Author: richwest3

January 18, 2013

“What do you do all day?”  Take today.  We woke up thinking we’d just kind of take it easy and not worry about doing much.  We thought we’d take the car ferry over to Russel as we wanted to sample the fish and chips again as we are on a quest to determine which is our favorite.  We told a local friend this and he told us about three other fish and chips places we needed to try, as well as a great drive, great walk and waterfall stop on the way to one of them.  Off we went.

We ended up trying the fish and chips at Shippey’s.  This is an old ship that was built in 1890 to carry sugar to Auckland (link) and now sits up on stilts and serves as a restaurant.  The fish and chips were incredible.  This might be the new front-runner, but we’ll need to try all the others again to compare.

We took the scenic drive to see if we could find the other recommended restaurant.  Wow, pretty!

At the end of the drive was Haruru Falls.  Not a huge waterfall but pretty.

From the falls, there’s a beautiful walk (about an hour and a half, we understand) that heads back near where we started.  It goes along the river.  We walked just a little ways to see what it looked like.  Maybe tomorrow we’ll do the entire walk.

January 2013

Russell is the nearby “island” community about 10 minutes away by ferry (Russell, the “Island” Town).  While Russell is actually on a peninsula, it feels like it’s on an island because of its isolation.  It’s only 10 minutes away by ferry, but it’s about a 3-hour ride if you want to drive on paved road.

There is another option: unpaved road.  It’s not easy to find the turnoff from the highway (a map helps here), but once you do you’ll have a beautiful drive along fields, trees, and hills, and the road is actually paved for quite awhile.

As the road heads up into the hills, you’ll find yourself surrounded by beautiful tree fern forest.  It’s here that the road becomes a gravel road, but it’s not difficult to drive (although it can get dusty).  The sign states the gravel section is 7km long (about 5 miles), but it seemed longer than that to us.  Still, it was worthwhile because the scenery was impressive!

As you get closer to Russell, the road becomes paved again.  The entire drive takes an hour or so to the Russell area; then it’s easy to catch the car ferry back to Opua.  I would not call this a must-do, but it’s definitely worthwhile if you’re staying in Opua. –Cyndi

December – March, 2013

The frequent clouds made for some dramatically-lit full moon nights over Opua. -Cyndi

December – March, 2013

We didn’t leave the beautiful sunsets behind when we left the tropics. We enjoyed a few in Opua that were just as impressive as any we’d seen in Bora Bora or Tonga. –Cyndi

December – March, 2013

One of the nice things about arriving in New Zealand in December is that it’s the start of summer and flowers are everywhere.  Some of the best flowers grow alongside the road.

One of our favorites was a white wildflower that covered wide expanses of grassy fields through mid-February.  Around the time the white flowers start to fade, patches of these beautiful orange flowers would begin to appear.  And one of my favorites from California, Lily of the Nile, grow alongside the road like weeds in January and February.  Here, a gallery of flower pictures. –Cyndi (Click any picture for a larger image.)