NZ

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So, I've finally got around to doing a blog on New Zealand, what a long time ago it feels like now. The constants throughout the 12 days we were there was rain, and driving. I managed to make a note of our activities so I'll do this blog as a day by day account.

Day 1

It was an early rise in Sydney. We got picked up from our nice apartment we'd been staying in for the past 4 nights, and got taken to the airport. The flight to Auckland was only 3 hours, but New Zealand is another 2 hours ahead so we didn't get there until mid afternoon. We were then picked up by our car hire company. We ended up hiring an old Toyota Caldina which is quite a big station wagon. We decided a big car would prove handy with all our bags etc. We then went and met Mum and Alan (who went and picked up there luxury campervan separately) at a campsite on the outskirts of Auckland. We had decided to try and do it the cheap way so we Me, Nicola and Stefanie bunced together to get a tent. It was okay for the first couple of hours, but by 5am and hardly any sleep, I resorted to sleeping in the car. Not only was the ground far too hard, but NZ is as cold as Scotland is as winter and we were all freezing, and a tad wet.

Day 2

We woke up early and decided to go into the city and see the sights. The landscape around the city is very scenic with a lot of distinct volcanoes popping up everywhere. We drove to the top of one of the biggest, Mt Eden, which gave great views of the city. It reminded me very much of the Law Hill. After a quick tour of the CBD, we went across to the seaside town of Devonport, across their harbour bridge. Not quite as grand as Sydney's, but still nice. Whilst there, Nic and Stef decided to act like big kids and went on a horse and cart ride for 15 mintues, whilst I explored the little town. After that, it was nearing rush hour so the drive back to the campsite wasn't the nicest, but we did get there after 2 hours (it should have taken us about half an hour). It was our turn to cook tea so we introduced mum and Alan to the backpacker speciality of pasta and cheap sauce, the good times were back.

Day 3

We decided to go our separate ways from Mum and Alan as we left the big smoke. We were planning to go to the very tip of NZ, Cape Reinga, but our plans soon changed after we realised the huge distance it was. It is suppose to be beautiful and you can see where the Tasman Sea and South Pacific Oceans meet, but with me the only driver, it would be too much. Kilometres wise it wasn't too far, but the roads in NZ aren't the best. They have great motorways in around Auckland, and then once your 10km outside of it, the road suddenly turns into a little country road with twisting corners etc. We decided to stop for the night a few hundred km north of Auckland at the famous 'Bay of Islands'. After 2 nights of no sleep in the tent, we decided to treat ourselves to a proper bed and checked ourselves into a backpackers. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best of sleeps as we shared a room with one lean, mean snoring machine, that kept us up all night. It was still nice to have a matress to lie on though. The town we stopped in was called Paihia, and it had a nice pub. So nice that after a couple pints of the local ale, Nic and Stef decided to have a sing song on the karaoke. I kept my head down and pretended I wasn't with them, but people soon clicked on after the kept on coming over for a supp of there pint before going back for another song!

Day 4

The next day, we decided to head to the west coast. We made a few stops along the way, the most noteable being at the Kauri forest which is home to the Tane Mahuta tree. This tree is absolutely enormous, and over 2000 years old. In fact, the girth of the tree is a huge 13 metres, and they tell me they can grow even bigger. The roads around the forest were very windy which I loved. Unfortunately, Stefanie in the back felt a bit car sick and didn't enjoy it as much. She wasn't going to spoil my fun though as I took to the road! We then drove south past Auckland, so we could get to the Coromandel Region. By now, we had decided to give up on the tent as it was getting wetter, colder, and windier.

Day 5

As I said, we had now hit the Coromandel Region. It has beautiful scenery with lots of islands dotted about in the water etc. The roads continued to get even more windy which pleased me. Unfortunately, it didn't please Nicola as on one particular windy road, a bottle of water fell over and hit her foot (my fault of course though!). One of the main reasons for coming to this part of the North Island was to come to Hot Water Beach. 2 hours either side of low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and the thermal activity underneath makes the water hot. It was amazing. Unfortunately, it was a very cold day so we decided to settle for our toes getting some heat, and not our whole body's, as some people had brought spades and created their own thermal mud bath. We also had a walk to 'Catherdral Cove'. It reminded me a lot of the Great Ocean Road, where the water has eroded away the cliff and left a huge gaping hole, very spectacular.

Day 6

We drove further south to Rotorua on our 6th day. Rotorua is famous for its geothermal activity. We met up with Mum and Alan once again and while they stayed in their campervan, we were tucked up cosy in a nice lodge with heating and everything, what a luxury! The plan was to have a BBQ at night, but this is when the rain really began, and instead settled for fried sausage butties, with a few bottles of the local ale once again.

