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Published: March 17th 2006
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Bay of Islands
'Hole in the rock'. seen on our boat trip to swim with dolphins. Hey everyone.
Its been a little while since i last wrote, but surprisingly have found it more of a challange to find internet places in new zealand in some of the little towns we've stayed in. In south america they seemed to be on every street corner.
We left Rio just under 2 weeks ago and had a bit of a journey to get through. However it went surprisingly quick and arrived in Auckland safe and sound!
On arriving in the city, once we'd got over the fact we could now speak english without getting confused looks we picked up our little campervan. We have now named her Barbie since we spent so much time on Cindy in S. America.
Didnt stay in the city to view auckland but headed straight up to the bay of islands at the north of the north Island. Some lovely scenery on the way. I'm the official designated driver and caroline is the route planner and navigator and seems to be working well as havent got too lost yet.
On our first day we went on a boat trip around all the islands and got to see some dolphins. We had the opportunity to go
Bay of Islands
Me and Caroline got active and went for a walk up the hill while others sunbathed. Aren't we good! and swim with them so we braved the cold water and jumped into the boom nets. We then rode in the boom nets which was fun and got out where the dolphins had been. Unfortuately they had swam off and it was time to get out to allow the other group to have a go so was a bit of a disappointment but fun tho! So i can kind of say we swam in the same vicinity as the dolphins.
From Bay of islands we drove along the coast via waipoua forest then along the coromandel pennisula. Again really good scenery and was a lovely drive as the sun was setting so looked really cool.
Not a great amount to do in Coromandel town, particulary as the weather hasnt been that great. WE're finding it a little chilly here, but that may be because of the heat we got used to in Brazil. Did some costal walks to Cathedral cove, which was a lovely little cove but not the same in the rain i suppose.
Next stop was rotarua. With the hot springs and thermal mud pools. Went to a couple of parks and saw a traditional mauri concert in
Coromandal Penninsula
Yet another sunset as we were driving at dusk! 'te whakarewareiwa' (tyr saying that one!) which initially was all quite bizarre as the park was actually a local mauri village and they put on a little concert in their kind of town hall and they did the traditional warrior dancing with the tongue sticking out and protruding eyes which signifies difiance. Ended up being quite a fun day.
WE also went down to visit lake taupo which is huge (apparently the size of singapore), we stayed in a camp site that was attached to a thermal spring resort so had a chilled out afternoon there and had our own little private spa! We've been doing lots of walking too and walked to the huka falls which we're cool and really blue but both agree that we may have been spoiled a little by iggassu falls as they were a tad smaller!
We also managed to meet up with one of my friends from back home and her boyfriend which was cool. Chance to catch up and find out all the spots they had been visiting in the South Islands.
Next stop was the Waiotomi Caves on the west coast. Here we to the 'black abyss' which was an adventure
Cathedral Cove
Another little walk we did at the Bay of Plenty/coromandal tour into the caves to see the glow worms. We both had a fab day, highlight of North Island so far. First we had to abseil a 35metre vertical drop into the caves and then on zip line in the dark which opened up into a cave full of the glow worms, or rather they're more like maggots apparently and they glow because they are burning of their excrement, so basically we went into some dark, cold caves to see glowing maggort poo. Wicked day though. W then did some walking through the caves and swimming in places as the water came up to chest height and higher. Then we squeezed through a few tight spaces and climbed up a couple of waterfalls!
From there it was a drive straight to tongariro national park with the aim to do the tongariro crossing, which passes between the 2 mountains. I think it was this area which featured on Lord of the Rings, but since neither of us are fans, that didnt mean much to us. The crossing goes to an altitde of about 1800 and we'd heard that you have to choose your day for the weather as one girl we
spoke to had done it a few days earlier and said it was hell and people were turning back as the weather had closed in so much. We thought we'd see how it was and were supposed to get up 5am the next day. However, us being us decided to roll over and go back to sleep as it was really windy outside. Got up later and was too late to do the crossing so we opted for another walk and got to see the lakes which was good.
So, so far lots of driving, scenery and walking. Now in wellington and have met up again with a couple of girls from our truck in S. America one of which lives in Wellington which is really cool.
Off to the South island where were going to keep our campervan and tour round rather than get the bus as originally planned. We're enjoying our freedom too much and love the fact we can go whenever and whenever we please.
Ta ta for now
Nads x x x
Ps been a while since i wrote that entry as we're now in the south island and visited nelson first and now in Motueka
which is at the start of the able tasman national park and we went sea kyaking today which was ace. Of to kaikoroa soon to go whale watching. All good!!
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Auntie Carol
non-member comment
The eyes have it
I think you will need to practice your "bug" eyes before you take up Maori dancing...We are only three hours flight from NZ and never been...you have put us to shame. I think it might be time to rectify that! It really looks like you are making the most of every opportunity. Can't believe you are not a fan of "lord of the Rings"