New Zealand Road Trip!!!!!!!

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New Zealand - a huge version of Devon and Cornwall with a few mountains and glaciers thrown in for good measure...... Started in Auckland where our hire van wasn't waiting for us at the airport as expected, all was resolved in a matter of a few hours though and we were on our way! First we had a little look in Auckland although most confusing, driving, talking English to strangers and suffering a bad case of jet-lag, we decided to head north a bit so went up to this place called Walkworth and stayed at a cute campsite with pink sheep! Met some very very friendly NZ'ers who gave me fish and shared their beer with us till we went to sleep! They were working on a new carpark at “Goat Island” and recommended us to go and have a look it was beautiful and after chatting to a snorkeller from Stoke decided to go and hire out some wetties and have a dip ourselves, saw some huuuuge snappers and a small (3foot) Rays, it was really cool snorkel shame it had clouded over and visibility wasn't fantastic, that afternoon we got on the road and headed towards the Coromandel Peninsular, did a bit of “freedom camping” as we found a great spot right on the beach and woke up to some fantastic views, we then got on the road again and after a bit of poor map reading on my behalf managed to get Darren 1 of the 4 roads we arent allowed on in the van in New Zealand oooops! Was severley not paved and had a fair bit of debris on it! We kept on driving and got onto the other coast where we found a beautiful beach and a great “freedom camping” carpark the following day we went down from our fantastic camping space to Cathederal cove a bit like Durdle door but you can walk through and top is cathederal shape, then we went to Hot water beach but tide was just changing so couldn't get in one of the pools dug on the sand where hot water seeps up for a bath so we just went in the sea instead, the next couple of days we just milled around in the bay of plenty and headed down to Rotarura and onto Taupo, We did a spot of “freedom Camping” one night and when I woke up and got out the van couldn't believe my eyes there was a cockrel struting around crowing its head off (dont know how I didnt hear it) and it looked exactly like my old chicken Apple!! We had to go to the shop for breakfast things but I was insistent on returning to the same spot so I could feed the chicken and when we got back his 4 girlfriends had woken up too!! There was a little black one (exactly like mine) a little grey one (exactly like my one) and a little brown one (exactly like my one!!) I took great delight in feeding and watering them as Darren organised breakfast(and also hunting for eggs but couldnt find any!!) That same day we we did the crazy NZ thing and did a 15,000 feet SKYDIVE!!!!! Was such a rush as you hurtle towards the ground at 120 miles an hour for 1 minute before the parachute goes up! Was very very fun and had it not been so expensive would have seriously considered another go! That evening we drove down to Turangi and the Tongario National Park where lots of Lord of the Rings was filmed beautiful landscape with snow capped volcanoes all around, we stayed just for a day after a couple of walks and headed down to Wanganui, where we found a lovley campsite with a very friendly chap running it called Philip, after using a kitchen for the first time in a few nights the following morning we hired out a canoe and went for a lovely paddle on the lake where there was some waterskiing competition we acquired 2 caterpillars from Philip which we called N and Z ( N being the smaller one) the next day we bought them a Milkweed plat which these kind of caterpillars really love they spent all day eating! After visiting Fielding (the most beautiful town in NZ) via the country roads (Phillip very kindly gave us his A-Z on New Zealand which proved invaluable!!) we had one day in Wellington where we visited the fantastic Te Papa muesum really was great recently opened and some really interesting exhibits like the worlds largest octopus which was preserved in some liquid like a giant jar it was over 8 metres long!! and some whopping fossils and shells and lots of information on Maori culture, spent a good afternoon exploring before becoming “museumed out” The following day we were on the ferry to the South Island, what a suprise we had when we saw the boat was called “Pride of Cherbourg” the boat did look familiar and once aboard I asked about the interesting name and it was confirmed it was one of P & O's fleet which plys the Channel between England and Cherbourg! What a journey the boat had been on! Apparently on loan and will soon be returning to the South Coast. Upon arrival to the South Island we immediatley started on the driving and drove down to Kaikoura where there were plently of New Zealand fur seals sunning themselves on the rocks, the following day we went whale watching which was incredible to see such amazing creatures on the flesh, the