Debriefing: Accommodation

With the costs for inland travel well under control, the next important spending category are the places to stay. On the tracks, DOC huts and camping sites are on the agenda, but then the question arises as to whether to take up a membership in a campground club such as Top Ten, or a hostel organisation such as BBH or YHA. As I have pointed out before, it doesn’t make much sense to join more than one organisation, because you are rarely going to be there for long enough to justify two. After all you will first have to buy their card, and then the discounts per stay are fairly modest, so that only really loyalty pays off.

As for the DOC huts and campsites, they have to be divided into those that can be used without booking or any further charge when you have a Backcountry Pass ($92, valid for six months), and the Great Walks Huts/Campsites and Northland special huts which require both booking and payment. I managed to stay in nine huts on the pass, which would have cost $115 individually, so the pass was worth it, and it is a nice souvenir. Read more…

Debriefing: Money, money, money

The questions seem never to end: Where to exchange money, what about travellers’ checks, what kind of credit card do you need, and which card will be accepted. In the end, it is all pretty simple, even though a couple of points should be noted.

Right from the start: There is no need to exchange anything before you get to New Zealand. Most banks do not stock currencies any more, and in any case you will be hit by a number of premiums: The cost of storing the bank notes, the buying strategy of the bank, the cost of securely delivering them to you. And be wary of any “refund” promises: No bank is giving anything away. It’s probably better to spend all the cash you can rather than hope for a good or better exchange rate after your trip. Read more…

58. Auckland – Bali – Frankfurt – Home

Sunday, April 7: Auckland: Partly cloudy
Bali: Sunny
Hannover: Sunny but cold

I was able to use the switch from daylight savings as expected, and the others were fairly early out of bed as well. Finished off the sultana bran, the OJ, the coffee and the milk, and that left only a couple of slices of bread and some margarine.

Was well in time for my bus and just had to walk down Commerce St and the Sky Bus was the next thing to arrive. Yesterday’s last minute return to St Helliers to print out the bus ticket, while costing only $1.95, was doubly superfluous because the image on the camera was sufficient. Once at the airport after 45 minutes the printed out boarding passes also turned out to be love’s labor lost as they were printed out for me when I presented my luggage (25.1 kg in the suitcase). The only thing that the online check-in was good for was getting a seat. Read more…

57. Rainy Day in Auckland

Saturday, April 6: Rain in the morning, clearing by late afternoon

Jocelyn’s

Everyone was up and about for their various activities today – Jocelyn was going on one of Stephen’s hikes to Mt Auckland and was thoroughly prepared, and I put the pieces of my breakfast together in a leisurely fashion because I suspected that the rain was going to put a damper on all of Rayna’s plans. Toasted my toast with care not to set off the smoke alarm again.

Rayna reported for duty on the dot of 8:00 with a suggestion to wait an hour, which soon became more than two. The eventually agreed upon plan was to spend the morning at the museum, and she called by pretty soon after to check out my digs and take us there. Cameras went along for the ride, but there was not much in the museum to photograph (very dark), although there was an exhibition of early Auckland landscape photography that we blithely walked past. Had a more intensive look at the volcano and geology sections which confirmed my surmise that Whangaroa (an old volcanic field) was rubble that was the remains of the disintegrating volcano more than 20 mya. Read more…

56. Auckland

Friday, April 5: Sunny but cool, interesting clouds developing during the day

Walking: 10 km

Jocelyn’s

No need to get up early this morning but had forgotten to turn off the alarm so it was breakfast @ 8:00, then down to the bus to return the PLB.

So much bus riding for $6.9! Both trips took longer than an hour, and one change of bus (I had memorised the street plan of the change and was relatively confident I was at the right place) involved an unlabelled bus stop, no number, no timetable, no nothing. But I got there and and recognised the surroundings from the pick up trip with Rayna, now nearly eight weeks ago. Read more…

55. Whangarei – Auckland

Thursday, April 4: Cool and somewhat cloudy in Whangarei, sunny in Auckland

Jocelyn’s (airbnb, $62.7)

All packed up quite neatly after breakfast, which was not as populated today as it had been two days ago. The instant coffee still seemed to have an admixture of coffee grounds in it though, but the orange juice and mild could be finished before the journey began.

I left @ 8:40 and it took only a couple of minutes to get to the Hub. Had the podcasts playing away on the ipod and hope to make a dent on the backlog. Barbara turned up shortly after me, and just after 9:00 the bus was already there, and so could make a longer break. I raced up to the top to claim a front seat, and we pushed off at pretty much on the dot of 9:15. this is an “express” service, meaning: Stops along the way, but no break in Kaiwaka. Traffic flow was fairly good until we reached a critical point just before Warkworth. After that Auckland was not far. A couple of rainbows made an appearance along the way. Read more…

54. Rainy Day in Whangarei

Wednesday, April 3: Some sunshine to begin with, clouding over and showery in the afternoon

The Cell Block

Tried not to get up too early this morning, but not much can stop me waking as the sun starts to rise. I had used my beach towel to block light from the hallway last night & that worked well, and stayed in place, but the outside window had no curtains so nothing stops the light from getting in in the early morning.

May your morning coffee
May your morning coffee
After breakfast and checking the internet for whether airbnb were cancelling again I took off down to the Hub to investigate the shops a bit further. Had a look around at some souvenirs, but not much of interest. Decided that today would be the day for a haircut so went along the yacht harbour (marina) to Bank St where I had seen two barbers and took the second one, as there were no other customers. The barber himself inquired whether I had been a redhead in a previous incarnation which I negated but it brought the conversation to his accent – he was originally from Galway, so the family history was trotted out again. Anyway for $29 head hair and beard are now in fine form. Read more…

53. Whangarei: Te Whara

Tuesday, April 2: A bit cloudy to begin with, clearing up to sunny an only fairly warm

Tramping: 8.7 km

The Cell Block

Today was the day of the last tramp, so it was up @ 7:30 & breakfast, lunch preparation and the internet all got their turns before I headed for my shuttle. This had been organised late last night with Trail Drop Whangarei – for a section of the Te Araroa path known as Te Whara. Walking time to the pickup location was less than ten minutes, putting all of the equipment on the outside of the pack likewise and just before 9:00 Hannah Ffrost turned up in her van to pick up the only fare for the day, myself.

Drive was about thirty minutes in the direction of the Heads through what appeared to be little holiday villages, quite pleasant. There was one Natural Jetty, which would have to be photographed at some point as one of the series “Jetties” and we were soon in Urquhart Bay for the start of the walk. Read more…

52. Paihia – Whangarei

Monday, April 1: Showers the whole day, very humid, clearing in the afternoon

The Cell Block, 91 Cameron St., single with toilet ($60)

The alarm hadn’t yet rung (by about a minute or so) but I was still up @ 7:30 and had plenty of time for breakfast and to check the net to see if my further booking in Auckland had been reneged upon (it had not), and pack the rest of the stuff, which was all done by 9:00. Locked up Jarrad’s place and put the key into the safe and away I was having selected a relatively rain-free period via radar to time my walk to the bus stop.

Was about the first there, although peu-a-peu people gathered, and so far the weather held, I was in no rush to get on the bus when it finally arrived with about ten minutes’ delay, as I was going to be one of the first passengers off again. When I came to load my luggage the driver told me to put it inside the bus (a double-decker again) which also made sense. Read more…

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