New Zealand's North Island - Sails and smells

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We arrived in Auckland and took the efficient shuttle bus to our accommodation. Once we were checked in it was time to explore the city. We walked down into town and headed to the most obvious sight in the city - Sky City. The tower in Auckland is clearly the most obviously tall building in the city. It is in fact the tallest tower in the Southern hemisphere - though I have to say it doesn’t have much competition. Up close it is a bit - well honestly I would have to say ugly. It is just a big thick concrete pole. What is most interesting about it though is that you can pay a huge amount of money to jump off it. You can legally base-jump from the tower. We watched someone do it and I decided it was not really for us. Auckland itself was actually a little bit disappointing when compared with the rest of New Zealand. It is much bigger than any other city in the country (being about four times the size of Christchurch) but with that comes a whole lot of pollution which makes it feel a bit dirty. I’m not sure if this is a fair criticism though because it may just be that the rest of New Zealand is so clean and fresh that it is a bit of shock to meet any pollution at all!

The next day we decided to do some touristy things and went out to the western suburbs were the Zoo and technology museum MOTAT are. First we headed for the zoo as we wanted to see the emblem of New Zealand - the Kiwi. They have a number of kiwis on display though as they are nocturnal you have to look at them in the dark. But they are amazing creatures and now for some amazing facts about them. They are the only bird in the world to have their nose at the end of their beak. They are nocturnal so find most of the food by smell. More amazing than that they lay the biggest egg in relation to their body of any bird in the world. In fact just before it is laid the egg takes up over 50% of the space inside the mother bird. Now that has got to hurt. There were also some other uniquely NZ animals on display - nearly all of which are birds. You see there are no native mammals in New Zealand so it was pretty much dominated by birds until humans arrived. We looked around the other exhibits seeing everything from lions and giraffes to monkeys and giant tortoises. There were even some mute swans which I reckon has to be the first time I have seen a British animal displayed as exotic. We got some great photos including some great shots Lins got of some tamarind monkeys who as soon as the camera was pointing at them got down and dirty - it just has to happen. After the zoo we walked up to the aviation section of MOTAT where I got indulge in some aviation history of old flying boat airliners and light aircraft. There was even a flight simulator there though it wasn’t working properly as I never managed to land the damn thing. It was a great couple of hours I sure Lins will agree.

The next day we organised ourselves to explore the rest of the north island or at least as much as we could in five days. The next day we picked up a hire car and headed out on the main highway south to the town of Rotorua. As we got close to the town Lins started to look at me a bit funny. “It is not me!” I protested. The smell of sulphur was getting quite pungent. As we drove down into the town we could see steam rising from the park. The area has a lot of geothermic activity going on and we guessed this was just part of it. We checked into our accommodation. “Gee, I don’t know what you must think of the place - I can even smell it today!” our host said.

First off we headed out of town to check out the possibility of Zorbing. For those who don’t know Zorbing is a very mild adventure sport where you basically get into a big inflated plastic bubble with a bucket of water and are then rolled down a hill. Lins had claimed she was going to have a go, but after taking a look was not so sure (It‘s not that I was too scared, it was just bloody cold to be wandering around drenched with water! - Lins). I would have had a go myself of course, but as I was in grips of a nasty cold getting really wet in the middle of a Kiwi winter wasn’t sensible so we decided to come back later.

We went back into the town to check out the steaming park. A sign told us that area was affected by a recent geothermal activity and small eruption a couple of years ago, though no-one was hurt. In the park there were a number of steaming holes and lakes where the water was actually steaming hot. It was really a bit weird and had you thinking whether it was genuine or just a tourist attraction (just because it‘s a tourist attraction doesn‘t mean it‘s not genuine! - Lins). You would think that with all this geothermal activity heating wouldn’t be a problem but, as our host told us when he caught us using our oil heater in the lounge, heating is very expensive. Though you can have unlimited geothermal energy it is expensive to install and then you have to pay an annual tax to the government. This seems amazing to me that with everyone in the world scrambling for renewable energy, here they have an easy source of free energy and the government actually penalises people for using it!!

