North Island Novelties

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Wed 21st May 2008

Today I took the ferry across the Cook Strait to the North Island, first stop the capital Wellington. Was a long old day, left Kaikoura at 8:30 and got into Wellington about 5:00. The ferry took 3 hours, sat up on deck for the first hour admiring the scenery and saw some dolphins swim on by. Once we got onto the big, wide ocean the wind was blooming cold so I rocked on down below decks to the recliner seats where I well and truley conked out, thought I only had 45 mins to kip but an hour and 45 mins later I was still kipping, don't you just love it when that happens (don't worry, the ferry was now heading back to the South Island, the journey was just longer than I realised). Once off the ferry nobody had a clue where to go to get to the hostels, ended up hopping on random buses here and there, which seemed to do the trick, we find the YHA eventually, it take for a local lady to help me out mind, "you look lost" she said, really, am I that obvious! She ended up stopping the bus for me (good job because I hadn't the foggiest where the stop buttons were, I was about to let the words slip out of my mouth, "how do I stop the bus?", when she pressed a black strip running right around the bus, ah clever, inconspicuous stop buttons. She gave me directions to the hostel and then came the mission of getting me and my backpack off the bus, being 5 o' clock n all it was absolutley jam packed, trying to be polite was getting me nowhere and I had to get off that bus before he pulled off again so there was nothing for I had to barge with a fair few sorry, sorry, sorry...my bad! Went out that evening for grub and a spontaneous trip to the cinema to see Maid of Honour, a good old chick flick to leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy.

Thur 22nd May 2008

Who'd have thought ay, I spent all of the live long day at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa. I predicted I'd need half a day at least but ended up spending 7 hours there. It was great but hard work on the old noggin, felt like my brain my explode by the end of it. Started off in the awesome Forces section (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami) and the Nature Trail, this was my favourite floor (there was 5 of them). Discovered that I have the jumping force of an earthquake that would budge chimneys from their stack, "da - da da da da, I got the power!" Also went in the shake shack to experience a grade 5 on the Richter scale aftershock and to put it bluntly if that was to happen in real life I would well and truley poop my pants. I also learnt today (and I shall pass on to you my newly acquired knowledge) that the word jandels (aka flip flops) is derived from the words Japanese and Sandels and also that the NZ version of marmite was originally called parwill...get it.....nope I sure didn't but thankfully it went onto explain, "ma might....pa will", apprentely I wasn't the only one who didn't get it, hence the name change to vegemite. I'm glad that my brain absorbs all the "important" information! I even gave level 5, the art exhibition a go, which lasted all of about oooh a minute, nothing against art, I think I actually laughed out loud at my attempt to culture myself in the world of art, really not my thang! Went out that evening with a couple of guys from my dorm to help celebrate one of their birthday. I was introduced to a Jieger Bomb and quite frankly after that I remember nothing. The drink consisted of a shot of Jiegermeister (that's how I imagine it to be spelt by the way, I have no idea, Yay-ga-mi-ster) dropped into a glass of red bull, actually went down a treat..................................................................................................................................................................

Fri 23rd May 2008

..........................................................................................Oh My Gawd!!! I almost missed the bus to Napier!! I must been passed right out coz I heard nothing of my alarm and it definatley went off because it was flashing frantically at me when I finally did wake up. Took me a while to get my head around what was going on and when it did click I realised I had 20 minutes to get myself in gear to get down to the bus leaving at 8. I felt sooo ill, that's the last time I help anyone celebrate their birthday, it was aweful, sods law that just so happened to be one of the windiest roads yet, or so it felt like. Did feel a teeny bit better when we could get off the bus to walk around the National Wildlife Centre at Pukaka Mount Bruce. Got to see my first Kiwi, wow, I thought they were dinky little things, oh how wrong I was. Once we got to Napier I wandered around for the afternoon and took a stroll around the Sunken Gardens. That evening I cooked what I thought was gonna be a sweet jacket potato for tea, was slightly disappointed when I opened it up to find it was green, not half as tasty, one thinks I may have picked the wrong brand......ya think, turns out kumara aren't sweet potatoes after all!

