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Published: January 15th 2008
Day 34 Friday 28th December 2007 Auckland, New Zealand
It was an early start to catch the flight down from Nandi to Auckland however it was on time and only took three hours. From the airport it was a half hour ride on the bus down into central Auckland where I had already pre-booked a bed at Base (a network of hostels in NZ) First on the agenda was to sort out what I would be doing and where on New Year’s Eve so I booked onto the ‘Kiwi Experience’ up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands on the advice of Ross who I had met in Fiji. The ‘Kiwi Experience’ is a backpacker bus that covers the whole of New Zealand and guarantee’s your first night’s accommodation in any given place so to be honest with the Bay of Islands being the place to be for the New Year it was the only way of getting accommodation.
I then went for a walk around central Auckland and ended up at the Sky Tower which at 328 metres dominates the skyline. You can jump off the top of the tower in a kind of arrested freefall where you plummet to
the ground at a steady 75kph. Now I did consider taking the plunge however my wish list for NZ is already as long as you arm and with my budget somewhere in the stratosphere I suppose you have to draw the line somewhere. I then headed back to the hostel to give my feet some TLC because during my last night in Fiji the mosquitoes had feasted on them (why do they bite you on the soles of your feet where the skin is toughest, there must be easier meals).
I spent a couple of hours getting up to date with my blog and then headed out for a couple of beers at a bar on Queen Street where an excellent band were playing before calling it a night and heading for bed.
Day 35 Saturday 29th December 2007 Auckland , New Zealand
Well I had a lie in today; after all I am on holiday. So following a late breakfast I headed down to the Viaduct Harbour and had a look round at some very impressive boats including a couple of Americas Cup boats and a Russian Tall ship that was on a round the world journey (I know
how you feel gents) Then it was onto a boat for a round the harbour tour which was quite informative and talked about the reclamation of land to form all of the harbour area and the volatile history of the volcano’s that surround the city. After that I went and did a little shopping for some shoes (a man needs more than a pair of hiking trainers and flip-flops) and a hat because the ozone above NZ has apparently disappeared (too many carbon emissions from these gits who fly everywhere) and my solar panel can only take so much.
Back at the hostel I arranged a night out with three lads from the dorm and we went down to Viaduct Harbour where there are quite a few swanky bars and Cafe’s. It was very relaxed atmosphere and the locals are quite friendly unless you talk about rugby when they get all uperty and start blabbing on about Jonny Wilkinson and England’s inability to score try’s - sorry guys but if you ask me it’s just
jealousy! Anyway the night out was great but late so the alarm was set for about seven and I got to bed about 3!
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36 Sunday 30th December 2007 Paihia, The Bay of Islands
The early bus up to the Bay of Islands was quiet which apparently is rare however I was thankful that it was. We arrived in Paihia at around midday and checked into the Pipi Patch lodge which is again one of the hostels in the Base network. I went to bed and grabbed a few of the missing hours sleep before heading down in to town for a look round. It’s a lovely seaside town with everything based around the beach and the water. The Views out into the Bay is wonderful and the weather was great, it reminded me of a small Devon village by the sea. I booked a tour of the bay on a fast boat for the following day and went back to the hostel to have a chat with Andy who drove the bus earlier in the day. I had decided to book one of the packages that take’s you all around both islands and you have the chance to stay or just move on from any stop. It does mean I need an extra six days in NZ so I can pack in all
of the activities that I have planned. The price, once converted was £275 which when you consider the amount of hassle involved in planning your own travel is very good value. We then had a barbecue at the hostel and I ended up chatting to a couple of girls from London for the next few hours before bed.
Day 37 Monday 31st December 2007 Paihia, The Bay of Islands
I was up nice and early today for a walk to Waitangi which was the scene of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and is the single most symbolic place in New Zealand for the Maori. The treaty was the founding document of modern New Zealand signed in 1840 which ceded the nation’s sovereignty to Britain in return for protection against the French and land grabbing by settlers. The treaty was signed by William Hobson on behalf of the Crown and representatives of the five major Maori tribes and the treaty still has prestige amongst the Maori today. The Visitors centre is based around the Treaty house with tours around the site and loads of information about the Maori and the site.
