New Zealand: land of snow and rainbows

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Hi everyone,

Well I feel like now Sa's written a blog I should really get started! I've been in NZ just over a week now, and I already think it's my favourite country that we've visited. The journey from KL to Singapore was okay, although there were a few times I felt I might not get there, like when the bus driver told me I had to get off as soon as we arrived over the border and get on another bus, which didn't arrive for over an hour! The city was quite easy to navigate though, and the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) was really clean and fast, so I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. I had a very posh shower in the Spa at the airport and then spent the rest of the time shopping. The flight was fine, I watched lots of films like St Trinians (hilarious) and The Parent Trap and didn't sleep at all, despite having three seats to myself. We arrived in Brisbane around 7am local time and had to get off the plane which was annoying, and then landed in Auckland about 1pm. The immigration people there are quite strict and I got quite worried when I had to fill in all the forms, as I was wearing my walking boots and they were a bit muddy. But all that happened was that they got cleaned for free!! My cousin Simon was waiting to pick me up at the airport - I thought I might not recognise him as I hadn't seen him in about 5 years, but I found him okay. He brought his motobike as he said it had been sunny all day, but as we got outside it started to pour down with rain so we got a little wet!! The ride definitely woke me up though!

Simon's "hut" is just west of Auckland in the rainforest, and it's certainly a hut! It's a one room shack with no heating (it's winter!) so it was freezing and quite damp! I was slightly better off as I had a room in "The Dome" which the landlord lives in and that's at least dry, though still quite cold. The whole place is amazing, as the landlord Pete is very environmentally friendly and has built the place around all the trees and with old scrap metal. The toilet is most interesting - it's a self-composting hole in the ground! My room was very nice but I did have to share it with a number of large spiders, which as you can imagine was not a good thing for me! Luckily they stayed over the other side of the room from the bed!

I went into Auckland for the first couple of days that I was there (a marathon trip in itself, involving nearly an hour's walk, a bus ride and a train ride!) as I wanted to sort out what I was going to do while I'm in NZ. I managed to book the Magic Backpackers Bus around South Island, which I think is the easiest way to get around without my own transport. I did lots of walking around the city just being amazed I was back in a western city where people don't try and run you over and nobody spits in the street!! I also went up the Sky Tower (highest building in the Southern Hemisphere), which had amazing views over the Auckland region - I could see all the evidence of the volcanic origins of the region! It was so cold when I arrived that it was necessary to buy extra clothes - I really had no choice!! And there were loads of sales on which was useful. The last day at Simon's, we went out on a trip on the bike and he showed me all the sites of the Waitakere Ranges. It's a lovely area with rainforest clad hills and pristine beaches. We went to Piha Beach where Simon and Lauren (his girlfriend) used to live and to Karekare Beach where The Piano was filmed (I really must watch that now!). We also did a walk down to Fairy Falls in the middle of the forest - they were very beautiful. On the way to them we discovered a cat stuck in a tree which was yowling like anything!! Simon spent quite a while trying to cllimb a tree (with absolutely no branches to hang onto) to rescue it, unsuccessfully, but luckily when we came back it had gone so it obviously just wanted attention! I saw loads of rainbows in my first few days in NZ - on average about 3 per day I think!!

On the Monday (7th) we travelled to Waimarama in Hawke's Bay where Simon and Lauren have their house (Simon went on the bike, I went on the bus and was quite glad as he got soaked!). The house is lovely, very different from the hut and much warmer thank goodness! Waimarama is right on the beach away from any large settlements which means the nights are really clear and there are amazing views of the stars - I've never seen the Milky Way so clear! We spent the first day doing a walk along the coast to Cray Bay - the sea looked incredibly blue as the weather had finally decided to clear up - and driving up Te Mata Peak to get a wonderful view of Hawke's Bay at sunset. The next day we did a long walk up Kaweka J (1700m), which we weren't sure about because the forecast wasn't great. But we were actually very lucky with the weather and it didn't rain, although it was freezing cold and we were up to our knees in snowdrifts at certain points. The views from the top were absolutely fantastic - I keep getting excited about the scenery on North Island and then everyone tells me, oh it's much better on South Island!! It got very slippy on the way down and Lauren and I donned our waterproof trousers and slid down a lot of the way. Simon, being mad, was wearing shorts and couldn't do this!! I had some lovely homecooked meals while I was staying with them - such luxury after rice and noodles for 5 months!! And the chocolate here is terrible - the small bars are really expensive so you just have to buy the large ones!!

On Thursday Lauren took me into Hastings on her way to work and because I wasn't catching my bus till the afternoon, I went to see Prince Caspian. I thought it was appropriate as it was filmed in NZ! After lunch I caught the bus to Martinborough, about an hour north of Wellington, where my dad's cousin Polly lives. I'd never met her before so I was slightly nervous but she's absolutely lovely, and she and her husband Chris made me feel very welcome. They run a winery and do B & B rooms as well, so I was staying in a lovely luxurious B & B room with an electric blanket and a heater, and I was able to do loads of washing - it was so good! Their friend and employee Elizabeth came over for a dinner of roast chicken and veg on the first night - my first roast dinner in 5 months! They've been feeding me up with meat - chicken, venison, lamb, salami, and with wine too!! Polly is very into genealogy and has been doing a lot of research into my dad's side of the family so there's quite a few revelations that I've found out, such as the fact that my great uncle had two children with his aunt (by marriage, but still)!! We spent a lot of time talking and catching up and I walked around Martinborough. Polly and I drove out to Cape Palliser (east of Wellington) one afternoon, which was amazing because there were loads of seals on the way. We spotted one and then they all just kept appearing, so I took loads of photos. One of them got a bit grizzly when I came to close though which was slightly scary! On the last night we went out for dinner with their friends Judy and Stuart, who were lovely and made me feel very at home.

On Sunday I got the early train down to Wellington (a short journey for once) and checked into my first NZ Backpackers. Dorms in NZ are rather different from those in Malaysia and I feel like I'm in luxury accommodation, with communal kitchen areas and free meals and clean bathrooms, although people snoring is still a problem!! There was only one other girl (called Laura) in my dorm when I arrived and we got chatting for a while, then I asked her where she's from and she said DERBY!!!! The first person I've met from Derby on the whole of the travels. She, I and two other girls (Courtney from Cairns and Layla from Surrey) went for dinner together last night and stayed in the bar quite a while drinking lots of wine and dancing - all drinks are very cheap in the bar as it's run by the hostel. We had such a good night Layla decided to stay another night! Today I've been sightseeing around Wellington - I visited Te Papa, which is the National Museum of NZ and very interesting, and then went up the Cable Car to see the views from the top. I walked back down into town through the Botanical Gardens, which are very pretty but probably better in summer.

So that brings you up to date with the NZ travels so far. Tomorrow I'm crossing the Cook Strait to South Island and I'm starting my backpacker bus experience.

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