Atsumi Healing Retreat

On day 10 we transferred from Karon beach to the Atsumi Healing Retreat. I had chosen the upscale rooms for us so Iain would have a nice place to work while I was doing my cleansing program. I was also looking forward to the coolness of air conditioning while I was suffering the effects of starvation.

The room was nice and airy with lots of space and decent television. We were walking distance from a 7-11 for Iain to pick up 'safe' food while he recovered from the intestinal bug and there was a pool outside for us when the weather got too hot for anything else.

Atsumi is located in the Rawaii region about 10 minutes from Nai Harn beach. It is a quiet area, quite pretty and without the rampant commercialism that prevails in the other coastal areas of Phuket. The Atsumi folks had left me a salad in the refrigerator and I savored every bite the evening before my fast was to begin! Then Iain and I went out exploring before crashing for the night.

My first morning started at 7am. I staggered around the room then headed over to the main resort center for our morning activity - hill walking. Every morning and evening Atsumi organized activities for it's guests. Attendance was voluntary but encouraged. Some things, like the hill climb, were meant to get you active and out of the cleansing depression that many people slip into. Other activities were for information, like how to properly break your fast or the lecture on why fasting is beneficial. I participated most mornings but most days I was feeling too ill or tired in the afternoon to enjoy the activities.

The first day started really well. The hill climb was easy, we walked up the gentle slope to the lookout point over Nai Harn beach. The view was wonderful, the air was cool that early in the morning and I had a chance to meet some of my fellow fasters who were all very interesting people. After our morning activity we had the morning meeting where each person was given their daily schedule and we asked our questions for the day. Then the newbies were given their orientations...this is where we learned how to do a proper colonic (or colema). I won't give any details on the colonics, only that it was a humbling experience, in no way scary or painful.

Aside from our twice daily colonics we had four lots of herbs and nutritional supplements to take daily as well as four psyllium and bentonite clay 'shakes'. We were told to drink as much water as we could, and we could drink the water from two coconuts daily. The most difficult part for me was the daily liver cleanse drink. It was a mix of lime juice, crushed garlic and olive oil and although it tasted good (like Cesar salad dressing) it was awful to be burping up raw garlic for hours and hours with nothing going into the system to cut the taste. In the evening we had our only 'real' food, a small thermos of vegetable broth sans vegetables. It felt like a substantial meal with so little going into the system and I was lucky to enjoy the taste. Aside from the food aspect of fasting we also enjoyed a daily massage (a choice of thai, full body oil, foot, neck and shoulders or thaiatsu) and daily herbal saunas with ginger lemon tea. As long as you could relax and ignore your stomach, it was a wonderfully relaxing regimen!

I got violently sick the first night. The lingering garlic in my stomach and an attempt at belly dancing did me in. I was fully demoralized when I staggered back to the room at 7:30pm. I was ready to stuff my face and give up on the ridiculous fasting idea I had decided to pursue. Iain was my life-line that night. No matter how silly he thought some of the Atsumi program was he stood behind my choice to be there, 100%. He gave me the shoulder I needed that night and kept me motivated to stick with the program regardless of the awful garlic stench I was emitting!

The second day was the hardest physically of the 7 days I spent fasting. I felt nauseous all day and was sick again that night although not as badly as the previous night. However, once my initial wave of self doubt passed that first night, things never looked as bad, even though I felt worse. Happily by day three I was beginning to feel the first inklings of the euphoria people can experience while fasting. It is a feeling of power and lightness that comes with cleaning your system out and exerting your willpower successfully. By day 7 I was heartily sick of psyillium fiber but I felt like I could have easily finished a 14 day program.

Once again, while I was improving Iain was getting sick. He had been healthy for two days but after a trip to one of the night markets in Phuket Town he was attacked by the same type of intestinal bug that had bothered him previously. This time we took a trip into a recommended medical clinic just outside Phuket Town rather than rely on the travel medical kit we had brought from New Zealand. We saw the doctor who prescribed antibiotics and sent Iain in for some lab work. He reassured us that it was unlikely it was dangerous but to be extra careful with water and ice for the rest of our trip.

So, our seven days at Atsumi were as exciting for Iain as our first ten had been. I felt terrible that he wasn't getting to experience the joys of Thailand - no diving, no motor scooter rides, no sightseeing or island hopping. I was accomplishing something I had been looking forward to for months but I couldn't help him other than to offer support while he was suffering.

At the end of my fast he was finally starting to perk up but we decided not to island hop for our last three days and to instead spend the time in a hotel in Nai Harn beach. At the very least he would get to see a beautiful stretch of sand and water. So on June 9th we moved from our quiet haven to the All Seasons resort on Nai Harn beach. It proved to be a nice location with taxi's nearby, no hawkers and beautiful sunsets to enjoy.

On our first day at the All Seasons we had to run into Phuket Town for a second round of lab work and our final visit to Iain's doctor. While there we had our cab driver take us on a side trip up to the Big Buddha. The Buddha has been a work in progress for at least 3 years, it stands 43 meters tall and is over 20 meters wide at the base. It is a reinforced concrete structure covered in white marble tiles. As a fundraiser, the monks responsible for the temple have been selling tiles to devotees and tourists alike, once you pay the 300baht you sign the tile with your name and a message and it will be added to the lotus flower that the Buddha sits on. The main Buddha figure has been completed and only the base needs finishing now. It was a phenomenal sight to see - it is visible from anywhere on the southern half of the island and up close it appears to extend up towards the sun for miles. The detail work on the face and hands is phenomenal, it is a true labour of love for the Thai people.

Our second day in Nai Harn we went on a last minute souvenir buying spree in Karon and Kata beaches. We had finally acclimatized and enjoyed the walk from one town into the next. We bought items only when the sales people weren't pushy and searched out unique items we hadn't seen or been able to find before. It was a nice day and a quiet night.

