Revisiting Aotearoa - Part 1

         On 7 December 2019, Derrick and I boarded a morning flight to Auckland. One year later, dreadfully missing the opportunity to travel abroad, I thought it would be apt to blog about last year's wonderful trip to Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud. Aotearoa is New Zealand's name in Maori. We first visited New Zealand in 2009, and I'd planned to return after 10 years. That's how 2019's trip came about. But we decided to focus only on North Island this round, and a trip to South Island was on the cards in 2020. And of course, thanks to Covid-19, that didn't materialise.

        Taking a morning flight for a ten and a half-hour-journey with a time difference of five hours meant that we arrived in Auckland close to midnight. I usually choose to arrive at a destination during the day. But I made the exceptions this time because the price difference between a morning flight and an evening flight amounted to approximately RM1000 for the two of us. Putting up for a night at the airport hotel didn't even come up to that amount!

        I highly recommend Novotel Auckland Airport, which is located just opposite the road from the International Arrivals Terminal. This is definitely an excellent choice for weary travellers, especially those who arrive late, intend to just pick up the rental car the following morning and leave for other parts of the North Island instead of venturing into Auckland City Centre. Checking in was a breeze and we were even offered an extended checkout time, seeing the fact that we checked in so late. The room was clean and comfortable, especially the bed and pillows. 

First morning in New Zealand (Novotel Auckland Airport)

Sumptuous breakfast at Novotel Auckland Airport

       Our Aotearoa exploration officially kicked off on Sunday 8 December 2019! After resting and rejuvenating ourselves, we fuelled our stomachs with a hearty breakfast at Novotel before picking up our rental car, a Kia Sportage, from Hertz. For 8 days of rental plus extras like maximum insurance, we paid approximately NZ$1,500. As always, renting with Hertz gives us a peace of mind, without surprise charges creeping up later, as experienced with another "reputable" rental car company.

        We had planned to drive for 2 hours and 23 minutes to Tikipunga, Whangarei, where we would be spending the night. En route, we spotted a sign that read "Puhoi Historic Village" so we decided to make a detour. That was an excellent decision because it was such a tranquil and pretty village. We headed for the Puhoi General Store for coffee and oysters...yummy! Yes, these two oyster maniacs can have those plump, juicy, succulent molluscs raw at any time of the day! I also popped into the little Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul for some quiet time with God. This church was built in 1881 by the early settlers from the Czech Republic.

Man, oysters and chips for NZ$10? Terrific deal!

Fancy borrowing a book from this quaint library?

Paying a visit to this lovely Catholic church

En route to Whangarei, we were rewarded with these views.

        It required another 1 hour 39 minutes to drive from Puhoi to Tikipunga, and this time, I took the wheel. As our Airbnb hostess, Lynette, had provided such clear directions, we had no problem locating and checking into our little guest suite with its own private entrance. For RM266.83, Lynette's place is an absolute steal! It's clean, cozy, well-equipped and a mere 3-minute walk to Whangarei Falls, the reason why we were in that vicinity. After perking ourselves up with some coffee and crackers, we proceeded to explore the picturesque 26.3 metre-high curtain falls. It's easily accessible as there are steps leading down to the waterfall. Mr. Photographer had a smashing time doing his job, while I was just contented to rest beneath shady trees and savour the surroundings.

Lovey dovey at Whangarei Falls

Triumphant Photographer

        After Mr. Photographer was happy with the shots that he had taken, we returned to our accommodation for a short rest. We had earlier met our hostess, but now I decided to explore her well-manicured garden and to also give her a little magnet from Ipoh.

        We later drove out to the town centre for dinner. Judging from reviews on TripAdvisor, Dickens Inn sounded like a good place to get some tasty food. It was located right smack in town and just a few minutes walk from the Town Basin Marina, where we went for a leisurely walk after dinner. For dinner, we had their oysters with shallot red wine dip (very fresh and tasty), seafood pasta (yummy with bountiful seafood, but would have preferred it minus the cheese shavings) and scotch fillet steak (nicely cooked and delicious). Our most enjoyable dinner came up to NZ$89.

Orongo Bay oysters at Dickens Inn

Relaxing under the pohutukawa tree in Whangarei Town Basin

Pohutukawa tree in full bloom

The beauty of the jacaranda tree

        The next morning (Monday 9 December), after a simple breakfast of cereal, fruit, yoghurt and coffee that was provided by Lynette, we bade her farewell and checked out. As we couldn't get enough of Whangarei Falls, we returned there for more shots, before proceeding 40 minutes away to the area of Whangarei Heads.

A simple but much-appreciated breakfast, included in the price of our Airbnb accommodation

Another shot of Whangarei Falls

        The 420-metre-high Mount Manaia was the reason why we were heading to that area. Yes, we were going to conquer the mountain! But before that, we had to check into our Airbnb accommodation for the night. Colleen, the hostess of Kiwi Cottage, was not there to meet us, but her husband and Abby the dog were there with a Kiwi welcome. We also had lunch at The Deck Cafe which offered a superb view of the stunning McLeod Bay, and bought some provisions to cook for dinner.

Befriending Abby 

My lunch of fish and chips at The Deck

View of McLeod Bay

        A reasonable level of fitness is required for climbing Mount Manaia as it entails more than 1000 steps up all the way, fairly steep steps at times too. But the views that climbers get are immensely rewarding. There’s also a hidden lookout that offers amazing views of Bream’s Bay (and in my opinion, this view is even better than the view from the summit). When you are almost approaching the summit, there is a section of flat boardwalk. Look to your right and you will see a fairly well-trodden path. Follow that to get to that lookout. You will not regret it! A word of caution for climbers : it’s very windy on the summit so do be careful when taking photos.

To protect the regenerating native bush from kauri dieback disease, we had to scrub our shoes at these cleaning stations before starting and after ending our climb.

The summit of Mount Manaia beckons!

 

I've reached!

Glorious views all around

Views from the secret lookout

Jaded after the climb, but it was totally worth it!

        Exhilarated after completing our climb, we returned to Kiwi Cottage, a 2-minute drive away from the Manaia Club, where we had parked our car before our Mount Manaia ascent. Colleen, the hostess, heard our car coming in and came over to greet us. Her house is located right next to our Kiwi Cottage. And there's a really good reason for the name of the accommodation. Kiwis have been sighted fairly regularly in the backyard! 

Back at Kiwi Cottage, where we paid RM328.97 for a night

Chef Derrick cooks dinner 

        After dinner that night, Derrick was out on the patio and cheekily played the shrill call of a male kiwi from his phone. I was at the back of the cottage, getting ready to take a shower, when I heard the guttural call of a female kiwi!!! Poor gal! She must have been excited to "hear" the invitation from a "hunk", not realising that the "hunk" was none other than my mischievous husband!

        We had had such an eventful day that I only had time to check my social media at night.  And it was only then that I realised a tragedy had struck New Zealand. There were concerned messages on my social media, enquiring as to whether we were affected by the volcano eruption on White Island. I was quick to reassure everyone that we were a long way off White Island, more than 475km away. There were 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption, and over the ensuing days, we learned that 22 of them lost their lives that day.