Mount Doom country!

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After a few hours of touring the New Zealand countryside aboard a bus, we arrived in Whangarei about an hour and a half from Kaitaia. We were greeted by My Uncle Jamie and cousin Laura who we were very pleased to see!

The roads here in North Island are so bendy, the guy who made them got paid by the corner supposedly! We crossed over a gorge on the east side but we couldn't see much as it was dark at that point. Once we had our bags out of the car we made our way inside to a very over excited mini poodle who's name is Lucy........she is like a small black and white sheep that runs around like a nutter! After she calmed down and we finished fussing her we could say hi to the rest of the Jones clan here in New Zealand! poor Ste was introduced to yet more people on the new re-named tour, the Jones family tour 2007! It was great to see Auntie Judy and James and they all looked so well. Auntie Judy had made us some tea so we sat down to eat with Lucy by our sides of course and had a good catch up.

A good nights sleep and we were up and ready to go. Clayton (my cousin) came to collect us with the kids Tara and Rory and we were off to do some kite fishing.......yes kite fishing, my Dad had said that it was part of the NZ air force but this method actually really works this is how it is done.........

You have a kite with a long length of line on it, then a set of hooks and a reel. You launch the kite then attach the line with the hooks on, the kite takes the line out to sea then you sit and wait for a while and hope for the best! Clayton had explained this method before we were huddled into the back of there 4WD with the kids James and Uncle Jamie. Before we knew it we were racing along the 90 mile beach along the sand!!!! They drive onto the beach which is so long that you can not see the other end, randomly you come across people with the same idea but there are so few people on this gorgeous stretch of beach! Just before the smell of squid that we were using as bait got too much we stopped at an ideal location to set it off! we were all unloaded out of the car and all helped Clayton set it up. We all played football before deciding to bring the lines in.........now certain people in the family were not very confident about there being any fish. Auntie Judy had made a pie and taken meat out as she did not think we would catch any. We were Just as surprised when as we pulled the line in and there were 3 yes 3 fishes on it!!!! The kids went nuts. There were 2 red snapper and a kahawai. I will not go into too much detail with the fate of these poor fish just in case any of you are eating! OK maybe a will tell you a bit......he basically gutted them there and then on the beach to 'bleed them off'.

We took photos to prove that we caught the fish and were soon on the way to gloat! Needless to say we had fish which was the nicest freshest fish ever and the pie that had been made for tea! It was a great few hours being on such a big beach with nobody else and to actually catch some fish was even better, so we did it again the next day ha ha ha! This time we caught 3 red snapper.

After our new found talent of fishing we started our journey south. We dropped my cousin James off at Auckland airport then we now have his 'pimp mobile' to drive around in!! We also purchased a tent and have been donated various camping gear to go with it which is great, we are very grateful for all of the kindness of family members! We set off and drove to a place called Raglan which is on the west coast......the weather was not so bad at that point so we decided to test the tent out. We drove into the back and beyond to a campsite by a deserted beach called Ruapuke beach. The site we stayed at was full of kids on some sort of adventure holiday. That night the tent was truly put to the test........the rain battered down upon us and the wind blew its very hardest! Not so good for poor Ste his first night ever camping ha ha ha. We survived anyway and we are very proud of the tents resistance! Even if we didn't get much sleep.

The next journey was to a place called 'Otto' for short. the name is about 12 letters long and i really can not remember how to spell it. The names of places here are very hard to pronounce so we won't even try!! whilst there we visited a kiwi sanctuary, Kiwis are flightless birds that are nocturnal and practically blind, spotting them in the wild is said to be quite difficult as also their numbers have receded in recent decades, so this was an opportunity to see them, unfortunately there was only two there but was nice to see them nonetheless, also there was various birds and lots of ducks!!

After Otto we made our way to Taupo. For those of you that don't know lake taupo was a series of eruptions that happened 26,000 years ago and that produced a huge crater that filled with water and became a lake! It is so big you can not see the other side of it. when we arrived it was very cloudy so the views across the lake to the national park were not so good. We checked ourselves into a campsite that had thermal spa pools on site. We were able to get our own private spa for a reduced rate which was fab! the water is at around 40 degrees like a hot bath!!! very relaxing. Whilst in taupo we went to a volcano museum and a honey making place and also went to see a dam fill a nearby pool with water hmmmmmm.