Sat 24th May 2008

Took a stroll along the seafront this morning admiring the ferocity of the waves. The pathway was covered in debris yet I had no recollection of there being a storm the previous night, hmm strange, don't tell me the waves actually come up that high sometimes, surely not, perhaps I'll just take a couple of steps to the side! Did learn that Napier had encountered tsunamis in the past but surely that wouldn't go unnoticed even if it was in the night, I was intrigued. I made a dash for the National Aquarium just as the heavens opened and down came the rain. It was a good little place to have a wander around, got to see some sharks and stand in the jaws of Megaladon (thank goodness they don't patrol the seas anymore, huge). Saw a sea turtle too but after having seen them in the wild I couldn't help but feel sad for the poor blighter, he really wasn't in the biggest of enclosures. Got to see some seahorses as well, one of my favourites, "neigh-bubble-bubble" and they have a croc as well, bit of a mix. In the afternoon I went on the Grape Escape Wine Tour. It was grrrrreat, especially the bit with the cheese and biscuits, discovered many a fine wine and I've decided Rieslings are my new favourite wine, you can feel all the sugary sweetness running thorugh your veins. Learnt how to do the whole swirl, smell, sip, swish and swallow although I left out the swish in the end as it just made them all taste like pure alcohol accompanied with a shudder, they went down a treat after that. I'd be lying if I didn't say I got slighlty tipsy so I treated myself to burger and chips, it tasted so good. That night I sat watching the rugby with a chap from the hostel, we were some of the only ones there. I played a couple of games of solitaire, I didn't think it possible but I actually managed to snooker myself after only 6 moves, why's that game so much easier when you're a kid (apart from the whole bending of the rules when you're young, I'm sure you used to be able to move diagonally). Then I got to witness what I must sound like when I make a blonde comment, watching Jurassic Park The Lost World (yep my choice) with Julianne Moore in, next up is Hannibal also starring Julianne Moore, this chap Hugh turns around and says, "now what've I seen her in before?"..........excellent!

Sun 25th May 2008

Today I got the Naked Bus to Taupo (not as exciting as it sounds, basically meant a no frills bus). Didn't realise it only takes 2 hours to get there. I had been asleep on the bus so when I awoke to the bus stopping I figured it was for a toilet break, luckily though some sense from deep inside me (I know, where did that come from hey) made me turn around from already getting off the bus, leaving all my stuff behind, to just double check, "we're not there yet are we?"...."Where?"....."Taupo".....uh yep we were indeed...phew, I would of ended up off course else, just merrily getting back on the bus and heading further up north like. Took a walk that afternoon to Huka Falls, pretty impressive, the width of the river goes from 100m to 15m (or something like that) so that 160 cubic meters of water per second has to be plummetted through a tiny gap to come roaring out of the other ebd. On the way back, like you do, I did a spontaneous bungy jump, 47m, oh my gawd, it was crazy, I screamed like a banshee, I was only 2kg over the weight limit though, what a good excuse that would have been, "why didn't you do a bungy?", "ah you know, I just wasn't heavy enough", ha ha no such luck! Had a coach load of Asians turn up just as I was about to do my jump, had my own little audience, some of them even screamed along with me and to finish off - a round of applause, why thank you very much. Radical dude!!