I headed back to Paihia for the boat
trip which was booked for two o’clock but didn’t get going until three. The trip took us up through the Bay of Islands to the hole in the rock which is a natural tunnel through Piercy Island. The highlight of the trip was a journey through the hole which I suppose could be quite exciting if the sea was a little rough, however it was pretty calm today and the trip was a little disappointing. I arrived back at the hostel at about six and got ready for the impending night out.
New Years Eve - The night started in the hostel bar where the nightly barbecue was served and I hooked up with a group who were Shab from London, Trisha from Kendal, Stephanie from Switzerland and two girls from Canada. A few of the girls went to a house party but they couldn’t get in so we ended up playing drinking songs at the hostel before heading down to the beach for midnight where we were treated to a fantastic Firework display out in the bay. There were thousands of people around and it was impossible to get in any bars, the place was full to overflowing. We
eventually found a bar and made a night of it. Home for about 3.30am, a good night.
Day 38 Tuesday 1st January 2008 Paihia, The Bay of Islands
Happy New Year! I wish you all the best for the New Year and remember.......... make the most of it, I certainly will! As with all New Years Day’s it started a little slowly however checkout was 10.00hrs so no lie-in today. I headed down in to town with the intention of catching the ferry over to Russell however it started to rain and I couldn’t sum up the enthusiasm to endure the crossing and get soaked. So, instead I went back to the hostel and caught up with my blog and sorted through the 2,500 pictures I have already taken on my trip. The Kiwi Experience bus back down to Auckland departed at 15.00hrs and took forever because half the population had the same idea and wanted to get back to Auckland. We arrived at around 21.00hrs and I checked back into Base and an empty dormitory before grabbing some food and getting an early night.
Day 39 Wednesday 2nd January 2008 Auckland
The dormitory had filled up through the night
and there were another four bodies this morning, strange because I didn’t hear them come in. The bus set off at 08.30hrs and following a quick visit to The Kiwi Experience office to confirm my Itinerary for the next few weeks we went up to the top of mount Eden which is one of the fifty or so dormant volcanoes that Auckland is built on. At 196 Metres it is one of the bigger ones which made for a good photo opportunity. From there we travelled to Thames, a town on the way to the Coromandel Peninsula where we stopped at a retail park for some lunch. Not much to see over the Coromandel Range toward the Mercury Bay area and our afternoon stop in Cathedral Cove. The Cove is only accessible by sea or a 40 minute walk along a hilly coastal path. We chose the latter and were treated to some great coastal views along the way. The Cove itself was quite impressive with two beaches linked by a Cathedral style tunnel through the cliff side. We stayed down on the beach for about an hour before walking back up the path to meet the bus and head
on over to Whitianga, our stop for the night at a hostel called Turtle Cove. Most of the people on the bus were by now getting to know each other and I had been chatting for most of the day with Bree and Simone from Australia, Avril and Laure from France and Lauren from Warrington. At the hostel we were joined by Tony from London, Jen from Reading, Natalia from Canada and Nick from the US. We all went out to a bar in the town where a live band was playing. It was a good night and everyone got on really well together which is great because the majority of the group will stick together throughout the trip right down to Queenstown. We headed back to the hostel at about 01:00 hrs.
Day 40 Thursday 3rd January 2008 Whitianga
The bus set off at 07.30 hrs for Hot Water Beach which has natural hot springs that bubble beneath the sand. We all dug holes on the beach, which filled with hot water from underground hot spring reservoirs, then laid in them. It was really quite strange sitting in a hot sand bath watching the surf break on the beach
just yards away. After a swim in the sea (getting battered by the massive waves) it was back on the bus and over to Matamata for lunch, which shot to fame a few years ago as it was outed as the location of Hobbiton during the filming of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. All of the film sets were supposed to be destroyed after filming ceased; however there are a few that survived. There is a tour that takes you out to the actual set however very little is left and it is quite expensive. After lunch it was down to Rotorua which is one of the world’s most concentrated and accessible geothermal areas. We checked in to what would be our hostel for the next two nights, Hot Rock, and then went for a walk in the park next to the hostel. There were pools of bubbling mud which smelt of rotten eggs due to the sulphur and hot spa foot pools where you could dangle your feet in the warm natural spring water. After a walk into the centre of the town we all congregated in the aptly named Lava bar which is next door to the
hostel and had yet another night on the beer.
