Te Urewera National Park and Lake Waikaremoana

We are now back in Murupara this afternoon after a long 6 hour road trip through the Te Urewera National Park. 100Km of the road is unsealed dirt track. Our trusty 4x4 car coped fine! Lindsay enjoying the rally car experience.

We passed by Lake Waikaremoana which is said to be one of New Zealands most beautiful lakes. Also not many people get to go there as it's so remote and difficult to access.

Back at the batch its really hot so we're trying to cool off with the Air Con on full blast.

We've been invited up to The Big House for dinner tonight, by Bernard whos is the GP whose locum I'm covering.

Gisborne

Last night we stayed in Whakatane again in The White Island Hotel where we stayed last week, as we enjoyed it so much.

Today we took the Pacific Coast Highway which is a 6 hour drive along the Pacific Coast from Whakatane to Gisborne. When we started off from Whakatane it was wet and very misty but the weather steadily improved so that it's now hot and sunny; 29 degrees at 6pm!

We saw some stunning coastal scenery along the way.

White Island

Back in Murupara after a fantastic weekend in Whakatane.

Today we took a trip to White Island, which is New Zealands only active marine volcano. It is situated 50Km off the coast of the Bay of Plenty and took a two hour boat trip to get there. On the way we stopped to see a large pod of dolfins who obligingly swam along side and behind the boat. We also saw gannets diving in the sea for food.

When we arrived at the island we had a guided tour of the volcanic crater including sulphurous cones mud pools and the central watery acidic crater. The sulphur smell was so strong we had to wear gas masks at some points. All really well guided and very informative.

Whakatane

Yesterday I completed my first three days work at Murupara Medical Centre. Felt so exhausted
we had to get away so we have come up to the coast of the bay of plenty to Whakatane!

On the way we passed through Rotorua and the nearby picturesque lakes.

Whakatane is a small seaside town overlooking a bay with some sailing boats but not much else. However the sun is shining. Tomorrow we have booked to go out to White Island which is an active volcanic island off the coast.

Murupara

So here weare in Murupara, a small forestry town 65Km from Rotarua. We arrived at lunchtime and were made very welcome by the medical centre staff and have now made ourselves at home in our small batch; not palacial but comfortable and with views of the mountains. We have already explored the local vacinity on our bikes; it's flat!!

The locals all seem very friendly and chatty.

Some difficulties with immigration and my work visa seem to have been overcome so I am hoping to start work tomorrow.

Turangi day 2

Well we survived a bit of culinary vandalism last night. Went to Valentinos, an Italian in the town; a definite throwback to the 70's with red and white tablecloths extremely dated decor, cheezy music and staff to match. We both ordered lamb. It was cooked very well but came with the most disgustigly awful balsamic vinigar reduction, which was completely inedible. Lindsay had sensibly asked for her sauce separately; I had to hastily retrieve mine from it's fate!

Today we took a walk around lake Rotoponamu. A beautiful elevated lake with a wooded walk around the perimeter. After a brief lunch we went to a bike hire place where they were selling off ex-hire bikes cheaply. We then needed a way of attaching them to the car so took a trip to Taupo to find a shop selling bike racks, and also ended up buying helmets as well.

Lets hope it's flat in Murupara, where heading next!

Turangi

We left a very wet but hot and muggy Taranaki and drove along the forgotten world highway, through a dense forest of trees and frens. It was a partly un made road with the rain lashing down at times; so testing conditions for our new 4WD vehicle!

We stopped for lunch in a small township called Taumarununi and found a small cafe which turned out to also serve Thai food. So we had 2 plates of wonderful Thai chicken curries for NZ$20.

We have now arrived in Turangi on the southern shore of lake Taupo.

Lindsay is going to investigate fishing lessions and I'm going to try to buy some second hand bikes.

Rowan day 2

We drove to New Plymouth with Wilma and deposited the hire car. We then took a long stroll along the seafront before lunch. After lunch we visited the local museum Puke Ariki. There was lots of information about local -Taranaki and New Zealand history fauna flora geology vulvanology etc.

The hightlight of Lindsay's day was picking up her new car! She's very happy.

Rowan

Yesterday I completed my 3 day orientation in Wellington and we have now travelled up to Taranaki. We are staying with Lindsay's Aunt and Uncle Wilma and Graeme at the foot of mount Taranaki. We can see the mountain this time as the last time it was completely obscured by cloud. On the way we stopped along the Kapiti coast at Otaki where we will be staying from April for three months.

Tomorrow we pick up our new car in New Plymouth.

Wellington Orientation Course

I started my NZ locums orientation course today. This is a three day course to learn all about how the NZ Health System works and all other boring aspects like registration taxation etc. Yes there's no escape from the tax man!

So Lindsay was free today to do more exploring of Wellington. She also managed to make some useful contacts for her volunteering which she hopes to contine later in the year.

I finished earleir than expected so we managed to meet up and took the funicular railway up the hill and walked back through the botanical gardens enjoing the fine summer weather.

Zealandia

Today we went to Zealandia which is a world first urban eco-restoration project within Wellington. Here they are trying to restore the flora and fauna to its pre human interferance state. When humans first came to New Zealand they introduced predators such as possoms rats mice etc. The native animals had no defence against these predators and so are now close to extinction. The project aims to exclude all predators so protect the endanered species.

We saw several endangered endigenous birds including Takahe Kaka Tui, Tuatara lizards and the Wellington Green Gecko.