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Published: January 9th 2007
Me and a couple of pals
Suprisingly how well i fitted in at times. (These guys were cool and scary at the sametime, amazing) Apologies for the long awaited (2 Months) but highly anticipated, update to the blog! Got back to Sydney and have been living it large for a while. Finally had a spare evening or 5 in order to update the blog. Plus its been nice to look back through the diary and remember the the good times
So anyway here we go, I hope your'e sitting comfortably, I warn you its a bit of read and somewhat educational in places! for those of you who have been you will read this and reminisce, those of you who haven't yet been will probably be booking your flights by the weekend.
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NEW ZEALAND via MAGIC BUS TOUR (9th Jan - 3rd Feb)
North Island - 9th Jan - 15th Jan
Travelling around New Zealand we quickly learnt that this country is an awesome place with so much to offer. Every direction you turn to, anywhere in the country has views to die for, always an excellent photo opportunity. Only 4 million people live in New Zealand, which has approximately the same land mass as the British Isles. 3 Million people live in the North Island and 1.2
Freedom !!!
Jo just happy to have been let off the bus! million in Auckland alone, New Zealand’s biggest city. However we were surprised to learn that Wellington is the capital. Only 1 million people live in the larger South Island, the largest city being Christchurch. It is true, there are definitely a load more sheep here than people! Cows too!
We were also amazed to learn that New Zealand is extremely volcanic and experiences over 15,000 earthquakes a year as the Australasian and Pacific tectonic plates meet directly through the middle of the country. We worked out that in our time spent in New Zealand their was probably over 1,000 quakes. However most are just a small rumble, but when a big one hits vast cracks in the land can open up and mountains disappear!
The volatile movement of these plates is the reason for the amazing geographic phenomenon that can be found all throughout New Zealand. Huge lakes as big as Singapore exist, up to ½ km deep, with their own tides. Continuous mountains ranges, hills, deep valleys, awesome glaciers, hot pools and steam vents, I could go on but you would need to see it all, to really appreciate it. Throw into this mixture the fact that this
Most Northern Point
This is the most northern point in NZ! And it was a glorious day too! place is the adventure capital of the world then you can understand why it’s still the most popular destination for all backpackers and seasoned travellers to explore.
The people are really friendly and very proud off their country and heritage. We learnt all about the Maori culture which is fascinating and how things changed when Captain Cook first founded the land in the name of Great Britain. Travelling around North and South Island you learn a great deal about the land, culture, history and people and this certainly adds to the experience as you begin to realise you really are in a very special place.
We decided that the best way to travel New Zealand was on a Magic Bus. This was a tour of both North and South Isles taking us from place to place ensuring we got to see all the sites and places of interest on route. We were constantly on the go, but this way we got to do and see it all. With this trip we basically got on the bus one day and arrived at another city or town by the end of the day. The Magic drivers would arrange all our
Does my bum look big in this!
Difficult to explain this one, think you'll have to read the blog in depth. However i do think the hat and boots were a nice touch. accommodation and excursions on route and the drive was never boring, as there was always funky music, quizzes, games, and endless facts and info from the drivers and if this wasn’t enough then the breath taking views out of the windows was definitely enough to pass the time. We would definitely recommend this as a good, cheap and exciting way to travel around New Zealand especially if you don’t have much time and are on a shoe string.
We should mention that there are 3 main bus tour companies that cater for the backpacker and all follow a similar route. For general useful info, we quickly learnt and therefore provide their alternative names.
Magic Bus - aka Tragic Bus
(White in colour, looked like the buses had seen better years!)
Habit of leaving people behind!
Kiwi Experience - aka The F**k Bus
(Brightest, bloody, aluminise green in colour!)
Could normally be seen and heard a mile off! Seems to lives up to its reputation.
Stray Bus - aka GAY Bus
(The Gayest florescent orange in colour, you ever did see!)
They did appear to be overly friendly chaps! Mainly Germans!
AUCKLAND -
Black Water Rafting
Absolutely crazy, fantastic fun! (9th Jan)
Set off for Sydney airport stupidly early (3am) to catch our flight to NZ. Jo, again accidentally turned off the alarm and we had 5mins to get ready, so things were again a real rush to catch our taxi. Whoops! I took control of the alarm clock from that point on!
The flight from Sydney to Auckland took a lot longer than we thought, especially when we learnt that there was a 2 hour time difference between Oz and NZ. We immediately realised how similar the north of NZ was to old blighty especially as it rained, hard!
