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Published: August 6th 2007
New Zealand really is a traveller's paradise, it has the countryside, the wildlife and an insane amount of ways to kill yourself aka adrenaline rush adventure sports!
We started our journey in Auckland and first impressions was that it was just another city, but thanks to the free STRAY bus tour we appreciated Auckland and the surrounding area for its volcanic beauty and culture. It was while we were on this tour that we got our first taste of New Zealand adrenaline sports but it looked far too dangerous for us youngsters, so a 77 year old Welsh granny took up the challenge that was jumping from the Auckland Sky Tower - all very amusing!
From Auckland we ventured north to Paiha (the Bay of Islands) with the Magic Bus - not so magic for us but that is another story! The Bay of Islands were beautiful and we managed to get up to Cape Regina (the north most part of New Zealand where the Tasman and Pacific Ocean meet), stopping on the way to see the magnificent Puketi Kauri trees. We swam in the rather cold waters at Tapotupotu Bay and took a ride on the ninety mile
Sam cooks up the fresh Tautau
Sadly he didn't realise you had to soak them for an hour first, to get rid of the salty/sandy taste!beach and passed the famous "Hole in the Rock" and tried to avoid the many cars that had been buried in the sand over the years when they had misjudged the tides! It was during this trip that Sam decided that we should hunt for our own dinner that night and before we knew it we were in the middle of the sea digging up mussels from the sand. Sam got a bit overexcited and got enough mussels to fed a family of 10, but insisted on taking them all home! So we attempted to cook the mussels and made a very tasty white wine sauce, which smelt delicious and tasted great - shame about the mussels though - bit gritty - might have been all that sand in them - maybe we should have listened to our guide when he told us to soak them for a few hours not 20 minutes before cooking them! Oh well with consoled ourselves with the rest of the white wine and spent the rest of the evening chilling out in the hostels outdoor hot tub! It's a hard life!
Before leaving Paiha we took a trip over to Russell (New Zealand's
Claire with a Maori friend
The replica of the building where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed near Paiha first capital and one of the first places of English settlement) to explore and then went over to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where on February 6th, 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between Maori and the British Crown. The treaty was supposed to bring the two cultures together and still stands today but has been very controversial over the years.
Soon we were back on the bus to Auckland, where we picked up a hire car and drove straight to Thames, trying to avoid the many Possums on the road (couldn't do what the locals do and head straight for them, as they are a serious pest ion New Zealand and destroy tonnes of their forests each night, but they are so cute looking!). After a night in Thames we headed out to the Coromandel Peninsula with the first stop at the famous Cathedral Cove stopping at Edward's lookout for some great views of Table Mountain on the way. After a long and hot walk down to Cathedral Cove - a beautiful huge rock tunnel carved out by the sea - we went on to Hot Water Beach and joined the masses that had descended to dig
a hole in the sand and take a dip in the hot (or should we say scorching) volcanic water, great until the ice cold sea comes crashing in and freezes you! We had some fun watching a Japanese film crew desperately trying to film everyone whilst up a ladder that was rapidly sinking into the sand! Only the Japanese hey!
That evening we spent the night in Te Aroha, the smallest YHA we have ever been to!! It sleeps 11 people and is just like someone's house. The couple that ran the place were lovely and spent the evening chatting and playing old records with us, bizarre but fun!
Next strop was the land of Hobbits aka Matamata or Hobbiton - yes we could not resist the chance to see some of the Lord of the Rings action! After joining what we thought would be a silly, tacky tour we were pleasantly surprised when we got to "Hobbiton" and started to
actually recognize parts from the film! Only about one third of the set still exists, as it was burnt down for some of the final scenes of the film, but there was still enough for us to
recognize. We had real giggle going in and out of the hobbit holes and also watching various sheep going into them as Hobbiton was built in the middle of a huge farm in the middle of nowhere! After spending time in the world of Hobbits, it was back to reality and a hurried drive to Waitomo to start our black water rafting adventure, or in other words dressing up like mad underwater explorers, jumping in a rubber ring and plunging into the freezing cold water in the underground caves of Waitomo - all this madness was just to see the glowworms that lived in the caves - two words - WORTH IT!! We spent time floating through the caves in darkness following the light produced from the glowworms lining the roof of the caves - it really was beautiful. The only way to describe it, is that it is like looking at hundreds of tiny, bright stars in the sky. However, glowworms were not the only wildlife we saw in the caves. There were other creatures lurking in the dark caves, this time beneath the water! Yep, you guessed it…eels! Sam found it particularly hilarious when our guide dragged a
protesting Claire over to see the eels beneath her, then he decided that it was time to turn off our headlights and find our way out of the caves in the dark - Claire has never paddled so fast in her life!
