Advertisement
Published: January 9th 2010
Edit Blog Post
I wasn't sure about coming to the North Island after everyone saying that it is rubbish compared to the South. Even the woman who checked my passport at the airport told me to spend all my time in the south. After just over a month here I think that the north is given an unfair bad wrap. Sure there are less national parks, more people and a much more irritating vocabulary, but there are lots of outdoor adventures to be had if you look. Anyway, I like the north island, stop picking on it. So enough with all this, what did I get up to? Well read on and you will find out.
Paddling down the Wanganui river for 3 days has been a real highlight of my trip so far. Anyone who has gone kayaking with me at home will know that I a very lazy kayaker, so luckily it was more of a case of slowly floating down the river rather than solid paddling. I was amazed that you can go down a river for 3 days and only see wild forests and not a single house or field.
The thing that really excited me about the
north is that it is very volcanic. I walked up several and went on a boat trip to see a marine volcano, which featured a couple of acid lakes. These are something that I has fascinated me since I was in school and read about scientists who went out in a boat in such a lake and got dissolved, luckily no dissolving scientists the day I visited. I saw lots of bubbling sulphur pools and steam vents. Of course in the pictures you can't smell the eggy smell that is omnipresent in some towns like Rotatua, I am sure .
A big tick on the things I must do before I die was the day that I went sky diving. Not sure it is a good thing to have a list of things to tick off till death, but anyway, sky diving was amazing. I asked the instructor guy who I was strapped to to do lots of spins and things, which he obliged and made it even better. A strange footnote to my skydiving trip was that one of the other people on my flight knew my brother from back home, what a small world it is.
Although I have been in a lot of caves in the last 6 months I thought I would do another. This was quite a cool one as it featured a zip line which zoomed me past staligtights and mights in almost total darkness.
Christmas was a bit strange. It really wasn't very Christmasy at all. Walking up a mountain in the morning, beans on toast for Christmas dinner and then sitting on a scorching beach doesn't scream Christmas day. This was in Raglan, which is one of the few places I have stayed for more than a couple of days in the last 6 months. Raglan NZ is nothing like Raglan Wales that I and others reading will have spent many drunken weekends. Historic Welish village vs famous Kiwi surf spot. Tree huggers will be happy to hear that I stayed in an eco-camp called Solscape. Hello Solscaper's if you are reading. The thing I finally realised in Raglan is that surfing really isn't my sport, I have tried and failed it too many times. However, kite surfing totally is my sport and hopeful something I will continue during the rest of my trip.
I also spent a
few days in Auckland. Which is all I have to say about Auckland and all most visitors will.
Off to Chile next, which is 3 hours behind the UK, but at the moment I am 13 hours in front of the UK. So, I am in a sense I am just like a cross between Sam Becket from Quantum Leap and the Littlest Hobo. Oh boy, woof!
Here is a link to my photos I have a feeling that this thing is becoming far too bloggy, next I will start telling you how I am feeling and all that kinda stuff, god forbid! And that's all I have to say about that.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.158s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 8; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0581s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb