Heading South

After 3 weeks crossing North Island we are now in Wellington awaiting the ferry to South Island tomorrow - we are on a large 'holiday park' in an industrial area near the terminal and being Wellington the rain is probably appropriate.
However this is all in complete contrast to the last month which has been generally fine or hot and seen us finish exploring the remote Coramandel Peninsula and enjoy a swim and snorkelling in the Pacific at idyllic Waikawau,stay with a friend of Sarah's in Omokoroa and then stay in the Tongariro area.
Here we successfully completed in superb weather the Alpine Crossing including a very tough side ascent of Ngaurhoe a snow capped and occasionally active volcano that involved some arduous scrambling on steep loose scree with a very strong wind. Sarah was remarkably tough and rose to the challenge and we were both rewarded with superb views, aching limbs and sunburn.
A few days in a very remote corner of the Ruahine Forest Park on an empty backwoods Department of Conservation site was sublime with the added excitement of a rather precarious cableway to cross the river, no other visitors and some excellent walks.
We have only used 3 'proper' sites so far as the DOC ones suit us better being generally empty, well away from anywhere and providing the necessities of a loo and water. At Broken Hills we saw glow worms and wetas in old gold mining tunnels, parrots were flapping in the trees and kingfishers were as common as starlings back home.
The van seems to trundle on reliably with fuel around 50p a litre and an mpg usually over 40 even after the slow going on the many miles of gravel roads we have covered - dust everywhere after these but they do get us to the quietest spots.
Contact with home has been maintained - sounds like the weather has been its usual if not worse autumnal self.
Yesterday at Feilding we saw a range of old British car makes in a vintage rally and met an old kiwi guy who last year took his 70 year old Austin round Australia and 5 years ago had toured Europe including Pembrokeshire ending up in Fishguard! Plenty of inspiration there.....
A week ago we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary so lucky old me - for Sarah perhaps the jury is still out!

More pics again at the following link :

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/NorthIslandContinues?feat=directlink

On and Off the Road

Well a fortnight ago we received confirmation that the van had arrived so we collected it from the freight depot after it had passed Customs and quarantine inspections - all expertly handled by our shippers Taurus Logistics of Christchurch.

We then completed the formalities to get road legal, joined NZAA and sourced and fitted gas bottles. After a trial couple of days away we are now finally heading south as we have booked a ferry to South Island for the 1st of December - it feels rather surreal to be in our familiar and comfy van in such a superb country - the coast round to Thames passing Miranda was postcard perfect.

The last few days have been spent in the Kauaeranga Forest Park on the Coramandel Peninsula enjoying three good walks including a long day up to the Pinnacles and nights spent on simple DoC sites with long drop loos and a stream for water - all to ourselves.

The semi tropical jungle of tree ferns, vines, creeepers and kauri trees is remarkable and the bird life very varied. Tracks are hard going in places but generally well marked although being only a couple of hours from Auckland this is apparently a popular area so the standards are likely to be high. Keeping in touch may prove harder from now on although libraries have good free internet connections - we love to hear from people back home and have put more pictures up at the following link

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/Auckland?authkey=Gv1sRgCJDqj4Cfj_fy3AE&feat=directlink

Arrival in Auckland

After several months of planning and and a couple of weeks of travelling we arrived in Auckland to familiar sights - wet tarmac, streaming windows and grey skies! However this did not last as down here Summer is on its way and the weather improved overnight giving us a chance to bus in to the city and start to navigate the various layers of bureaucracy that surround importing the van.

Our hosts in Orewa, Sue and Danny made us very welcome in their spacious and comfortable home which has provided the perfect base for directing operations with the local shops providing a good range of services and plenty of local walking.

The recent weekend was a bank holiday so Saturday saw us on a creek walk passing through bush where Indianna Jones would have felt at home and reaching Dacre Cottage a shoreline bothy where a work party were carrying out maintenance.

