Date : 17 Dec to 19 Dec 2010
No sure it was the right choice to go to Great Barrier Island (GBI) but was always in the back of my mind that we should do a trip there. The locals call it Barrier.
Gaik has been there a few years ago during her company’s Xmas outing. So it is only fair that the 3 of us should pay a visit to GBI too. So off we went.
After embracing new tech and have it embedded in our brain, or for that matter the two youngsters were born into the world of internet, not sure how the four of us would survive without internet and mobile phone for the next three days. Frightening thought!
I laid down the rule that we don’t take our laptops but mobile phone is alright. It turned out that mobile phone was almost useless too as the coverage area at GBI was less that 5%. 3 days could sound like 3 years or 3 hours there! Who knows ? Unknown is exciting, frightening as well as challenging too. Good for the brain and ‘young body’.
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| Auckland Domestic Airport |
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| Plane |
Early to bed and early to rise in order to catch the 7.45 am flight from Auckland domestic airport.
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| Our pilot and plane (Behind) |
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| Instrument Panel |
It was a 9 passenger seats twin engine Britten Norman Islander. A really small plane with two huge propellers generating high decibel of noise which rendered the use of ear muffler a must.
At 145 knots / hour, it took about 40 minutes to get from Auckland to GBI, which is located 90+ km NE of Auckland.
Taking off was very smooth. The plane was flying at low altitude and that gave us very good view of the landscape below. No turbulent, no waitering, just sitting tight and enjoyed the scenery.
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| GBI Coastline |
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| Waiheke Island |
When approaching Claris airport on GBI, I saw the plane was heading towards the grass area beside the tarmac runway. I thought, “Oh no we are going to miss the landing.”
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| View of tarmac runway |
No sweat. The landing on the grass strip was flawless. No sound, no bound, just very soft and gentle touchdown. High fives to the young pilot!
We booked our accommodation at Mt St Paul’s Lodge Medlands which is about 15 min drive from the airport.
Day 1
The weather was good, quite sunny and not much rain. We drove to Port Fitzroy, about 40 km from Medlands. The whole journey was mostly sealed road but quite winding. We started our walk from DOC (Dept of Conservation) office. The short walk on Warrens’ track took about an hour, crossing stream, climbing steps, negotiating narrow and steep tracks. It is supposed to be one of the easy walking tracks but for the city folks it is tough. There are orange markers on the track to guide you.
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| Warren's Track |
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| Track Marker |
After the walk cold refreshment is a must – ice cream and large cold bottled water from the local dairy. On the way back to our Lodge, we turned into Mabey Road and heading to Whangapoua Beach. Our lucky day, I guess, where we saw rare Brown Teals swimming on the beach. There were also NZ Dotterel and Oyster catchers there too. Triple bonuses indeed.
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| Brown Teal |
Day 2
The weather was not very kind at all. May be we should have a rest day ? It was raining overnight but fortunately it turned to drizzle in late morning.
So we decided pack and drive along Whangaparapara Road to Whangaparapara Harbour and have lunch at Great Barrier Lodge. The Whaling Station was situated on the other side of the harbour and across GB Lodge.
After lunch we did short walk on Tramline track to Kauri Fall. There was a cow right at the gate entrance of tRamline track. Am I safe with my red jumper ? Lucky the cow just grazing or resting. All in all we crossed 7 wooden bridges to get to the Fall.
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| Kauri Fall |
After the Kauri Fall, we proceeded to Kaitoke Hot Spring Track, which is a short drive from the Tramline entrance. Due to heavy rainfall overnight, the water in the Hot Spring was not hot at all, only warm at certain spots. Quite disappointed but did enjoy the walk.
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| Searching For Hot Spring |
Day 3
The weather in the early hour at 6 was fine but started raining around 9am. Another off day for us? May be.
The host informed us during breakfast that most likely we have to take the Sealink ferry back to Auckland as no flight came in in the last two days due to bad weather. Not looking forward to the ferry trip though. Option was to stay another night but have to get back to work the next day. So just have to keep the fingers cross.
No chance of doing the Mt Hobson and Windy Canyon tracks, we drove to Port Tryphena, about 10km from Medlands. We drove along the coastal area and there were plenty of gannets diving for fish, pied shags and herons along the seaside.
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| Tryphena Whalf |
We have lunch at Wild café; met some very friendly locals who apologised to us about the unpleasant weather. It makes your day! You don’t encounter this in any city at all, or for that matter anywhere else! It makes you feel welcome.
We popped into the shops beside Wild Cafe and guess what ? The most expensive pair of kid’s sandal I have came across at NZ$30+. As there is no factory on GBI and all things have to be transported from the mainland, things are very expensive. Chip or fish is at $5 a pack, petrol is $2.60 per litre when it is only $1.80 in Auckland, and getting there is not cheap either. However crayfish are plenty, fresh and taste excellent.
At 2pm we drove back to Mt St Paul’s lodge. The host told us we need to head back to Tryphena to catch the Sealink ferry back to Auckland.
Not looking forward to the ferry trip as the weather was not ideal and sea was quite rough. A bit of seasick the whole way but tried to reduce the symptom by sleeping. JiWin has no problem at all but the rest of us, in some way or another, thrown out, have upset tummy, frequent bulging, dizziness etc.
However we managed to keep alive during the most difficult part of the journey; Headed back home with heavy head and light feet and still in rocking motion even after getting home. What an experience but definitely not looking forward too. Still feeling the symptom the following day - heavy head and light feet feeling.
Mt St Paul’s Lodge
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| Mt St Paul's Lodge |
The accommodation was excellent, 4 out of 5, although there was no room service or bar fridge in the room. The room is clean, spacious and ours has two balconies with good view. It is located on Kaitoke Beach, next to Medlands Beach.
I guess the best part is always the last to come: Meals.
We have very excellent 4 course dinner for 2 nights and 2 breakfast. Just look at the dinner menu makes you want to extend your stay there. All credit should go to Trish for her expert like cooking and presentation. You are satisfied and when your tummy is satisfied!
Dinner Day 1
APPETIZER : Fish cake with dip
ENTRÉE : pumpkin/kumara creamy soup with scallop and crayfish.
Main Course
Roasted Hapuka with vegies
Dessert : Little Pots of Chocolate with Cointreau.
Day 2 Dinner
APPETIZER : Fish cake with dip
ENTRÉE : mushroom soup with seaweed.
Main Course : Crayfish in sweet chilli sauce.
Dessert : Coconut pudding with berry sauce.
Note" Crayfish was caught the day before by the host.
A trip to GBI was like back to the past 50 years ago, to do nothing modern except putting on your pair of tramping shoes and burning off few kilos of body fat. Weather was not ideal but we managed to mark our foot prints on the Island. During the same weekend, Auckland was hit by very heavy rain and storm. So we could consider ourselves very lucky indeed.
A lot of Firsts during the trip: first time on a small plane, first time without internet and mobile phone for three days, first time on ferry for almost 5 hours and first time to a place where electricity was generated from wind turbine, solar panel or diesel engine.
Other than pounding your feet on the bush and track we managed to stay sane by reading, solving soduku and enjoying the unspoiled view of nature.
Another 2 unique features of GBI: the smallest library (in the World ?) and very colourful bus stop even though there is no bus service on the Island. The bus stop is use by the school bus.
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| Library |
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| Bus Stop |
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| Beauty |
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| Very Colourful |
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