Day 7

It was time to explore Rotorua, and what an amazing place it was. As you drive through the town, there is steam coming out of the ground everywhere. The town has a particular eggy smell to it as a result of the natural phenomenon. It's hard to explain what it is, but it is basically puddles of bubbling mud, and they're dotted around the town. I have a lot of pictures, but I don't think I'll manage to put them up until I'm home now. At night, we went to a traditional Maori hangi. Hangi is the way the maori used to cook there meals. First of all they dig a hole in the ground, and light a fire. They then add the food into the hole, potatoes, meat etc. Then to keep it all hot together, they cover the food with rocks, and stones etc. Then after 3 hours, it is ready. Apart from the food, there was also a cultural show where the local tribe did the haka and showed us examples of their weapons etc. It was a really good night and great to see the ways how the natives used to live many years ago.

Day 8

We were now in a convoy again with Mum and Alan, and headed to the coastal town of Napier. We again made a few stops en-route, one of them being at the Huka Falls where Stefanie jumped in a speedboat for half an hour and cruised up and down the river and beside some impressive waterfalls. We again stayed in a nice cabin where we all settled down to fish and chips. Thats certainly one thing that NZ has over Scotland, the price of fish and chips. You pay for the chips and fish separately, but it still costs roughly 2 pound for a supper, superb!

Day 9

We had now made it to the southern tip of the North Island, and the country's capital, Wellington. En-route, we made the obligoratory stops. The most noteable for me being at the Tui brewery. Tui is the most popular beer in the southern part of the North Island, and it just so happens that their colours are black and tangerine. After a quick pint, it was back on the road. It was quite late and dark by the time we made it to Windy Welly, and straight away I could see why they called it so. After we checked into a not so nice backpackers in the city (and Mum and Alan into their campsite), we met up at the local Irish pub. It just so happened that we stumbled in right at the beginning of a quiz night. So after a few wild guesses, and some well thought out answers, we came 2nd! Along with this prestigious honour, brought a $50 bar tab! That was quickly drank away. Unfortunately, me and Stef soon had the taste for alcohol, so as everyone else retired to bed, me and Stef hit the jager bombs! It turned out to be a pretty good night in the end.

Day 10

Thankfully, no real hangover today so it was back to the sightseeing. We all visited the national museum of NZ, Te Papa. It was a very good visit, and best of all free! After a few hours there, the Caldina Crew hit the road as we had a lot of driving to do. Our goal was to make it half way up the island to the famour Glowworm caves at Waitomo. We stopped for the night at a nice motel and then...

Day 11

...it was back on the road. We drove through the Tongario National Park which is home to the mountain which acted as Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings. It is a spectualar volcano which has symmetrical sides with a pointed, snow covered top. This is the main ski-ing area of the North Island and it was quite busy as it was the peak season for it. We soon reached the caves and again met up with Mum and Alan, who had made the 7 hour journey from Wellington in one go that morning. As I said, we visited the gloworm caves. Basically it is the larvae of worms which glow a bright blue colour in the dark. Seemingly, the brighter the worms are, the hungrier they are. It was again, very spectacular as you look up in the caves and see millions of these worms on the ceiling.

Day 12

This was our last full day in NZ unfortunately, so we had to make the most of it. We decided to head back to Rotorua and go to Skyline Adventures, the home of luge-ing in NZ. When we first visited Rotorua, it was a very wet day, so we decided to head back on our way to Auckland, hoping that the weather would be a bit better - it wasn't. First of all for luge-ing, you take a nice gondola ride to the top of a mountain, where there is 3 different luge runs. They're basically a simple go-kart with no peddles, just steering and a pull bar to make you stop. So you are pushed off at the start, and go flying down the different tracks. At the bottom, you take a chairlift back to the top. Despite the rain, it was absolutely brilliant. Along with our ticket, me and Nicola went on a sky swing. It's basically a bungy rocket, but you are projected over the side of a cliff. It was great fun as well, and Mum bought the DVD to prove how loud Nicola screamed during it. It was then back to Auckland after that. After a brief visit to Alan's relatives house, we headed to the airport for the long trip to Bangkok.



We all had a great time in New Zealand. As people say, the scenery is beautiful and it reminds you a lot of Scotland. Unfortunately, our money situation let us down a bit as their is so much adventure things to do if you have the cash. Also, the rain put a bit of a damper on it as it poured pretty much as soon as we started heading south. All this means is that I'll have to visit the country again, with more money, and in the summer!

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