particular whale was a sperm whale of 35 years (a teenager in whale years) who will stay in the shallow drop offs where the cool current from the depths rises and brings food up with it. After we saw a huge school of hectors dolphin one of the rarest and there must have been 500 of them frolicing and jumping right near the boat! From here we visited the beautiful Hamner Springs thermal spa with about 10 thermal pools outside fed from the nearby volcanoes, after sunset it was really beautiful with all the pretty lights. Next to visit was Christchurch unfortunatley visiting on a Sunday most of the shops were shut but there was a good artesan market, which we browsed before heading down to the Banks Peninsular where we saw a pretty fishing village called Akaroa, by night we decided to make a start on the big drive to Arthurs Pass to save some daylight time tomorrow, we saw plenty of hedgehogs although no Kiwis! After a beautiful day at Arthurs Pass we went over to GreyMouth and found a great beach with pumelling surf whilst in the region we visited the Pancake cliffs which were great and that afternoon went to Hokitika where I was treated to a Beautiful New Zealand Jade (ponamu) heart necklace, legend has it these have to be gifted and you cannot buy for yourselves and are very sacred in Maori tradition as the stone is porous and as you wear it the oils from your skin penetrate the stone (its all very spiritual). Next was Glacier Country visiting Franz Josef first and attempting a 8hr walk little did we know it was badly uneven ground and solid uphill for the first 4! never been on a walk like it and a little dissapointingly only had a couple of decent viewpoints as the forest was so dense, then the heavens opened and we got Soaked!!! A bit unfortunate when you are living in a van its pretty hard to get things dry!! That evening we were lucky enough to see some glow worms which a chap we'd met at Kaikourea had told us about they were just nestling under a felling tree. Fox Glacier the following day was just as beautiful as Franz Josef we could get withing just 80 metres of the Glacier affording great views of the “ice river” we managed to get to a small town called Wanaka after driving through some amazing countryside and had an evening at “Cinema Paradiso” which is an incredibly small picture house with old sofas for seats and even an old morris minor you can sit in!! After another few hundred kilometers drive we were at Dunedin and was hoping to see the yellow eyed penguins, at the first site of recommendation there was none but got excellent close up views of Albatrosses and cormerants, we went to a beautifully named bay “sandfly bay” where we could hopefully see the penguins, we did manage to see 2 but they were a long way off and light was low so it was hard to see them clearly luckily for us we got some fantasticly close up to some sea lions which were far bigger than the seals we had seen before and made such a noise! They were really interesting to watch! Realising we had just a few days left we decided to get back on the road onto Milford Sounds, we didnt quite realise how little was there until we got there not even a pertrol station at the end of a 100 no exit road!!! luckily we would have enough. We went on a Milford Sound Cruise which was beautiful, such great landscapes and scenery and the weather made it very moody, with overcast skies but no rain! We soon shot over to Queenstown where Darren found his perfect Maori Ponamu necklace, in the shape of a Chisel! We spent an afternoon exploring the beautiful town and the following day on the famous “Shotover Jet” (unfortunatley in the rain!!) and at Arrowtown (famous for its gold rich rivers) where we did a spot of gold panning which was halted by the rain!!! so New Zealand was done (for this time at least!) 2500 miles in 23 days, we did plenty of driving!! And plenty of beautiful sights seen! Made even better by the lovely people we met along the way!

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Comments

[Eric]

I enjoyed your NZ post. It made me want to go there. My blog is looking for travel photos. If you have time, email us some at [e-mail] and check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric

[jennny]

hello
What a home from home place was NZ, shame there weren't any eggs!!

[Bary]

trip
Hi Sarah, great to hear your news and that all is going fantastically. Loved the pictures, sounds amazing all the things you are doing - you'll never be able to settle back down when you're home - will always be an adventurer !!. Update from me, did the Canada trip. ab fab it was, saw bears, wolves, eagles, otters, beavers and loads more. Freezing cold in the rockies with plenty of snow, and glasiers as well - never been in a wildwerness before... , (just like yours couldn't walk on them as to dangerous) baking hot in the cities, you must go to canada, ,loved Vancouver, loved the rockies, loved Niagara, and toronto , you must add it to your list. Take care and enjoy it all, everyday is a gift !