Our last few days

Rain.... I have never seen anything like it.......... bucket loads and totally unremitting .

We knew it was wet season..... but usually that means heavy showers with hot sun in between !

However, we have been really lucky with the weather on the whole and so in the end we didn't let it dampen our fun...

we headed into Cairns for the afternoon, did some shopping, swum in the outdoor lagoon,

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marvelled at the clean ,cared for tourist town and headed back for a last supper, packing and onwards the next day to Sydney.
 
Lowenna's scissors in her hand luggage caused a security scare but other than that the various rocks and stones and beach memorabilia got through OK.

Our last 24 hours went in a flash.... we headed up the Ku-Ring-Gai for a last potter

saw a wallaby, said sad goodbyes and so it was the last trip to the airport, the last check in queue, the last crossed fingers at stuff hidden in our hand luggage, a huge 380 airbus for our journey complete with screaming baby in front of us... 7 hour flight to Singapore, 3 hour wait while they mended a puncture in the nose wheel, 14 hours home... Heathrow.... the end

or is it ??

Cairns,the Barrier Reef, rain and more rain

Well, landing at Cairns on a sunny morning after an awsomely clear flight,, we were whisked off to our little retreat for a few days of winding down, luxury beds and someone else to do the cooking - yippee !

Kewarra Beach is everything we hoped.... a true rainforest retreat, totally laid back, on a beach, lovely natural pools and our own little cabin with luxuriously big beds and a huge shower !

We got organised and booked our GBR reef trip for the next day( yes 3 weeks of camper vanning has produced the ability to be ever so slightly good at planning ahead ) we then headed to swim and relax for the rest of the day.

Lowenna and Will messed about in the pool, Tim and I laid on sun beds and just did nothing...amazing...

The restaurant coped well with Lowenna and her limited menu and the food we had was simply fab....

The Next Day

7am - Oh dear.... not sure if we had moved underwater being that close to the beach or was it a tropical rainstorm of mammoth proportions ?

Anyway, we were going to get wet anyway today, so the grey sky and heaving rain shouldn't be a problem... off we headed to Port Douglas and joined the boat.....

We headed out to sea to a rather growing swell, grey skies and lashing rain, and when they offered sea sick pills around I guessed the dreamlike images of glassy seas, blue skies, vivid colours and sun decked boats was perhaps a little wide of the mark !!

Never mind - this was the Great Barrier Reef - once in a lifetime opportunity and something we had all been looking forward to so all would be fine...

It was a good hour or so before the tannoy announced divers to get ready to enter the water.... snorkellers ( that was us) to get ready in the very tight,not very fetching lycra all in one baby grow type suits which apparantly had to be worn to protect us from killer stings from jellyfish ! great .... don't remember that bit in the brochure..

I was simply dreading the whole thing by now... a fairly reasonable swell on the ocean, no sign of pretty colours anywhere, the sea looked freezing and the suit was clinging to all sorts of places that i won't mention.

So, rubber masks, snorkel tubes, flippers added to the fun and we headed to the edge of the boat.... foot went in first ready to withdraw from the icey swell..... but hey ho.... complete surprise it was like a bath !

It was such a relief....

 

In we all flopped and head down to see what i expected to be a murky mess but..... wowee.... there it was.... coral, fishes, colours of such brilliance... right there, just underneath us.... all misgivings flooded away in a moment and we were lost to the underworld....

Tim, Lowenna,Will and I had hours of the best snorkelling and a great feeling of togerthness being able to share such an experience.... three different sites in one day... a great lunch, and though a bit of sun to dry off in between would have been a bonus... it was happy , happy memories of the highest order...

So, all too soon it was over... back to base... a hot shower, supper and a night of fabulous dreams !

The end of our NZ adventure .....and hello Cairns

Can’t believe where the 3 weeks have gone !

We have all loved NZ and it has given us endless moments of complete fun and pleasure, discovery of the most staggering scenery and sights, adrenalin kicks and relaxing times too.

The North and South are so different and yet incomparable as they are so diverse.....

We have loved it all and I speak unequivocally for all 4 of us although I am sure we all have our own very special memories.

For me it has been about being together as a family without pressure of the business and the ability to discover, enjoy, laugh and share an amazing adventure....

The bits which cost nothing- seeing the Kauri Trees for real, watching Lowenna and Will swimming,sand boarding and generally messing about,the mind blowing experience of the Doubtful Sound overnight, sharing Will’s bungy, witnessing Tim’s amazing patience at driving us , all 4331km of it, and his absolute excitement at his day hike on the glacier....

Family time together is absolutely priceless.... the first time probably in the last 12 or so years that we have really had ‘real’ down time, all together, in fact Lowenna and Will at the ages they were, have probably born the brunt of our lack of available family time, certainly since beginning project Pollaughan some 10 years ago it has been a constant mission to build the business and run it 24/7 and that takes its own toll on true family escapism as  being on call all the time makes escape very difficult.

We couldn’t have done it without the amazing Lucy Keeling who has loved and looked after Mungo and the animals and kept everything running smoothly at home and if anyone out there ever needs a house/animal sitter let me know - she is the best...

Sue,Steve and the rest of the family have also been supporting Lucy and making sure all is OK so we could leave it all behind... well, email and text does make it easier... here’s to everyone who has made this possible... you cannot know how much we really appreciate it..

