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Published: October 30th 2008
Sophie going into Bilbo Baggins's House
These are the steps which Gandolf walked upWe arrived safe and sound in New Zealand after losing an entire day of our lives on the way.. how strange! More importantly for us it meant we were both one day nearer to our 30th birthday's because of this!
We were not however greeted with the sunshine we had hoped for on our arrival.. more like the weather we had been used to all our lives in the UK.. grey skies and rain, great! We'd only just arrived though we thought and it might only be a minor blip so we did our best to ignore it and hopped on the bus that would take us into central Auckland where we were staying for our first night here. It was so refreshing to actually be able to fully understand the bus driver and be able to ask him for detailed information on where we needed to go, something we certainly hadn't been able to do for the past 4 months in South America. We arrived in the busy city centre then left quickly to hop on another bus to Parnell where our hostel was located.
We only had one night in central Auckland so we spent the morning
Mt Ruapehu
This is an active volcano that last erupted in 1995, it was also featured in Lord of the Rings making the most of this time by sleeping and having lovely hot showers, lets face it we weren't going to be sleeping in a proper bed for a while so best to enjoy it while we could. We did manage to get ourselves up in the afternoon though and took a stroll to the city centre to have a little look round at what was on offer.. mainly shops as you can imagine so we didn't hang around long because our NZ budget is tight as it is without having the temptation of more clothes and shoes on offer.
The following morning it was the day to pick up our long awaited campervan and we were both so excited at the prospect of getting our own wheels and having the freedom to do what we want when we wanted to do it. We had opted for an Explore More van in the end and it was fantastic, we'd gone for a hi-top because of Dale's height and from Sophie's previous experience of renting a normal height van she was well aware of how annoying it can get when you can't stand upright to get changed! Our little camper came
Matariki Falls
These were featured in LOTR but no one seemed to know in which bit! complete with a cooker, grill, fridge and even a freezer so we were completely self contained with the exception of a toilet but who needs one of those when you can use natures toilets?!
Off we went into the wilderness.. well not quite.. our first stop was beautiful Piha beach, a very rugged beach which apparently gets quite busy in the summer but we just had to imagine this while we sat there in the rain with only a small handful of mad sufers braving the weather. As we were to find out over the next few weeks this was going to be a scene that would be repeated along the whole coastline! The following day we also visited the even more rugged (and more famous) beach of Kareikare which was used for scenes in the film the Piano, again no people and grey skies but we were determined to see these places blue skies or not!
As you can imagine we have travelled far and wide to many many different places over the past few weeks so we didn't think that typing up a full list of every place we have been would make very intersting reading
Mt Doom
aka Mt Ngauruhoe! for all you out there so we will just give you a few of our highlights so far so you can get a bit of an insight into what we have been up to....
Cape Reinga This desolate place in Northland is one of the must dos on a trip to the North Island of NZ. It's as far as you can go and at the very tip of the North in Northland.. surprising that! We managed to stop off at a beautiful DOC (Department of Conservation) site on the way at Rawara Beach and got a sample of what may be to come when we got to the top. The beach was pure white sand that dazzled even with the grey skies, it was here too that Dale managed to spot a pod of 8 dolphins crusing along the bay as he walked in the sand, he didn't have a wet suit and it was quite cold otherwise he would have dived in and had a go at swimming with them. After one night in this great site we ventured up to the Cape to view the much photographed Lighthouse, this was not after having to travel for
Nice boat on Bay of Islands
for one of the lucky people who get to live here! 23km on a gravel road that brought back the horrific memories of all those Bolivian bus rides as we bounced up and down in the van! The cape was spectacular and you had views of where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean and beyond... we decided to camp up in this area and found yet another great DOC site right next to Tapotupotu Bay, another beautiful white beach, even in the rain it's hard for your spirits to be dampened when you get views like this! The far Northland is certainly one of the more spectacular places we have visited on our North Island travels and we were so glad we made it up there.
Hot Water Beach This famous beach was on Dale's list of things to do in NZ when we were in the UK and we were so excited when we pulled up in the car park at spot on the best time to get there.. 2pm. This beach is famous because you can hire out a spade and dig your own private spa pool at 2 hours either side of low tide. We knew the pools would be hot but what we didn't expect
was quite how hot! We think we picked one of the hottest places right next to the rocks and in some areas of our pool it was so hot that you couldn't sit down in it! We had to keep trying to get the cold sea water in our pool to cool it down a bit! This beach is a huge tourist attraction though and there were 100's of people all digging away in the steam to get their own piece of a free spa bath. As soon as the low tide starts to go down though it's funny to watch those nearest the sea have their barriers swept down and the cold sea water fill their bath.. it doesn't take long for it to heat back up again though so all is not lost!
Waitomo Glow-worm Caves Another top of our list thing to do were the famous Glow worm caves in Waitomo. These caves were discovered by the Europeans around 1887 and that was when the first tour groups started exploring them complete with candles to be able to see. Nowadays it is a more organised affair as you can imagine, there are literally 100's of caves
in this area but only a few are permitted entry, the ones we opted to visit were Ruakuri and Waitomo, Ruakuri is more famous for the spectacular limestone formations (and a few glow worms) and the Waitomo is famous for having millions of glowworms in it and is the most famous of them all. We visited Ruakuri first which meant a 2km walk though the caves viewing the stalagtites and stalagmites along the way, seeing deep underground streams and waterfalls and a few of the much anticipated glowworms. It really is quite amazing but we were still getting to grips with our camera so apologies if this is not conveyed in our amateur photos! The Waitomo caves are very similar except you get to go in a 15 minute boat ride to view the worms themselves. Sophie got a fit of the giggles whilst going on the ride because we had been told to be very very quiet as loud noises can scare the worms and they will turn out their lights.. Sophie felt like she was about to sneeze and thought how funny it would be if she did and the lights of the worms just went out! Especially
Champagne Pool
In Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland as they take up to 4 hours to turn them back on again! Sneeze averted we enjoyed the trip and would recommend it to anyone coming over this side of the world.
