So by the end of this section it may become more apparent why we have been so slow updating the blog this month!!
We left Auckland with only 2-3 hours of sleep under our belts heading south. Our new driver for this leg was metro. We boarded the bus which was absolutely jam packed with Strays. We were probably reasonably shabby company for that first day or two with sleep never being far from our minds!!
The first day took us to Hahei where the warm water beach is. This is a beach where the hot springs feed lovely warm water into the sand. You have to dig down then you can enjoy being warmed by the nice sand (apparently).......Unfortunately not for us as we missed out on this experience as tides were not in our favour. We did get to sea kayak out into Cathedral cove, some huge white cliff face along that coast line. The kayaks were two man and team mclou managed pretty well as there were some big waves around the shore line. Highlights were definately launching out from the beach head on into the big surf and the hot chocolat prepared for us on the secluded beach. Not to mention tom and teds attempt to get through a little cave..hitting against the edges the whole way through. A nice experience but one I'm sure is supposed to be enjoyed on a sunny summers day when the wind is not blowing the wrong direction creating the big swells, but we kinda liked that!!
We did have a nice BBQ that night but early to bed was unavoidable as we were falling asleep in our diner following our previous nights excesses in Auckland!!
The next day was back on the bus and heading from east side to west coast (and slightly south to Raglan. This is one of the top surfing destinations in NZ. We stayed in an amazing hostel in the rainforest, with zip line through the forest and loads of facilities. A good place to kick back and enjoy get to know everyone on the bus. We had some offical teammclou to attend to. we got our IRD number and kiwi bank account sorted thanks to a lovely lady in a post office.
The next day we headed down to Waitomo caves, a place with a zillion or less caves to explore and some pretty good hiking. We all had the chance to do some exploring, abseiling, caving and see some glow worms in their hundreds. We chose to take the cheaper option and go off on a couple of hour walk, explore our own caves and stop by a local shop to watch the Rabbit shearing!!
That evening we had a cultural evening in Uncle boys place Maketu, we were welcomed to and stayed in a Maori village. It was a nice evening the boys got to learn the Haka, dressing up in traditional wears (a see through skirt and your undies) and the girls learnt to do a Maori dance in traditional dress. We were fed by the chief and his villagers for that night we were to follow the traditional village rules.we all slept in a village hall on a matress, we all got to know eachother pretty well.
The next day we headed down to Rotorua, a cool looking town but one we decided to pass through. It smells a bit like rotten egg, caused by the sulphur due to all the geothermal activity. we visited the bog of eternal stentch. We would have loved a day to spend on the world class mountain bike tracks but apparently we would have to wait four days for the next stray bus which we decided was a bit too long.
Enroute to Taupo we stopped at the hot springs these were incredible, so hot and we all struggled to get out of the beautifully warm water. Taupo was a sky dive destination for some on the bus but we waited with great difficulty while the others made their jump as we had planned to do ours in Queenstown. We were impressed with our discpline not to jump with the others but still green with envy when they all returned to the hostel that night high as a kite.
The next day proved to be our second favourite activity in NZ to date...........The Tonagariro crossing. This is sold as the world number one day hike!!.....and it didnt disappoint!! We had a fantastic day, hiking and in places climbing through a valley with a stream running along side, then we caught a glimps of mount doom...an active volcano we climbed a grueling ascent towards the volcano,to earn the right to take in some of the most amazing vista we think we'll ever see!! With signs warning that if it starts spitting rocks, smoking, or pouring with lava that you should RUN!
Once we'd climbed up we walked through a crater of a volcano, once over to the other side we caght a glimps of emerald lakes, they were really green due to the sulphur. As we reached the next peak the wind picked up, which was a little unnerving, the desent was on loose rocks that kind of fall down with you as you walk down, laura got a little freaked out. once on solid ground again and after walking past the lakes we then walked over shrubland and ended the walk going through lush rainforest. unbelievable!! It was a great day and one we wont forget for a long time. We headed back to the superb hostels hot tub for a much deserved soak then feed and beer!! The stray bus had conquered the volcano and we were a tight nit group at the end of this day!!
From the Tongariro hostel we headed south to Wellington where we enjoyed our last night in the north island, before we crossed over to the south island the next day!!
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Tuesday 11 May 2010
NZ Baby!!!!!!!!!! Auckland, Bay of island, dolhins and top food!!
We took the flight from Fiji with Air Pacific........a big plane with friendly staff but unreassuringly dated. They still have the ash trays from on the seats and in the toilets very retro!! watched blind side awesome film.
We arrived in Aukland the city of sails very excited indeed. We booked up a trip north to Bay of islands, Paihia pretty much straight away keen to get out of the city which was a bit of a culture shock after the peaceful slow pace in Fiji.
We were picked up by Daisy (male) the stray bus driver early the next day. We had a few stops enroute hugging 800 year old kauri trees which were massive, and a ride on a glass bottomed boat in goat island marine park seeing some pretty big fish!! Daisy was a good guy and kept us all entertained with games while the kilometres passed by.
We stopped overnight in Paihia, the location where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, which is basically a legal document from way back that set the rules of how land would be governed between the indiginous Maori and us invaders. In true form we stitched 'em up good and proper and this has left NZ with ongoing disputes to this day!! We had a few pics taken at the site and felt ourselves to be satisfactorily culturalised!!
