Monday, January 28, 2008

North Island

The Tongariro Crossing was our next stop off point after about a 300 k drive. We stayed in National Park YHA which is really a ski town but becomes a stop off point for this walk. The walk is through a volcanic area whith 3 dormant Volcanoes around it but there were numerous bangs during the day which I amn't sure were mini tremors or rocks falling. The walk was fairly testing but I stubbornly admit it was well worth it. Funnily the uphill I found to be the easier of the trek with the downhill at the end being a killer. Also got dull enough here as you couldn't see anything bar the trees and you had no idea how close you were to finishing the thing. We also spent the second night here as we were shattered from the trek. We were lucky with our weather here as after we ledft I think it was going to be called off for the next 3 days due to bad weather coming in.

The next day we headed for Rotorua via Lake Taupo. The Huka falls here were really impressive with 250,000 metres passing through the gorge every second. Here is a thermal area and this was the start of seeing thermal baths and bubbling water. First stop on this geographical journey was the Craters of the Moon park outside Taupo. They also have a Geothermal power plant here which was deadly looking.

Onto Rotorua after this but the nightlife here was not going to live up to Queenstown. It was raining the night we came in and to be honest it looked a dreary enough place by night but during the day it looked quite nice. New Zealand in general is quiet enough on the nightlife front but it more than makes up for it with their daytime activities. The next morning we headed to the Polynesian Spa first of all down by the lake. Was nice enough. We then headed for the buried village. The guide in the museum here was very good and while the walk around was good it didn't really live up to the Pompei of New Zealand. We headed to the Maori show later that night. This was fantastic. Chiefs were elected from the tourists party to pay homage to the Maori chief. It went through the steps in visitors being invited to a Maori Marae meeting house. They did the Haka and I tried to get involved. Caroline took part in the Poi swinging which are like Pom Poms. It was a great night and we got a Maoro Hangi (this is food cokked in the ground, cooked in the hot springs in our case). The follwing morning we headed for Hells gate which is another Thermal Park but much more more spectacular. Last but definitely not least was the Zorbing which is a ball filled with water that you go down the hill in. It's wild craic. You'll see videos here and I'll also add my photos later:
Zorbing

We headed for Mount Manganui next for a surf. It's very scenic here as well. Great surf. They're building an artificial reef here which is is costing $1.5 million. According to the local surf school this is a waste. I think it is too as the surf was good enough here as it was.

We headed for another surf spot after here too in Whangamata. Here the surf was better again. This spot is in the Coromandel. Superb area.

It was going to be painful getting to the next area after this with the bank holiday weekend in the Auckland area. In the end it took us 5 hours to get to Whangarei which was only really a transit point to the Bay of Islands.

Finally we made it to Russell via a car ferry to the Bay of Islands. This is a beautiful spot. We don't appreciate it as much after all our travel but the fact that we can appreciate it after all our travel says alot for the place. Russell was a real old looking place but it's full of yuppies as we were to discover that night at the Drifters trbute band. Russell is also the place that the British flag was chopped down by Hone Heke 4 times. More than enough to recommend a place in my book. We headed across to Paihia by Ferry to also get a look at this town. It looked a much better town and it was actually our preference but it was booked out with the weekend that was in it. We headed up to Waitangi that night for a play that re-enacts the history of New Zealand through the dialogue between a grandson and his grandfather. We also had to be welcomed into the Marae house like in Rotorua so we needed Chiefs. Me being the natural born leader I am, I was a chief. The protocol is that the Maori chief comes down to you swinging his spear and shouting like a good thing and lays a leaf before you. By you taking it you signify that you are a friend and accept his greeting. You have to real serious, almost funeral like otherwise the theory is that if he thinks you're not being respectful he'll stab you with his spear or nowadays he'll swing the spear close enough to your face taking off your grin and anything else if he miscalculates. Also this was where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed which is the basis of Maori and Europeans living together. As usual the British are at their tricks. The Maoris believe that they gave away governance while the British believe they signed away Sovereignty. Having said that the Maoris are much better respected here than the Indigenous in Australia.