Day 41 Friday 4th January 2008 Rotorua
I had booked an extra day in Rotorua which is the beauty of the Kiwi Experience, you can stay in any place for any amount of nights and then just get the next bus. So, following a nice lie-in we (me, Tony, Nick, Jen and Natalia) took the local bus to an attraction on the outskirts of the town called the Luge. It’s like a concrete bobsleigh track built in to the side of a hill and you ride down it on carts. The site is accessed by a cable car and for $23 (£9) it was great value. We had three runs down the hill and it was great fun with me and Tony competing for the honours and I am happy to report that I won the gold medal. Later, we all went to a visit a Maori village for a Maori Cultural evening which was quite interesting. We were shown around a village which was a little bit of a mock-up and then all sat down to watch some traditional Maori song and dance and then dinner which was a gorgeous roast. At dinner we met Amanda from Sydney who came back with us to the hostel or should I say the Lava Bar and had a great night.
Day 42 Saturday 5th January 2008 Rotarua
The first stop this morning was Te Puia which is in the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve and comprises of a series of walkways past glooping pools of boiling mud, sulphurous springs and agglomerations of silica stalactites. We had a guide show us round and tell us a little about what causes all the activity. They also had displays of Maori arts and crafts which were also included in the tour and finally all the men were taught the Haka which we then showed off to the girls, great fun. I also dropped my camera and split the casing on it so no more pictures until I get to a decent camera shop. Hopefully my travel insurance will cover the cost.
The bus then headed for Waitomo which was to be our stop for the night. On the way we picked up food and drink for a BBQ and checked in to the hostel before going for a walk around the Waitomo Glowworm Caves where we would be Blackwater Rafting the next morning. I then grabbed a quick nap before we started the BBQ. The night kicked off with drinks at the hostel before heading down to the local pub where it was the landlord’s birthday and a live band were playing. When the bar closed at about 01:00hrs we (me, Tony, Arthur from Holland and two girls from Bury St Edmunds called Gemma and Katie) went back to the hostel to carry on the party. In the Kitchen was a big bowl of noodles which proved to be the ammunition for a great food fight. The night went on with Katie assuming the role of Batgirl suitably dressed in a black cape (bin liner) doing all the things a Batgirl does (forward rolls, jumping off tables etc.) and Gemma being Tinkerbell the Superhero which proved to be a great laugh. The night ended with us all singing along to Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger at the top of our voices.
Day 43 Sunday 6th January 2008 Waitomo
I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed at 06.30hrs after just 1½ hours sleep to go Blackwater rafting. This involves sitting in a big black inner-tube and throwing yourself into a freezing cold stream that flows through some magnificent caves for about 1½ miles. There were thousands of glow-worms on the roof of the caves and was really quite eerie. From there we boarded the bus down to Taupo which sits on the shores of Lake Taupo, formed by a gigantic eruption some 1800 years ago. Once in Taupo we headed for Taupo Tandem Skydiving for one of the highlights of my trip. I donned a flight-suit and nervously boarded a plane which carried us up to 15,000ft! Once there and securely strapped to Ingermar (my best friend for the next five minutes) we sat on the edge of the door and jumped into sensory overload. The adrenalin rush was immense as we plummeted toward the ground at 120mph. I did my best to perform to the cameraman who had jumped out with us and all too soon the ripcord was pulled and we settled into a serene float back down to tera-firma with some fantastic views along the way. Back on the ground it was silly grin time with all of us (me, Tony, Gemma, Katie and Manuel from the States) absolutely buzzing doing high fives and generally celebrating the fact that we had just jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 15,000ft and survived to tell the story.
