22. 15/11 - 23/11 - New Zealand's North Island in the Golden Bullet

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15/11/07

Our check-in at Cairns Airport yielded a bit of a bonus, due to our change of flights we hadn't been seated together so after a bit of juggling we managed to get some seats next to each other, extra leg room seats no less. The only slight hassle was the fact that if the plane crashed I was repsonsible for chucking the emergency exit door off the plane and leading everyone onto the wing, believe me, the safety of everyone else being the least of my worries in that situation!!! As Amy and I, both well under 6 foot, settled into our spacious, some would say cavenous, new surroundings, I was filled with a strange and un-settling feeling....guilt. Should we be taking these seats when no doubt a taller passenger would end up squeezed into a normal seat, knees under their chin and DVT surging through their body? Probably not, but we got to the airport, early and checked-in, early, so damn right we should have these seats!!! Maybe tall people should make use of their long legs and get their arses to the airport early!! Its just an idea, but I always think, if you want something in life, get off your arse and get it sorted, early!!!!!

Our luxurious journey was disturbed only by a quick change over in Sydney where we jumped on an even bigger plane, and settled into our new seats, extra leg room!!!! After being force fed and watered for nearly 12 hours we had eventually made it, via 2 flights, to Auckland Internation Airport at 1 in the morning (ouch..). A few things struck me on arrival, number 1 being the change in climate, and number 2 being the conveyor belt of huge, muscled Maori's, giving a strong hint as to New Zealand's rugby prowess, although I don't think i'll be stopping any to ask them why despite their talent and physical prowess, the All Blacks are so mentally brittle and bottle it in the big games........It was half 1 before we were in our cab into Auckland city centre, and all we wanted was a quiet, warm bed for the night, so rocking up at our hostel was a BIG disappointment. Not only had we got dorms (another of the shite accomodation options our muppet travel agent had booked us in while we were in blighty...), but we had fricking party dorms, which clearly, had no cleaners. Knackered, we were thinking only of bed, so after we had trudged up 5 flights of stairs, holding in our arms our bed sheets (oh yeh, we had to make our own beds, how damned un-civilised, it wasn't like this on Hamilton Island...), we opened the door of our dorm......bunk beds!!! Not only that, our muppet travel agent had put Amy down as a Mister B Amy, so we were in blokes only dorms which stunk of testy 21 year old grads and feet.......Amy wasn't happy, another few hours of whingeing to look forward to, I bet we move to a double room tomorrow....

16/11/07

We woke at 9:45 after probably the worst night's sleep of our lives, although luckily Amy was in a great mood....not!!!! Job 1 today, moving to a double room, which was swiftly sorted, via a complimentary coffee (Amy must have seemed that.......assertive), and we quickly moved onto job 2, shopping. Amy quickly bought some a new hoodie, in the interests of warmth, not because we have taken up skateboarding, and I almost got one too, but my size (small) eluded me. Luckily we had been given the address for an alternative store in the chain, so after heading back to the hostel for an attempted kip, we jumped on the train and went searching (I say attempted because our double room is just off the communal area so we get to listen to every to$$er and his mate talking about how they can't convert NZ dollars into sterling (are you brain dead), and how since they've been travelling they have really changed (i.e. now when they see a messy kitchen they sometimes tidy up. Well worth going into loads more debt for then......)). This may all sound a bit moany, which it is, but after no kip and being parachuted into studentsville, i'm a bit grumpy, OK!!!!!!! The journey to New Market was pretty painless, and eventually we found the store, completed the transaction, and were both now members of the hoodie club. On the way back we bought the latest Linkin Park cd before I managed to squeeze in a kip whilst Amy jumped on-line. After booking a motor for 5 days, ROAD TRIP (!!), the rest of the day kinda fizzled out, as sleep depravation took its toll, although we did manage a stroll round the marina and a coffee, before an early night.

