Friday 24^th January 2003
Unfortunately we are moving on again. The hostel, Tamara Lodge, is very good and we would have been very comfortable, but there is nothing nearby to detain us. Not too far today, only to New Plymouth. We will drive around the coast side of Mt Egmont/Taranaki on recommendation of one of the hostellers. This road is called Surf Highway because of all the exposed surfing beaches along the way. The weather is bad - showery, some quite heavy - so we don't see much. Specifically we see nothing of the volcanic Mt Taranaki.

Around lunchtime we stop at Opunake for tea ($2.90 for 2) and muffin. Next door is a barber and Pete eventually and rather belatedly decides to get his hair cut. An interesting experience including signing the visitor's book and after examining a British £10 note discussing Darwin from a Christian viewpoint. This is a real old-fashioned barbers and despite apparently being in a deserted town in the middle of nowhere he seems to be doing a steady trade. Although he sweeps between cuts the hair is all pushed into a corner where it forms a mat of coloured bands. $10 for the cut and Pete is set-up for another 3-6 months! We also buy meat from a butcher. Glyn goes looking for a loo and ends up in a woman's restroom in a Plunkett's Clinic - whatever that means - across the road from a healing centre. Glyn says this is like a town that has been lost in time - the postcards are all curled up. We drive down to the beach to find a raging surf beach with black sand backed by a large lifesaver's building (LRB Lifesaving World Champions?) playing music through an external loudspeaker, backed by a campsite with lots of tents and campervans, but all nearly deserted. Where is everybody? While we wander/wonder two lifesavers launch their rescue boat and race off into the waves - just for fun or for practice or both. It is difficult getting out through, around and over the surf but clearly fun racing back in. Its time we were moving on.

As we travel we start to get the distinct impression that we have entered a "Bible belt". There are an increasing number of churches - mostly Methodist and Baptist - and regular posters quoting biblical texts or promoting some Christian belief.

The weather is still 'pants' so we don't bother stopping again until we get to the hostel: Shoestring Backpackers, New Plymouth. We have a good-sized twin room. There are a good dining room and lounge, but the kitchen is a little under-equipped and kitchen and bathroom not very clean, plumbing is poor. We are here for two nights as Pete was hoping to do a walk on Mt Taranaki tomorrow. A visit to the DOC office reveals a bad weather forecast but it is recommended that a visit to the North Egmont visitor centre at the end of the mountain approach road would still be worthwhile as there are a number of walks that can be done from there. The general information office gives us some other ideas of things to do around the area, and it seems there is a Festival of Lights at the park near the hostel this evening that looks like it may be good - especially as the rain has stopped for a while. We walk down to the seafront and take a look at the Wind Wand a 45m high carbon & glass fibre pole with a light on the end that "dances" in the wind in the name of contemporary art.

Right now we are waiting for the sun to go down before setting off to the lights.

The Pukekura Park is only a few blocks away and is beautifully illuminated with a colourful fountain and all the paths lit with multi-coloured floodlights on the trees and shrubs. There is also live music in the form of a very good jazz band on one lawn and in another area a duo singing popular tunes. We come upon a lake with rowing boats prettily lit up with fairy lights and decide to take one out. Unfortunately it rains for most of the half-hour we are out! Nevertheless we enjoy the experience. We continue with the entire route of illuminations and are surprised by a huge snoring Giant in a hammock in the trees and scatterings of stardust and strobe lighting like roundabouts on the paths. The whole thing is quite enchanting and is laid on each year by the local council from mid December till mid February with different entertainment. They had the Caledonian pipe band the night before we arrived with Highland dancing.

Saturday 25^th January 2003
Woke early and the weather looks good so Pete is prompted to get up and set off on his walk up Mount Taranaki before the weather changes - unfortunately this was the wrong advice - he returns at lunchtime soaking wet through only having got up about 1500 ft. To top it all the weather cleared in the afternoon so he should have set off later! Whilst he was out Glyn has taken six films to be processed so a happy couple of hours are spent reminiscing on Thailand etc. The photos are quite good and haven't been spoilt by their two months in the warm car thank goodness. Glyn has also taken the opportunity to get her hair cut short - it akes it easier when there is no hairdryer available.

We decide to drive out to Lake Mangamahoe to see if there is a good view of the mountain and as we are driving south the clouds are lifting above the summit and we get some good photos. The ducks think we must have food and climb out of the lake only to be disappointed. The black swans seem to be being very territorial and then we see why - they have three handsome cygnets.

We decide to visit the Pukeiti gardens but miss the turning and finally get there at 4pm. The walk is an hour and the gardens close at 5pm so we set of at a brisk pace and enjoy some beautifully kept lawns and woodland. Not much colour but beautiful trees and shrubs.

On our return the cricket is on so Pete watches the telly before and after dinner - he even listens to it on the valve radio in our room (after lights out) until about 11pm when England finally lose to Australia by a cats whisker!

