New Zealand

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I was fortunate enough to be offered the chance to travel to New Zealand with work this month. It was a quick trip, fitting a huge amount into our week there. This blog attempts to cover the fantastic seven days in the land of the great white cloud.

Thursday 2^nd of May

I craned and twisted my neck as we began our descent, eager to catch a first glimpse of the North Island as we came in to land in Auckland. The change in body position was a welcome relief after spending the previous 11 hours on the second of our long haul flights. I had left my house in Cardiff about 35 hours earlier, so I was very relieved to have arrived and was looking forward to getting our whistle stop trip around New Zealand’s North Island underway.

We were transported into Auckland city centre and dropped off outside Nomads, which was where we would be spending the night. There was just enough time to have a quick shower and freshen up, before the first activity on our packed itinerary was due to start. We walked over to the iconic Sky Tower where we met the team at AJ Hackett. There are numerous adrenaline inducing activities which the company run from the Sky Tower, but this wasn’t going to be our destination, so we piled into a couple of minibuses and were whisked over to the Auckland Harbour Bridge to do the Bridge Climb.

This was an excellent way to blow away the cobwebs after the long trip as we stood above the afternoon commuters and looked back at the city skyline and out to the bay and hills on the horizon far beyond the city limits. There was time for three of the group to throw themselves off the bridge, but thankfully this wasn’t due to any terrible first impressions that New Zealand had made on them and their bungee cords made sure that our numbers were restored.

After a couple of drinks in the evening we were met by a couple of guys from Haka Tours, who were treating us to dinner, so we walked over to the beautifully lit Princes Wharf area of the city centre for some Italian food, before the urge to sleep got too much for everybody and we headed back for an early night.

Friday 3^rd of May

The long sleep did us all the world of good and we rose bright and early to visit a couple of projects that were relevant to our job roles before leaving Auckland behind us and head for Coromandel Peninsula. By this point we were on a Kiwi Experience bus, being driven and guided around by Q, one of the company’s longest serving drivers.

After a couple of hours on the bus travelling through the sun-drenched countryside we were ready to stretch our legs when we pulled into the car park for Cathedral Cove. A twenty five minute stroll along the path wound through dense vegetation with the glittering sea to our right, before dropping us down to the beach. The beach was still busy despite it being late in the day and it wasn’t hard to see why. The waves crashed onto the sand and the late afternoon sun light made for a dramatic sight when viewed from inside the rock formation that gives the beach its name.

It was our first glimpse at the spectacular scenery which New Zealand is famed for and it lived up to the hype as we photographed, swam and explored the area. Once we reconvened at the bus it was a short drive over to our base for the night, the charming Top 10 Holiday Park at Hot Water Beach. The clue to the main draw of this area is in the name. At low tide it is possible to head to the beach and start digging a hole, the water that will fill the hole is heated by two underground fissures, meaning that you can build your own heated geothermal pool to relax in.

Low tide was scheduled for midnight of the night of our stay, but fortunately there is a bit of a leeway, so you can visit a few hours either side of low tide and still experience it, meaning that we wouldn’t need to confuse our body clocks too much further. So after some fish and chips for tea we met up again at 9pm and headed down to the beach to make a start on our holes. The best place to dig is in the soft wet sand close to where the tide is breaking, with a delicate balance needed between the perfect pool and the risk that a fresh wave could bring an abrupt end to the relaxation if it were to crash in on your pool at any point.

Most of the group settled for one of the pre-dug pits which we stumbled upon on the beach, sitting on the inside of the hole with our feet planted in the hot water. Marian, our host from Tourism New Zealand, complained loudly that we “weren’t doing it right” and set off to dig a pit of his own, only to have his hard-earned bliss cruelly interrupted when some big waves made short work of his creation.

This only increased the levels of smugness and enjoyment from inside our pit as we sat quietly looking up at the incredible night sky, reflecting on how lucky we were to be there, as the odd shooting star streaked across the New Zealand night.

