New Zealand

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Hello hello, very sorry for the delay but we have been very busy since starting out Kiwi experience trip around New Zealand.

So since leaving Auckland we boarded the kiwi experience bus on Monday (16th April) morning and headed toward Cathedral Cove on the North East of the North Island in the Coromandel Peninsula. We spend the day on Cathedral Cove beach and then in the evening headed to 'Hot Water Beach.' The reason for it's name is because beneath the beach volcanic hot springs run out into the sea and at low tide you can go down to the beach with spades and dig your own thermal hot pool in the sand.

The next day 17/4 we drove to Waitomo where we went 'Black Water Rafting' which involves taking an inflated tyre inner tube down into some caves and jumping off waterfalls and floating through the water, whilst looking up at the cave ceiling to see it covered with what looked like stars in the nights sky. What the lights were in fact were glow worms which covered the roof of the caves. Below in the water were some very large eels which fed off the carcuses of insects which were attracted into the caves by the light of the gloworms. Needless to say it was very cold and we needed thick wetsuites to stop us from catching phuemonia.

18/4 we then headed to Rotarua, where we went lugeing. This involves catching a gondela to the top of a hill and riding gravity driven go-karts down concrete tracks. We had loads of fun racing everyone on the bus with us and a few guys took it rather seriously, crashed and got some quite nasty injuries! As Rotorua is located on a volcanic fault our hostel had a geo-thermal swimming pool which was heated naturally by the springs and was warmer than a bath! In the evening we went out to a Maori culture evening, where we were informed of the Maori way of life, were given a performance by a traditional Maori tribe and had a feast, which was cooked in the traditional way of being placed in the ground and heated by coals and cooked for a long time.

19/4 - 20/4 we made our way to Taupo which is situated next to Lake Taupo, New Zealands largest lake. We hired scooters to explore the area and as a group we visited some natural thermal springs that run into a river attached to the lake.

21/4 After leaving Taupo we stopped off for a walk near Mount Ngauruhoe also known as Mount Doom, as it was used for filming in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The scenery was fantastic and the mountain is so imposing, it's easy to see why Peter Jackson used it in his films.

We then arrived at our next stop which is an idylic hostel in a place called River Valley. We arrived just at some of the locals were having a fund raiser for the local primary school, by staging a 100km cross country motor bike race and then a BBQ, so we all chipped in and enjoyed some venison burgers that had been shot fresh that morning.

22/4 The next morning some of the group went white water rafting down the river but as we had already done that in Peru we stayed with the others and went swimming in the river which was freezing cold before we got on the road to drive to New Zealands capital city - Wellington.

23/4 - 24/4 We really liked Wellington or 'Windy Wellington' as its known, because it recieves 20knots or more of wind for 200 days of the year, and spent our first full day there exploring the 'Te Papa' museum, which means 'your place' in Maori I believe... In the evening we were lucky enough to be put up by a lovely lady called Tamsin (who is best friends with a family friend of the Horns) and her 3 great kids, Doran, Tegan and Shay. We were lucky enough to stay 2 nights with them and we are very grateful as they fed us and made us feel like we were part of the family! Tamsin was very kind and during her lunch break took us on a scenic drive of the city and up to an amazing viewpoint, with fantasitc panoramic views of the city and harbour.

25/4 We got up early as we were catching the ferry from Wellington over to the South Island, the journey was spectacular and we were able to witness the amazing Malbrough Sounds from the top deck of the ferry. When on dry land we got on a new bus which was waiting for us at the other side and drove to Kaiteriteri on the North West coast of the South Island. The hostel we stayed in was situated right on the beach and we spent the evening sipping beer on the beach and watching the sun do down, we then headed back to the hostel to undergo a mass project of cooking spaghetti carbonara for 20 people!

26/4 We had time in the morning to go swimming in the sea in Kaiteriteri before the bus left, it looked better than it felt as the water was absolutely freezing! We then drove to Westport which is a small mining town, with not a huge amount going on but I think the bus stopped there to break up the journey more than anything. We cooked another group meal, this time burritos and the had a few drinks and went on a 3-legged bar crawl around the town.

27/4 The next day we got on the road early and headed to Lake Mahinapua, stopping on the way to buy fancy dress for a themed evening we were having at the next hostel, Jess bought a pirates outfit and Josh a wrestler. We arrived at our next hostel and were greeted by the owner, an 87 year old called Les. He had been putting backpackers up in his hostel for 17 years and his pub was effectionatly known as the 'Poo Pub' not for any reason other than it's real name Mahinapua was difficult for foreigners to pronounce, so it was shortened. Les cooked us all a steak dinner, we then got changed into our fancy dress and had a great night with a few beers and some great music.

