New Zealand North Island

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I arrived in New Zealand pretty excited to see the country as I had a lot of good things from people I had met travelling about the amazing scenery and cool things you are able to do. I checked myself into the Nomads hostel in central Auckland not realising this would soon become my home for some time. I had two goals for Auckland book my bus ticket to see New Zealand and get checked out this distortion I had had in my right eye for a few months. The bus ticket was not a problem as I found a great deal on a company called Kiwi Experience which a lot of my friends had raved about.

My eye was another matter as I had to see a doctor who charged me $100 just to tell me to go to an optician. The optician was much more helpful as although could not find anything wrong got me an appointment the next day to see a specialist. So after numerous eye scans and tests the eye surgeon Dr Hadden explained to me that I had a detached retina in my right eye and that my left was also starting to go. I was obviously a bit taken back by this especially when he told me I needed surgery asap so booked me in for Thursday. Luckily for me my mum flew out to be with me as after the op I would have patches over my eye for the first day and then be basically blind for the next week so it saved me being alone and from spending a week in very expensive private hospital. The recovery time would be about 5 weeks in Auckland but considering my lack of vision it was not as if it would be worth going anywhere anyway! The first week was pretty frustrating as my vision was basically no more than half a foot in front of me so was not able to do too much. Some family friends in Auckland were very kind to put us up for the week which made everything a lot easier. Once the week was up I moved back into the hostel and after a couple of days when it was clear that I could cope my mum headed home.

The next 3 weeks were pretty boring as firstly Auckland does not have a lot to offer as a city and despite that my lack of vision (which although improving never went beyond 1 or 2 metres) meant that I could not really do much other than read my book or go onto the computer. Fortunately after 3 weeks I was able to get new glasses and after coming off the anti-biotics was able to drink again so headed out for a few drinks with some people I had met in my room and I won’t lie after a month off the sauce I got pretty drunk but was good fun. The next day 2 Brazilian guys who were in my room invited me to go on a road trip with them to Taupo we headed out the next day and were lucky that some family friends of ours had a cabin by the lake there and said we could use it. We did not do much in the town as it was pretty quite as we were in the off season but it had been nice to get out of Auckland.

On my return I said my goodbyes to my Brazilian friends with promises to meet them when I got to Rio. On the Monday with my new found vision I decided to actually go out and see the city I had spent a month in. I did a walking tour from my hostel which showed us the old parts of the city, the university, parks and finally the museum which I thought was pretty good one of the best I have seen on my travels. I met a couple of people through the tour a girl named Cassie from England and a guy named Antonio from Scotland. We all met up for some beers in the evening with another guy named Emryhs from Newcastle. We spent the rest of the week hanging out in the city and drinking far too much in the evenings.

By the weekend the two other guys and I decided to rent a campervan and see the Northlands. Our vehicle was a big and orange and could not have been more ostentatious if it tried. I was driving my first time on the roads for almost 7 months and from the looks on my companions faces as we drove along I was a little rusty! The northlands is a pretty place but it is mostly beaches and therefore a summer place as a result everywhere we went seemed to be dead with no one else around. Our first stop was in a town called Piha which had a huge beach and some pretty impressive waves defintely surfers country. We headed up to the surfers club in the evening for a beer but were made to feel pretty unwelcome don’t think they like tourists in winter! The next day we drove up the coast with no real plan of idea what we were doing so decided to head to this place to go sand boarding but half way through the day realised there was no way we could get there and back by Monday to drop the car off so just pulled over at the first campsite and settled in for the night. We drove to Whangerei the next day where we went for a short walk to see a local waterfall. Beyond that the town did not have that much to offer.In the evening we went down to the town to try and find a busy bar but the town seemed pretty dead we found a quick game of bowling and after this we decided to call what had been a disappointing trip to an end. Antonio and I loaded up the car with booze and Emryhs drove us back to Auckland in time to head out.

Emryhs was also doing the Kiwi experience so we decided to head out on the Friday bus. We met a girl named Zoe the night before who was also going so the next day the three of us waited to see who else we would be spending the next few weeks with. Our bus had about 25 people on it and our drivers name was Dallas a local guy who was pretty funny and very knowledgeable as he had been doing the job for 12 years. Our first stop for the night was at Mercury Bay which is on the Coromandel an area famous for its surfing and beaches. There was not much for us to there but it seems the main idea of the first stop is just to get to know everyone as the hostel puts on a dinner and a pool competition and we all just socialised.

The next day we headed to Rotorua along the way we stopped to do a walk along an old mine track which took us into the hills through tunnels and along a surging river. It was a nice feature of the bus that every day we would stop somewhere to see something or go on a walk to see the ample scenery of NZ. Rotorua is famous for its healing hot springs and spas as it is an area (like much of NZ) of volcanic activity. Rather than go to the Spa we decided to be more active and go luging which is where you sit in a go kart like vehicle but with no engine as all the track is downhill and its completely up to you how fast you go. We got three go´s and each time I was racing against Emryhs and a Danish girl named Katrine who both turned out to be far crazier than me because as fast as I was willing to go which seemed pretty fast to me especially as most corners I was on two wheels they were going faster. It was great fun despite a big crash by some other guys on our bus most walked away with just a few cuts and bruises.

