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June 2nd 2011

Published: June 16th 2011

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No Filth Please

Wellington Crossing

this was VERY windy

Week 4:

The ferry crossing to Wellington was good; the scenery going through the Charlotte Sound was stunning but my head was all over the place as it was the day of my Dad’s funeral. After leaving the ferry to go to the campsite I phoned home and then we made our way to a campsite where we had a beer and some sweets as a kind of cheers to my Dad.

The next day we made our way along the Desert Road to the Whangnui National Park; we wanted to walk the Tonargariro Alpine Crossing (a 7 hour walk that takes you across lunar like landscape, over volcanoes and gives views of emerald lakes) but 100km winds were expected and we were totally un-equipped and so we settled for a short walk instead. That afternoon Ange and I attempted to help, but ended up mainly watching, Benn and Dim changing a tyre on the van (quite a comical sight). After enjoying a beer in the local pub, we made our way to the campsite for a few games of cards and another early night!

We did a waterfall walk in the morning that was beautiful and then

happy days on the ferry

made the journey towards Rotorua. That night we stopped at a power campsite where it was the usual drill of sorting the whole van/washing out etc. There were natural thermal pools advertised but after further exploration these pools were not really suitable for bathing! Reasonably refreshed the next morning, we made further tracks to Rotorua stopping along the way to look at the bubbling mud pools and other hot pools; it was crazy to see masses of steam pouring out of the earth. Dim, Benn and I did a walk up Rainbow Mountain which was a hard hike but the views were spectacular and we had a good laugh doing it.

We made it to Rotorua and after a brief stop we found a campsite and all got a bit merry; it was a really beautiful setting next to a lake. We explored Rotorua in the morning and saw more hot and mud pools in the local park right next to houses and shops! Benn, Ange and Dim then went Zorbing which looked a lot of fun but they all thought it didn’t last long enough! The rest of that day and the following day was spent driving further

Ferry Crossing

towards Auckland.

For our last night with Benn and Ange just the 4 of us, we decided on a few beers and a shaving ceremony for Benn’s beard that he had been growing since he arrived. It was so funny him styling it in different ways and then letting Dim shave a love heart into his chest; it was a really good laugh even with an interruption in the middle when I had to administer first aid to a guy who was highly intoxicated and had a massive gash near his eye; we ended up getting an ambulance for him – crazy night!

We arrived in Auckland the next day; which seemed a lovely city and a good one for Benn and Ange to live in for the next year. After a look around we called in to see Ryan and Flo who we met on the Trans-Siberian leg of our journey and they cooked us a great curry; we played a few games of monopoly just like old times and it was great to catch up with the bubble again!

A fabulous ending to a truly wonderful country that we know we will come back to