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After a three-hour ferry ride from Picton, we eventually arrived late afternoon into Wellington- a really awesome city. We actually only had one night here, as we were due to drop our car off the next day in Auckland, but what we saw of it seemed really nice. We were a little bit gutted that we didn't schedule to spend longer there, after all it is the Capital, but we only had a limited amount of time on the North Island! The first thing we noticed about the North was how different it is from the South...it's much less dramatic in terms of everyday scenery, and much busier as EVERYONE seems to live there. After 2 and a half weeks or driving through the middle of the mountains, a highway with more than one lane was quite a shocker!!
After a very stressful ten-hour drive to Auckland and a late car drop off (woops!), we eventually arrived into Auckland...much later than we'd expected as we got VERY lost in the city. Auckland seems huuuge, with a population of about 1.4 million, which is apparently more people than that of the South Island all together! Crazy. We'd heard A LOT of
bad things about Auckland from other travellers, so we were expecting the worst... but, we were pleasantly surprised and we actually got a really nice feel from it. Although i'd never really call myself a city girl, I really liked it. We were planning to meet our Kiwi Experience group, a hop on hop off bus service they have here in New Zealand, in the morning, so we decided to have a fairly early night in preperation- they've got a bit of a reputation as being a party bus. In many ways we were reluctant to book onto it, but we had heard both good and bad things about it, so wanted to get a taster for it ourselves...this turned out to be a really good idea!
The next morning we got up fairly early to meet our group...our first impressions were pretty good and everyone seemed really nice, plus the drivers make the whole experience really interactive and social which was great. One of the great things about Kiwi experience is the fact that the day is so packed full of activites, you barely have time to breathe...which is good in a way because you see more than
you ever really intended to see. Our first stop was Mercury Bay, on the Corromandel Peninsula, which is home to lots and lots of lush secluded beaches. We made a few stop offs on the way- namely Mount Eden, a huge volcanic crater just outside Auckland, which gave us great views of the city...it looked awesome. Plus, as we neared closer to Mercury bay itself, we stopped off at a well known beach called Cathedral Cove and enjoyed an hours walk down to the bay...it was really pretty and so cute...definitely worth the very steep climb back up!! The area around Mercury bay seemed really nice, although we'd only been scheduled a brief stop off here, as a break, on our way to Rotorua...but what we did see seemed lush. Another early start saw us well on the way to Rotorua, or 'sulphur city' as its more commonly known- it is an incredibly smelly city due to the mass of boiling sulphuric mud pools and Gysers! ( The maori name for it is Whangapipirom, meaning evil-smelling place!) On our way to Rotorua we stopped off for a walk in the Karangahake Scenic Reserve to explore the Bush Clad gorge, and
what an amazing walk this was...we were literally walking on the VERY edge of a huuuuge gorge with loads rivers and waterfalls below us; plus we walked straight through the middle of a 1 kilometre long tunnel in the PITCH black- you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. Crazy. From there, we headed to Hobbiton for lunch; a very small little town that has been made into a landmark, as the hobbit villiage from the Lord of the Rings was filmed here!
Our time in Rotorua was really great, especially since we got a really nice feel for the Maori culture for the first time, which we haven't really had anywhere else. As I said earlier, Rotorua is known for the smell of sulphur and the mud pools, so it was great to have a short little tour of the town to check everything out...the 100 degrees hot bubbling mud pools were amazing- so active, but sooo smelly! After we arrived we headed straight to the gondola to do some hardcore luging, where you drive your own cart down 5 kilometres of winding tracks and trails- it was so much fun and made for some
great pictures! Plus, the views from the top were awesome- Rotorua looks really pretty from above!