28/4 The bus departed early in the morning as we were making our way to Franz Josef. On the way we stopped off to see 'Pancake Rocks' which are rocks which look like stacks of pancakes and some blowholes, where the sea crashes against the cliffs and is forced up to spurt through these holes, making them look like a whales blow hole. We also saw some seals basking on the rocks. We arrived in Franz Josef and the weather was pretty grim, the first real rain we'd experienced, luckily the hostel had a 20 person outdoor hot tub, needless to say we managed to keep ourselves busy for the afternoon.

29/4 We had booked to do helicopter trip up to Franz Josef glacier and have a walk around but the rain had set in to stay so unfortunately all the trips were cancelled. Because of this we just relaxed and caught up on some sleep.

30/4 On our way from Franz Josef to Wanaka we stopped off at Lake Matheson, to see the fantastic mirror lake with beautiful scenery of snow-capped mountains in the background. We also stopped off at the blue pools river, with some amazingly blue glacier water. We arrived at Wanaka in the evening, which is a small town on the shore of Lake Wanaka, another fantastic lake with mountain ranges in the distance.

1/5 We left Wanaka to head for Queenstown, on the way we stopped off at puzzleworld which included the worlds first 3D maze and loads of optical illusions. Just before Queenstown we pulled into the centre which invented the worlds first bungee jump. Some of the bus partcipated, we were both very tempted but considering our budget and that we were only half way through the trip we had to decide against it. We then arrived into Queenstown and checked into the Nomads Hostel which was a brand new hostel, very clean and modern, probably the best hostel we've stayed in so far.

2/5 We spent the day exploring Queenstown, we sampled a 'Ferbburger' for lunch from a legendary burger shop in the centre of Queenstown. We then hired frisbees and played 'frisbee golf', where an 18 hole course has been constructed next to the lake. Rules exactly the same as golf, with a par for each hole, the only difference being you throw your frisbee and aim to get it into a basket as the 'hole'.

3/5 Today we went lugeing again, just like we had in Rotrua but the tracks this time were slightly different. We spent the afternoon relaxing and packing as we were leaving for Christchurch early in the morning. We really loved Queenstown, it was one of the most action packed places we've been and most definitely one of our favourites.

4/5 - 5/5 We got up early and got back on the bus for the long drive to Christchurch. The drive was very scenic and we arrived in the late afternoon. We checked into a lovely hostel in the outskirts of town, because unfortunately due to the recent earthquakes 2/3rds of the city centre is condemned. Either having been knocked down during the earthquakes or due to be pulled down because of the damage to their foundations. It was really quite harrowing as New Zealands second largest city with a population of nearly half a million, is now basically a ghost town. We were talking to some locals and they were telling us that after the first earthquake in 2010 and then a second again a year later in 2011 many people up and left Christchurch with many moving to the north island into the Auckland area. This is because the city is built on a natural fault line, so the dilemma for Christchurch's residents is whether to try rebuilding their homes and lives or just to leave, and unfortunately the next earthquake hitting is not a question of if but when, meaning those who can afford to have left the city. Leaving behind them the unfortunate people who can't afford to or don't want to leave the area. However, the Christchurch people are resilient and many attempts have been made to breath life back into the city, with temporary shopping centres being erected in makeshift shipping containers pained in bright colours.

6/5 We left our hostel in the morning and caught the bus Christchurch Airport for our flight to Adelaide in Australia at around 1pm. We first flew to Sydney which took around 4 hours and then we had an hours wait there, then caught our connecting flight to Adelaide which took about an hour and a half. We are lucky enough to be staying with Ruth, Anthony and Helena in Adelaide who are family friends of the Horn's, and they were kind enough to meet us at the airport and we drove back to their house and had a lovely dinner.

Now we're in Australia and will be spending two weeks in Adelaide, then hiring a car and driving the great ocean road to Melbourne and from there spending a month travelling up the east coast on the Greyhound buses.

Hope everyone is well!

Lots of love,

Jess and Josh xxxx

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Comments

[Tamsin Ewing]

Hi Jess and Josh
Loved reading about your travels in NZ, and great photos, too - thanks for sharing. It was great meeting you in Wellington - you're a very special couple - and hope to see you back here some day:) Keep living life LARGE! Tamsin, Doran, Tegan and Shay xx P.S. (Moderate this bit out) - Jess, you left some toileries behind on the window sill - do you want any of it (eg, foundation?) posted to you? You\'ve probably replaced it all by now, but if so, give me an address and dates. I'm off to France and Portugal for 5 weeks on 8 June, so I'll need to send them before then) P.P.S - Here's the blog to our 6-month overland trek across South America with the kids in 2009 (see the links in the right-hand nav, which explains all about it): http://takeadream.wordpress.com/