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Published: December 26th 2009
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My first stop in New Zealand was the city of Auckland where I flew into from Australia. Several people had warned me over the previous few weeks that I shouldn't expect much from Auckland and that I should get out of there as soon as I can. Considering that a quarter of the population of New Zealand live there, it is a bit of a nothing city really, especially in comparison to some of the great cities around the world that I've been to in the last few months. However, once you get out of the centre of the city, there are some very nice places around. For example, on the outskirts there are a couple of old volcanoes that you can climb up and from the harbour you can see several little islands that you're able to go and visit. On one of the days that I was there, I went to visit one of the nearby islands called Rangitoto. The whole of the island was an old volcano and everywhere you looked there was just pumice stone with plants and trees that had somehow still managed to grow in it. There was literally nothing on the island at all
except for the small ferry port so it was fun to be walking around in the middle of nowhere for a bit. In total I spent 4 nights in Auckland just to get my bearings in New Zealand and to work out where I was going to be over the Christmas and New Year period. The city certainly isn't one of the world's greatest but I think some of the things that people told me about it before I went were a bit over the top - it has some good parts to it and it's quite a lively place.
From Auckland I found a very cheap bus company that took me to a place called Taupo. The town of Taupo is situated next to a huge lake which was actually created when a massive crater formed after a big volcanic eruption (can you see a theme forming here with the volcanoes?). There was definitely a lot of people who had chosen Taupo as the place to visit for their Christmas break as the place was heaving. A 2 hour walk away from the lake there is a waterfall called the Huka falls which I went to on one
of the days that I was there. It was a pretty good walk there as you go all the way along the side of the river which has extremely clear blue water and it's nice to cool off from the heat by dipping your legs in. The waterfall wasn't a very big drop but instead it was a sort of long flat section of rapids. Apparently you can occasionally see some crazy people going down the falls in kayaks on the weekends. After a couple of days in Taupo I was on the road again but this time only a short 1 hour journey to the town of Rotorua where I would stay for Christmas.
Rotorua is situated right in the middle of a geothermal area so all around the town and the surrounding area there are hot springs and vents in the ground with gas and steam coming out. As a result of this though, the hydrogen sulphide gas that is released from the ground has a pretty nasty smell and it seems to come in waves over the town. You get used to the smell after a while so it isn't too bad. A few kms outside
Inferno Crater
I was lucky to see the water when it was a bright blue colour, normally it's a dull grey except for just a couple of days each month. of the town there are two major geothermal areas which I went to visit. These places were incredible as I'd never really seen anything like it before. There were big bubbling mudpools and lots of lakes of water which were steaming and bubbling away. Also, the hot water and steam makes the minerals from the rocks be released into the water so you get lots of orange, green and purple colours which looked cool. Luckily, I managed to find myself a really great hostel to stay in for Christmas and this was mainly just due to the owner (Chris) who was a very generous guy. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Chris had all his family visiting and staying in the hostel and on the evening of Christmas Eve we had a huge feast with a Christmas ham and a BBQ which was free of charge. Then, on Christmas morning there was a champagne breakfast which involved a big fry up and champagne (obviously) which was again free for us. The rest of Christmas day I just spend hanging out with the other people at the hostel and we stuffed ourselves with the leftovers from the previous meals - it
Frying Pan Lake at Waimangu thermal park
The world's largest hot spring - the water temperature is about 55C was a good day even though it didn't really feel like Christmas due to the warm weather.
Today (Boxing Day), I've just returned from doing some whitewater rafting which was brilliant fun. I did it on a section of river which is classed as a grade 5 which means it's the most violent class of rapids which you're allowed to go down. At one point on the 50 minute journey down the river we had to go down a 7m waterfall which is apparently the highest one you can go down anywhere in the world. It was the first time I've done rafting and I loved it, there was one bit where I was able to get out of the boat and swim down a section of rapids as well and the scenery around the river was great too. So, that's what I've been doing in New Zealand up until now. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!
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