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Published: November 20th 2010
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If you have not gathered from reading this blog, Chasanaski as a couple do not travel well. We love every minute of travelling but when it comes time to actually move from A to B, we are a disaster zone. Take our departure from Valpo. We had to catch a coach from Valpo back to Santiago and then another bus from the terminal to the airport. All up about 4 hours. By the time we woke up, ate and had a look at our tickets, we were already an hour late in leaving.
Mad dashes to the airport were successful only because the Santiago - New Zealand flights were over-booked for months. We arrived at the back of long line of people that was moving very slowly. A cheerful fellow Australian informed us that every person was being offered $500 and a stay at a 5-star hotel if they didn't fly that night and returned to the airport the next day. That person had stayed a week in 5-star luxury and already made several thousand dollars.
Well... it was mighty tempting. Ana and I were in debt. Our plan was to head to New Zealand and just go straight
on a hike where our costs would be NZ$10 a night for a tent spot. And yet- we didn't want to miss out on that experience. And so we decided to fly that night.
The shame is... our bags didn't!
Bitter town
When we realised our bags were still in Chile while we were in Auckland, we were devastated. All our camping gear was in those bags. We were going to have to pay for a hostel and food in a city and we did not have that kind of money. Plus we had lost our pre-paid bus tickets to Mt Taranaki.
The one saving grace was that we had brought all our dirty laundry from Chile in our hand luggage, so one wash later we at least had clothes for a few days. Ana, ever the optimist, re-booked bus tickets for the next day. There were daily flights from Chile. Why wouldn't our bags be on the next fight. After three days of hanging in Auckland, rebooking bus tickets that were going to waste, we were broke and despondent. We had toured Auckland and New Zealand on a previous holiday and it seemed a sad end
to an amazing ten months.
Thankfully Ana took the reins.
The open road
We borrowed money from Ana's parents and rented a car. Thankfully New Zealand is one of the cheapest places in the world to rent a car. We had only three or four days before our flight back to Oz and we were going to make the most of it. Our mission: to find the coolest sights within three days drive of Auckland that we had not already visited on previous visits.
A caveat for anyone reading this blog: if you are travelling the North Island of New Zealand, you have to go on this amazing hike near Rotorua. It is called the Tongariro Northern Circuit. In three days of walking you go through amazing mountains, desert, alpine hills and swampy flats. Incredible.
But on this trip our first stop was the Waitomo caves. These wonderful natural caves are full of startling rock formations and, most exciting, about a gazillion glow worms. You have to get on a boat and pull yourself along an underwater river. The ceiling of the cave, only a few feet above your heads, is coated in glow worms. So
many it looks like a clear night sky but deceptively close.
One New Zealand woman asked whether they got the same glow worms elsewhere and the guide mentioned he had heard of them in the Otways in Australia. She answered
Of course the bloody Australians would have 'em as well.
Well, having visited the Otways since, I can let the Kiwis rest assured that the aren't a patch on the Waitomo caves. Afterwards, not quite satisfied, we went on a small walk to see some of the other nearby caves which were glow worm free but no less impressive.
An exercise worthy of Tantalus
Our last sigh was quite a drive away, but the New Zealand countryside is so beautiful that it was a pleasure. After feeling so trapped in Auckland, the liberation of wheels was a blessed change. Of course, my highlight was not the sheep, the greenery, the rolling hills... but the billboards! Charmingly agricultural roadside advertisements constantly appealed to my morbid nature:
Morrisonville Custom Killings
Home Kill Export Meats
Animal Breeding Services
If you suspect that I am a might immature for finding such signs funny, you suspect right.
Anyway, we were once again on our way to a new sight within New Zealand. New Zealand is an incredible
country for many reasons but my main one is how compressed its geography is. It is as if they have all the natural grandeur of Australia or the US or China but have crammed it into this tiny space. And so we were going to the Coromandel Peninsula on the Pacific Ocean.
"Why?" do you ask. To go to Hot Water Beach.
While Australia is certainly blessed with amazing beaches, none of them that I have come across have hot springs underneath them so how water bubbles up through the sand! When Ana read about this in the guide book in Auckland, we were set: glow worms and natural outdoor spas.
The theory goes swimmingly: all hostels have little shovels that can be borrowed by the guests. They then trundle down to the magical beach and dig a hole in the sand. The hot water bubbles up from underneath and the brisk Pacific sea water washes in from on top, creating a wonderfully refreshing outdoor spa with views of beautiful hills, beaches and the Pacific Ocean.
The reality was a mite more hilarious. We arrived to find a crowd of people digging holes in the beach.
The sea water was freezing cold but if you dug your feet in the sand a little way, it was lovely and warm. Too warm in fact. It would start burning your feet. So you quickly start digging a bigger hole so that the sea water and hot springs can mix. Except every wave attempts to fill your hole back up with sand and freezes your bollocks off at the same time.
Secondly, the hot springs were not evenly placed along the beach and appeared to move. Hence people would be flitting from spot to spot, digging their feet in, looking for a warm patch. Once located, their mates would come along and start digging like crazy, only to be covered in cold salt water and to find that the warm water had moved a few feet over. Watching and engaging in this process was hilarious, but I think it failed to meet Ana's preconceived fantasy of a warm saltwater spa looking over the Pacific.
End of the line
We returned to Auckland to pick up our long lost bags. It feels like our last few stops on this 10 month odyssey, while amazing, had failed to reach
a satisfying climax. Maybe there was never going to be an end that would provide enough closure. We were heading back to Oz, to family, to work, to careers... The desire to keep travelling would never leave although the money had well and truly run out.
I am in fact writing this final blog 3 years after the events in 2010. We never finished it. Life took us over. But now I would like to publish them all in a book and give them to Ana for Christmas.
The last three years have been amazing: more trips to Laos, China and back to St. Just. Settling in to careers and dreams in Melbourne. Learning about being married and the joys it can bring.
I love you Ana.
And our love to all fellow travellers out there! Don't ever doubt, just go. Even the low points bring life lessons and amusing anecdotes that you will treasure the rest of your life. The high points... they change you as a person forever.
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Charles Allen
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Hi Chas and Ana, Great blog from NZ! Anne and I were there some 5 years ago, and did Waitomo, Rotorua, Taupo, volcanos etc as well (in 4 days!). This brings back great memories. How's life then? Obviously you have been on another exciting journey around parts of the globe that I can only dream about from my desk or classroom! I have kept a loose grip on your news via Mum and Dad, but I haven't spoken to them for a few weeks. Christopher is happy at uni in Liverpool, doing Primary and Secondary Maths teacher training, and William is now at Roehampton University in London, reading Classical Civilisation. Both of them are playing hockey for their uni teams, and seem to be having fun with their housemates. We muddle along, with only Monty, our dog, for company! Anne is still part time librarian in the prep school, and I am still working in both parts of the school, teaching and being Registrar - no peace for the wicked, or something like that! Anyway, take care, and thanks for the news from North Island. Charles