New Zealand

I arrived in New Zealand on 25th May. I travelled down from Alice Springs along to Adelaide and then Melbourne and spent a few days there before flying over to Auckland. Melbourne was of course much colder than my previous visit but still an enjoyable stay. I stayed in a city centre hostel unlike the suburb of St Kilda where I stayed previously. I spent a couple of days catching up with friends from my west coast trip and also visiting a friend of the family. The flight over to Auckland was longer than I expected and I was greeted with a view of luscious green valleys from the window of the plane and then freezing wet weather on the ground!I spent 3 days exploring Auckland - a very small city really compared to those of England and even Australia. There's a marina and one main street which houses all the shops etc. On face value Auckland seems very cold, grey and sterile but walking round the city I managed to get lost and actually stumbled upon a much nicer side. Green parks and lovely old buildings with small cobbled back streets and quaint little boutiques circle the city centre itself making Auckland a much more attractive place to be. The weather was pretty gloomy for most of my visit which reminded me a lot of home! It was nice to have a change from the hot dry heat of Australia however and even better to see the green luscious grass this creates. Green and trees which I'd missed very much!

North Island

From Auckland I travelled up to the Bay of Islands, stopping off at the famous Kauri forests to view some of the biggest and oldest trees in New Zealand. Native to New Zealand, the trees used to be cut down a lot and used for carvings and tables and such forth. Now the trees are so few that they are being protected and cannot be cut down. Farming of the trees still exists but only those trees fallen and buried in the undergrowth can be used. I also stopped at the Waitangi Treaty grounds - one of the earliest settlements in New Zealand and an important place for Maori people. When the British came over trying to take the land from the Maori people an agreement was finally settled upon which gave the Maori's rights over their land and laid out what was theirs. The agreement was signed here which is why the area holds such significance for the Maori people. I got to see inside a the traditional meeting house which is covered in carvings and engravings which are just beautiful. Also within the grounds lies the larges rowing boat in the world which was hand built by the Maori's and used as a war boar. The boat can hold up to 160 men! The plan for the Bay of Islands itself was to take a boat cruise around the islands however the weather was just constant downpour nonstop for days running so unfortunately this had to be cancelled. I did however get to stop at Waitang Falls which is just outside the Bay of Islands.

We took a trip to Keri Keri which is just north from the Bay of Islands and is home to some of New Zealand's oldest buildings and amongst one of the earliest settlements. Still raining and with the land beginning to flood (this is normal!) I headed back down past Auckland and towards Waitomo. Waitomo is best known for its glow worms and caves. I took a walk around through Waitomo Caves which to be honest were pretty average until we walked deeper into the cave and to a boat which led us into the pitch black of the cave and we found ourselves totally surrounded by glow worms. It felt like being outside under the nights sky. So many small green lights dotted about, it was beautiful. Later that night we took a walk through the local national park in search of some more glow worms which we luckily found. However walking through the bush by torch light wasn't the easiest part of my trip!

Next I travelled from Waitomo to Rotorua. Rotorua is known for its volcanic activity and therefore the thermal activity it gives off, including a very strong sulphur smell which isn't very pleasant. Apparently you're meant to get used to it but I can't say I ever found I did! You could smell it in the corridors of the hostels, on the streets and even the water for showers had the smell - lovely! You could see steam coming up from the surrounding bushes and through the grates at the side of the road, a very surreal view. During my time in Rotourua I visited Whakarewarewa, the site of Maori arts and crafts institute and thermal area. Here you could see the thermal activity at its best with bubbling mud pools and boiling geysers. The geysers were especially spectacular to see rising up to 15m into the air. One of my highlights in New Zealand so far has to be the Maori Hangi Dinner and concert I attended. Maori's used to cook their food in a traditional way called Hangi. Here the food is cooked for hours under ground in a fire fit and covered so that the food absorbs the smoke created from the fire. We were taken to see the pit where our dinner was being prepared which was pretty cool and looked very good! A traditional food for the Maori's would have been meat and always sweet potato. Before dinner were took a short walk down to a river where some Maori men came down the river in a row boat covered in traditional facial and body tattoos chanting the words then wood have in a battle of war. We were then given a performance of traditional Maori dance, war and of course the tribal Haka. The most well known Haka performed at the Rugby is actually the Haka of Wellington when in fact each tribe has their own individual Haka. The Haka would be used to intimidate the opponent at war. The meal was then severed, chicken and lamb were the meats with sweet potato and of course usual western food served beside. The lamb has to be the best lamb I've ever had, cut like butter and so tender. With the sweet potatoes in particular you could taste the earthy, Smokey taste given by the fire, it really was delicious.

From Rotorua I travelled to Mt Ruapehu in the heart of the Tongoriro National Park and next to the small town of Whakapapa (pronounced fockapapa). On the drive down we stopped at a little secret hideaway in the forest. A small track led town to some natural hot springs which was a welcomed warm relief from the freezing morning weather, however getting back out again was very hard! We also found some natural mud which is meant to have all those natural healing properties so happily rubbed some of that on for free, though I don't believe it's done anything! Staying on Mt Ruapehu meant I was staying in New Zealands highest hotel/hostel which was pretty cool. Across the valley we could also see "Mt Doom" haha. On the way to Whakapapa we drove through Taupo, a beautiful little place situated next to a huge lake, which actually used to be the crater for an active volcano. The lake is in fact the world's largest crater lake. Now the whole town is built around the lake! Close to Tauop is Huka Falls, my favourite falls in New Zealand so far. So much water was crashing over the rocks so fast it really did look pretty spectacular. A short walk along the much calmer river up from the falls and we came across some more natural hot pools. Contrasted with the cold river water it was a very relaxing stop indeed. Close to a lovely hot bath which I miss! In Tongoriro National Park there are many beautiful walks. The National Park is probably most famous for the Tongoriro Crossing, a long, difficult walk taking you across the top of the volcanoes with stunning views of the park. Unfortunately due to the winter weather the crossing was only available with a guide and crampons due to the snow making the walk a pretty expensive experience.

From Whakapapa I journeyed to Wellington, known as Windy Wellington which it certainly was. Driving up to Mt Victoria we got beautiful 360 degree views of the city. Cloudy and windy I'm sure it wasn't looking its best but nonetheless at first glances the city looked very impressive. Exploring the city I really got to like Wellington. Small and compact with very few sky scrapers it felt much more like a small quaint town than a major city. The city has a huge ferry port as of course it's the main harbor for the crossing to the south island. Down by the water's edge sits Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum. I spent hours in this place. Free to enter and 6 floors of endless information and hands on activities to play about with. Steeped with national history it was a great place to learn about the geological formations of New Zealand along with it's cultural past.