Mon 26th May 2008

I woke up this morning in slight disbelief at what I'm about to do.......yes that's right, I'm going to jump out of an aeroplane! What a stupid thing to do, who would do such a thing! That would be me! Got picked up at 11:40, couldn't wipe the grin off my face, but was that through excitement or my own stupidity, who knew, not me that's for sure. When we got there we decided on our package and, of course, how high, dun dun daa! I decided to go the whole hog and get the full works - 15000ft, exit photo, photos and dvd. Hell if I was gonna do sucha crazy thing then I darn well wanted it recorded in history, something to show the grandchildren like, plus even I was gonna need to prove to myself that I'd done it. The guy whos hands I was putting my life into was Phil from Newcastle and my Kiwi camerman was Darcy. I got kitted up - jumpsuit, harness, hat, goggles, gloves and even a lifejacket, yes you heard right, it's now a compulsory piece of equipment as it's not out of the ordinary for one to land in the lake.....really! Before I knew it we were making our way over to the plane. I was going up with a family of three. That's how tiny the plane was, you could only fit 4 jumpers, their instructors plus my camerman, and boy even that was a tight squeeze, you had to sit in between each others legs, cosy, felt like rocking on up with a bit of "oops upside your head, I said oops upside your head". I know I was gonna be falling from it at some point anyway but I'm just glad I wasn't sat nearest the door. To 10-15 minutes to get up there which in "I'm actually gonna be falling back down to Earth any minute" terms is a blooming long time. Also, what I didn't realise is that the other three were jumping out at 12000ft leaving me as I watched them disappear one by one, and then there was only one, little old me sat twiddling my thumbs, do do doo! Took another few minutes to go even higher (what was I thinking) and then just when I thought it was time to go we had to circle around for another few minutes just to add to the already heartpounding suspense while NZ airlines or someone landed a plane, rude, don't they know what I'm about to do. And then..........the red light went out, so what time is it.....it's get thrown out of an aeroplane time, yipee! AAAAAAH!! And just like that the door had been slid open and I was hanging over the side of the plane, feet dangling into oblivion, oh my gawd! Just to take the biscuit, at this crucial moment in time you have to turn around to smile at the camera, good ploy to distract your attention mind because all of a sudden your tumbling in the sky, your internal organs not know which way round they're supposed to be, watching the plane move away from you and the ground coming towards you. Oh my goodness! Oh My Goodness! OH MY GOODNESS! Ha haa! AAAAA-MMMAAAA-ZZZIIINNNGGG! Even as I was falling I just couldn't comprehend what was actually happening, what I'd just done. we were free falling for 60 seconds but it felt like just 2, and in that time I think we fell around 12000ft, pretty darn fast! It was absolutley freezing way up there so it was a good job I didn't have a cold coz I reckon you'd get snot-cicles. the parachute went up (thank God for that) at about 3000ft, you shoot back up in the air then start drifting down, a fast drift mind. Now I could take off my goggles and admire the view while he swirved us from side to side, which is still actually just as scary (in my opinion) and plays havoc with your stomach too, it feels like you're going way faster than you should be. As we approached the landing spot , which thankfully on this occassion was not the lake, we started flying over the buildings with the landing spot back behind us, ah should we really be flying over buildings so close to the ground, oh my gawd we're gonna land on the roof, brace yourself Vix, was so almost on the verge of saying, "uuhh was that not the landing spot behind us, ya know that lovely gurt big field" but it was ok, he really did know what he was doing, we were just lining ourselves up, still slightly worrying to see us approaching a big flag pole aaaand fly over it, phew! We landed right on target, legs like jelly! Only made one blonde comment when putting the gear back, the guy said, "hats in that box", I said, "google too?", "uuh well yeah the googles are attached to the hats", "ohh I wandered why they didn't fall off!" He seemed to find it highly amusing, I blame it on the current situation of having just pulled a crazy stunt like jumping out of an aeroplane. Not suprisingly, what with jumoing off of platforms and jumping out of aeroplanes, I found it difficult to go to sleep that night due to my overdose of arenaline, I was seriously buzzing around like a little bee, who needs red bull hey!

Tue 27th May 2008

Up at 5:40am (whoever said this travelling malarky was a doddle hey) ready to catch the 6:20am bus to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. After hiring out extra gear from the bus everyone was good to go at 8:20am. I got some fleecey trousers just in case, looked like a right scruff or in fact like I was wearing pyjama bottoms, stylish. Turns out because we had such a glorious day with virtually no wind the layers were coming off instead of going on. I teamed up with two Scottish lasses for the day and immediatley warned them of my obsessive photo taking, they were prepared. On the bus you get given information about the track and I have to say reading some of the comments makes you wonder what you've let yourself in for, such as, "when you come down from the top of the mountain you will be coming down very fast and if you lose your footing you may slip all the way to the bottom" and "on top of the Red Crater caution is required as this section of track is steep and has big drops on either side, this section can be scary when the winds are strong as you may get pushed around or even find you may need to be on your hands and knees" and "please do not walk too close to the edge of the crater because if you fall in you will not come out", uh-oh! I've gotta say I breathed a slight sigh of relief when she said the Mount Doom side track (the one where you fall all the way to the bottom) was closed for winter, phew, looked scary enough on a good day. The main attractions of the day were Soda Springs, South Crater, Devil's Staircase (yep it really was hell to climb), Mt Ngauruhoe (no I can't say it either, Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings is easier), Red Crater, Emerald Lakes, Central Crater and the Blue Lake. It honestly was like being in a different world, amazing. I loved walking through the craters, just the sheer size was immense and the thought that we were kind of in an active volcano was crazy, could almost pass for being on a different planet, like the moon, but still with gravity obvioulsy! We stopped for lunch at the top of the Red Crater, the sheer drop into the crater made my stomach do flips. Because the crater is active there are hotspots in the ground which makes for a good place to warm your bum. I, however, did not choose where to sit, the crater chose for me. I was just pottering about taking ages to decide where to sit (suprise, suprise) when all of a sudden because if the loose scree I fell flat on my butt, right then, I guess I'll just sit here then shall I. The loose scree, therefore, makes for a dodgey walk down the other side of the crater, slip and sliding all the way, let me tell you my newly acquired skiing techniques from Italy worked wonders. We made it back to the bus at 3:50pm having all in all walked for 7 and a half hours, high five! The last bit of the track is also a bit crazy as the river was slightly overflowing so you have to guess where the track is and jump from bank to bank avoiding the water. You can see why the crossing is often closed due to high water levels, wouldn't like to try my luck if the water had been any higher. We made it though, what an awesome day. Completely conked out on the bus, bed early for me tonight.

