So this is to be our second and final blog post for New Zealand. Since we left you last we went to a wine region in the north of the south Island called Marlborough. From here we spent the day walking around various vineyards all within easy walking distance, and sampling the different wines they had to offer, 5 vineyards & 24 tasters later we decided on a bottle from Gibson Bridge, a pinot gris 2008 cellar selection. The next day we drove up to Nelson where we did a 10 Km walk through the Abel Tasman National Park with its stunning beaches and rain forests, and that night we went horse trekking which was really good, as I haven't been on a horse before only a donkey, they took us through streams and woods and up mountains to a small hut where we stopped for refreshments and to watch the sunset before riding back. The next morning we had to get up at 5am to race to picton where we were catching a ferry to the north Island.
Spent the night in Wellington but didn't really like the city even though it’s the capital. Next on our whirlwind trip we went past the volcanoes in Tangiriro Nat Park where there are 3 volcanoes one of which was mount doom in Lord of the rings. From there we drove up to the bay of plenty and stayed at whakatane pronounced FA KA TA NY!! Just chilled out for a couple of days here.
Then we drove back down to Rotorua its like the Maori capital, lots of culture, great waterfalls and geysers and a lot of geothermal activity, When we went to a Maori cultural village to see carving and a cultural show, we were waiting for the show to start when a woman in a grass skirt came out of the meeting house, she said she needed a chief for the group to lead us all in, so Manda vey kindly volunteered me!! there must have been about 100 people behind me and I had to walk up to this Maori warrior with a spear and pick up the peace offering he threw down while maintaining eye contact, then once inside the hut (oh and as a chief I got front seats reserved for me and my partner) I had to go on stage and perform proper Maori greeting with all 5 warriors which involved lots of grabbing of arms and rubbing of noses - Thanks Amanda. But I now am officially a Maori chief ha ha.checkout the pics.
The next day we went up to the coromandel peninsular - this has to be one of our favourite places so far. We thought we were here for a relaxing couple of days but on our second day the owner of the lodge asked us if we'd give him a hand digging a trench. The problem was the lodge was right next to a river which ran into the sea but because they hadn’t had much rain a sand bar was blocking the path to the sea causing the river to flood his back yard, we followed him down the river on a kayak and dug constantly for 3 hours, then had a beer, we were promised when the river gave way it would be a raging torrent and fun to be in the kayaks, we waited and waited then waited some more, but then the tide came in so it was all for nothing :( it did drain a lot of water out but he had to get a digger in the next day to finish the job, and now were walking around like two 90 year olds from the back breaking work, is there nothing we won’t do for beer??? All good fun though.
We've just been to the bay of Islands which was fab, the farm we were staying on was over a 1000 acres with their own swimming rock pools deep in the forest which we reached after following a treasure map and 2 hrs of walking.
Now we have 2 days in Auckland before we fly on to Fiji, it’s all going too fast now, but we’ve had an amazing time and we both agree 100% this is the best place so far , LOVE IT!! Next blog will be on Fiji but written in USA so sit tight, not long now..............