Advertisement
Published: January 12th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Hey everyone!!
Left on the Stray bus on Tuesday 30th and although I was really looking forward to finally leaving Auckland and seeing New Zealand, I was a bit reluctant to have to start all over again on my own, making friends and was a bit worried I wouldn’t have a good group but it couldn’t have worked out any more perfect…the first guy I met on the bus (I was only the 3rd person on) was from Fleet - that’s the first person ive met traveling who is from Fleet and everyone on the bus is absolutely lovely and by the 2nd day we were al saying how lucky we were and calling ourselves a little family! Nearly all of us are English apart from an Irish girl, a Canadian girl, a Brazilian woman and a German guy and we are about 12 in total! We are traveling around on the Stray, hop-on hop-off, bus which is similar to Kiwi Experience etc but it goes more off the beaten track and isn’t as much of a crazy party bus which is better as its means we get to see more because we can get up at 6am which im
guessing the others wouldn’t manage with their hangovers! ;o)
We left first thing in the morning and went up to Mount Eden on the way out of Auckland for those who hadn’t already been up there! Then we headed to Hanei which is on the East coast, stopping on the way to climb up to a few look-out points and to hug a Cauri tree which brings luck apparently! :o) We then drove to the campsite where we stayed in small dorms that night, got changed and then walked to the beach and across to Cathedral cove where the new Chroniciles of Narnia film Prince Caspian was apparently filmed! Was really lovely and went for a swim before heading back to the campsite, getting very lost on the way, where our tour guide Karlyn was cooking us a BBQ! We had dinner and then went to bed at 10am as we needed to be up at 3am the next morning! Unfortunately I ended up in a room with the hilarious English boys so we ended up chatting and giggling for hours so didn’t get much sleep! Our tour guide stayed in the kitchen all night drinking a bottle of
Jack Daniels which we thought was a bit weird but didn’t think too much of it, however, it was sadly just a sign of things to come….!!!
The next morning we got up at 3am and left for Hot Water Beach at 3:45am, picking up spades on the way! We then trekked across the beach in the dark and it was freeeezing until we could feel the sand get warm under our feet and then we started digging! Karlyn told us the tide was going out so we started digging near the shoreline trying to find bits that weren’t too hot or too hold - some of the water under the sand was absolutely boiling, it was even bubbling! Unfortunately the tide was coming in not going out so our holes started flooding so we had to start digging further up the sand! Then we got into our bikinis and sat in the holes, well I did anyway! :o) The water temperature kept changing though and either started getting too hot or suddenly got boiling but in our hole if you dug further on one side it was colder water and the other side it was hotter, so I
sat in the pool ordering the boys to either turn on the cold tap or the hot tap (which meant digging in whichever direction to let hot or cold water in!!)! :o) The tour guide, Karlyn, sat in a pool and barely said a word the whole time and was very unhelpful which we put down to his probable hangover! We then watched the sunrise from out hot pools, although we couldn’t actually see the sun because it was behind the mountain, which was lovely!
We then drove over to another beach for kayaking, realizing half way that we had left Kai behind, the German guy who is in his own world most of the time and always late, so we had to go back for him! Nearly all of us went kayaking, the rest got to sleep on the bus or beach which we were quite envious of until we got out there and saw how beautiful it was, along the shore, going into caves and blow holes! My English friend, Lisa, and I tried teaming up with guys so we wouldn’t have to paddle but unfortunately they overheard us plotting and refused to go with us so
we had to be the only girls-only kayak but ended up being one of the quickest, mainly because we were showing off and trying to make the boys regret rejecting us! :o) Our kayaking guide then phoned ahead and ordered us hot drinks to drink on the beach once we got back which we were looking forward to as we had been freezing since 3am, but unfortunately Kai typically drank my hot chocolate instead of his coffee (apparently they taste the same!!) so I was left sulking hehe! :o) We then drove to Raglan trying to sleep despite Karlyns erratic driving!!
Right … next blog Raglan! :o)
Love u all xxxxxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.383s; Tpl: 0.026s; cc: 8; qc: 45; dbt: 0.2986s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Michi
non-member comment
BBQ ...
Hey was it a real NZ BBQ? "Sausage", onion and toast right? I really don't miss that but everything else! Michi