Advertisement
Published: November 13th 2008
NZ
\"Mum & Dad\'s Ball\" - fancy dress!We arrived at Auckland airport to be greeted by an excited Tony! It was lovely to see a friend on the other side of the world, quite emotional for all involved. Tony may have been so excited due to the events he had secretly planned for us!!! We had only been in NZ for a few minutes when he announced that he had two fancy dress costumes with our names on for the party that we would be attending within less than an hour!! and that was how the trip continued…….from exciting adrenalin fuelled event to the next, hence the bungee jump the next morning to help us with our terrible hangovers from the free booze and the first of many ‘jagerbomb’ sessions. It was Kit turn for a hangover cure the next day as he made a guest appearance on the football pitch for Tony’s team, both a little worse for wear they played well and Kit even helped with the winning goal to help them with their 1st win of the season!
We took in the sites of Auckland for a week, working a day for Tony which was fun!, having dinner at the ‘Sky Tower’, which was an
NZ
Tony & Amy's kitchen amazingly beautiful night scene across the city and walking along the harbours surrounding edge which gave the place a pleasant and refreshing feel even for a city. 1st impressions were all good, beautiful views, nice people, good climate, many places to explore that would be out of this world…..it seemed like a place with a lot to offer that we would enjoy…… and we did very much.
The road trip commenced travelling from the North heading to the south island ending at Queenstown with several stops & activities along the way along.
Starting in ‘Rotaroura ’- it was a good job we were treated to copius amounts of beer, Jagers and Chartrise at the local watering hole all night as we found out the next day it was probably only to keep us there for a day or two as the smell would be enough to drive anyone out of town……rotten eggs all round!!!!poooeeeee!!! Apart from the smell it was an amazing natural wonder that we ended up enjoying and remembering the most. The hot springs and sulphur pools were just out of this world, to be sitting in the cold air with your feet dangling or actually having
a swim in naturally hot bubbling water whilst sipping on a beer or two…..….a free spa which had the same if not better therapeutic effect. The second night we went to experience a Maori evening and their traditional ‘Hangi’meal of meat & potatoes which are cooked in an earth oven pit dug into the ground and covered with hessian sacks and left many hours to slow cook. Kit was really excited about the feast but was a bit disappointed as it was a bit too earthy and everything tasted of lamb even the pots! The Maoris performed the ‘Hacker’ and played various musical instruments to tell stories about their history and culture which was all great fun.
The next morning we woke up with another hangover but not too worried as we had a cure lined up as we were going White Water rafting today!! Woo hoo!! It was awesome paddling down the white water and over a 7metre waterfall in what looked like a scene from Jurassic park, we expected dinosaurs to leap out of the bushes at any moment…….but they didn’t.
From there we drove to ‘Lake Taupo’ which was such a sight! We drove over the
NZ
turning green now........ hill to be introduced to a massive expanse of water reaching the horizon, we actually thought it was the sea but knew that it was actually the lake!! Seriously it’s the biggest thing ever its 30 km wide, a crater left by a massive volcanic explosion 26,500 years ago, the most impressive lake we’ve ever seen. There we were hoping to do the ‘Tongariro crossing’ but due to bad weather we were unable to do this so we opted for a spot of quad biking!! It was wicked and the rain only made it better, with Kit winning the ‘muddiest’ competition after speeding into a deep puddle creating a bow wave over his whole quad. It was the best way to have outdoor adventure and see the mountains at the same time…we loved it and getting to have tea and biscuits half way round made it the perfect day.
Onto Wellington where it rained constantly but this did not put a stop to the drinking and exploring! First up was a visit to the museum to check out some of New Zealand’s history, how the land was formed and how active it still is today with earthquakes happening at least
NZ
PIHA BEACH everyday but always big enough to register.
We left here on the ferry leaving the North island to continue our journey in the South. The crossing was lovely as we cruised through the fjords taking in the spectacular views.
Arriving in Picton we drove to Nelson where we were welcomed and whisked straight off to a local pub to sample their ales and fush & chups!! Yum. We were also treated to a night in the lovely motel free of charge instead of the hostel room as the newly weds! ahh. The next night was spent at the hostel in the party bus with Aunty Lynne……..and an American guy who’s name we’ve forgotten, drinking ale. This was also a proud night as we had out-partied Tony & Amy for once!!
From Nelson we drove to Abel Tasman National Park where we spent the day kayaking in the clear blue water, we’d been informed that there were lots of seal pups about and that they would probably jump on the kayaks, but all we saw were two seals asleep on the rocks!! it was a beautiful day out despite the lack of creatures and if time/weather had allowed we would
have paddled further up the coast, camping over night and seeing some more of this amazing place.
Next we landed in Franz Joesph after a full day’s drive, we hit the pub where Kit on full form entered and won a game of ‘killer pool’ winning us a week’s free snow pass to the ‘Remarkables’ snow fields!!!! To celebrate Kit & I went on a glacier walking adventure the next day. It was a truly amazing experience, cramponed up we climbed the glacier checking out waterfalls, ice holes and formations on the way up, crawling through a few ice tunnels and getting rather wet. One of our favorite days so far!
Moving on to colder things we travelled to Wanaka where we again were kindly greeted by Tony & Amy’s friends who fed us rather a few jagerbombs leading to a 5 man moonie at the bar…..welcomed by all. The next day conditions for boarding were bad in the morning but cleared nicely to introduce kit and I to New Zealand’s snow fields, wicked but much smaller areas than Europe! The next day was a special one as it was Kate’s birthday and although conditions were awful and visibility was
0!!! She insisted we all went as it was what she wanted to do for her birthday…..so we all did and had fun anyway with a little mulled wine to help the cold & visibility!!
On our last evening in Wanaka we took the opportunity to go to the last floodlit ‘night boarding’ session. It was an excellent evening, getting to watch the sunset from the top of the mountains with a 360 degree view of the surrounding snow fields, then a night of awesome boarding with more mulled wine for fuel and reggae music being played into the night…..perfect apart from Kit taking a spectacular stacking and thinking he’d broken a rib, he was in considerable pain for a week or two but kept boarding and wouldn’t go to the doc.
Our last stop was Queenstown where we decided whilst the last of the snow was still on the mountains we’d use our ‘killer pool’ prize and get a weeks pass into the ‘Remarkable’ snow fields. We had some excellent/lucky days of fresh snow and clear sky’s, loving every minute of everyday even when we were sore, we were jumping by the end of the week and even
daring to play on the half pipe which led to many more punishing moments. It was great.
Apart from the snow we spent our evenings in various watering holes, the most memorable being a 6am finish with the lovely Silvia & John after a cocktail teapot session in the ‘world bar’. Silvia treated us to fire sticks and John treated us to partying out as he was the 1st to leave! we then found the tardis and finished off the night dancing to reggae.
We really enjoyed our time in New Zealand and we are definitely planning a future trip in the warmer drier months to experience the camping and trail walking one day.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0335s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Simon
non-member comment
Brilliant!!
I cant wait!!! Sounds like you had an awesome time guys.