17/11/07

An early night and half 9 start meant we were in the land of the living today, and my mood has lightened!! As we were leaving tomorrow we had 1 day to see the sights, so we cracked on, and by 11 we were walking to Auckland Park and the museum in the glorious sunshine. Lady luck has shone on us for a while now, we've had pretty good weather for 6 months now, as, I recall (you may be able to correct me), only our time in Sihanoukville, Cambodia and Ko Phi Phi/Railay, Thailand, were rained off. Roles were reversed from our Asian adventure, as we were stopped by a car full of Chinese fellas who were after directions, and after some swift map reading, we pointed them on their way, we hope. It was a pretty pleasant walk all told, we wandered through the park, went to the duck pond, and enjoyed what England would be like, if the sun came out. The museum itself was fantastic, English enough to be informative, but with some new and interesting subject matter i.e. Pacific culture, the birth of NZ and our new favourite, volcanoes!!! Its interesting to learn of civilisations, nations and peoples developing outside European influence, and might I say, successfully, without trashing the natural environment. Then 200 hundred years ago we turned up, greedy, manipulative and armed with the destroyers of all civilisations from the beginning of time, guns, tobacco, whisky and gold. The rest dare I say, is history..........

After a few hours of education, we decided that we would try and find the Grey Lynn Festical, which we had heard about on the traveller grapevine. After the girl on the museum information desk had done some googling for us, we had a destination, and we set off via the guest house and a change of clobber. We were supposed to buy lunch to eat in the park, but hunger got the better of us and we ended up grabbing the first available bench and tucking in early. With a full stomach and the journey being pretty much all uphill (at least it seemd that way), we struggled onwards, arriving in the 'alternative' end of Auckland, which was a good indicator of the type of festival we should be expecting. We did have a bit of a drama on the last leg, as we walked smack bang into the middle of a full on Maori gang war, with about a dozen gang members on each side, armed with 2 by 4 etc threatening to descend into violence. As we crossed the road which separated the warring parties, leaving us literally bang in the middle, I heard one threat 'your weak, we have guns', and feared the worst but we got through ok. As we hastily made our way into the festival we were forced to walk through on of the gangs, and sod's law dictated that I would get stuck in the least appropriate of pavement face-to-faces. Me and one of the gangbangers had picked the same line on the pathway and we walked towards each other. As we got close I stepped left to make way for this enormous man mountain of maori muscle who was pumped up and ready to fight, and he stepped right, bringing us face-to-face. He then stepped left, I stepped right, and we were FTF, again!!! I was expecting at least a shove but he meekly skipped around me, offering a half apology, although I missed most of it, bearing in mind I was having palpatations!!!

Safely inside, and drama over, I returned to a steady pulse rate, and we sat down and enjoyed the live music and bizarrely dressed festival-goers. We had a teenage punk/rock bands, a folk band and a rap group, who were pretty impressive, unlike the excrutiating sight of drunk, white, middle-class twenty-somethings trying to prove that they've got rhythm...........you just ain't street!!!! By late afternoon, being sober and sensing that things were progressing to inebriation on a Glastonbury scale we decided to duck out, and made the 45 minute trudge home. We got back about 6, and after an early dinner, we planned our road trip from Auckland to Wellington, and left things fairly flexible so we could see how we got on. Being a saturday night we got on it, downed a bottle of vodka and hit the clubs........oh no.......we had an early night.......

18/11/07

Another decent night's kip meant we were on the road to recovery, althought the 3 hour time difference from Queensland and the late flight have really taken it out of us. We checked out just before 10, although we needn't have rushed as the hire car company were about an hour late. In the meantime we recovered our white cotton sleeping bags from the cleaners, who had assumed they were bed sheers (err, you didn't change the bed?), well I say we, but it was Amy who had to wade through the entire hostel's dirty sheets trying to find them. Needless to say I stayed well clear of that job!!! Eventually we got the car, a fuel guzzlng automatic no-less, but it was a bit of an upgrade, 5-door and its golden paint job and bit of ummph was responsible for its name, the Golden Bullet!!!!! At last we had some proper freedom after months of dancing to someone else's tune, as we made the timetable, nobody else. We were heading for Rotorua today, a more than manageable stint, and with time on our side we enjoyed the rolling lush green countryside. To say the scenery was beautiful would be an understatement, you can see why Lord of the Rings was shot here, it is picture perfect.

