North James! And Don't Spare The Horses!

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Hello Everyone,
It's been a while since we've done a blog, possibly, or maybe not, but it seem that we've got a lot to write about. So after Milford Sound...

The Bottom Bit

From here on, there was a lot of driving, but not for long (i'll come to that). We drove away from the beautiful Milford Sound, stopping at Lake Mahinapua, which was beautiful and huge, but enjoyed for a short time only as we had a camp site to get to before dark. I can't remember where we camped that night, but i remember it wasn't as cold as the previous night, i probably only had one jumper, two t-shirts and two sleeping bags and a hat and trousers. The next day we explored a cave (i forget the name, sorry), with 3 torches between four of us, as opposed to the two each we should have had, although Chris only adventured for the first part. The next hour or so involved Amy, Sarah and I crawling through small gaps far underground, admiring stalactites and stalacmites, not enjoying the masses of grafiti down there, and navigating passages with our dim and only torches. Then we came to a flooded part that required sliding past a deepish (1 to 1.5 metre) small pool of cold water, before skirting round the edge of a larger pool of unknown depth in the middle part, but only knee deep or so round the edges. I took of my shoes and tested the route, before calling the other two to join me, at which point Sarah fell from an edge, 1.5to2 metres down into the first pool of water with a loud shriek. It was pretty worrying for a moment (as we didn't know the depth until sarah fell in) but luckily she was fine, albeit very wet up above her waist. So we carried on, and the cave seemed to go on for ever, and we were thankful to find the sunlight poking through and the sounds of European people at the other end. Maybe that'll be our last cave adventure on this trip, but we'll see.

After that adventure we headed for Invercargill, which was a bit rubbish to be honest, but we amused ourselves for a while in the motley collection of exhibits in the town's art gallery/museum, complete with a feature that lit up before a plastic seal rose up and roared at you as you stepped near it.

The next area of interest was the Catlins. here we did lots of short walks, looked at pretty waterfalls, and hid in Penguin hides and watched the very rare Yellow Eyed Penguin emerge from the sea, waddle up the beach, hop over the rocks and find a bed for the night in amidst the scrub, a truly wonderful sight that i'll never forget. Followed shortly by three more. It was brilliant. On one walk a camera crew for a channel 7 (Australia) travel program filmed us walking down a path, chatting and enjoying the New Zealand bush, so Australian fans watch those televisions!

Next up was Dunedin, which is Celtic for Edinburgh, and populated with lots of Scots, apparently. This was an interesting town/city with beautiful scenery around the edges, especially the bit that touched the coast. The art gallery here was pretty good too. The Salvation Army from all over the country plus a few pacific islands had congregated here after a long march to commemorate 120 (i think) years of being, so we drank coffee at a pavement cafe listening to the brass band.

The first night we camped outside of the town, Chris and Amy underneath a bridge, as it is crown land we've been told, and me and Sarah in the car, a crappy night's sleep, but the view the next morning was absolutely stunning. I'll put a picture in.

The next day we visited the Otago Peninsula, next to Dunedin, and visited an Albatross colony. We only saw three chicks sat at their nests, which was a beautiful sight, but we weren't lucky enough to see any flying. But we learnt all about the critters. Very interesting birds. Sarah will probably insert some interesting facts here when she edits this! We also saw lots of big fat seals, on various beaches, which were incredible to see, lying there sunning themselves, or maybe 'clouding' themselves would be more apt.

Northward home!

From here, it was north all the way home, through New Zealand, to Fiji, to LA, to London. First up was two days of driving to get to Christchurch, for the third time!

The first night, after driving through torrential rain in the dark, we camped at a small scenic reserve in god knows where. The next morning we backtracked a bit and had a look at moeraki's boulders - almost perfectly spherical boulders on a beach that had been rinsed of value by the tourist cafe, boardwalk and gift shop that shared association. I didn't like this place for another reason - that they kept a deer in a small enclosure, that paced back and forth constantly. I wanted to go and buy some wire cutters and go back there, but didn't. But maybe i should. anyway.

That night we stayed in the Birdlands bush retreat on the Banks Peninsula, but the tobogans weren't as swift as it had been raining (providing the opposite effect we thought it would), but the kind lady there let us stay in a bed in a building for free, and it is a lovely area.

Hello again Christchurch

I'd decided i'd had enough of driving, after nearly 9 months of being a car driver i decided to pack it in, and we'd make alternative arrangements to get about. So after a hasty wash and hoover i dropped the car at the hire place, and got a bit of a refund. Then a debacle ensued of going to the airport to pick up a relocation deal car - an arrangement to take a car from Christchurch to Picton - the town you get the ferry to the north island from - but was told i had to pay $25 as i was under 25, even though it had previously been agreed (on the phone) that this was not an issue. After arguing a long time with the lady working there, who couldn't car less if i didn't give her my business, i decided to pay the money,which really wasn't very much, and was given, possibly as partial atonement, a huge tank of a car, that i was driving for a while with the strange hidden foot hand-brake on for a while. It took all four of us north in fine mass-petrol-consuming glory, and after delivery the next day (after a night camped in a no-camping reserve, where we ate our dinner and drank boxed wine under the cover of an extension to the public toilets in fine style) i could enjoy not driving. And indeed still am. But we'll get to that. So the next day we were on the ferry, heading to the north island.