The next day was an early rise to have a day that provided the absolute highlight of the trip (and as you maybe aware we're a month late writing this and that fact remains!! We spent the morning aboard the dolphin explorer. After an hour aboard our optimism was dwindling especially given that they informed us only 20 percent of the rides end with actually swimming with dolphins but then........we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins. They were swimming along side the boat as we hurridly put our snorkels and masks on but no wetsuits. Luckily the adrenaline from the sight of the 3m long dolphins kept us warm (kind of) as we waited for 15 minutes for the ok to jump in. Once in it was amazing, we had two sets of 20 minutes swimming with the pod feeling very slow and overwelhmed by their size and speed in the water.
After the swim we were dropped in a small town called Russel where we had some hot chocolate and lunch sitting by the beach revelling in our experience.
The buzz didnt wear off all afternoon and we bored everyone to tears on the bus ride south to Auckland that afternoon!! We stopped at Haruru falls, which translated into english means'big nose' as you can imagine mike was in his element, finally seeing one much bigger than his own. The ride added to our day though, stopping in a small wild bird sanctuary. We got to see and pet the Kiwi bird which is apparently quite rare, and a first for our driver Daisy.
We were keen to get back to Auckland that night as we had planned to meet up with Nicole, a friend from Fiji for a night out before we board the bus again in the morning to head south.
As excited as we were to be meeting up with Nicole we were a little concerned with her choice of destination when we were informed it was one of the more expensive restaurants in Auckland and we were on our travelling budget. Mike managed to crack out his shirt for the first time since leaving the UK for the occassion and even managed to remember what the iron was invented to do. Our journey there on the bus was spent planning how we were going to be frugil travellers and keep the costs down.
When we arrived Nicole was with a few friends and we all got on well had a few glasses of wine and some very tasty pizza. At the end of the meal we were waiting to pay to find Nicoles friend had settled the bill and treated us to a great meal to round off a great day. We went back to his house (mansion) to find ourselves in something from MTV cribs. This obviously seemed a little out of the ordinary and it was then revealed why the boys had been talking so much about cricket.......we had been treated to diner by an ex Kiwi international cricket player!! We enjoyed a few more drinks with our new friends and the night ended very late. When our heads hit the pillows we only had three hours until we were due on the Stray bus for the next leg of our journey. What a surreal day, one that goes down as one of the best days since leaving the UK!!
We arrived in Aukland the city of sails very excited indeed. We booked up a trip north to Bay of islands, Paihia pretty much straight away keen to get out of the city which was a bit of a culture shock after the peaceful slow pace in Fiji.
We were picked up by Daisy (male) the stray bus driver early the next day. We had a few stops enroute hugging 800 year old kauri trees which were massive, and a ride on a glass bottomed boat in goat island marine park seeing some pretty big fish!! Daisy was a good guy and kept us all entertained with games while the kilometres passed by.
We stopped overnight in Paihia, the location where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, which is basically a legal document from way back that set the rules of how land would be governed between the indiginous Maori and us invaders. In true form we stitched 'em up good and proper and this has left NZ with ongoing disputes to this day!! We had a few pics taken at the site and felt ourselves to be satisfactorily culturalised!!
The next day was an early rise to have a day that provided the absolute highlight of the trip (and as you maybe aware we're a month late writing this and that fact remains!! We spent the morning aboard the dolphin explorer. After an hour aboard our optimism was dwindling especially given that they informed us only 20 percent of the rides end with actually swimming with dolphins but then........we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins. They were swimming along side the boat as we hurridly put our snorkels and masks on but no wetsuits. Luckily the adrenaline from the sight of the 3m long dolphins kept us warm (kind of) as we waited for 15 minutes for the ok to jump in. Once in it was amazing, we had two sets of 20 minutes swimming with the pod feeling very slow and overwelhmed by their size and speed in the water.
After the swim we were dropped in a small town called Russel where we had some hot chocolate and lunch sitting by the beach revelling in our experience.
The buzz didnt wear off all afternoon and we bored everyone to tears on the bus ride south to Auckland that afternoon!! We stopped at Haruru falls, which translated into english means'big nose' as you can imagine mike was in his element, finally seeing one much bigger than his own. The ride added to our day though, stopping in a small wild bird sanctuary. We got to see and pet the Kiwi bird which is apparently quite rare, and a first for our driver Daisy.
We were keen to get back to Auckland that night as we had planned to meet up with Nicole, a friend from Fiji for a night out before we board the bus again in the morning to head south.
As excited as we were to be meeting up with Nicole we were a little concerned with her choice of destination when we were informed it was one of the more expensive restaurants in Auckland and we were on our travelling budget. Mike managed to crack out his shirt for the first time since leaving the UK for the occassion and even managed to remember what the iron was invented to do. Our journey there on the bus was spent planning how we were going to be frugil travellers and keep the costs down.
When we arrived Nicole was with a few friends and we all got on well had a few glasses of wine and some very tasty pizza. At the end of the meal we were waiting to pay to find Nicoles friend had settled the bill and treated us to a great meal to round off a great day. We went back to his house (mansion) to find ourselves in something from MTV cribs. This obviously seemed a little out of the ordinary and it was then revealed why the boys had been talking so much about cricket.......we had been treated to diner by an ex Kiwi international cricket player!! We enjoyed a few more drinks with our new friends and the night ended very late. When our heads hit the pillows we only had three hours until we were due on the Stray bus for the next leg of our journey. What a surreal day, one that goes down as one of the best days since leaving the UK!!
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