New Zealand - North Island - (back to! Part 1)

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island
March 11th 2010

Published: March 11th 2010

Hey all!

I'm now back on the North Island, very sad to say bye to the South Island but I will be back!

Day 18 - Christchurch to Wellington
.......continued. The flight from Christchurch to Wellington was really short, a bit like flying to Guernsey. We were only at cruising altitude for 5 minutes! The view from the plane was OK but it was a bit cloudy, the clouds were really cool. We had a very bumpy landing, the descent freaked me out a bit as it felt like we were going to land in the water! When we arrived we went for a walk around Wellington as we didn't have much chance to see it last time, on the way down south. We (Caryl, Katie & I) checked out the Reading Cinema - on the recommendation of Mike 😊 - and booked tickets to go and see Valentine's Day. We then did a bit of shopping (that has GOT to stop) and had a rush to eat and get ready for the cinema. We watched Valentine's Day and it was emotional. I cried most of the way through the second half (not sure what was wrong with me) and was on the verge of proper sobbing which could have been embarrassing! I was an emotional wreck when we left so just had to go to a nice wine bar for a nice glass of wine (it really was nice wine). We then went to the Base Bar where I had JD & coke to help me calm down further, thankfully that worked. We had a really good dance and got chatting to a bloke from Ireland and a Robert Pattinson lookalike from Wales.

Day 19 - Wellington to Taupo
We were back on the Kiwi bus today, thought we might have GP again but had Flea who was really nice and not so grumpy. We watched The Bucket List and I cried. Again. That's twice in a week now. We stopped off in Taihape for lunch where we had a bit of a nice surprise 😊 Then went on back through the Tongariro National Park for a different view of the mountains we saw on the way down. We arrived in Taupo late afternoon, it was REALLY hot and we just went to the supermarket then chilled drinking a couple of glasses of red wine in our room. The wine was needed as the room was not very nice, it had no windows and that always freaks me out.

Day 20 - Taupo and the Tongariro Crossing
We were up at 5.15am for a 5.45am pick up to travel to the start of the crossing. The crossing is 19.4km and again I was a bit worried as it obviously involved hiking. The walk started off really nice and easy, we were right down in the valley and watched the sun coming up over Mount Ngauruhoe (aka Mount Doom). We couldn't see where we were walking at times as the sun was so bright and the shade so dark. We walked across a bit of a swampy area and then approached 'The Devil's Staircase' (why on these types of walks do they give certain bits these horrible names, it's like 'Dead Woman's Pass' on the Inca Trail) where there was a sign warning us about whether we wanted to continue! Anyway, the Devil's Staircase wasn't as bad as I'd been imagining, it was Ok as long as I took it steady. I was the slowest up (Katie was super fast, looked like a professional) but was re-assured that I had Lorelei who is a nurse back home walking with me. The top of the Devil's Staircase takes you to the base of Mount Doom, which you have the option to climb. We decided against it as it added another 3 hours and to be honest it looked ridiculously hard work. So we carried on across a lovely flat plain before climbing another really steep bit to the top of the Red Crater. The climb was quite a bit harder but I still wasn't a mess when I got to the top. The Red Crater is really cool, the rock face is red and the rock formation is really interesting. There were also pale blue lagoon type lakes on the flat, and steam, it didn't smell great! As we had climbed up so high we had to come back down and the only way was to slide down a really sandy/ashy steep 'hill' (bit of an understatement but don't know what else to call it). It was a bit scary as we did actually slide and sometimes it was hard to stop, if we'd have gone too far to the left or the right we would have gone over the edge! After we got down the walk was all ok, we actually went quite fast. The scenery changed quite a bit, we went through a really gorsey/heathery bit and then into a bit of a forest, which reminded me of the Inca Trail. The path looked so similar to the one you take going into camp on the last day I felt I could have been back there. We were amazed to come across a Dad carrying his 4 year old on his back. Bless her, she'd walked most of the way up and then he ran down with her! The whole walk was great. We made the first bus back to town which we were pretty chuffed with, especially me considering the struggles I usually have! The whole walk was amazing, I don't think I'd do it again but I'd definitely recommend it to someone who hasn't. When we got back to the hostel Caryl & I had a couple of hours sleep and then showered, ate soup and went out for a couple with Katie and Lorelei.