The North Island

It's a long one today eh? Sorry, i'll try and make it interesting. Not long though and we'll be boring you (most of you) face to face.

So after a scenic morning cruise through Malborough Sounds in glorious weather that was a bit too rocky and made us all feel a bit sick, we arrived in the nation's capital.

Here we stayed in a bit of a dingy hostel, but it was a bed in a room so it was luxury. We ate cheaply and tastily at a Malaysian restaurant for lunch, did some laundry, wandered around the Cuba St quarter - lots of coffee shops, record shops, interesting restaurants etc. - before later that night meeting Chris, Amy and two girls whose name's evade me for a couple of drinks (a rare thing for us to do these days!) in a pub in town.

The next day we went to Te Papa, probably the best museum, by lots and lots, i have ever been to. it's huge, it's very new and flash, there's lots of different interactions and exhibits, basically it is brilliant, and you could go there every day for a year and look at some different and very interesting. We learnt about volcanoes, faultlines, Maori history and culture, the earth and it's layers, immigrant history, and there was a cool bit where you could play and stop different constituents of different songs. We went here twice in one day, with a break in the day for lunch and a ride in a cable car up a steep hill to the botanic gardens, where we relaxed, looked at trees, ducks and Cacti, and wandered back down into town. that night (the museum stayed open until 9pm) we ate huge felafel kebabs , that were supposed to be burgers, but the man got a bit offended ('what? you not like my kebabs?!) that filled us and then some.

The next day i bought some walking boots for the impending Tongariro crossing - New Zealand's best one day walk apparently - and lost them sometime before getting our hitch north. Our hostel arranged shuttle to the 'hitching point' never happened, as the bus was broke, so we got a bus and then a train to a small town outside the city situated smack bang on the highway heading north. We had to wait a whole seven minutes before a couple from Taupo picked us up, a large dreadlocked boy/man (probably 19ish?) who listened to metal and drove very fast in a car that sounded like a space shuttle and looked like it'd rolled out of a scrap yard, and his girlfriend. They were nice chaps, and they took us all the way to Turangi, which was about 3 and a half hours drive. So we were lucky to get to our first hitching place so easily (not counting the hitching we had to do in the south island to get back to the car after the dreaded Creosus track).

Turangi and the Tongariro Crossing

by Sarah!

Turangi itself was a bit of a dump - but it was dark when we arrived and our bags are now obscenely heavy (plus Ben's strap has broken!) so we stumbled into the nearest hostel type place without looking around. The nice lady gave us a double room for the price of a dorm beds so that was a treat! Next day we went on a big long walk, the Tongariro crossing to be exact, all 19km's of it. It was a great walk, and we actually didn't find it too hard. We saw lots of volcanic craters, steaming vents, lakes, and great views. We passed very close by Ngaruhoe which is in fact Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings - don't worry we have LOTS of pictures! 6 hours later we were at the bottom waiting in our shuttle bus for people that must have crawled the track - there's surely no other explanation!!

We stayed in Turangi that night and hitched to nearby Taupo first thing. We got picked up by a very nice English family in their campervan - those things are like tardis's!!

Taupo - skydiving!

Ben didn't leave me much - I'll have to do a big one next time! We arrived in Taupo,bumped into Chris and Aimee, found a hostel where we pitched our tent in an area that smelt of dog poo, had some lunch, then got picked up by a limo that took us to Taupo Airport. Here we got dressed up in jumpsuits and lots of buckles, got into a little plane which took us 12,000 ft above terra firma, and proceeded to jump out of the door with strange men strapped onto our backs. We then fell very very fast for 45 seconds at over 200 kmph until the helpful blokes on our backs opened a parachute which slowed down our descent so we could admire the incredible views of Lake Taupo (which is in fact NZ's biggest lake AND a dormant volcanic crater!) and the surrounding area. It was GREAT. The first few seconds of freefall were the most crazy few seconds ever! We had DVD's done - I was very enthusastic (once I could get my words out), Ben was slightly more composed - his bloke asked him if he was crazy - Ben replied with a "no.. not really...." Exciting stuff for the camera!!!

Tonight we may be going to a hot pool, and tomorrow has many more adventures in store....!

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Photos

Pukinakaiki Falls
The Catlins

The Morning After Sleeping in the Car
somewhere outside Dunedin

The Ferry Crossing
Before it got choppy!

Wellington
from the Botanic Gardens

Mt Doom
Tongariro Crossing

Tongariro Crossing
Mt Tongariro's Red Crater

Comments

[Vincent]

Mount Doom!!