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Published: July 18th 2009
Day 86 to 88 - Auckland
We arrived into Auckland and immediately the weather felt very 'English'. Granted we had been living in our beachwear for the past week on a tropical island but it had the distinct feel of a late Autumn's day and in a strange way it felt quite nice. We took a shuttle bus to our accommodation in Mt.Eden which was a lovely little B&B. For those of you who are interested in rugby we were within walking distance of the Mt.Eden rugby stadium which is set to host the rugby world cup final in 2011. The B&B was a real gem, particularly as we were upgraded for free on arrival. Our room had a red theme and even had a chandelier in the bathroom! How posh is that?! Anyway, we went and took practically all of our clothes to be washed as a week in paradise does little for their odour. We then caught the bus into town and went up the famous skytower to take in the views and watch the crazy people do the bungee/controlled jump thing off the side. The bravest thing we did was stand on the glass floor panels at
the top! Daredevils!
The next day we went and sorted out our bus tickets and other bits which involved spending huge amounts of money. We decided to continue this theme by heading to an outdoor shop and buying some thermals and various other things to prevent us from freezing to death on the South Island. I know we are getting old when we get carried away shopping in outdoor stores, getting excited by the collapsible bags and the like.....so sad.......Once we had lightened our wallets significantly we caught the ferry across to Devenport. This is a very quaint little place with nice shops and cafes AND a volcano!!! Not a live one anymore, its more like a large grassy hill now, but none-the-less we went and stood on top of it!
The next day was a fairly boring one from a blog perspective as the main activity was a trip to the Auckland Museum. We were both pretty tired and ended up skimming past a lot of the exhibits as we didn't want to miss anything out but couldn't be bothered to look at them properly! In the evening we caught the bus to Rotourua which took about
four hours. The bus was fairly empty which was nice as we could spread out a bit. When we arrived in Rotourua it was noticeably colder and this made the short walk to our hotel slightly more uncomfortable, that and the smell of rotten eggs......
Day 89 to 91 - Rotourua
Now the smell of rotten eggs was not emanating from either of us, Rotourua is a hotbed of thermal activity and large plumes of sulphurous smoke make their way up through the earth. Fortunately I had contracted a head cold meaning I could not smell it quite so badly but poor Marta felt the full force. Never have I been so glad my nose was blocked! We arranged all our attraction tickets on the first day and then went and had a look at the very small Rotourua Museum which used to be a bath house where people could take advantage of the naturally occurring thermal springs. It smelt pretty bad here too. On the evening we went to the modern day equivalent, the outdoor thermal pools......heaven! It was so nice to sit under the stars knowing it was freezing cold out of the water but nice
and toasty in it. Only downside? Yep you've guessed it.....it smelt. This required us to wash our swimming stuff straight away when we got back to the hotel.
The next day we went to the Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland (their name for it not mine). On the way we stopped to see some bubbling mud pool and the famous Lady Knox Geyser which errupts everyday at 10.15 am on cue with a little assistance from some soap powder (something to do with breaking the surface tension). After admiring the impressive erurption we arrived at the park and had a walk around for a couple of hours. The sights and smells are amazing (ok maybe not the smells) and the pictures really do not do it justice. Very impressive stuff!
Our last day was spent tying up the loose ends as usual and we also took a trip to the Rainbow Springs Nature Reserve. We started with a Kiwi Experience which was a guided tour to learn about the breeding programme going on there and all about the kiwi in general. We even got to touch one! Once we had finished the tour we looked around the nature reserve which
although not that big it was a nice way to spend the afternoon. Then came the evening and our taste of Maori culture. We went to the Tamaki Village where we were able to walk around the mock village, enjoy a traditional hangi meal and witness the haka! The evening was ok but like our Aboriginal experience it felt highly manufactured but then again it was what we were expecting. Let's just say it was a little 'Disneyfied'.
After the show we went back to the hotel and waited for a couple of hours as we were catching the night bus to Wellington and this is where the real fun begins........ The bus arrived and it was practically full already so we had to sit apart. It looked like someone had rounded up all the hobos in New Zealand and put them on this bus giving a powerful combined odour. It didn't help that it was very, very cold and the driver saw no need to put the heating on......why would he? He was wearing his shorts! The fun didn't end there though as about halfway through the trip in some pokey little back town a tyre burst on
the bus! Luckily there was a garage not too far away and after about an hour the tyre was changed and we were on our way but my god was that a cold hour!
Day 92 to 93 - Wellington
We arrived into Wellington tired and grumpy so got a taxi to the hotel and went to bed for a few hours. When we got up we went and had a walk around the city, which is pretty small for a capital, before getting some food and then getting an early night. The next day we went to the national mueum Te Papa. Now this is an excellent museum with loads to see but fatigue got the better of us again and we started to rush towards the end. We then headed down to Cuba Street, to get some food, which is the cool part of town. The sort of people who run the cafes have long beards and wear berets or caps like revolutionaries! Very cool I'm sure!
Day 94 to 96 - Queenstown and Milford Sound
We flew into Queenstown in a tiny little aeroplane which was quite an experience in itself. The scenery
on the way over the south island was quite spectacular and we began to understand what all the fuss had been about. Queenstown is a typical ski resort town with lots of eateries and shops which is all very pleasant. However, the reason for us coming here was to go to Milford Sound which is arguably one of the most spectacular sights in the world. The bus picked us up just after 7 am and we started the four hour drive there. About one hour in we were hit with a bombshell......the Milford Road was closed due to the weather and it looked like our trip was over....Nooooooo!!! We had flown all the way there and given ourselves a one day window to do it which basically meant we were stuffed! We had stopped for a coffee whilst the driver tried to find out some more information and then the good news came......the road was open and we could go....yippee!!! We were so relieved and it made the trip there even more satisfactory as we had nearly been denied. The views along the way were exceptional and some of the most spectacular I have ever seen. Again, the photos do
not do it justice and if you ever get the chance to go I strongly recommend it. When we arrived we took a boat trip for two hours and got to see some seals which was pretty cool. It was then another four hours back on the bus which was pretty painful before collapsing into bed!
The third day was really a transit day as we caught the bus at some ungodly hour for the eight hours to Christchurch! This did little for our fatigue having spent so long on the bus the day prior.
Day 97 to 99 - Christchurch
Our first day proper was a write off and we basically slept all day........very exciting blog material I know. So straight onto day two which involved a haircut, some laundry and er.......well not a lot really. So onto day three and by now we had recovered sufficiently to get moving again. We started off by going punting on the river which was a really nice way to spend half an hour.....very civilised indeed! Then we caught the bus to the gondola and went up to the top to take in the view which was quite spectacular
again. Back down the hill and onto the tram for a whistle stop tour of the city with lots of very familiar place names along the way. As you can see we made up for our slow start on this day!
Today we are killing time as we are about to fly back to Auckland. We fly out to Hawaii tomorrow! Yippee! Although this does involve a rather long journey again as we have to change in Fiji but never mind, this is the life of a traveller I suppose...!!!
Anyway, as usual don't tell us about the typos because we don't care! Hope you are all well and we will update you from Hawaii!
Take care,
Nick & Marta
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Chris Jones
non-member comment
Rotten Eggs.
I can simpathise with you on the rotten egg smell I get it a lot, I have a hunch it might be Luce but I think she'd disagree. P.S. You 2 look well hope the rest of the trip goes well but am looking forward to seeing you now. Billy x