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Another slightly delayed entry as I have actually completed both of the New Zealand islands now and fly back to Sydney tomorrow! I have spent the last few days in Christchurch which isn't the most interesting of the New Zealand cities so thought I'd sit down and try and get up to date.
My month in New Zealand has been amazing. I was on the Stray bus which I have thoroughly enjoyed, met lots of great people and felt I had just the right amount of time in most of places. I've definately fitted in a lot of activities but will deal with the North Island activities first!
I started my trip in Auckland with just one night there before boarding the Stray bus early the following morning. We started with a drive up Mount Eden where I saw my first extinct volcano and watched all the cows grazing on grass inside a giant crater, this was just a taster of what was to come! Had a few scenic stops on the way to our first overnight stop, Hahei. The weather was much nicer than the Melbourne weather that I had just left behind which surprised me as I
Auckland
The crater is in the foreground was expecting it to be freeeeezing! My first afternoon I was on a walk / hike with a few fellow bus goers to Cathedral Cove which is one of New Zealand's most photographed beaches for promo pictures. In fact I saw an advert for the new Narnia movie and Cathedral Cove is featured on it. Gorgeous. We then had a group BBQ and had a few in the pub. On the way back I saw the milky way and the clearest stars I've ever seen in my life. Great first day!!
The early starts had officially begun and by about 9 am the next day I was rubbing my nose on a twin Kauri tree which according to Mauri tradition would give me good luck travelling! That afternoon I braved a flying fox (zipwire) at the Raglan hostel, it was pouring down with rain so I thought this was a wiser, safer option than surfing but changed my mind when I was thrown off at high speed as it swung into the trees! It was so fast, needless to say I ached for a fair few days after and had some very colourful bruising!
My plans for the
next morning remained the same though asnd I found myself squeezing through rocks into a cave then down a passage with our head torches on in search of spot glow worms. We spotted a few faint worms but then got into a raft and turned our torches off which revealed hundreds of glow worms with their bums glowing like stars. Absolutely amazing! After that we walked back out of the cave elephant style (holding onto eachothers backs) in the pitch black darkness letting our eyes adjust. We had a cuppa then went into a tamer cave with boardwalks and lightings where we could remove our hats. We saw bones of various animals, including the extinct Moi bird. Stood in the pitch black again in the cathedral where a canadian girl from our group sang her national anthem. Good fun! The day continued to be one of my favourites of my trip with a visit to Uncle Boy's Mauri meeting place where Uncle Boy (an elderly Mauri guy welcomes you into his family for the night). We had roast dinner then a young Mauri dance troup put on a traditional dance and music show with their scary tongues and starey eyes!
The boys in our group were then taught the haka and the girls the poi dance which we had to perform for the rest of the group and the dance troup. We then all slept on mattresses in the big meeting hall in the one room. A real cultural experience for the day!
The next day we headed to smelly, sulphurous Rotorua and decided to stop over for the night. We headed straight to the Polynesian Spas and there really hot (stinky eggy) baths that went up to 42c. A small group of us sat there for quite a while steaming in the rain! Beautiful views from the spa of natural geysers with steam rising out of them which was straight out of a postcard. Stunning! The next day we saw bubbling, smelly, spluttering mud pools looking like something from prehistoric times. The next stop was Haka Falls where a crazy amount of water was pouring over the fall.
Lake Taupo was the next stop with not too good weather. Stayed here a few days and looked at the lake which is an old volcanic crater filled with water with snow capped mountains behind it which gave me
a taster of the views to come in the South Island. Travelled to Wellington with a night stop at the National Park and had an extra curricular activity on the way in a place called Taihape! We had welly throwing competition which was in a specially designed cage to see how could throw their wellington boot the furthest. Wellington was the first city I spent any length of time in so we had a few a nights out and a few lie ins and checked out the mauri and natural disaster exhibitions in the Te Papa museum. I also met up for dinner with Abi, a friend from Sydney who is living in Wellington now which was nice. Before long we were up early again to get the ferry to Picton on the South Island where the adventures begun again; double fold!!
I'll probably be home before I update from the South Island but I will do so soon! I will be back home on Tuesday! Time flies eh! Look forward to seeing you all soon!
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BIG SIS
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safe journey
Wow looks like youve had a great time! Cant wait to hear all your stories when your back (and get any uncensored tales...are there any??) :o) Safe journey back home, looking forward to seeing you! Love Jenny xx