Later, following some eats we had yet another night out in the bar attached to the hostel and finally retired at about 02.30hrs
Day 44 Monday 7th January 2008 Taupo
I had arranged with Jen to do the Tongariro Crossing (me and her were the only ones who wanted to do it) and she woke me up at 06.00hrs and I dragged myself out of bed thinking this sleep deprivation is going to kill me. The 6.30hrs bus to take us to the start of the hike didn’t turn up and we spent the next hour trying to arrange transport and we finally got to the start of the walk at 09.30hrs. The Tongariro crossing is a 16km hike over a volcano, we climbed over lava flows, crossed a crater floor, passed active thermal areas and gorgeous blue and emerald lakes and then descended through the bush. The weather wasn’t the best and most of the day was spent hiking through cloud, we did however go above the cloud as we reached the summit and had some great views of the red crater and emerald lake. The day with Jen was great and we chatted loads and put most of the world to rights. She is now officially my adopted sister which means she has to look after me for the next two weeks! Ha! The hike took us six hours and we had to wait for another hour before the bus arrived to take us the 1 hour journey back to Taupo. I did some washing and tried to have a nap before getting some food at about 22.00hrs and having a couple of beers with the now very rested team before heading to bed at 12.30hrs for an early night.
Day 45 Tuesday 8th January 2008 Taupo
We were up at 07.30hrs to catch the bus which was to take us down to River Valley. We headed round Lake Taupo and through Tongariro National Park stopping at the visitors centre on route. We did have a walk planned however it was pouring with rain so we gave it a miss and kept on going stopping along the way to pick up provisions. We arrived at River Valley mid-afternoon and checked in to the lodge which is situated right next to the river in a lovely valley (I wonder who thought up the name) The weather still wasn’t great so following a great roast dinner we thought we would have a few drinks for a change. I was in bed for 12.30hrs which was a relatively early night by our recent standards
Day 46 Wednesday 9th January 2008 River Valley
I was up at 08.30hrs just as most of our group set off to go white water rafting. I had decided to give it a miss because a) I am spending a fortune on activities and b) I was thinking of rafting in Cairnes. I made use of the time by catching up with my blog. We set off, bound for Wellington at lunchtime and the drive took five hours with a quick stop for lunch. We arrived in Wellington at 18.30hrs and set off looking for some gear to dress up with as we had decided to have a ‘what the fuck party’ which basically means you have to turn up in a costume and other people will react by saying ‘what the fuck’ easy. Well, no actually because most of the shops in Wellington close at 18.00hrs and we didn’t really know the layout of the town. We ended up in a shop called warehouse and with only five minutes before it closed we had to think quickly. I ended up with a pair of red boxer shorts worn over my jeans that said ‘I am sexy and your not’ a very large calculator on string worn around my neck and a glittery red hat. Tony was dressed as ‘Jungle man’, Gemma was ‘Tinkerbell’, Kate was ‘Batgirl’, Jen didn’t really make much of an effort and Nick was dressed as a builder with a beer counter for us all on his T-shirt. The night was a great success with everybody on top form and the party nearly stalled when the bar at the hostel said we had too much to drink! However we soon found another bar and the party continued until the early hours. Final scores on the beer counter....... I won’t say however the highest one was 32!
Day 47 Thursday 10th January 2008 Wellington
It was very nice to get a good lie in this morning following a late night and when I did surface I headed for the barber’s shop for a spit and polish and the camera shop for a replacement to the battered Cannon A620. My new camera should provide us all with some excellent photos, it’s a Sony T200 with touch screen and all the bells and whistles. I met Jen for a late lunch and then headed back to the hostel to catch up on some washing and a bit of TV. Me and Tony went to grab some dinner before we all crashed in the TV room to watch a classic of a film ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’. We all went to the hostel bar for a few drinks and then came back for a nice cup of tea.
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Wes Young
non-member comment
Deviant
Your certainly cramming alot of stuff into your trip Dave. How come most of your friends in the blog seem to be female??? All sounds like alot of fun mate, great blog. We thought you had died though as we had not heard anything yet this year, obviously we are not so lucky! Keep enjoying it pal.........Wes