New Zealand - North Island

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Friday 19 February - Thursday 4 March 2010

I have had the best time exploring New Zealand! Its such a beautiful country with the most impressive landscapes ever - completely loved it! Me and Narj spent approximately 23 days in New Zealand exploring both North and South Island and here's my summary on the North Island:

Our route in North Island consisted of the following: Auckland - Paihia - Whitanga - Rotorua - Waitomo - Taupo - River Valley - Wellington.

Auckland

We arrived in Auckland on a Friday and had the weekend to explore the city. This was the first time in our journey that me and Narj actually split and went our separate ways as we both had family in Auckland that we wanted to spend time with. So I went off to Pukekohe and stayed with my family who lived on the outskirts in the countryside which was lovely. Saw all the famous potato fields and large houses.

On the Saturday, me and my cousin Meera met up with Narj and her cousins' cousin Pav in the city to do all the touristy attractions including the Sky Tower, Museum and then later in the evening explored Auckland's nightlife (which was lots of fun as always). Auckland is really hilly! We were all shattered by the end of the day having walked everywhere. But somehow we managed to find the energy to go out to a few bars and danced the night away.

My highlight in the city was the view from Mount Eden which was spectacular - you could literally see the whole city from there.

There wasn't that much to do and see in Auckland really, although I'd say a weekend was plenty of time to explore and experience the city.

Paihai

Next was the Kiwi Experience bus. We had already purchased our bus tickets around NZ with Kiwi Exp and we only realised on our first day that we were really restricted in terms of time for the route we had chosen to do. 😞 Luckily the Kiwi Exp drivers are extremely helpful and friendly and suggested that we book a flight from Christchurch in the South back to Auckland to save on 3/4 days - which is what we did - phew, we could relax.

Paihai was a lovely little town up north where you could go dolphin watching which is exactly what we did as soon as we got there. It was a really nice day, warm, hot even, sunny - perfect weather to be on a boat. Within 3 minutes of our boat journey we spotted a pod of dolphins. I felt so excited first seeing them as I havent really seen wild dolphins before. And its weird because I never thought they would be as big as they were - they were huge really long. And they came right up to our boat really playfully - it was amazing to watch. Our boat driver said if you whistled or make noises they may hear you - so me and Narj climbed onto the deck and started making stupid noises to attract the dolphins. Didnt really work that well, probably because I can whistle and as much as Narj says she can - she can't either.

Whitanga

Also known as Mercury Bay. Didn't really do that much here, however on the way there we did lots of trekking. I'd say most of my time spent in NZ involved A LOT of walking and as some of you may know, I hate walking!!! But, because there was some really good sights to see on our walks it made it a little more bearable. I'm sure Narj will say I moaned all the way but I can assure you I didn't, well not on every walk anyway.

Rotorua

I didn't really like this place because it stank - it did literally smell of rotten eggs all the time! When our bus door opened and I caught my first whiff, I started retching. The smell was caused by the sulphur in the area rising from the ground. The bonus was that there were loads of hot pools you could relax in which were good for your skin. We went into one of the spas, thought we'd have a look around before we purchased a ticket and it was a good job we did look around first because the place was heaving with tourists. I can't see how anyone was able to relax in that spa personally. Instead Narj suggested we should go to the museum. As much as I tried to be interested and stay awake, the museum was just not that great. It was all about the history of the building which used to be a public bath and how the sulphur started rotting it away so they had to close it down.

The only good thing in this town was that our hostel room had its own personal kitchen and small dining area - yay! But hardly any utensils to cook with, so not so great. Made some pasta we bought from a Pak'N'Save and it wasn't that great either.

Waitomo

Here we watched a random sheep show which was actually really funny. They showed us how they shear sheep and then later we watched a sheepdog in action. The show was funny because the host got the audience involved in little competitions which if I explained now wouldn't sound so funny - but it was at the time.

One of the best activities I have done so far was black water rafting in the Waitomo Caves. I completely didn't know what to expect here other than we were going to be in dark caves, fine I thought I'll just go along with it. And obviously rather than signing up for a shorter option we chose the longest - Black Abyss 5 hours.

The rafting guys provided us with wet suits, wellington boots, helmet & torch. Then they went through a short session on how to abseil, so we practiced just outside one of the cave entrances. I've surprisingly not done any abseiling before, but I managed to get the hang of it so I didnt feel too bad.