Saturday 4^th of May

We left the coastline behind us on Saturday morning and travelled inland on a quest to find Middle-Earth. Hobbiton opened to the public after filming on The Hobbit trilogy had been completed and since then it has become one of New Zealand’s most popular tourist attractions. Set on 14 acres of rolling farm land the agricultural landscape was repurposed by Peter Jackson after it was picked out from aerial footage during the early stages of preparation for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Shire wasn’t built to last first time around, but when the crew returned for The Hobbit, the site was constructed permanently and has become a rite of passage for fans of the films and books who visit New Zealand.

We were shown around the site by Henry Horne, the International Sales Manager of Hobbiton. He passed on loads of information about the set and the filming process as we wondered around the winding paths which linked the Hobbit-holes. The low cloud which shrouded the landscape as we began the tour slowly burned away and by the time we made it to Bilbo’s front door at Bag End the whole scene below us was bathed in sunshine. We ended our visit by making our way down to the Green Dragon to enjoy one of the local Hobbit beers before tucking into a huge buffet lunch.

We continued our journey south, with a brief stop in Rotorua on our way to the Tamaki Maori Village. We were welcomed into the village, selecting a ‘chief’ to represent our tribe for the evening and singing a welcome song as a part of the unofficial introduction to the village ahead of a more formal ceremony later in the evening.

We were shown into the dining room for some more food as is customary in Maori culture, before making our way into the forest to play some games that are taught to the children of the Maori villages. The games involved a lot of coordination between the group, as well as multiple wooden sticks flying through the air and it would be fair to say that as a group we weren’t very impressive at the game.

An evening of entertainment, education and even more food began when some other guests arrived from Rotorua to join in with the evening, with all of the selected chiefs needing to follow the welcoming traditions in order to be invited in for the evening, ending with the ‘hongi’ from the village chief which meant that he accepted that we were there peacefully and were permitted to enter. Once in we were taught about various aspects of the culture by different members of the family, from the importance of canoes to the significance of tattoos within the culture.

The evening culminated with a spectacular display from all of the members of the familly that we had met over the course of the evening, including a demonstration on the world famous Haka, which was both intimidating and powerful when witnessed from close quarters. When the show was over it was time for another feast, sampling the ‘hangi’ which is food that has been cooked using the traditional Maori method of being buried in the ground in baskets, with the geothermal ground providing the heat that cooks the meat and vegetables.

The performance element of the evening wasn’t quite over as we were summoned to the stage after dessert to perform the Maori alphabet for the rest of the visitors. As the other guests started to make their way back to town we were taught a few more bits about the history of the culture and the stories which they believe in, before being invited to make our way over to the hot tub area to spend the rest of the evening relaxing with a drink or two after what had been a fantastically varied day.

Sunday 5^th of May

Sunday. The day of rest. Not so much with this itinerary. We packed our things up and left the Tamaki behind us, stopping briefly for a look (and a smell) at one of the geothermal mud pools which Rotorua is famous for. The steam was billowing out of the ground into the cool morning air, against a soundtrack of the bubbling mud with the smell of sulphur spreading far and wide.

The first of our three main activities for the day was at Huka Falls, a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River which flows through a canyon which narrows from 100 metres wide down to just 15 metres at its narrowest point creating a spectacle through the amount of water forcing its way down the river before it opens out once again. We looked at the falls from above on the walkways and bridges that attract thousands of tourists to them, but we were going to get an even closer look courtesy of Hukafalls Jet Taupo.

Once we were all wearing some suitable waterproof attire we clambered aboard the boat and were chucked around the river for twenty minutes or so. The boat zipped through the undergrowth along the river bank and swivelled into 360 degree turns which drenched those sitting on the outside, whilst passing within touching distance of the cliffs that line the river as well as the completely un-phased swans who were clearly used to sharing the river with such noisy neighbours.

Next up was the big one. Jumping from things is something of a rite of passage for visitors to New Zealand. Three of the group had been able to fit in a bungee jump on day 1 from the Auckland Harbour Bridge, but today everybody was going that little bit higher and jumping out of a plane from 15,000 feet above Lake Taupo.

We were welcomed by the team at Skydive Taupo and all invited to choose the height and photographic options which we wanted to go with for the jump. In no time at all the first of the three groups was clambering aboard the bright pink plane and heading up for twenty minutes or so, before coming back down considerably faster.