The Trounson Kauri forest was our next stop to do a night walk to see Kiwi. It was absolutely amazing. The Kiwis are amazing but they make enough noise. It;'s easy to see how they're endangered. They're being wiped out by introduced wildlife though which includes the Australian possum. These were introduced to export the fur trade to NZ. As with the introduced rabbits in Australia they're wiping out the wildlife/Environment. Also the problem with the Possum is that they breed like rabbits and have no predators. This is outside Dargaville. The tour is very good here but the people providing the accomodation are a rare breed who I wouldn't mind seeing on the endangered list.

I'm in Auckland now and am due to fly back to the Gold Coast in Australia tomorrow. I'll miss New Zealand. The people here were fantastic and were much more friendly than Sydneysiders. We'll see if that extends to other parts of Australia. Hopefully not as the West Coast and Melbourne had great people. Here are some more photos.

Rotorua, Bay of Islands

Friday, January 18, 2008

Queenstown, Wanaka, Franz Jozef, Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura, Nelson, Wellington

I went on to do a Bungie Jump over Kawerau River in Queenstown after. Was absolutely terrified as any of you who did the Sydney bridge climb or Inca trail with me will testify. The worst part is mentally throwing yourself off the bridge. Thankfully I had assistance in willing pushers.

Also the Luge on the mountain above Queenstown was great craic. It's like tobaggoning or go-karting with gravity as the engine. 5 trips was the default amount but we ended up doubling it to 10 goes.

We headed for Wanaka after Queenstown. The main attraction here was Puzzling world but the first day it was a bit too puzzling after stopping in a winery outside Queensown on the way. The next day this place was very good. They had these anti-gravity rooms where up was actually down. Weird, definitely to be tackled with sober heads. You get really dizzy in here with nil drink in you. The maze didn't really suit my patience levels but I got out of it after climbing 2 fences and climbing under another. There are no rules in warfare. Caroline and her mother got out of it long after myself and her father. More on Puzzling World here:
Puzzling World

After Wanaka we headed for the Glaciers of Franz Jozef. Myself and Caroline did Ice climbing on the glaciers. Very good but is very hard on the arms but that might also have something to do with technique. carolines parents were due to do a helihike but bthat was cancelled with the weather so they headed off quadbiking. It was amazing to see a Glacier.

After 2 nights here we headed off to Hanmer Springs to the thermal springs. Unbelievable heat to occur naturally. I think the hottest spring was 39 degrees. Nice but it was the water slides that really appealed to me. These were great sport. I was like a child in a playground.

The following day we did the short trip to Kaikoura to go swimming with the dolphins. This is by a long shot the highlight of the trip. The photos give you some idea but they don't do justice to what we saw. We got up at 5 to go out to see the Dusky Nosed dolphins. It was amazing. At some points there were dolphins within a foot of your face. They're nocturnal animals so they were just after feeding so were in great form. Who wouldn't be after a great feed.

After this we were heading north to Nelson while Cariolines parents were going back for Chrischurch so we would have to go back to backpacking after living in 2 bedroom apartments for the last 2 weeks. Nelson was nice. Very laid back. Museum here was alright but not much to it. We headed for Picton that evening to head for Wellington. The cruise through the marlborough sound was very impressive although watching the Christmas hour long edition of Coronation Street ruined the karma. Wellington looked a fairly happening place and we'll spend another night here. Will head for the Te Papa museum, the Beehive and Government Buildings today.

Our itinerary for NZ is Tongariro Pass(on Mark Carrolls recommendation from his blog)- Lake Taupo - Rotorua - Bay of Plenty - Auckland - Bay of Islands including Waitangi. Any advice is welcomed.

Here are some photos anyway:
Queenstown, Franz Jozef, Hamner Springs, Kaikoura, Nelson

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Queenstown

All well here. Skydive went well yesterday and not a quarter as bad as expected. First 3 seconds are tricky enough but after that you wouldn't even think you were going 200 km an hour. It's like watchiong the ground in slow motion on video and it's quite nice. You're on the ground in 6 minutes from 12,000 feet and after that it's difficult to tell whether you actually did what you did. It's like walking on air for the first couple of minutes after landing.

