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Our time in the north island began in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It wasn't a city which grabbed out attention but we used it as an opportunity to plan Fiji - our next stop after here. Heading from Wellington to Tongariro National Park we went via Palmerston North to seek out the local information centre so we could plan our next couple of days.
Tongariro National Park is an area made up of three active volcanoes, one of which is named Mount Ngauruhoe and is famous for featuring in The Lord Of The Rings movie as Mount Doom. The plan was to do the Tongariro Crossing, a 7 - 9 hour walk which takes you over this volcanic region. It is meant to be one of the most spectacular walks New Zealand has to offer, however, unfortunately on both of the days that we were in the national park, the weather was too severe to do the crossing. We did manage to get outdoors for two short periods on both days. Our first walk took us to Taranaki Falls and the second one the next day was a three hour walk through the volcanic valley - the
Lake Taupo
On our bikesend section of the Tongariro Crossing. We therefore didn't leave the park region too disapointed as we had seen some of the area. During the time we had spent in tongariro, we were the coldest we had been in New Zealand. As temperatures dropped to near freezing, with snow being forcasted our second night, we escaped the cold of the campervan by heading to the one and only pub to join the locals.
We weren't sad to be leaving the cold weather behind the next morning as we headed further north to Lake Taupo - centre of the north island and the biggest lake in New Zealand. After stopping for lunch overlooking the lake we headed straight to showers. We thought after 4days and 5nights of not showering, it was a must!! haha, amazing how your standards drop when living in a campervan! To our suprise as we headed for showers, we bumped into three familiar faces from the south island - Paul, Ben and Luke - was good to see them again! The rest of the afternoon was given over to booking some bikes for the next day and finding a camping spot for the evening.
We
Lake Taupo
Kimberley in the bramble bush! were up early to pick up our bikes we had hired so we could tour Taupo. We headed to the Huka Falls and quickly found out that what we thought was going to be a leisurely bike ride was actually more of a mountain bike track. We spent as much time pushing our bikes up the hills as we did on them! Our biking experience will be remembered by Kim and Sarahs "you've been framed" bike moments. Kim managed to fall over the top into a bramble bush while riding down hill while Sarah took a tumble off her bike after hitting a stone - both left a bit battered and bruised but all taken in good humour.
After a strenuous day on our bikes we rewarded ourselves with a trip to a thermal stream, where we soaked our aching limbs.
Making our way out of Taupo the next morning we stopped off at the "craters of the Moon". This was a geothermal area where you can see a number of bubbling mud pools, steam vents and guisers. A 45min circular walk enabled us to fully explore the area before we drove onto Rotorua, arriing mid-afternoon.
As standard, our
first stop on arrival was the information centre where we booked ourselves onto a Maori cultural evening and some whitewater rafting. It was here that we were appraoached by a group of 4 guys (3 American and 1 English) who were also touring NZ in wicked campervans. After chatting for a while we arranged to catch up later after our Maori evening.
Visiting the Maori village was definitly worth it!! We were taken 15mins out of Rotorua to the Tonaki Village. The eveing was filled by watching traditional dances such as the warrior dance and the haka, listening to their folk music and being taken around their village learning about how the Maori people used to live pre-european times. After living on pasta, rice and 2min noodles we were all very excited about trying a traditional Hangi meal (food cooked slowly underground by hot rocks). LAmb, chicken, fish and mussles were on the menu that evening, so plates were piled high!
Our night didn't stop there as we joined our fellow "wicked travellers" at the Marama Resort where they were staying for a few days. On arrival there were more people then we had originally thought, all of
whom were very friendly and made us feel welcome.
At noon the next day it was time for white water rafting which was to be our last activity in New Zealand. This was something that we all had been looking forword to very much but were equally apprehensive about as we knew we would be going down a 7m waterfall which is the largest commercially rafted drop in the world. Our rafting experience took place on the Kaituna River and began with a Maori blessing. After some brief training we were facing the grade 5 rapids and getting drenched in the process!
We got down the river safely and even managed to stay upright down the 7m waterfall (1 in 3 don't!) despite going 4m under the water at the bottom.
After such a fun filled and enjoyable first night we met up with the guys again to share with them our white water rafting experience and learnt a few more drinking games to add to our repetoire!!!
Wednesday was our first day of travelling in the "big convoy" - Brain, Betty Boop, and "Bullshit" (the 3 names grafttied on the side of the vans) all
In Rotorua
Playing "fingers' set off together attracting much attention due to the indiscrete graffiti on the outside and the lively people inside. We all went to the Coromandel Pennisula to check out the Hot Water Beach. The idea of this is to wait for low tide, dig a hole big enough to sit in and watch while the water from the hot springs below fill this hole. However, on arrival the tide was high so we decided to leave it until the next morning.
From Coromandel we made tracks to our final destination - Auckland. Knowing that the city centre would not accomodate campervans we stopped just outside the city for the evening. A beautiful setting overlooking the harbour, its bridge and lights of Auckland. This turned out to be a fun yet interesting last night with our vans. Unaware that we had parked in an alcohol free zone, we were paid a visit by the patrolling police and their big white van and spotlight. Luckily we were able to wangle our way out of what could have been a tricky situation by playing dumb.
The remainder of the evening turned into a "jamming session" with Sam and Jordan playing their
White Water Rafting
7m waterfall. Now you see us..... guitars - a very special ending to our campervan exerience.
Saying goodbye to Brain the next morning was tough. I had been a love and hate relationship at times but the good times greatly outweighed the frustrating ones and we wouldn't have changed it for the world.
For our last few days in the country we have been staying with Brenda and Sam (teachers that worked at the High School and Bedford School in 2006) who have been overly generous making it a great end to this section of our travels.
Saturday night was our last night with the Americans and Sam so we had planned on having a big night out in Auckland. We had also arranged to meet up with Max, Tiff, Alex Peck, Kav and Matt Oneil (good fr iends from Bedford). It was a fantastic night filled with watching the All Blacks vs France followed by a night of dancing and socialising.
Sunday was full of goodbyes but before the Americans set off to the airport we took a trip up the Auckland Sky Tower to get a 360 degree view of the city. Hopefully though, we will be meeting up with
3 of the guys again in Thailand. We also headed over to the BS boys hostel that afternoon to watch a movie before wishing them a good time or their travels around NZ.
The last couple of days at Brenda and Sam's has been used to wind down from what has been an extremely hectic month. We were lucky enough to be able to visit and stay in Sam's parents pad on the pretty island of Waiheke, half an hour off mainland Auckland were we read books, baked some cakes and generally just relaxed.
We have just returned for our final meal in NZ. We took Sam and Brenda out to a mussel restaurant at Mission Bay to say a big thankyou for looking after us so well. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Nick Winter (a friend from Bedford - an old assistant house master in Eagle Boarding House). It was great to catch up on old times and we all loved the Green Lipped Mussel, native to NZ (the biggest mussels we have ever seen!) It was a lovely way to end our time in this amazing country before flying to the sunnier
Rotorua
The beginning of our convoy climates of Fiji tomorrow afternoon.
Hope everyone is well and we all send our love xxx
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Cass and Paul
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'Wicked Vans!'
Another great blogg girls! Fantastic experiences yet again. We're so jealous! One day when we're old and grey (cue for a song!) ....who knows maybe we'll follow your route, though I dare say it couldn't match the time you are having. Massive thanks to Brenda and Sam for all their kindness, Have a great time in Fiji. and enjoy the sun. Missing you so much but the time now seems to be flying. As always take care all of you xxxxx