommended by workmates and the guidebooks, the regional park of Tawharanui. After a Colin McRae style mountain pass on gravel tracks in the campervan, Sarah was glad to finally arrive. And the pots and pans in the back were happy to go back on their shelves.

Boy was it worth it - a stunning peninsular with a pest proof fence (akin to Jurassic park, but a bit shorter) to let the native flora and fauna flourish. Crack open a bottle and wait for the sunset...

Go away clouds- we want colour!

There it is - in all it's glory

Before retreating into the van, to shelter from the persistent wind of NZ. Our rock and roll lifestyle over the last few months has turned us into avid monopoly players.

Be warned any visitors - I'm a pretty cool kid nowadays.

Sunday morning... up super early and off on a hike around the peninsular following the various trails. Along the sandy bays, scrambling over rocks, up a shallow cliff edge, through rolling green fields filled with lambs, to lookout points across the bay and back down through rainforest valleys. All in the space of 3 hours - such a diverse countryside. And the best bit? We saw a real life, wild kiwi bird! It was only a little one and scurried off into the undergrowth before sticking it's head out a few times, but it was great to see. They're supposed to be nocturnal, but this one was a bit confused!

Spring is here!

And back in time for a full English fry-up in the sunshine... Happy birthday, Sarah!

Carrie & Sarah - FRIENDS
(watch Inbetweeners if you don't get it!)