Our third and last day in Nai Harn we went on a snorkeling trip to Raya Island. We had booked it at our hotel and were looking forward to a small tour group with a couple of different snorkeling options. It wasn't the diving Iain had hoped for, but it was very enjoyable none the less.

We left early in the morning and headed to Chalong Bay to hop on the speed boat that would take us to the island. There were only 7 of us on the trip and we made good time across the 1 meter swell to the island. We stopped in an empty cove near a big resort for the first snorkel. There were plenty of fish of many different varieties. There were also a lot of huge, scary jellyfish in the water. Iain and I made a circuit around the bay searching out different types of fish but I was disturbed by the lack of coral and bleaching and dying off of the coral that was there.

The second bay we stopped at was much the same as the first. There were huge schools of fish, from tiny flashing fingerling's to the bizarrely shaped needle fish. Once again there was very little coral and a lot of jellyfish, only this time there were smaller jellyfish and we were getting stung. I only lasted about 20 minutes in the water before I had to go back to the boat.

The troupe of us were then taken to the dock where we were offloaded to go have lunch in a tiny beach side restaurant. We staggered drunkenly down the floating dock that was the main access to the island during the off season. This time of year the powdery, white sand beach where the resorts and restaurant were located wa getting slammed by huge rolling waves. We made it off the dock and into the back of a glorified hay wagon attached to an ancient chugging tractor for the 10 minute trip across the island. We made our way slowly down sandy paths that wove through the coconut plantation and encroaching jungle. Little fires smoldered all around us where fallen coconuts and palm boughs were being burned by the locals.

The gateway to the beach was through a new resort development. The buildings likely replaced thatch huts that were torn down during the tsunami or in the wave of developments that happened when land was cheap following the disaster. Whatever the reason, the developments were huge but tasteful and there were still some of the original Thai gems clinging to the rocks on either side of the bay. We headed for one such restaurant and clambered over 'rustic' salvaged driftwood walkways into the much patched, character rich restaurant we were to enjoy lunch in.

The waves crashed onto the rocks and foamed up under the floorboards, to one side of the sprawling building was an enormous, live, sea eagle and to the other was a slightly smaller sea hawk. The two birds were big attractions during peak season, and they were very tolerant of the 7 of us snapping photos and oohing and ahhing over them. There were also four gorgeous little kittens playing just a short distance from our lunch table and a 1.5m monitor lizard made an appearance half way through the thai feast we were served for lunch. We chatted and ate leisurely, used the freshwater shower at the restaurant, photographed every furred, feathered or four-footed creature we saw and then climbed the staircase behind the restaurant to check out the view of the bay. It was the first time we had enjoyed a truly tropical view. The water was turquoise with clean, white foamy crests where the waves crashed into the shore. The beach looked like a strip of icing sugar and the jungle erupted from above the rocks on either side of the bay, dripping it's brilliant green foliage towards the sea. It was a perfect place to while away the hours body surfing and soaking up the tropical sunshine.

We were taken back to our boat in the late afternoon and enjoyed the 30 minute race across the water back to Phuket. We were delivered to our hotel before sunset and enjoyed a quiet walk around the area before heading in for dinner, then packing and an early sleep.

We were ready to go at 7am when the taxi came to deliver us to the airport. I have always loved Thailand and it was just as hard to say goodbye to Phuket this time as it has been in the past. We were leaving with funny stories, good memories, and the knowledge that we would soon be heading home to Canada.

Thailand - It's all about guts...

We left Auckland in our delightfully plush business class seats and enjoyed a comfortable 6 hour flight to Perth. The most interesting part of our flight was coming in to land in Perth. We descended over the huge expanse of western brush land and what I first thought was water reflecting the sunset was in fact huge swaths of controlled bush fires. I have never seen so many back-burns before; it was very reminiscent of flying into the Northwest Territories in the summer.

We spent an uneventful evening in Perth and were up before dawn to catch our flight to Phuket. Thai Airways is a decent airline, but no matter how good the service is in economy it cannot compare to business class. Poor Iain was squashed into the tiny seat, his knees almost at his chest. At least the food and entertainment systems were enjoyable!

We arrived in Thailand on a sunny afternoon and cleared customs with no problems or delays. I had arranged for a hotel and taxi pick-up in the hopes of avoiding the chaos that usually reigns at Thai airports. We exited the air conditioned building warding off the hawkers promising us the cheapest taxi's and best hotels and felt the humidity and heat envelop us like a heavy blanket. I staggered up and down the concourse, dripping with sweat after 30 seconds of exposure and finally spotted our driver. He had a limp piece of paper with my name on it held protectively against his flamingo pink shirt. Once we had confirmed each others identity with many gestures and eyebrow waggling I went to grab Iain and the luggage and the driver wadded into the crush of vehicles to get our taxi. We gratefully poured ourselves into the air conditioned cab and sat back for the hour long trip to Karon Beach.

Iain had never been to Thailand and I enjoyed telling him little bits about my previous visits and things we could expect over the next 3 weeks. We were full of plans and ideas of things to do once we had acclimatized.

We wound up at a little guest house in the town of Karon Beach. The guesthouse was associated with a larger resort along the water front but was considerably cheaper with all the same amenities. We had planned on spending 3 days at the guesthouse then moving on to a different beach however we ended up staying in Karon for the full 10 days.

The first 2 days we hung around the hotel room, venturing out to explore the immediate vicinity but never lasting more than 2 hours in the heat and humidity. Iain was unimpressed with the Thai bar girls who kept trying to catch his eye when my back was turned but I found them amusing. I was dismayed by the forceful Indian hawkers in the market stalls and tailor shops, they were much pushier than the Thai sellers I remembered from 2 years previous. It was eye opening for both Iain and I.