We stopped on the way at a small town called Tirau (village in UK terms) for a banana smoothie and a sandwich. I decided to treat myself and had a hot scone with jam and cream which was everything I expected, and I think we finally settled the scone - scone pronunciation debate. I went for 'scone' as in cone, but was faced instantly with a 'a what?'. I relented and went down the 'scone' as in con route, and got a positive response, which I guess ends that debate. After a relaxing lunch, basking in the sun, we had a wander through the village centre before hitting the road again at 3 for Rotorua. We arrived by 4 and entered a new world, one governed by the town planner with extraordinary attention to detail, as Rotorua was a perfectly formed, almost Truman Show-esque town, which clearly was benefitting from the tourist bucks. The town was set next to Lake Rotorua, a huge volcano formed body of water that was so big it even had its own island in the middle. We checked into Trek Lodge, a slightly pricey but immaculate hostel with an amazingly well-equipped communal kitchen, but not before we pulled up outside our original target, Downtown Backpackers, which looked a little shabby, so we went back to our flash-packing roots, and drove on!!!

After checking-in we decided to stock up on supplies and got food for the next few days, including steak for dinner tonight. Its not quite beans on toast, but I like it...........We ended up kipping late afternoon til half 6, which was a big mistake, as we couldn't get to sleep that night, but at least when we went out for a walk early evening we were full of energy. It was an eye-opener in terms of the popularity and success of Rotorua, which is built on the tourist buck, but not the back-packer buck, as, like a lot of New Zealand, it caters for a more moneyed and mature market. After almost freezing to death on our walk we got back to the hostel, warmed ourselves up with some red meat and then a cuppa and tried to hit the hay early.

19/11/07

We were up by 8:15 today, feeling a bit knackered as we didn't get to sleep til gone midnight, and as you must be well aware, 10 hours is the required traveller sleep period, to recover from all the, doing exactly what you fancy, its a tough gig!! We didn't hang about, we were packed and porridged in no time and left the towels we stole from the laundry room (you are supposed to pay $1 per towel but they left the door open.....big mistake!!) before hitting the road at just gone 9. Yet again we travelled the immaculate highways of New Zealand, enjoying smooth roads and spectacular scenery, as the roads were framed by green hills, ferns and pine trees. We were heading for Wai-O-Tapu today, the geothermal wonderland of NZ for some geyser and sulphur pool action, and arrived in plenty of time to see the Lady Know geyser blow at 10:15. Being a bit early, we got the full run-down on the geyser, even learning that NZ has the largest man-made forest in Australasia, planted by convicts (no, not the Aussies), and they discovered the geyser blew by just adding a little soap. This explained the mystery of why it blew at 10:15 daily, and we were not disappointed by the 20 metre high water jet that erupted. After a couple of minutes we lost interest and headed back for the main park. I could bore you with descriptions of all the different pools and geothermal activities but that'll just be boring, so i'll just say it was pretty interesting, smelly, and more than a little 'out of this world'.