I was in the second group to go and there isn’t really a feeling like it. From the mild panic that makes you want to fight against your jump partner as he slides you over to the open door, to the feeling of vast nothingness as gravity pulls you from the safety of the plane and you start to tumble into the sky. The freefall lasted for about 45 seconds before the chute was deployed and we were able to take it all in. We couldn’t have asked for more in terms of the scenery and the weather, with Lake Taupo stretched out beneath us and views to both the East and West coast of the New Zealand’s North Island.

When we had all safely touched back down onto terra firma we were quite behind schedule, but still with enough time in the day to make it over to the marina in Taupo for a more relaxing part of the day as we joined up with the crew on Sail Barbary to take a sunset cruise out on the lake, sailing out to see some giant Maori carvings in the rock about an hour or so away. After the high-octane activities that had come before it was a perfect way to end the day, with the sun dropping out of the sky as we turned around to head back to dry land, casting an array of warm colours across the water as the day turned to night.

Once back we headed straight to Base Backpackers which was to be our home for the next two nights, eating in the newly opened Mexican restaurant attached to the hostel before getting our heads down ahead of the earliest start of the trip.

Monday 6^th of May

The reason for the early alarm clocks was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The drive out to the start of the trail takes a little over an hour from Taupo, with the aim being to be out there as the sun rises and aim to finish the walk by early to mid afternoon. The crossing is 19.4 km long and widely considered to be one of the greatest day hikes in the world.

When we had received our itinerary for the trip ahead of our departure this had been the most unexpected inclusion and had instantly been the thing that I was most looking forward to from the trip. But I knew that I had to temper my expectations. The trail can be closed if the weather conditions aren’t conducive to hikers being able to safely complete the trail, so I tried not to look forward to it in case my hopes were dashed.

I needn’t have worried. The bus dropped us off as the sun rose, casting a beautiful pink light off the surrounding landscape and despite it being chilly at the start of the walk the layers were soon discarded as we heated up and walked across the spectacular terrain with weather that tried its hardest to live up to the surroundings.

The first hour or so was spent traversing across board walks, with the odd bit of up and down hinting at the gradient was to come. Once the climb began it was steep and the group spread out as everybody settled into a pace that they were happy to tackle the walk at. There was some respite after the burn of this uphill section as the walk flattened out for a section as we crossed a vast lunar-like crater. At this point I found myself with nobody within sight and only the sound of my boots crunching in the volcanic moonscape to accompany me. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face at this point, it was everything I had hoped it was going to be.

The quads were called into action soon after as the trail rose once again, this time all the way up to the highest point of the walk, culminating with a colossal panoramic vista which took what little breath was left away. It was all downhill from here, as we negotiated the loose rocks on the steep descent as best we could, aiming for the Emerald Lakes to have a break and capture some spectacular photographs.

Not too far further down the trail was Blue Lake, which presented another fantastic viewpoint, mirroring the sporadic clouds above us and giving us time to look back at where we had come from and appreciate how steep the descent had been, as well as giving us a farewell glimpse of the incredible route that we had just taken.

From this point the track wound across hillsides and through some dense undergrowth before we reached a rainforest section for the final few kilometres, giving us a bit of shade from the sun, along with the feeling we had walked all the way into a Jurassic Park film.

The whole group reached the end of the walk in time for the first bus transfer back to Taupo, but there wasn’t much energy left, so we dragged ourselves to the closest restaurant for some dinner before calling it a night at the earliest opportunity.

Tuesday 7^th of May

Our next port of call was a place called River Valley Lodge, which is one of the hidden gems that Kiwi Experience customers can look forward to. Situated deep within the heart of the steep, but small bumpy hills which were dotted across the countryside, we were heading off grid. Mobile service and wi-fi were off the table for the duration of our stay and even the trusty Kiwi bus was unable to make it down the final steep descent to the lodge itself.

