Landing 27 hours after leaving the UK, never having a day dating the 21st of March (due to the time difference), I finally had reached the land of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Basing myself in Auckland for the first month, I got to travel around the Coromandel, experiencing the wonders of the thermal activity in the area, with the hot pool resorts to the more natural hot water beach. I got to know what a hamster feels like in a giant running wheel and almost killed myself kayaking in the sea.
Auckland is an interesting city as it is so spread out, you can't really appreciate it without some sort of transport.
After getting bored of Auckland I joined the Kiwi Experience bus, w
hich will be my ride around New Zealand for the next couple of months. We heading up to Paihia, in the Bay of islands for a couple of days. While up there I joined the Awesome bus to travel to the very tip of the north island, Cape Reinga, before getting there we had to drive down 90 Mile Beach, almost hit a seagull and got to do some boggy boarding down some of the biggest sand dunes i have ever seen. Cape Reinga is where the Maori's believe there souls depart the world of the living to the underworld before there long journey back to there ancestral land. It was very moving up there, you could feel the energy running through the place.
hich will be my ride around New Zealand for the next couple of months. We heading up to Paihia, in the Bay of islands for a couple of days. While up there I joined the Awesome bus to travel to the very tip of the north island, Cape Reinga, before getting there we had to drive down 90 Mile Beach, almost hit a seagull and got to do some boggy boarding down some of the biggest sand dunes i have ever seen. Cape Reinga is where the Maori's believe there souls depart the world of the living to the underworld before there long journey back to there ancestral land. It was very moving up there, you could feel the energy running through the place. 
We headed back to Auckland for the night before starting to head south. Mercury Bay was our next stop, and after a whole day of rain and missing most of the planned walks we spent the evening in the lost world spa resort, it was very swanky, they even had hair straighteners in the changing rooms. The next day we went to Cathedral Cove, a 45 mins walk down the side of a cliff to a beach of pure white sand and a magnificent archway which connects two beaches together. From there we headed to Rotorua stopping of in Matamata or to Lord of the Ring fans Hobbiton and got some geeky photo of the hobbiton sign. Rotorua is a strange place as it smells really bad due to the sulphur dioxide from the geothermal activity in the area which also causes steam to rise from the ground in the parks and from man wholes. In the evening we went to a Maori cultural show at Tamaki Maori Village. we had to chose chefs from our buses to be confronted by the Maori warriors and except a peace offering before being allowed into there village. Once we were shown around the village they put on a show for us, traditional Maori singing and dancing, as well as Maori tales and legends. We then sat down for a big meal, and I have to say i have never had such good stuffing before in my life (sorry mum). The driver who took us to the village translated Kia Ora into 57 languages then made us all sing our national anthems, he was very funny.
Waitomo was our next stop, its in the middle of no-where and is only good for the caving which you can do there. I did get to see my first squashed possum on the road which
was pretty nasty, the locals enjoy hitting them as they are a pest to NZ, brought over by the Aussies, and is a very sore subject to the kiwis. I decided to do the Black Abyss Blackwater Rafting, 5 hours of caving. It was loads of fun, I had to abseil 34 meters into the cave, then do a zip line in the dark to get to the river at the bottom of the cave. we then floated down the river looking at all the glow worms. we then had to navigate our way though the cave, climbing up two waterfalls to get back into the open air.
was pretty nasty, the locals enjoy hitting them as they are a pest to NZ, brought over by the Aussies, and is a very sore subject to the kiwis. I decided to do the Black Abyss Blackwater Rafting, 5 hours of caving. It was loads of fun, I had to abseil 34 meters into the cave, then do a zip line in the dark to get to the river at the bottom of the cave. we then floated down the river looking at all the glow worms. we then had to navigate our way though the cave, climbing up two waterfalls to get back into the open air. Headed to Raglan the next day with the east as bus tour, Raglan is an up and coming surf town 
famous for its left hand break. we stayed in this awesome backpackers in the middle of the bush run by this cool hippy bloke called charlie. I went for a walk in the bush and almost got lost, my friend did that same thing the next day and almost missed the bus to taupo lol. I think Raglan would be amazing to come to in the peak of the summer season.
famous for its left hand break. we stayed in this awesome backpackers in the middle of the bush run by this cool hippy bloke called charlie. I went for a walk in the bush and almost got lost, my friend did that same thing the next day and almost missed the bus to taupo lol. I think Raglan would be amazing to come to in the peak of the summer season. Taupo is a town on the shore of taupo lake, which is a crater of a giant volcano, the surrounding area is the Tongariro National Park. Taupo is 
my favourite place on the north island, there is so much to see and do here, its only a small town but the country side is amazing. I stayed here 5 nights as I wanted to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which had been canceled due to bad weather. The crossing is over Tongariro mountain which lies between mt Ruapehu and mt Ngauruhoe (aka mount Doom in Lord of the Rings). The hike wasn't to difficult, the first part was the hardest as you had to climb the Devils Staircase, stairs which lead you up the side of the mountain, which takes about an hour to climb. Saw some beautiful sulphur lakes at the top and some amazing views on the way down, it took us 5 and a half hours to get to the end, which they say it should take 7, so we did good.
my favourite place on the north island, there is so much to see and do here, its only a small town but the country side is amazing. I stayed here 5 nights as I wanted to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which had been canceled due to bad weather. The crossing is over Tongariro mountain which lies between mt Ruapehu and mt Ngauruhoe (aka mount Doom in Lord of the Rings). The hike wasn't to difficult, the first part was the hardest as you had to climb the Devils Staircase, stairs which lead you up the side of the mountain, which takes about an hour to climb. Saw some beautiful sulphur lakes at the top and some amazing views on the way down, it took us 5 and a half hours to get to the end, which they say it should take 7, so we did good. On to Wellington and the Te Papa museum first stopping in Rivervally for the night to share a room with 25 people. I didn't like wellington as much as Auckland so only spent 2 nights here before heading to the south island on the ferry. The best thing about Wellington was the museum 
as it had lots of interactive areas to mess about in, we created our own digital fish monsters of ourselves and got to dress up as Maori's.
as it had lots of interactive areas to mess about in, we created our own digital fish monsters of ourselves and got to dress up as Maori's. I Spent a couple of days in Picton, exploring the walks around the area, the Queen Charlotte track would be beautiful to explore as I only got to do some trampling around the Picton area bu that alone was amazing Finally headed over to Bleinham to see Sam and Ian, for a bit of drunken fun and a good catch up. It was nice seeing people from back home as missing everyone so much.
1 comment:
Hi Debs very interesting trip must giv the place a look one day. Can you send some of those better photos to me.
Post a Comment