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Published: October 21st 2006
Monday 31'st July - NZ North Island
Weather is a bit different to Fiji. Alot colder & alot wetter. First port of call in Auckland was a cheaply clothes shop for thermals & water proofs as our wardrobes were some how ill- apt for this climate. 2'nd port of call was to get a CAR, we hired a 4 seater white Toyota Corolla & what a beauty she was - didnt crash once, but i think that was down to my superb driving skils. Did i ever say i only had 1 driving minor when i sat my driving test ?? Oh yes only 1 heheh. The car i decided to call bettsy & so we packed up the car with our backpacks which literally took the whole boot & boy was it a relief not to carry them everywhere.
It was an automatic car which took a bit of getting used to, my left foot didt take going into retirement to well, but it was ok after a day or 2. However the indicators, now that's a different matter - every time i wanted to turn the car my wind wipers would come on. Very annoying for me but Mand
couldn't help but laugh. I really think Kiwi's know that when the window wipers are on, on a round about it means a brit is trying to signal !
Oh forgot to mention that when we were in Fiji we meet this couple called Pete & Pauline, we only met them for a couple of hours but that was enough time for them to give us their address in NZ, in Kaitaia to be exact, which is just under the 90 mile beach in the north Island. So you can see where i'm going with this one - yeap me & Mand gate crashed at theirs for 2 nights when we visited the 90 mile beach ( which by the way isnt 90 miles its 90 kilo meters !). They were fantastic people, their hospitality was amazing and i can honestly say that i have never encounted such hospitality from anyone, especially when you have just met them. As soon as we got there we sat down & within 5 mins i was drinking wine & mand had this fruit drink from Ecuador & Pete was cooking us tea ! Amazing or what, they have even given us their
daughters address in Oz to stay with them when we get there.
Right what can we say about the 90 mile beach, well its a long beach really, with some nice cliff formations at the end - That’s about it. Im sure it would have been lovely in the summer but i think if your there at the back end of their winter & your pushed for time you can give this one a miss.
On the way back down from Pete's & Pauline’s we went to a place called Paiha, Russell & Waitongi - and this is where the Maori's officially signed the treaty with the Europeans & where the oldest church in NZ exists. Nice place & good background about the country. We also stopped at a shop called Kauri kingdom & Kauri is a north NZ tree that has been around for millions of years & is nearly extinct. Whats so special about these trees i hear you ask, well they are HUGE & gorgeous & they can carve anything out of them, look at this staircase they carved out of a whole tree & the seat that we are sitting on. Truly very cool & Mand
has now said that she needs to marry a millionaire to buy the staircase as she fell in love with it, HUM !!!!!
Stopped back over in Auckland for 1 night & the next day back on the road to Waitomo caves, it is a small little village but its where we went absailing (27 m by the way), black water tubing whilst looking at the glow worms in the cave in pitch blackness (so for those of you that are claustrophobic probably not a good idea) and rock climbing - and that was scary! We had a small group just me mand and a couple from Oregon & our group leader Morgan & boy oh boy was he a fittie, talk about an all action lad with the looks too boot, V Nice. One thing he was very good at was helping me do the absail, fr those who know me know im petrified of heights so 27 m was equivalent to 100m & he made me feel very easy & i did it no problem, well i say that now but at the time i was cursing Mand all the way down calling her not very nice
names, as you can imagine.
After I finally descended to join the others and take a look around, all we could see where these tiny lights in the roof of the cave - the glow worms. Mand couldn’t believe how small these actual glow worms were, as on TV they looked a lot larger, I mean they were seriously tiny about 1 cm big - if that. Tubing down in the caves was fun as you couldn’t see anything apart from these glow worms, WICKED!
You all know the saying what goes down must come up ! oh yes we had to rock climb our way up with NO help I might add apart from a rope to stop you failing to your death. Mand had GREAT confidence in the rope as half way up she slipped & if the rope wasn’t there it would have been bye bye Dips ! Talk about an adrenaline rush, a must do activity if your in the North Island, the company was called rap, raft & rock, and you might have the pleasure of Morgan ! Ah Morgan !! hehehe
That day finished at 7 and from there I drove to
Rotoria. If anybody has been to NZ you’ll know that it’s an area of thermal activity, so hot pools, geysers & lots & lots of sulphur in the air which means a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD STENCH a worse case of rotten eggs comes to mind & it’s like that ALL the time. Dad I’ll never moan to you again! Hehe We stayed in a hostel called funky green voyager, we liked the name so we booked it and boy did we pick a gooden. It was the best hostel we have been to, really nice small hostel with under floor heating in the bathroom which was a complete luxury for us. They also had a real log fire in the lounge & a really nice laid back atmosphere, we would definitely rate that hostel as a 9 ½ out of 10.
