Entry 14: Oh my God I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home!!

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During our last night in Sydney, you’ll remember we were out with Sam’s friends Carrie and Simon. Carrie (herself well travelled) had been teasing us about our habit of arriving early at airports in preparation for a flight. It wasn’t that we were turning up five hours prior to take off, it was more to do with Carrie’s relaxed attitude to flying and routinely checking in at the last minute. Luckily, we continued this trend when arriving at Sydney Airport to catch our flight to Auckland. It wasn’t that Qantas had unexpectedly brought the flight forward; they just couldn’t book us on! The reason for this was that whilst arranging our itinerary we hadn’t yet booked a flight OUT of New Zealand. Therefore, with no arrangements to leave we weren’t officially allowed to arrive. We then had to spend time (that Carrie wouldn’t have had) organizing and paying for a flight at the Qantas desk, before then being able to check in for our flight.

We flew into Auckland with a somewhat bumpy landing; remembering that the next plane we fly in, we may not still be on board for the landing at all!!
My first impressions of New Zealand (NZ) from several thousand feet where it looked a lot like Wales, except the fauna is more exotic and the coastal waters are a beautiful turquoise colour.

We stayed in the city for a night, but we'd be back for a few days before flying to Bangkok. So the next day we picked up our latest mobile home for the next four weeks and headed north.
The campervan was a little older than the others and a little less user friendly but we would adapt very quickly.
Driving at speed is something we do everyday of our working lives, so that in turn means that I tend not to hang around when driving in general. However, for a country that has stunning vistas around every bend the motorists in New Zealand are in one hell of a hurry. I had know idea prior to some research how bad the statistics are for road fatalities in New Zealand, although I have to add I’m not surprised. The New Zealand Ministry of Transport are targeting the problem and aim to get death on the roads down to no more than 300/year (2007 = 421). Now that might not sound too bad compared against the 2,940 in the UK during 2007; but with a population of approximately 4million, some 55million less than the United Kingdom that equates to figures that at least double our own and make New Zealand the second worst place in the world for road deaths. In order to do my bit, I made sure that Sam remained in the passenger seat.

Our northwards journey took us to Paihia, which is on the east coast of the North Island and the main town (still very small) that gives access to the famous Bay of Islands.
Just a bit of useless information (which these blogs are full of) and any excuse to take a swipe at the French; The Greenpeace vessel, 'Rainbow Warrior' the one that was bombed by those bungling French saboteurs whilst in Auckland Harbour, has been laid to rest just north of Paihia among the Cavalli Islands. You can dive it, but we’d already set our sights on another dive further down the coast. We stayed at a picturesque campsite here for two nights while with the help of several beers we planned our assault on both the main North and South Islands that make up New Zealand.

Whilst in Paihia we took a ferry over to the historic town of Russell. Russell used to be the capital of NZ, which is hard to believe when you see the tiny high street; well, we are talking back in the 1800's.
After getting the ferry back onto the mainland we drove across country to Waipoua Forest, which is the best place to see a kauri. That's not Maori miss spelt; I do mean kauri. A kauri is a type of tree, and the kauri forests were New Zealand's gold back in the early days of European ‘invasion’, with industries built around their gum and timber. The massive kauri forests have been mostly, and unfortunately, decimated by deforestation, but Waipoua is still home to these giants including the biggest of all. 'Tane Mahuta' (that's the tree's name) features highly in Maori cosmology. Now, although fairly high at some 51.5m, its height belies its trunk size, which is a whopping 13.8m in girth, making it the largest kauri in New Zealand, and aged around 2000 years old.
Well, never mind what the Maoris might think of this colossal specimen, I think we picked up some bad Karma from it (I told Sam not to urinate in that particular spot). The dive we’d booked on the Poor Knights Islands (supposedly in Jacques Cousteau's top 10 dive sites) had to be cancelled due to bad weather. It would have been a great highlight of our adventures around the North Island, and we were gutted. In a year where we’re committed to get involved and see as much as we can, the weather is one of those things that we cannot change. This was the first time it had scuppered our plans and we had to move on extremely disappointed.
That same weather prevented us from digging ourselves a hot-tub in the sand at Hot Water Beach. Hot springs are not rare, but these ones are located just below the sand making the beach here unique. Digging into the sand at low tide means that you can relax in a natural bath heated up to 64 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, the weather brought a high swell making the beach inaccessible.
Hot Water Beach is located on the east coast Coromandel Peninsula and if there was a consolation, our drive as we negotiated the west coast of the peninsula to get there was spectacular, hugging the shore nearly the whole way up.