We arrived at our hostel in the heart of Auckland city and found it to be buzzing and lively. We were shattered so slept for most of the day and went out to explore in the evening. We found a cool little Italian joint and had the best ever spagbol and lasagne, ever! Our hostel ACB was cool and we quickly learnt that the hostels in NZ were of a much better standard than we had previously experienced in Oz and much better value for money. We again got up at stupid o’clock (7am) the next day to catch
Some Random Geezer
Stank of Sulpher, but was a pretty cool site our Magic bus tour north. These early starts were something we quickly had to get used to!
TO PAHIA - (10th Jan)
Headed out from Auckland over the harbour bridge, (Looks like a mini Sydney harbour bridge). The sun finally came out and the first stop was Matakoha, which was really quaint! We stopped for Tea and Scones and we could have easily believed we were somewhere in Devon countryside. We had sometime to kill so I had ago on the Golf driving range, Jo had ago and it wasn’t pretty! Slightly dangerous even! Headed off again and stopped to see NZ’s largest Kauri tree, named ‘Tane Mahute’ or ‘God of the Forest.’ It was a big fella! Over 2000 years old. Next stop was Oponomi. Nice place renowned in the 50’s for having a very friendly dolphin. (Not flipper!) Got to Pahia which was a beautiful town. We dumped our stuff off at our hostel (Pi Pi Patch, which was pants) and immediately signed up for a culture show! I was not to keen on the idea at first, especially when we got on the bus to pick us up and the average age was
Taupo Bungy Jump
Pretty scary when you look down and realize that at somepoint in the near future you're gonna have to jump off one of these. Not his one though, there's plenty more down south! 90 plus! However show was great and very different as it was performed by Maoris and all about their culture and history. They even did the Haka war dance which was scary as hell! Jo was smug with an ‘I told you so’ attitude afterwards. The next day we got the Magic bus up to Cape Reigna, via 90 mile beach. This Bus was fully equipped to drive on the beach at top speeds so this was a whole lot of fun. We also topped at huge sand dunes so that we could body board down them. Some crazy extreme sport called dune surfing! It was awesome fun and very fast. The hike back up the dune each time was a bit of an arse though! Arrived at Cape Reigna which had awesome views of where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific. Had a nice chil out as weather was Scorchio! Got back to Pahia and had a few beers ad chilled out. We played tennis the next morning which was funny and again also dangerous at times! Caught the bus later that morning back to Auckland, ready for our trip south the following day. Back in Auckland we chilled
out in an arcade for most of the eve, where Jo kicked my arse at pinball and then on House of the Dead 4. Shocker!
AUCKLAND TO ROTORURA - (13th Jan)
Got the bus real early again from Auckland. First stop was Waitoma, which is full of a maze of underground cave systems, created by underground rivers and streams. We decided to try out the ‘Blackwater Rafting’ here, and I can tell you it was nothing like we expected and is noting like anything we have ever done or will do for that matter. It was awesome and I strongly recommend it! We were kitted out in thick wetsuits, white Wellington boots and a miner’s hard hat with lamp on it. We were made to walk through a cow field with a black tyre inner-tube. It all seemed so surreal! We finally reached a big hole in the ground where we climbed down, abseiled to the caves at the bottom. We then proceeded through the caves looking at all the weird formation of stalagmites and stalactites. The roofs of the caves were covered in millions of glow worms which when everyone’s lights were turned out it
A Lovely Fast River
Also Commonly known as - Rapids !!! See i told you this blog was educational also. gave a really creepy, mystical but magical feeling. We kept heading deeper into the caves and reached an underground river where we boarded our tyres and headed off into the pitch black where we spent some time floating through the darkness. It was so eerie! But so cool! We reached an underground waterfall and went over backwards in the dark, which was scary! The water was real cold but the wetsuit was doing its job well! We went through rapids, real tight caves and quite deep water all in the pitch black in a long chain holding onto the person in front. We came out safely the other end and was well chuffed we had done it as it was certainly a great experience we will always remember. The trip had taken 2 hours so we returned back to the bus just in time and headed off for Rotorura.
We arrived in Rotorura and the weather was really bad but the place was really cool, as it was full of natural volcanic hot pools and steam vents. The place stank of sulphar in the air, which kind of smells like rotten eggs! Something you have to get used to very
Complaints Department !!