We were both very happy to see the hot showers at the end of the tour and after warming up it was time to get back on the road and drive over to the World Heritage Tongariro National Park Village, where we spent the night preparing for our trek on the Tongariro crossing the following day. The Tongariro Crossing is an amazing but hard one day trek, where you walk various landscapes and active volcanoes and see great views of emerald lakes and also see Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom, for all the Lord of the Rings fans).
By 7am we were wrapped up in as many layers as we could find (i.e.. our whole rucksacks!) and were on the bus taking us to the start of the crossing and it was freezing! It was all worth it though for the fabtastic views of the volcanoes, emerald lakes and volcanic smoke rising from the rocks. We were
Spot the two hobbits
Sam and Claire on set ready for their roles in Lord of the Rings Part 4. so lucky with the weather as usually during that time of year (March!) the weather is so bad that people have to turn back halfway as they cannot see in front of them! The whole walk was pretty tough (well for Claire anyway!) but we made it to the end with the help of our Nuttella Chocolate sandwiches (purely for energy needs honest!).
After the crossing we drove straight out to the "smelly" Rotorua, the heart of New Zealand´s geothermal activity, hence the strong smell of sulphur throughout the area! Rotorua has a beautiful volcanic lake (aptly named Lake Rotorua) with a lovely church (St. Faiths) beside it, which is famous for one of its windows. ´The window has a drawing of Jesus on it that faces the lake and has the effect of making it look like Jesus is walking on water, pretty clever when you see it. One afternoon we we thought we could do with some rest and relaxation after all that walking and so spent some time relaxing at the Polynesian Spa, which has 4 pools filled with natural volcanic hot water (38, 39, 41 and 42oC) and all outside facing the lake....heaven! That night
we wanted to to experience some traditional Mauri culture, so we spent the evening at the Tamaki Maori village also called a Marae. When we arrived we had to respect the Maori customs and waited while the Maori tribe did a challenge of peace dance (Powhiri) and chant. Amazing to watch but hard to keep a straight face at times! The whole evening was great fun and we had a great time seeing all the local Maori cultures and trying our first Hangi (Earth oven, where all of the food is cooked under the earth using hot rocks for 3-4 hours).
Our next destination was supposed to be Lake Taupo where Claire was going to do a skydive but the wet weather changed those plans, so what better way to spend a rainy day, than to get wetter by throwing ourselves over 7m waterfalls in a raft and spending the afternoon clinging on for dear life whilst white-water rafting down the Kaituna River. As there was still no change in the weather we drove to Taupo calling in at the Hukka falls on the way and just stayed overnight. We saw the huge lake the next morning on our
The Tongariro Crossing
Probably the best one day hike in the world... FACT! way to Napier. Luck was on our side as the sun came out so we rented bikes and headed out to go vineyard exploring, better known as wine tasting! We managed to get to 2 of the best vineyards in Napier , Church Road and Mission Estate, where we sampled a fair few wines and then for some reason the bike ride back to our hostel went so much faster than on the way out and if we are honest was all a bit hazy! The following morning we drove out to Paraparaumu stopping at a yummy chocolate factory on the way of course!). Paraparaumu is a small coastal town with a gorgeous beach but while we were there it was rather wet and so windy that we were practically blown off of the beach!