With our plans being ruined by the weather on the coast we decided to head inland. However, just before our venture into the bizarre thermal and volcanic wonders of Rotorua, we took a side step that took us to an average size town that was relatively unknown to tourists until 1998, when it became a hive of activity; it's never been quite the same since.
The reason tourists now bring an extra $4.2m to this town every year is because a farm in the hills was spotted from the air, and following successful negotiations was chosen by Peter Jackson to be the location in which to recreate 'The Shire' in 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy. Under strict regulations from both New Line Film Company and the Tolkien family (family of original author), it's the only set left (or the remains of) out of 174 created around New Zealand. Both fans of the trilogy, we joined a tour of the set, where the building and filming of the Shire were explained and certain shots in the movie were pointed out. As you can imagine, Sam was an instant hit for those hardcore fans, not only had they come to see 'The Shire' and 'Bagend', but they had a real life Hobbit to photograph as well. If I’d have charged $5 a photo we could’ve made a killing.
From the moment we left ‘The Shire’, the rain was relentless, and even though the cyclone had been downgraded, reports were that it was uprooting trees in Wellington. Determined not to let the weather beat us yet again, we headed to the geothermal marvel that is Rotorua. Here we've watched lakes simmer, mud boil and geysers erupt. There are clouds of steam rising on practically every street corner and people just going about their normal business. There is a strong Maori cultural influence here, and back in the day the tribes used to use, and still do, some of the boiling pools (hot springs) to cook. Apparently you can cook a whole pig in 2 hours in one of these. A more sobering thought is that Maoris were once cannibals, although there was no information as to whether a human should be cooked for a similar time. Sam, pass me that American tourist...
It’s an amazing place, but it’s completely beyond me why anyone would put a large town here. With 150 people killed in 1886 when Mount Tarawera erupted, and the constant smell of sulphur (rotten eggs) in the air, surely this place is a time bomb?!

On our way to our next overnight stop we took a small diversion and submerged ourselves (quite literally) in our first adrenaline activity; White Water Rafting.
The choice of our second potentially watery grave (after surfing) was the Kaituna River. This grade 5 river flows through an extremely steep and narrow canyon and the 50 minute raft would include, 14 drops including 2 waterfalls, one of which is 21ft high, all interspersed between numerous sets of rapids.
Yet again it was the pre-activity safety chat that induced the most concern. It included instructions on what to do in the event of getting caught up in the strong undertow of one of the bigger waterfalls. "Curl up like a ball" was the tip, given to us by our instructor, to prevent being held under and drowning. "Thanks, I'll try to remember that in all chaos of being launched out of the raft, after plummeting down a waterfall!” As for curling up like a ball, he obviously had no idea as to how inflexible I was.
After the rains, I can only guess that others may have chosen to stay away, due to increased water levels, as we were informed on our arrival that it would be just Sam and I, as well as one or two instructors, in the nine-man raft. At the time, we didn't know if this was a good or bad thing.
Once again, as with surfing, we went through some important maneuvres. These would hopefully help us to return safely back to terra firma.
The most important of all those techniques was for the bigger drops. When in the rowing position (right on the edge of the raft) we would quickly have to jump into the front, hold on and brace ourselves when given the 'DOWN' command, which would come just moments before we were sent over the precipice of the high drops.
It was brilliant!!! Yes, of course we came out of the raft on the 21ft signature drop, and with hindsight it would have been virtually impossible not to without the ballast of those missing bodies. When the raft capsized there was a tense few seconds, when the instructor and I popped up shortly after being submerged in the noisy plunge pool, but no Sam. She would be found moments later, underneath, in the air pocket created by the upturned dinghy. Our instructor also introduced us to river surfing. This involved us sitting down low in the front of the raft while he steered the its nose into an area of oncoming turbulent water. This resulted in the front of the dinghy being forced down and a torrent of diverted water coming into the raft. Sometimes that torrent was high enough to clear our heads, but most of the time it hit us square in the chest or face, taking our breath away as it did so.

