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Published: November 25th 2006
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Kia Ora!! (no not the drink!! Hello in Maori!)
So we left South America behind (after an awesome couple of months) and flew into Auckland at 4am (after losing a day on the way here!!!!). After finding our backpackers hostel we set about exploring the city. The main attraction in Auckland is the Sky Tower (the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere). We got the lift up and watched mad people throw themselves off the top!!!! (don't worry they were attached to a sky dive wire!!!- see photos) While we were enjoying the fantatic views of the city we also decided to treat ourselves and booked dinner in the revolving restaurant right at the top. Dinner was awesome and the views at night were amazing. We had a great night with Hannah and Gareth (friends we met in s.america and we spent 2 weeks travelling on north island with and will hopefully catch up with on south island at some point) lots of very good food and free wine - brilliant!
New Zealand is hosting the rugby world cup in 2011, and they make sure everybody knows about it. On the harbour they are counting down the number of
days, hours, minutes and seconds until the world cup starts next year in France. Do you think they are desperate to win back the world cup??????
We spent 2 days exploring the city and planning how to get around New Zealand. After weighing up all our options we decided to hire a campervan (Donald (because of DLD reg) - see photos) and so from Auckland we headed north up to the Bay of Islands. Here we decided to take a day trip out on a boat to explore all the Islands. They are truly beautiful. Some of the islands have been bought by private investors and others have just been completely untouched. We were able to stop on one island to explore and headed up to the top of the island to a look out. From here we could see all the islands and the legendary 'hole in the rock'. This is an island which is furthest out of the bay which has been eroded away by the sea to leave a massive hole. We were able to get the boat through it and take some awesome photos.
From the Bay of Islands we headed further North up
to 90 mile beach. This is the longest stretch of beach in New Zealand which can be driven up. It was very strange standing on a beach with absolutley no one about only for a coach full of tourists to come roaring up the beach towards us (whilst waving!).
After exploring the entire of Northland we decided to head back down past Auckland and head down towards Rotoura. Rotoura lies right in the middle of New Zealands geological fault line, consequently there are lots of volcanoes, hot springs and geysers except everywhere stinks of rotten eggs from the sulphur. We saw Te paia geyser which shoots up to 14m in the air which was very impressive except it rained all day so we didn't spend that long there (The weather here has been very unpredictable, rain and wind one minute then bright sunshine - very odd!). We spent a couple of days exploring Rotorua and stayed at a very nice campsite with free hot springs - great!!
From Rotoura we headed around the East cape and down to Gisborne. We visited the most eastern point in New Zealand and in Gisborne Mike tried to organise a surf lesson
except it was cancelled because the surf was non exisistant. They hadn't had any surf for 7 days which is unheard of. Just our luck! After spending a night in Gisborne we headed a bit further south down the coast to Napier. Napier was leveled in a huge earthquake many years ago and was rebuilt in the art-deco era. Consequently this makes the city a very beautiful city to walk around. We also enjoyed another dip in some hot springs again (It's a hard life this travelling malarky!).
When totally relaxed we headed inland towards Lake Taupo, back to the geologically active area of New Zealand. Here we witnessed more steaming mud pools and huge waterfalls. Lake Taupo itself is a huge volcano and is surrounded to the south by Tongarorio National Park. Here are three volcanoes which are still active but the area is better known as Mordor (for all you Lord of the Ring fans). In the middle of the park stands a huge cone shaped volcano which was used as Mount Doom in the films. It is across this mountain that the Tongorio crossing passes, one of the "great" walks in New Zealand.
So we
decided to attempt it. It is a 17km hike (climb becky says!) and takes 6-8hrs to complete. The forecast was "a fine day with a light south westerly wind". Fantastic we thought some great views and some good weather. HA!!
We started the walk at 8am in blue sky with hot sunshine and high hopes of seeing the fantastic views we'd heard about (Volcano craters and lakes etc etc). However our hopes were soon dashed. The higher we climbed, the worse the weather got. About an hour in the wind picked up, the rain came in and the cloud sunk all around us. We were soaked (yes we were wearing waterproofs - it didnt help!) the wind was freezing and visibility was 0. It was actually alittle frightening. We were up a mountain, we couldn't see, our legs were numb and we couldn't feel our fingers. We could easily see how people develop hypothermia up there (see pictures - I don't think we were far off!) We decided just to keep walking. It was difficult but we made it through and eventually got the feeling back in our limbs!! Consequently we saw very little. We saw a few creater
lakes but the fantastic views out across the park and lake were non existant. Very disappointed!!!! Oh well, at least we can say that we climbed Mount Doom. It was only after we returned from the walk did the locals decide to tell us that the volcano we just climbed (along with about 100 other tourists that day and everyday) claims the lives of more people than any other mountain in New Zealand including the legendery Mt. Cook!!! We were fairly well prepared (layers, hat, scarf, gloves, spare coat, extra food and water etc) some idiots were walking in a t-shirt, jeans and trainers and were carrying nothing with them. I dread to think how they felt/looked at the end!!!
From the national park we headed south towards Wellington via Palmerston North. We are now in Wellington exploring this beautiful city. We have been to the harbour and the Te papa museum and today we are hoping to take a train up to a viewing point to look out across the whole city. We are going to visit the parliment building, go for a drink and maybe dinner in the harbour then later on this evening we are taking
a ferry across to the South Island. From there we have until christmas to explore the whole of south island.
We are both having a fantastic time in New Zealand and love hearing from you all please keep sending messages and emails. Hope everyone is well, love to all, Mike and Bex xx
PS - Yes we have caved and bought the lord of the rings dvds (dvd player in campervan - all 3 dvd's for 20 quid - bargain) the scenery from the film is everywhere and it is amazing, so beautiful. We would reccomend N.Z to anyone.
Budget buddies - Hola chicas!! Hope you are all ok wherever you are. If you are still on the trip we hope it is fun and that the endless camping is coming to an end (especially for emmas sake!! 😊 We are missing you all. Have a great time in B.A. Sam and Mike - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Keep in touch (yes all 33 of you!!) xxx
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sara
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Great to hear recent news you both look great. Missing you loads but really jealous as looks and sounds like an amazing trip.Love you XXXX