Child of the Planet

We rocked up to the beach around eight in the morning. After signing in, we were assigned a section of coastline. Some had it easy Our C.I.C was a pocket rocket pirate, and she soon had us organised into squads. Wielding spades (kindly provided by local hardware megastore ) we leaped into a abbreviated castle erecting boot camp to hone our skills. A horn blared and we were off! After a quick reconnoiter, we discovered that our patch of the beach was less sand and more tiny round stones. This patch of gravel looked like the best place to survive the incoming tide, so we mapped out our plan of attack in the sand.We ended up doing twice as much digging to get our mounds up over the height requirement. A small sand castle was jiggled out of it's mold to sit on the apex. As the morning warmed up a wind started to whip the sand about. I reckon the weight of the small stones provided a better foundation against the erosive effects of the breeze. KPMG adjudicators spent the hou...

It seems, that every hill I hike up in Wellington has a radio antenna bolted to it's peak. We started out as a small group assembled at the cable car station at the top of Wellington's pretty botanical gardens. Our posse walked down the hill through the gardens to pick up a second group of trekkers at the Sprig & Fern Tavern  (attached to a boutique brewery in Nelson) and we all headed up the hill to catch the sunset. It was an easy walk and there were some great views up there. We played a bit of Hacky-sac and finishied off the evening at the Sprig and Fern. I had a pint of house cider which was nice (still trying to find a dark strong Scrumpy somewhere on these islands). I also sampled the berry cider which wasn't too sweet but surprisingly refreshing. This was a hike organised by  Adventure Wellington Meetup Group Below is a map of our hike including points of interest that you can click on... View Sunset Wa...

Digging up shell fish at low tide So what is there to do in Castlepoint? Ride down a hundred meter high sand bank. We saw people utilising sheets of PVC, flattened cardboard boxes, and a couple of kids from the caravan park were sliding down the forty five degree slope on skate board decks with the trucks removed. There were people attempting to surf in both the large and small bays. As I was watching the surfers, a jet ski was lowered into the water and began towing surfers into the rolling sets. Sliding down sand bank Digging pippies out of the beach when the tide has retreated is popular. We were told to leave them overnight in a pot of fresh water to force them to spit out sandy residues. Well maintained tracks encourage short hiking trips. Fishing from the beach, the lighthouse rock, or from one of the many boats that head out into the bay and pacific ocean beyond. Hike up to the lighthouse castlepoint-saterday castlepoint-sunday castlepoint...

There is a story associated with this spar of rock... About 1525 AD a young woman Te Aohuruhuru lived together with an old man who had forcefully abducted her from her husband Takaroupoko. After she had lived with the old man for a long time he turned to insulting her. One warm night her garments had slipped off while she was sleeping. He woke up his elderly friends to show the beauty of his young wife to them. While they were looking at her she awoke. Filled with shame she decided to end her life. She climbed on a certain precipitous rock where her husband and his friends could see and hear her from sea where they were fishing. She sang a song: “While I lay exposed in my sleep The fire was kindled to burn brightly and I was a laughing stock" When her song was ended she leaped from the rock to destroy herself. And to this very day we still remember the name of this rock, Te Rerenga 0 Te Aohuruhuru. Now I get that her intent was to shame the old man, but when he sa...

Sunrise The wind got pretty intense Saturday night so no one sleeping up stairs got much sleep. The frame of the beach house shook violently in the wind The constant wind blowing reminded me of sleeping on a boat out at sea. We discovered the source of the fishy smell. A centimetre of old fat was lurking in the counter top toaster oven. Each batch facing the beach seemed to have it's own seagull standing guard Turns out that a local legend speaks of a giant octopus living under the cliffs. The puffs of mist is it's breath. Parked fishing boats While hiking up to the lighthouse, I saw a young seal travelling down the coast. Poking it's head up above the waves regularly to look at the scattered anglers. Maybe the seal was the shadow we saw in the surf on Saturday? The bad weather hit as we were cleaning up to leave bands of grey cloud rose up behind the lighthouse the water turned a milky green colour. The sun re-emerged just as we were pu...

View of lighthouse rock from caravan park Castle point is a holiday village 164 km, 3 hours out of Wellington if your travelling on State Highway 2 We spent the weekend there in a hired batch (batch is Kiwi for beach house.) We drove up on Friday night, picked up the key which was sitting in a letterbox, and found our selves in an airy, two story house which pretty much sat in the middle of the surf rolling up on the beach. ground floor smelt a bit fishy so we opened up some windows, unpacked the car, found our beds, We dumped a Bakels http://www.nzbakels.co.nz/ multi grain bread mix in the machine and programmed it to start up in the morning. Better surfing to be had in sheltered bay Morning dawned bright and clear on a series of fishing boats leaving the bay at irregular intervals. There must be a cave under the lighthouse perched on a spar of rock guarding the bay. I noticed a regularly exhaled mist floating in the morning light. Best air freshener ev...

Our group sets out on the valley floor walking a decently maintained path stringing together several well constructed bridges. The track gradually cut's up into the sides of the hills and gains a bit of height, eventually becoming bit of a goat track in part which added an adventure where the track cut through the cliffs at some decent heights. Our goal is an ancient dam up in the hills. This prompted a discussion on how some many people are wrapped in cotton wool folk are these days. 'OHS this' and 'idiot proof that'. Despite it being a sunny day when we did the hike, some parts are so shaded by trees that I had to take my sunglasses off.  This was a hike organised by  Adventure Wellington Meetup Group Below is a map of our hike including points of interest that you can click on... View Hiking Belmont Park in a larger map

I noticed the Air NZ is doing a great little deal that takes out some of the pain caused by not being able to land some of the larger planes at Wellington Airport. There are many more options to enter NZ through Auckland and Christchurch, and this makes connecting to Wellington more affordable. Air New Zealand is launching a new daily Night Rider service with every seat on the aircraft available at a fare of NZ$29, for the last flight of the day between Auckland and Wellington. Flights will depart from both Auckland and Wellington at 10pm every night Sunday-Friday. On Saturdays Night Rider will depart Auckland for Wellington at 9pm, with the return leg departing Wellington at 10:30pm. NZ$29 ‘Seat’ fares are available on every seat on the 133 seat Boeing 737 aircraft, or ‘Seat+Bag’ for NZ$39 one way. The first Night Rider services will depart on Monday, 5 November 2012. www.asiatraveltips.com/news12/2210-NightRider This deal would have been really hand back when I...

This hiking path runs an almost straight line across both Mt Victoria and Mt Albert, ending up in the wind swept Southern beaches. It's a nice walk when surrounded by the forests, but it's spoilt a bit by having to cross busy roads with little pedestrian friendly facilities. Our leader liked to follow his nose and we Detoured through a school fete and discovered a home grown Mead brewer. Once you make it to the Esplanade, there is a bus that will take you back into town and terminates at the train station.  This was a hike organised by  Adventure Wellington Meetup Group Below is a map of our hike including points of interest that you can click on...