Our next overnight stop was in Taupo which is still on that fault line which creates the 'thermal' activities we've seen so far, and there are more here. The town gets its name sitting on the shores of Lake Taupo, New Zealand’s largest. The lake sits like a bulls eye in the middle of the North Island and discharges via the Waikato River. Not far after the Waikato River leaves Lake Taupo it creates the thunderous Huka Falls, New Zealand’s equivalent to Niagara. It’s not the height (only 11m metres) that makes this waterfall impressive; it’s the power as approximately 200,000ltrs/second are forced out of the 15m wide narrow canyon.

On the 24th of January, whilst in Taupo, we took that flight I spoke of earlier; you know, the one where the plane takes off with us in it and lands later without us, having dropped us off somewhere in the sky. Taupo is the skydiving capital of the world - so it seemed like the right place to jump.
It was Sam's second time leaving a plane early, but my first. I would imagine that everybody’s' emotions are different as you steadily climb to 12,000ft, knowing that you wont play a part in the planes descent. I would also imagine that those same emotions are never as strong, and at the same time fragile, as they are for the first time. After our original 'jump time' had been put back two hours due to high winds, there was no more time to waste on nervousness. Being the last pair in, my tandem instructor and I would be the first to leave the plane with Sam and her instructor following. We also had our own photographers that would be snapping our every petrified, excited, and relieved expression from inside the plane to the chutes deployment; or not as the case maybe, and actually has been for an unlucky few.
As we near our intended jump height, Phil, my instructor whom I’m sat in front of, asks me to sit on his lap so that he can connect and secure the clips that will hold us tightly together.
So the roller door of the aircraft is opened and the wind and engine noise drown any communication other than loud shouting. I'm instructed to hang my legs out of the door. At this point I'm not sure what I'm more uncomfortable with - sitting with my legs dangling out of an open aircraft door with no control over what happens next - or - sitting on the lap of an older man whilst being strapped to so tight that I could actually feel his heart beat, which I should mention was a lot slower than mine at this point.
As Phil shuffles into position, although still strapped to him, I'm now dangling out of the plane as he sits in the doorway. He then begins to rock, and count down 3, 2 and 1. On the final rock we leave the safety of the fuselage, well part of me does, my stomach and throat both decided to stay in the plane for a few seconds longer. We are in freefall, which will last approximately 40 seconds. My stomach and throat have caught up and the engine noise is gone but has been replaced with the rush of wind, which at approximately 200km/h is really loud. I'm fully aware of the cameraman skillfully manoeuvring around us, so I throw a few shapes as well as showing him my palms of my hands. Prior to take off I’d used a marker pen to write a message on both palms. One read ‘HI MEG’ and the other ‘HI TAZ’; a snap that I could send to my two nieces should the photographer get a good enough picture.
The feeling of freefalling is quite incredible, and the thoughts of something going wrong completely vanish while you enjoy the freedom and rush of all that open space, as you hurtle towards the ground. Our position in the sky allowed for great views over Lake Taupo, which is still an active volcano, and produced one of the biggest eruptions in the planets' history. Staying on that eruption theme we could also see the perfectly formed cone of Mount Ngauruhoe that doubled as Mt. Doom in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. From up here it looked beautiful and peaceful.
Then something bizarre happened; I fell through a cloud! It's not that I didn't see it coming, and I'm sure it's a regular occurrence if this is your hobby. I've met people who have fallen through glass doors and loft hatches, but on this day I actually fell through a cloud. I was still thinking about it when Phil pulled the cord and our chute deployed. As all the straps tightened, I felt a severe deceleration, and that’s when the silence arrived. With engine noise and the rush of air now gone, it was time now to enjoy the silence and admire the scenery, as well as breathe a sigh of relief that I would, after all, be lowered gently to earth rather than causing a messy dent in the airfield. Prior to landing, there was time for one more heart stopping moment that I hadn’t been warned about. Now the freefall was over and we were floating under the open canopy Phil, without warning, released the straps that held us so securely together. This meant I dropped about two inches, but in that fractional moment I felt like a dreadful mistake had been made, we’d separated and I was on my way. Thankfully, all that happened was we both became a little less bonded and more comfortable. On the way down Phil through us into a spin or two which was good fun, and before I knew it we landed like a butterfly with sore feet. I watched as Sam touched down safely and we hugged each other once free of our instructors. It had been another fantastically thrilling experience that I remained (probably annoyingly) animated about for the rest of the day.