We really wanted to ski, and it is really cheap here to do it you just need the weather for it. We got up and packed away everything in taupo as the weather cleared.....you could see the three volcanoes across the lake with snow on top, so impressive! One of them is mount doom from lord of the rings, i have not seen the films but those of you that have will recognize it in the photos. We made our way to the national park and ended up at the bottom of Mount Ruapehu who is still a very active volcano. We priced up to do a beginners course which is only $80 a day inc everything. The only problem now being that all of a sudden the clouds came in and the temperature dropped we were told that the weather forecast for the next 5days was not good and they are spot on with the weather here. well that ruined our plans but we thought we would head to Taranaki which is another volcano but is now dormant. To drive there the map said is was only 150kms so we set off thinking it would not take that long.........

5 hours later........

After twisting and turning, going up hills, down hills then along unsealed gravel roads all in the pimp mobile we arrived in Stratford yes Stratford who have named all of the streets there after Shakespeare's characters. The weather was still very poor but we gave it the benefit of the doubt and stayed for the next day...we could not even see the Volcano the clouds were so low and it did not stop raining! We travelled back along the 'Forgotten highway' again along all of the bad roads for 5 hours, we at least got to see all of the stunning scenery as the sun was out, back to the national park in the hope that the weather had cleared there so we could ski......no such luck! as the weather is very changeable this time of year you can not really do a lot when the weather is bad not even go on the treks so save them for the way back too.

We ended up in the best little backpackers called Howard's. they opened up the backpackers area for us so it was just us two there...great stuff we had the run of the place! And a free spa pool winner. We left there the next day as the weather showed no signs of getting better so we booked our ferry across from wellington to Picton. all of the things we were unable to do we can do on the way back up in a few weeks time. We drove to wellington, yet another scenic drive through gorgeous countryside. We stayed in a hole for one night, then visited the national museum Te Papa. Te papa was a great fun museum very interactive with lots to learn and it is free! The next 2 nights we spent in a lovely backpackers in a village 40kms from Wellington. It was some body's house that had built another building to house backpackers......you could see the sea and it was so homely with cats and a dog i loved it there!

This rather long winded story brings me to Yesterday now, We took the 8am ferry across the strait and we were told it is a rough ride so i drugged myself up on travel sickness pills which sent me to sleep.....typically the journey was so smooth so i spent around 6 hours waiting for the dam drugs to wear off! We drove through Nelson which is a pretty little town and settled for the night here in Motueka, which is a gateway to the Abel Tasman national park. Yet again we have found ourselves a nice backpackers in somebody's house. It is costing us more than we want it too at the moment as we are having to stay in bunks as the weather is too bad to camp! but never mind we can not change the weather hey.

Our plan now is to do a huge trek or tramp as they call it here, right through the national park. It is the very north of the south island and is meant to be beautiful! We are doing it in 2days and taking the tent. we are really looking forward to it as it is something we can do on our own. it means we have to carry everything with us and there are no showers along the way! we will let you know next time i write how we got on, in the meantime go grab yourself a nap you deserve it after reading all this.........

PS we also visited the Waitomo caves which are full of glow worms, like fairy lights! There are so many places we have visited along the way here that i keep forgetting and it would take far too long to write about!

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Photos

Mount Doom
Stunning Mount doom...yes it is real!

The catch of the day
Clayton and Rory with our tea

The ninety mile beach
There was nobody on the beach with us..... great!

Matai bay, Northland
Beautiful beach but a bit cold to be sunbathing

Ruapuke Beach
Ste having a moment

Ruapuke Beach
black volcanic sand that glistened with salt

Tongariro national park
The view from Lake Taupo

The forgotten Highway
The stunning backdrop of mountains

Lucy the mini poodle
Ste with his new best friend, i will turn him into a dog lover!

The second catch of the day
Me with the snappers on the second fishing outing

Wellington
The hilly houses of wellington

Wellington
The views from mount Victoria of the capital