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Published: April 21st 2009
Hi Guys! First things first: New Zealand is INCREDIBLE.
For just over a week now we have been members of the Kiwi Experience bus! Fun times for us, particularly as we learnt that the bus also has a few other names which is probably best not mentioned on here! Ha!
So they picked us up from Auckland and we headed off to Mercury Bay for our first stop. On the way we stopped at this idyllic place called Cathedral Cove and we all went for a walk around the area and then the few brave ones decided to face the sea. Our bus driver, Pam, said that the sea would be lovely and warm. Well, let me tell you that it was absolutely freezing! Think English sea in winter and your probably there. But obviously because we're so hardcore and all we went in the sea. We were kind of getting used to it, well our legs were in at least but after one of the boys from the bus threatened to push us all in we took the plunge. It was like ice! That night we stayed at a hostel called Turtle Cove sharing a room with 3 other girls, 2 Canadians that were drinking 50% Vodka and a girl from Ireland. That evening we let the hostel cook for us and had a lovely meal of Spag Bol and Garlic Bread! Twas very nice indeed!
The next stop on the bus was Rotorou which smelt horrible due to all the Giezers that were around, but it was actually a pretty cool place like everywhere here in New Zealand. Here we shared a room with 3 guys from England who were all very well spoken as well as two Danish girls who were quite strange. We stayed an extra day here and went to a Kiwi Bird conservation place which was really cool and the birds were so cute! We also checked out the Giezers in the park near our hostel and hung out in the heated pool that Base had to offer. The pool was so warm it was like a bath and so so lovely! We went to the Lava Bar here and met a World Champion of Swing Ball. Oh yes we did. We hung out at the bar with the guys in our room and then all headed back a bit later on and attempted to watch a film on one of the guys laptops, which was er rather interesting! The next morning the three of us and the three of them all boarded the Kiwi Bus for our next stop which was Waitomo. This is a place full of caves that are lit up by Glow worms and we stayed in these chalet type places in the middle of nowhere. The three of us crashed that evening, having hardly slept at all for the past two nights! We went on a walk over the oldest Swing Bridge in New Zealand, visted a rabbit shearing place which was rather bizarre and saw this incredible river where there is so much water that flows at an incredibly fast speed that it can fill 11 Olympic Size swimming pools every five seconds! Awesome stuff. We also went through Matamata which is home to Hobbiton so the bus stopped for a few cheesy photos with Gollum. 😊
Next Stop was Taupo. Taupo is home to Lake Taupo which is the biggest lake in Australisia, its so big in fact that Singapore could fit in it! The water completely covers a massive volcanic crater and in the distance was Mount Doom. Here we made a friend in Ben and he came out with us for the evening where we played Bingo which none of us won, played some pool, drank a lot and danced our hearts out! Ben had some serious moves on the dancefloor! It would of been fun to spend some more time with him but we were here for only one night. Shame!
We left Taupo bound for River Valley which was a little of the beaten track and in the heart of some beautiful scenery. They had a waterfall on their doorstep, I mean come on, it doesn't get much better than that! River Valley was beautiful, there was literally nothing around and we were surrounded by massive hills and a crystal clear river. The room we had was like being in a tree house it was so cute! Here Amy got her makeover which I'm sure you would have noticed in the photos and if not, shame on you! Everything about this place was amazing and if we had more time we would have definitely stayed here longer.
We left River Valley the next day in search of New Zealands captial city, Wellington which is where we are now. Still strange to think that we couldn't be much further away from England!
Yesterday in Wellington we went to Te Papa which is a musuem here. The musuem was free admission and brilliant! All their stuff was really good and interesting and they are home to the Collosal Squid. The Collosal Squid is something else, this MASSIVE squid with eyes the size of soccer balls is preserved there after it was caught by accident in the Antarctic. It really is impressive.
We rode Wellingtons cable car up to the top and then walked back down through the Botanical Gardens. It decided to rain on us this day so we dug into our bags for our matching rain coats. Its safe to say that we looked hot! We got a little lost but were directed back by a nice lady off the street.
Today we went on a Lord of the Rings Movie tour which was pretty cool to say the least. Our driver knew everything there was to know about LOTR. She took us to nine different locations where they had filmed the trilogy, went to the Weta Cave which is where Peter Jackson spends a lot of time but unfortunately we didn't see him and gave us props so we could pretend we were there in the film. Theres a load of photos on facebook so check them out!
Tomorrow we'll be up early to board the ferry for the South Island where we're told it gets even more beautiful. Hopefully on the choppy waters we'll get to see dolphins! Fingers Crossed!
With much love from us all
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Charlotte
non-member comment
Hey!! amy's hair looks great! and i want to see the LOTR's stuff :( it's not fair!!! england is nice and sunny atm and i actually got tanned today whilst diving :S sounds like NZ is the best place u've been so hope ur making the most of it. Theres some interesting facts there, maybe u should write a travel book lol. Looking forward to ur next entry, take care xxxx