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Wellington seemed really big after all of the tiny places we had been on the South Island. We spent half a day in Te Papa, the National museum, which is really hands on and interactive. We also did a tour of Parliament, which was really interesting. We were particularly pleased that we actually got to stand on the floor of the debating chamber because parliament was in recess! Oh and we got to see the deputy premier of China (I had no clue) on his state visit to New Zealand. We also went to our first Irish Pub of the trip -"Murphys", which sold us 2 very expensive pints of Heineken!
From Wellington we drove to Martinborough, a well-known wine producing area with lots of vineyards and wineries. We did a whole day wine tour which the guide said could normally be for up to 40+ people. On our day there were 3; me, Dave and Marion, an elderly lady that reminded us loads of my Nan. We went to 4 wineries and tried more than 20 different wines until at the end of the very merry day it transpired that Marion hadn't paid for the trip by accident !lol!
We then travelled through Masterton and Palmerston North to Tongariro National Park where we completed the Tongariro Alpine Crossing- it is a very popular and loooong (19.4km) trek through the mountains of the National Park and we managed to complete it in just over 6 hours but were still very tired! This was partly my fault as I got quite competitive with the other 20 people from our bus and wanted to beat them all! (Which we did! J )Dave maintained that we didn't know them and it didn't matter how long it took but I just couldn't help but race!Some of the sights along the way were so stunning -most notable the Emerald and Blue Lakes and the sight of Mount Nguaruhoe aka "Mount Doom" from Lord of the Rings. We had to get up at 5am (!!!!) because our campsite was extremely proud of the fact that it got its residents on the mountain first!! It was worth it though because the light in the morning has given us some great photos. Dave has got really into photography on this part of the trip and New Zealand is the best place for photos- everywhere you turn there's something else to capture!
At Taupo, with its enormous lake, Dave tried the 'Hole in one challenge' there, where you had to aim for a hole on an island floating in the lake from about 110 yards. It was near impossible but Dave got so close so many times he even had a couple of other people rooting for just him, even though there were several people playing! On the way from Taupo to Rotorua, we found a random campsite to stay in for the night which turned out to be one of the best places we have stayed yet! It had its own hot spring with a pool that you could sit and soak in! They hadn't done anything to it so you were literally sitting in a pool in a river that was so hot steam was coming off! We had planned to visit one of the modern pools where they pump the spring water in, so to get this for free was amazing! Such a good find!!
Rotorua is the centre of the thermal area of the North Island. We found out why it's named "Sulphur City" because it absolutely stinks of the sulphur coming from underground! We saw geysers in action, bubbling mood and steaming hot pools at Te Puia, which was brilliant!
We then stayed near Mount Tarewera, a volcano, so that we could visit the buried village there. This was something we were really looking forward to and it was fascinating. In 1886 Mount Tarawera erupted covering the town of Te Wairoa in lava and mud. A lot of the town has been excavated so you can see the houses and other buildings that were buried- there were even full bottles of beer after all this time! It was very sad though, particularly reading the accounts of what happened.
From Tarawera we headed to The Coromandel, one of the most pretty beachy areas we have seen so far. We went to Hot Water Beach, where we hired a spade so we could dig a hole to reach the hot water just below the surface. In some areas it was so hot we couldn't even stand in it! We also went to Cathedral Cove, which is really beautiful and was a great place to relax on the beach. At Cooks Beach we played frisbee in the sea! (not the warmest!!)
We have just returned from the Bay of Islands today, having been on a dolphin trip. We saw a large pod of them and they came really close. We have some great pictures of them! We were supposed to be swimming with them as well but you aren't allowed to if there are baby dolphins in the group and unfortunately there was one!We did get to hang our heads down off the front of the boat though so we still got to get really close!
It feels very strange to be November and not really cold! Places have Christmas trees and decorations but it feels the least like Christmas possible! We do have a Christmas CD on our ipod though, which we have played a few times but can't take seriously at all! Oh and we've bought a Christmas pudding - couldn't resist!
Off to Australia on 19th November - can't wait!
Missing everyone lots
Love Claire and Dave xxx
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