Sunday 26^th January 2003
Time to move on to Te Kuiti near the Waitomo caves. On the way we enter an area of limestone hills - lots of grass, sheep and rocky outcrops, even Whitecliffs where it meets the sea - very like the south of England. We are puzzled by a sign that indicates the "Facial Eczema Risk" today is High. We look at each other for signs of any breakouts! As we are driving decide that we will not be far from Morag's brother Ruary who lives near Hamilton so should pay him a visit. We find "Casara Mesa" which is a farm on a hill and we are delighted to discover that we have a roomy ensuite cabin and a kitchen/dining room to be shared with one other cabin - it turns out that this is not occupied so we have the place to ourselves!

The owners are Don and Anne. Don is part Scottish (Sinclair) and some of his 'kin' are in Dingwall and Maryburgh - small world eh? We use the phone and ring Ruary who says he has the boys with him and they will be going out at 6pm today, but Monday will be good to visit as it is a holiday and they will be there so we fix to go in the afternoon.

We have come to the Waitomo region for the caves. There are several show caves including the Glow-worm Caves and there are various more adventurous pursuits that one can do including abseiling 100m down into one system, and tubing (or Black Water Rafting) in another - for this you don wetsuits and a rubber ring and float through a cave system. The commercial activities are all quite expensive as usual but there are also a number of free attractions that we decide to explore this afternoon. These are located on the road from Waitomo to Te Anga. First we visit the Marokopa Falls. These are large and quite dramatic - after the success of Pete's long exposure picture in Catlins he tries another here. Then to the Piripiri caves. The Rough Guide says take a torch and some spare batteries and explore these alone, there is one cavern with giant fossilised oysters. On arrival at the cave entrance it was clear that this was not suitable for Glyn, but Pete ventured in. These caves can't really be done on a casual basis. You would have to wear wetsuits (or something that could get totally muddy) and a fairly powerful torch to see very much. Pete descended a short distance before deciding the risks didn't justify the rewards and returned to the surface a little muddy and disappointed. On the way back to the road, however, Glyn spotted a fossilised oyster (giant) on a rock in the middle of the path, so not a complete waste of time.

Finally on to Mangapohue Natural Bridge. This is much better, a boardwalk leads into a tight gorge and suddenly we found that the rock actually bridged above our heads. Very impressive. Although we didn't do it you could have climbed up and over the bridge too. A loop walk takes us back to the road past some rocks with more fossils.

On our way back to Te Kuiti we pass through Waitomo village and decide to call into the show cave to see if it is still open. We have just missed the last tour of the day at 5.30. A shame as it would probably have been the least busy time to visit. Never mind we had intended to come back in the morning on our way to Ruary's anyway. Back to Casara Mesa for tea - we still have it to ourselves.

See a forecast on the TV that gives a spore count and a corresponding Facial Eczema risk. Glyn is starting to get seriously worried.

Monday 27^th January 2003
After a leisurely breakfast we call in on Don and Anne to connect the computer and stop and talk for some time - looking at maps of Scotland and showing pictures on the laptop. Then on to Waitomo to visit the Glow Worm Caves. There are hordes of people including a row of tour buses and we nearly give it a miss, but eventually decide that would be silly having come here for this purpose. The tour costs $25 each (which is a lot) but we get a 10% discount for our YHA cards - which pays for our teas. Turns out the tour buses (mostly Japanese) go in separately to the rest of us. Apparently at the height of the season they had 11000 people in 5 days! Every 30 min is a tour - maximum 50 people. If there are more then they run another tour 5 minutes later and so on. Tours take about 45 minutes.

Despite the crowds we enjoy our visit. The caves are fairly simple with some stalactites and stalagmites, but the main attraction is the glowworms. We have the life cycle of the worms explained to us. They spend most of their lives in the fungal stage and can produce a light at the tip of their tail that they use to lure insects upon which they feed. The worms attach themselves underneath overhangs and produce stick thread or fishing lines that dangle below them - up to 30 lines per worm. The unsuspecting insects get caught on the line, which the worm reels in. Insect is consumed and a new line produced. Eventually they pupate and the adults do what adults do and get on with procreation. Unfortunately they have no mouthparts and cannot feed so it is a rather rushed affair and soon die. First we are shown one cavern where there is light so that we can see the "lines". Then we board a boat and are moved through a dark cavern where the ceiling is covered in little spots of light from thousands of worms. We have to keep quiet, as noise will cause the worms to turn off for safety reasons. It is quite awe-inspiring. Finally, the boat docks at a jetty where the underground stream meets the open air and we walk back to the visitor centre. Despite the hype this is a visit that is worth doing.

From here we drive on to Ruary's house. On our way we stop to eat our sandwiches and take some pictures of a bird that we have seen regularly along the road in North Island but not on South Island. It turns out to be a Myna.