So Cairns , here we are....We flew in over the GBR on a clear flight..... Barrier Reef tomorrow but for now a couple of days in luxury - big comfy beds, big powerful showers, time for complete relaxation and gathering of our thoughts before coming back to reality at home.... the weekly changing of loo rolls and smiling nicely will seem awfully tame after this !

 Lowenna  has taken complete charge of baggage now her navigation task has ended...

Our last full day and we found the real Magic Faraway Tree....

We had a simply fantastic last full day of exploring on the drive back down from Pahia in the Bay of Islands,ending up for our last night at Trounson Kauri Forest and one of the best sites we have stayed in,which was bang in the middle of a forest...

On the way , thanks to advice from the good old ‘ Lonely Planet’  we stopped at a little outpost called Hokiata where you can get a ferry over the bay to giant sand dunes.They lend you boards, give you a really good safety talk which comprises, dig your feet in the sand if you don’t want a complete dunking,  and off you go....

Bit of a climb to the top of the dune and in very hot sand -but the thrill of the ride was worth it....whizzing down ending up in the sea , and yes we all had a go !  And if you lifted the front of the board up aquaplaning out into the bay... I think William claimed the record closely followed by Lowenna.

It was a cheap thrills of the highest order... everyone had a great time, Lowenna and Tim went double decker , I managed to get up and down again, and despite the Tsunami which hit the other side as I descended and hit the water all was well, and thanks to Will there is now a video which hopefully will not get pasted to Facebook....

After a great hour and a half we hit the fish and chip shop for the best fish and chips and headed down to Waiapoua Forest and  ‘Faraway Tree’ land !

The Kauri forests are well known in NZ and the West Coast north of Auckland has the oldest and biggest in the world...and you don’t just go and see these trees, they sort of invite you to share their  presence... 

Nothing prepares you for these majestic and gigantuan beings and when you finally peep them through the trees they are just awesome in every sense....you can feel their massiveness and their presence and you cannot help but feel ingratiated to them....there is a whole eco system of its own way up in the branches and Enid Blyton must have known of this tree when she was inspired to write the Faraway Tree Stories, some of my favorite ever and best loved tales which for  those not initiated,are probably the best childrens stories written and will get even the most reluctant reader enthralled......

Standing in front of Tane Mahuta who is over 2000 years old and with a girth of 13.8m and height of 51 m you can just imagine Saucepan Man and his friends living up there.

As someone who loves trees and forests this was one of my highlights of the trip.... the memory of being so close to them is just beyond words.....you could hear them whisper all the time you were in the forest... you cold just feel them all around..

So, sadly it was time to move on... we stayed the night at Trounson Top Ten holiday park hidden deep in the forest.... sadly it rained so we couldnt get to enjoy all it offered but anyone going to NZ ...make this a must stay.... its beautiful, peaceful, clean and just totally at one with its surroundings... and you have enough space between pitches to open your door without hitting the next camper !!!!

So our last day done.. and last night slept, a quick pack up and off to Auckland....

Definately a fitting last day full of some fantastic memories and for once -FREE... they say the best things in life are free and on this occasion they sure were...

Tim and William head to the very very North

On Sunday William and I went on an all day coach ride (as if he has not spent enough time being a passenger) on the ‘Dune Rider’  to Cape Reinga at the north of north Island where the Tasman and Pacific meet and we were so lucky to be there when the conditions allowed a really clear ‘join’... see pics........

The Cape is at the northern tip of North Island.So we have travelled from almost the farthest Southern spot in South Island to the very very top of the North...It is at this point has a great spiritual significance to the Maori who believe on death that their spirits travel up to this point where there is a tree growing out from the side of rocks which release their spirits to the otherworld. 

On the way we visited an old gum digging station. These guys dug up old Kauri trees sunk in peat bog to extract the old sap which was made into amber which was used in linoleum and varnish (all in a days work)

 The four wheel drive coach is especially designed for max comfort but most importantly can cruise down 90 Mile Beach and its massive sand dunes... the highlight of this particular trip..

Will and I also did sand boarding down some of the largest dunes in the world of about 100 meters, bit of a clamber to the top but fab fun coming down again...despite the face full of sand en-route ! 

William got up quite a speed on the first go and got in a full run whereas I managed a sideways skid and ended up full face bomb into the sand  ....

But by the third attempt I mastered it... good for the leg muscles - but think Valerie and Lowenna might have requested a chairlift be installed !  

90 Mile Beach is actually 70 miles end to end and quite amazing to travel down on the coach .... a sort of mirage effect out of the front windscreen of the coach gave a surreal effect and it really cannot be put in words..... we passed wild horses which are a legacy from the gum digging days... and the sand and surf and endless horizon of the same was a fantastic experience and one Will and I both agreed we wouldn’t have wanted to miss...despite being a very long day..

Valerie and Lowenna opted for a quieter morning and a ride in the forest in the afternoon, as they couldn’t really face the nearly 500km round trip in the coach....

but apparantly they did get up at a reasonable time ( or so they said) did some scrap booking, diary writing and sticking and stuff , as all that seems to have got a bit behind as we have kept up the pace of travelling... and generally chilled out for the morning .The girls also had fun on their ride, if a bit ploddy, but nice scenery and horses !