Wed 28th May 2008

Off to Rotorua on the Magic Bus today. Stopped off at Huka Falls and I swear there was twice as much water today, even more impressive. Only took an hour to get there so spent the majority of the day walking around the Kuirau Thermal area marvelling at the steaming ground and lakes. Rotorua has a distinct eggy smell but I'll forgive it seeing as it's built on a volcanic plateau. Most people it puts them off eggs, but me, oh no no, I got a craving for them. It was cool to see the thermal activity, also kind of eerie and slightly disconcerting wondering what on Earth was going on beneath me, the film Dantes Peak ring any bells? Surely I'm stood on a ticking time bomb here!

Thur 29th May 2008

This morning I went to wai-O-Tapu, the Thermal Wonderland, and yep it really was, felt like I was another planet (again). Up first was a stop off at some boiling mud pools, so strange, had the sound effects going on with all the bubbling and popping and to finish off the scene an eerie mist surrounding us. I really felt like I'd been transported back in time ....dinosaur time, either that or it was a movie set, was unbelievable it was natural. Next up was the "10:15am everyday" erupting Lady Gnox geyser. How amazing is that I thought, that it erupts everyday at the same time without fail, apparently not so, as I was about to find out. It's funny, they actually have a little arena with seats to view the geyser from. So, everyone takes there seats, 10:15 hits and I'm eagerly awaiting the eruption thinking any minute now I'm gonna jump out of my skin, and....nothing! Out of nowhere (well ok maybe he just walked there) a man appears beside the geyser, ah so here comes the small print, everyday at 10:15am they put like soap suds into the geyser to break the seal which then allows it to erupt coz if they didn't it would build up and build up eventually causing a massive eruption, so he puts the stuff in, after a minute or so it starts bubbling, then slowly but surely a gush of water spurts up to about 15m. still quite cool to watch just minus the "heart skip a beat" jump, oh well, it's not like I haven't had anough adrenaline the past few days. Lastly we did the walk around Wai-O-Tapu. We only had an hour and a half before the bus left again so it was all a little too rushed for my liking, no where near enough time to stop and take my usual gizzillion pictures, only enough for a trillion. Plus at the start of the walk the mist hadn't quite cleared up yet so once I'd done a full circuit I had to run my little socks off back to the no longer misty bits to see their true colours (yep I was the last back on the bus). My fav bit was the Devil's Bath, a crater filled with bright greeny-yellow water, oh and the Artist's Palette, and the Opal Pool, and the Champagne Pool, and the....oh ok I loved it all, it was amazing! Speaking of amazing, as well as having the dorm to myself again that night, we also went to the Tamaki Maori Village Hangi and Concert. The bus ride there was pure entertainment in itself what with the bus driver having us, "the tribe", pretending to row the bus, "our canoe", whilst shouting out maori word for what I can only imagine to be along the lines of "heave"! Once we got there we watched them , the mauri warriors, putting on a show of fighting with different weapons. Then we went into the village itself to watch the maori acting out their everyday life and of course get some cracking photos. Next was the concert, at the beginning of the evening during the fight scene we were told not to laugh or smile as this would be offensive, I really hope we were allowed to smile during the concert because I was doing it without realising, it was so good, had a proper cheesy on. And of course they performed the Haka which makes you go all tingley inside, awesome to watch as any rugby fan will know. Then finally came the hangi, the bit every backpacker has had at the back of their mind all evening, in fact all day, mmmmh food. It was soooo good, no words can describe except maybe lush, I swear I've never eaten so much food in my life. I literally piled on everything, all three meats, chicken, lamb (I think, actually not sure on that one, was too per-occupied eating it) and fish, and before I knew it I'd covered the lot in gravy forgetting that's it's not a usual addition to fish, ah hell, what do I care, still tasted darn good. Was pretty stuffed after that I gotta say, not so stuffed mind that I couldn't have three helpings of dessert...what...I had to try all three on offer. There was kiwi meringue, fruit salad and steamed pudding with custard, a-mazing. We then could go outside to learn how hangi is cooked (in the ground over hot rocks) before finishing off the evening with a few more songs courtesy of the bus drivers and waiting staff. Again the bus ride home was entertaining, singing songs from all the nationalities on the bus, the driver knew them all, England was a bit of "you'll never walk alone", then we started singing, "she'll be coming round the mountain" only to realise the bus was going around a tiny roundabout near on 10 times I reckon, hilarious, any cars or people going by must have thought, "what the.....!"

