New Zealand

Ki Ora: welcome to New Zealand

/ brisbanefrannie / 5 Comments

779B8097-8378-4664-9069-39BCCF08BE45We love our mini breaks and visiting our swim trek friends in NZ is one of our favourites.
For the past few years we have taken the easy 3 hour flight on Emirates’ 380 to Auckland to meet up with Kim & David Parker. We travel with our friends Chris & Jill Wilson and started the journey with Moët at the airport. It may only be 7.30am but it’s a great way to start our holiday.
We landed at around 3 pm picked up our hire car and headed towards Mellons Bay where Kim & David have a lovely home with spectacular views across their garden to the water.

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This year the Wilsons are staying with them in the house and due to shortage of rooms it was our turn  to book into a nearby motel at Buckland’s Beach. It’s such a pretty spot we’ll look forward to a walk around the bay tomorrow.

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We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening sharing lovely NZ wines, a wonderful tapas plate and lots of chat and laughs.

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Swimming has taken us to many places around the world and made us many new friends. We swam with the Parkers & Wilsons in Greece in 2014 and so we started our little mini breaks to ‘ have a swim’ followed by a bit of sightseeing in a different party of the country.
Last year we swam in Pahia (look back at those posts) and visited the Bay of Islands. The year before a local swim in Auckland followed by the Coromandel Peninsula.

This year we are swimming the Blue Lake near Rotorua. We’re very excited as lake swimming is beautiful. The downside is that our party of swimmers is decreasing due to injury or illness. Steve has a shoulder problem requiring an op in a few weeks. Kim has an eye problem after having had a detached retina. Jill has had stitches in her head and can’t go in the water and Chris has a heavy cold. So it looks like David & I! If I can fit into the wet suit!

So stay tuned for news of our adventures as we drive south to Rotorua – city of smells!

Kia ora : hello in Maori

/ brisbanefrannie / 3 Comments

Last night was like sleeping on a boat in a little ship’s cabin. Our cosy room was indeed cosy but so comfortable. We woke to foggy skies and a feeling our trip around the Bay of Islands was going to cloudy and foggy.

Breakfast was in the old fashioned dining room and Steve was  most upset that bacon and eggs were off the menu as it was Monday!

Down the wharf by 9am we waited in the quiet of the misty morning.

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The boat started in Paihia and arrived at Russell for us and another couple and as it drew close we could see it was crowded. Turns out there were nearly 270 people on board. So we scored an inside seat. 😬Not so bad as we were able to move around and catch the sights. And there were a lot of sights to see.

This area is magnificent. The Bay of Islands lives up to its name  There are 140 island  88 of which are genuine Islands  all shapes and sizes with vegetation and animal life living happily together. And very few people.

We headed north and before too long came across a pod of dolphins playing and feeding. They put on quite a show, circling the boat and drawing ‘ohhs’ and ‘arhs’ from the crowd on the boat.

We headed off across the Bay towards a really pretty island with a blue lagoon  and rippling waves.  I couldn’t help thinking what a wonderful spot for a swim trek. I’ll be emailing Simon and suggesting it!

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We motored towards the famous Hole in the Rock.  It’s wonderful. Everyone rushed to the side of the boat and I thought we might tip! But our funny Maori captain had it all under control.

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We couldn’t go through the hole. Too much swell. Sensible but sad I say.

Along we went past some more islands  before stopping for a lunch! We had our bananas – we’d been carting them around for at least a day so thought it was time to eat them. We were saving ourselves for our return and a a late lunch of famous Mangonui fish and chips. We had 30 mins to walk up to a lookout and it was worth the climb. Views both ways across the many islands that make up these Bay of Islands.

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Back on the boat we arrived back in Russell by 1 and set off with a coffee in hand for Mangonui and a fish and chips.

Only a little detour along the way. The Stone Store in Keri Keri which has been operating since 1830. It’s set in the most beautiful grounds of what used to be a Mission Station.

Finally time for ‘fush an’ chups’ at a well organised little shop sitting alongside the Bay. What a hit!  We inhaled our delicious hapuka, a local white fish along with our choice of chips – fat , thin or hand cut!

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Finally we finished lunch by 4.30 and headed to the nearest supermarket for our cheese, biscuits & wine to go with the prawns we bought for our late supper tonight. We always have food on our mind.

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Our room tonight , despite being the same cost as cosy room last night is actually a 3 bedroom villa at Peppers resort on the KariKari peninsula. It’s gorgeous. We started with a swim in the infinity pool before freshing up and having an aperitif on the verandah at sunset. Around 7.45pm.

Bliss. Tomorrow is our last night before returning on Wednesday.

Exploring the Bay of Islands

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What a beautiful part of the world. Today we turned left out of our hotel and crossed a bridge and entered the lovely area of Waitangi Treaty House.

Such a surprise. Such a beautiful place, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in Feb 1840. A Treaty between the Maori people and the representatives of the British Crown.

We started with breakfast in the garden cafe and chatted and ate before Kim& David left for home in Auckland, a four hour drive away.

Last year a new centre was opened on these significant grounds. It’s a wonderful museum. For $40 we entered the grounds and the interactive museum. Had a tour and a cultural show. So well done.

Our guide, a rather large Maori man had a wonderful gentle approach and took us on a tour of the grounds and gave the background to the history of the signing of the Treaty. All with jokes along the way.