From Taupo, we headed to Wellington, making 2 notable stops en route. Our first at a very tiny village off the beaten track, which to our surprise had a drive-on beach that was long, wide and practically deserted. The opportunity was too good to pass up so on we went. Luckily for us there were a few friendly people around after all, otherwise we may have still been digging the campervan out of the softer sand (I'd got us stuck in) when the tide came in. The big Maori in his 4x4, who looked like he could have lifted us out with his bare hands, assured us we weren't the first. We laughed about it as we remained on the beach, on somewhat firmer sand, and watched the sunset.
In the morning we drove to Kaitoke Regional Park, which was home to 'Rivendell' in 'Lord of the Rings', and yet another really scenic part of the country.
It was then onto 'Welly', the launch pad from the North to the South Island. Campsites were hard to come by in Wellington so we paid for the use of a car space and the washing facilities of a hostel. A disgruntled traveler was mid-argument with the owner about a theft from his room as we negotiated a price, so we were glad to have our belongings in the campervan outside. Whilst in Wellington we went to the world famous 'Te Papa' Museum and had a general look around the city. We had to stick around for a while to sort out our Vietnam visas (required for later in the trip), which was hindered by our weekend arrival. We got lucky with a free music festival in the Botanic Gardens, which we arrived at via the funicular railway, and provided great views of the harbour.
With Vietnam embassy producing an unforeseen delay to our departure for the South Island, we took a drive down to Cape Palliser, which can be found at the southeast tip of the North Island. Here we sat and had breakfast in our campervan whilst watching a colony of seals that inhabit this area. As we ate and watched the seals, at that moment I was the furthest I’d ever been from the place I was born and raised. It wasn’t skydiving and it wasn’t staring sharks in the eye, but it was an important milestone nevertheless.
We left Cape Palliser and stayed the night in the famous wine region of Martinborough, which was practically disserted due to Joe Cocker playing a gig in the town. The following morning we returned to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island.

As we drove onto the ferry I knew that across the Cook Straight lay a test that had lurked deep in my subconscious since we began this journey. The question was, would I be able, when the time came, to step up to the mental challenge of a bungy jump?..................

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Photos

Maori
Even their greetings are aggressive.

Its the Fronds........hey!!
Tree ferns are everywhere in NZ with fronds as thick as my forearm and 20ft+ in length.

Tane Mahuta
So that's what they make Jonah Lomu's thighs out of.

Scenery on the Coromandel Peninsula
A view around every corner.

The Shire
Or have the rabbits here reached the next level??

Bagend
After those hobbit vandals had ransacked the place!

Bilbo's view
In the film when Bilbo answers the door to Gandalf this is what you see, except Gandalf is stood on the 2nd step, instead of this wanna-be hobbit.

Champagne Pool
At the Thermal Wonderland - Rotorua..........Sam asked where the straws were?

Emerald Pool
The colour is almost flourescent due to chemical reaction.

This one's for you Dad.
Don't pay the Ferry Man, don't even fix a price.
Don't pay the Ferry Man, until he gets you to the other side......

Te Puia- Thermal park.
Look at these two dodgy geysers.

Sam set off across the Bridge.
All it would take is a small nudge.

I'm gonna raft this river...
I just wish I had something to wear under my life jacket that didn't have little sheep all over it....

Carnage.
There was no surviving the 21' drop.