North island

After an awful sleepless flight I admittedly spent my first day in Auckland, New Zealand recovering by having a well deserved nap. When I woke up I went for a wonder and as soon as I stepped outside of the hostel I was hit by the cold air, I could not believe how cold it was, about 20 degrees colder than where I had been the past 2 months, I had gone from necessary AC to heating. I went to the shops to buy food and came back with jeans, leggings and a hot chocolate! Then I met up with Matt who was also in Auckland and we got some grub as he explained where he went in NZ and I gloated about my insane tan. We also met up with Faris on the following day, went to the park and a walk and Matt gave me his woollen hat to stop me complaining about the cold. I then booked my place on the kiwi bus, the way I was travelling around the north and South Island.

My route was to be on the same bus from Auckland down to Queenstown on the South Island. On the bus Lauren sat next to me and Laura and Trese two Swedish girls sat infront and it was us four and Annar who we became closer to slightly later on who shared most dorm rooms together and got closest to. The bus mainly stayed with the same people the whole way down so we all were mates but as there was about 30 on our bus we normally did things in smaller groups. Our bus driver was a kiwi guy called Gary, he was very funny and knew a lot about NZ and the local places we visited (and if you believed him he knew everyone on the street too), but he was good fun and organised things for us to do and stay, so the trip was very easy with little to organise. He would also drag us out of the bus even hungover to do varied lengths walks through the countryside, which were always beautiful, normally along a coast or to a waterfall.

Our first stop was hot water beach, which true to its name we went out onto this beautiful beach and dug a whole in the sand and extremely hot water surfaced, it was like being in sandy bath, you had to be careful not to be scalded. A few of us then went for what we thought would be an easy going scenic kayak to the nearby beautiful cathedral cove. We were in two kayaks and in small groups, myself and Lauren were very happy with our aesthetically pleasing kayak instructor, who was also very informative telling us about the Maori legends of the islands as we kayaked around and through a cave there. He also was passionate about the environmental factors effecting the sea. That is one thing I have noticed throughout my trip in NZ, apart from all kiwis being extremely friendly and good humoured, they also are very environmentally conscious. You cannot blame them, this is by far the most beautiful country I have seen, everywhere is breathtaking, the kiwis are proud of their green country and each one takes pride in actively trying to keep it that way. Anyway, the kayaking. It was beautifully scenic, but not as relaxing as first thought, we were paddling quite far from shore but near these little islands soothe swell was pretty big (mum you would not have liked it) and the current was quite strong. As we beached up on the shore of cathedral cove an instructor who was guiding us in almost tipped Lauren and I over (though I'm not sure he did it on purpose). It was a beautiful white sands cove with arched walk though rocks and small waterfalls. We had a hot drink then went back on the kayaks to paddle back to the starting beach. The trip was ment to last a total of 3 hours, it lasted 5, as you can imagine our arms were feeling rather tired after the 4 and a half hours on the water but it was definitely worth the pain. After such an excursion we got back to the hostel by the beach, warmed up and fell asleep to the sounds of the waves.

Up bright and early off to our next stop, Waitomo famous for its large caves filled with glow worms. A group of us were to do some black water rafting, the trip was aptly named the black abyss as this is what you had to abseil through to get into the cave. That was definitely the scariest part it was 35 meters in total but after the first 5 you had to squeeze through a small gap and then carry on going down solo in the pitch black. After that we did a zip wire through a short section of the cave with only the light of a few glow worms to keep us company. The guides spoke about the cave and the worms and we then jumped into the freezing cave stream on a rubber ring and floated down looking at the glow worms. It was amazing, just as if we were outside in the middle of the night gazing at the starry sky rather than inside during the middle of the day. After climbing and squeezing our way through the remainder of the cave we had to go up to get out. The only way being was to scale 3 small yet powerful waterfalls. The guides helped us to climb them ( they pushed our butts up), thank god they did as I would not have know how to its quite intimidating when water is gushing down in the opposite direction which you wish to go, but we all made it out, very cold very wet but very pleased! That evening we got to know the people on the bus more.

We set off to Rotorua the next morning. Myself and a couple of others decided we wanted to take the opportunity to visit Hobbiton. This being the place where they filmed The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the soon to be released Hobbit films. We went there by coach and it was clear to see why Peter Jackson chose this place to film, with the rolling hills it was beautiful. It was crazy walking around the set, it looked just like it was in the film but for real. Though one tree was fabricated out of fiberglass so it would be the perfect shape, it had lost some of its leaves though ( each leaf costing about £10) so you can imagine what the whole false tree cost! It was amazing and we had fun posing with the different size hobbit holes ( visiting Bilbo's home) and the guide told us about the filming and how they made the hobbits look smaller etc. It looks just like the film set in photos and I can't wait to see the film and annoy everyone by saying 'I was there!' . When we got back we were straight onto another bus to take us to a Maori cultural experience and dinner. We had to pick a chief for our bus as they would represent us and be the ones to be greeted by the Maori tribes men. When we arrived the mar preformed a dance ritual which was to decide if we were friend or foe. The performance as very powerful and the warriors were intimidating with their war paint and demonstrations of weaponry skills, but we were friends and welcomed into the village buy the song of a female elder. We got to walk around and discover the different things about the culture like games, clothing and of course the Hakka war dance! We then watched a demonstration of their weaponry skills, music singing and dances, it was really cool to see. We learnt about some of their beliefs and legends of the Maori culture. We then had a big dinner which had been cooked in big underground ovens called hangi. It was great to eat some proper food and veg, seconds were encouraged! On the way back our bus driver was so funny she had us all singing and was swinging the bus round and around this roundabout, and we all went out in the evening and partied.