The next day we set off early to watch a geyser called Lady Knox go off at 10.15, why so precise, well they force it to erupt by adding washing powder in to the top. Give it 10-15 minutes & vola. After that display we went to Waiotapu geothermal park where all the sulphur pools are &
OH MY GOD THE STENCH!!. After wondering around the park we decided to drive around some lakes called the blue & green lakes & guess what colour they were?????
The evenings entertainment was called ‘Mitai Maori’ which was a Maori culture show showing us the Haka & how they cooked in the Hangi - which is similar to the lova in Fiji, they cooked meat & food under the ground over hot stones/rocks, Very Nice. The dancers were pretty intimidating as they go all out (as you can see below). A very entertaining night & we learnt a lot of how they used to live before the Europeans invaded.
Next stop was Taupo - which is the cheapest place IN THE WORLD to sky dive, those of you who know Mand knows that, that was her main thing she wanted to do on our travels. Unfortunately sods law the weather was awful. Whilst we waited for the weather to get better we walked to the Huka falls which was a 2 hr walk in the P’ing down rain. And as you can imagine we got absolutely soaked, luckily for us at the end of our walk there was a
natural hot pool, so we stripped down & enjoyed a nice relaxing dip. Sitting in the pool in the rain is quite a funny experience & we would recommend to all. To top of that wet day we decided to dry out in a sauna, along with our clothes, shoes & bags - well it was cheaper than putting our clothes into a tumble dryer. We waited at Taupo for 2 days and the weather just wasn’t getting better. And time wasn’t on our side either, so regretfully we had to move on, further south to Tongariro National Park.
This park has got to be my favourite place on the North Island. There are 3 main peaks, Mount Ruapehu (still an active volcano, last erupted in ‘95), Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe, which you will know as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings, take a look and see what you think? It was freezing here as you can well imagine but the views were breathe-taking. We intended to do a walk up Mount Tongariro called the Tongariro crossing which is highlighted as one of the best walks in NZ. Unfortunately for us they don’t do the walk in
winter and because they had shed loads of fresh snow recently which made the crossing was a no go. So instead of whining and wasting all that energy we had been building up for the walk we decided to try skiing for me and snowboarding for Mand on Mount Ruapehu. Yes the active volcano. It was so much fun it was unreal, or as the Kiwi’s would say “Sweet” (by the way, if you hear anyone saying sweet or sweet as the chance that they are kiwi is about 99.9%). Although we were trying different things we still went down and up the mountain together which was fun and here are some photos of us in action (try not to laugh too hard). After a day on the slopes, which you get pretty tired on, we monged out watching Dodgeball in front of an open fire. Idyllic!
Next day - on the road again and we were driving down to Wellington. We picked up a stray German boy from our hostel in Tongariro who was a sweetie and gave him a lift, who in return gave us some extra cash for petrol, bargain.
We only stayed in Wellington for
1 night but that was long enough to see some of the big highlights, like the Te Papa Museum, it was a huge museum all about: Maori culture, Gondwanaland - which if you didn’t know is the land that used to make up NZ, Oz, India, Africa, South America and Antarctica, NZ’s geography make up and really interesting stuff. Totally recommend it if you’re heading down that way.
Wellington was pretty cold outside, but it was even colder inside our hostel. It was like a freezer inside no joke. Kiwi’s seriously don’t know the word installation or double glazing or central heating and a penalty for that was it was bloody freezing. That night I went to bed in thick socks, thermal leggings, thick tracksuit bottoms, 2 thermal tops, a thick jumper, a fleece, in my sleeping bag wrapped in a duvet with a beanie on, holding a water bottle. Seriously no joke, Mand came up bed after me and woke me up laughing, but you could tell it was cold as she said it was and we all know she is a human radiator.
So in the morning I thought enough is enough and on to Picton which is
in the south island.
