New Zealand: North Island

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September 30th 2006

Published: September 30th 2006

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ScottandKat

Auckland

A picture of Auckland on the fly as we pass on the motorway bridge.

Scott writes: Landing in NZ after two and half weeks in Fiji was like returning home after holidaying in the Med. It was cold, everyone was extremely pale and official looking and there was a huge Mcdonalds waiting for us on arrival.

It was getting late when we arrived in Auckland and after we smuggled more sweets into another country, this time Parcalls Bon-Bons (I dumped the open bag of cheese twists into the amnesty bin, i didn't want to push it), we booked a hostel for the night and made our way into the city.

Auckland

Auckland is NZ's largest city with over 20%!o(MISSING)f it's 4mil population living within its confines and 0%!o(MISSING)f its 40 million sheep. It has all the trapping of a modern city, good shopping, wining and dining and the arts etc but we didn't give Auckland a chance to get under our skin. After spending a couple of weeks on tropical islands with about 10 people wandering around we couldn't muster up too much interest to get back into orienteering around a busy city. Maybe a shame for sure as it looked a decent place but we didn't come to New Zealand

Sugar Loaf Island

Our first dive in the Poor Knights Island.

for the cities. So instead of walking around museums and see the sights, we walked around rent-a-car garages, talked about excess cover, unlimited milage and breakdown scenarios. Wicked! Anyway, we got a really 'sweet' deal on a Toyota Echo for $23 (UKP8) a day all in with Ezy Rentals and we were away from the city and on the road...again!

Time is of the essence for us on this visit as we only have 29 days to complete the whole country and there is much we wanted to do, some activities had already be cut from our wish list so we had to get a move on.

We headed north to visit the Bay of Islands and to do a subterranean dive at the Poor Knights Islands of the east coast. We had only had the car for about 2 hours and I told Kat we were driving too fast when we were pulled on State Highway 1 by a unmarked police car for speeding. I said to Kat you have done it now and they will deport us and will never be allowed back into the country. He was a very nice man who had clocked us

Seal's having a nosey

At the second dive, the seals have a little look at the mysterious creature in the water.

going 120 kph (20kph over), we stated our case about only arriving in the country 2 days ago, getting to grips with the Rules and Regs, We are Silly Tourists and are really sorry. He said with a smile that he understood, stamped the form and gave us a very nice fine to be paid within 56 days. We carried on until we reached our destination in silence and within the speed perimeters of New Zealand. (Please now change the word 'Kat' to 'Scott' to the above text to get the real story).

Poor Knights Diving

The set off on the dive the next morning from Tutukaka after spending the night on a camp site in a very nice cabin with all mod-cons and a veranda. The dive is billed to be a 'must do' and is categorized within some dive publication as one of the top ten dives for subterranean diving. It was a perfectly clear day and the ocean was like a mill pond. Our guide for the day was Dylan, the 'craziest' American from California we have ever seen. He was so enthusiastic and everything was 'sweet' and high fives. He absolutely loved what he did

The Bay of Islands

A view of the Bay of Island from 'Piehear' and Kat keeping herself warm with her gloves on. No coat though!

and it was really enjoyable diving with him. We explained that the coldest water we had dived in before was 24 degrees C and they explained why they had given us 7mm wetsuits. Eek it was pretty cold. We had a bit of trouble with our buoyancy but after a few minutes we were sorted and concentrated on seeing fish. We got to see some pretty decent fish, minced around in the underwater gardens spotting Moray Eels, some scorpion fish, a couple of Wrasse and some very weird and wonderful but tiny Nudibranch's. We also got the swim and dive with seals that were milling around on the rocks and few ventured into the ocean to have a look at us. It was cool.

After the dive we took a coastal drive up towards Piahia (Pronounced Piehear) within the Bay of Islands for a scout about. It is extremely picturesque with golden beaches, turquoise sea and green islands scattered about the place for a decent view where ever you are in the bay. Especially the golf course at the top of the bay. We ate Fish and Chips, (or Fesh and Cheps is how the Kiwi's pronounce it. Somewhere

Hot Water Beach

Kat tries to dig a hot bath but mother nature was having none of it.

along the line the sounds for e and i have been swamped. Its all very confusing sometimes when someone says 'Pen' and we hear 'Pin' and worrying when they say 'Six' and we hear 'Sex'.) stayed in a hostel overnight and then moved onto a place called hot water beach.

Hotwater beach is a very small place on the east coast where at low tide you can venture onto the beach and take advantage of the under-sand heating from the volcanic rocks. You have to pick your spot carefully and of course some other tourists have already got the best spot and sitting in his hot bath with only his pants on, dig your own hole with a rented spade and wade around nice hot water. Well that is what is supposed to happen. We got there when the tide was coming in, couldn't find a decent spot and every hole we did dig got filled in again when a huge wave rolled in. This happened about five time before we gave up trying. We were cussing the sea but had fun trying to make it work, other people around us enjoyed themselves in their sea warm baths so

A Steaming Geyser

While at the Thermal Wonderland we stumble across this huge steaming geyser.

we know that it is true.

Thermal City

Next stop, Rotorua. As New Zealand sits right on top of two tectonic plates, they have a few volcanoes in the vicinity and are also prone to the odd earth quake whenever Mrs. Nature feels like venting a bit of her frustrations and this town is full of Geysers letting off steam all over the town. The town is known to be the geothermal capital of NZ as there are numerous thermal parks around, steam coming out of any available hole in ground and there is a natural smell of sulphur (rotten eggs) constantly in the air which makes the town smell real nice. As we approached the town there were many looks at each other and a few 'is that you?', followed by 'NO, it's not me!' and then a few 'are you sure because something smells!'. Ha ha. While there we visited one of the thermal parks, traveled to the lookout via a gondola and scooted downhill on a three wheeled luge cart, went mountain biking and visited the polynesian spa.

