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Published: June 27th 2009
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The ferry crossing from Picton was pretty calm and we both had a little nap. Excitingly we managed to see a huge pod of dolphins swimming alongside the ferry and a Whale too although i could only get photographs of the splashes by the time i got outside!
We were only in Wellington for one night to begin with but we managed to have a brief look around the museum in the morning and then went in search of more geeky LOTR stuff at the Weta Cave where lots of the props and computer images etc was done for the films as well as films like King Kong and Narnia etc so very interesting to have a look around.
We headed off to Whanganui later that day, a nice drive about 2.5 hours West. We had a little drive around before finding the house we were staying at with Uncle Fred's friend Jenny who was kind enough to take us out for dinner.
The following morning we had a wander around town and also got the lift to the top of the hill to get a look over the city, then walked down!!
We then drove about 45mins along the
river which was beautiful and found our way to the Flying Fox hidden away on the opposite side of the river.
We rang the gong and then loaded up into the cable car and headed accross the river.
We were intorduced to our little cottage and sat by the log fire after exploring the place and cracking on with the LPs, we had some dinner and just relaxed.
The following day we braved the cold and had a shower in the outside bathroom and had a wander around the homestead before getting the cable car back accross and returning to Wellington-after a brief mis-direction on the roads!!
The Kiwi bus picked us up the following morning and we headed through some serious mist,fog and rain to Taupo where we were met by another friend of Ian and Rose, Caroline who took us back to hers to meet her son.
She let us relax a bit and then drove us up to Hukka falls which was pretty impressive.
a nice relaxed evening with some decent food and then off to bed. The following day we were met by yet more rain which meant we couldn't do our intended skydive and
opted instead to walk into town for a look around and some lunch..but we were soon driven back by the extreme rain.
The following day however, the sun made a reappearance and we managed to get up in the air and throw ourselves out from 15000 ft with gorgeous views aorund the lake and of Mount Doom and some of the other fantastic scenery around. It was over far too fast!!!!
We spent the afternoon in the hot pools next to the river..all natural and as hot as a bath-very relaxing indeed.
There were tons of photographs of both the Flying Fox and Taupo but unfortunately my camera was stolen from a hostel in Rotorua before i got the photographs off so i now have none. Totally gutted..hoping the insurance will pay out for a relacement camera but its looking unlikely and i won't be able to get the pictures back which is a little upsetting.
BUT, nothing much i can do about it now..just keep your fingers crossed we get some money back! We got the bus to Rotorua no problem and hopped off to yet more rain! We went to a Maori night which wasn't too
spoilt by the rain.
On our bus on the way there we were asked to choose a chief to represent our bus. they wanted someone handsome, strong, intelligent and brave but there wasn't anyone so matt did it!! hahaha!
He had to greet the warriors of the village who danced around and made strange noises (he was very good at not laughing!) and accept a peace offering before we entered and then were shown around the village before enjoying some traditional songs and dancing and then a hangi buffet meal (traditional meal cooked in an underground oven) all you can eat which naturally matt made the most of..some of the girls we were with felt sick from eating so much!!
the following day we wandered around town and did a giant jigsaw puzzle once the rain had once again set in!!
The last full day in NZ was unfortunately mostly spent on a bus although a highlight was of course going to the site HOBBITON (once again LOTR) and having a look around there at lunchtime.
We got to Auckland and decided to stay in town just to ease getting to the airport at stupid o clock in the
morning so we spent the afternoon wandering around in between rain storms and spent the evening in the bar where matt entered a pool competition but didn't win!
NZ has been awesome-we'd definately consider coming back for another look in the summer months when it is a bit warmer..it has even made me consider doing a bungy jump at some point in life..crazy!
high points definately dolphin swimming and glacier walking but it was much harder to select things from this beautiful country than from Australia..every sight is virtually a postcard scene and the people are so friendly too--a must do for anyone thinking about it!!
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