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Published: October 11th 2005
Huku Falls
Though they were not that high, the falls contained some of the bluest water I have ever seen. Greetings from New Zealand. I have just arrived on the South Island after an over night ferry crossing. I flew into Auckland late Wednesday night; the flight from Melbourne was only about 2 1/2 hours (though it felt a lot longer). On the first day I meet up with Peter, an old FOX8 employee who is currently working at Sky News, and we toured around Auckland. To tell the truth I was a bit disappointed in Auckland, it was a pretty boring city and not very attractive either. But one does not go to New Zealand for its cities.
The next day Lake Taupo was the destination. Situated between Auckland and Wellington (on the bottom of the North Island), the Lake was once an active volcano that erupted some 25,000 years ago producing a gigantic crater. Today the lake is massive and proudly calls itself the trout fishing capital of the world and is still surrounded by volcanoes. In fact the entire North Island from what I gather is pretty much covered with active volcanoes. Thankfully they have not been active in awhile! The town of Taupo is a cute little lake village that is also near Haku Falls. A
Huku Falls
A better look at how blue the water looks. natural waterfall, the falls are known more for their color than their drop. Haku comes from the Maori word, Hukanui, which means great body of spray. The water is a true aqua blue, I have never seen anything quite like it and my pictures don’t do it justice.
After leaving Lake Taupo we headed down towards Wellington, passing through the New Zealand “desert”. Now I do not know if it is technically a dessert or not, because it has water sources and is at a high elevation, but it is very barren. While passing through on dessert road, I got my first taste of snowfall in the southern hemisphere. It was quite an interesting and odd sight, of snow sticking to such a barren landscape, but it was beautiful nonetheless. I expect to see more snow while I am here because it is very cold and very wet here, even if it is spring! The scenery to Wellington was quite contrasting because besides the dessert, there was also “hobbiton” aka middle earth in the Lord of the Ring series. Lots of green, gently rolling hills and lots of sheep!
In Wellington, we paid a visit to Te Papa
Snow in the Dessert
It snowed quite heavily while we were driving down a stretch called Dessert Road south of Lake Taupo Museum, which is their biggest museum. It focused a lot on Maori history, which was quite interesting. Wellington is also the capital of NZ, but didn’t get down to see the Parliament House because it was Saturday. I did manage to snap a few pictures at the top of Mt. Victoria at sunset. Mt. Victoria overlooks Wellington and the water and provides a great 360 view of the area.
The ferry from the North to South Island is about 3 hours long, and goes from Wellington to Picton. Picton is a very small town that was once a whaling village, but has survived thanks to tourism. It seemed very picturesque but because it was Sunday morning, nothing was open. Past Picton, towards Kaikoura the highway follows the coast through mountains creating some gorgeous photo ops. I even had a run-in with a seal colony. We pulled off onto a scenic overlook and were exploring some rocks when we stumbled upon them just basking away in the sun. There were about 10 in all and we could get quite close to them. This area is known for its wildlife with not only seals, but also whales, dolphins, sharks, and penguins.
Wellington
Wellington's Waterfront In Kaikoura we also ran into another type of wildlife...british backpackers. Besides the Brits, there was also an American and a Canadian, doing world trips so it was intersting to compare stories.
To sum up the trip so far...cold, wet, absolutely beautiful, and the Kiwis are horrible drivers. Today we are headed over the Southern Alps towards the West Coast and the Glaciers. Will update soon.
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Kennedy
non-member comment
Girl,I am so jealous that you are getting to see all of this stuff. Man, I wish I was there w/ you trekking across the hills and all.