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The next few days that we had were pretty quiet as we looped back around the south island to make opur way to the north island. We took the Lindis Pass over the mountains which gave some amazing views, the scenery here really is amazing. It is understandable why so many films are shot here. We had a little picnic by Lake Pukaki overlooking Mount Cook which was our last lunch with Lara and Beck. We later had to say our goodbyes as they got dropped off outside of Christchurch. We got dropped off in Christchurch about 5 and this was one of our worst hostels. We were accussed of making the room smell of onion but it had only been in the room for about half an hour before we went to the kitchen. Later when our roommate came into the room the big long haired hippy started to complain to Lou that he had only just got rid of another smell from in there. He then started to strum on his guitar and roll some weed. And he moaned about our onion smelling! He even complained again later and we became very deffensive as it was him who smelt with his roll ups! After having an 8 dorm half full for a night then shared between 3 people for 2 nights (we shared with Nickolas from Sweeden) this was a reality check.
It was deja vu the following day as we travelled back to Kaikoura. This time we went for a walk to see the seal colony. It took us over an hour to walk there but surprisingly we didn't moan too much. We just sat there for over an hour and a half in the sun watching idiots getting far too close to them and flashing their cameras in the seals faces. On the way back we stopped at a little stall and bought a crayfish mornay. We wanted to try some crayfish here as the translation of Kaikoura is kra - to eat, koura - crayfish. It was soo nice. The mornay was quite think and really cheesey. We still found the need to go for fish and chips later though (and sausage!) to share over a bottle of wine back at the hostel with no seagulls in sight. Great night. Our hostel was lovely too. It was called the fish tank and was newly opened. It was all decorated along the theme of a fish tank and was owned by an ex kiwi bus driver. There were 4 of us in our 6 dorm room and we shared with Mike from Wigan and Liz from Herefordshire. We sat talking with them for a few hours . We hadn't been looking forward to going back to Kaikoura but really enjoyed it. Althoug I just realised we also had tuna for lunch so had fish 3 times in one day, thats seems like a lot now. It was all great food though.
Now we started our journey to the North Island...
First we stopped off at Ohau Point and Waterfall (again) to see the seals. They were still playing in the waterfall which again was really nice to watch. We heard our ferry was delayed so feared the worst but it was only by an hour so not too bad. The ferry took 3 hours and was quite long and boring. We sat with Moses and Matthew (from Gloucester) (we were the only four remaining from our Kiwi bus) and waited for the time to pass. We went outside just in time to see the end of Marlborough Sounds (it was far too windy and cold to be out there for long) then wastd the rest of our journey sleeping or catching up on our blogs. This is when Moses told me I am wasting my time and should be more productive and write a book instead. And he was actually serious!
The North Island:
We spent 3 nights in Wellington. We had heard it was the shopping capital of New Zealand. This was a lie! We weren't really too impressed with the shops so were tourists instead. We spent a few hours at the Te Papa museum. This was basically a museum of everything. It was about the war in one part, eathquakes in another, then dinasours and space! We had also been waiting for a nice day to climb Mt Victoria, this dat never came so we just went on a bad day. It was raining but off we went with our raincoats and sandels up a very large hill. We didn't realise quite how big, muddy and slippy it was. It seemed very likely that one of us would end up on our backsides. Part way up we turned around to see what we had just climbed and we couldn't see it. It just looked like a cliff. At this point we couldn't feel the rain but that was because we were above the clouds now. When we were near the top we found a car park and a bus, this would have been a much better option had we known. Carrying on up to the very top we also found a canon. Photo time for mum. And then at the top there was a great viewing point to see over the city. Sadly all we could see was fog. So walked back down and around the harbour , this time we went down the road though which was much easier.
We also had a good night out in Wellington with our roomates and some of their friends they made along the way. This was the night that ended with a chicken (tasted like tuna) wrap (it was huge) and (lots of) chips. It took us while to decide where to eat as I wanted to eat from somewhere 'local', it was turkish I think haha. The only nice weather we had there typically was the day we left.
On the drive to Taupo we drove past more scenery from Lord Of The Rings. We also stopped to see Huka Falls. These were pretty amazing to see how the water was so still then went crazy then was a waterfall then went still again. It was so blue and clear too, really beautiful. It was that day we also realised again we had been a little stupid in getting our flight day confused. We were planning on spending a night in Rotorua the following night then just having one night in Auckland before flying to Fiji on Tuesday. We were sat in the sun looking over the lake and going through our plans when we suddenly realised something didn't quite add up; it looked like we didn't have enough time in Fiji to fit our trip in. We started to panic thinking we would have to somehow get a boat back a day early. When we got back to the hostel we got all our bits of paper out and it turns out we were flying on the Monday. Luckily we realised it soon enough and it just meant that we didn't have time in Rotorua to stay for a night but we had to go straiht to Auckland. So the North Island was sadly a little rushed but at least we made our flight.
On the drive to Auckland we did stop at some mud pools in Rotorua and it stank! Sulphur dioxide gas is created by geothermal activity and as a result it smells. Whereas on the South Island the geothermal activitiy creates picturesque mountains! It would have been nice to spend some time there but never mind; I'll be back. We had a little wander around Auckland but there wasn't really much there. Compared to the South Island the North was a bit dissapointing. I missed the mountains. But now it was time for some Fijian sunshine!!!
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