Hobbiton This was probably one of the best things we have done on the North Island.. no thanks to Lonley Planet! The brilliant writers there did not rate this tour but we and everyone else we have spoken to who have been on it thought it was excellent and well worth the money. Hobbiton is actually found on a sheep farm in the centre of the North Island and the farmers reached an agreement with Peter Jackson that they could keep what was left of the sets up with a few conditions.. the staff were not to wear Hobbit Uniforms and the sets were not to be maintained to the same standard as they are seen in the film, so what you are left with are the rolling hills with the little hobbit houses in the side, the party tree and the lake.. without the styrofoa-m bridge & tavern! Our tour guide was excellent giving us lots of inside knowledge about the film and giving us handy
tips on what photos to take where to impress all you people back at home. Thankfully for us we did this tour on a beautifully sunny day which really made the most of our time there.
Rotorua & Taupo Rotorua and Taupo are famous for two things.. extreme sports and more importantly the bed of thermal activity that goes on just beneath the town. We had expected to see some activity but as we approached the town it was literally steaming from every point and looked awesome. The only downside to this is that where there is thermal springs.. there is eggy smells! Poo!!! You kind of get used to it after a while but after sleeping in our camper for the evening and being protected from the stench the last thing you want while eating your weetabix is the smell of eggs! When we first got to Rotorua we went down to the park in the centre of the city, this park is like no other because they have grass.. and birds.. and trees but instead of duck ponds they have steaming thermal lakes, pools and mud swamps! It is great to be able to look around at
Bungy Jump View
It was a fantastic setting it all and all for absoloutely nothing too! There are a choice of 2 thermal parks in Rotorua but we opted for Wai-O-Tapu, sadly we missed the geyser that only goes up at 10.15 but we got to go to the Thermal wonderland and look at all the beautifully coloured lakes and streams laid out along the walkways and loved our time there trying to get it straight in our heads just how deep these pools go to.. nearly to the centre of the earth.. well almost!
In our time in Rotorua and Taupo Dale also experienced the other main attractions in the form of Zorbing and Bungy Jumping (read about the bungy below!). For those who are not sure of what zorbing is take a look at the photos which should make things a bit clearer... basically you get in a huge plastic ball filled with water and get pushed down a hill! Sophie was hoping for the strapped in non-wet version to be available but due to adverse wind conditions and the threat of being blown off course and away to god knows where this one was not running so she just had the fun of being the
camera person!
Bungy Jump Dale has always wanted to do a bungy jump but has always thought that day would never come when he went to go to sleep at night, knowing the next morning he would be throwing himself off a 60m cliff into the rapids of New Zealand's longest river... but the days had run out and the time was now! On ariving it was still late morning and walking up to Taupo's famous bungy he started to realise that there were not many people there... He wasn't expecting queues as if Next had just put up a 50%!o(MISSING)ff sale sign outside but he was expecting a few more people than just him and Sophie! As the time was ticking ever closer with his guts wrapping themself around each other trying to find a place to hide and after two trips to the toilet with glances in the mirror of his terrified face he was going to go for it...
After coming out of the second trip to the toilet he realised that a crowd had gathered and were waiting eagerly by the edge of the platform to see who was next....What was this another crazy
White sand at Rawara Beach
Dale saw a pod of 8 dolphins swimming along this bay fool who had decided to just go for it? As he looked around he couldn't see anybody on the edge of the platform and then realised the crazy fool they were waiting to see was him!!! So as he walked the plank... sorry... ramp that struts out 60m above the gorge cliffs he was greeted by a very profesional Kiwi who ran through all the safety instructions (don't hold onto the cord) and then says "can you step on to the edge for me Dale." Such harmless words but so terriffying to him because at that moment he knew time had ran out
....3
....2
....1 Bungeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
.....araaaaah
.....splosh
and then ping... straight back out of the water! WOW and what a rush with wind flying through his face and arms bent back he felt like Superman decending into a dive about to save a victim from a falling building. What an incredible feeling, what was all the worrying about? As he was winched back down to the little rubber dingy he had this permanent smile on his face that would not disappear and once back on dry land making his way back up the steps there were people patting
him on the back saying "well done man." The feeling would not go away and he felt so chuffed with himself for most of the day and he couldn't help thinking... where the next bungy would be on our route.... because boy he would love to do it again!!
We have travelled to the top of the island, east and west and New Zealand has certainly lived up to expectations! We haven't enjoyed the bad weather so much, especially as it put a stop to one of our most wanted things to do.. the Tongariro Crossing.. the snow was still firmly on the ground and we were warned of Artic conditions and decided not to risk having to call the emergency crew to rescue from the top of a snow covered mountain! We are really looking forward to what lies ahead on the South Island though, everyone we have met who was travelling in the opposite direction, and those who have moved from South to North, has told us that it is much better and more beautiful. We also hope that we can get out of the cities a bit more because staying in Top 10 Holiday Parks every
night is really killing our budget!!
Apologies for the huge amount of photos on this blog but we both thought that photos are more interesting than a run down of every village, campsite, town and tourist attraction we have been to!!!!
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Cherise
non-member comment
I can tell you which bit those falls featured, at the beginning when Arwen is galloping off with Bilbo and then she crosses over some water and turns back and makes the water rise and wash away the black riders....and breathe! I hope u almost old buggers ;) are really well and lookin forward 2 the next installment of the Sophie and Dale adventure xxx