Fri 30th may 2008

Trip to Waitomo Caves to do a 4hr 100m abseil and caving adventure called the Lost World today (yep I'll admit the name was half the reason I chose it being a Jurassic Park fan n all). I was soon informed the actual hole you abseil into is really called the Lost World and is not just a commercial name, which meant I actually did abseil into the Lost World World, cool dude! The scariest bit was leaning back into the harness not knowing for that split second whether it's gonna hold and of course you have to go against your better judgement of sitting mid air with 100m between you and the ground. The abseil takes longer than it looks, you loose all perseption of how far away the ground actually is, at a guess I would say it took 10-15 minutes. Once you hit rock bottom and look back up into the Lost World it looks so impressive, again like another world. before we started caving we had some choccy and juice to give us energy ready for our hunt for the glowworms. Watch out Lara Croft, tomb raider in the making here. I also had to fight back images from the scariest film ever, "The Descent", a caving monster movie, I stare to long into any deep, dark holes through fear of what might be lurking there, if not monsters than blooming cave spiders (same thing), yep they have those here! we got to climb through a tight squeeze upto where the glowworms were, where we switched off our headlights and took a moment to admire them. The final challenge of the day was to haul ourselves back up a 30m ladder to the next cave level, man that was really tough going, my determination saw me through though (or the Lara Croft within) and I made it up in good timing and more importantly without falling, although we do have ropes attached thank goodness. had a bit of a blonde moment at the top as I led the way, like to make things difficult for myself, started walking awkwardly along a really narrow ledge next to the wall not really knowing where to place my feet holding on with my hands, only to turn around to see the others casually hopping off onto the path beside me, now why didn't I think of that! This particualr cave, the Lost World, was used to film Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Hercules, and (where would we be without Japanese entertainment) the World's Longest YoYo! Would love to do the 7hr epic where you go 2km into the cave - that's where all the spiders are, and The Descent really would play on my mind, and you get to jump into eel inhabited water...hmmm on second thoughts!

