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Published: July 10th 2007
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Landing in New Zealand was something of a shock after the glorious Fijian climate. Firstly, neither of us have ever known Winter in June, and secondly neither of us had packed for it!!
Auckland So what was the first thing we did when we arrived in Auckland? Did we see the sights? Did we go and sample the local food? Did we try out some local drinking haunts? No, we headed straight for the NZ equivalent of Millets and bought THERMALS, woolly socks, winter coats, gloves and scarves.
We also met up with James and Janet (old school friends of Paul's who have recently emigrated over here) who kindly put us up for a couple of days in their beautiful house in Devonport, across the bay from Central Auckland.
Once we had warmed up we explored the sights of Auckland. We went to the viewing gallery at the top of the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Hats off to Henley (Paul's potential future brother-in-law) who did the jump off the top of it (750ft) - neither of us had the guts to do it. We did stand on the glass panels in the
Auckland city centre
As viewed from the top of Mt Victoria volcano in Devonport floor (see photos) and that was enough to make our legs go a bit funny. (We did get shot off the top of a higher one in Vegas!).
We climbed two extinct volcanoes in Devonport (Mt Victoria and North Head) and visited the penguins and stingrays in Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. Evening activities included a trip to the trendy Ponsonby district (like an upmarket Clapham/Balham) and a very interesting folk-night in a disused bunker - we had to leave after about 20 mins as Sid Little with no teeth was singing (badly) and, as it was a bunker there was no back-door!!
Next it was off to collect our steed for the rest of the trip. Her name is Daphne (see numberplate) and she's a hi-top Toyota Hiace 2.5 vvti petrol (Paul wrote this bit). Imogen thinks Daphne is pretty - a white one with orange go-faster stripes. We fought our way out of Auckland and headed for The Bay of Islands up at the Northern tip of the North Island stopping at Wangerai on the way.
Bay Of Islands So many of you have told us about the stunning scenery up there and we couldn't wait to
Daphne
Ain't she pretty? see it. But when we got to Paihai we couldn't see anything for thick cloud and heavy rain. Think of a crap week in Cornwall by the seaside and you've got the idea. So we caught the ferry to Russell, the infamous 'Hell Hole of The Pacific' according to 19th Century Missionaries as it was the vice centre for passing sailors.
Mind you, when we got there everyone in town was at the local social club for a party. Not even a sniff of vice! It was much the same in the morning so we decided to head South. After a brief pit-stop in Auckland we headed down to Waitomo Caves on the West Coast for some 'Black Water Rafting'.
Waitomo Our parents warned us before we left that we shouldn't attempt anything stupid, and this message was ringing in our ears as we paid good money to float through a flooded cave on an inflatable rubber ring in sub-zero temperatures in a wetsuit. Mind you, it was worth it for the other people in our group who got to see Paul in a wetsuit/white booties combo, like a comedy Humpty-Dumpty. The incessant rain which we'd first seen in
The Bay Of Islands had not really stopped in over a week and by now the water levels in the caves were rising as the water came down off the hills. Indeed we had to postpone our original Black Water Rafting trip to the next day, as the caves were flooded. What this meant was we got a much faster flow of water with a little more risk than normal. In the words of Corin, our clearly unhinged instructor, If you want and adventure mate, you've come at the right time!. It was ace, although the hot shower afterwards was probably the best shower ever. We also got chatting to an Australian couple called Haden and Bianca and had a few post-raft pints with them at the local Tavern afterwards to celebrate.
Whilst in the area, we also checked out Otorohanga's kiwi house and got a private tour and very rare viewing of some actual kiwis. They're very strange birds with massive beaks who seem to fight a lot. I'm sure this isn't the reason the people are named after them?!
Rotorua OK, let's cut straight to the chase. Rotorua stinks like Paul's bottom at its worst. Why? Because
it has geothermal pools bubbling away all over the place belching out sulphurous clouds of steam. Think rotten eggs (or Paul's bottom) and you get the idea. So we visited Hell's Gate where the Maoris used the heated water for cooking and bathing. See the photo of Imogen for ideas about how they might have occasionally combined the two for early European visitors! In fact, we met a real Maori descendant there who confirmed his grandfather was a bit of a 'man-eater' in the past, so to speak.
Only in New Zealand would there be a theme-park dedicated to sheep-shearing but we found it and visited it, along with a herd of Japanese tourists. We were treated to an hour long performance in the art of shearing, with a live demonstration. Of course, no such show would be complete without a cow being milked and some ducks being rounded up by a sheepdog. It really was actually quite good!
After such excitement, we spent the afternoon going up Mount Ngongotaha on cable cars and decending it repeatedly down concrete luge tracks. It was one of those things designed for kids but you could tell that the ones who were enjoying
it the most were the Dads. We both agreed ours would LOVE this!
Lake Taupo Everything you can do in Taupo involves the sun shining and the water being warm. As it was still raining and about -2 degrees, our options were severely limited. Nevertheless, who were we to resist the charms of the 'Killer Prawn Golf range'? The ingredients are simple. Take the geothermally heated water to build a prawn farm (the prawns are imported from Australia) and combine it with a driving range - hey presto! We didn't win any money but it was a laugh.
We also went to see Huka Falls on the Waikatu River which were a bit disappointing. Perhaps they should rename them 'Huka a-bit-choppy-really'. We managed to catch the local dam being opened and had some excellent food in a local restaurant during an evil storm which was fabulous. Taupo is traditionally used as a base for people doing the legendary 17km Tongariro Crossing walk up in the mountains, but typically this was closed due to the bad weather when we wanted to do it. They suggested it might open in a couple of days' time but that we'd still need crampons
Great weather for ducks
Does he look happy to you? and ice-axes and neither of us know what these are. We took a photo of the mountain though. It's got snow on it.
Wellington And so finally to Welly, the political centre of this fine nation. And more rain. Bloody rain!!
Our adventures included a cable car ride, a five mile walk along the coast to see some seals in their natural habitat and an evening of culture watching a play. It was called 'Fat Pig' and was a comedy about a bloke who falls in love with a lady who might be found shopping at Evans. In essence it explores the infamous moped theory. This was followed by some amazing Maori/Euro fusion food in the highly rated Kai restaurant (Kai is Maori for food). Wellington is often put second to Auckland when people think of NZ's principal city, but we found it to be rather charming and would happily have spent longer there. But no, we have a ferry to catch to the South Island, which is even nearer to the Antarctic (in winter) and therefore even colder. And we're in a camper van. And Immy broke the heater. Brrrr....
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Chelle
non-member comment
Cha Bro!
Hi Paul You crazy kids, I forgot it was the middle of winter in NZ, not a great time to go unless you want to do some (snow) boarding really - though do try and do the glacier climb at Fraz or Foxie if you can. Wellies is a great city and you probably drove through my home twn on the way there, hoped you beeped your horn on the way through! Also seek out some geo thermal hot pools to go for a dip in too, there are some at Hamner Springs down south which is just outside of Christchurch. Chelle x