About the Omarsea Crew

We are the Trefethens. After 10 years of planning we decided to sell our home and buy a sailboat. In November 2007 we departed Portland Oregon for the Virgin Islands and our 50 foot sloop the OMARSEA. Our three children Ben, Juli and Steve are enjoying the benefits of being homeschooled. Join us on our continuing adventures as we explore the East coast of America on the way to New Zealand.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Travel in New Zealand Part 2

In the last post we had arrived in Hamilton and seen the gardens. Not too exciting to read about so thanks for being patient. After a night in Hamilton we pressed on to Lake Taupo. Much like lake Tahoe with clear blue waters and small islands we stayed two nights on the North shore. The whole area is volcanic and actively so. Steam issues from the ground all over the place and there is a geothermal park just up the road we visited. From Taupo we drove around the East side of the lake South toward Hamilton. Jean and Margret had selected a house in the forests of a town called Upper Hut. You should see the driveway!!!!! I was reminded of driving up a ski slope.
  I should note that we rented an 8 passenger van in Whangarei for the trip. At the time there were very few options for such a vehicle and when Jean and i saw the van we were a bit frustrated. It really looks old and worn. The fella renting it to us, I wont mention the name of the company, felt so ashamed of the van he dropped the daily price by 25%. As we were leaving the next day we took the van but were none too happy with it. Especially as the brakes squeaked going out of the rental parking lot.
The driveway to Stu's house proved to be  a bit of a challenge for the brakes. They worked great mind you but they protested loudly doing so. Because  there were no repair facilities nearby that we could have the car fixed at we elected to drive the car until we got toAukland where I could have a shop look at them.
Our house in Upper Hut also proved to be a new experience. The owner had only recently decided that he would rent it to guests. But when we arrived we found that he, his daughter and her boyfriend were going to be sharing the house with us. That we did not expect. But Stu proved to be a quick learner and by day three we pretty much had the house to ourselves. He made us great coffee in the mornings and we had many an enjoyable chat with him during our stay there. It proved to be an excellent location to pursue our two favorite activities. Geocaching and tracking down the filming sites for The Lord of the Rings. The scene where Aragorn falls into the river in Two Towers and comes ashore where the horse finds him is just below Stu's house. Mary and I found the Aragorn Lives geocache there. Just 12 KM up the road is the location of the Rivendell, the Elvish city. We all had fun taking our pictures there. (Once I get back to my PC I will upload all my pictures of this.)
From The Upper Hut we drove to Wellington. A good size city we visited the famous La Papa museum. It has the largest display of Mauri artifacts and history in NZ. If you ever get to NZ this is a must do for visitors. A combination of art, history and science museum it has something for everyone.

Leaving Upper Hut we were treated to another hair raising driving event through a mountain pass.Squeaking  loudly now we rolled into Rotorua still with functional brakes but also strange looks from those around us. The hotel, well lets just not talk about the hotel. It is for the best I assure you. Clara had arranged for us to have dinner with the Mauri tribe in the area. They are a very well organized group and we were picked up by bus and taken to the village. Our driver mark was an amazing Man in that he could say hello in 62 languages and converse fluently in German, Italian, French, Chinese, and of Course English. He made quick work of the 30 minute ride by teaching us some history and of course how to say Hello in Mauri. Kia Ora"  Pronounced KeyOrraa". We must have said it 100 time before we reached the village but he had us in fits of laughter the whole way. Once there we were welcomed to the village with a traditional hangi or challenge. The serious looks, heavy weapons and aggressive stance of the warriors was a sight to see. Then the women sang a welcome song and we entered the village. There Mauri taught us carving, dance, fighting and games. Once done with the pre-dinner activities they led us to the kitchen where the dinner was cooked underground in large pots. The chief did mention that if you get too close and fall in the cooking pot he would put the lid on and cook you. He wasn't smiling when he said this.
The dinner was great, Lamb, fish, local potatoes, salas and a desert. From the dining hall we were lead outside and a farewell song sung to us. Then we boarded the bus and our crazy driver Mark had us singing all the national anthems of those people who were aboard. He knew the words to them all and had a pretty good voice. When we arrive back in Rotorua he gave us one last surprise. As we approached the traffic circle he went all the way around. Not once, not twice but nine times. We laughed so hard at his jokes while he did this I nearly slip my sides. A great evening it was.

At last it was time to leave for Napier and Aukland. We packed in the morning and drove the three hours North, around lake Taupo to the town of Napire. It is a small beach town once crowded in the early 1900's and now a retirement place for wealthy Kiwi's. Vineyards dot the area. We stayed in a nice place right on the bay there. Long walks were made by all around the salt marsh. It was a wonderful place to slow down and catch our breath from all the go, go, go. An earthquake in the early 1900's had leveled the place much like the recent quakes have hit Christchurch. It was rebuilt during the Art Deco period and hosts many examples of that architectural movement. It is a nice place and I would visit it again given the chance.
From Napier we motored North to Aukland and entered the big city again. Gone were the calm empty roads of the south. Rush hour traffic here we come. The house we are staying at overlooks a bay and has amazing views of the outer islands here. Donna the owner lives downstairs and is a wonderful host. We have really enjoyed our visit to her house. We visited Aukland several times and Jean the ladies and the kids went up the Sky Needle. I was here chilling out after all the travel. The pictures looked good from up there so I will have to take the ride someday to be sure.
As this is the end of the big adventure, at least for Jean and the kids I feel compelled to say a couple words. It has been a year of tremendous effort on all our parts. The kids have learned so much, grown in ways that marks them as young adults and they have developed truly a global outlook on life. For Jean and I, we have grown strong as a couple, faced challenges as individuals that we were not sure we could and overcome all of them. Our future is as yet very undecided but we are more excited about 2014 than we ever were about 2013. Our thanks to all those who follow our blog, we will try to keep you entertained with more adventures in the future. I look forward to seeing all of you Stateside in the coming year.

Fair Winds and Following seas

Capt. Scott


1 comment:

  1. Hi Scott,
    I have a 1994 Beneteau Moorings called Utopia, same boat as Omarsea. I am currently arranging an engine rebuild for her. After a bit of googling, I found your blog post describing your engine rebuild. I was wondering how you got the engine out, was it thru the sunroof or out the companionway. Any tips/tricks for doing so?
    Any advice would be greatly appreciated. andrewdeeley@hotmail.com
    kind regards
    Andrew
    SV Utopia II

    ReplyDelete