We arrived in time for lunch before splitting up to take part in the two activities that are on offer at the River Valley Lodge, white water rafting and horse trekking. My lifelong distrust of horses meant that I was firmly on the rafting team, so after getting kitted out with enough layers to at least prevent hypothermia on the river we all piled into a mini-bus which took us half an hour up the road, which was to be our start point as we made our way down the Rangitikei River and back to the lodge.

Our guide was on his last run of the season as he prepared to head back home to Canada the following day and he gave us some tough love as he taught us the commands and techniques which we would be using further downstream. We thought we were in for a miserable trip as he lay into us during the opening quarter of an hour, but it served us well later in the trip and he became much more affable once we had mastered what he was telling us.

The rapids were not to be taken lightly, providing a grade 4 and 5 challenge on each of them, although they were spaced out enough that we were able to relax and enjoy the unusual surroundings we were in, deep in a canyon carved out by the water, at times travelling underneath the rock which was overhanging from the side of the river.

I had been rafting before in a few different spots before and had been quite blasé about the safety briefing we were given beforehand. Nothing dramatic had ever happened on those trips despite always receiving the same detailed instructions to cover every disastrous possibility. Just how ill-advised an attitude this was came into sharp focus about halfway through the run when the final boat to come through a tricky rapid got into trouble and capsized, tossing the occupants into the freezing water.

We plucked everybody to safety as quickly as possible, but the damage had been done for Q who had ended up with a broken bone in his hand. Everybody was OK, but the whole group was shaken up by the experience and the second half of the ride had a more subdued feel about it. The horse riding trip wasn’t without incident either, as one of the horses took a slip and landed on an unfortunately placed ankle meaning that both groups arrived back at the lodge with stories and injuries to compare with each other. Not a planned part of the trip, but a timely reminder of the real risks which come with an adventurous destination like New Zealand.

Wednesday 8^th of May

After breakfast we left the lodge behind for a long journey over to Waitomo for the final full day of the trip, arriving at the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company in time for the first pie of the trip. The main draw of Waitomo lies beneath your feet in the underground cave systems which provide a home for the glow-worms which thrive in the dark, wet underground conditions.

The group was once again split in two between the different ways which we were going to explore the cave system. I went for the longer Abyss trip, which would last for 5 hours and include a variety of different experiences under the ground. First up we needed to change into our final outfits of the trip, before travelling over to the entrance to the cave system.

To get started we needed to complete a 40 metre abseil through a narrow crevice. I was up first and it wasn’t the smoothest trip down, as I became more familiar with the rock face than I had hoped for, but I made it down to the bottom without damaging myself too much and positioned myself on the rocks in the darkness to wait for the rest of the group to join me.

The next part of the journey was a zip line through the darkness. With our head torches switched off and any natural light long since extinguished, it was quite an unnerving experience to fly through the air with no sense of when the journey would be brought to an abrupt and unceremonious end. When it did though we were left dangling in a vast cavern which was illuminated by thousands of tiny glow-worms all trying to attract a meal through their gently pulsating lights.

When the group reconvened we had a hot chocolate and a flapjack to energise us ahead of getting into the water and beginning the black water rafting part of the trip. This involved bobbing down the underground river on inner tubes staring up at the star-like ceiling trying to keep as much of our body as possible out of the shockingly cold water.

We abandoned our tubes and continued into the labyrinth on foot, tackling some tricky caving manoeuvres, including squeezing through the ‘birthing canal’ and meeting the resident eel that lives in a particular corner of the caves. The final part of the journey meant clambering up some waterfalls until we popped back out above the ground, just in time to rescue an adventurous hedgehog that was on its way down into the caves, to find that night had fallen during our underground adventure.

A much needed hot shower and bowl of soup helped to revive us back at the centre before we made the short trip down the road to Kiwi Paka hostel to meet up with the other group in the pub and enjoy our final night together.

Thursday 9^th of May

There wasn’t much more to do in the morning than pack up the bus for one last time and travel North to Auckland to complete our loop. The airport was a rush of confused goodbyes and before we knew it our attention had turned to the 24 hour journey that we faced, which felt like a much less exciting prospect than it had on the way out. Our short but sweet as time in New Zealand was finished and we were left to catch our breath after the most action-packed and incredible week in this spectacular country.

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