This was a wicked night and left us absolutely hanging the next day quickly! Our hostel, (Hot Rocks) was pants! As there was noting to do. So we went out to the natural thermal springs for a chill out. The pools were outside (which was raining hard, by this point) but the pools were so warm. Was a good experience but I couldn’t handle the heat for tool long and decided to chill out the bar! Jo had managed to wreck most of her jewellery as the sulphur in the pools coated it with a black layer, Jo realised later on as was well cheesed. Later on in the trip we managed to find a jeweller that could clean them up as good as new and Jo was happy again . We stopped for a curry on the way back and I had the best Lamb Bhuna ever! Got back and we were quite tired, so went to bed as the weather was pants and hostel was rubbish.
ROTORURA TO LAKE TAUPO - (14th Jan)
We got up early the next morning in good time to catch our bus, we spent an hour waiting around in the rain but Lisa (Magic bus driver) has forgotten all about us and had left us behind! We managed to finally get hold of Magic to find out what had happened and the buggers expected us to pay for a taxi to catch up with the bus about 10miles down the road at some geyser site. So I let Jo lose on them as at this point she was well cheesed and very wet. They paid for the taxi and we caught up with the bus The geyser was cool as they put soap over it at certain times of the day to eat away at the crust built up and blow high into the air for the vast crowds gathered to see. Bloody stank though when it let rip! Next stop was ‘The Rock ‘n’ Ropes’ (A High ropes course) We both decided to do the Giant rope swing for $10 so we quickly got kitted out in the gear and then had to climb up this bloody great telegraph pole, (about 30m) That was scary enough! Jumping off the ledge on your own accord was real scary! Jo went first and I could clearly see the terror on her face. I was initially quietly bricking it but as soon as you get over the jumping off part and the swing catches and you sore through the air, I was then loving it! It was a big achievement for both of us and we were both pleased we had done it and stood us in preparation for bigger, scarier things to come! Next stop was Haka Falls, which were absolutely beautiful. At this point the weather was glorious and the fast flowing waterfalls and raids looked so appetising! On route to Lake Taupo, we stopped to watch the bungy! It was a very high up platform in a canyon with rapids below. The views were awesome, and Jo felt uneasy looking over the edge so we decided to wait until later on in our trip to attempt one! Lake Taupo is gorgeous! The lake is as big as Singapore and extremely deep in places. The weather was still glorious and the lake was surrounded by snow caped mountains, the views were simply astonishing. We sat and watched the sunset on the river bank as it was pretty special! Our accommodation here was amazing. (Caboose Lodge) It had an African theme and was not much more than the price of a hostel. We decided to head out and meet up with the guys from the bus. We ended up in some random club until 4.30am in the morning with a cool, 50yr old, def, black, bloke, from Nottingham called Derek who was also on our bus. It was such a random night and we were absolutely p*ssed off our boxes! We had to get up at 7am the next morning for the bus. It was such a struggle and I really did not want to move out of what was by far the comfiest bed I had experienced in a long time! Jo insisted, loudly, so I peeled my face from the pillow and got up! The bus was slightly late so I collapsed and fell asleep, spread out on the pavement outside! The full bus turned up and everyone quickly learnt what type of night we had had. Immediately I claimed the whole of the back seat of the bus and with a pillow I had originally nicked from the ACB hostel back in Auckland. I managed to catch up on some much needed beauty sleep!
A tip for anyone possibly thinking of travelling with any of the bus companies around NZ! Nick a pillow, possibly a blanket and combined with the entire back seat of the bus you are guaranteed to at least catch up on some of the sleep you lack from constantly staying in hostels! This was a tactic we began to pretty much use every day and it certainly helped us, keep our sanity.
LAKE TAUPO TO WELLINGTON Capitol Of NZ (15th Jan)
In our very messy state from the previous nights antics, we still managed to take in some of the awesome scenery on the way down to Wellington. We passed the incredible, Mount Doom, for all you Lord Of The Rings fans! It looked pretty spectacular. I was just too tired to care at this point and promptly fell back asleep. We got to Wellington and our hostel was real nice! Which was a real bonus as we were shattered, so we chilled out and got some free hostel food and watched some films. Wellington seemed real nice from a brief insight but we had another early pick up the next morning for the ferry to the south isle and as we knew we would be returning here, we flaked out.
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South Island to come shortly....I Promise ! 😉
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JayK!
non-member comment
About blinkin Time!!
Good to see you loved NZ as much as we did!!! Although it does rain lots.... You guys going to leave sydders soon?