Blogs from Taupo, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 61

Hi folks Sorry its been a whilebut you may have heard that we've had a drama or two. Anyway, we made it to NZ and its great but before that, I've got a bit of catching up to do. When I signed off last time, we'd arrived in Mooloolaba. Well we went out on the Saturday night with Jen & Rich and had a nice Thai meal and a couple of drinks at the Surf club, (its great try it if you're there). Don't know what went wrong but the next day when we were suppose to be going out with Richards family and some friends of theirs on a Pontoon boat on the Maroochy river, Janet came over sickly and couldn't come. I went though and it was great. The boat had a toilet, barbecue, ... read more

....having said my farewells the night before I waited patiently for the bus in the early hours...back on the road...travelling alone. We pretty much headed straight through to Taupo where I decided to jump off and attempt the sky dive or the Tonagariro crossing again....only to my dismay that crappy weather once again stopped any fun! Trying to entertain myself in the town that I'd already spent exploring the week before I headed to the tourist info in search of the cinema (always a good rainy day option!). And that's when luck struck! Who was to be enquiring about the same thing...but Matthias....so off we went to the cinema....and then the beers followed. It's always good to meet a friend... ...so the next day we caught the same bus back to Auckland. Stopping off at Matamata ... read more

Arrived in the Coromandel Peninsular with Magic Bus on Friday. Fantastic YHA hostel in Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga) aptly named "'On the Beach"' and my bunk has fantastic sweeping views of Buffalo Beach through massive bay windows. On the way here we did a 40 minute walk to Cathedral Cove which consists of two lovely bays separated by a large rock archway. Also went to Hot Water beach where, at low tide, you can dig your own thermal pool in the sands and soak in hot water. We got there just before low tide, but nevertheless crossed the beach armed with our spades! The tide wasn't low enough to successfully dig our own pool, however even just by sinking your feet deep into the sand you could feel the hot water below, often too hot to leave ... read more

In the center of North Island is New Zealands biggest lake, Lake Taupo. It is fed by Waikato River, a beautiful river with clear turquise water. A few kilometers after the rivers outlet out of Lake Taupo the river flows into a gorge and tumbles down Huka Falls. A free campsite right on the river bank gave us a good opportunity to explore the place. Just a little bit further north we could enjoy a hoot stream. A small river flows over thermal ground in a forrest creek and is heated to about 40 degree. Several steaming pools hidden in the forrest invite for a bath. At the weekend it's popular with the locals, in the daytime families visit and in the night the local youth sets up BBQ and beer right next to a pool. ... read more

Well I'm sitting here wondering whether I'll ever walk again. We just did this "day walk" which involved climbing a volcano after a 4am start. My knees went about halfway through the descent, so I just had to do a very sporty high speed hobble, inlcuding falling flat on my face at one point and being carried in a very fetching fireman's lift position down some of the slopes. I'm such an action girl! Anyway, Auckland was great, not least because Jeff who I did the flying scholarship with 10 years ago put me up in his naval base. It took a bit of time to readapt myself to military life - but the sight of young men doing drill outside my room at 8am every day certainly helped. Got to go on Jeff's warship, but ... read more