Blogs from Central Plateau, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Had a good nights sleep in New Zealands ‘most haunted’. Got up and went to the Waitomo Caves to do the ‘Haggas Honking Holes’ caving experience. Had a fantastic time abseiling down underground waterfalls, scrabbling through small crevice tunnels, climbing back up waterfalls and generally having fun. We saw lots of Glow Worms (up close too), which was amazing, and came out at the end utterly exhausted. Continued on to Lake Rotoaira, where we will be staying in a bach for the next 3 nights. We arrived at the bach to find all the doors and windows open, not entirely sure if it was the right place – but wandered in anyway. The place is nice, but needed a bit of a clean. The beds looked used which was a bit worrying so we wondered over ... read more

Après plusieurs jours de pratique, la conduite automobile s’avère de plus en plus aisée. Nous ne mettons plus que rarement les essuie-glaces en marche au lieu du clignotant… Et nous roulons presque comme si de rien était du côté gauche de la route. Comme quoi, notre petit cerveau s’habitue vite… Notre route, toujours pleine de petites bêtes écrasées (des possums plus précisément, leur nombre jonchant les grands axes est énorme !!) nous a menés dans la ville de Rotorua, située sur le plateau central de l’île nord. Ce lieu a été une curiosité pour notre nez… En effet, dans la ville il règne une odeur permanente d’œufs pourris, franchement pas toujours agréable. Cette ville de 70'000 habitants a été d’ailleurs surnommée « Sulfur City », la Ville du Soufre. Elle se situe en fait en plein ... read more

17th January Richard>>>>>>> We left the camp-site a little to late (9.30am) and started our walk southwards towards Wharapapa out door centre where we planned to rock climb for a couple of days. As soon as we set off the packs felt heavy, the sun was blazing, sending heat waves shimmering up from the long straight road ahead. To the left of us a dog jumped into a water filled trough to gain some respite from the searing heat. We walked and walked changing sides of the road when it was possible to gain shade, from the trees that lined the road. Cars passed us very quickly as the speed limit on this rural road is 100kph, which is surprising as the speed limit in Norway, on the motorway, is only 100kph! After about 2 hrs ... read more

28/29 December 2010 My first day driving on the left. Super hard, especially in driving rain. It takes a lot of concentration. We left Golden Springs and drove down to Taupo. It was raining and blowing so we spent some time souvenir shopping. Taupo sits on the largest lake in NZ but the clouds were so low we couldn't see much of it. There were 4 foot waves on it, though. We drove down to Tongariro National Park and got checked in to our next Holiday Park. The Discovery Lodge (yet another amazing lodging) was chosen for its proximity to the Crossing, supposedly the best one-day hike in New Zealand. Hike stats: 12 miles, 3500 feet up and 5000 feet down. The next morning we caught the 5:45 shuttle to the trailhead. The Tongariro Crossing climbs ... read more

Where was I? Oh yes, just arrived on our last site before Wellington on the west coast. Sunday 14th November stayed at a rather old site but had all the facilities and it's only a stop over, so wasn't so bad, and we were very close to the Tasman sea. Left early next morning for Wellington, New Zealand's capital. This is where we started to drive in traffic but not quite as busy as home. took us about one hour of this last leg of the north island on the west coast. As we descended onto Wellington we drove along the quay and found a motor home hook-up with shower and washing facilities right in the city, it was the most expensive site we've stayed at 50 dollars about 27 pounds I think. But we were ... read more

Eager to get on the road and see the country, I set off with two Dutch Hostel mates (Bo and Erwin) as they made their way south in a rental car bound for Queenstown. There were rumors of backpackers with cars to sell outside of the city on the cheap so I climbed into the Toyota Vitz (aka clown car)and we took off down the wrong side of the road! Haha The guys were pretty comical, all of Holland is basically flat so every hill we went over and every mountain we saw in the distance got a lot of laughing, clapping and high fives, all to the rhythm of German Techno. We drove thru Hamilton and stopped about 3 hours South of Auckland for a beer in Rotoroa. While we were there, our waitress keyed ... read more