Sat 31st May 2008

Today they've let me loose onto the roads of NZ, yes that's right, I've hired a car. They've set me up with a dashing white Hyundai Accent, marvellous! First stop was Kaitiaki Adventures White water Rafting to have a go on the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world at a whopping 7m! hell, why not, a perfect way to end my week of craziness. First of all we had to get kitted out into wet, cold wetsuits and jackets, brrrh, not a nice experience on a frosty morning in Rotorua. On the bus to the river you get the safety briefing, what to do if you fall out and get trapped under the waterfall and all that malarky, makes you slightly nervous I gotta say. The guides were awesome and they also added a bit of mauri culture to it by telling us about the river and also saying maori prayers to keep us safe, mush appreciated. Then came the grade 5 rafting, so much fun, we had a couple of rapids and waterfalls to warm us up before the "big one". we stopped on an eddy just before it, we were last in our group to go, so we watched as one by one they disappeared over the edge, and then it was our turn,aaaah, with lots of shouting and siking ourselves up we were off, the general gist being, "hold on for dear life", going......going.....going......gone (quite literally, we were completely submerged under water, raft n all)......and we survived, w-hoo, that was awesome! The last part of the trip is to make sure you get off of the river at the right place, go any further and you hit, as our guide put it, niagra falls and you will die! Paddle, paddle, paddle! Just before that we got to paddle back into a mini waterfall so us at the front, yes that would be me, could get a proper face full of water, lovely! Only blonde comment of the morning, "where else have you been in New Zealand?"...."Australia!" After that little adventure for the morning I started my own mini adventure - Road Trip! My first destination was Waihi Beach for a quick grub stop. Here I decided to throw my mandarin peel to the seagulls as a tester piece I'd thrown was gobbled up by one of them, so I threw the whole lot only for them to decide they didn't like it after all, I then felt so bad I went around picking up the pieces again, doh! I then made my way to Whitianga for the night where I got chatting to a guy who turned out to be a keen fisherman and dished me out a plate of his own caught fresh fish and rice, it was scrummy, especially as I had decided to try and survive on boiled eggs again, delicious but so not enough.

Sun 01st June 2008

I hired out a spade ready for my expedition to the Hot Water Beach. Now when they say hot, they really do mean hot, some spots were just too hot to even stand in. When you first get there it's funny to see this big beach with lots of space and then all the many people crammed in to one tiny portion of it, right I'm guessing that's where the hot water is then. So I made my way over and started digging....I dug some more......and I dug some more, no luck, only cold water for me, turns out all the best spots had already been taken. An American lady (or was she Kiwi) must have seen me digging and took pity on me because she came over and said to join them in their pool that they'd taken when someone had left. Oh ok at least i wasn't the only one who hadn't earned my own hot water, actually I take that back, I had earned it from digging, just not digging in the right place. After a bit I scampered back to get my bikini on but by the time I got back I only had 10-15 minutes before the walls of the pools were seized by the incoming tide and the hot water was no more. So that's why you only have an hour either side of low tide to dig your pool and sit in it. Next I drove on around to Hahei Beach to do a 40 minute trek to see the massive Cathedral Cove. P.s. Did I mention I was mearing shorts and t-shirt today, bizarre, where did that summer day come from. Finally had a quick stop off at Cook's Beach, Captain Cook's landing, just to say I'd been there really. Whilst there that air raid alarm went off just like in Franz Josef. I just so happened to be parkes up next to the fire station which was proof in the pudding that it was indeed a firm alarm as lots of high speed cars pulled up outside, the men jumped into their gear, into the fire engine and off they went. I can be reassured now that I haven't got back in time. Back to Whitianga for another night, ended up going to watch the new Indiana Jones movie with the guys from my room, da da da daa da da daa! One of the trailers was for the new Narnia movie , and what should be the first scene but them at Cathedral Cove, oooh I was there, I was there!