The following morning we drove to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. We first visited the area of Eastbourne first (as Sam was born in Eastbourne in the UK) and then headed to Mt Victoria to get a good view over the city, before dropping off our hire car. Wellington is a great city, if not a bit small, and is easy to explore
in only a couple of days. Whilst there we took a tour of the Bee Hive, the Government House, which is so-called as it does look like a bee hive! We also went to the huge but really interesting Te Papa museum, where Sam got to try out virtual sheep-shearing and pretty much shredded his sheep to death, and we took the cable car up to the beautiful Botanical gardens. As usual time ran away with us and soon we were leaving the north island behind and were on the Interislander ferry crossing over to Picton on the south island. Once we arrived we got straight onto the Transcoastal train all the way to Christchurch where we were met by Sam´s friend Sheena (Sam´s South African friend from work, who has married a lovely kiwi, Graham, and they now live in "chch" as the locals call it!). First stop was to the rugby stadium of course! It just so happened (coincidence or crafty planning by Sam?!?!) that Christchurch´steam the Crusaders were playing the South
African team, the Bulls. It was a great game, the Crusaders thrashed the Bulls, but the best part was the warm-up acts for the crowds -
Cycling wine tour in Napier
Note: cycling and wine tasting = dangerous! cheerleaders and guys dressed up as knights complete with swords riding around on the pitch on horses (didn´t realise we were in the US!). Sheena and Graham did a great job of showing us around Christchurch and kindly putting us up for a few nights! Many thanks guys!
Soon it was time to pick up our new home for the next 2 weeks.... our campervan, and yes they really are as cool as people say! Our campervan had some pretty cool features including a microwave, heater, safe, heated towel rail and a DVD player (things have moved on a little since the hippy days of roughing it!).
We left Christchurch and drove up the coast to Kaikoura, the home of the Dusky Dolphins. We couldn´t hold our excitement and got straight onto a early morning trip to swim with the dolphins. We were sooooo lucky and ended up swimming with over 600 very inquisitive Dusky Dolphins! We must have looked a sight in the water, as during our briefing for the trip we had been told to sing to the dolphins underwater as they love it , which they do but the sound must have been hilarious to
other passengers on the boat watching us flap around in the water!
We carried on up the coast stopping off at the legendary Nin´s Crayfish Caravan to sample our first ever fresh Crayfish - yum! We followed our fish lunch with a visit to a small chocolate factory (not that Claire has become a chocoholic since coming away!!) in Blenheim. That night Sam managed to convince (bribe with chocolate) Claire to "wild camp" by a small river with no-one else around for miles. We cooked up a great dinner on our little two ring gas stove in our van and ate it looking out at the stars - magical - that's what campervanning is all about! The following morning we packed up the van and had a quick wash in the river and then headed over to the Montana vineyards for a tour and some wine tasting. Before the tour we ate our breakfast in our van whilst parked in the vineyard car park - we did get some strange looks from people, particularly the Japanese tourists (they were obviously just jealous of our luxury home!).
Next stop was Nelson for a few provisions before we headed on
Campervan Tastic
Our wild site near Blenheim Abel Tasman National Park where we wild camped again right next to the beach. The next morning we rocked up to Kaiteriteri just in time to catch the 9am water taxi up to Onetahuti beach. On the way we stopped for a few photos of the famous split rock (which looks like an apple split in half). Our water taxi driver dropped us off on the beach alone and told us he would be back in 6 hours to pick us up at our destination of Torrent Bay! So off we headed towards Torrent Bay, hiking along beaches and clifftops, trying to avoid the paths flooded by the changing tides. It was a gorgeous hot day and a cracking walk. In fact we enjoyed the scenery so much that we booked ourselves onto a kayak trip the next day, which was great fun but hard work as we ended up paddling against the current at times. A highlight of the trip was when we cheated and created a sail and cruised along for a while. We also manged to get stuck on a rock when Sam decided to take a detour and our instructor and the other people on our
trip had to try and help get us off the rock, much to Claire´s embarrassment (our instructor said he had never seen anyone get quite that stuck before...oh joy!). During the trip we also got up close and personal with some rather inquisitive seals, which was funny.
