Advertisement
Auckland
The beautiful Auckland skylineHey everyone, we are running a bit behind on our updates. We´ve been in S. America for nearly 3 weeks now so before we forget, its about time we did a report on our time in New Zealand. Unfortunately we only had two weeks in NZ (in hindsight it definitely warranted more) due to financial constraints - Australia rinsed us!
Although in our last blog we moaned a lot about our campervan, we decided that the best way to travel round NZ was to hire another one! As it turned out, we made the right decision because it was cheap, reliable and allowed us to get round both the North & South Islands relatively quickly. There was only one tricky moment, when we couldn´t shift the transmission from park to drive. Luckily we soon realised that you had to have your foot on the break to change gear - before we worked it out though there was 15 mins of swearing and glum faces at the thought of having to call up breakdown assistance all over again.
For NZ, we decided to be Wicked Campers rather than Hippie Campers. Whilst we were touring Australia, a company called Wicked seemed
Rotorua
The NZ chill was a bit of a shock - Andrew tries to warm himself up over a steam vent! to have cornered the Backpacker-Campervan market. The vans are designed in a graffiti-style usually with some sort of phrase spray-painted on the side and back. Many of these had a touch of rudeness and/or sarcasm. Personal favourites included "drink until shes pretty," "depression is just anger without enthusiam" and "2QT2BSTR8." The latter was being driven by two rather sheepish looking lads!
These definitely weren´t the rudest, so when we went to the Wicked Depot to pick up our van we had baited breath. Fortunately we were given a non-offensive van which paid homage to Chuck Norris! On the side it said something like "There is no neck behind Chuck Norris´ beard just another fist!" and on the back there was something like "Chuck Norris doesn´t sleep.........he waits!"
We´d picked up our van in Auckland after spending a day or two hanging around in NZ´s biggest city. Auckland´s setting reminded us of Sydney. It sits on a lovely harbour and has an attractive modern skyline. The "City of Sails" was a nice enough place, and there was an interesting mix of Maori, Chinese/Korean and European people. On first impressions it appears that Maori culture is more integrated into NZ
Rotorua
Kim at a steaming volcanic lake in Rotorua society than Aboriginal culture in Australia (although we can´t pretend to know much about this really). For example signs are in both English and Maori. Although we have to say the cold was a bit of a shocker (it was back to matching fleeces) after arriving from balmy Cairns.
The first stop after getting our van was the Waitomo Caves which are famous for Glowworms. It was pretty amazing to see them lit up, it felt like we were in Santa´s grotto. You can do white water rafting in the caves here, in the pitch-black although unfortunately this was a bit expensive for us.
We then headed to Rotorua, a town famous for its geothermal activity. As you head into the town there is a strong smell of sulphur from the volcanic pools, so you don´t need to worry too much if you´ve had baked beans for your tea because no-one can tell if you´ve done a blow-off! We spent a couple of hours looking at bubbling mud and steam coming out the ground which was certainly something a bit different. We then pushed onto the scenic Lake Taupo for the night.
The next day we had
Taupo
Kim looking over scenic Lake Taupo a long drive to Wellington on the southern tip of the North Island. The Capital City is set on a harbour and was a pleasant place to spend a few hours. Kim treated herself to a packet of Hula Hoops and some Wine Gums from a British-themed sweet shop, whilst Andrew purchased the greatest hits of Johnny Cash to listen to in the van. We slept in a hostel car park near the city centre, and the manager of the hostel clearly wasn´t getting much job satisfaction. We said Good Morning before we left and he replied with "F··king Pigs!" Not usually how you greet someone in the morning! Although we were slightly taken aback, he wasn´t referring to us but some backpackers who´d left the communal kitchen in a right state. He should probably think about changing jobs because he looked like he was going to have a heart attack over this.
Anyway, we were up at the crack of dawn to get the ferry over to the South Island. The scenery changed immediately and we drove to the west coast passing through some beautiful mountain valleys and stopping at some stunning lakes.