We left Wai-O-Tapu at midday, which was a bit of a relief, as the pungent smell of sulphur was giving me a really bad headache, and the baking sun wasn't helping. We set off from WAO for Lake Taupo, the next step on our journey, and arrived shortly after 1. After checking-into a double with a TV and en-suite (stuff roughing it anymore), we had some lunch and drove down to Lake Taupo for a wander. The lake was unbelieveable, absolutely massive. In fact it is 600 square kilometres, which makes it one of the biggest in the world. The water was clean and mill-pond-esque, the shore fringed by pummice/ash, which formed the beach, and the backdrop was views of Mount Ngaurohoe and Mount Tongariro. Amy and I took a drive to a scenic look-out which was both scenic, and a great look-out. I half-jokingly asked her to marry me again (I say half cos I was semi-serious), she just laughed and said 'no', which killed that moment..........I have to say though, this would have been a better setting than our bedroom when it was the real deal!!!!! The scenery here is unbelieveable, unlike anything I have come close to experiencing before, dwarfing Vietnam on sheer size, which, at the time, seemed pretty whopping to me. Plus its green, very green, a hangover from the volcanic activity which has formed and shaped New Zealand. Its kinda like the UK, then some. I'd say the best way to describe it is the UK on steroids!!! But, we are not just some back alley, got em off some bloke at the gym roids. We are talking designer, Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Maurice Greene gear (please note they are all American, cheats. Although I am all for steroids in athletics. I say 'let em use everything', then we'll see how fast they can go!!!). Basically the sort of stuff that takes something close to normal and turns it into a bulging freak, but still looks amazing!!

After a walk we got back and armed with a coin, decided on whether we would travel to Wellington via the East, or West Coast. Tails won it, 3 times on the bounce and we were heading westwards!!! We were hoping for a kip but I couldn't drop off, so with Amy half-alseep, I pottered out for a run in the afternoon heat. After half an hour's detoxing, and with seriously low blood sugar, I stumbled back to the hostel for a cold shower. Amy headed out, and after some dinner, we decided to treat ourselves to a bittle of vino down by the lake. We grabbed a table at a lakeside bar and ordered some locally produced sauvignon blanc, which wasn't the cheapest, but hit the spot. We got involved in some introspecting about our past travels, future journey and our plans for going home. We are enjoying somewhat of a new lease of life here in NZ, the climate, people, and surroundings have really got us excited again, and we are less than 2 weeks away from meeting up with my sister Kathryn and her fiance Andy, which we are really looking forward to. To be honest Australia wasn't the same after Pete and Kellie left, as we lost that bit of familiarity and extra companionship, but a complete change of scenery has really made the difference. I take my hat off to Barrie for having the desire to travel independently, because even though the actual travelling bit isn't too much of a drama, I reckon i'd feel a bit isolated. Over our vino, which, incidentally, after a couple of weeks off the pop was seriously going to our heads, we got chatting to an Australian couple who were interested in knowing more about London, both living and visiting it. After 5 minutes with us, explaining in our own black and white, no holding back, lay the truth on the table style, the cost of it, I think they were ready to chuck themselves in the lake......oops!!!

20/11/07

A lack of water and half a bottle of vino left me feeling a bit hungover today, which makes me a bit of a mincer and bodes very very badly for the upcoming christmas party season at home. I fear I may win the 'most pissed person' award a few times, even Amy seemed to be coping with the after effects better......beaten by a girl!!! Luckily H2O was on-hand to rid me of the slight haze, and after rehydrating in committed style, I was good to go by 10. Our coin toss meant that Ohakune was our new destination on the way to New Plymouth, and the drive past Lake Taupo, Mount Tangariro and Mount Ngaurohoe was by far and away the most impressive, jaw droppingly, pant wettingly, unbelieveably scenic route I have ever taken, and the camera certainly earn't its keep. We stopped for a brief 'relief' stop before Ohakune, and a brief look at the map altered our plans somewhat. Rather than head for New Plymouth we decided that after Ohakune we would head down to Wanganui, for no other reason than New Plymouth looked a little bit too far due east, and Wanganui was a little further south. The drive to Ohakune meant we entered yet more farming country, and cattle and sheep filled, making the ratio of 10 sheep to every New Zealander seem very realistic. Arrival in Ohakune brought us bang into the middle of yet another chocolate box town, this one geared up for the winter ski season, but at this time of year, approaching summer, it had a lazy, quiet feel. There was only one thing for it, a giant ice cream, which we devoured sat on bench watching the world go by.

