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Published: August 12th 2007
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Having left Sydney after 6 months, I've got about three weeks in New Zealand before heading home. I'm still travelling with Mr. Kearney and we arrived into Auckland late on Monday night and grabbed a shuttle to ACB backpackers on Queen St. After 5 hours sleep we were on the Kiwi experience bus with a bunch of other backpackers heading for the Bay of Islands to the North. Myself and Gordon signed up for a hop-on/ hop-off pass that would bring us from Auckland in the North Island to Christchurch in the South Island. We went for the bus option because in a place like New Zealand you’re surrounded by tourists anyway whether you’re in a campervan or not. You also meet far more fellow backpackers than you would in a campervan and avoid the hassle of driving and navigating.
It took a little while to get used to the kiwi accent and phrases of the bus drivers. On the first day, we stopped off for breakfast and the driver recommended a “primo sandwich”. I went in and asked for one primo sandwich and the woman behind the counter started chuckling. I told her it’s the one with ham and
egg in it recommended by the bus driver and then she knew what I was on about. I found out later that “primo” is just kiwi slang for awesome!! A funny incident but I’m learning…
The Bay of Islands was very scenic but it was lashing rain when we got there. We got a good bit of background on the area from the driver - it’s very historical with the treaty of Waitangi signed there in 1840 and Russell being an early European stronghold, known as the “hellhole of the Pacific” because of its seedy goings on and the area was also the site of many battles during the New Zealand wars.
We took a one and a half hour Excitor powerboat trip out to “hole in the rock” and other islands. This was in a 1600 horsepower twin engined speed boat. We had cheesy music like Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer blasting over the sound system while the driver tried to scare the wits out of us by ripping over waves and launching the boat into the air every chance he got! It’s a good way to see the bay though, especially if tight on time.
We got back to Auckland in the evening and got a relatively early night after a trivia night and pool competition in the bar.
The next morning we were on the bus at 8.20 with a different driver called Dan and it was soon obvious this guy was totally nuts, in a good way. We got to Mercury Bay in the afternoon and the two main things we wanted to do, dig thermal pools at Hot Water Beach and trek to Cathedral Cove were unavailable because the tide was in and the track was closed. So instead we went on a kayaking trip to Cathedral Cove. Three or four hours in a canoe and it was well worth it for the fun and the impressive scenery that was very like some of what I’d seen at Ang Thon in Thailand.
On Thursday the destination was Rotorua. After a short walk through some abandoned mines near Mercury Bay, we made the quick drive to Rotorua which is a town you smell before you see due to the sulphur dioxide in the air from all the geothermal activity. In the afternoon, we went luging! This is downhill racing on tiny gokarts
with no power only gravity. It was the best fun we’d had on the trip so far and probably the best value too. Dan the driver had never been beaten in a race and so the challenge was laid down and we had three races. Well, his record is still intact, just about, after three close calls with Gordon and myself! Next time we’ll concentrate on not taking each other out of the race! That night we went to a Maori cultural show at Tamaki Village which was very well done and they laid on a great meal too, cooked by hangi - the traditional Maori method of cooking which involves cooking meat on hot rocks in a hole in the ground.
Friday began with a trip to the thermal pools and geysers of Rotorua. The park also includes a display of live kiwi birds which is a bit strange because they’re totally unrelated to the geysers. Next we stopped off for breakfast at one of the really cheap bakeries that we’ve found all over the North Island. They sell meat pies for $2 and huge sandwiches for less than $4 so you can’t really go wrong.
In
the afternoon we arrived at Waitomo and signed up for Blackwater Rafting. This is tubing through an underground river where the caves are lit up by glow worms on the ceiling of the caves. We turned off our lamps and floated along with the current and it was like looking at the stars in the sky. A great experience and although it was pretty cold it made the soup and bagels afterwards taste that much better. That night most of the group from the bus went to the local bar to watch some rugby. The place was pretty rugged. Most of the men were farmers, left their boots at the door and walked around in socks. A fight broke out and ended with a smashed window. The owner had to lock himself in the kitchen because one of the guys didn’t take too kindly to being shown the door! A night to remember.
We had a bit of a sleep in on Saturday after our late night. Up to this I’d been on the bus every morning earlier than I used to get up for work in Sydney! No complaints though, it’s been great so far.
First stop off
was for rabbit shearing. It was pretty bizarre but there’s a place in Waitomo where they breed German Angora rabbits for their fur. They’re shorn every three months and the fur is used to make clothes and soft toy rabbits!
In the afternoon we arrived at Lake Taupo, signed up for skydiving and then hit the thermal baths. Today I did the skydive and lived to tell the tale. I won't be rushing back to do another tomorrow but it's quite an experience - 1 minute freefall that seemed like about 10, before the parachute kicked in!
The next morning we took off for a place called River Valley. The route took us through Tongariro National Park and the mountain used for Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately we hadn't been able to do the Tongariro Crossing at the weekend because the weather wasn't right. The day we were passing through, the weather was so good we decided to take advantage and ski on Mount Ruapehu, an active volcano.That evening we got to River Valley, an adventure lodge in the middle of nowhere - 30 km from the nearest village. The twelve of us from Kiwi
Experience had a buffet dinner and a chilled out evening before leaving in the morning.
Tuesday was a big travel day with not a lot of sightseeing on the road to Wellington so we just watched a few dvds on the bus as we went.We arrived in Wellington around 3pm, checked into the hostel and then went to take a look at the Te Papa museum and also took a cable car up to the Botanic Gardens for views over the city. Wellington is a much smaller and seems a nicer city than Auckland. I wouldn’t have minded having a bit longer to spend there, but it was time to head across Cook Strait to the South Island.
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