On day three we were contacted by a marketing group who told us we had won a free trip to Phi Phi Island! The catch? We had to attend a 90 minute presentation in Patong. The presentation was going to be all about the Absolute Hotel group and their products. Iain knew immediately it was a scam (I'm a little slower to pick up on these things) but a free trip is a free trip and it would give us the excuse to see Patong without having to pay for a taxi to get there. So we booked our 'presentation' for two days later.

On the appointed morning we were picked up by a bubbly woman in an air conditioned cab. Our details were recorded by a Thai woman in the lobby of a beautiful beachfront hotel and we were treated to a buffet breakfast. We were met by our 'host' and our tour began. They ended up taking 4 hours of our day, although the host knew from the moment he met us we were a lost cause. We were shown three hotels, one in the heart of Patong that would have done the Vegas strip justice. The second hotel was near Kamala on a private beach surrounded by jungle and beautiful blue water. The third hotel was the flagship hotel we had started at which was mid range with nicely refurbished rooms and the noble history of having survived the Tsunami. They ended the tour by showing us all the places around the world we could be staying for as little as $149/week! They even have an easy online reservation system. But after 4 hours they didn't even bother to tell us the 'joining fee'. They knew we were only there for the free trip and we knew they were a pyramid scheme based in Thailand because it was cheap to operate and the government didn't ask too many questions.

We booked our free trip for the following morning and left the hotel with the goal of checking out Patong. We had barely gone one block before we were accosted by a middle age British woman pushing scratch cards to win a free trip. When we looked at them it was for the Absolute Hotel group, the woman was quite insistent on us taking one of the cards until we told her we had just come from there. Two blocks after that we had the same encounter except this time it was British man who was totally belligerent. It was very disturbing. We only lasted a half hour in Patong before we got fed up with the bars, the prostitutes and the intrusive hawkers. We headed back to the relative quiet of Karon and a cold pitcher of coconut margarita's.

The next morning we got up early to go to Phi Phi island for the day. We were taken to Rassada Harbour where we caught the giant Phi Phi Cruiser ferry that toured us around Phi Phi Island and transferred us to the snorkeling tour boat. We enjoyed an hour of snorkeling in the harbour where the fish were okay but the coral was the highlight. We saw parrot fish, angel fish, tons of black sea urchins and big lipped clams and the highlight, a family of clown fish living in their anemone home. We were then taken to the beach where we were fed a buffet lunch in the main hotel and afterwards enjoyed 2 hours of free time which we spent shopping. Iain is an excellent barterer! He really enjoyed all the little shops and markets we encountered all over Phuket and Phi Phi.

We sat and dozed in the salty breeze on the ferry deck on the way home. The trip had been worth the four hours we spent in Patong. We arrived back in Karon before sunset and wandered to the waterfront for dinner in a lovely little cafe just off the beach.

The next day was the start of our health troubles. First I came down with a 24 hour bug that made every joint in my body hurt. I was terrified I'd picked up Dengue Fever but the pain improved the next day and by the second night I was feeling almost human again. Iain went the opposite direction, while I was improving he was getting sicker. He didn't start to recover until the day before we moved to Atsumi Healing Retreat where I had planned a 7 day cleanse.

So our three days in Karon became 10 days and our planned adventures were put off until we were both feeling healthy again. It wasn't what we had hoped for when we envisioned a tropical holiday, but neither of us seemed to have anything worse than mild travellers bugs. I considered us lucky.

And then there was Auckland…

With Erika’s beautifully well written journal entries I cannot aspire to match them either in style of prose or with subject matter with the city as our surroundings. We arrived in Auckland on May 6th and it did not match up to any other part of our New Zealand travels.

Our main goal in Auckland was to sell the Green Machine, and despite the blog that is named after it, our home for the last 3.5 months proved to be very difficult to sell. We listed it in two different car markets and various web sites but to no avail. The best offer was about $650 from a dealer.

We though of some other more creative options for the vehicle:

Option1 - driving 90 mile beach, as it has lots of soft sand and is not recommended for 2 wheel drive vehicles it would likely be lost to the Ocean as the tides rose… We negated this option due to the possible environmental damage although I believe that if we drained all the fluids from the Van first this would reduce environmental concerns and make us much more likely to achieve our goal of not making the distance of the drive.

Option 2 – Trading the Van for a Pizza, beer, and gluten free burger. This was a valid option and I am sure that I could find a taker in one of the cheaper hostels however it lead Erika to the idea of trading the vehicle for a good story (see option 3).

Option 3 – Trading the van for a stuffed and mounted fierce snarling hedgehog. This option is contingent on finding someone with a hedgehog of the above description or someone with a hedge hog who knew a taxidermist and was not attached emotionally to that hedgehog.

Option4 – Throw the keys at a pedestrian and run for the airport

Given the strangeness of all the above options should give you a bit of insight into our Auckland experience. We sat in the backpackers’ car lot with a lot of other sellers and very few buyers and went stir crazy.

Auckland allowed us to finalise the details of some of the rest of our trip however. We have booked tickets to a quiet part of Thailand far away from the political unrest and will be returning to Vancouver on June 14. Our adventures will be cut a month and a half short due to some of my commitments to a contract back in the ``real world``. I hope we have a relaxing time in Thailand as we will need it after impersonating used car sales persons in Auckland.

In the end we found a nice Scottish/Irish couple we thought were worthy of our beautiful van, but unfortunately when they did the mechanical check we all found that the Van was not quite worthy of them. It required $900 in repairs. I liked the couple and decided that it would be better to give it to them than a dealer and let the green machine have a new lease on life. In the end the price agreed was $400. Considering I originally paid $1000 almost 2 year previously for it I was not overly concerned.

