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Published: December 20th 2009
Hey hey, so so sorry for the huuuuuge delay, the last few weeks have just been a blur and have all merged into one I am in Sydney now, but have yet to write about New Zealand which was just fantatsic but just went so quick, with just 2 weeks in the North Island and 2 in the South Island we managed to do everything we wanted to do, but didn't have a lot of time to write to you!
We arrived in New Zealand on the 10th of November in rainy Auckland, which is a nice city but compared to others not a favourite of mine. We took a boat trip over to an island called Devonport, where we saw about 10 people, just no people in New Zealand. We stayed in Auckland for 2 nights and then booked onto the Kiwi Experience, a big green bus which we stuck with from the North to the South Island...such a great way to meet people, and we did meet so many people, who are all heading for Sydeny for Xmas and New Year, which is lovely!!
After our two nights in Auckland, we headed up to the bay of Islands which is to the North of the North Island...apparently it is winter less, but it rained, and was pretty cold on a boat we took out to do some swimming with Dolphins and Whale watching...sadly we saw no Dolphins but did see a family of Killer Whales, which was amazing! We were so tired at this point though travelling from South America to New Zealand was a 13 hour flight and we lost a whole day...the jet lag lasted about a week, so after this trip we headed back to the hostel planned out itineray for the next 4 weeks and were asleep by 9!!:-) The next day we took another bus trip to Cape Reinga, where we visited 90 mile beach, went Sand boarding at Te Paki Stream, visited Puketi Kauri Forest & Ancient Kauri Kingdom, and went to the Cape Reinga lighthouse, where the Pacific Ocean collides with the Tasman Sea and on our return to Paihia tasted apparently the best 'Fush and Chups' in NZ, but I have had better :-)
We left Paihia and headed back to Auckland for one more night and then from Auckland to Mercury bay, where we met our drivier Diesel who we stayed with from Auckland right down to Wellington...the best Kiwi driver we had :-) On our way to Mercury bay we made a stop at Mt Eden (one of many dormant volcanoes in Auckland) and headed towards the Coromandel Peninsula and spend the afternoon at Cathedral Cove. It was raiing and a bit chilly though so no swimming for us, but it was stunning there the water was aqua blue (it is in most places in new zealand) and you could see to the bottom, so stunning! We also made a stop at Hot water beach where we helped dig pools in the sand and hot water (boiling in some parts) naturally comes up through the sand, it was amazing to dig our own hot pools, almost too hot to sit in!
From Mercury bay we headed to Rotorua...the smelliest place I have ever been, because of the sulphur it smells of egg, but has natural bubbling mud and hot pools, just because of the plates it sits on...while we were here we went to a Maori hangi (feast) and a concert, it was brilliant, we had a crazy bus driver called Mark, who could say hello in 52 lanuguages, he was hilarious!Rotorua is the Maori culture capital of New Zealand. We stayed in Rotorua one night and headed to Waitomo, on the way we visited Te Puia a large geothermal reserve with New Zealands largest geyser and arrived at the kiwipacker back packers hostel and just spent the afternoon in the pub playing pool, again there were about 5 people living here, it was just us backpackers who populated the place...it really is the quietest place I have ever been to!!But again we just stayed here for a night got to know the people on our bus a lot better ready to head to Taupo, where I plucked up the courage to do a skydive!!! It was amazing, we dived 15,000ft above lake taupo, the best feeling ever and I may even pluck up the courage to do another. We had two great nights in Taupo and had a really great group of friends here! We walked around the lake, but again it was pretty cold and miserable here on the second day...we were lucky we did the skydive on the day we arrived otherwise it would have been cancelled!
From Taupo we headed to River valley, where a few people went white water rafting...but after my first experience of this I didn't fancy trying it again, instead Laura and I decided to take a walk...well it lasted about 20 mins maximum and most of that was spent trying to pull ourselves across the river on a 'ZIP' wire that didn't zip, once we got to the other side, and no we didn't have to swim, we found outselves in about 5 inches of wet slippery mud and a waterfall with no bridge....that we were meant to cross, so we turned back and headed back across the river on the zip wire...then spent the afternoon playing cards and writing postcards, a nice chill out stop!!:-)
Our North Island adventure quickly came to an end, with our lat stop in Wellington, New Zealands Capital city and the home of Peter Jackson...director of Lord of the Rings!! We visited a brilliant museum here Te Papa and walked around the trendy city, which was full of bars, cafes, the arts, restaurants and nightlife...we said goodbye to our driver here though as we stayed 2 nights here before heading for our ferry to the South Island and also lost a lot of people from our bus!!