After our kayaking adventure we got back in our van and headed out west. In hindsight (a great thing hey!) we (Sam) might have underestimated the distance to the west coast. One particular hairy moment was at 10pm, low on fuel, we spotted a sign that said "100km to next petrol station". By this time Claire was starving and getting more than slightly concerned while Sam was explaining that this was all part of the roadtrip experience (however, this fell on deaf ears). We eventually found a suitable, well the only lay-by on a cliff edge (we had to place rocks under the van´s wheels to prevent it rolling) and settled down for the night. We were woken by the cries of Waka birds and a tour bus pulling alongside us and discovered that we were next to an amazing viewpoint.
That morning we drove on to the Pancake rocks that
really do look like lots of stacks of pancakes....funnily enough! Whilst there we felt obliged to sample the stack of pancakes at the local cafe! With our bellies full, we drove down the coast, across many scary single track bridges to Hokitika. Hokitika is a strange little town built at the peak of the Jade trade.
But our interest was purely in the Kiwi´s, pregnant male seahorses and giant eels (our timings were so good that we were invited to hand feed the giant eels). After a hokey pokey ice cream (NZ favourite) we drove onto Franz Josef. We parked at a great campervan site in the centre of town and Claire excitedly used all the facilities (hot showers!). The next morning we parked the van on the high street and headed off on a 8 hour hike up Franz Josef glacier. As expected it was wet, cold and tiring but so worth it! Our trip got off to a shaky start as we saw a huge chunk of glacier collapse, while we were putting on our crampons. Our enthusiastic (danger loving) guide herded us through narrow crevices and even an ice tunnel. Shattered from our day on the
ice we drove a few hundred kilometres down the coast and wild camped at Shipwreck Creek. We didn´t venture too far as when we woke up our windows were black with sandflies (aka small biting devils with wings).
We drove on to Wanaka through Mount Aspiring National Park. At Wanaka the clouds finally held out and Claire was able to skydive (Sam having already skydived and was holding out for his promised Wing Walking - a leaving present from work). So Claire dressed in what looked like a clown´s outfit, jumped from 12,000ft with 45 seconds of freefall. A real rush! It was very appropriate that ´Earth From The Sky´ photo exhibition was on show around the lake.
After breakfast by the lake, we drove on through barren land to Lake Tekapo. We visited the lovely little church (the Church of the Good Shepherd) at Lake Tekapo and then had lunch. We were lucky that the clouds were on our side so that we could actually see Mount Cook
(interestingly this mountain was used by Edmund Hillary in his conquest of Everest). As visibility was so good we decided to drive up to Mount Cook and wild camped
Abel Tasman National Park
All smiling, before Sam got us stuck on a rock for 5 mins... as near to the mountain as possible. We hiked up to the Kia Lookout and then as the sun was setting we walked across to the memorial site for all those who have died on Mount Cook.
After such good weather up in the mountains sadly our luck changed just as we reached Dunedin. We drove along the Otago Peninsula to visit Larnoch Castle built by an eccentric family, but we could hardly see it until we reached the front door due to the heavy mist. We then drove out to the Albatross Centre in hope of seeing the Albatrosses but we couldn´t go outside due to bad visibility. So we settled for the live video feeds of their babies. Due to the bad weather there was only one thing that we could do much to Claire´s delight - visit Cadbury´s Chocolate factory (having worked at Mars Chocolate factory Sam was disappointed that we got only one bag of freebies). Just as we decided to leave Dunedin the weather finally cleared up. So we headed across to Baldwin Street which apparently is the world´s steepest street. As we drove near it we agreed it was best to park campervan
Pancake Rocks
Yes they do look like a giant stack of pancakes at the bottom of the hill as we doubted it would make it to the top. We also found out how unfit we were, or maybe it really was that steep.
In homage to the Worlds Fastest Indian film (www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080) we both wanted to visit Invercargill so we detoured via the Catlins National Park. First stopping at Nuggest Point to see hundreds of wild seals and then further on to Roaring Bay to see the Yellow Eyed Penguins (rarest in the world). Sam cleverly spotted one swim right out of the sea on it´s belly and then hop up onto it´s legs before walking up the cliff. We also visited the Petrified Forest, a huge area of rock by the sea which contains fossilised trees.