After half an hour (it literally took that long to eat our twin-coned beasts) we were back on the road and heading for Wanganui, via the towns/villages of Raetihi, Parapara, Oreore, Kakatahi and Upokongaro, and the huge mountain range that occupies this slice of central north island New Zealand. We felt a little spoilt by the view, lush, striking, rugged and panoramic, and we followed some advice 1 of Amy's old workmates, Steph, gave her, when she advised us to stop at any sign-posted scenic look-out. The most memorable was the Raukawa Falls, which dwarfed all but 1 of the falls we had actually travelled to see in Asia, and all this took was a swift, almost car flipping swerve to discover. We arrived in Wanganui at half 2 and checked into a double room at Braemer House, a 112 year old guest house run by Clive and Rob, by my guess, a couple of nudgers. I'm not having a go, its just an observation, but it just tickled me that there were 1 or 2 pictures of a young Patrick Swayze and Leonardo Di Caprio adorning the walls. Their hospitality was endless, and the guest house had a warm, welcoming feel, and being 112 years old, with decor to match, it felt like I was visiting my grandparents house, which is no bad thing. A real home away from home, we were particularly pleased there were no youngsters there, just boring old fogies like us!!!

We had tea and sandwiches in the sun before heading into town to enjoy what is described as a 'historic town', which, after an hour's wandering, made me chuckle. Its easy to forget that New Zealand is only 200 years old from a western perspective, less than that if you consider when it was that westernisation occured on any great scale, so this historic town was.....not historic, the buildings not even matching up to the heritage and age of historic Gosport high street!! Again, i'm not having a go, it just makes you realise how historically rich good old blighty is. By 5 we were back and thinking about dinner, which was gonna be another treat, as we'd decided that New Zealand lamb had to be sampled, and we rustled up a bit of a feast with mashed potatoes, veg and gravy. The evening melted away before another early night.

21/11/07

Probably our best night's kip in a long time left us feeling fresh and ready to go today, waking up before the alarm. Clive or Rob (I never did find out which was which) gave us the low-down on our next port of call Paraparaumu, as he'd left there for Wanganui 27 years ago. The drive turned into a step back in time as we journeyed through small farming communities such as Turakina before we stopped for a wander in a small seaside town called Foxton. It reminded me, in a lot of ways, of England when I was a kid, with all the shops being owner run, with not a chain in sight. It had a real small town charm, and for just $160,000 New Zealand dollars, or 60,000 sterling, you could get a 4 bedroom house with double garage etc on a big plot!!! Admittedly you'd be living in the back of beyond, but maybe somewhere to retire too......The drive to Paraparaumu didn't take too long, which was kinda the plan, as we were gonna take advantage of the glorious sunshine and hit the beach. Unfortunately the sun escaped us so we were left twiddling our thumbs a bit after we'd checked into our guest house. The guest house itself was another old gem, although unlike Rob and Clive's pad, had a bit of an ignored feel. The owner was an English lady, charming and friendly, but I felt like this was a project she had lost interest in a long time ago. Call me presumptous but I reckon I clocked why as we sat in the dining room enjoying lunch. She was leaving the guest house with another younger lady (daughter?), pushing a pram, which told me that her priorities lay elsewhere. Believe me, i'm not being sexist, Amy wouldn't allow it (typical woman), but women are biologically programmed to rear and nurture, and I reckon grandad kid number 1 rocked up and the guest house became a distant old dream.............

Amy and I hit the coastal road for a walk and enjoyed the views of Kapiti Island. In fairness there wasn't much doing in the town, and we quickly got bored, prompting a visit to a farm centre, which rumour had it, was free. Rumour doesn't always reflect reality, and the tour was far from free and far from worth it, so we meandered over to the candy shop and got involved with some fudge and sweets. This prompted a late afternoon run, which was all too easy with our blood sugar levels going through the roof, and to celebrate our achievements, we got stuck into a mega fish and chip supper. Fed close to bursting, we hit the hay about 11, ready for another early start.

