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Published: January 6th 2009
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That's the question often asked by the locals to overseas visitors. So what did we think of the country? Well, at first, it all felt a bit too easy after South America and during the bus journey from Auckland airport to the city centre (or CBD how they like to call it) we kept thinking we had just arrived back in the UK... even the weather felt similar with drizzle and wind! We met up with a couple of English friends, Alice and Ian, who have been living and working in Auckland for the past year. We went out for a nice meal, sampled a bit of the local white wine and got some tips on where to go in the North Island as we hadn't really planned this part of the trip at all. We soon realised that we didn't need to worry too much about planning as the main tourist hotspots are easy to find and if you have any trouble finding them you are never far from an ISITE (the local tourist information centres) who supply you with all the info you could possibly want and can book you accomodation, tours, etc... So we picked up a car
in Auckland and headed south to Rotorua. Half an hour into the trip we heard a scary noise and Jim thought one of the wheels had fallen off, thankfully it was only plastic trim that had got wrapped around the tyre which he managed to fix with a bit of old shoelace. At that point we were happy we had paid the extra money for comprehensive insurance! To be honest, it's probably a good idea to take it as we found out that it is not compulsory to have insurance in NZ therefore you could end up with big bills if your car has been crashed into by some idiot with no insurance. So anyway we made it to Rotorua which is the town where steam comes out of the drains and where the air smells like rotten eggs as the town sits on top of a huge underground lava lake. Strangely we got used to the smell fairly quickly whilst bathing in the free thermal baths at the campsite. Speaking of campsites, we have to say that they are quite exceptional (in a good way!), all equipped with guests' kitchens, TV/games room and super clean facilities. Some of them
even felt a bit over the top with rules about everything, it was almost a bit hi-de-hi. Following the thermal visits and after having checked out the geysers (a bit overrated), we headed south to do what is reconned to be the best day walk in NZ, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. For this we were joined by a couple of Irish girls, they were repeating the attempt after getting lost the day before, within 5 mins of the car park, enough said. Laure was not in a walking mood that day, but brightened up later when the views could be seen from the steaming crater rim. All very Lord of the Rings (the scary bits). From there we then headed to Wellington for a ferry to the south Island.
The ferry crossing was uneventful and we arrived in torrential rain, which cleared as we headed down the rugged east coast towards Christchurch. On the way we stopped at the small coastal town of Kaikoura to take a whale watching cruise. There are lots of whales at different times of the year and we got to see a near resident Sperm whale (looks like a big log floating until it dives
and shows its telltale whale flukes). We were also lucky to see some cool dusky dolphins who did a bit of a show for us too, though their jumps are a bit too fast for good photos. We then spent one night in Hanmer Springs to have a soak in the thermal pools (yes, again!) on the morning of Laure's birthday before heading to Christchurch for a stroll along the river Avon (the English settlers definitely lacked imagination when they named these places...). We then drove to Akaroa, another small coastal town set around a picture postcard bay. Akaroa was originally settled by French people but nowadays the only French thing about it is the names of the streets, no French bakeries to Laure's dismay. We had a lovely day around the beautiful bay and as the weather was fantastic we decided to rent a kayak for the afternoon and paddle in the hope to encounter some dolphins, sadly they were nowhere to be seen (Laure tried her Flipper the Dolphin impression but even that didn't work!).
After that, we decided to cross the South Island and drove up the supposedly very scenic Arthur's Pass, unfortunately it rained all the
way and we didn't get much of a view. When we got to the west coast, the weather didn't improve, rather the opposite but that gave us a good excuse to do a bit of shopping and we finally managed to find a Travel Scrabble which we had been looking for since we'd arrived in Auckland (almost as hard to find as the Holy Grail!). We had a very miserable night camping at Franz Josef and we decided to upgrade to a motel for the next night. We went to have a look a the Franz Josef glacier, a bit disappointing after the Perito Moreno to be honest, and the rain probably didn't help. The next day we drove to Wanaka and stopped at the Fox glacier on the way (similar to the previous glacier but in the sun this time). After this we decided to head to Milford Sound and took a cruise along the fjord, not bad, but we found that the trip there and back was both even more beautiful and exciting with breathtaking mountain views and crystal clear rivers surrounded by fields of wild blossoms. Laure couldn't resist taking a dip in the ice cold river
but I decided to stay dry and tried to photograph some keas (the mischievous alpine parrot) instead. For Christmas we headed to Queenstown and decided to ditch the tent (not litterally) and found a plush apartment overlooking the lake. We couldn't quite believe our eyes when we first saw it: a brand new, modern and fully equipped apartment with a big balcony and amazing views. Chritmas dinner tasted so much better than it would have done in a 2-man tent! We ended up staying for 4 nights and would still be there now if we hadn't had to get a flight to Australia! Amongst the things that we did around Queenstown, we went rafting down the Shotover river which was great! We managed to resist all the other crazy thrill seeking activities mainly because they cost so much and also because Jim is too much of a big puff to jump off bridges tied on to an elastic band! I was very tempted by the bungy but in the end I decided that I may do it for my 30th birthday, that gives me another year to think about it...
So that takes us back to the original question, what
do we think of NZ? Well, we both agree that it is an amazing country, very beautiful with pretty landscape everywhere you go and with possibly the cleanest public toilets on the planet!
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