Invercargil felt a little bit like the wild west or the land that time forgot. We didn´t really mind as our sole interest was the Burt Munro exhibition at the city museum. Having done a virtual ride on his motorbike we headed off for the Fjordlands. We reached Lake Manapouri and spent the afternoon flying Sam´s pocket kite by the beautiful lake. The following day on route to Queenstown we stopped for lunch
of homemade pies (Claire is now a pie convert) at Te Anau and managed to visit the Fjordland cinema to watch Ata Whenua (Shadowland). This was an excellent film which showcased the beautiful landscape and wildlife.
Sadly the Campervan Roadtrip had come to an end so we dropped the van off in Queenstown. For anyone interested in our thought on campervans - AWESOME!! Not the cheapest way to travel but they give you so much freedom and a sense of adventure.
Queenstown is the backpacker capital of New Zealand and the whole town is geared up towards you doing extreme activities, having a good time and spending money - perfect after 2 weeks in a campervan. We even managed to find a cool hostel with a jacuzzi. We had a few days to prepare for our next adventure, which was trekking the Milford Sound Track. So we made the most of the Katmandu 50% off sale and purchased some necessary equipment, like thermal layers and sexy looking gaiters and of course walking poles (got to look the part!). So yes, we did look a bit geeky in our matching gear but hey it was cheap! We
tested our
walking poles by scaling the mountain overlooking Queenstown but opted for the cable car down! Whilst in Queenstown Claire was even brave enough to jump the AJ Hackett Nevis Bungy jump, a wild 134 metres (440 feet) drop (Sam had already bungyied 3 times with his brother and had no desire to go through those nightmares again...wuss!). After the initial shock of what she was letting herself in for Claire actually loved the jump and wanted to do it again! What an adrenaline rush!
We had booked in for the Milford track trek 4 months in advance (yes, some actual forward planning by us for once!) but sadly the independent hike books out over 1 year in advance particularly near the holidays. So we were forced to pay out and do the guided trek, which was fully catered and had heated rooms and more importantly hot showers ( Claire was secretly happy that the independent tour was fully booked, no roughing it for her!). In the end we both agreed that this version of the trek was well worth it and we had an amazing time.
We were in a group of about 25 fun people of all
ages and from all over the world. We expected 5 days of hideous weather but actually had only one rotten one. Neither of us enjoyed the early starts (surprise, surprise!) but the food was great and our 4 guides were lovely (Kate, Hiro, Ash and Roskoe) and really added to the experience and kept us entertained giving us lots of information about the trek and wildlife as we were walking it. Every night we had to be tucked up in bed by 10pm as that is when the generator cut out and we were plunged into darkness!
Each of the 3 lodges that we stayed in (Glade House, Pompolona lodge, Quintin Lodge) were very historical and we felt very privileged to be there. The wildlife and vegetation was stunning and changed throughout the walk, it really was a unique place. On the fourth day we reached Milford Sound Fjord and stayed the night there and had a big celebratory dinner for making the whole 53.5 km in one piece (well Claire was hobbling slightly by the end of it all!). On the fifth day we were up early (again!) for a great boat trip out through the fjords. Then
Fajitas in the campervan
with a fresh bottle of wine personally chosen from a local vineyard. it was back to Queenstown and after a night of frantic packing and washing we flew back up to Auckland where we were met by our friend Tim Jenkins (Sam´s good friend from Wendover who was out on his holidays in NZ). We managed to spend a fun 24 hours together taking in a Korean BBQ (traditional Kiwi fare!) and some more hokey pokey icecream.
Sadly our NZ adventure was over, we had driven, trained, cycled, boated, trekked, rafted, tubed, bungyied, skydived, bused, swam and campervaned our way around NZ and loved every single minute of it or as they say in NZ it was 'sweet as'!!
That's all from us for now...
Lots of love to you all!
Claire and Sam.
PS. Yes we know this blog is 3 months late but we have been enjoying ourselves in South America too much and lets just say that internet connection is even worse than Asia!
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James Hewitt
non-member comment
Great blog
As ever a great read for office bound folk like me who can only dream of such an adventure. You should write a book when you get back! When are you heading back to England? PS: I got engaged a couple of months back!