22/11/07

We needn't have set the alarm for 9, we were up by quarter past 8 and out the door by 9 for our drive to Cape Palliser, and ultimately Wellington. Our trip took us through Plimmerton, a coastal town which featured some seriously rugged coastline, through the mountains and hills of Paremata before we reached Lower Hutt, and took the seriously steep, seriously precarious mountain road to Upper Hutt, before a hasty descent to Featherston. Featherston was another step back in time, again reminding me of my youth, as we stopped for fuel and an old fella ambled out, in no rush at all, and juiced up the motor for us. We stood and made idle chat about the weather and other inconsquentals, before we were sent on our way with a smile. The hospitality and friendliness of New Zealand has been outstanding, as the people recognise your accent, your lack of familiarity with the way things work, and they quietly and un-fussedly help you along your way. Its nice to feel like a visitor, but not to be made to feel like a clueless muppet, or an opportunity to make a few extra bucks.

Our drive from Featherston left us with just a short sprint to Cape Palliser, another rugged slice of New Zealand, and the coastal road featured blue seas on one side, and the mountains on the other. Sheep and cattle filled the fields, although I did ask Amy what would happen if we nailed one as we'd seen a few escapees on the way. We nearly found out as we rounded one corner, and saw a wall of sheep butts, a farmer and a sheep dog encouraging them on their way. Clearly we were the answer to his prayers, and a rest opportunity for fido, as he ushered us past, into the wall of butts!!!! I started getting a bit nervous as we got closer, we were literally driving at the herd of sheep, but as we got close, they moved onwards, and sidewards. I saw his logic, we were driving the sheep, and getting out of his way at the same time, so I became emboldened. Amy was a bit of dubious of my excessive revving, but it did the trick, and always had the desired effect. Once through the sheep we were faced with our next obstacle, gravel roads!!! Bearing in mind this invalidated our insurance, which was, sealed roads only, I should have gone steady, but the joys of aquaplaning along the road were too hard to resist, and I copped a 'boys will be boys' look from Amy.

We eventually made it to Cape Palliser and our final destination, a seal colony. It had been a bit of an epic drive but we figured that this could be our 1 and only opportunity to sea seals in the wild for a while (little did we know that we were meeting Kathryn and Andy in Kaikoura, which features 3 seal colonies, dope....). There was a bit of a stench on arrival, we figured sweaty seals, but the sight of a dead and rotting seal lying only 20 feet from the car, putrifying in the midday sun, gave us the answer. Once we'd got past the carcass, and were no longer down wind, we managed to enjoy the sight of the seals sunning themselves, and frolicking in the water. I was surprised by their size, they are big buggers, and we were careful to keep our distance and avoid getting between them and the water. After watching them for a while we braved the stench and made it back to the car, although we were feeling a little queasy i'm not ashamed to admit. Queasiness turned to hungriness on the way back, and after reaching the mountains, we stopped for some food and made ourselves a picnic which we devoured before heading back up, and down, the death road.

We made it into Wellington, and had handed back the hire car and been dropped in town at our new hostel by 3. The new place was a little more spartan than we have got used to, and with a few long-termers and groups, the dickhead count was on the up. Luckily the moron immature guests are closer to 30 than 20, so at least they run out of steam early and we get the communal area to ourselves and a quiet night's sleep! With free internet we caught up on some albino time and hit the supermarket to replenish our supplies. We also got our first glimpse of Wellington, which has significantly more charm than Auckland, and has a vibrancy and style that i'd liken to Melbourne. Cafe culture is evident en masse, and the prosperity of the central business district is clear to see. I can also see why its called the Windy City, it is like being battered by Hurricane Katrina 24/7. My hair gunk stands no chance against the cruel winds, which is driving me insane!!!!! Dinner, interweb and some TV finished off the day, and we were asleep by midnight, ready for sight-seeing and South Island planning tomorrow.