In the evening we headed to a traditional Maori village to learn more about Maori culture and way of life. Each bus going had to choose a chief so we chose an English guy named Jason. He and the other chiefs had to then stand at the entrance whilst the chief of the village would do a fighting dance to show his prowess and scare the other chiefs. We were warned not to laugh as a Dutch guy who had been chief in a previous group had been unable to stop laughing something the Maori´s found very insulting and as a result he had ended up with a bloody nose. Once our peaceful intentions had been established we headed into the village where different areas would explain about storytelling, weapons and their making and the womens role in the village. After this we were treated to a show of the Haka the Maori war dance. After this we headed to dinner where we were given lamb, pork, fish, mussels and root vegetables - delicious! On returning to our hostel we hit the bar where we watched the All blacks beat the Aussies which helped give the bar a good mood and set to the drinking from my experience the best way for a group of people to bond! It was Saturday night and therefore pretty busy we had fun but all the guys agreed we were intimidated by the Maori women who seem as rough and tough as the men!

Our next stop was Waitomo which is famous for its black water rafting where you can go rafting, swimming and abseiling inside a large series of caves which has a river running through it and is lit by thousands of glow worms. Sounded great but alas the water level was too high so we could not go I was pretty disappointed as it was one of the main things I wanted to do in NZ. However an impromptu game of touch rugby helped to raise the spirit where 7 of us created a game on the pretty muddy football pitch it was a lot of fun with some serious stretching of the rules and despite it being touch we all left covered in mud.

From Waitomo we went to Taupo along the way we stopped at a unique farm which raised large German rabbits and sheared them for their wool. It was a little strange seeing this huge rabbit stretched out on a rack and then sheared although it did not seem to mind and the lady explained that if they did not do it the rabbit would die of overheating. They used the fur to make all kinds of garments and I bought a pink beanie for my niece. We arrived in Taupo in the early afternoon and so a few of us set of to go jet boating which is where you are driven at great speed in a modified speed boat narrowly missing objects in the river and the edges as the driver slides the boat through gaps and corners. The best feature is that once the boat has reached enough speed the driver can press a special button which cuts the engines and causes the boat to do a 180 spin. It was pretty exhilarating and to say the least we all got a little wet!

We had hoped to do a one day walk called the Tongariro crossing which is in the national park of the same name. The trek takes you through amazing mountainous terrain to the bottom of Mount Ngauruhoe which is also Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies. However the weather intervened again as we were told with the high winds during winter you are lucky if they do the trek one day a week. Instead we rounded up a group of people to go paintballing - after we had split up the teams and geared up we headed to the site which was basically one slight hill with two bases at each end. The aim of the game was to capture the opposing teams flag and return it to your base. We played 3 games with naturally the guys going a bit more gung ho than the girls but I felt my team defintely had the upper hand probably helped by the fact we had a marine on our team in Emryhs. It took until game three for us to capture the flag which I was able to do and then sprint back to our base! It was a good laugh despite complaints of bruised bums from excessive shooting! We returned to town at one so with lots of the day left Zoe, a Swedish guy named Patrick and I set off to hike to the top of Mt Wellington which towers over the town. It turned out to be a pretty tough climb taking about 3 hours to reach the top. We had been lucky to enjoy great views on the way up but unfortunately just 5 minutes before we reached the summit the clouds descended. We headed down and then went to a natural hot spring which is pretty basic sitting under a bridge but is also free so can’t complain. It was pretty nice to rest our sore legs after the climb in the spring and then dive into the freezing water on the other side of the bridge.

The next day with yet another hangover to enjoy we set off for River Valley which is a unique stop for the Kiwi Experience. The bus cannot get down to the bottom so we walked down a very steep hill to our beds for the night. The accommodation was pretty incredible an old fashioned lodge right by the river with amazing scenery all around it. There was not much to do at the place as the river was too rough for rafting so we decided on another game of touch this time with greater numbers causing an even crazier/frantic game than the last one. In the evening we were treated to an awesome roast something I had been craving and not had since I left. I was sad to leave the place as it was pretty special and I definitely felt I could have spent a few more days there but I did not want to leave the friends I had made on the bus.

From River Valley our next stop was Wellington New Zealand’s capital. We all agreed it was a very nice city def a step from Auckland. We visited the Te Papa museum which is the national museum of New Zealand. We had heard great things about it and it was enormous filled with various sections on the different sides of New Zealand from its volcanic landscape, Maori culture and wildlife. One of its main attractions is a giant squid measuring 10 metres and weighing half a ton which was caught in 2006 and preserved and given to the museum in March 2007. It is the only one of its kind on display anywhere in the world. Despite the fact that we had to be up at 7am the next day to get the ferry across the notoriously rough stretch of water between the north and south islands it did not stop us from hitting the town hard that night and enjoying the great nightlife that Wellington has to offer. From what I have heard from people being hangover and feeling sick on the boat over is all part of the Kiwi Experience but that is for the next blog!

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