Mon 02nd June 2008

The plan was to do bone carving today but it's a blooming bank holiday, the Queen's birthday would you believe, so it was closed, bummer. Instead I did a road trip along road 309 to Coromandel Town which turned out to be like an off-roading rally drive, lets just say my dashing white Hyundai was no longer a dashing white, it didn't help matters when a high speed landrover went full pelt past me spraying mud all up on the windows, he did that on purpose! My first stop was a bush track to the Kauri grove and Siamese Kauri. I was a little spooked to begin with walking on me own but once I'd done some Kauri tree hugging I felt a little better. Next stop - Waiau Falls. Next stop - that's the problem, I didn't stop. The aim was to drive to a track 3km in so I could walk up to Castle Rock but here's what actually happened. I turned onto the road where one of the first signposts is warning of poison - cholecalciferol and I'm sure one of them said cyanide. The land all around looks kind of barren, completely desserted, masses of areas with chopped down trees and the gravel track heading steeply off into the distance. So I get going, every km there's a sign saying how far in you are. Finally after a long, windy, steep track there's a signpost off to the right saying Castle Rock Track, ah this must be the one, but then, next to it is a sign saying "permit holders only, conditions may be hazardous", I chose after much deliberation to ignore this and go up it anyway. After more of the gravel road, fearing for the life of my car as the gravel gets bigger and bigger, the track suddenly ends, there's a clearing and then masses of trees again, you had to be there to understand it but I was well freaked out, quick, reverse, reverse, turn around, go, go, go! Now after this i was actually thinking bugger the walk, I'm high anough up as it is, the views from here will do, but crazily I found myself going further on up the previous trackrather than back to safety just, I can only imagine, out of pure curiosity of where the Castle Rock Track actually is. So I'm going further and further up this track, the roads getting windier and steeper, there are no barriers by the way and the and the gravel seems to be turning into gurt big rocks, i'm having a heart attck everytime the car scrapes along the bottom, and still I keep going. One thinks one should really be in a 4-wheel drive right now! 8km in and only then do I think right enough's enough, my poor car battered to pieces, and I turn around only to endure the same 8km battering on the way back. To top it all, I never did find that chuffing track! Driving into Coromandel and in the distance I see people in bright yellow jackets lining the road so I can only presume they are officials. I slow down coming to a halt only to realise they are school kids fundraising for a school sports trip I think. So being the good soul that I am I give them my loose change whilst all the time thinking how will i survive without that dollar....get a grip! It's not like I could of just driven by , they would have hated me, bit cheeky mind stopping people on the road, it's a trap, imagine if I'd said no thanks and driven off again (not that i would of by the way, just a thought). Stopped off in Coromandel to do a 40min loop walk through a scenic reserve and other than that there really wasn't much to do there so I drove onto Thames. Got to Thames and really wasn't feeling the connectionso got me a Tandoori Chicken Subway sarnie purely for the yoghurt and mint sauce and then scooted off to spend the night in Auckland making it in at about 5.

Tue 03rd June 2008

Off to Paihia in the Bay of Islands today! First stop though was the nearest car wash, I figured even if I left it in that state the company would charge me anyhows.Then it would appear that I was going to spend the next hour, yes that's right, one whole hour, trying to get the heck out of Auckland, I was literally driving in circles, big ones, "I'm sure I recognise this street......". Next plan of action - stop and read the map, it really does help, decided on a different route and hey presto I was out in a jiffy. Took about 4 hours to drive up ther(plus the hour in Auckland) with just one stop in Kawakawa to see the famous Hundertwasswe toilets and maybe a few detours here and there on the hunt for another Subway Tandoori Chicken sarnie, it was really that lush, no luck though, I'll just have to wait.

Wed 04th June 2008

Day trip to Cape Reinga (Ree-n-ga) today. Set off at 7:15am and first stop was Puketi Kauri forest to look at some ma-hoo-sive Kaura trees. After a tea break in Taupi where they conveniently had some mini marmites and butters out on the tables which I guiltily took, gotta think ahead to breakfast see, we headed up to Cape Reinga. With a short walk dow to the lighthouse and signpost, which might I add had been vandilised leaving only London and Sydney, there's just no need, here you can see the meeting of the two seas - the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean where maves going in opposite directions crash into each other (in case you didn't know), strange to see that there is an actaul boundary between different bits of water, surely it's all just part of the same big thing really! Ended up staying on the bus for lunch as there was a quick down pour of rain, which did however make good conditions for our next activity, sand boarding down an 85m sand dune and let me tell you that was just as scary as some of the other crazy stunts I've pulled in the last couple of weeks. Before hiking up this gurt dune we had a bit of a safety talk, it's not uncommon for people to break bones, dislocate joints and even for the air ambulance to be called out! "Crikey, remind me why I'm choosing to do this again!" It's a mission and a half just to get up the thing and then when you look back down the hill...uh-oh! Everyone's giving each other the look as if to say are you still doing it, I'll only go if the rest of you are going.Thankfully the bus driver was there to hold the board in place while you postion yourself making sure you're not too far forward else your face will hit the sand and it will hurt! And then without any indication he lets go! It was so scary and so fast, you have to use your feet as brakes, you have to dig those poor little tootsies in so hard even to slow you a smidgen that he didn't warn us that it may swipe the skin from the top of your toes, slightly sore! as I got faster and faster I cuold feel myself slipping further forward, my face getting closer and closer to that sand, a split second before would could have been a disaster - the final slip into a potential broken nose, I risked it and let go of the front of the board to grab onto the side to steady myself, luckily for me it worked. For the final few meters you have to dig your toes in so hard else one might find themselves in the stream. After that hair raising experience I was reluctant to go again, most people didn't, and ya know I may not be so lucky next time.......so I'm back up the top of the dune ready to go again, I sure as kiwis wasn't gnna miss this photo opportunity, but hang on a minute, where the devil has the bus driver gone to hold my board for me, oh there he is at the bottom of the sand dune and it would appear he aint coming back up, oh dear! You're on your own Vixster! So I kneel in front of the board, trying not to let go, holding it in position, at the same time trying not to lean much further forward else I'd be rolling back down (that's be extreme dune rolling, didn't go that far when we were younger, Croyde was as big as it got), then I had to try and shuffle my legs back up the hill whilst leaning the front of my body onto the board gently, what a palaver, you can't just launch yourself onto the board else you'd just shoot right off the other end, it's that steep! Thenkfully all went smoothly and I made it to the bottom without any broken bones, phew! Once all were back on the bus, wiping the sand from every nook and cranny, we headed off alonf 90 mile beach, quik photo stop for the hole in the rock and then off to Kauri Kingdom. Here they have turned a 40 000 year old Kauri tree that they excavated from a swamp into a staircase, pretty impressive, "I'm walking in a tree trunk", it was huge! The final stop for the day was Manganhui for some well earned fish and chips, beautiful. Arrived back in Paihia around 6ish. P.s. the bus driver reckons we "only" got upto 70kmph on the boards today.....ONLY!