Day 21 - Taupo to Auckland
We were so happy to find that we had GP as our driver again!!! I think he was pleased to see us but was complaining about how we had managed to get to Taupo from Queenstown without him knowing about it. On the way out of Taupo we stopped at a really big steaming mud pool, I wish I could remember where it was because it was the best I've seen. Other than that it was pretty much a straight drive through to Auckland. In Rotorua we picked up Bods (aka Craig) another Kiwi driver so had a nice time talking to him. Auckland was really hot and sunny so we dumped our bags, shopped and then got ready to go out with Scott & Craig (Jenny my godmother's son's) to Scott's house-leaving BBQ. Scott and Craig picked us up at the hostel and took us up to One Tree Hill, which was great as GP had been telling us the story about One Tree Hill earlier in the day. There is an interesting story about the tree on One Tree Hill (Google will be able to tell the story better than me) but another interesting fact is the link with U2. Apparently U2 wrote One Tree Hill (on the Joshua Tree album) in memory of a roadie that died whilst working on a U2 tour. It was only released as a single in New Zealand and they only play it live in New Zealand, it's now the most requested U2 tune in New Zealand. Anyway, the view from up there was awesome, we had a panoramic view of the city at sunset. We went onto Scott's house where we had really nice BBQ food and a few drinks. Scott lives with a Brazilian girl called Maria and she made us Caipirinhas which reminded us of Brazil. I think they were better than the ones we had in Brazil! We then went to the Viaduct which has loads of cool bars near to the marina. We went to an Irish Bar and they were playing some ace rock music. We had a really late night! We got back to our room which was full of sleeping boys. We hadn't met them before we went out so it was a bit strange to just go to sleep with them there. We never said a word to them as we left they next morning before they woke up.

Day 22 - Auckland to Paihia (Bay of Islands)
We were really tired after our late night and it was a struggle to get ready, especially in the dark as we didn't want to wake the boys up. GP had prepped Jarrod (our driver for the journey) that we might be a bit late. We saw pink sheep on the way up North, apparently sprayed that way in a bid by the farmer to attract tourists to his farm. We got off the Kiwi bus in Whitianga and then got a public bus and taxi out to the Zion Wildlife Park which was to be one of Caryl's highlights (it's where they film The Lion Man, Caz loves the program). Bless her, she was so excited!!! It was a really interesting few hours, I learned a lot about big and small cats. They are all very distinctive and have different facial expressions. I have mixed feeling about animals in cages like that but they were all bred into captivity and would never cope in the wild so I suppose they at least have a life. It was worth going to see Caz so happy! We then got another public bus up to Paihia. I wasn't very well when we arrived (what I had thought was a hangover was turning more into a bad cold). I had achey bones and felt feverish. I was freezing cold and put on 3 jumpers even though it was really hot. I really wanted to go to bed but was sharing with 3 girls (Caz and I couldn't get into the same room!) who were very noisy. They had American Idol on REALLY loudly and although I could have asked them to turn it down a bit so I could sleep I was in too much of a strop that they hadn't thought of that considering they knew I was a bit poorly. Anyway, I couldn't sleep so went and chilled for a bit. When I went back to the room I did ask them to turn it down (it went from something like 30 to 15 on the scale, no idea why they needed it that loud in the first place) and had a nice sleep.

