The North Island (Part 1)

Well, one coould say that I have fully taken the North Island by the horns. I have spent the past few weeks travelling the south, south-west and centre of the North Island in my littl' hire car and it was just so much fun!

I arrived on the North Island on the 15th February, via ferry from Picton to Wellington. The crossing via the Malborough Sounds and Cook Strait was perfect. The sun was shining, the sea smooth and the views from the deck, just stunning. Since then....

Wellington
I spent 4 days and 5 nights in Wellington. Day 1 was in the Te Papa museum of New Zealand; so very interesting and I learned so much. This included the geological history of New Zealand; information on the birds and plants; the social history, including the Maori and European; and the history of New Zealand art. I would defintely recommend a visit there.

The city itself is quite small, but a climb to Mount Victoria, some 180m high gives a good view of the CBD, the suburbs and the surrounding harbour and mountains. There is quite a lot going on in the city; sailing, kyaking, mountain biking and all other sports. The summer weather of sunshine, blue skies and wind helps! There are too the beautiful Botanical Gardens, lots of lovely lillies.

In the mornings, I took to running along the harbour front in the mornings and would you believe I was captured in TV camera - well at least my head as I ran passed the one and the only Bill Bryson! Talk about a moment of fame!

Wanganui
On the 20th, I picked up my wheels and set-upon my road trip of the North Island. The first stop was Wanganui; a small town located on the Wanganui River. The increased presence of maoris was obvious here, and would continue as I made my across the North Island. The purpose of my visit was to complete the Artene Walking Track - a 6-8 hour walk following the circular peak of a mountain ridge. There were lots of hills, bush and screeching of grass hoppers, but it was a beautful sunny day and I did not meet anyone else for the entire 6 hours that I was in the mountains - that's New Zealand for you.

Taranaki
From Wanganui, I took the Surf Coast highway around the eastern peninsula, around Mount Taranaki and stopped at Stratford. Named after Stratford in England, the town is covered with streets all named after Shakespearen Characters; I should add the town is nothing like Stratford! I used my stay in Stratford as a base to complete a few of the walks around Mount Taranaki; lots of bush and some beautiful water falls that have carved their way through ancient lava flows.

Ohakune
Pronounced o-a-kooney, this little town tends to serve as a ski resort to the surrounding Mount Ruapehu, a dormant volcano, which only erupted in the last 20 years! Being the summer, I could not ski (quite sad as I could imagine Ohakune going off), so I opted to do the 8 hour Tongaririo Crossing. Not only did I come face to face with bright red volcanic craters, emerald lakes, crater lakes but also Mount Ngarahoe, or Mount Doom as Lord of the Rings Fans may refer to it as.

Oh my, how I had a little adventure. The climb up Mount Ngarahoe is not poled (i.e. marked) and adds another 3 hour treck to the already long Tongariro crossing, but accustomed to walking up hills I ploughed on. Totally, missing the rocky section in the middle, I opted for the near virtical scree slope - I only made it up 2/3rds of the mountain before vertigo set-in, so I scrambled back down. On the way, I found the rocky route (that is recommended), tried again, but sadly fear took control and I descended. Oh, well, 2 hours of climbing a famous volcano was quite exciting!

Taiphe
After two very long walks, I decided to reatreat to tge valleys and rest for a few days. River Valley was my destination; a wooden lodge located right next to a river and only high valley sides to keep you company. It was bliss, when swimming in the river a chap asked me if he could join me in my pool - that's how quiet it was. I did do something productive and opted for a Thai Massage Lesson. It felt quite odd being so brutal on my 'client' to start with, but after a while I soon settled into the task at hand!

Taupo
Well, Taupo! One awesome experience!

After a mornings drive, I approached Taupo and there calling me was a sailing centre - awesome, windsurf hire I thought. So I called in to say 'hello' and before I knew it, I was invited to crew on a yacht in a race that very night - woohoo! At 5.30pm, I met the crew, all very nice friendly people, who prooved great company whilst we were sailing and during our meal out that night. It was one of those that finished with cheese and port. Needless to say I felt a bit pipsi!

After the weather teased me for a few days, on my third day in Taupo, the sun came out and that meant..........I could SKYDIVE! YEY, YEY, YEY! Sky diving is something I have wanted to do forever, so when the time came (9.30am on the 3rd March 07), I felt really quite excited.

I was suited and booted on arrival and met my tandem skydiver, Canadian John. He was very patient, although a littl' rotten on the way up in the plane saying that my harnesss seemed a little loose - monkey! At 12,000ft, I was the first one out of the plane - so there, the shutter came up. John shuffled to edge, I looked down, nearly had a small accident, then we rocked for two and boff! Down I fell!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I screamed. To be honest, my memory of this stage is a little blank, I can only decsribe the feeling as that which you get when going on a roller coaster. Eventually, I looked up, saw the plane above me, we rolled over and there was the earth in all it's glory.

The feeling of freefall is out of the world and I should add, highly addictive. Just fast cold air blowing round your cheeks and just pure pleasure. You can see for miles too. Then, the chute opens at around 4000ft and you are floating. John addjusted me to a sitting position and did a few tricks, but I got a bit motion sick at this part as it is again, like being on a rollercoaster. Then it was time to land - nooooooo, I cried, I want to stay here forever!

I followed the sky dive with a 3 hour mountain bike ride across the Rotary Track to the Hukka Falls and Craters of the Moon - awesome. Then I drank a few glasses of wine to celebrate and slept with a very big smile on my face.

Raglan
After all the excitement, I decided to take in easy in the west coast surf town of Raglan. A beautiful harbour surrounded by big hills, that leads out to the coast of the Tasman Sea. Here I kyacked up through the harbour channels, walked the beaches, swam in the ocean and did yoga in the sun. It was wonderful!

Aukland
Felling very relaxed, I arrived in Aukland to spend some time in the City of Sails as I waited for Mum to arrive. The first thing that struck me about Aukland was the volume of traffic, so I ditched my wheels and opted for foot.

It was quite strange being in a city after enjoying the serenity and peacefulness of the 1countryside, so I decided to take it fairly easy and go-easy on the sightseeing. Perhaps I will make time for a trip up the sky tower, or to Mt Eden Volcano or is offshore volcanic islands next time I am Aukland. Instead, I signed up for a sailing course, afterwhich I will be able to sail a boat of 8m or less with a little more ease than present. And, of course it would have been rude not to meet up with Stefan and Johanna who have recently emigrated to New Zealand! SO good to see them.