The next day we went a little south of Rotorua to visit the most geothermally active area of New Zealand - Wai-O-Taupe, the Thermal Wonderland. We arrived early in the rain and bought our tickets and headed straight to the Lady Knox Geyser. The geyser erupts everyday at 10:15am, so we wanted to get a front row seat. The rain was starting to fall quite heavily but we waited patiently. Just before 10:15 a chap walked up to the geyser and poured some powder in it. He explained that it was soap powder which they put in there in order to ease the surface tension and cause the geyser to erupt. I guess that nature just isn’t reliable enough for your average tourist. As he told us about the geyser (pronounced Guy-ser over here) foam started to erupt. He quickly finished what he was saying and moved out of the way. A fountain of hot water started to rise up slowly until it was about 3 meters (10 feet) tall. I sort of expected it to be a more violent eruption suddenly erupting but it was rather like watching a roman candle. After it had calmed down a bit we headed around the rest of the park. The park had every type of weird and wonderful geothermal feature. Pools of bubbling mud, strong sulphur smells, geysers erupting, pools of hot water of all sorts of strange colours, and brightly coloured silica terraces. It was fascinating, but by the time we had walked around all of it the rain was falling quite hard and we were absolutely drenched! We headed back to Rotorua to try and find an indoors thing to do for the afternoon. The best we could come up with was the old back-up of hiding in the cinema.

Later on that evening the rain still hadn’t calmed down but we were booked to attend a traditional evening of Maori culture - a Hangi. The bus took us to the Mittai family village and we were ushered into a marquee to take our seats. We met our tablemates over a glass of wine before the MC kicked things off. He welcomed everyone in Maori and then asked everyone to tell him where they were from so that he could welcome them their own language. There were 19 nations represented so it took a while though after having to ask the Belgians what language they spoke when he came to the Dutch he just said “Did you here what I said to Belgium - well it goes for you too!” Then we had to choose a chief for our tribe of 19 nations. It had to be a man of course which was actually a bit of an issue as a quick look around revealed that there were only about a dozen blokes in a room of about 150. A chap from Canada volunteered and it was explained that he would have to make a speech to the Maori chief later on. We then went out to see the food being prepared. All the chicken and lamb was being put into a huge underground oven and then covered up. We then handed big umbrellas and lead down through the bush to the river. There some Maori warriors were rowing a canoe up the river with lots of shouting and sticking the tongue out. We then followed them to the village proper which thankfully was inside. We were given a full Maori welcome which I have to say was a bit scary in places. Our chief took the peace offering, made his speech and made a formal nose rub with the Maori chief. We were then asked to sing a Maori song and we were accepted by the tribe - thankfully as I didn’t fancy fighting them! We were then given a talk on various parts of Maori culture which was really entertain ring. The best thing was that they didn’t take themselves too seriously, especially when people made mistakes in the various dances and skill demonstrations. The climax was of course the Maori war dance or Haka. We then headed back to the marquee for a huge meal and some more wine. After dinner we were taken on another walk in the rain to see the glow-worms, learn about the silver fern and the sacred spring which had eels in it that the Maori call Tuna. By the end we were quite wet again but it was an excellent night.

The next day the weather had lifted a bit so we went up to Hell’s Gate. This is one of the many spas in the area and was named by George Bernard Shaw when he visited the Maori village there. We booked in for a mud bath and spa before heading around the sights. More bubbling mud, a mud volcano and various sizzling rocks and sulphur baths later we were heading back to our mud bath when we saw a man doing some traditional Maori carving “Come and have a go, and you can keep your efforts, no charge.” Ah that’s what we like to hear no charge. He handed us a block of wood and an extremely sharp chisel and showed us the technique. And then wandered off around the back Really health and safety rules just can’t apply here. We butchered a couple of bits of wood and were told we were naturals - hmm not at carving mind. Then we headed to the mud bath. It does seem odd to me to actually get into a bath to get dirty but it was actually fun and now my skin is just radiant. After a very cold shower we plunged into the balmy waters in the sulphur pool to relax. It was marvellous.