Thur 05th June 2008

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me! Spoke to Lucy on the phone this morning, we couln't miss the opportunity to celebrate our birthdays on the same day, it was still the 4th in England, crazy hey, we sang happy birthday to each other at the same time and apart from a slight time delay it all went swimmingly. Speaking of swimming the plan was to swim with dolphins, lovely morning out on the boat just cruising through the Bay of Islands, went through the Hole in the Rock, saw a school of fish, a couple of seals and even the tail of a whale (he was to shy to show himself again) but no dolphins, bummer. The company has a guarantee marine mammal sighting though so they give you a voucher to go again for free. That evening a decided to celebrate my birhday in style on a slap up dinner cruise (now when I say style that's definately not referring to me, jeans and hiking boots don't quite cut it). It was a 2 and half hour cruise over to Hurura Falls with a lush meal included, lets just say I stuffed my face, there was no stopping me. Now seeing as it's not every backpackers perogative to spend money on a dinner cruise I knew not to expect many if any youngsters and I was well prepared as they were all older couples, 50+, but it was great, they took good care of me on my birthday. First of all we had to put a silly hat and glasses on to introduce ourselves so thought hell I'm gonna tell them it's my birthday and as soon as I did they burst into rupturous applause and cheering and then broke into song, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.....!" Fabulous! Then came the starters, bread and dips, king prawns and mussels, mm-mmh, scrummy! I wiped those plates clean, and yep I was the last one standing still munching away whilst everyone else paced themselves for the main meal, I didn't want any to go to waste like. For my main meal I had lamb, so tasty. I also tried a bit of the t-bone steak, wow, it was melt in your mouth heaven. I had spent the majority of the evening talking to Bill and Jean from Hamilton and after the cruise they treated me to coffee in the nearby restaurant. They even gave me their number so that if ever I needed a place to stay in Hamilton I was welcome to stay with them. Well then, I gotta come back now!

Fri 06th June 2008

I've decided on theory it's still my english birthday this morning so if I manage to swim with dolphins this time it'll still be on my birthday. Unfortunately no luck again today, we did see another seal and a cuople glimpses of a mum and baby Brydes whale but again not enough to warrant our moneys worth so I got another voucher to come back again. Bit short on time seeing as I was leaving the country in 2 days but apparently the longest anyone's ever let it is 12 years so I'll be holding on to that one, ya never know! Had a fair old trek back to Auckland in the afternoon where I handed back my car all in one piece thank goodness. Went to the cinema that evening to see Sex and the City. I'd say there were only about 2 or 3 men in the whole cinema, the rest were women, it was like going to panto what with all the clapping, cheering, ooohs and aaaahs, hilarious, fab movie!

Sat 07th June 2008

Shopping, shopping and more shopping in Auckland and then posting it all home in a 100 dollar package, managed to relieve me of 4kg that did, a whole lot of weight off my shoulders, literally!

Sun 08th June 2008

BULA FIJI!!!

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