On the Monday we ferried over to the volcanic island of Rangitoto formed less than 600 years ago and providing a remarkable view over Auckland and it's Skytower from the high point of the crater rim.We were even able to see the vessel containing the van unloading its cargo - the commercial port being right alongside the marinas and ferry terminals.

This week has been spent settling invoices, completing forms and planning our journey ahead - the cost of bringing the van over plus on the road expenses has worked out at around £10 a day - compared to hire costs of at least treble this - thanks to the lowly performance of sterling - plus we have been able to bring over all the outdoor gear and bikes.

A recent Skype video call to Brecon confirmed that Amber is very content in her new home or at least a dog looking very much like her and contact with friends and family has been maintained through Skype, emails and cell phones - the internet has made a trip of this complexity very easy - hats off to those pioneers of the 60's and 70's.

More news in a week or so when we hope to have had a trial period away, reinstalled gas and prepared for a general drift south - for fellow map enthusiasts seeing the sun in the north has taken some adjustment, dare we break out the compass!

Japan Final Impressions

After almost a fortnight in this absorbing country we will be sorry to leave as we have felt very comfortable throughout. The scenery of the Japanes Alps contrasted sharply with the cities' bright lights but beneath these Japan's history, culture and religion was still evident. Our travel company Inside Japan Tours Ltd are to be congratulated for their attention to detail and the meticulous travel arrangements which have made this trip such a pleasure. The friendly and genuine welcome from our hosts in the traditional ryokans was much appreciated and even the vast transport system was able to retrieve my camera left on a bus and returned several hundred miles to be collected days later back in Tokyo. Here we spent our final evening 700' up in the Tokyo Metropolitan Govt. Building enjoying the 360 degree view as the sun set to the west and electric dawn broke over the city below.

Our journey now continues with a flight via Sydney to Auckland where we hope to retrieve the van in a fortnight or so - until then we are very much looking forward to meeting Sue and Danny (longstanding friends of Sarah's) who will be our hosts.

Skype has provided a remarkably cheap and effective method of chatting to other friends and family and we were delighted to hear that Amber has settled in very well with Jan and Ian at her new home near Brecon.

Another link to a few more pictures appears below - Japan is well worth a vist as I hope they show :

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/Japan2009202?feat=directlink

Japan - first impressions.

After a long flight enlivened by sunset views of the Swedish Lakes and dawn over Siberia we arrived in Tokyo on schedule to spend three days exploring this friendly, vibrant and above all manageable city. Temples, shrines, tranquil parks, towering skyscrapers and narrow mazes of street level alleys combined to give us a whirlwind but easygoing introduction 'though the heavy rain and strong winds of a typhoon did at least pass through overnight. Cheap and highly efficient public transport allowed us to reach a variety of places by a variety of means with a final water ferry through the centre providing memorable views of the dramatic skyline. Courteous and friendly people made us feel very welcome and this theme continued as we left the capital to visit the Fuji Hakone National Park.

Here the friendly Takahashi running the Fuji Hakone Guest House made us feel very welcome and explained the etiquette behind shared facilities including the onsen a deep bath of piping hot volcanic water.

We spent a sunny day again using all manner of transport from cable car to pirate ship exploring the mountains with a view of Mount Fuji, enjoying black eggs cooked in a sulphurous pool and met a few other travellers. Japan is a very civilised place where losing your cool is seen as a great loss of face which makes for a very stressfree atmosphere where despite the massive language barriers both written and verbal we have both felt very welcome.

More pics if you wish at
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/Japan2009?feat=directlink

Link to the best of Sarah's Peru pictures

Here is a link if you wish to see some of the best pics of Peru
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/Peru2009SarahSWalkAndRide?feat=directlink

Sarah here, having just returned from 3 weeks in Peru. A wonderful walking trip in the Cordillera Blanca, reaching heady heights of about 5,000m, was followed by two weeks horse riding in the Sacred Valley near Cusco. The whole trip was a fabulous experience and a return trip, with Simon, is planned for the future.