We were quite glad to be unencumbered and free to leave New Zealand which we did in style with our executive class tickets to Perth, Australia and then next day to the beautiful heat of Thailand.

Cape Reinga - Last days in paradise

At the end of our two weeks in Ahipara we took a two day road trip up to Cape Reinga the northernmost tip of the North Island. We left Ahipara with the surf just starting to come up much to Iain's chagrin, but glad to be exploring after two weeks of inactivity.

There are two routes up the tip of the North Island; you can travel Highway 1 (the Far North Road) or you drive up 90 Mile beach. There are warnings posted in map books, on sign posts and in various towns not to attempt the beach in a rental vehicle or a vehicle without 4 wheel drive. I managed to convince Iain that we should leave that adventure for another day and a fiercer version of our little green van. So we travelled up to the Cape on the highway, finally seeing up close what we had only seen in the hazy distance for so long.

The land is predominantly sand dunes up both coastlines. I do not understand how so much plant life can thrive on what is no more than sand for soil, but it did. Water was scarce in the region and it got scarcer the further north we went. By the time we reached the Cape it was officially a desert.

The cape itself is beautiful. There is an old lighthouse perched out at the end of the world where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific ocean slam together like two massive titans. The water north of the lighthouse is a boiling mass of white foam and standing waves that hurl themselves meters into the air with total fury and raw power. Everything in the area is stunted and warped by the wind and exhibits a will to survive that surpasses belief. The coastline is rocky and jagged to one side with small sheltered inlets and stretches of golden sand dunes to the other side.

We stood admiring the view and the primal forces at work until the wind drove us back to our vehicle. I was glad I had seen the Cape on a clear and sunny day, I could only imagine the fury of the ocean during storm season.

After the Cape we headed to a DOC campsite a few kilometers back down the road. The site was gorgeous, it was nestled at the base of a low hill next to a lazy river that meandered through horse pasture to the ocean. We were close enough to hear the waves pounding on the beach but far enough away to be sheltered from the worst of the wind by the waves. The camp ground was lush and green with new facilities and lots of space. We walked to the beach and poked along the shore, shell hunting in the rocks and finding all sorts of treasures. We even stumbled upon a dead puffer fish, which seemed to be out of its element.

The following day we took a brief side trip to the giant sand dunes where people could rent body boards and surf down the sides of the colossal dunes. Iain and I wandered around looking at the bedding in the exposed sandstones and pondering the age of the clam shells that were being exposed by erosion. We voted against sand surfing and ran down the sides the of the dunes instead, jumped back in our chariot and headed south.

We made a second adventurous detour to check out the halfway point of 90 Mile beach. It was supposedly a surf spot, although only the best surfers could handle the incredible wave action that was happening at the beach. To get to the beach we drove through forestry trails for half an hour, over gut wrenching washboard and through a maze of side roads and confusing signs. We finally found the right road and picked our way to the beach. Right at that point on the beach there was a tiny island that was accessible at low tide across the stretch of sand. The waves broke around it and tore at the rocks with enormous swells and foaming crests like teeth. There was a colony of oyster catchers sitting quite calmly on the top of the little chunk of rock and millions of shells to poke through on the beach side of the island. The only other sign of people was a 4x4 jeep that came up the beach at us while we were exploring the island. We met up with them when we went back to the van and they told Iain that the trip up 90 Mile beach was hair-raising even in their solid vehicle.

We left 90 mile and went to the other coast for our second night. We spent the night at the Rarawa DOC site and found a beach of pristine powdered sugar sand littered with hundreds of awesome shells. We spent the evening beachcombing until sunset drove us back to our campsite for food. We made sure to make one more pass along the beach in the morning before we left the campground.

Finally it was time to head back to Ahipara for our last night in the Northlands before heading to Auckland. We spent our last night at Hugh's place and he gave us the keys to his apartment in Auckland. We would be spending just shy of 3 weeks in the city to sell the van and catch up on computer work. It was a sad day when we left Ahipara because we knew our adventures were coming to an end, but it had been a wonderful trip and we had enjoyed it all so far.

Ahipara - Our two weeks as beach bums

Ahipara is a spot I had heard about numerous times as we prepared for our trip to New Zealand and while we were travelling around the country. I was very excited to see the place that had featured so strongly in Iain's memories.

En route to Ahipara we stopped for one night in Hamilton and one night on the outskirts of Auckland. It was a beautiful drive from Auckland into the Northlands through twisty roads and lush bush, fruit crops and sheep fields. There were so many fruit shops along the way we had to stop and grab a van full of fresh produce which we got for a quarter of the normal price. We ended up reaching the town of Kataia in the early afternoon. Kataia is the last spot to get affordable groceries before you reach Ahipara which is 14 kms away. Once we were loaded up we headed straight to Shipwreck bay which is where Iain had stayed the year before for 5 days.

Shipwreck Bay is the extreme south end of 90mile beach at the tip of the North Island. Right on the bay is a small Maori run campground with basic amenities we were hoping to stay at. Unfortunately, the campground was closed due to unforeseen circumstances, likely they had run out of water. So we drove down onto the beach to watch the surfers who congregate on the point break at Ahipara. Iain was itching to get in the water so he grabbed his wetsuit and board and hit the water, I hung out in the van, my vertigo had started acting up during my last few days in Raglan and I hadn't managed to shake it fully by the time we reached Ahipara. Just before sunset a wet and happy Iain got back to the van and we headed to the far side of Ahipara to the other campground in town. One very expensive night later we decided to look for more permanent diggs.

