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ALL ABOARD THE BUS…
Arriving in Auckland I had mixed feelings, sad to leave South America behind but excited by the prospects of a few home comforts (real cheese and baked beans!) and of course the chance to explore a whole new country which I had heard so many great things about!
Our first night consisted of a lot of beer taking us through to the early hours, watching the final matches of the Six Nations. The usual hangover commenced a few hours later but we did manage to drag ourselves out of bed and visit Auckland's aquarium where we saw some massive stingrays, some hungry sharks and a bunch of King penguins in their model Antarctica home.
Not really knowing where we wanted to go from Auckland or how to get there we decided to pay someone else to do all our thinking and hopped on a 'big green bus'…our Kiwi experience had begun! Our first stop was a couple of hours north of Auckland, to Paihia - The Bay of Islands, here there's not much to tell, I sat on the beach and read, and met some nice people at the bar in the evening. We then headed back to Auckland for a brief stopover and then it was across to Mercury Bay (Whitianga). We spent the afternoon at Cathedral Cove, a beautiful little beach and jumped off a big rock out in the sea a lot of times! Leaving here the next day our next stop was Rotorua. This gave us the chance to go luging, where Brad, Diego, Mark and I raced each other down a massive hill around some tight corners and over the finish line. We also stopped of at Karagahake scenic reserve on route to Rotorua and did a couple of tunnel walks into the Bush Glad Gorge. The highlight was though the Maori night. We were picked up and taken out into the bush to a Maori village.They put on a show for us and performed the famous Haka. We feasted on traditionally Maori food, cooked in a natural oven, in the ground, and washed it all down with a few jars. Our next stop was Waitomo, a pretty boring place, with little to do.We made our own fun though and had a party in our dorm…
Taupo, which boasts New Zealand's biggest lake (the size of Singapore apparently) about halfway down the north island was to be our next stop, and from here Mark, Joe and I decided to hire a car and drive out to Napier on the East coast to catch the 4th day of New Zealand's Test Match Vs India. The cricket was pretty dull, but we sat in the sun all day and chilled out…quite nice to get a break from the rabble on the bus for a couple of days! Arriving back in Taupo, we met up with the Brad and Diego, and also Bibi and Mark (the Dutchies) who we met earlier on in our trip. With the gang re-formed we decided to walk to Tongoriro crossing, supposedly the best one day walk in New Zealand. Well for us it was probably the worst 18 mile one day walk in New Zealand.The weather was so crap that I could barely see my hand when stretched out in front of me, let alone the spectacular scenery somewhere behind the sheets of cloud, mist and fog, and a little bit of rain. Happy to get back to the hostel, we just chilled out for the next day and a half before jumping back on the bus and heading to a place called River Valley, literally in the middle of nowhere! The place itself was beautiful, but at the same time boring.I had hoped to do white water rafting here, supposedly the best in the country but there hadn't been enough rain, thus there was not enough river, so that was a no-go! We did all enjoy a very tasty roast beef dinner and then spent the rest of the night in the bar.
Our next stop was to be our last on the north island, and it was Wellington, the capital city. Like most capital cities there is not a great deal to do, but we had three days there, and used the time to chill out, in a city which had a lot of character about it. We visited the Te Papa museum (it was free!) and took in some more cricket, New Zealand playing India again in the third Test.This time it was a lot more exciting, and we plonked ourselves in the middle of all thee Indian fans, who partied non-stop throughout the day. We of course sampled the night life, as it was the weekend, and you can probably guess the rest!
Leaving the north island we caught a 3 hour ferry offering great views from the deck as we maneuvered through some small islands before reaching the south island, arriving in Picton early afternoon. From there we bussed it down to Nelson, where Brad made a great decision and bought an American football. This now meant that every time the bus stopped we had to get out and chuck the thing to each other, giving us hours of entertainment for the remainder of our trip…good work Brad! Nelson was a pretty town, but the weather was rubbish so we did very little. We hoped to go to Abel Tasman National Park and kayak, but it didn't happen…so we just watched a lot of films instead.
The West coast was where we heading and our first stop was Westport. On the way we visited Nelson Lakes National Park and the Buller Gorge, and also did a spot of jet boating. Heading further down the coast taking in the spectacular scenery our next stop was Lake Mahinapua and the Poo Pub where we were staying.Here we had a fancy dress party with 'P' being the theme. Brad and I dressed up as the formidable Ping and Pong, whilst others gave convincing performances as prostitutes (Mark!), pirates, plastic bag princesses and pensioners to name a few. This stop was purely to have a massive piss-up as its in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do, so leaving early the next morning feeling a little worse for wear we headed down to Franz Joseph. And if I was in need of a hangover cure I was soon to get it.That afternoon I took a twenty minute scenic flight over snow-capped Mt. Cook, Mt. Tasman, Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers and then jumped out of a place from 12,000 feet, with 45 seconds of freefall, reaching a speed of 200kph before parachuting down to the ground. It was a truly amazing experience, absolutely awesome! I'd do it again at the drop of a hat. The action didn't stop there though. The next day we set off on a full day glacier hike over Franz Joseph Glacier. Kitted out, with crampons attached to our boots we walked over, into and through the blue ice, cutting our path with a pic-axe. Now this was a cool trip…literally!
Our next stop down the coast was Wanaka…a gorgeous town set on a lake. We had a drinks and a BBQ that night and the next morning headed to Puzzling World, a crazy place which messes with your mind. I managed to get to the four corners of the maze but couldn't find my way out for over an hour! With the bus about to leave I found the nearest emergency exit and legged it out. A cool little place though. Our next stop was Queenstown. I spent a week here in total, and ate a few too many of the famous Fergburgers ('Mr. Big Stuff' being my personal favourite). Queenstown is full of backpackers and is a massive ski/snowboarding town in the winter months. It was a great place to chill out though and we passed the days playing golf, sitting in the hot tub, drinking and eating...oh yeah, and luging again, but this time things got ugly and our ladish behaviour sent me flying out of the cart rolling down the track and cutting my arm open as Diego cut me up and I drove striaght into the side of him! All fun and games though. Queenstown is also the place where I was to meet up with Claire again, having not seen her since Argentina. On our last day in Queenstown, we decided to get the adrenaline pumping and jumped off a high wire 134m in the air with only a piece of elastic strapped to our legs. Now if mind over matter is your thing then bungy jumping is for you.To be honest I can't remember much of it because it was over so fast, but I had to be dragged back upside down because the strap to turn me upright didn't work.Now I'd definitely do a bungy again…but it would have to be higher!
Leaving the Kiwi bus behind, a few of us decided to hire a car and drive over to Milford sound.A very scenic drive and a boat trip later we drove all the way over to the other side of the south island and spent a few days in Dunedin.Here we chilled out in the city, drove up the world's steepest street and wandered through the botanical gardens and were fortunate enough to be in the city at the right time to catch a Super 14's rugby match.The Highlanders beat The Stormers 18 - 11, in a not very exciting match. Our last drive was up the coast to Christchurch, and here we spent our final night in New Zealand.
Next stop Fiji…
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