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So we bid 'adios' to South America and headed to land of the kiwis on 3rd June. However, due to crossing the date line we didn't arrive until the 5th! So hopefully it's some consolation to all those of you at home who had a day off for the jubilee, that we just lost that day altogether.
Arrived in Auckland at 4.30am (which was actually 10.30am the previous day Chile time,very confusing) so our body clocks were a little messed up. It was a bit rainy but we forced ourselves to stay awake so we could get into a normal NZ routine, and we went out for a wander. Had some great sushi (just about every 2nd eatery in Auckland is sushi, with every alternate one being a Subway! They are literally everywhere!) then crashed about 7pm.
We both awoke wide-eyed and starving at 3am so read our books and waited patiently until 7am to get access to our cereal from the locked kitchen. After months of S.American breakfasts, it was worth the wait. Ah, the simple home comforts. We went up the sky tower and treated ourselves to lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top. Great meal, but I got a shock at the end when I went to pick up my handbag from the floor--it turned out I had put it on the non-revolving part of the floor so it was now on the other side of the restaurant. Oops! A little embarassed when I had to get the waitress to help me find it! Went out for a few drinks in Ponsonby,and even stumbled across an open-mike comedy night- some of it not bad, some of it cringeworthy!
Headed to Rangitoto island (a small volcanic island) the next day. Weather was starting to improve so had a beautiful hike up to the crater for 360 views of Auckland.
The day after we went over to Waiheke island with some bikes and cycled around the wine region. Very sunny, and absolutely stunning scenery. The hills were aplenty however so it was pretty tough going, and so we rewarded ourselves with massive ice creams on the beach. Mmmm!
Late that afternoon we hired a car to tour around the rest of North Island. We went for the 'budget' option so were given a Nissan Sunny complete with tape deck!! Where were all my old Cathy Dennis and Grease soundtrack tapes when I needed them?! It did the job though. Drove up to the Bay of Islands that night.
Went on a boat trip/dolphin-watching trip around the Bay in the morning. Glorious day again and the views were spectacular. Saw 2 seperate pods of dolphins very close plus a baby, as well as a little penguin swimming and a few seals. Lovely trip.
We headed about an hour south to Whangerei to see our friends Hayley & Rob. Had a great night catching up with them & their 3 month old Finn, plus a tasty BBQ courtesy of Rob. They took us to their favourite beach close by with more great views. Back down to Auckland that night to meet another friend Michaela for dinner. After months of no familiar faces it was lovely to spend time with friends!
Drove South to Waitomo to see all the glow-worm caves. Spent the afternoon in the caves which involved abseiling into them, climbing through narrow crevices (definitely not for the claustrophobic!), tubing through the caves, and rock climbing back out. Awesome!
Afterwards we drove East to fragrant Rotorua, home of all the hot springs/geothermal zones and that lovely rotten egg smell! Still very sunny but much much colder. Went to a Maori village on our 1st night- quite a touristy attraction but very entertaining to see them demonstrating the haka in their traditional clothing,and even funnier watching Ali do it too. We also got to watch them lift the hangi (their traditional method of cooking in the ground using the geothermal heat) and then we ate the delicious meal. On the bus home we all had to sing a song from our home country, so Ali & I sang 'Donald, whar's your troosers?'. Given that most of the others were Asian, we got a lot of blank expressions followed by a polite round of applause. Oh well, it's all about spreading the culture, right??
While in Rotorua, we also did some hiking in a massive Redwoods forest and had a free swim in a hot river that the locals use, lovely!
Headed down to Wellington, aptly nicknamed 'Windy Wellie'--it was cold, wet & windy...in fact a bit like home on a miserable January day. So what to do on a miserable day in a city?? Well, we had to go for a coffee because that's the done thing in Wellington (or a tea and a beer in our case since we don't drink coffee but at least we tried), and then we hit a couple of bars including a very lively Irish bar. We visited the great Te Papa museum the next day which was fun (& free).
We waved goodbye to NZ and flew up to Australia, in search of (hopefully) warmer weather.
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