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December 15th 2006

Published: December 15th 2006

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Bertie

Bungy

Auckland CBD

I'm sure I didn't really do Chile justice by seeing only a bit of the south and Santiago (for 3 hours before my flight). Though I can say that I had positive vibes from my short time in the capital, and that hiking in the south was definite Sth America highlight. Crossing the Andes from Mendoza was a spectacular final bus ride, and a fitting way to end my travels on the continent.

NZ has served well to cushion the culture shock of my return across the date line while allowing me to remain a traveller for another week. It was a good week too. Auckland I think is a fairly pleasant city, and it also has a 'c' in it which I'd forgotten about. Locals take fashion very seriously, have an abundance of Japanese restaurants, and even a couple of bungies in town. Sweet bro'.

With only a week to spare however, I jumped on the next bus south to the Tongariro national park to hike, sorry, tramp, the Tongariro crossing. It was very cold, a great walk, and was also choice bro', sweet. Shocked at the sudden living cost changes and extortionate bus fares, from here I

Bertie of NZ

A bit of a cruel photo to show you sweltering folk in Aus I know :)

decided to pull my thumb out and hitchhike for most of the week, which turned out to be surprisingly easy. Here I must thank Steve, Ron, Aaron, Felicity, Peter, Sam, Andrea, Anja & Lena, and others for stopping the car and saving me a fortune. Ron, I hope the pig hunt went well the other day.

So after a short stop at lake Taupo I headed for the big stink, Rotorua. The potential for fart jokes was too great that no-one except me seemed to bother. Even others' groans didn't stop me. I couldn't help it.

A night at Mt Maunganui which I passed with Casino Royale. I had given up on Bond, but this new Bond does fit the part, even with the silly pout. I still think Robbie Williams is worth a try for the next one though.

A lengthy hitching adventure led me north to the Coromandel peninsula for some pretty coastal walks in the sunshine. Here I met the lovely and very comical Anja and Lena who I joined for a trip today to a unique place called hot water beach. Geothermal activity in certain spots heats water just beneath the sand sometimes

Another tease

he he. It was damn cold though.

as high as 60-70 degrees. At low tide a bizarre scene develops in one particular spot on the beach as groups of tourists armed with spades dig sand spas by the shore and proceed to burn themselves. We chose to have a swim in a great body-surfing break, and discovered that although the freezing water was making our bodies numb, our feet were being gently boiled just under the sand. It was very odd.

Now that this Bertie adventure is at an end, I don't really know what to say. I'm bracing myself for normal life from tomorrow, xmas, the job and house search etc., yet I do have a tickle of excitement about returning. The last 9 months has been such a rich collection of experiences, some of which I hope I've managed to capture by blog. I'll miss it all, but I also know that this travel thing feels more like living than anything else I can do with my life, so I'll be back. I'd like to thank my family, friends, every traveller I met, this website, and all those who told me to stay on the road when I thought I'd had enough.

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