We walked through a small forest of trees and emerged at a lawn facing the Bay. We saw the Maori boat which seats over 100 paddlers and has an intricately carved side and end piece.


Seven smiling Maori people performed a dance and song show ending with a Haka. They became fierce. Just like the rugby players we try so hard to defeat.
Three hours later we left for Russell the small township opposite Paihia. It’s where Steve left for his 3km swim yesterday. We took a car ferry for $12.50 and drove through the green surrounds before arriving at the gorgeous little town of Russell. It had a bad reputation back in the 1800’s but is now a quiet beautiful bayside town. It has white painted wooden buildings along the road facing back to Paihai. It’s tree lined and has a lazy feel.

Our hotel, the Duke of Marlborough, is an old world place facing the water. It’s great. Our very cosy room is well appointed – we didn’t take a big room for just one night, so it’s small and cosy! But drinks on the veranda and dinner was great.


Our after dinner walk was peaceful and prepared us for the wonderfully comfortable bed.

I do love a short break holiday.

New Zealand: Perfect Paihia

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Who doesn’t love a mini holiday?

New Zealand is the perfect place to go for a  short break. It’s an easy 3.5 hr flight from Brisbane to Auckland and in the Emirates 380 was super comfortable.

The drive from the airport to Paihia took longer! A 4 hour drive through Friday afternoon traffic before reaching the approach to the Bay of Island area, arriving just on dusk at the very pretty Paihia.

Our swim trek friends Kim and David ( from our Greece trek in 2014) were there to greet us and we headed straight out to dinner. What better to eat than fresh fish in a restaurant by the water. A few glasses of NZ wine later we walked back to our very comfortable apartment and had a great nights sleep.
I was a little nervous. I had entered the mini swim – only 300 mts but I thought it might be too cool. Lucky for me Kim brought me her old wet suit. So this morning I wrestled my way into the suit and was ready to go. Felt like a sausage in a skin but probably looked worse than that!

Steve had left earlier with Kim & David to catch the ferry to Russell just across the bay. They were then swimming back. Around 3 km. I thought it was too far or me – with out fins!

So Chris Wilson & I, supported by Jill, made our way to the beach for our mini swim. The weather was cloudy but not too cool. I felt pretty good in my wet suit!
So off we went in cool waters – but how good is a wet suit? Buoyant and warm I didn’t have any trouble swimming along the front of the beach. Except maybe for my foggy goggles.
We made it in the respectable time of 8 mins and ran up the Beach thinking “that was a bit short………. could have done more!” That’s just a warm up at squad.
We sat in the now clear blue sunny weather and listened to the prize giving. Ears picked up when we heard Ladies over 60 1st place Frances Maitland! Men’s over 60 1st place Chris Wilson. What a hoot. We had won the Gold medals.

Oh boy we couldn’t wait to tell the others when they arrived in from their 3 km swim.

We celebrated with a lovely lunch at the wharf restaurant along with Martin & Jo some swim friends from Brisbane who also happened to be here.

Rest time now! Well we are over 60!

And we have to be ready for a nice dinner out in this pristine beautiful place.



These few days will be the tonic I need after a hectic week at home. Rob & Jordan had moved in for a week – along with lots of bags. They left on Friday to begin their new adventure in New York. So I shed a few tears!
Pete and El have also signed a lease on an apartment in West End. A new start and we are so happy for them.

So life at home will settle when we return.

On the road to Coromandel

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An early start for the swimmers which meant I got to sleep past 5.30!

Sorry readers this little swimmer opted out! Too chilly for me with no wet suit.

Jill and Chris picked me up and we checked out the local markets and had coffee before heading to Tapakuna Beach north of Auckland.

imageLots of local fish at these markets.

We arrived in time to see Kim David and friend Adam line up for the relay. Steve had finished his 3.5 km swim and the shoulder was fine. He was happy so that means I was happy too.

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The day was a little grey with sudden showers but not too cool. I think it’s clearing for our drive to the Coronandel this afternoon.

We had a great farewell lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay and decided NZ offers great food and wines and we could easily stay longer than the 5 days we’ve allowed.

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Chris drove this afternoon as Steve enjoyed one beer too many in celebrating his swim  and we hit the road about 2 pm. It was a lovely drive down and luckily no rain.

The roads were winding through green rolling hills and was chocolate box perfect. NZ ……. Sigh! Beautiful.

Got to Whitianga around 5 and found our slightly odd accommodation. It’s a B&B but is inside a 3 bedroom apartment in a largish complex. Seems we share it with Diana. Lucky for us Diana is dog sitting tonight and has left the keys and the apartment for our exclusive use!

Whitianga is a laid back peaceful port and turned on a beautiful afternoon for us as we wandered around the foreshore and found a place for a sundowner.

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Steve was more than tired by  now after his early start and big swim so we made a fairly night of it. Of course we checked out Lost World Spa and decided tomorrow we would start with the thermal pools of the spa before moving on.

These warming pools are very  sort after in this area and we had a choice of taking a shovel to Hot Water beach and digging our own spa in the sand and lying in it or going to Lost World and lounging in their pools.

We checked it out yesterday and it looked very tropical lost worldish and thought that was easier than taking a shovel to the beach.

So tomorrow a little account of us ‘taking the therapeutic waters’ of the thermal pool. Could be interesting.

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