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Published: March 13th 2008
We're actually at the end of our New Zealand adventure and will soon be off to Fiji. Since arriving in New Zealand we have been that busy enjoying ourselves that updating the travel blog has been far from our minds!!! Now that we've finally got around to it I hope you're sitting comfotably because we've been very busy!!!!
We arrived in Auckland where we greeted with some lovely sunny weather which was great after finishing Oz at the rainy season. Auckland is a lovely city and we mainly just walked around taking in the sites. The following day we picked up our campervan which was to be our home whilst in NZ. As soon as we picked up the van we got straight on the road and headed up north towards the Bay of Islands. we did a bit of research and heard that the Bay of Islands was supposed to be one of the most beautiful parts of the North Island and also one of the sunniest. However as soon as we left Auckland it started hammering it down and by the time we arrived there was a mild cyclone!!! At this point we really were thinking that the
rain was following us!!!! So after looking at the weather reports we decided to get back on the road and try and run away from the rain. Bay of Islands was quite literally a washout!!!
After leaving Bay of Islands however our luck definately started to pick up. We headed down south to the Waitamano caves. The caves have thousands of glow wroms in them so we decided to book ourselves on a tour and go and take a look. The caves are truely amazing even though you are acompanied by a group of 20 othe people. We were guided through the caves and got to see the glow worms which amazingly look nothing like the 1980's toy that mattel used to make!!! They look more like loads of fairy lights!! Joking aside it is spectacular to see them, unfortunately though you'll have to take our word for it as we couldn't take any pics!!
We thought that coming to New Zealand we couldn't miss out on a few of the Lord of the Rings locations so when we noticed that Hobbiton was still there and you could go and visit it we jumped at the chance!!!
The location is not too far from Hamilton and they still have a lot of the hobbit holes from the film. We did a tour which showed us around the entire set and we even got to have a photo of us outside Bilbo Baggins hole!!! That night we decided to rent the dvd (we've got a dvd player in our camper van, how cool is that!!!!) and spot the places that we were!!!! From Hobbiton we moved onto Rotorua which is an area that has loads of geothermal activity, so therefore it smells like rotten eggs!!!
Rotorua is a lovely little town and there was certainly plenty to do. On our first day we went to see the Geysers which basically look like mini Volcanos. Every hour or so the errupt which is really cool, unfortunately it's water that come out and not lava!!! We also went and saw a traditional Maori dance and got to see them doing a proper Haka which was qualty!!! We then finished of the day with a trip to the mad dog cafe. If ever you go to Rotorua you have got to go there!!! They do the best lamb shanks
ever !!!! It did make me feel a bit guilty though when we were camped next to a field full of lambs the following night. They kept on baahing though the night and I'm pretty sure we ate their mate!!!!
From Rotorua we moved on to Lake Taupo and Tongario national park. This is when the landscape really started to become jawdropping!!! The valleys and mountains were just out of this world and it really did feel like you were smack bang in the middle of Lord of the rings!!!! When we checked into our campsite I asked the guy whether the mountain we were by was the one that they used for Mount Doom, he replied to me by saying "my friend you are currently standing in the middle of Mordoor" About half an hour later I could definately see what he meant!!! After a tough drive up the mountain it felt like we were Frodo and Samwise tring to get rid of the ring!!! The landscape is just unbelievable!!! I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!!!!
Our next stop was the last one in the North Island, Wellington the capital. Wellington is
a really nice place and we spent the day walking around and took a trip up the cable cars which gave some great views of the city. We also went to the museum which has got to be the best museum I've ever been to. It was the day after the earthquake hit you guys in old Blighty and there was a whole section on earthquakes. There was even a simulator where you go into a house and it simulates what an earthquake at 5.3 on the richter scale would feel like!!! So we got to have our own little earthquake as well!!!!!
Everyone had said to us that the South island is loads better than the north and as you can probaly tell we had a brilliant time in the North, so on arriving in the South Island we were very excited!!!!! However our jinx decided to strike again and as soon as we arrived at Abel Tasman national park it started raining again!!!! After this we decided that it was best we avoided beaches and headed down towards The Franz Joseph Glacier. The Franz Joseph Glacier was one of the main things that I was most excited
about since booking our trip so as you can imagine I was really looking forward to it!!!!!! Just getting into the area is an experience in itself, the roads are windy all the way and some times it felt like were just going to drive straight off a cliff. When we got there we certainly weren't disapointed. The view from our campsite was spectacular as you could see the Glacier!! It wasn't till this point that it sunk in the we were going to climb up what is basically an ice mountain!!!!! We booked on to a 3/4 day trip as we thought the full day might finish us off!!! After starting the trek we had to walk for about an hour to get to the glacier, almost as soon as we had started I was climbing up a very steep step when I heard a very loud rip. I looked down and the front of my combats had basically ripped in half!!! Just my luck hey!!! Take a look at the pictures to see how bad it was, and as soon as I stepped on the Glacier the other leg ripped!!! Here's a tip for you if you're going
on a Glacier hike don't shop at River Island!!!!! Being on the Glacier was the most amazing experience I have ever had it is just unbelievable to actually see it!!! It was a really tiring day but it was definately worth it, probably the most amazing thing I had done up until that point any way!!!!
Our next stop was Wanaka, which Turned out to be even more amazing than Franz Joseph!!! I had planned on doing a skydive so when we arrived I booked it. I had heard this was the best place to do it with the best scenery etc and I certainly wasn't disapointed!!! Once I'd booked it I was absolutely bricking it until we got there. When we got to the skydive place I was getting ready to do it by myself and thought I'd ask Karen one more time if she fancied doing it. Up until this point she had said she wasn't doing it, Karen's reply was "oh it's too late now even if I wanted to", so I straight away asked if she could do it, five minutes later we were all suited and booted and half an hour later we were
jumping out of a plane at 12,000 feet!!!! It was definately the most amazing thing I've ever done and it wasn't scary at all, as soon as I got down I wanted to go straight back up!!! Check out the photo's, we've also got a dvd which is hilarious!!!!
Our next point of call was Queenstown which they say was named as it's a town fit for a queen which it certainly is !!!! We basically spent our time driving and walking around and taking in the sights, I also did a luge down the hill which was quality!!! From here we also did a trip to Milford Sound which was beautiful, that's the thing about New zealand everything you see is bloody beautiful so I do apologise if I keep on repeating myself!!!! Next up we drove to Mount Cook national park to see Mount Cook (suprisingly!!) We picked the perfect day as there was hardly a cloud in the sky, Mount Cook is the highes mountain in Australiasia and it certainly is magnificent!!!
Our final stop before Christchurch was Kaikora. Kaikora is basically famous because of the Whales and dolphins that live in it's waters.
So therefore we decided to book ourselves on a whale watching trip. Practically no sooner than we had got on the catermaran we had spotted our first Sperm whale. To see them in the wild just flaoating meters from the boat was unbelievable!!! We then got to see the famous dive and see the tail in the water. All in all we got to see two sperm whales and the a whole load of dolphins jumping out of the water for us. It really was breathtaking to see and was a great way to end New Zealand.
New Zealand has been without a doubt the most amazing country we have been to and it's really sad that we're leaving. Every day there was something new to see and you can definately see why Peter Jackson chose it for Lord of The rings!!! We're already talking about what we'll do the next time we come here and hopefully it won't be too long!!! Unfortunately there's less than a month till we come home now but we've still got Fiji and America to cram in!!!! Fiji here we come!!!!!
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James
non-member comment
Lucky sods!
A great read as usual. I'd like to say work is as exciting but I think you know the truth...