Rebecca & Stephen's Trip: January 2007

Coromandel Peninsula.

This peninsula is to the east of Auckland. It has some stunning beaches. We visited the Catherdral Cove, with its huge limestone arch, set on a quiet (which was a relief as it is school holidays here at the moment) pristine beach. That evening we created our own hot tub on Hot Water Beach. An amazing experience. The hot water is very near the surface of the beach and is caused by an underground hot spring which bubbles up at low tide.

Cathedral Cove

People digging their hot water pools beneath the light of the moon.

Our feet enjoying the hot water!

Doubtless Bay and Fish and Chips.

It had been a long time coming; our first fish supper. A delight we had not tasted in over five months. Washed down with a nice pint, I hate to say it, but the Kiwis do it well! We enjoyed the meal at Doubtless Bay. Its name derives from James Cook and his first visit here, on which he commented that it was 'doubtless a bay.'

There are two pictures of Stephen because he had two portions...pig!

Great camp spot at Doubtless Bay

Doubtless Bay

Heading Further North

After the Bay of Islands, we decided we needed to have that 'end of the world' feeling again, so we made our way to Cape Reinga. The northern most point of New Zealand. We got up early and after a 3 hour drive, we arrived. Unfortunately the weather was dreich ( as my mum would say!) and we couldn't see a thing for all the mist. Have a look on google images if you want to see what this part of the world looks like as we didn't see it!

Cape Reinga and its clear view!

Next we headed to 90 mile beach. It is popular to drive along with 4WD or you can take a bus. However, as many people have discovered, including Stephen's sister, you have to watch the tide and make sure you don't end up stuck in the sand or washed to sea!

Speed limit on 90 mile beach!

Below you can see a picture of the Kauri tree. This tree is native to New Zealand, and though many have been lost to logging, some impressive trees remain.

This is the widest tree in New Zealand. It is over 5 metres in diameter and is believed to also be the oldest, at almost 2000 years. Its Maori name is 'Te Matua Ngahere' which means 'Father of the Forest.'

Bay of Islands and Stephen's 30th (!) Birthday.

After a few days in Auckland, we hired a car and sorted out our camping gear and headed north to the Bay of Islands. We celebrated Stephen's birthday with a great seafood meal and spent our first night of many to come, in our tiny tent. We visited Waitiangi, which is where the treaty between the British and Maori was signed in 1840.

The flag pole marks where the treaty was signed. The three flags are the British, New Zealand and the original flag, created by the Maori, when the treaty was signed.

The interior of a 'Marae'. A Maori meeting house.

Bay of Islands

Stephen's 30th Birthday meal.

Bay of Islands

Stephen and his cake at a very glamorous camp ground!

Auckland, New Zealand

We arrived in Auckland after crossing the international date line so although the flight was only five and a half hours, we lost a whole day. The 20th January 2007 never really existed for us!
Quite a culture shock after being in South America for so long. Auckland is a nice and compact city with a gentle pace of life. We have really enjoyed the food since getting here - lots of Asian food from Indian curries to Japanese sushi.

Auckland from the harbour

Downtown Auckland

Rebecca enjoys some Japanese food

Tahiti

We went to Tahiti...it rained...and rained...and rained...and was VERY expensive

Rain in Tahiti

Easter Island

After four and a half months in South America, we left Santiago. Although strictly speaking Easter Island is part of Chile, it certainly felt like we were leaving.
Easter Island has to be one of the most magical and mysterious places we have ever been. As there is no firm explanation for the presence of the stone Moai statues it makes the whole place so intriguing. They are colossal pieces of rock, hand carved and moved huge distances. The largest is 21m in length. Many Moai, knocked over by either man or nature (a huge Tsunami hit the island in the 1960’s) litter the coast. The quarry where many were carved is incredible. Hundreds can be found in various states of creation either still attached to the rock or standing awaiting transport to their final destination. Seeing sunrise above one particular site was especially magical, only about 6 people were there and we felt quite privileged. One evening we saw a perfomance by traditional Kari Kari dancers which was really vibrant and colourful.
Three days later we were sad to be leaving such a great place. It is certainly tricky to get to, but well worth the effort. We would recommend Easter Island to anyone.

Our first view of Easter Island from the plane

Sunrise over the Moai of Tongariki

Stephen turns to stone

The impressive 15 Moai of Tongariki

Moai litter the quarry

Rebecca on the beach

Horses at Tongariki

Kari Kari dancers

Carteneros - Rubbish Collectors.

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city with european architecture and cobbled streets . Many people seem prosperous. Behind this facade, however, there are the poor. They live on the outskirts of Buenos Aires in slums. Over 30% of the population in Argentina are below the poverty line. This has improved greatly since the economic crisis in 2002, where everyday people lost their savings, jobs and some their homes. During this time over half the population were poor, so it is positive to see a change is occuring. Unemployment is still high. Some of the people in the city, in a desperate attempt to make money, are reduced to other means to survive.

The above picture is a 'Cartenero'. Everyday rubbish is dumped on the streets in Buenos Aires. Before the 'Bin Men' have a chance to collect it all up, these people rummage through it all, desperate to find cardboard, plastic and glass, in order to sell it for recycling. Often you see whole families sorting through it all, or sometimes, young children; alone.

It appears that the goverment rely on these people to recycle their rubbish. A charity called 'El Ceibo' have worked with the 'Carteneros' and some neighbourhoods to encourage people to separate the rubbish themselves, so all they have to do is collect it. If you are interested, have a look at their website, which has a short video, portraying these peoples' lives. Go to

Carteneros Video

Changed settings

Since we have started the counter, we realise there are more people looking at the blog than we thought. Therefore to encourage people to leave messages we have changed the settings so you don't have to sign on. Hopefully we will get more messages this way.

Views from our balcony

Just a couple of pictures taken from our balcony. We have tango in the square every afternoon and posh people don't walk their dogs in the city - professional dog walkers do!

Our pad in San Telmo

Until we leave Buenos Aires we are renting an apartment in San Telmo, overlooking Plaza Dorrego. It is really nice and airy with great views.

Our apartment is in the white building to the right. The cafe on the left is where scenes in the "Godfather" were filmed.

The view of Plaza Dorrego, popular for tango dancing.

Rebecca using our free wireless internet (not sure where the signal is coming from though!)

Final night with Shona, David, Harriet and Ben

We went out for a great meal on our final night in the district of Palermo. We food was excellent as was the wine and free champagne!
We have had a wonderful couple of weeks and will miss Shona, David, Harriet and Ben lots.

La Bombonera Stadium - home of Boca Juniors

Back in Buenos Aires, on our final day we all went to the neighbourhood of La Boca. After a walk around and coffee in El Caminito we ventured a few blocks over to La Bombonera Stadium, home of the mighty (or not so mighty this season) Boca Juniors. You certainly don't see terraces, razor wire, huge fences and grubby changing rooms in many Premiership grounds! The tour was fascinating, so much history and passion in a club that adores Diego Maradona so much he doesn't even have to pay for his seat anymore and will keep it for his entire life.