Anyways, we were to enter the caves via a 35 metre drop down a pitch black hole which we had to abseil down ourselves. Great(!) I looked down and you couldn't see the bottom of the cave at all - looked scary. But the rafting guys assured us it was fine....so off we went in one at a time. It actually wasn't so bad because you couldnt see the bottom so there was nothing to be scared of really. You just ended up abseilling down for a really long time, slowly. Gosh, what an entrance!

Next we were told to zip-line across inside the caves to another sections - in complete darkness i.e. with your helmet torch switched off. WHY?!?!! - is what I was thinking. Did it anyway and then I understood why. On the otherside of the zip-line you entered a larger cave which was coated with glow worms on its ceilings so the top of the cave was all lit up in a green kinda colour. Really pretty looking - I just thought WOW!

Then came the so called 'rafting', I'd calling it tubing really. We basically were all given a black round tube each, like a tyre, and we had to sit in it and float in the water. The concept sounds fine especially given we had already done some tubing in Laos, however this was a completely different experience all together. So we were given hot chocolate to drink and a flap jack beforehand. Me and Narj just looked at each other and thought OMG is it going to be that cold that we need this beforehand!?! And yes we certainly did need it! Bloody hell - the water was FREEZING!!!! I've never been in freezing cold water like that before - ahh!! You'd think your body gets used to it, but it doesnt. Narj literally was shivering throughout the whole time in the water. I kept on trying to think of Fiji and how hot we felt on the beaches there.

We went through the caves in our tubes and the rafting guys showed us some more glow worms and explained to us what other creatures could be found in the caves. Then we ended our experience with a climb up three waterfalls which was actually quite dangerous, but so cool doing!

My muscles ached afterwards. But it was well worth it! 😊

Taupo

Lake Taupo was beautiful. Such a lovely blue lake with mountains as a backdrop. Shame we didn't spend that much time there. Instead we chose to do the Tonagrio Crossing which is famed to be the best one day hike in NZ - and it was AMAZING!!! We left our hostel at 5am and didnt get back until 4.30pm. The hike itself took approximately 7 hours and was quite challenging in parts. The scenery along the way was breathtaking. We went passed volcanoes, mountains, water pool, fields and foresty areas. Along the way we saw Mount Doom filmed in Lord of the Rings. Very impressive!

After our long day me and Narj relaxed in the jacuzzi in our hostel 😊 Well deserved if you ask me.

Wellington

Being the capital city of NZ it certainly didnt feel as grand as Auckland did. But it was a nicer city, maybe because there was a port and the city itself is based on and around hills.

Here we stayed with my relatives Damyanti Aunti, Dahya Uncle and Tejal. Its so nice staying with family especially whilst you're travelling as you get some homely comforts which you really miss out on e.g. home cooked food, an accessible clean kitchen, a washing machine and somewhere to dry your clothes, a nice living area....

In Wellington we met up with 2 girls from the Kiwi Exp bus Nina and Helena. The girls were form Denmark and we got along with them well throughout the trip so far. All of us explored the Te Papa Museum together. The museum was good but I think it is over-rated. Throughout all our travels, when we bump into travellers who had already visited NZ they all rave on about how amazing this museum is. And yes, I'd agree it is definitely a good one, very interesting, but not as amazing as others made it out to be. I hate when that happens, when you have really high expectations on something and it just turns out to be not so great.

Anyways one place which I did find interesting was the Weta Caves workshop in Miramar. We ventured out of the city of a random area to visit the Weta Caves which is where they produced a lot of the models and creatures used in the making of the Lord of the Rings as well as other films. The workshop area/museum opened to the public is tiny as they dont allow you to enter the actually workshop as its in use. As soon as you enter the musuem you're greeted by a life size model of an ork which is huge and looked so real if you ask me. Then you see a model of Golam which they actually used in the production of LOTRs and again I'd say it looked exactly like the Golam from the movie. Then you get taken to the back to watch a short video about the company and the workshop which is quite interesting as they take you through some history and talk about how they make everything look real. The workshop is well worth the visit.

Wellington was our last destination in North Island and up to then I have been very impressed with the landscapes we have passed along the way down and the activities we have taken part in. I wonder if South Island can be any better......

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