The previous night we had stopped at a fish and chips shop for Iain and a guy he spoke to gave him a tip on a place that was renting it's cabins out by the week. We drove back down to Shipwreck bay to inquire and ended up finding a great little cabin right next to the one we were originally interested in. For $300/week we had a hot water shower, cooking facilities, a big spacious room and a view to kill for. We were 20 feet from white sand and 30 feet from the high tide line. There were surfable waves to either side of us and endless miles of beach to explore. Heaven.

We spent two weeks in Ahipara. After the first 3 days Iain picked up a miserable cold so his surfing days were limited and when he began to feel better the surf died down to nothing. Most of our time was spent walking along the beaches searching for paua shells, watching movies rented from Kataia and reading. We read countless books, it was easy to slip into a totally relaxed lifestyle with no time pressures, to worries and no stress.

We did become friends with our landlord, Hugh. Huge was an older bachelor who had farmed his whole life but had moved to Ahipara for a change of pace when his mother died. He had taken over the rental cabins when his sister decided to move on to a bigger community and he had never looked back. He thoroughly enjoyed feeding us, both wonderful dinners and great stories. Sometime in our second week Hugh invited us to his house for a fish feast. While upstairs I got to poke around his space, namely I got to ogle his collection of china tea and coffee sets (he had to have 20 or 30 complete sets on display) as well as his enormous collection of Kauri gum. Kauri gum is a New Zealand amber that is collected from the swamps around the Northlands. Over the years Hugh had collected and polished the gum he'd found on his farm as well as that he traded from other people. When we left Ahipara he very generously gave us a large piece that Iain or I can polish in our spare time.

For the most part nothing exciting happened in Ahipara. We ate good food, drank a lot of good wine and little bad wine, watched the sun set over the water, played in the waves a little and walked the beautiful beaches. It was the kind of quiet relaxation few people get to experience and I will always treasure it.

Raglan - Surf City Here We Come

We took the road less travelled when we left Waitomo and headed to the coast. We ended up in a tiny little fishing town called Kawhia. We wanted somewhere to spend Easter long weekend with a little surf and sun and thought a small town would have a quiet spot for us. We underestimated the lure of a long weekend. Kawhia boasts a beach with hotsprings, some surf spots and endless possibilities for fishing and tramping. We spent one night in a tiny cramped holiday park near the hotsprings beach and moved on the next morning. As we drove out of town we watched car load after car load of people driving past us.

We drove a dusty, washboard riddled road to the surfing paradise of Raglan. Imagine Tofino with a tropical climate and slightly more space and you've got the town of Raglan. It was beautiful. Unfortunately everyone and their kids and extended family agreed with us. We drove to the surfing beaches to check out the waves, drove past the various holiday parks and finally admitted defeat. There was no way we were going to find an affordable place to stay in Raglan over the Easter weekend and they do not permit freedom camping anywhere within the community. So, we agreed to do the opposite of what everyone else in the country was doing and we drove to the city of Hamilton to find a hotel for 3 days.

We stayed in downtown Hamilton in a cute little hotel with a ton of space, hot shower, internet and cable TV. For three days we hibernated, only leaving the room to forage for fresh food. It was a disgusting waste of a beautiful weekend but we enjoyed every minute of it! On Monday morning we checked out and re-entered the world headed back to Raglan.

Our first stop in Raglan was to the point break to watch the waves and the 'good' surfers for a while. It was an awesome sight as they ripped along the waves, the boards simply extensions of their bodies. There were tiny children skimming along the crests right next to seasoned adults, all of them fearless and gracefull. Finally we felt ready to hit the waves ourselves and we headed for the beach break to try our luck. Raglan beach is a long expanse of white sand with a few grassy dunes in front of a tall bluff. The beach is perfect for every activity under the sun and in the summer months is staffed by lifeguards to protect the swimmers from the rips.

In the skill of surfing Iain was far better than me, he was standing up and duck diving like a pro right from the start, I struggled to get on the board and catch a wave, but I did get up a few times and I had as much fun falling down as I did riding the waves in. After 2 hours our lazy bodies were exhausted and we dragged ourselves up the hill to the van and on to the Soulscape campground.

Our first night in Raglan was a bust. We were put in a gravel parking lot labled a camp ground. It had dirty cooking facilities and overcharged for it's amenities. It was a pretentious money grab posing as an 'eco retreat'. It also boasted a farmyard full of roosters next door. Who keeps 40 roosters? Sadists do. I swear those birds were competing to see who could start crowing the earliest. Both Iain and I were ready to kill a whole lotta poultry by 9am the next day.

We packed up our gear in the drizzle and headed back into town to see if the holiday park was any better. We were given a quiet parking spot along the back fence of the camp ground. We were right next to the tidal river and there was not a single rooster in sight. We had a few trees beside us for shade and privacy and we were feet away from beautiful facilities. We parked our van and there we stayed for the next week.

Our week in Raglan was pretty simple, we would get up and have a liesurely coffee. We would read for most of the morning or we would walk into town to check our email at the library. In the afternoons we would head to the beach to do some surfing. We would often watch the sunset from the lookout point above the beach and somedays we would head down to the point break to watch the pro's in action. It was laid back but active and a lot of fun.

Some of the weeks highlights included a trip to the recycling center where we found the BEST blanket for $5.00. A drive up a dusty washboard road to see another surf beach known only to the locals and a few lucky outsiders. Daily walks around the town and the evening glass of wine at one of the funky restaurants that line the main street.

Our days were idylic; white sand beaches, warm tropical climate, friendly people, good wine, great food and surfing. Unfortunately, the surf died out as it frequently does along the Kiwi coast so by the 12th when we left town there were barely any waves to ride. It did make it easier for us to leave, knowing that we weren't missing any killer surf in the immediate future.