Having had our fill of geothermal activity and that sulphur smell (our towels still smell of the mud bath) we drove back up the island to the Coromandel peninsula. The scenery in the area was amazing as the road wound itself up the mountains. The highways here are quite bendy and like the highway we saw on the south island there were parts where you had to use mirrors to see what was coming around the corner! We stopped at a few places to admire the views but we were heading for one last geothermal site - the Hot Water Beach. Due to a magma spike in the area the ground is quite warm so at low tide you can dig a hole on the beach which will fill with warm water - your own spa on the beach. Unfortunately we arrived at high tide so no spa for us! Really should read the small print! We carried on up the peninsula to Whitianga (pronounced fit-ee-ang-guh) and decided to stop for the evening. The bay was beautiful and we were tired of driving. We checked into a hostel which had lots of references to aeroplanes. There were a number of pictures of a guy with a homebuilt Glasair around and our guide book had mentioned that cheap flights might be available. On the notice board sure enough there was a note offering scenic flights in the owners plane for $24 - that’s GBP8! Unfortunately we were too late to fly that night as the sun was starting to set which was a shame since it had been a perfect flying day. Of course we awoke the next day to total cloud cover and showery rain so no cheap flights for us.
We carried on around the peninsular to Coromandel itself. Our guide book tells us that this is basically a hippy community who refused to let go of the 60’s. To be honest it seemed to me that they had all just opened really expensive art shops and cafes so after a quick walk around we carried on. By lunch we had reached the little town of Thames, an old gold mining town so we stopped for something to eat before the last stretch back to Auckland.

Since we had the car we decided to head out to the observatory that evening so we could at last get an explanation of the southern skies we had been admiring whilst travelling across Outback Australia. We checked in for the late showing and were a bit disappointed to find out that it wasn’t the 3D explanation of the skies we thought though there was a “coming soon” poster for that up. In fact the first 45 mins was a documentary about the Cassini project and what it hoped to achieve. I’m not up on my space trivia but I’m pretty sure that that project had already been completed and that the documentary was about 15 years old. We did get a short talk on the southern skies after that though and can now confidently find the Southern Cross and the south polar point. During the talk the guy used a star projector to simulate the southern skies to show us what it looked like from various points and times and what the milky way should look like if it wasn’t for light pollution. Well I’ve seen the night sky from the Australian Outback and the Milky Way isn’t as obvious as they made out but it is pretty special. After the initial talk we taken to another room and had a lecture about the Space Shuttle. Not sure why but I think they had the slides and were determined to use them. Unfortunately the sky on this night was too cloudy for us to look through their telescopes but they did give us a voucher to come back another night. A shame we wont be around to use it.

The next day we checked out the Auckland Museum. On the door it said there was a voluntary donation of $5 recommended. Well maybe we’ll just decide whether it is worth $5 first. No chance - the doors are barred and the voluntary contribution is very clearly compulsory. I have to say though it is worth $5. The display on war was excellent especially the Maori Wars between the tribes as well as with the settlers. I was also impressed by the exhibits on the Second World War that included the impact on people you wouldn’t think of normally - such as the interned “enemy-aliens” (immigrants from the warring countries) and conscientious objectors. The highlight though I think is the volcano exhibit which has a mock house you can sit in and look out over Auckland bay. A TV in the corner shows a mock news cast about the possibility of a volcanic eruption in the bay and as they are talking you can see that out of your window the bay starts to steam. Suddenly the eruption happens and the house is shook and the TV goes off. It is all very effective.

Soon we were saying our last goodbyes to Auckland and indeed New Zealand. We have both said we didn’t get to see enough and I have to say I think we would be better of seeing the rest in summer. But we had a flight to catch. It was time to leave the winter and these beautiful islands behind. Ahead of us the tropical islands of Fiji.

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Photos

Auckland
The tower is definitly the biggest

Auckland Tower
The tallest in the Sourthern Hemisphere don't you know

Lion
She can see the fish in the water

Girry-bo
You should have seen the effort it took to sit down like that

Hurricane
Gate guardian to MOTAT

Zorbing
The almost sane extream sport

Geyser
The very natural Lady Knox Geyser

Geothermal 1
The very weird colours of the lakes of Wai-a-taupo

Geothermal 2
And again!

Maori
Warriors in their canoe

Waterfall
A hot water waterfall!

Carving
An expert carver at work

Swamp thing
Now that is scary

Swamp things
Twice as scary!