North Island Wandering Pt 1

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Well, we survived our first night in a backpackers’ hostel in Auckland - not too bad at all. It had a really good kitchen and other facilities and was in the right location to pick up the Magic Bus. When we were looking at New Zealand we looked at various methods of getting around, from car hire (cheap & flexible) to planes and trains but we decided that it would be a great opportunity to meet fellow travellers and share the journey. So we decided that a ticket on a ‘hop on - hop off’ service was for us. One company was referred to as the ‘Party Bus’, drinking all round the country. “Marvellous” said Chris, “Don’t be stupid” said Lisa, “you’re far too old”, “OK” said Chris. Magic Bus was the other option and what a great choice. A great mix of ages, nationalities, personalities and experiences, from a few naive teens determined to party every night to retired folks living life’s dream. They were a good mix of singles, couples and people who had buddied up while travelling. So off we went the following day to start our journey down through NZ. We managed to get up in time for the early start, but almost managed to miss our first trip because when the timetable says the bus will pick up outside a specific place, it isn’t always clear on what corner that will be - so we joined the queue outside the building as directed by the timetable and the bus picked up round the corner - lucky for us Chris decided to wander round the corner to see what was going on. We won’t make that mistake again! The bus was packed with travellers of all ages and nationalities and the Kiwi driver tried desperately to get us all in the holiday spirit - but within less than an hour he became thoroughly annoying as every sentence was finished with “sweet as” - you can understand a few times, but all the flippin time nearly drove Lisa insane.

The first leg of the journey took us from Auckland to a small town called Thames. Before leaving the city we went up to Mount Eden so we could all take photos of the city and then travelled across the Hauraki Plains to Thames. Not much to remember of this place really, but it is mainly a stopping off point for those wanting to go to the Coromandel Peninsula, which is supposed to be stunning and something we aim to do on the return journey. From Thames we travelled to Rotorua via Matamata. Matamata is the stopping off point for a trip to Hobbiton, which we were scheduled to do the following day. A quick stop at Agroventures - we didn’t feel the need to partake in any Schweebing or Swooping this time around - and we arrived in Rotorua.

The first thing you notice about the place is the interesting and somewhat rotten egg smell as a result of all the geothermal activity in the area, but a small price to pay for the main money spinner in town. Had a bit of a tour round the city by way of the lake and government gardens and stopped to take some photos of the town’s most photographed building - the museum - nice. Before being dropped off at the hostels we had a trip into the Redwood Forest, with strict instructions on which path to follow and how long the bus would wait for us. A bit of an annoying downside to the bus ride is that sometimes you feel pressured into hurrying activities you might want to spend a bit of time at - heyho. Back to the hostel and off for the evening’s entertainment - a Maori Hangi (nosh up for us non-Maoris) and a concert. Firstly, on the bus a Chief had to be appointed and after much deliberation the guide picked Keith - fondly referred to as Chief Keith - and he took on the role with great enthusiasm! When we arrived at the traditional Maori village Chief Keith and three other Chiefs had to face the challenge by the Maoris before we could enter the village and have a walk round and learn about some Maori traditions. Then on to the Hangi - which is basically food slow cooked in the ground over hot volcanic rocks and covered with earth - very nice food and atmosphere and company. The evening ended with the Maori’s treating us to some traditional tribal songs, including the well known Maori song “All shook up” - obviously poached by Elvis! The bus ride back to the hostels consisted of much singing of patriotic songs, a slightly strange speech by our Chief and much repeated driving round roundabouts - good night.

The following day we had booked to go on two excursions - one to Wai-O-Tapu and Lady Knox Geyser and the other to plunder the Shire of Hobbiton. The common factor so far is the start times, in order to pack everything in most days we have to start at stupid’o’clock. We set off bleary eyed to Wai-O-Tapu, called the thermal wonderland, yep sounds corny. On the way we stopped and saw some bubbling mud, pretty impressive when you think of the heat required to produce it, but it was just the first step on today’s journey. Next we stopped at the Lady Knox Geyser, wow, this was really impressive. Not quite Old Faithful but with a bit of help from some soap powder, it is persuaded to do it’s things at 10:15 every day. The geyser explodes to about 20m and holds for 2-3 mins and the eruptions continue for about 45 mins. It was actually discovered by prisoners who bathed in a nearby pool and nearly died of shock when some of the soap they used went down the geyser and the world around them came to life. But no rest for us, we were ushered off to our last morning stop, and what a stop it was. Thermal Wonderland barely does it justice, when you walk through you realise how fragile (and thin) the shell beneath us is, especially if you are living in a country lying on top of hundreds of volcanoes. Wai-O-Tapu covers 18 sq.km and on the edge of the volcanic dome of Rainbow Mountain it is covered with craters, cold and boiling mud pools, water and steaming fumaroles. Everywhere you visit is a different colour due to the different mineral elements, ranging from bright greens, through oranges, purples and to deep black. To walk the entire area that’s open to the public takes about 75 mins and through the whole passage is the lingering ‘rotten egg’ scent of the hydrogen sulphide. Right at the end of the trail you come out onto the champagne pool, a 65m wide and 62m deep lake that literally bubbles but with copious amounts of mercury, arsenic and thallium, Dom P it isn’t. This ‘pool’ was formed a hydrothermal eruption about 700 years ago, it was the most violent eruption in the last 5000 years with the effects being seen as far away as Europe. It’s a beautiful (if smelly) place that shows that nature can always out-do man in creating that wow moment and providing a great steamy facial at the same time.

The afternoon entertainment was a bit of an indulgence due to happy memories of rainy Sundays with the family wrapped in quilts for the whole day having a DVD fest, normally the extended editions of all 3 Lord of the Rings films was the entertainment. So with excitement at the prospect of meeting a few real life Hobbits we set of for the shire. Chris was expecting Gandalf to pick him up on a Dragon so he was slightly disappointed when a big Maori in a minibus turned up. Hobbiton set (yep it’s not real) was built on a farm owned by the Alexander family and it turns out that almost none of the original set was allowed to be kept up, only heavy rain stopped the demolition of the hobbit holes for long enough for a few to be saved. Bag End, Bilbo’s gaff, is still there, along with a few others, but other than that it’s the beautiful landscape and the massive party tree where Bilbo makes his speech and Frodo and the village dance. Yep we walked around, yep we had our photos taken at bag end and yep it was good to see it all but we both came away feeling, well disappointed, I don’t know what we expected but this wasn’t it and I guess it took away a bit of the magic. Oh well, they are just about to start filming “The Hobbit” and then a second book (covering the interim period) being written by Peter Jackson from Tolkien’s notes so maybe after that they might leave a bit more up so us big kids can indulge in a bit of magic. Oh well off to bed now, another ridiculous wake up call awaits.

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Photos

Maori Welcome
Curious Greeting

Chris's Audition
Oh so rude

Home Search
Meeting the new neighbours

Diamond Geezer
Bit of a blow out

Champagne Pool
Stunning array of colours

Hobbiton
What's left of it anyway

Party Tree
Home to the village festivities

Mrs Hobbit
Waiting for Gandalf?

Hot Mud
Don't want to be rubbing this on your wrinkles

Wonderland
No need for your thermals here

Comments

[Tess]

NZ
Chris are you pinching the maori warrior's bum?

[Chris and Lisa]

Maori
Yep, all part of the interview process....