23/11/07

We were up by just gone 8 today, as the days of 10 o'clock starts have become a thing of the past, which may not be bad thing with blighty only a few weeks away. The only downer is that there is a 13 hour time difference in New Zealand, which is gonna mean jet lag on an epic scale......can't wait. I headed for some gratis internet time whilst Amy lazed in bed, and it was then I found out that Steve McLaren had been sacked, good riddance. We booked our trip to the South Island and Kaikoura to meet up with Kathryn and Andy, which almost went down the small jet route, with the cost comparable to the ferry and bus trip we ended up opting for, but availablity of tickets defeated us. With our trip sorted, we donned our trek shoes to scale Mount Victoria and enjoy the look-out post. The walk was.....uphill.....but some shade and a few recent runs meant we made short work of it and we reached the summit and enjoyed the view. We headed back to organise our accomodation in Kaikoura and arranged our meeting place with K & A, before we celebrated getting ourselves sorted with a cappuccino and a hot chocolate in a small funky cafe just off Cuba Street, Wellington's alternative quarter. We sat in the sun and watched the world go by, our thoughts drifting to past sights, the excitement of seeing the South Island and, it pains me to admit, our plans over Christmas. Its funny, you are more than 10,000 miles from home but its never more than a thought away, at least for us its not. One thing i've realised about travelling is that its not escapism, because you can never get away from yourself, your thoughts, your perception of the world, you just change your surroundings.

By the time we'd got back and jumped on-line we'd got a text back from Emma and Mark, who we were meeting for a couple of cold ones tonight. They've moved from the UK to Wellington, and spent the last week or so with my sis and Andy, so they were faced with the unenviable invasion of a Salmon for a second time!!! I'm sad to say that practicality and paying the mortgage governed our afternoon, as Amy got her CV sorted in preparation for January and work, whilst I just minced about in my own little cyber world........Dinner followed shortly after, which would help line the stomach for tonight, a necessity as our drinking ability has been on the wane for a while now, and the last few weeks virtually alcohol free have taken us into the 'one drink and we are anyone's' danger zone. We managed to pack for tomorrow as well, because we'd managed to coincide a few beers with a quarter to 7 start as we are making our way to the ferry early doors, and headed out just before 8. Being a little light on the bar clobber front, we both ended up jacketless, as a hoodie or fleece just didn't seem appropriate. Shivering, we waited for Mark and Emma to meet us at the rendez vous point, and mercilessly, they were early. We headed straight to a 1920s/1930s themed bar and enjoyed some vino, beer and cocktails, whilst hearing about their travels, move to Wellington (it had been a straight choice between Melbourne and Wellington, which was funny because I had said to Amy just earlier that day that they had a similar vibe), and bored them with our stories. It was great talking to some seriously experienced travellers who had clocked up a fair few years travel between them, as we finally felt we weren't neurotic or high maintenance when it came to the way we approached travelling, and the home comforts you miss. We headed onto another couple of bars and soaked up the atmosphere of Wellington on a friday night, which made a refreshing change from our usual pipe and slippers approach to the evenings of late, and new company was a welcome relief, lets face it, Amy is bloody boring.............We headed back just after 11 after a few, not too many in binge drinking terms, but enough to leave us feeling a little wooey, and all in all we had a great night. Enjoying others overseas adventures is always fun, and we felt normal again, not the least like demanding, high maintenance flash-packers. The desire for a clean bed, a nice quiet communal area and a hot shower isn't unreasonable, ITS NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Photos

Auckland
Museum

Tirau
How very English matt!!!

Rotorua
Wai O Tapu

Wai O Tapu
Lady Know Geyser

Lake Taupo
Oh my god, this is what you call a lake!!!!

Lake Taupo
Getting back to our roots

Paraparaumu
Matt now doesn't want to swim after seeing a dead shark!!!

Cape Palliser
Sheep

Cape Palliser
Seal colony

Wellington
Mt Victoria lookout