Day 23 - Paihia (Bay of Islands)
Caryl moved into my room today which was much nicer!! I was feeling better and the day started sunny so we went down to the beach. It was quite nice so we had a bit of a sunbathe. The view out to the Bay was lovely, when I come back with more time I'll go out to the Islands in the Bay as they are supposedly beautiful and have really pristine beaches. By mid afternoon the sun had gone in and the wind had gone up so it got really cold! I had goosebumps! So we decided to go back in and I spent the rest of the afternoon uploading photos which never goes very well for me. For some reason my camera sends them to the computer in completely the wrong order and it takes me AGES to sort them out. Anyway, once that was finished I cooked my dinner which was supposed to be rice and veg with chopped tomatoes (Watties do lots of different varieties, all flavoured differently, they are great!) but ended up just being veg and chopped tomatoes as I had lost my rice. It nearly ended up being just veg as I couldn't work the tin opener. Caz usually does it for me (I'm sure it's something to do with being left handed, I'm not completely useless?!) but as she wasn't there I had to ask someone else. As that person couldn't do it she had to ask someone else so this very nice chap did it expertly for me. Very embarrassing!!! Once that was sorted I went back to the room expecting Caz to be all ready to get ready to go out (the bar looked really good) but in the end neither of us could be bothered so we stayed in and had an early night!

Day 24 - Paihia (Bay of Islands) to Auckland
We were being picked up at 3pm so had most of the day in Paihia but as the weather wasn't so great we chilled and went on the internet to finish the photos etc. On the trip back to Auckland we watched "He's just not that into you" and I cried. Again. It's getting ridiculous now, that's 3 times in 1 week I've ended up crying over a film!!! Once back in Auckland we checked in, went out for a 'food court' Indian dinner then got ready to go out for our last night together. We decided to go down to the really nice Viaduct area that we'd been to with Craig and Scott on the Friday. We went into a bar that we thought was doing Karaoke as we thought that'd be cool, it turned out it was Meatloaf live (not in person, on a big video screen). We got chatting to two Canadians and went back to the bar we'd been to with Craig and Scott. Even thought it was a Monday night it was still quite busy and didn't seem to be filled with backpackers. We decided to leave there and head back to the 'Globe' (the hostel bar) but on the way past another Irish bar in the Viaduct we heard a lot of load music and decided to go in. It was packed out, turned out the same bloke who was playing in the other Irish bar on the Friday was playing in this bar. He was really good, if a bit inappropriate with his lyrics (tended to adapt classics like Sweet Child of Mine by adding his own bits in) so we stayed there for quite a while. We then went to the Globe (via Burger King, where my fries tasted of lamb?!) and had a good dance! We got in really late but it was a GREAT last night. I really was not looking forward to saying back to Caryl the next day.

Day 25 - Auckland to South Auckland (saying bye to Caryl!)
Today was the day we had not been looking forward to (well I hadn't been, Caz was probably looking forward to a rest from me!). The day Caryl was leaving for Australia without me!!! We got checked out and ended up back on the internet, there is always so much to do!! We had a very quiet morning and then headed out to the airport together where we got Caryl checked in for her flight to Brisbane and had some Macdonalds milkshakes. I was putting on a brave face for Caz (she had the scariest deal as at least I knew where I was going and who with) but knew I was really gonna miss her!!! We've had such a great time and she's been such a brilliant travelling buddy. It's been so nice to have someone to share things with and it's even more special when it's one of your best friends, someone you've known for such a long time, who knows you inside out. It also helps that she knows how to deal with me and can put up with me when I'm having a neurotic moment! I should be back with her in a few weeks and we can continue our adventures in Australia, but for the next 3 or so weeks we are on our own!!! Terry, my godmothers husband, picked me up at 2pm and we had a tearful farewell! I missed Caz immediately but was so excited for her for arriving in Australia, she can give me all the tips from the things she's learned on her journey to Adelaide where I'm aiming to meet up with her. I'm REALLY looking forward to the next few weeks of chilling and spending time with the Davis family 😊

Day 25..........to be continued................

New Zealand - North Island - (back to! Part 1)

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