New Zealand. North Island (p.s. sorry it is a long one this time)
I thought I would write something before I fly to South America. I have been in New Zealand for 6 weeks now and have had a blast. Of course there was a fantastic interlude of popping back to Sydney for 5 days, but more on that later.
When you read about visiting Wellington, most of the guides say it is generally wet and windy. Well it was certainly windy, but in the four days I was there I only had one day of rain and that was on the day I was leaving. I stayed with family which was lovely - well fed and had a double bed which was absolute bliss. I visited all the museums and walked for hours. I did manage to see a Kiwi bird but it was in a zoo, very difficult to see and endangered species that is nocturnal!
It was then onto Tuapo and Rotorua. All I will say is Rotorua is aptly named ROT-orua. It is covered with sulphur pits that leak that lovely aroma that most people would associate with rotten eggs - it was beyond bad. We did visit the main site and it was an amazing place, it had clear water, orange and yellow rocks, steam coming off the water as it is a volcanic area and then you had the smell. The town itself did have a feint smell to and the parks had vents from the ground emitting the same smelly steam. If only they could invent smells you could record on your camera and play back. That night a few of us joined a traditional Maori evening. As we were on the coach we had to decide who was going to be our 'chief'. Yep you guessed it I was picked (long story how though). Basically I was then representing our coach as a tribe of Maori. I was then joined by another three 'chiefs' from another 3 coaches. We had to stand there whilst these Maori warriors danced in front of us, we were not allowed to smile, laugh and had to keep eye contact. I then was selected to pick up the peace token and had to walk backwards, keeping eye contact at all times with them as we had been told that they have hit people before for not following their traditions., although this was probably for the tourists more than anything, but they were still made the hairs on my skin rise. The rest of the evening was great, we got shown Maori traditions and told local stories. We had lots a very tasty food cooked in these fire pits. The finale was I was taught the HAKA, but it happened so fast I can barely remember any of it. It was then time to travel up to Mt Maunganui. A gang of us walked up the mount to get a great view of the sunset, which was ok, but the view of the moon rising was incredible, it starting shining on the water which was just amazing, the photos do not do it justice. Auckland was next on the list and we had a few drinks to celebrate the trip coming to an end for most of the group.
After not a lot of sleep it was time to head to the Airport for a hop across the water back to Sydney to have a Christmas dinner with Claire, family and friends. It was great to get back to Sydney and to see Claire again. We spent the first few days in Sydney and then headed to her Aunts house to prepare for Christmas dinner. We had the full works, a Christmas tree was put up and decorated, crackers (with bad jokes of course) and so much food, with lots of 'pigs in blankets'. We spray painted some ivy for more decorations. We even had Christmas music – courtesy of my IPod it has far too much music! We had a great evening and the alcohol certainly flowed. It was a lovely 5 days and very strange having Christmas in July, but very fun. Claire had bought me Harry Potter number 5 as I am becoming a reading demon. Will be making sure I buy HP 4 when I get back to Auckland. It was a little sad to leave but it was time for my travelling to continue.
Back in Auckland and after a few nights I headed out towards the North and the Bay of Islands for a few days. Thankfully I was only in the hostel for 2 days as the room I was in was bloody awful. It looked like a rubbish tip, clothes and food everywhere. I headed further North to the Bay of Islands to a town called Paihia. I went off exploring and went to the Treaty House, this is the place where the treaty was signed with the Maori’s and making new Zealand a British colony. On the 4th August I joined a trip to the very north of New Zealand – Cape Reinga. It was hammering it down with rain and we stopped a few times for a few things e.g. the giant trees, but the best place was the sand dunes and the sand-bodyboarding. We were told that we would go very fast as the sand was very wet. The climb up the dune killed. You kind of lie on the board with your arms tucked in. If you fall off there is nothing to stop you rolling and it is very easy to break a finger or worse. Only a few people have been helicoptered out. It was amazing fun and as you hit the bottom you go shooting across the river as well. We all got totally soaked and covered in sand, but I would do it all over again. We finally made it to the top of the north, where the standard photo by the signpost was taken. The day was finished off with fish and chips. The next day was fairly relaxed, a 3 hour walk to a waterfall with a rainbow.
The 6th August, and it was time for another trip, this time around the many Islands. They were beautiful but it was a cloudy day and it is amazing that people live on them as they are very remote. The best bit of the trip was finding a pod of dolphins that were very friendly and swam around the boat. They were so graceful and we got to see two baby dolphins – very cute!!
Well I only have 3 days left in New Zealand and I am very excited about going to South America, although there is a little bit of nerves as it is very easy travelling around Australia and New Zealand, and i have been trying hard to learn a few key phrases in Spanish to help me. Whatever happens it will be another amazing experience.
Until next time.