After stopping at Greymouth
Wellington
New Zealands capital city is set on a beautiful harbour - Andrew takes in the view. for the night we headed to the Franz Josef glacier. We´d booked a full day hike on the glacier which was brilliant. Easily one of the best things we did in NZ. Our Kiwi guide was a good laugh and the group we were with was pretty bubbly. We got our crampons on and trekked up and down precarious ice steps, through ice caves and along crevasses. The guide took pleasure in giving us "a perceived risk" meaning that he´d get us walking round holes in the ice which he insisted were harmless but there was no getting away from the fact that if you fell down one it would hurt a lot! Andrew now had a taster for extreme sports and pledged to do the bungee when we got to Queenstown.
The next day we headed for Queenstown which is another place that is beautifully set. It was another wonderful drive through the Haast area and into the southern lakes. The mountains and lakes here are amazing, we heard someone describe it as "the lake district on heat" which probably sums it up pretty well. Being Autumn the colours were also pretty special, loads of oranges, browns, golds
Nelson Lakes
Kim at a very scenic lake after crossing over to the South Island made it feel like we were in a painting. It was a great place to do your first bungee - definitely better than doing it over a pub car park or something back at home.
Andrew chose to do the jump at Kawarau Bridge (which you´ve probably seen on tv), which was the worlds first bungee site. The bloke (AJ Hackett) who did the first one must have had balls of steel! You can do a jump called the Nevis which is 134m and looked mad, but the original was cheaper. I wasn´t too nervous until a Chinese kid in the queue before me started wailing like a banshee! He definitely put the fear of god into me. The only other concern was when the bungee crew were working out the length of rope needed for me to touch the water at the bottom of the gorge. I could see the bloke doing calculations in his head which didn´t put me at ease! The crewman was British and I was tempted to ask him what he got for G.C.S.E Maths.........but I didn´t! The jump was absolutely wicked and now I´ve got the DVD to prove it!
Whilst in
Franz Josef
Before we embarked on our hike up the Franz Josef Glacier Queenstown, Kim bumped into a friend who she had done teacher training with seven years ago. We´ve found out that the world is a small place because Helen was the third person we knew from home that we´d bumped into during this trip. So bizarre!
After the bungee, we drove through yet more stunning scenery towards Milford Sound. Unfortunately our timing wasn´t the best as the Sound was enveloped in rain and mist meaning that visibility was virtually zero, so we missed out on seeing the mountain scenery (we heard the next day that Milford Sound was voted the worlds top destination by users of TripAdvisor.com - Doh!). However the heavy rain meant that waterfalls were cascading down the steep cliff-faces which was very spectacular and on the positive side it gives us an excuse to go back. It also allowed us to relax for a day as we´d been hurtling around NZ at a frenetic pace. The distances may not be as great as Australia but the roads are often slow and bendy so we were spending at least 4 - 5 hours a day driving.
On the last few days of our time in New Zealand
Franz Josef
Kim standing in an ice hole we drove up the South Island´s east coast stopping in Dunedin, Christchurch & Kaikoura. Kaikoura was a chilled little town, we saw a seal colony there but it was absolutely freezing as there were southerly Antarctic winds blowing off the coast. Our ferry back over to the North Island was cancelled so we spent an afternoon exploring Marlborough Sound which like everywhere else in NZ´s S. Island was very scenic. Our final day was a long drive from Wellington up to Auckland, we really could have done with some more time as unfortunately we didn´t get to see much of the North Island.
Anyway, we really enjoyed our time in New Zealand, its a very beautiful place, hopefully we´ll get to go back one day to see Milford Sound. We´re currently at the Iguazu Falls on the Argentina - Brazil border and so far we´re loving South America. Hopefully we´ll write another update soon.
Take Care
Andrew & Kim
Advertisement
Tot: 0.123s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.057s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
Nick
non-member comment
NZ!
Can't believe you guys got around NZ in 2 weeks!!! That's some serious driving! And you had the chuck Norris van!! So jealous, saw that one quite a few times on my trip there, was definitely the best