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Kia Ora! - Greetings from New Zealand!
its been a week now since been on the net and yes i have been a busy body as per usual. Just a quick thank you to all who have taken the time to check out my Cook islands photos and leave me comments, plus also leaving messages for us to pick up and read.
so leave the paradise island of Rarotonga and head to the civilisation of Auckalnd, New Zealand, a short 5 hour flight but arriving a day later as we cross the date line! we arrive in Auckland 10pm Monday after leaving Raro at 5pm Sunday! so basically my monday was 4 hours long! at an eventful 4 hours too. we get checked into Base Backpackers in Auckland, a huge hostel which is very well catered for backpackers. your can basically book everything you want to do for 5 weeks in NZ if you wish, that place has it all. anyway we check in and have a note left for us from Marcel telling us to meet him in the bar downstairs when we get sorted! we got rather excited knowing marcel, and everyone else from Raro we met was there waiting! we chuck our bags in the room and head to Globe Bar to be met by Marcel, Donna, Louise, Chris, Amy, Samone, Bex, Martine, Kirsty and Toni! it was great to see everyone again! after partying til 3am i head back to my room only to find i had been robbed! yep, $800 cash and my bank card stolen!!!! i was seriously pissed off! so not a great start to my time in NZ! so basically for the 1st 2 days i spend sorting this out, speaking to my insurers, and bank to get things sorted, hopefully ill get my money back, my bank card is currently getting shipped out!
so after the 2 days drama we book a 7 berth camper for 10 days for me, adam, marcel, kirsty, donna, louise and Martine! we plan on travelling the south island then head to Christchurch to drop the van off aswell as everyone else!
so we head north to start with and to the Bay of Islands! i beautiful place located 3 hours north of Auckland. here there are a collection of small islands and a wide range of marine life. we book a day trip on a boat to go around the islands and swim with dolphins! we come across a pod of 60 dolphins! so me and Adam dive in with our snorkels to hand while everyone else flapped around getting there wet suits on, probably a good idea because the water was freezing! me and adam just man it out in our boardies and rash vests! we spend 30mins swimming around with the pod, diving down and playing around, it was an amazing experience, the dolphins where so playful and enjoyed it with us all. something ill never forget! once onboard again we grab a hot chocolate and head for the hole-in-the-rock! an impressive rock with a huge arch and caves! we then take off around the islands, going to land on one of them for some lunch! late afternoon we get back and head north for Cape Reinga, the most northernly point of the NZ mainland!
day 2 then was spend again heading for Cape Reinga, it was a long, single track road for about 45 miles! but once there the views and beauty of the place made it a whole worth while. at this point it is where the Blue of the Pacific ocean meets the Green of the Tasman Sea! pretty spectacular when stood 200 metres up looking out over the vast ocean! after getting blown around up there for 2 hours we head back south, we knew it was gonna be a drag heading back on the same roads we had already been on. Auckland was about 7 hours from Cape Reinga! on the way back down the track we pass a place where you can go sand boarding! huge sand dunes you can surf so me and the crew take the opportunity to grab some boards and surf the dunes for an hour! we stay close to the dunes that night on the 90 mile beach, south of Cape Reinga.
day 3 we wake late, dont do much apart from a bit of shopping and drive to another camping ground, a chance for us to grace a proper toilet and charge our phones and ipods etc!!!!
day 4, early start to head as far south as possible, back though auckland and to Lake Taupo! the lake is the same size as Singapore and 162m deep in the centre! a really pretty place in the heart of the moutains. we are now in geothermal country, right along one of the most active volcanic shelves in the world! a night out round taupo followed by my 1st mc donalds in weeks went down a treat!
Day 5, we head for Rotorua (aka Sulphur City) it stinks! we spend the afternoon in a polonysian (spelling!) spa! chilling out in some volcanic pools! the pools get upto 42 degrees so it was a really relaxing experience! we stay the night here and just have a wind down after a hectic few days!
Day 6, (today) we decide to get up and head for a Mauri Village to spend the day with the locals of Waka! we watch a tribal dance show and then take a tour around there thermal village! saw some geasers and 120degree sulphur pools! it was so cool spending time with local tribes and seeing there culture. once eating like kings from the cooking of food in the hot pools we drive back to Taupo to do some washing! yep its not easy on the road keeping clean!
we head for Wellington tomorrow, a 7 hour drive so a quiet night ahead and an early morning! cannot get use to this cooler weather though, think im getting manflu!!!!
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