The Wai-o-tapu thermal wonderland had a huge geyser that erupted everyday at 10 am with a bit

A Shooting Geyser

Next minute (after the attendant put in the magic formula) it erupts all over the place

of a hand from the park attendant, world famous multi colored champagne pool, lots of steaming thermal pools, volcanic creators and lakes and bubbling hot mud pools which was different to see. We had to run to see the geyser at 10am because surprisingly we were a little late getting there (We made it with 4mins to spare - easy).

After a morning of smelling like farts we decided to head for cleaner air and took a little ride on the gondola to take some photos from the lookout. However, there was an ulterior motive because also at the top are three luge tracks that run back down the hill. We were no way the oldest to be on such a ride so we bought a few tickets, strapped on our cycle helmets, had a little tester on the three wheeled cart and then hurled ourselves down the 1.5km track. We had a laugh and of course we had to race.

After our lungs were clear we headed back down to the sweet smell of sulphur and off to the Polynesian spa. The outside spa complex sits right on the lake and has been voted on of the

A Stinky Thermal Photo

A multi coloured expanse of volcanic water

top ten spas in the world by Conde Nast Traveller no less. The changing rooms had a very 'Turkish baths' feel about it as everything is out in open, lots of bare arse and willies flying around (Jenks you would of loved it). With our tickets we were allowed to visit a number of the hot mineral pools of varying temps, the hottest being 42 degrees c. After a nice relax, we had successfully shriveled up and head for the showers to wash the stinky water off us. Kat didn't want to dip her head under in the pools incase the smell got trapped in her hair and she still thinks she can smell it sometimes. :-)

The following day we hired two diamondback mountain bikes for a few hours and flew off down the road to tackle a few of the tracks in the area. The town has an extensive array of tracks within the near by forest and the UCI mountain bike and trials world championship had just occurred the week before in the town. Bugger for missing that but the tracks were great. We started off on a few easy grade 2 tracks, which were mainly

Mud Pools

The hot mud pool, one vent has just had a minor eruption

flat with a few drop offs and down hill sections and then we took on some harder ones (grades 3 & 4 ) with sweeping man made banked corners which made for some fast riding. Kat was finding it all a bit unsettling and enjoyed the first tracks the best but she gave it a go and completed some tricky downhill sections. After about 2.5 hours Kat headed back to hire place and I carried on to do a few more tracks. The tracks around there were awesome and I could of easily spent a few days just exploring those trials but I had got a taste of what they were like and that would have to do for now.

Blackwater Rafting

Next stop was the Waitomo caves. We traveled inland and stayed in a small retreat in Waitomo for the night before going on a caving, abseiling and black water rafting tour the following day . The main reason for entering the caves is there is a very impressive display of glow worms, staligmites and staligtites down there. We abseiled 35m down into the cave, zip-lined through into another section, jumped off with our floatation device into the

Waitomo Caving

Us in our full blackwater rafting gear. Hmmmm!

river and then took a leisurely ride along to see the gloworms. We then had to climb up through the cave system through a number of 'squeezes' and out after climbing on top of a small waterfall. It was all very excited stuff and some of it done in the complete dark which was very disorientating. It was bitterly cold down there but the guides kept us moving and we did stop for a tea and chocolate break so that warmed us up for the second half.

We moved on after that and drove further south. We had noticed the temp get slightly colder the more we move down and when we arrived at the ski field in Tongariro and stepped out of the car in our flip flops and t-shirt, we rapidly jumped back in and scratched around for something more appropriate. We had wanted to come here to do the legendary Tongariro Crossing. (Mordor territory for those of you who know Lord of the Rings). It is an eight hour walk across varied and spectacular volcanic terrain. In the presence of active volcanoes you pass a cold mountain spring, lava flows, an active crater, steam vents, emerald-coloured

Wellington

A view of 'Windy Welly' from the highest tram stop.

lakes and magnificent views of the surrounding area. However, as it is winter, the department of conservation recommends you only go on the walk if you have alpine experience, an ice axe and crampons. Our experience being limited to snow we get in the UK and sledging, one sharp dinner knife and trainers we gave it a miss. Gutted but we had no choice. We got some great photo's of the scenery any way and moved on south towards to capital Wellington.

Capital City

The capital is actually very small but it is the cultural hub of NZ. After setting ourselves up in a nice hostel with free breakfast and free wine in the evenings we headed off to see the national museum Te Papa. There are some excellent displays and an interesting section on the landscape of NZ, full of trivia on volcanoes and earthquakes and even a simulation of a house in an earthquake. Very unsettling. We took in the Houses of Parliament and rode on the only tram left in the city. The place is called 'Windy Welly' due to its position on the coast and believe me it is freezing when the wind gets up.

NZ Countryside

Not bad scenery as you drive

After battling the wind for a few hours, we sought the sanctuary of the local cinema and took in the critically acclaimed 'Snakes on a Plane'. Classic.

Now that's it for our north island adventure. We booked ourselves on the interislander ferry and looked forward to next few weeks on the south island.

A couple of things we haven't mentioned is that a lot of the time the drives from one place to another have been the most worth while activity with lots of stunning scenery. We have seen green fields as far as the eye can see with cattle and sheep in them, to mountainous stretches flanking you on either side of the road to snow capped mountains with low clouds surrounding them and we are unable to see just how high they actually are. We have so many photos of their amazing landscape.

Also the first time since leaving we have had a decent bar of chocolate. The chocolate is the same as ours due the similarity in weather so there is no need to add the waxy stuff to keep it in shape. Only a small thing but it put a big smile on