That evening, we all attended a Maori cultural evening called 'Tamaki Cultural Experience'...but it was more than just a cultural evening! It began with an introduction from the Maori people with a welcome dance (where we were not allowed to laugh AT ALL...it is harder than it sounds!), before we were welcomed into their re-created villiage to explore! It was really awesome- we all really felt like we were part of their family, and they are were so so friendly to everyone. We were taught lots of their traditional games and challenges- it was VERY fun! Following this, we were all ushered into a small hall for a concert, where they performed the 'HAKA'- a traditional welcome/war dance, involving lots of vigorous movements and stamping of the feet, as well as fierce facial expressions and grimaces, poking out of the tongue, eye bulging, grunts and cries, and the waving of weapons! The whole concert was honestly amazing; they were so talented! Later, we headed into the dining hall where we enjoyed a Hangi feast- in traditional hangi cooking, meat and vegetables are cooked
in a hole dug in the ground, then placed on hot stones at the bottom of the hole; the food is then covered with cloth and a mound of earth trapping the heat around the food...it was the best food i'd had in a VERY long time! It was an an evening thorougly enjoyed by everyone and gave us a real insight into the culture...worth EVERY penny.
The next morning we headed to the Rotorua agrodome for a traditional New Zealand farm show, which basically involves 15 different breeds of sheep being brought on stage, along with cows, dogs and geese for a show- a very cool, but weird experience! From there we headed to the activites area of the agrodome, where we had a choice of LOADS of activites...all at a discounted price- how tempting! Zorbing, Jet boating, Sky diving simulation, the swoop and the Schweeb were all options avaliable...in the end, after A LOT of contemplating me and two others from the bus tried out the swoop. This involves a device in which the three of you, all together, are hung face first to the ground in what can only be described as 'sleeping bag type things',
and then raised up at over fifty feet...before being dropped at full speed, near missing the ground and then swooping at a huge height in an arc shape! It was sooo fun, but so scary at the same time---the biggest ground rush i've ever had..I would do it all again in a second!
From here, we headed to Waitomo, home to the black water rafting, glow worms caves of New Zealand. It's like another world under there- a whole system of caves eroded by waterfalls and rivers overtime, forming a huge river canyon. There were lots of options avaliable, from fairly tame to the most adventurous- zip wires, abseiling, tubing, waterfall climbing/ jumping and much more...we chose the middle option for a bit of both. We got all kitted up in our wetsuits, head torches, booties, wellies and jackets and headed underground. We climbed deep down into this huge underground network, jumped off fast rushing waterfalls and spent some time relaxing and floating in rubber rings down a small VERY dark tunnel with absolutely amazing views of the glow worms- it was quite an experience...I really faced my fear of dark and small spaces here! One thing that is
particularly interesting about Waitomo is that it has a population on 36 people in total...it's the smallest town i've ever stayed in..with one pub, one hostel, and a conveinience store that was recently closed down due to lack of business. CRAZY.
The next morning we left for Taupo, with a few brief stop offs on the way- including a rabbit shearing house which sounds absoloutely mad. I was reluctant to go and watch, as to me it sounded cruel, but it turns out that the rabbits actually kind of enjoy it...plus if they're not sheared every six months they die of heat exhaustion. They were so so fluffy and soft, and they had a WHOLE store selling loads of rabbit fur products- very surreal, but very cool at the same time...it almost felt wrong to buy something. We also took a breif walk at the Huka falls, just outside Taupo, with a waterfall over 11 metres high with water flowing fast enough to fill up an olympic swimming pool in three seconds- can you imagine!?
Lake Taupo was formed by a volcano and is acually 616 square kilometres, making it the largest lake in Australasia, big enough to
fit the WHOLE of Singapoore inside it!! The town of Taupo was really really cute, with a really nice atmosphere...and a very good nightlife- we LOVED it here. Plus, out of nowhere I saw Rhys (Boyfriend) sitting in a bar oposite my hostel as we arrived...it was quite a shock as I wasn't due to meet him till a week later in Auckland...so it was all very surreal, but really nice to see him after three and a half months! A lot of people in our group had booked to do a skydive for our time in Taupo, and I cannot express how tempted I was to do another one...but lack of funds stopped me this time...although watching all their dvds made me incredibly jealous.