Waitomo Caves

We had a slow start leaving New Plymouth, we got about 20 kms down the highway and stopped for fuel in the town of Stratford, when we started off again we were heading in the wrong direction. After 20 minutes we realized the volcano was on the wrong side of the van so we turned around and headed back. We got to Stratford the second time and headed off in what we thought was the correct direction...this time I got us all turned around and we had to head back a third time. Just outside the town limits we noticed passing vehicles flashing their lights and honking at us so we pulled into the first rest area we came across. Turns out we had no rear driving lights, only brake lights. This was not good, driving a slow van along the dark back roads in New Zealand surrounded by insane Kiwi drivers.

Alternating between confusion, disgust and concern we tried to figure out what was wrong with the lights. Iain was sure it was an electrical problem in the dash, so he crawled under the steering column and wiggled everything he could see. It turns out it was a loose fuse, and he not only fixed the tail lights but the entire dash light system started working again as well!

We drove through Stratford for the third and final time at about 9pm that night, got back on the Forgotten highway and headed towards the Waitomo Caves and the glow worms. We stopped for the night at another roadside rest area in an empty little valley beside a cow pasture. It was a very quiet and we had a restful night and a relaxing coffee in the morning.

The Forgotten highway wound it's way through old forgotten sheep stations, native bush and kilometer after kilometer of pasture land. We also saw lots of limestone outcrops which tantalized us with their climbability.

We pulled into Waitomo at 10:30am. Waitomo is famous for its glow worm caves and Iain assured me it was an experience I shouldn't miss. So I signed us up for a double tour and we headed down into the caves. The first tour focused on the limestone formations; stalactites and stalagmites and information regarding the glow worms themselves. It turns out that the worms are in fact maggots, or fly larvae. The larvae hatch and cling to the roof of the caves feeding on other insects. Each larvae lowers between 10 to 20 sticky saliva strings which dangles beneath it to catch insects that get lost in the cave system. The glow in the glow worm is bioluminescence, a byproduct of digestion. The glow acts as a beacon to lost insects as it looks like a light source or route out of the cave. The confused insect gets trapped in the sticky string as it flies towards the light and is reeled in by the lucky worm. The bioluminescence created by the food helps to lure in other confused bugs. It was a very cool process. We were lucky enough to see one of the flies which had just pupated. After 9 months in it's larval form it had emerged from it's 13 days suspended in a cocoon. It had a ridiculously short time to live (no more than a few days) so it could mate like crazy and lay eggs (about 120) before it died. The fly's lifespan is so short they do not have mouths.

The stalactites and stalagmites were stunning, the caves were very well preserved and in places were more like underground cathedrals than caves. The formations grow at a staggering 1 cubic centimeter every 200 years. In the time it takes the average person to live their entire lives these formations will remain unchanged to the human eye and yet we were seeing fan formations that were meters in length. The tour through the caves took about an hour and was definitely worth the visit.

The second tour was specifically to see the glow worms in all their splendour. We were escorted through a second set of caves and shown more beautiful rock formations then ushered onto a large aluminum boat that floated on an underground river. For 15 minutes we drifted through the glow-worm cave in absolute silence. No one breathed a word, we all just stared at the ceiling in awe. It was like watching the night sky on the clearest night you can imagine. There were millions of tiny blue-white lights scattered across the cave. Some were brighter than others, some formed clusters like distant galaxies...the illusion of the night stars was so real it made my imagination run wild...what am I really seeing when I look up at the stars at night?

We left Waitomo in the afternoon, very happy to have experienced such a lovely natural phenomenon.

The road to Taranaki - Bulls to New Plymouth

We dropped our wayward hitchhiker on the side of quiet highway on the outskirts of Bulls, a town that can boast the largest bull in New Zealand. Wow. With a last wave at the North-coast Canadian boy we headed towards the black sand beaches of the Taranaki region.

The Taranaki region is renowned for many things; world class surfing, dairy cattle, oil and gas fields and abundant crops. The entire region centers around the huge, solitary cinder cone of an extinct volcano. Even on a clear summer day the top of the mountain is glazed with powdery snow and wreathed with puffy clouds. The dense New Zealand jungle rings the bottom half of the mountain and eventually gives way to the fertile flatlands that stretch out to the renowned coastline.

We drove until the deepening twilight forced us to pick a campsite for the night. We found a small holiday park on the edge of a national park and parked the van on a grassy knoll where we could hear the waves crashing below us. After the craziness of Wellington the quiet of the countryside was a welcome relief.

Morning brought rain squalls and howling winds although the light proved to us we had chosen a perfect spot to spend the night. From the van we looked down a small bluff to a narrow river running towards the beach between grass covered dunes. There was a Maori family fishing off the bridge that spanned the river, the kids playing games of tag while the adults patiently waited for their lines to yield dinner.

Iain and I headed down to the beach, winding our way cautiously along the eroding bluff. There was definitely surf in the area, but the winds and foul weather were making absolute chaos out of the waves. We decided to head up towards New Plymouth rather than spend more time at the charming camp ground. We needed more books to read and Iain was searching out surfable waves.

We spent a quiet afternoon driving along the coast, checking it at various beaches and making plans for places we could stop, but in the back of Iain’s mind he planned for us to spend a few days at Kati-kara. We picked up an armful of books in New Plymouth and promptly turned around to head up towards the volcano in search of the Kati-kara commune Iain had visited on a previous trip to New Zealand.

I shouldn’t call Kati-kara a commune, in fact it is a land co-operative that has seen many glory days in the past but has since fallen into disrepair. When we wound our way up single lane roads, past old washouts we found the current ‘owners’ who gave us access to one of the dozen or so buildings on the extensive property. The house was obviously a building that had been evolving slowly over decades. The folks Iain spoke to about staying at the place were in the process of renovating the building to make it livable for a group of troubled teen girls. They wanted to use the property as retreat space for workshops. We were told that for a few hours of labor we could call the place home for as long as we liked.