We picked our ferry up and headed across the water for 3 hours to Picton and then to Nelson...we travelled through the cook strait and the Marlborough Sounds which was beautiful, one of the most beautiful ferry rides, the water was crystal clear and the scenery was just beautiful, New Zealand is so pure and untouched!We arrived in nelson and stayed 3 nights here to visit Abel Tasman National Park, we walked through the national park stopping at little coves of blue sea and white sand...the water was ice cold though, but the weather for this trip was amazing!! Abel Tasman is New Zealand's youngest national park and is stunning!!We stayed in a really lovely hostel in Nelson with a swimming pool and Spa, so was really nice to stop here for 3 days and rest before beginning the South Island and joing our new bus!!
Nelson to Westport was the nest leg of our journey on the south island...westport is the stragnest and quiestest place I think I have ever been to, we arrived on a Saturday afternoon to find all the shops shut and the busiest place was a new supermarket that had about 17 people in it!!We jouined a new bus from Nelson and so our bus driver planned an international night where we had to cook a dish from our country and have a buffet of different foods...Laura Nancy and I picked a dessert and made Strawberries and Cream, went down a storm...but some of the meals were amazing, we had meatballs from sweden, ham egg and chips, cottage pie, kiwi pavlova, sausage and mash (there were a lot of brits on our bus)!!
From Westport we made our way to Lake Mahinapua where we had our party in Les's 'poo pub' where we had fancy dress, the theme was P, I went as a painter, Laura was Peter Pan, Nancy went as a prisioner, everyone made such a great effort, we had pampers babies, policeman, picnics, princesses, a pimple and ping pong players but the winner was a pinata, who actually glued coloured tissue paper to himself and distributed sweets.
On our way to the pub we had to stop in Graymouth to get our costumes and drive down the west coast where the sights were amazing, more blue water along the Tasman shoreline! We stopped to walk along the Cape Foulwind seal colony, where we saw baby seals and then stopped to see the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and blow holes.
After a heavy night at the poo party we left Lake Mahinapua and went to Franz Josef in the Westland National Park...highlight of the South Island was climbing franz josef glacier...it was amazing, shame it rained but was amazing!!!We hiked for 8 hours on the glacier through tunnels and up and down sheer ice drops!!By the end of the walk we were shattered, so spent the evening in the hot tub before heading to the bar!!After 2 nights in Franz Josef we headed to Wanaka, which was a nice place to stop and chill out before we headed to Queenstown!!We left Franz Josef really early and headed to Mt Cook and the Southern Alps on Lake Matheson then arrived in wanaka in the afternoon.
QUEEEEEENNNSTOWN!!!!!! From wanake to queenstown we stopped off at puzzling world...interesting place full of illusions and a maze, which we got lost in and had to use the emergency exit to get out! Before heading to the Kawarau Bridge, the world's first commercial bungy site...I was tempted to do a bungy, but couldn't pluck up the courage...perhaps I will save it for Cairns!!!
Our first night in Queenstown was brilliant queenstown is known for its activites and nightlife and it was a great first night...we set the record for the biggest Jagerbomb train and then headed to the World bar, where you drink cocktails from teapots!!:-) Lots of fun...we also tsated an infamous Fergburger...the biggest tatsiest burger I have ever had!!
We stayed in Queenstown 5 nights!After our first night we visited Milford Sound, the most stunning spot in New Zealand, it was neautiful, with mirror lakes and waterfalls and snow topped mountains, it was beautiful!! Queenstown was beautiful, the lake and views were stunning and picturesque...I got such a great feeling as soon as we arrived, it definitley was my favourite place in New Zealand...a great place to end before quiet Christchurch!!I loved it here!On our last day we went Luging, which is like go karting and sledgning together with no snow, it was great fun!!
So sadly we had to leave Queenstown saying bye to a lot of our friends...but a lot are heading to Sydney for New Year so we are meeting them here, and slowly picking them up the more time we spend in Sydney!! Our last stop on the Kiw experience was Christchuch, we spent 2 nights in Christchurch, heading from Queenstown through the Lindis Pass...where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. We stopped at the aqua blue Lake Pukaki and saw a stunning view of Mt Cook and had lunch next to Lake Tekapo, with picturesque vies of the aqua blue lake and snow topped mountains!!The South Island is real New Zealand it was beautiful!! We arrived in Christchusrch in the afternoon and looked around the shops and the river Avon, then spent a quiet night in catching up on sleep after queenstown and writing postcards before our last day in Christchurch before catching our Flight to Sydney!!!!!:-) Christchurch was lovely, but nothing much happened here, our hostel was right by the Cathedral which was lovely, but Christchurch doesn't really have much else!!
...and that is New Zealand....it was amazing, and I want to go back...there is still so much more to see and it is beautiful, so pure and picturesque!!! x x x
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Great Blog!!
Hiya Honey, A......MA......Zing!!!! Thanks for update, wish I was there with you. Rather you didn't do a Bungee though!! lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxx