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Published: February 17th 2007
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Kia Ora from beautiful, sunny, friendly New Zealand 😊
Well, I suppose I should start with how I nearly missed my shuttle bus to the airport in Melbourne on my way to New Zealand! Everything was planned, my cab was booked for 5am to take me to the bus station to catch the shuttle which would get me to the airport just after check in opens. Didn't get to bed til about midnight and before I knew it, it was 4.20am and my alarm was going off. The next thing I know its 4.58 and I'm suddenly v.v.v.v awake!!I threw my clothes on before running down to the taxi and asking if he could wait for 10 mins. Then I threw the remaining few things in my bag, brushed my teeth and legged it down to the taxi. Phew, I arrived at the shuttle with a couple of minutes to spare and then sat down and tried to figure out how I'd managed to be ready in so little time - maybe I should try this trick for every flight, its v.efficient!!!
Suddenly, after weeks of waiting for this trip it was happening and I was going to see
Gill for the first time in 9 months. There was an excited reunion in the arrivals hall and then we got a shuttle bus out to Albany to pick up our campervan. From here we just drove to Orewa and had a lazy afternoon evening in preparation for our adventure.
The next morning we were both awake early and got on the road headed for Russell in the Bay of Islands. Unfortunately, Gill being v.considerate thought we should turn the radio down in the campsite because it was early but we soon found out this was a big mistake because we couldn't turn it up again (they fitted a new one a couple of days later so we had music for most of the time)!
Cape Reinga was the next destination, this is the most northerly point in NZ and is also where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. The route up to the point saw us travelling for 20km down a gravel road which was quite a slow process and with quite a long drop to our left! It was well worth it because the view was stunning and you could actually see where the
2 bodies of water were colliding.
On the way to Cape Reinga we made a slight detour to check out some public toilets - you're probably wondering why on earth I'm including this in a blog but they weren't any old toilets - they were designed and built in 1997 by an Austrian architect called Hundertwasser and are covered in tiles, bottles and metalwork - they are certainly the most interesting public conveniences I've seen, def. worthy of 5 stars!
From here we travelled back down and headed for the Kauri forests. At this point the weather began to deteriorate and by the time we had reached the forests it was pouring with rain but we waited for the worst of it to pass and then dashed there in our macs. At Waipoua forest we saw Tane Mahata (maori for "god of the forest"), a huge Kauri tree where the trunk measured 6m in diameter. Then we saw "The four sisters" which are nowhere near as big or wide but are growing on the same patch of ground in a square shape.
Bessie (the name we gave our campervan) then set off for the Coromandel Peninsula on
Coromandel Peninsula
The view from the lookout at the top of the track at the Driving Creek Railway. the east coast. This whole area is very scenic and the road takes you right around the coastline. My favourite place here had to be Hot Water Beach - a beach which has thermal springs running under parts of it which, at low tide, allows you to dig yourself your own spa pool to relax in. Our first attempt was unsuccessful and left us with tepid water which was only really suitable for dipping feet so we tried again and found another area where the water was the perfect temperature - it was like getting into a hot bath, something I haven't done for ages (don't worry, I have been washing myself!It's just that you don't find many baths on this side of the world - esp in backpackers hostels!!). So after lying in our blissful pool for over an hour and getting suitably wrinkly we decided to go for a "refreshing" swim in the sea - it was freezing and reminded me of swimming in cornish waters as a kid.
Rotorua was the next major town on our tour and one of my fave places in the north island. Yes, it is a little smelly (think rotten eggs)
due to the sulphur fumes but there is also lots of amazing geothermal things to see and do. We saw huge geysers spewing steam metres up into the air, pools of bubbling mud producing what we affectionately soon began calling plopplies(!), smoking (well, if we are being correct, steaming) fumaroles dotted around the moon like landscape, multicoloured rocks which had been altered by the varying minerals around them (some with pretty crystal structures growing in nooks and crannies, mud volcanoes... All in all, very different from anything i'd come across before and in its own way, very beautiful. The mud that occurs in the area is meant to be great for your skin and knocks a few years off so I may look like a teenager again on my return but I'm not convinced. We also got to try our hand at wood carving at one of the places but quickly realised the maori guys who do all the intricate work make it look a lot easier than it actually is.
On our first evening in Rotorua we also went to a Maori evening including a concert and Hangi meal. Hangi is the traditional local maori way of cooking
Maoris arriving at the concert
They certainly know how to make an entrance! food under the ground using the steam that is naturally produced. The concert was great and we learn't a bit about Maori cultures and traditions as well as a bit of the lingo. The meal followed this and you'd be amazed what can be cooked in a hole in the ground. The highlight of our evening though was an after dinner forest walk where we got our first glimpse of glow worms, a real silver fern and a variety of other plants that are important to the Maoris.
(This is just a bit of an overview because I'm pressed for time (and have taken note that some of previous entries have been rather long) but I'm sure I'll bore you all senseless with further stories on my return!)
To be continued...
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Me again!
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Never bored senseless.
I love NZ!!!!!!!! And I miss it and I love your pics.x x