Thursday 1st August - South Island
After arriving at Picton, we decided to take the scenic route to Nelson through the Malborough Sounds. I think on average for the whole journey I must have stopped and took photos every 5 minutes. It was absolutely stunning, totally picturesque, especially at sunset, see if you agree with me from the photos below. When we eventually got into Nelson at this sweet hostel called Tasmin Bay Lodge, which made fresh bread every morning and the best thing was, it was free !! Anyway it was here that we picked up 2 lovely gals called Cecilia who was from Argentina, and Rosy who was from Brecon (believe it or not) and these 2 travelled the entire South Island with us. 1 car full of girls, you can imagine we never had a dull moment. Cecilia was in our dorm room and asked if she could come with us and contribute petrol. Then we met Rosy in the lounge. I just happened to say something and she picked up on my accent - well it’s not a mellow one is it! And we started chatting, she said she was
from Brecon and I asked whether she knew Jo Price from our Uni, and low and behold she did, she went to school with her and meets up with her when she flys back to Wales which was in 1 months time. Weird isn’t it you travel half way around the world and bump into people you either know yourself, or you know a mutual friend. Bonkers. So hiring a car worked out to be a lot cheaper for us as petrol was now split in 4.
The start of our adventure took us to Abel Tasmen where we did a 3½ hour walk which gave us plenty of time to get to know each other. The views were stunning and we were rewarded by eating our lunch watching a seal eat his. Very cool. After the walk I drove us to Westport and we watched Gladiator, again in front of an open fire. That’s one good thing about NZ, nearly every hostel has an open fire and there’s nothing like it too.
Next day we drove down to Hokitika, stopping to see the Pancake Rocks (photo below), and Hokitika gorge, as you can see the water’s colour was an
amazing turquoise blue. We also visited Lake Kaniere and Dorothy Falls, both very pretty. Hokitika is renowned for its Jade, as they mine Jade and carve the jade to make jewellery. So yeap, the next day we spent about 3-4 hours there and this town only had about 5 shops! Tell you what I’m glad no male was with us! We all ended up buying something. Some more than others, and I bet you can guess who bought the most!?
After such an eventful morning shopping, we drove down to Franz Josef glacier and walked to the base of the glacier. Very spectacular but not as spectacular as seeing the mountains being reflected in a lake and not knowing which way round the photo was taken. This lake was called Lake Mattheson and I won’t say anything. I will just let you make your mind up with the photo below. Guys if anyone wants to go there make sure you go there very early or late in the evening before the sun sets as that’s when the lake is so calm it’s like a mirror below the mountains. That night we stayed at Fox glacier in a place called
Ivory Towers. The man at reception was from Swansea, so to see a fellow Swansea person, he gave us all a discount on the rooms. What a nice chap.
The following day me and Mand spent a whole day doing a glacier walk on Fox, and it was ace, totally recommend that too. They gave us crampons (things to put on your shoes so you don’t slip), sticks, and in the end picks so we could try and carve our own steps in the glacier. Well we tried!
We got completely soaked towards the end of the day by walking through a small crevasse (see photo) and then they took us though a hole which they cut out for us, talk about a tight squeeze (photo below).
From Fox we made our way to Wanaka which is a very picturesque village set by a lake surrounded by mountains. This is where we did our 2nd day of skiing/snowboarding on a mountain called Mount Cardrona. Word of advice from Mand, snowboarders fall on their ass a lot, so if you can wait until the mountain has had a good dump of snow that would be best, as when you fall, which
you will, you fall onto a much softer surface. But unfortunately this mountain was icy, so landing on your ass hurt, and in Mand’s case as it was the same place everytime she fell, her ass was a bit fragile and that’s all I heard for the next couple of days. Well worth it as the views on this mountain were stunning (photo below). After all 4 of us had a full day playing in the snow we drove to Queenstown which is like Wanaka in that it’s by a lake and surrounded by mountains. Queentown is a hip and happening place, full of skiers and snowboarders. So if that floats your boat, gals and guys, then you wanna go there. 1st day in Queenstown we wondered the streets, walked up Queenstown Hill to be rewarded with the views of the mountains and just chilled. The 2nd day we tried to go to Milford Sounds. I say we tried as we got to the boat (which was a 5 hour bus ride) and the boat wouldn’t leave as the weather was too rough. It was torrential rain that day and our bus driver Bevan was hyping it up saying that
the best time to go to Milford is when it rains as its renowned for it’s waterfalls. We saw some waterfalls but not a lot as the boat wouldn’t go. We had to turn around and head back. Very disappointed. One good thing that did come out of it was talking to Bevan, as he was a local, a bus driver and he knew everywhere so we asked him to plan our next few days before we left for Oz. That he did and we followed what he told us word for word and it was 100% correct. So cheers Bev if you’re reading this.
