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Published: April 27th 2008
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Orakei korako Thermal Valley
A lot of smelly hot water & mud Its been a while since we have had the chance to update, some of you may know we left NZ a fair while ago! So, the bad weather persisted although the crossing through the Strait from Picton to Wellington was quite smooth. One of the planned stops was Himatangi Beach for some kiting, and even though the weather certainly was not going to allow any outside activity we needed a rest from the long journey. The following day we decided to carry straight onto Lake Taupo and wait for the weather to clear to do the Tongariro crossing tramp. Certainly a shame as some of the scenery and villages around the Tongariro & Whanganui national parks looked amazing even in the bad weather.
After a day of sorting out our further trips on the north hemisphere, the weather started to break so we finally got the chance to do a proper (well sort of, one day) tramp that many New Zealanders think are an essential part of visiting the country. In fact we got told we were boring at the picton ferry because our boots did not need disenfecting (contamination is a huge issue here) due to not actually
600yo Rangitoto Island
Never set foot on it, but you can see this young island everywhere in Auckland. partaking in any of the crazy 3-5 day walks they do on the south! Maybe something we may have to do on a return trip!!
Anyhow, the Tongariro Crossing day started early and the first climb was a lot harder than we had imagined (they don't call it the devils's staircase for nothing!) so some of the extra trails to the summits of the two volcanos we left to the other very fit people, as this was allegedly an eight hour walk. Three hours after the tiresome climb we had finished, such a shame as we could have done some of the peaks, but we certainly weren't gonna go back up to do them!! As you can see from the pictures, unfortunetly it was not that clear, you can contrast these with the great clear days shown on
www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz/.
Rotorua is another essential stop for tourists, so we did as you should and visited the thermal valleys, had some local Hangi served from a Maori village (a very touristy slightly fake version, but still you have to do it).
A good couple of days left with the campervan we wandered across to Raglan, the surfing capital of
Devonport - but not as we know it!
Only a little sign that we are just across the water from a big city... NZ, and then relaxed for quite a few days up north of Auckland at Muriwai and Orewa beaches. Greg got a little bit of kiting in, met up with some really friendly local kiters and Emma relaxed on the beaches in weather that was not predicted. If we had more energy and ignored the weather reports we may have ventured further north to the Bay of Islands, or the Coromandel. Nether the less, it was nice to get away from the rushing around that we probably did too much on the south island and really take in an area. Muriwai beach is incredible, and potential for kiting as well as wildlife makes it a very liveable place.
We returned the van to the rental company, which we soon realized was an operation run from the backyard of a house - which explained a lot! Still they were very friendly and all worked out good in the end.
After not liking cities too much on our trip so far, Auckland was a real surprise, certainly considering what we had been told by most New Zealanders. Its built up yet still has interesting areas, and the area we were staying
in, Parnell, is really interesting with old buildings, interesting shops and great resturants! We spent the last few days walking the area a lot, climbing some of the peaks around (there are a lot seeing as Auckland is built on volcanic land), getting lost a little (not unusual for us!) and a day on the water looking for dolphins and whales, and finding a lot of them😊.
Devonport is a million miles from our very own Plymouth Devonport, and somewhere, you could spend a day or two, another great area of Auckland, especially for having breakfast, we had french toast and blueberry pancakes, amazing!.
So this ends our New Zealand section, somewhere we could have easily spent the whole three months, and will certainly try to visit again. It is so 'Home from Home', we both found it a place we could live without hesistation if it wasn't for the distance. Certainly a lot of highlights cn be found in such a small country, a really special place. If you love the outdoors life, its one not to miss.
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Adele
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Orewa - cool!!
Hey guys, I went to school in Orewa when we lived there - so cool that you guys visited that beach! Me and mum used to run along it in the mornings when we were feeling fit and we used to get dolphins swimming along the stretch! Good to hear about your adventures! Adele xx