The best part of the property was the view(which we didn't take any photos of). We were surrounded by jungle on three sides with the Mountain looming right behind our heads. The property was about one third of the way up the volcano's side with no tall trees or buildings to obscure our view. We could see clearly all the way to the coast, we could watch as the sun sank below the horizon igniting the ocean with red and orange fire. Kati-kara was a balm for the soul.

The only fly in the ointment was my vertigo. It had once again reared its ugly head and I spent most of the next 2 days drinking ginger tea flat on my back. In fact I didn’t leave the van at all the second day we were there. Iain spent the day working with the co-op folks, painting windowsills and sanding doorframes, paying for our keep.

After two days we decided to head towards water once again. Raglan surfing was calling our name and I had itchy feet. We wished the Kati-kara folk good luck and headed back towards New Plymouth for one more stop before leaving the Taranaki region.

We stopped in New Plymouth to use the internet at the public library and meet up with Iain’s friend Te-wai, an absolutely wonderful woman who I will always count myself lucky to be friends with. We spent a delightful afternoon with Te-wai and her niece, visiting and swapping stories about Canada and New Zealand. It was the highlight of my trip to the region and I hope that we get the chance to see Te-wai again in the near future.

We left New Plymouth with happy hearts and full bellies thanks to the pure pleasure of Burger Fuel (BURGER FUEL!!!). We headed inland and north onto the Forgotten highway to continue our adventure.

Wellington

We spent 3 days in Wellington, catching up on laundry, doing errands and visiting with Illaria and Larissa. It was a hectic and busy few days, but highly enjoyable after all the lazy days that preceded it.

We enjoyed a few more feasts courtesy of Illaria and Iain, an antipasto type brunch our first day in town thanks to Illaria and Iain created the most decadent crepes for us the second day. My mouth still waters when I think about them.

Our first day was filled with souvenir shopping at an amazing store just past Balena Bay, incredible wool goods at factory prices. Once we had loaded up on our woolly wonders we figured it was time to send a few things home. It took a few hours to organize the van, ourselves and our shipping box, but we had so much glorious space when we were finished!

We wanted to be close to town for the next few days so we parked for the night in the Te Papa Museum overnight lot and went out to explore Wellington; something the weather had prevented us from doing on our previous visit. We discovered that the downtown area frowns upon campers, although they don't outright ban them. Instead they make it very inconvenient for us by closing ALL the public toilets at 9pm. Of course it's not just because of the plethora of campers that park at Te Papa, but it did feel like we were being targeted. We pondered our options as we walked back to the van and discovered a few creative options that made the next few nights at Te Papa much more agreeable. Of course, I'll never tell what they were!

We set the alarm and woke up early and got our parcel shipped home for a fairly reasonable rate courtesy of Kiwi Post. Once our chores were done the day was filled with pleasure seeking. We enjoyed the crepes with Illaria then beer and cider on an ocean side patio in the sunshine followed by three hours exploring the phenomenal exhibits at Te Papa museum. Our first trip to the museum I had only managed a taste of what it held, I wanted to explore every nook and cranny on my second trip. I enjoyed modern art, ancient history, naturalist displays, the history of the earth and New Zealand culture among others. I could spend days there and not get bored, it is a marvelous museum. There was one painting, 'The Widow' done by Charles F. Goldie in 1902, that had me spellbound for quite some time. It was undoubtedly the most memorable object in the museum for me after the full size meeting house in the Maori exhibit.

That night we enjoyed a few more drinks on a patio on Cuba Street downtown then headed off for the visual feast that is Alice in Wonderland. We saw the movie in an old converted opera house, there was a wine bar upstairs and lovely plush seats to relax and enjoy the film from. So much fun!

Our second to last day we spent most of in the internet cafe, Immigration offices, I-sight and DOC offices. We had to change our airline tickets and extend our visas so we could spend extra time exploring the west coast of the North Island. It was occasionally tedious but successful, we were granted a month long extension and Air Canada changed our flights with no problems.

We had arranged to meet up with Illaria when she finished work and we greeted her on the dockside patio of the Mac's Brewery and Pub. We had a cold pitcher of beer and seats in the sunshine; it promised to be a good afternoon. After chatting and drinking for a few hours we convinced Illaria to stay out with us and we moved our party to Cuba Street where another pitcher of beer and a few cider were imbibed on a patio in the middle of the street. Cuba Street is similar in feeling to Gas Town in Vancouver, a narrow street with lots of shops and restaurants and trendy pubs. Street buskers appear every hundred feet; some with phenomenal talent others sadly lacking any. We were accosted by a drunken trombone player who sidled up to our booth to bum a smoke, he perched on the ledge beside our table and made incoherent conversation until our laughter drove him on.

Around 7pm Illaria pulled us to her restaurant, the Olive Cafe, to meet up with Larissa and a few other friends. We transitioned to wine and started learning the history of our new acquaintances. The only person I remember is a fellow traveller, Tyler from Prince Rupert, who ended up needing a ride towards Taranaki. We drunkenly arranged to meet him at the Olive the next day as we were heading the same direction and could take him with us. People came and went, more wine was drunk and eventually we were the only rowdy and boisterous group remaining at the cafe. It was late and the staff wanted to go out to enjoy their own Friday night so we were kicked out into the street to either head home or find further entertainment. I was ready to sleep so after a brief stop at a kebab shop Iain and I staggered back to the museum and the sanity of our van.

The next day was rough, as they always are. Breakfast was foraged at the local grocery store where we gratefully clutched our fresh coffee. We ate on a bench overlooking the docks, and watched in fascination as a serious of million dollar speed boats were lowered into the water by cranes. Apparently there was a competition that weekend and people with futuristic looking and fantastically fast boats from all over the country came to compete.