The day after we went to Arrowtown which is a small pretty little village by Queenstown that was a Chinese settlement back in the days of mining to earn money. After that we went back to Queenstown and walked up a mountain called Dear Heights Park. This is where numerous sections of Lord of the Rings was filmed and you can see why (photo below). 360° view of nothing but rugged mountains. Truly amazing.
On the 4th day we tried to go to Milford Sounds again but 15 minutes on the bus and
we had to turn around as the road was closed to Milford due to high risk of avalanche. So we all thought bugger this and drove for the Catlins which is the far south on the South Island. And it is totally different to mid South Island, it’s all beaches and gentle rolling hills. 1st stop was at a place called the petrified forest. It was 160 million years old and it was a place where you could see amazing fossils of tree’s in the stone AMAZING. Take a look at the picture. Whilst starring at the fossils and taking it all in, something walked passed us which happened to be a yellow eyed penguin. We couldn’t believe it. We were so wrapped up in the fossils we totally didn’t see this little chap come out of the water. It was so funny, watching a real life penguin in front of us and to top it off it was a yellow eyed penguin which is a really rare penguin. His walk and jumps cracked all of us up. Mand kept on thinking of Danny Devito in Batman. I just thought he looked like a grumpy old man just come back
from a hard days slog. Funny little things.
That night we stayed in a hostel that Bev recommended called the Hilltop, funnily enough it was on a hill overlooking the sea & valleys. The views were outstanding, it was basically a small house with 1 bedroom / 4 beds & an en-suite for a couple, but luckily for us we were the only ones staying there, so we had this quaint little house to the 4 of us. So to celebrate we had cooked our 1’st meal which was Fajitas, watching Troy on TV and drinking a bottle of red wine (excluding Mand of course).
The next day we saw the Purakaunui falls, Surrat bay which is where we had the honour of eating our lunch watching 2 hooker sea lions playing, you couldn’t get closer to wildlife if you tried. After Mand & the gals pulled me away from the Sea lions we visited a lighthouse on Roaring Bay & stopped to watch some yellow eyed penguins at Nugget Point, but this time we watched them getting out of the water & walking to their nests, I think I counted 10 or more.
It’s from this point that
Rosie left us as she had another 2 wks whilst us 3 were all flying off in a couple of days, very sad to see her go as it broke our little party up. As she went back to Queenstown we made our way to Mt Cook, the biggest mountain in NZ ! We did 2 walks as it was so stunning up there (you can see from below - winter wonderland or what) saw & heard avalanches whilst eating lunch which was pretty awesome.
The next day was our final day skiing/snowboarding on a mountain called round hill. By this time you could tell we were getting better as Mand was turning without falling & I wasn’t constantly in a snow plough. Would have loved to had done another day or so skiing but by this time we only had 3 days left. Those 3 days was spent visiting Aurthers pass & Hanmer springs. Aurthers pass was another small idyllic village set in spectacular mountains & Hanmer springs was hot pools, not just any hot pools, these hot pools were outside overlooking the mountains I honestly don’t think there’s anywhere in the world with a view of the mountains
like we had, truly amazing and what a way to wind down.
When reaching Christchurch we safely returned Bettsy (our car) with no bumps or scratches on it but adding a whacking great mileage of 5300 km to it. It was here that we then said goodbye to Cecilia and we made our way to Oz.
NZ was AWESOME, SWEET, EXCELLENT whatever you want to call it. We would definitely give this country 9 out of 10. Its so diverse, if you want the mountains, sea or rainforest then go to NZ as it has it all. SWEET !
P.S. Before you look at the photos & think 'oh my god they've ate a whale' we are wearing about 6 layers it's bastard freezing here !!
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Laverne
non-member comment
Green with Envy!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh girlies - you look to be having so much FUN, that it is approaching high level sickening boss I need holiday stage as I sit at my desk in currently uneventful NI reading your adventure tales. Snob snob, but fair plays to ya, will follow your trails sometime soon - loving the blog!! Take cares and lots of love, L x