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Published: November 9th 2011
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I spent just over a week in Melbourne at the end of October and absolutely loved it. It has a much more European style than any of the other cities I've seen in Australia and I felt very at home there; with the river and the weather it felt very much like London. I spent the week with a friend who I'd met up the East Coast who is living in Melbourne and working. Unfortunately she lost her job due to the recession about 6 weeks ago, but it meant she was free to show me round! Melbourne is one of those cities where you need to know a local to really get a feel for the place, as lots of the bars are hidden in little back streets, so it was fab having her to show me round. We did one touristy/backpacker night and went to the Neighbours night, where some of the stars of the soap are at a bar and you can meet them, have photos with them and play lots of Neighbours-themed games. Dr Karl Kennedy's band was there, and they were pretty mediocre to be honest! It was all cheesy and good fun though.
I
also went out to country Victoria (the state that Melbourne is the capital of) to visit another friend I made up the East Coast who lives out there. We went to her friend's 21st which was really good fun, and it was nice to experience how Aussies live in the country and how they celebrate there too. There was lots of classic cheesy dancing going on, with things like '5, 6, 7, 8' and the Macarena, but there were a few dances that I had no idea about and they were all laughing at me and trying to teach me. My accent definitely made me exotic out there and lots of them kept repeating everything I said in an attempt to mimic me. One girl even said, 'everything you say just sounds so clever!', but I managed to convince her that was just the accent!
I flew to Auckland last Tuesday and was pretty sad to leave Australia, even though I'm heading back to Sydney in December. I landed in the pouring rain and was really not impressed! I had been warned about Auckland weather, as well as New Zealand weather in general, but I was very very cold!
I did a day trip of Auckland on Wednesday and climbed Auckland Harbour Bridge; it was more of a walk really, but that didn't stop me getting terrified of the height! We watched a couple of people bungy jump off the bridge, and it did look really fun, but I just couldn't psych myself up to willingly jump off a bridge! We then went to visit one of Auckland's many volcanoes; Auckland is basically built around lots of volcanic cones, the last of which erupted 600 years ago. I then went to the museum, which was really good; lots of Maori culture and information and a really good volcano exhibit that included a similator of what would happen if a volcano exploded in the Auckland area. There was also a whole floor on New Zealand in the various wars of the past 200 years or so, and it was really interesting to learn about the Kiwis' involvement in the World Wars.
On Thursday I went to the aquarium which was pretty cool, but a lot smaller than I was expecting. I then went up the Sky Tower to see some amazing views of Auckland, and by this time the
sun had come out so it really was gorgeous. I've heard a lot of people say, 'get out of Auckland as soon as you can', but I really liked it as a city. It's pretty spread out - it only has 1.5million people but covers an area the same size as London. After a few beers with some of the people I'd met in the hostel I got an early night ready to leave Auckland the next day.
My next stop was a place called Hot Water Beach, where you can dig in the sand and boiling hot water comes out. It was unbelievable, and all to do with the heat of the rocks underground. We didn't really believe our guide when he told us about it, but the water really was too hot to even put your toe in without mixing it with cold seawater. I stayed there for a couple of nights, and then moved on to Waitomo on Sunday. This is where there are lots of underground caves and we went black water rafting through some of them. We had huge car tyres that we sat in, but sometimes had to carry them when the water
wasn't quite deep enough. This was one of the best things I've ever done; seeing the stalagmites and stalagtites as well as thousands of glow worms that were so bright we could turn our torches off and they lit up the cave. We had to jump off underground waterfalls and then lie back in our rafts to drift with the current and look at the glow worms above our heads. By the time we got out the cave we were all absolutely freezing, and hot soup and bagels were definitely needed.
We then moved on to Rotorua, which is surrounded by lakes and mountains. It's the most geothermic place on the planet, so again there's lots of hot water springs, as well as a smell of rotten eggs from all the sulphur around. Saying that, I've loved Rotorua; it's a very friendly place and all the locals have been lovely. The first day I was here, I went luging, which is essentially go-karting downhill. There were three different tracks, ranging from beginner to advanced, and the advanced was so dangerous I really thought I'd fall off the cliff at one point! Anyone who has ever seen me play Mario
Kart will know that I have a tendency to go too fast and crash into the walls, and this is exactly what I did in real life! I went straight into the barrier and did several flips over myself before landing and laughing hysterically. The people around me were torn between wanting to laugh themselves silly and be concerned about me, but one look at my face showed that I'd had a great time crashing! I have managed to rip half the skin off my leg and bruise most of my side, but it was definitely worth it to try and beat the boys!
That evening we went to a Maori Cultural show which was absolutely incredible. They started the evening by selecting a chief from each of the buses and then these chiefs had to wait to be greeted by the home tribe. They placed a fern leaf on the floor and if our chiefs picked it up it meant they had come in peace. We then moved through to a Maori village that they had recreated which was absolutely amazing. They showed us the different types of dances they did and the games that children played to
strengthen them and improve things like hand-eye coordination. We then moved through to the cooking area, where they'd dug huge pits into the hot rock underground and they cooked their food by placing it in these pits for hours. We then went inside and the villagers put on a show of lots of different songs and dances, as well as telling us their version of Romeo and Juliet. The music was absolutely incredible, and the dances were amazing too. They also performed the Haka for us, which was so cool to see done live by real Maori people. We were then served the dinner that had been cooked in the underground pits; fresh NZ lamb, chicken, fish, roast potatoes and gravy, and as much as we could eat. As a backpacker, this was definitely the most exciting part of the evening, especially as it even included desert! It then got a little cheesy and we had to hold hands and sing (5 minutes very reminiscent of one Easter spent in a church in Florida...) and all the Brits stood there with their arms folded saying, 'I'm not getting involved in this!'.
I'm still in Rotorua now and am moving
on to Taupo tomorrow. I've spent the last few days sunbathing and chilling; when the weather is good in NZ you have to make the most of it! It's been pretty cold in some places, but I've been seeing it as an introduction to the south island, and also to England in mid December when I go home!
Love to you all x
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