We went to the Rotorua natural geothermal park the next morning, which wasn't great for those who were hanging ( because of the sulphur smell in the air). It looked like scenery form Jurassic park, with mud pools bubbling and gazers shooting upwards. Or guide cooked us some boiled eggs in one of the boiling pools of water and spoke of how her Maori ancestors used this to cook their dinner every night as a convince. We told us of how there was a big Maori battle for the land as it was so valuable and that's what the park was called ( I have a photo for you of it's name, this blog is going to be long enough without me typing the name out!). After that we set off to our next destination which thankfully wasn't far away, but Gary took us to see this humongous Hakka falls the water fall and river that fed into Taupo lake. The lake at Taupo we learnt is actually the biggest active volcano in NZ and if payout wee to have a piece of sting for one side to the on their the middle would did about 50cm into the water due to the curvature of the earth! It was not a beautiful day when we arrived however, so we just got some food and as it was a Saturday we went out in the evening.

The next morning myself and Annar woke up had a hasty hangover breakfast and got ready for our skydive. It was to be just us to and Steven, then Callum joined us. This was bad as the three of us were relatively calm about what was going to happen, Callum was not. He managed to ask every possible question, what would happen if we landed on this, what if that etc, so by the time we got to the centre all four of us were a little queazy. We spent a while deciding what photos etc that we wanted to have, got kitted up introduced to who we would be attached to whilst falling and were off. I wasn't nervous just excited but quiet. The plane was a pink tin can with us all squashed, we went higher and higher, Callum's face was a picture. It only really got real when I saw Annar go first, sitting at the edge of the plane, with the door open then poof gone! I was next we shuffled up to the edge and then we were tumbling through the air. The only thing I remember thing,Ning at that precise movement was how bloodily cold it was! When the stabilising shoot was up my brain could comprehend a little more what was happening, the view was amazing and I was just falling, it was crazy, ridiculous and so amazing! I knew I was falling but I could also feel the wind pushing up against me, the as soon as it starting the para shoot went up and the free fall was over. I had done a 1500 ft jump so about 50 seconds of free fall they recon, it felt like 10. The para shoot ride was ment to last about 5 minutes it felt like 1. I kept on laughing, it really felt like I was flying, it was amazing but also great to have my feet on solid ground again. I watched the others land, Callum still looking a little u sure but he did it, we the watched his and Annar's DVD of the dive, they were hilarious. All buzzing from adrenaline we had a pint then went to meet the others at the natural hot springs. It's by a river in a park, we walked there and hopped in it was so relaxing like sitting in a hot bath, but if you went into the river the spring ran into it was freezing cold. It was a beautiful day and we just lay around in the pool going from hot to cold, got some snaps of the country side and took it easy that night, ready for the early start on the morning.

It was a long driver to river valley but we stopped for a couple of walks to waterfalls again for lunch which was refreshing. We also stopped off for soe good snaps of mount doom, the big mountain they used when filming the lord of the rings trilogy. For the last hours of the journey the road was indescribably windy going around and up and down the hills covered with no sign of life but sheep. We were literally in the middle of nowhere, the coach couldn't drop us off at the hostel, we had to walk to the bottom of the valley where it sat beside the river. It was pretty basic, but it kind of felt like camping as the showers and toilets were in sheds outside and we all sleep in only two rooms, and a fire in the middle of the room. After eating a home cooked dinner we had some hot cider and played a few games. It was a really homely atmosphere and some people picked up some guitars and had a sing along. The next morning we set off upstream to take part in white water rafting. It's a grade 5 danger, with rapids and waterfall drops. I was in a boat with Lauren, Andy and a very hungover jack who was ment to be helping me paddle my side but we was feeling rather pathetic and wasn't very helpful. It was really exciting, scary at times too but we would just listen to our guide, a few of the other boats tipped over and people fell out, thank god ours didn't those who did fall out were shivering for the rest of the way down. We almost got away with staying dry but when it came to the end they encouraged us all to jump of this high rock into the water, the cold was such a shock we ran into the showers with outer wetsuits on and warmed up before peeling them off! Warm, dried and fed we went back on the bus to Wellington, NZ's capital, passing through bulls and Nelson on the way. We didn't arrive in Wellington until the evening, and were leaving to catch the ferry the next morning, so I resolved that I would come visit on the way back. That evening we partied as we were saying goodbye to some people and hello to others, it was a fun night and we ended up getting stuck in a lift at 3 in the morning (I will pay more attention to the persons limit in lift in the future!) we weren't stuck for long though and it was quite funny.

The next morning we woke up and hungover made it onto the ferry, the coach doesn't go on as its too expensive so you have to check your bags on like an airport, but that didn't take too long. We found our way the food canteen offering big breakfasts and with a contented belly slept the rest of the 4 hour journey crossing ( I figured I could take in the scenery on the way back).