One of the main reasons that me and Jade wanted to stop at Taupo was to complete the 19.4km Tongariro Alpine Crossing...one of the top five day walks in the world...and what a walk it was! It is renowned for its desterted yet beautiful "moon like" volcanic landscape, visible volcanic activity and views of the surrounding countryside below. Almost the entire length of the crossing is in volcanic terrain with no vegetation and fully
exposed to weather - so we were given many warnings that the walk could be dangerous! The instructions we were given as we arrived were quite something with LOTS of warnings about both the weather, active volvanic activity and falling rocks- good times. It stated that the weather is extremely changeable and that we should turn back at any time if something didn't feel right..plus we were scared into thinking our level of fitness wasn't enough, with the rating as 'Steep and challenging'...but everything worked out in the end! The walk passes over two active volcanoes- Mt Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings) and Mt Tongariro, as well as the experience of lava flows, steaming rocks and bright emerald coloured lakes! Parts of the walk were VERY steep, with one of the worst parts being whats known as 'the devils staircase', a windy steep staircase with absolutely stunning views- it just felt like we were in the middle of nowhere...nothing like anything I've ever experienced before. Another very challenging section was our last climb of the day- the walk to the summit of the red crater...at points we were on our hands and knees, due to sliding rocks
and A LOT of ice- it was soooo cold and windy up there. The highlight of the day for me was the view of the Emerald Lakes from the top of the red crater summit - they were bright emerald green and just so stunning... everything about this walk looked better than the pictures- how often does that happen? The walk was quite a challenge (probably didn't help that we were running on five hours sleep from the night before) and we all felt really proud after we'd completed it...what an achievement! It is definitely the highlight of New Zealand for me- It was worth the pain that followed- EVERY muscle in my body ached for the next week!
The next day we had to say goodbye to our group, which was actually pretty sad, and head back up to Auckland, as we were beginning to run low on time! We'd decided to spend our last few days on the North in the Bay of Islands, right at the very tip of the island and it was definitely worth it. We spent two nights in a town called Paihia- a small, cute, beachy town where most of the tourists
seems to be! We booked ourselves straight onto a horse trekking trip, as this is one of the only things i'd really wanted to try but hadnt managed it yet! I've only ever horse ridden a few times before so it was pretty funny at first, but once I got used to it, it was great- we even did some trotting! It was over two hours altogether and the views were incredible...she took us to a perfect spot for a fab view of the islands- lush. We were all pretty achey afterwards, especially since me and Jade were still recovering from the Tongariro Crossing trek, so we headed back for a bit of a rest before heading out to the hostel bar for a few drinks!
The next day, we booked ourselves onto a Cape Reinga trip, which took us to the very tip of the island for a view of where the Tasman sea and the Pacific Ocean meet- pretty cool. After a few little stops, we made our way to 90 mile beach (Which is actually 60 miles) for a little drive...it was awesome driving along the beach and through the water, although the tide had come
in a little earlier than expected- so even the driver looked worried! When we'd made our way to the other end, we prepared for what is known as sand boarding, where you basically grab a body board, climb up a VERY steep hill and slide face first all the way down- what a brilliant invention! We LOVED it, although the climb back up made the ride down seem incredibly short, so we only managed a few trips! From there, we made our way to a little secluded bay called Tapotupotu for lunch, where we had the whole beach to ourselves..it was perfect...some people even went for a swim- CRAZY. For our last stop of the day we headed to Cape Reinga, for an hours walk to the lighthouse at the very tip of the island...it was really really beautiful up there...it helped that the weather was great! You could see pretty clearly where the Tasman sea met the Pacific ocean by a tidal race- the Maori people believe that this is symbolic of the 'spirits pathway'. From there, we made our way back to Paihia, with a brief stop off on the way for some of the best 'Fush and
Chups' in New Zealand! (Apparently!).
Saying goodbye to Jade after three and a half months was so much harder than I thought it was going to be...it felt like I was loosing a limb or something..we've had some awesome experiences...can't wait to reminise them everything when we meet up again! There are three things i'm going to miss most about New Zealand- the incredibly laid back atmosphere and people, the awesome scenery and THE PIES...it's been really really great.
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