Neither of us had much energy so we killed time at the internet cafe before our meeting time with Tyler at the Olive Cafe. We also stopped at my new favorite restaurant - Burger Fuel. I could get a tasty and totally edible gluten free burger with kumra fries and Iain could enjoy a normal burger and fries for under $25. Heaven!

We said goodbye to Illaria and Larissa at the Olive, grabbed Tyler when he arrived and after a few wrong turns headed out of Wellington.

Back to the Northlands

We drove through beautiful pastoral land on our way from Christchurch up towards Kaikoura where we planned to spend the night. The purple light lengthened the shadows of the world around us and I daydreamed while Iain drove. It was long past dark when we pulled into Kaikoura. We both had the itch to keep driving, so after a quick dinner at Subway we hit the highway again looking for a free rest area to camp for the night.

The road was full of curves and sharp bends, one side was a rock wall and the other the pounding ocean surf. Huge semi-trucks with double and triple trailers would scream past our little van like banshees in the night. I was very relieved when we pulled off the highway into a semi sheltered picnic area beside the beach.

The night was pitch black, pierced occasionally by the headlights of a passing motorist. What we couldn't see we could hear; the screaming of a gull colony on the rocks, the rhythmic pounding of the surf and the occasional grunt and splash of a nearby fur seal. I stepped outside the van to brush my teeth and could swear there was a fur seal grunting in the sea grass next to us...I didn't leave the van again that night! We fell asleep enjoying the tranquility of a remote beach side bed.

We started the next day slowly, feeling no need to rush as our ferry wasn't until 10pm the next day. We drank our coffee sitting behind the van, soaking up the view of what we had only heard the previous night. The coastline was jagged with huge shards of rocks emerging from the sea, frothy white waves smashing them over and over again. Stone that was below the water line was smooth, worn down over time by the relentless sea. There was abundant sea life, oystercatchers, shags, herons and a variety of gulls perched on exposed rocks or bobbed on the waves while sea lions lolled on the rocks soaking up the sunshine. With all the wave action, beach combing absorbed me for at least an hour, finding paua shells, periwinkles and a myriad of others.

Eventually we repacked the van and headed on towards Picton, our departure point for the Interislander ferry to Wellington. It was drizzly and grey as we navigated the corkscrew road which made it more difficult for Iain but didn't diminish the scenery watching for me. What a stunning coastline! We passed fur seal colonies and rocky beaches, surf spots and scenic view points.

We arrived in Picton and split up to do some shopping, there were a number of cute little tourist shops with unique items and I enjoyed poking around for a few hours. Iain rented us a room in a downtown hotel and we spent the remainder of the day relaxing and exploring the tiny town. We found a wonderful Irish pub where we enjoyed a few pints before dinner then called it a night.

Our last day in Picton was beautifully sunny but dreadfully windy. The wind howled into town off the water all day making sitting outside to enjoy the sunshine almost impossible. We did a little more shopping but I spent the remainder of our time reading in the van while Iain went to a movie in the grand Picton Theater. It was nice to get on the ferry that night.

We once again experienced a night sailing - one day I would like to see the crossing between the North and South Islands, but the dark of night fit our budget. We got on and quickly snagged the cushioned bench seats beating the other inexperienced van-folk! The crossing was rough, very, very rough as the wind and waves pounded us for 3 hours. We each managed to get a little sleep enroute but I was looking forward to parking that night.

When we finally docked in Wellington it was with great relief that we disembarked. We headed back to our old home in Balena Bay in the suburbs outside Wellington but the wind was howling so badly that the van was rocking, the windows shuddering and every crack in the vehicle was emitting a discordant whistle. I asked Iain if we could find somewhere else and we managed to find a quieter spot along the road into town. We gratefully sank into bed and slept like the dead.

Christchurch and baby Téa

We enjoyed a few days in Christchurch before we headed north to Picton to catch the ferry back to the North Island. After a restful sleep in Sumner we headed to the library next to Sheena and Joel's to catch up on some email, while I worked on the blog Iain went next door to meet the new addition to their family - Téa.

Téa had been born ten days previously while Iain and I were on Stewart Island. We had hoped to meet her before we left New Zealand and we weren't disappointed, she is beautiful! We were invited to stay for dinner that night and to be honest neither Iain nor I wanted to let Téa go. We each had a chance to hold her, she was so tiny, barely a handful in Iain's arms. The new parents were radiant and exhausted but the family looked beautiful together.

We parked the van in the driveway for a few nights and enjoyed the hospitality of the Nordman clan while we did some touristy things in Christchurch. We headed to the weekend market in Cathedral Square where Iain picked up a few souvenirs then we wandered past the river Avon to poke around in the artisans market. We checked out some sheepskin stores and focused our time on finding souvenirs and visiting.

Our last day in Christchurch Sheena and Joel took us to an outdoor climbing wall on the edge of the city, a place we had visited before. Sheena had Téa all bundled up on her chest as we made the short hike into the wall and I imagined the many adventures in store for her in the future. Sheena's mom accompanied us to give climbing a try and proved to be an excellent beginner! Iain, Joel and I each climbed two routes, and while I am very rusty I truly enjoyed the challenge.

Leaving Sheena, Joel and Téa was very difficult for Iain and I. Their home had been opened up to us and had become our home in New Zealand. We knew it was the end of our time on the South Island which had been utterly magical for the both of us. It was a mixture of excitement and sadness that filled my heart as we hugged Sheena and Joel goodbye. Excitement because we were off to explore unseen territory and sadness because it may be years before we see each other in person again.

We drove out of Christchurch towards Picton for the last time in 2010 on a warm but cloudy afternoon. There was still so much to see!