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Published: March 2nd 2007
I finally said bye to Australia & made it to New Zealand. I flew in to Auckland from Sydney on 2nd March (I know I'm way behind again..this time it's not totally my fault, I've not had much access to the internet for the last 3 weeks promise!) & I had absolutely no idea what to expect as I basically know nothing about New Zealand except that it's the home of the Kiwi & that they're amazing at rugby. I now know lots more including the very interesting fact that Kiwi guys tend to like to take their clothes off after a few drinks especially when they're in the middle of a bar!
Aucklands nice enough as city's go but it doesn't really have any atmosphere or buzz about it although as I only arrived at about 7pm on the friday & left again at 8.15am on the saturday I guess I can't really judge too much! I had a quick wander around the city centre & ended up at the harbour for sunset which was lucky & then I went back to the hostel to get ready for getting picked up on the Stray tour bus for my
non-stop tour of the North Island.
The next day as I was waiting outside the hostel for my bus I managed to get chatted up by a Brazilian guy who spoke hardly any english before it was even 8am...too early!! Luckily he wasn't getting on the same bus as me however I also met Adi, an English guy from London who was getting on the same bus as me & as it turned out we were on the bus together for the whole of the North Island & he wasn't some crazy Brazilian who chatted up girls ridiculously early which was good!
Our big orange Stray bus arrived & we met our driver for the next week or so called Fido (we later found out that it's after Fido Dido from the 7-Up adverts as he has the same mad wavy blonde hair!) aka Stephen & we got on the bus & headed out of Auckland & up to Mount Eden for a last view of the city. There were some cows hanging around in the car park up there madly enough licking the condensation off the cars that were parked there......got to say I love New Zealand
already, it's mad & I love it!
That afternoon we arrived in Hahei where we were staying for the night, which is across the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula. It's a small coastal village/town & we spent the afternoon walking along to Cathedral Cove - an archway hollowed out in the cliff by the sea & some really nice little beaches. Me, Adi, Fido & two girls from the bus Kristine (from Norway), Vanessa (from Germany) chilled out there for the afternoon. Us girls stayed longer than the boys trying to catch some sun & chatting about pretty much everything.
That night Fido cooked us up some nice Kiwi food on the BBQ at the campground/caravan park where we were staying & we sat around having a few drinks. Afer the BBQ me & Kristine took a wander down to the beach once it was dark as it was a full moon, one of those moments where you really can't believe that you're really there sitting on a beach in New Zealand under the stars & a full moon...can't get much better than that. Until of course some drunk teenagers turned up running around with a Scream
View from the cliffs at Hahei
And everyone told me it would be wet & cold in NZ!mask on!
About 10minutes from where we were is Hot Water Beach where when the tide is low you can dig holes in the sand & they fill up with hot water from under the ground & you can sit in them like little mini hot tubs. As low tide was at 2am we all got up at about 1am & Fido drove us to Hot Water Beach where everyone started digging! Luckily for me & Kristine a couple were just leaving when we got there so we got their hole & so we didn't have to dig at all! The water was unbelievably hot but so relaxing & it was even better because we were there in the middle of the night with a full moon & the waves crashing right next to us all. When we got a bit too hot we ran into the cold cold sea to cool off! There were even some guys in the water surfing under the full moon.
Unfortunately when we got back to the campsite it started raining & I mean proper rain not the 10minute rainstorms you get in Australia but rain that lasts for hours & hours &
hours.....just like home!
It was still raining when we got up the next day, it really did look Scottish, it actually was almost nice...I said almost! We stopped off briefly to hug the twin Kauri trees & then again for a delicious hot chocolate & then again to pick up someone who was getting on the bus so me & Kristine took the opportunity to nip in to a acafe & buy the most amazing muffins I've ever seen or tasted they were damned good.
We got to Raglan at around lunchtime & thats where we were staying that night so we had some lunch & picked up some wine & beer to take back to our lodge up the hill. It's definitely one of the nicest places I stayed in in New Zealand, it's a backpackers lodge hidden up in the trees up a hill with some amazing views of the ocean. Raglan is one of the most famous surfing spots in New Zealand so some of us went down to the beach that afternoon to watch all the surfers. The beach was so chilled out there was a guy covered in tattoos playing the guitar &
It's Christmas!
They still had their Christmas lights up at the campsite in Hahei singing up in the sand dunes. There was also a mad Jack Russell dog running around marking his territory which unfortunately included some kids sandcastle & some peoples bags!
That night we had some very tasty homemade Kiwi beefburgers for dinner & we sat outside on the decks eating them as the sun went down. After dinner we had a few games of "Spoons" a card/drinking game which Fido showed us how to play, it's so easy to play but really funny.
Up early again the next day (early starts is quite a regular feature of travelling on the Stray bus...only bad thing about it!) but Kristine did bring me a cup of tea which helped me wake up a little bit! We had a quick go on the flying fox before we left....great way to wake up first thing in the morning & then it was back on the bus where Fido had some incense burning on the bus as it was smelling a bit damp & horrible...very chi bus.
After a brief delay....Kristine had forgotten her passport which she had given to reception at the lodge in Raglan to lock up for "safe-keeping" so we
had to turn around & go back for it...we headed for the Waitomo Caves for a few hours. You can go black-water rafting & abseiling etc down into the caves but these all cost quite a lot (I'm quickly discovering that it would be very easy to spend an absolute fortune in NZ) so a few of us went for the cheapskate option & went on a 2 hour walking & boat tour of the caves to see the thousands of gloworms & it was absolutely spectacular like thousands of little stars or fairy lights all over the place & with no other natural light to spoil the effect they look incredible (unfortunately not so attractive when you see them up close with a light shone on them as they are basically maggotts!) We also got some free hot chocolate & biscuits as part of our trip, can't ask for more than that really.
Unfortunately when we got back on the bus Fido told us that the a/c had packed in & it was a beautiful sunny day which meant it was a miserable hot stuffy bus for the rest of the afternoon. We made a couple of stops
on the way to Rotorua to escape from the sweltering bus, firstly at a swing bridge & then to get some ice cream & iced lollies!
That night we stayed in Rotorua, known for it's not so nice smell (a bit like Kirkcaldy used to be then) due to the volcanic activity & sulphurous mud pools in the area but the smell actually wasn't that strong when we got there. That night me, Kristine & Lidiani (a lovely Brazilian girl from our bus) went out for the best meal at the funkiest little place called Fat Dog. It looked like some crappy fast food place from the outside but it was a great little place inside & they made a great spicy chicken noodle salad which was the best thing I'd eaten so far in NZ & we enjoyed a nice little bottle of Fat Cat wine!
After dinner we went & met up with some of the other guys from the bus at the hostel bar, Lava Bar & enjoyed a few cheap pints & tried to teach Adi how to dance...not very successfully!
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