Kia Ora from the other side of the globe!
Almost three incredible weeks have whizzed by in New Zealand, ad it's also hard to believe that I left homealmost 7 months ago. NewZealand has not disappointed Emma and I in the slightest; we've had quite an adventure so far!
We started our journey in Auckland in the North Island, where we stayed with Fiona's Aunt Michelle and her man Graham. Auckland is a great city, we celebrated St. Patrick's day there in an Irish Pub and followed that with a performance of Mamma Mia at the Civic Theatre. What larks! We went up Sky Tower which provides 360 degree views over Auckland and it took me 5 minutes to get the guts to walk over the glass floor bit of the observation deck because I was actually convinced I would plunge through and go splat on the pavement below. We also took a trip to Waiheke Island where we had a glorious picnic on the beach as well as did a wee bit of wine tasting at a vineyard. Good wines, apart from one of the reds was kind of icky. We then enjoyed a glass each with spectacular view over the bay and of Auckland City. Not bad, I tell you folks.
After bidding Auckland goodbye we hopped on a Naked bus (or as we like to call it Completely BillyBollocks bus) to Hamilton, where we based ourselves for a few nights whilst exploring Hobbiton and the Waitomo glow worm caves. Hobbiton was a scream. We took the bus there and changed to a Hobbiton bus in Matamata, and I swear my tummy was doing somersaults. I was that excited about visiting The Shire. The tour started off with a walk through the Hobbiton village, where there are 44 hobbit holes. All of them are exterioriors, the inside of Bag End etc was shot in Peter Jackson's Stone Street Studios in Wellington. Hobbiton employs plenty of full tim gardeners who tend to the area; it has full vegetable patches with giant pumpkins! Bag End sat majestically on top of the hill with a fake tree sitting on top of it. We had plenty of time to able around and take photos before heading to the Green Dragon for a pint of brew. The pub was a merry old place, and the stout I had was very tasty indeed!
Waitomo glow worm caves were adorned with magic. The little boat ride through the pitch black cave with a ceiling dotted with little blue lights being emitted from the worms tails and everyone being silent on the boat was stunning. We rented a car for the day and Imanaged to keep us alive driving for the first time in 2 years! From now on when I listen to Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart I'm going to be thinking of my drive through New Zealand with Emma.
Our next stop was Rotorua, a smelly, smelly town in the heart of volcanic activity.A walk on the street would be accompanied by some delightful scents of sulphuric acid spewing from what evere nooks and crannies it could escape from. We did a great little hike in the Redwoods forest and we also went zorbing! Zorbing is when you get inside a plasticc ball with a bit of water in it and then you proceed to roll down a hill in itscreaming with pure, unadulterated joy. This was followed by a soak in a hot tub.
Rotorua and its scents were traded for Taupo, a town by a massive lake with views of the mountains of Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's oldest Nation Park. Tongariro National Park is also home to Mt Ngauruhoe which is more commonly known as Mt Doom fro The Lord of the Rings. Tongariro is also where you can do the Tongariro Alpince Crossing which is regarded as one of the best one day walks in the world. So off we set at 5.30am and headed for the park to do 19,4km of hiking. We set off at 7.30am and the first hour of the walk was easy going, but then you reach the Devil's Staircase, a long uphill battle on a clear path and steps. When you get to the top it'spossible to go and summit Doom, but we both gave up on the idea when we gotthe top pretty tired. After a easy 10 minute walk it was time to ascend again. THough the ascent wasn't as long as the earlier one, it was much harder because the path was made of volcanic rocks and ash and I spent most of my time trying to find footing and not slip right back down again. At the top you are rewarded with great sights and wind like I've never experienced before. Now I'm a big girl with weight on me, and I was swaying about struggling to stay in one place, and all I could think of was how the hell are the little, lithe people not being flung off the mountain into the distance. Alas, all were ok, even after the hellish descent from Red Crater. I basically slid down the ashen slope and emptied roughly a beachs' worth of volcanic ash from each shoe at the bottom of it. From there it was easygoing until the end,which was roughly 10km. I managed complete the hike in 6 hours, a feat I am rather proud of! And my legs weren't even that sore the next day, just the top of my butt.
Fom Taupo we travelled back in time upon visiting the town Napier. It was hit by a earthquke in 1931, and most of the town was destroyed. Napier was then rebuilt in the art deco style of the decade, and is now the art deco capital of the world. I felt like I was in the middle of a Hercule Poirot mystery, and was half expecting to see Gatsby ride by me in an old car. We had fish and chips on the beach before heading to Wellington for a few days.
After spending time in smaller towns Wellington was an ambush of sorts on the senses. It was clearly a city; plenty of people and cars ad buses, and it was windy too. We spent a few days exploring the city, Emma explored the museums too. We also ventured on an another Lord of the Rings tour. This one took us to Mt. Victoria, a hill in the city where they shot the Hobbiton forest scenes for the Fellowship of the Ring. The tour was great and we also got re-enact some of the scenes! I got be Pippin in the 'Shortcut to mushrooms' scene lying on the ground with another traveller and Emma on top of me, and a fake pile of poo infront of my face. We then drove past Peter Jackson's studios on Stone Street, and then went to Weta Caves, the home of the special effects company that worked tirelessly on creating th magical world of Tolkien's Middle-earth as wellas many other films and tv programmes (like Xena!). That was cool too.Our little nerdy brains were having the time of their lives.
We then bid the North Island goodye, and headed over Cook's Straight the South Island and then to Nelson, where we proceeded to drink wine and little else. Our plan of going to stuff in Abel Tasman National Park was foiled by the prices of all the offered ativities. Instead we headed to Punakaiki, a place that Graham had told us not to miss. We stayed at a hostel right by the beach, went to see the pancake rocks that were there and had a nice fire on the beach with some of the other hostel guests who were all primarily german. Even the owners were German, and when we chcked in, the woman spoke german to me and I had to tell her that nay, even with 11 years of german lessons at school I have failed to grasp anything from that language. We also went kayaking, which resulted in me getting wet as I fell in the river twice. Why do these things always happen to me?
We next went to Fox Glacier, which wasn't anything special to me. A cool glacier, a dull town. We then took a bus to Wanaka(we got free pies on the ride there!) where I got locked out of the dorm room for the night thanks to the person who locked the door when I'd specifically left it open whilst I went to pee. Too cold to sleep, I stayed up all night and read a really bad book I picked from the book shelf.
Now we're in Queenstown, and have great plans! Pub crawl, horseback riding and a day trip to Milford Sound. It's all super groovy, but it's all gone by so fast. Emma goes home in a few weeks, and I stay on until May 14th, when I make my way to Australia where I'll be until 2.2.2015 before heading to Japan. I touch base in London on Feb 16th at 3.30pm. A concession would be greatly appreciated.