We also did River rafting which is going down a river on boogie boards. Very tough on the body and I was sore after it having not got the right fitting boots. Very glad I did it. Much scarier than the skydive and there were lots of girls in tears. I'll let you know after the bungie which was worse.

Here's photos from Christchurch, Dunedin, Te Enau, Milford Sound and Queenstown:
Christchurch, Mount Cook, Dunedin, Milford Sound, Queenstown

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Dunedin, Te Enau, Milford Sound, Queenstown

Everything is great here. I'm in Queenstown now. Brilliant spot. I've booked a skydive for tomorrow and am also going boogie boarding down a river later in the day after that. All going well I'll do a bungie the following day. Good spot. I was in the two Irish bars Pig & whistle (not very Irish sounding but has a ballad group in there tonight) and Morrisons. Lovely town very based around adventure sports as you may have noticed.

Was in Te Enau before this. Te Enau was lovely situated on the banks of a lake like alot of towns in NZ. We headed for Milford Sound from here. It's over 100km of a drive but it's very scenic. Was very wet so the waterfalls were full of water. It ahd been greart weather here for the previous week but the waterfalls had all dried up so in a way we were very lucky. Did a boat trip here which was excellent. Must post the photos when I get a chance. Also on a note of Geography Milford isn't a sound at all because it's created by glaciation so it's a fjord whereas a sound is created by a river.

Contrary to all the reports about Dunedin we thought it was great. Museums here are fairly impressive. They're quite informative for the slow readers among us mainly me. In Question Time on the museums the Cronins fared badly though for all their fast reading.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Dunedin

I saw the fireworks in Botanical gardens behind the opera house on New Years Eve and it was very impressive. Long day though. We had to be there at 2 in the day. There were meant to be 22,000 in this park but it was spacious enough.

I arrived in Christchurch in New Zealand today. Very nice city but very nice. It's good to see indigenous people being treated properly here. The Maoris have 7 seats in parliament. Some facts for you - NZ has 4 million people but 39 million sheep. Up to 1967 the pubs here shut at 6 in the evening but thankfully that's all changed. In world war 1 100,000 of the 1 million poulation fought in the war which was 67% of men aged between 18 and 45.

We did the gondola in Christchurch the following day which is really a cable car to the top of the mountain. It has great view of Lytellton harbour where most of the antarctic explorers left from. They have what my understanding of a gondola is in the city but they call it a punt. Anyway I cycled down the mountain after which had brilliant views. We left for Twizel near Mount Cook taking in Lake Tekapo and Pukaki en route. The colour of these lakes were amazing. A kind of milky blue colour. We also saw Mount Cook en route. It looked amazing and we'd see it ourselves tomorrow.

We headed 60 km up the road to Mount Cook the following day and the views were class. Mount Cook is the highest mountain in NZ and it is fairly famous with the mountaineering fraternity. Edmund Hillary for instance climbed it before he tackled Everest. We did a couple of walks around here which were excellent. Cook is only climbed by the most experienced mountaineers and a guide was killed on the previous day so we gave it a miss climbing it.

We headed onwards to Dunedin where we still are. This place means Edinburgh in Scottish. We headed to an Albatross reserve this morning which was brilliant. The size of them shocked me. There wingspan is over 3 metres and they can glide up to 1000km a day. They're the largest seabird. Also as infants they can eat 2 kg a day. Sounds like a description of myself. I headed to Otago museum this evening while the Cronins headed for the Cadburys factory.

We'll head for Te Enau tomorrow, Milford sound the following day, Queenstown for at least 2 days, Hanmer Springs and Kaikoura after that.

Here are some photos from the New Years in Sydney as well as a few from Christchurch. I'll add the rest in due course.

Aquarium, New Years Eve, Christchurch